Do less thinking... Do more doing.
Don't be afraid to be the bad guy to get the ball rolling.
Remember- if you are paying people, use them as a resource first.
Be firm.
Go.
Simple advice for the over-planner:
Do less thinking... Do more doing. Don't be afraid to be the bad guy to get the ball rolling. Remember- if you are paying people, use them as a resource first. Be firm. Go.
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The three types
Tying back to earlier blog post about big picture thinking and linear thinking it is just as important to understand if you're a person who wants to start something and operate it or a person who wants to start something and move on to something else or your person who just wants to run something consistently. Each pathway has a series of steps associated with it and distinctions. Because that is part of your creative process and this is how you begin to understand your own personal sweet spot. Because you are always optimizing for where you can do your best work. That means that if your person who knows that you want to start something and you have more ideas and you want to move on to something else it is important to start with that end in mind. Versus the person who wants to start something and operate it and have it continuously grow. That's a whole different skill set in a whole different mindset. All of which is okay but knowing that going in helps you craft the pieces that you want to put around you for the Long Haul. And if you're a person who wants to just run things and grow them and not start it. That is cool too the world needs each person. But the first thing to determine all of that is which one/s are you? Second, Create a plan from there! Know when to bridge big picture thinking with tactical checklist and advice and training. Here is why...
Big Picture Thinking Vs. Linear Thinking The big picture thinking equals vision. The linear thinking equals execution and clarity. The big picture thinking allows for non-linear, unconventional, non-intuitive connections. AKA innovation. Linear thinking allows for speed, measurement, processes, and optimization. Assessment Are you good at 1 but not the other? Does Big Picture thinking take an extremely long time for you? Can you do linear thinking but it takes awhile for you to do it? How do I know if I am a linear thinker or big picture thinker? You may know you are a big-picture thinker when: You may know you are a linear thinker when you like:
The one that you can do with speed a natural disposition is the one that you have a greater propensity for. That is not to say that you shouldn't practice the other one. It is to say that you shouldn't bet the house or the farm on your ability to do the opposite of your natural propensity. The Killer Combination If you can have the vision and you know how to break down the bridge in so others can work on it with you then you have a true gift. Because it's usually one or the other but rarely both. Good news is that you can train both. Z-Rack:
Why? Capture you Mental motion. You are always being tested
Investors, employees, friends are all looking for ways to glean information from you. Testing you is the way to do it. Seeing how you act towards the waiter when they get your food order wrong, Or how you research an idea and fail to give credit where it is due. You won't be taught the rules of the game but you will directly be affected by them. Your job is learn the invisible rules around you and create a playbook to navigate. If you have a friend, family member, significant other hopping into the game of entrepreneurship, do them a favor and hand them this little post. It'll shave years off their learning curve. Pass or Fail: You Decide Based on your "test" performance you can climb to the top or crash and burn. Set the standards for passing success and enjoy. How the tests work Update: 12/27/16 The purpose of these tests is to serve as a diagnostic tool to determine where you are and how you can move on. It's pass or fail if your meeting all the standards that means that you were at the baseline of leadership. As an entrepreneur, think of the tests as a mental checklist to run through for your investors, customers, and employees. Use this post to get inside the head of your audience, competition, and employees. Also, use the tests to improve your ability to be a discerning entrepreneur. Run through these tests when you interview an employee or an investor. Let the test serve as a filter the good from the great. The Tests Listed below are the main tests. I am currently working on a worksheet for you to be able easily walk through the tests, so be on the look out for it. Understand that this is an exercise in self-awareness. A nuanced awareness of your actions will allow you to create an environment conducive to utilizing your strengths. Where do you start? The list of tests can be overwhelming, start where it hurts the most. The test the discovers is either causing the most pain financially for the one that's making you lose sleep at night. Don't worry- I rigged the game for you. You will ACE each test!
Is the game rigged? Understand that this criteria may not be fair. But it's better to know the game that is being played around you and leverage it to success, instead of being completely in the dark. People in power want to stay in power. Thus, these silent tests serve as a screening mechanism. Take back the power by planning how you will pass all these test with flying colors. It doesn't get any easier, you just get better.
Don't expect for someone to understand what you are going through. After you come home from a long day of work exhausted, then clean the house, and your significant other calls you out on "Not doing something they asked you to do." Do not freak out when "you are more patient" with them than they are with you. None of that matters. Your job is to be more efficient. Be a leader. Carry more weight with a smile. Execute flawlessly and make it seem effortless. Do it consistently. Reach another level. Be better. Thats how you not only survive but thrive. Being a parent, an executive, and a lover are situations that require you to be a leader.
