Month: October 2016

There is too much information, and education, and entertainment for anybody to consume in a lifetime. We have to be selective in what we let in. Saying no to projects and distractions is more important today then ever before in history. (And it will continue to become more important.) Delete the things that take 80% of your time but only being 20% of their value. Some tips on how to rescue your time and to do work that matters:

• Fire the customers that bring little value and take up a significant amount time. (What could you do for the customers you keep now that you have freed up all of this extra time?)
• Check your email. But only do it once (maybe twice) a day.
• Become disciplined in how you check your feed. It’s easy to think that getting likes, or posting pictures, or sending tweets is busy and productive work. But it’s not. It’s a form of hiding and keeping us from doing the work that matters.
• Cancel your subscriptions: Netflix, Xbox, Cable, whatever.
• Avoid watching live TV. Try watching only one of your favorite shows. In fact, quit watching TV all together. (You will find a significant edge by doing this.)
• Get rid of your commute by working close to home.
• If you can’t avoid a long commute, make it productive. Listen to an audio book instead of music.
• Avoid web surfing. Sign up for a RSS Feed.
• Fill something in your lunch hour by doing something productive: exercise, read, write.
• Make commitments and promises. Keep them.
• Start a project. Finish a project. Ship your best work.
• Write a blog. Everyday. Doesn’t matter if no one reads it.
• Commit to getting up one hour (or two) earlier than you normally do.
• Write a letter. It’s much more personal than an email.
• Volunteer. Use your talents around the community. We need you.
• Become debt free. It will change your marriage and how you view money.
• Spend one night a week with your family.
• Make a connection. The goal is not to change everyone. Change someone.

Paul’s advice from 2,000 years ago is still relevant today, “When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.” (1 Corinthians 13:11)

Your attention is a finite resource. The way you use it may make all of the difference.

We don’t need students to memorize when the War of 1812 was. Google is better, faster, and cheaper. So why are we insisting on memorizing something just because it will be on the test? We can’t memorize everything. So we develop bad habits of looking for short cuts—work we have to do instead of the work we get to do.

There is little value in chasing an A. Chasing A’s don’t teach us about grit, or generosity, or failing. It doesn’t teach us how to solve interesting problems. What we are being taught is how to be cogs in a machine, compliant workers, and how to follow instructions.

In the real world: There is no map. We need to find our own way. Failure has to be an option. If we can’t fail, then we will never be remarkable. Yet, we insist on having a map because following instructions insulate us. We feel safe when we are being told what to do next.

Getting A’s are fine. But I rather hear how someone failed dancing on the edge of something daring. Even if that means getting a D.

One of the stories we are being told is: If you are picking the lesser of two evils, you’re still choosing evil.

Voters who choose to mitigate damage are not supporting evil.

Yes, with two historically unpopular candidates there is an argument to look for someone in a third-party. But will it be a waste?

We haven’t seen a third-party candidate win since 1860—when Abraham Lincoln of the Republican Party won and replaced the established Whig Party. (Revolutions do enable the impossible.)

Yet, this election will not be determined by those who are choosing the “lesser of two evils” or who vote for third-party candidates but by the 80+ million eligible voters who won’t bother to show up. They are the ones leaving voters in this predicament.

My advice: Vote with your heart. Making decisions based on fear don’t ever seem to work out.

(What’s wasted is choosing not to vote as a form of protest. This only works when everyone votes.)

(There is a lot of noise. Overshadowed in all of this is the other offices and legislation we will be voting on come November 8. It’s easier now more than ever to do your homework. Take 5 minutes to see what will be on your ballot.)

(Last word: There are people who are afraid. But November 9th will come and we will all still be here.)

Most people pour their cereal first and follow it with milk. When crossing the street: we check our left, then right, and left again. Painting tape goes up first, not second.

There is an order of operations in doing things.

But just because everyone is doing it a certain way, doesn’t make it right.

Some doctors in China only get paid when you are healthy—you don’t pay anything when you are sick. In India, driving on the left side of the road is standard operating procedure. 150 years ago, it was unusual to wash your hands before surgery. 80 years ago, doctors were prescribing cigarettes to their patience because we thought smoking was good for you.

It’s easy to get stuck in the way we do things. But don’t be so closed-minded. Maybe it’s weird. Or maybe it’s just different.

The parable of the Good Samaritan that Jesus taught is about a Jewish man travelling down from Jerusalem to Jericho who was attacked by bandits and left for dead. A Priest and a Levite passed by before a Samaritan stopped to aid this man. (Historically, Samaritans and Jews did not get along.)

In 1973, two physiologists, John Darley and Daniel Batson, took 67 students from the Princeton Theological Seminary to replicate the parable of the Good Samaritan. Half of them were asked to prepare a short talk on the types of jobs that seminary graduates could get, while the other half were asked to teach the parable. Each group was then broken down into three subgroups – high, medium, and low hurry. One-by-one each student was given a map of where to go and (depending on the group they were assigned to) were given one of these instructions:

• “You’re late. They were expecting you a few minutes ago. You better get moving.”
• “The assistant is ready for you, so please go right over.”
• “It’ll be a few minutes before they’re ready for you, but you might as well head over.”