Leadership is glorified in our society because it is associated with the "rewards." As in the winner reaps the rewards. The prom king gets the girl. The early bird catches the worm. The most competitive individual becomes the champion. Survival of the fittest and all that jazz. But what they fail to tell you about leadership and it sounds so obvious. LEADERSHIP requires followers. And these followers carry with them an unprecedented weight. The weight which a leader must bear as a payment to "reap the rewards of a champion." That means you stay up at night worrying about you being responsible for them as well as yourself. Sometimes even at the expense of yourself. What "they" (humor me as defining 'they' as the outside world) don't tell you is: The higher you climb the more you move to the front lines of the battlefield. That there is no playbook at the front lines. You are the playbook. You look at the horizon and navigate accordingly. You decide. Yes, you have the power. But yes you must also carry the lion's share of the burden. Because after all, whatever you decide holds as the rule. At the frontlines of being a parent, an executive or a lover you realize how ephemeral the world is around you. The wispy uncertainty, laden air dancing around you like a white-smoky fog. You wadding through waiting for the next action lurking around the corner. Staying up at night, thinking about your followers. Your employees, interns, and children thinking of "what will happen if something goes wrong?" Thinking about all the diaster scenarios, while you slowly begin to feel the pit forming in your stomach. Yet while the cool pit of hopelessness starts to form, you are enticed by a warmth this is equally powerful and dangerous. Embracing the sultry seduction of teetering with death. The adrenaline high of your company, your life, or your creative endeavour being on the edge. Of falling into the abyss of broken dreams or leaping into the ascending heavens of successful endeavors. Whether it be teetering on the edge of your company going under or losing your cool with your child when you are at your "wit's end". Then all of a sudden... seeing the glimmer of success of in the horizon. All to feel yourself, pull back the entity that you've worked so hard to create, your baby, from the edge. Leading can be like a game of Russian Roulette. Know where you are going wisely. Understand the power with which you are playing with. A primal force that entices humans. Craft a plan and persuade using that plan and you breathe life into the world of your followers. What a power. Yet what a secret to not say about leadership. The reality about being jaded is...
YOU ARE SCARED Scared that reality clashes with your beliefs and your model of the world. Angry that the pretty little world you thought felt entitled to didn't happen. Well, You being jaded doesn't help anyone! Because it is cowardice. INSTEAD Standup for what you believe in. Put everything on the line to go get it. Because you would have never been jaded in the first place if you gave it your all. Don't pull your punches because your afraid. Chances are if you don't hold back you would have exactly what you want in your life. GO AFTER IT! Why am I creating a not-to-do list?
Because lately I've be frustrated with my results and whenever I've had a quantum leap in my life in a short period of time (which has sustained) is using an 80/20 analysis. The Beginning of the NOT-TO-DO LIST: What am I not going to do? I am not going to... 1. No more help: Take on any more people to help. 2. Fail to create an accountability partner for things that are important. 3. Taking on anymore new projects. 4. Fail to do an 80/20 analysis each week. 5. Fail to build with the same vigor and focus that I would use to build for others. Skill Development What new skills is this going help me develop? (In order of enumeration above) 1. Discernment and Delivery: Focus on delivering the highest value to the people I said I was going to help. 2. Solidly accountable 100% of the time for something. Even when it is uncomfortable. 3. See #1 4. Continuous Praxis. Applying what I've learned. 5. Pride in my work and holding consistently high standards. Now for the application of such! 9 sets: Enter the Hyperphase
I was with my personal trainer earlier tonight. In preparation for an upcoming photoshoot he did a "hyperphase"- which is 9 sets of everything (upper, lower, upper, lower). Having worked with him for the past five years, I've been able to observe how he ticks and what happens when he is functioning at his peak, vs. when he is overtrained. Arms twitching, shoulders and traps tense, bouts of paranoia. He was overtrained. Instead, of taking a rest week off like he usually does he took three intermittent days. Bad decision. The lack of a complete rest, totally fucked with his nervous system. His nervous system was in overdrive and he was feeling the effects. He begged me to run him through a meditation. One of the hundreds that I had run him through previous. Note this time was different, since I had never run him through a meditation to this extent of overtraining. But I asked myself: "Can a guided visualization relax a rev-ed up, overtrained nervous system?" Prior to answer this question let me set the stage. I walked my trainer over to his desk chair and sat him down. The following dialogue ensued. PT: "Dude, I've tried everything man in the past three days to get myself to relax. Youtube guided meditations, I tried to walk myself through it. Nothing worked. I feel like people are against me man." Me: "Chill, man. Relax into the chair, all you need is a guided meditation." PT: "Total fight or flight response man. I ready to either fight *proceeds to air jab* or run." Me: "Let's get to this." *The meditation starts and a 180 seconds pass by of me guiding him through.* The nature of the conversation changed. PT: "Dude, I feel like I am walking on could nine man! I couldn't have done that without you man. This is some super smash brothers shit man." Me: "Don't mention it brother! Get some rest." So, "what happened?" I've been asking myself the same question. All I know for sure is that I helped him down-turn his nervous system. I had him picture that he was shutting down all the neurons and allowing them to heal. I tossed in some NLP in their too. In turn, he got up and his previous physiology completely changed. -Relaxed traps -Calm voice and calm energy (no more of that nervous energy I walked into earlier) -No twitching and no bouts of paranoia. 3 days of agony for him gone in 3 minutes. Quite an interesting case study, indeed. The conclusion that I am drawing is: Guided meditation coupled with a guided visualization may be able to calm down a "rev-ed" up, overtrained nervous system. The physiological changes of trainer were outstanding; He feels better, and as a result he will be able to offer his clients a higher quality of service. Quite an interesting case study, indeed. In any situation where you have to offer massive value ask the question:
"Where are people dragging their feet?" essentially you are asking: "What is the hard work people are avoiding and why?" How many times have you been frustrated and not done anything?