On their way, each student would have to pass a man who had fallen in a doorway that was coughing and pretending to be injured.

So the question was: how many seminary students would stop and help the injured person?

It turns out:

• 40% of the seminary students offered to help the injured man.
• 63% of the low hurry stopped and helped.
• 45% helped in the medium hurry.
• Only 10% of the high hurry students assisted the fallen individual.
• Those who were asked to give a talk about careers offered to help 29% of the time.
• 53% of those teaching the parable aided the individual.
• As an interesting side-note: a few of the students stepped over the injured man.

What Darley and Batson found is that situations compromise our values. We put aside our instincts to help those in need if we feel rushed. It’s also why we need daily reminders for what is important. When something is on our mind, we are more likely to do it. We need to remember to slow down and notice what is going on around us.

A high income is not the same as wealth. Those who make a high income (play great offense) but spend it all (play poor defense) are collectors of expensive artifacts.

Millionaires have a net worth of a million dollars or more:

(Assets – Liabilities = $1,000,000)

A common stereotype for a typical millionaire is someone who has been given a massive trust fund, plays in the NFL, or won the lottery. But that would be an incorrect perception.

Here is a list of the top professions for millionaires:

• 74% of millionaires are small business owners / entrepreneurs.
• 10% are professionals in their field (doctors, lawyers, dentists, CPA’s).
• 10% are CEO’s and executes.
• 5% are consultants.
• <1% are professional athletes, movie stars, lotto winners, etc.

80% of millionaires are first-generation rich. They figured out how to save a $1, then $2, then $5, then $10 until they were no longer paying interest—they’re getting interest. They used money as a tool.

Admitting we have control over our financial welfare puts us on the hook. We are responsible for our own actions—that makes people uncomfortable. Most people would prefer to think a millionaire has something we don’t.

30 years from now, we will be looking back at how exciting it was to be alive in 2016. Everything became smart: phones, cars, TV’s, thermostats. Social media erupted. VR opened up new doors we didn’t know existed. (And soon AI would do the same.) Collaboration projects like Linux, YouTube, and Kickstarter challenged the status-quo and changed the way whole industries operated.

But it will also be known as an age of sensitivity. We have a culture of shaming. A time when conversations were controlled by political correctness, fear of being sued or fired, bloated media, and hidden agendas.

If we are going to fix the culture – and make it something we are going to be proud of – here are the rules:

1. If the product, good, service, or idea is for everyone – it’s for no one.
2. Be okay for others not to accept your gift. If it’s not for them, it’s not for them.
3. Sometimes we don’t get the joke. Either it’s a bad joke or your delivery was all wrong.
4. Who decides what is offensive? We do. With one click we can move onto something else.
5.  It’s not how big you can be, but how small. Find a tribe that is waiting to hear what you have to say.
6. Make better art. No one wants to read your junk. Put something out there that you wouldn’t mind presenting to a board of directors.
7. Once it’s online it will never go away. People and opinions change over time (including yours).
8. Re-read rule #1.
9. Making something doesn’t mean you are entitled to our attention. Attention is finite. Trust is the new currency. You have to earn it.
10. Take two breathes and walk away before you write something that you’ll regret.

People are going to say outrageous things. Leave the trolls and critics alone. It’s not your job to teach them a lesson.

Remember: It’s okay to disagree but don’t be disagreeable.

People who choose not to get vaccinations aren’t bad. But the story they tell themselves has dangerous side effects.

It took 200 years to eradicate smallpox, which couldn’t have been done without vaccinations. How quickly we forget that smallpox caused the death of 500 million people in the last century. Vaccinations are perhaps one of the greatest discoveries in medicine and remains the most effective method of preventing infectious diseases.

Yet, there have been many concerns raised about whether the benefits of vaccinations outweigh the cost. This is great. Because questions lead to more research and more testing and more discovery. But the problem we are seeing is people are ignoring the history, the science, the data while relying on celebrity gossip, science fiction, and biased reporting to make their decisions. This leads people down a road of picking your own truth. We are seeing a new epidemic – one that we don’t have a vaccination for – and that is free riding.

The free rider is someone who benefits from the collective, without making any contributions on their own. It’s contagious. We see it in economics, politics, communities, and government.

No one can excuse themselves from the responsibilities of being a citizen of the world. Anyone reading this has been blessed with opportunities, not guarantees. If you don’t show up, then someone else will have to pick up the slack in your stead. It’s draining. Don’t sit back and enjoy the ride. We need you and your contributions.

This might work. This might not work.

Business plans never go the way we want them to go. Neither does the housing market. Or the weather.

When Plan A doesn’t work, there are 25 other letters in the alphabet that you can use.