Too many times? Too few times? It doesn't matter-you can be doing more! Stew in your frustration, be lazy with it. Allow frustration to force you to create something incredible. This deep personal frustration can lead to an innovation much greater than just your initial pain. This is the user-centered innovation that MIT professor Eric Von Hippel talks about in his book, Democratizing Innovation. So do yourself a favor, STEW in your FRUSTRATIONS FOR A FEW DAYS. Surrender to it and let it guide you. To creating something you would use. Scratch your own itch...after you've made the scratching unbearable. Frustration is a tool. Wield it wisely. Let's say that you've been struggling for a while to change a certain behavior, because you keep thinking about how much work it is.
So you keep putting it off and off? (sound familiar?) You keep beating yourself up. What do you do? A lot of advice tells you to find a role model. But what if that didn't work? Sometimes for behavior change you just need to see someone serve as a counter-example. Someone who is doing the exact opposite of what you want to do. They jolt you into the pain associated with not doing the exact action you want to do. Recently I've been struggling with counting my calories while bulking up. Well I say someone dealing with the struggles of not working out and looking at their calories and all, and that jolt has gotten me focused and journaling my calories every single day now! Who is your counter-example? An employee waits for direction. An employer provides direction.
An employee waits for guidance. An employer seeks guidance and provides guidance. An employee waits for someone to set a goal for them or make a decision for them. An employer makes their own guidance and helps others make decisions as well as making their own. An employee wishes things were easier and waits. An employer makes things easier for others and themselves. An employee wants people to serve them. An employer serves others. Be an employer. Everything you do matters
Even the most insignificant outlandish tasks in your life matter. Even until you delegate them. Simply because there is a lesson that you have to learn there. That’s because each piece of work you do, compounds onto the next. Building your base of expertise. The quality, the standards, the intensity. All of it is training for your “big opportunity.” But the funny thing about your "big opportunity" is: you won’t “see it” as your big opportunity... you’ll see it as another opportunity to show your mastery of all the work you had done previously. Life is cumulative- from moment to moment. Start choosing what you want to accumulate-NOW! Summary:
Psychological reactance, and a factor that leads to failed persuasion. State empathy, the process by which we understand others and triggers automatic and somatic representations, is negatively associated with psychological reactance. Thus, a business can benefit from empathizing with their target market in order to seem warm, sympathetic, and understanding. Key lines: "Results showed that state empathy has unique contribution to predicting persuasion outcomes above and beyond the individual’s affective and cognitive responses to the messages. In addition, state empathy also has an indirect effect on persuasion via mitigating psychological reactance." "The property of state empathy as being automatic and associative suggests that it could facilitate automatic and heuristic processing as well. Without a measure of heuristic processing, however, it is impossible to explore this possibility in the current study." Key Questions: The Experiment: PSA announcements- (a) state empathy has a positive direct impact on persuasion, (b) state empathy also enhances persuasion by mitigat- ing psychological reactance, and (c) such impact on persuasion from state empathy is above and beyond that from the individuals’ own affective and cognitive responses to the persuasive messages Sample Size: n =289 Issues with the study? solid. Problems we need to solve? 1. How do we write copy that induces state-empathy? How can we use this for cerebrum? 1. Copywriting consulting and implementation for our clients. Thus we are paid two-fold. 2. Blend empathy interviews from design thinking and Citation: Shen, L. (2010). Mitigating Psychological Reactance: The Role of Message-Induced Empathy in Persuasion. Human Communication Research, 36(3), 397-422. doi:10.1111/j.1468-2958.2010.01381.x Summary:
-The Nucleus accumbens lights up when a good song is heard. This article provides a predictive model based on certain parts of the brain lighting up that can lead to identifying 80% of songs that are non-hits. This can be valuable information to a business to predict the things that aren't going to work. Key lines: "Neuroeconomic research suggests that activity in reward-related regions of the brain, notably the orbitofrontal cortex and ventral striatum 1-4 , is predictive of future purchasing decisions" "This indicates that simple subjective reports of focus groups may not be good predictors of commercial success." "Although subjective ratings of songs did not correlate with future sales, the activation within the NACC did (Fig. 2b)." "With thresholds in the range of 15,000 to 35,000 units sold, the logistic model achieved reasonable accuracy in correctly classifying hits and non-hits. For example, with a hit-threshold of 15,000 units, the logistic model correctly classified 80% of the non-hits; however, this came at a cost of missing true hits (but still correctly classified 30% of the hits). " Key Questions: The Experiment: popularity of songs rated for likability. (self-reporting augmented w/ fMRI studies!) Results: To test whether the musical tastes of our cohort were representative of the population, we compared our cohort’s pre-scan genre rankings to the 2009 Nielsen sales by category and found a significant correlation (Kendall’s τ=-0.733, p=0.0556; assuming that our hip-hop category is equivalent to Nielsen’s R&B category), showing that our cohort was not significantly different than the national population). Sample Size: n= 32 Recruited how? Issues with the study? -Sample Size -the claim -The predictive model Problems we need to solve? 1. The simplicity of the study: We have many more variables or how do we parse down to the most important factors? How can we use this for cerebrum? 1. Creating a one-year study where a group of high school students are asked where they going to college and fMRI studies are done looking at the orbitofrontal cortex, cuneus, nucleus accumbens/ventral striatum. After the talk about the list of schools that they have been accepted to, then we measure the activity, seeing the predictive behavior of the schools they go to. 2. Get grant-funding to do this kind of research, big dollars. 3. Using studies and a predictive statistic model, we can tell people which campaigns to use and which not to use. (NOTE: that's too many moving variables.) Citation: Berns, G. S., & Moore, S. E. (2012). A neural predictor of cultural popularity. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 22(1), 154-160. doi:10.1016/j.jcps.2011.05.001 Key Lines:
"We demonstrate that neural responses to persuasive messages can predict variability in behavior change in the subsequent week." "our data suggests that the brain’s real-time response to persuasive communications may be able to complement self-report measures and provide additional predictive capacity."
The Experiment: Sunscreen messaging to increased use of sunscreen. Results: a) 99.3% were >0, suggesting that the correlation between actual behavior change and predicted behavior change of independent subsets is significantly likely to be positive (α < 0.05, two-tailed) b) This cross-validation analysis suggests that on average, approximately one quarter of the variability in behavior change scores in a new sample of 10 individuals can be inferred based on a regression equation constructed from the MPFC activity in the first 10 individuals, above and beyond their self-reported attitudes and intentions. Sample size: 20 Recruited how?: were recruited from the UCLA subject pool and through mass emails and posted fliers Issues with this study: the cross-validation predictive model. the small sample size the potential claim Problems we need to solve:
Sam proposed the idea of doing a study with the student population. Using a cross-validation model we may be able to predict and generalize our approach to the all of the student market. To predict to see what schools and decisions students make after seeing marketing material. Citation: Falk, E. B., Berkman, E. T., Mann, T., Harrison, B., & Lieberman, M. D. (2010). Predicting Persuasion-Induced Behavior Change from the Brain. Journal of Neuroscience, 30(25), 8421-8424. doi:10.1523/jneurosci.0063-10.2010 Credit for Photo: David Hilowitz Creative Commons We are addicted.
According to the Journal of Behavioral Addiction college students spend "8 to 10 hours on their phones daily." (1) Since 63% of college students access the Internet through their cell phones (2) and two-thirds of them access the Internet through an iPhone, (3) learning how to develop iOS applications is an important skill. After 100+ hours of scouring the Internet for iOS development resources here are the best resources I've found and the resources I've found to be a waste of time. Starting with what was a waste of time because knowing what to avoid is as important as knowing what to consume. This is a list that I wish someone had given me when I first started. Waste of Time (Defined: Based on accomplishing the goal of taking your idea and turning it into a prototype quickly) Harvard's CS104 course online: Incredibly enthusiastic professor, great theory, but when it came to actual coding not the place. Useful if you want to learn computer science theory. (Note: His descriptions of array's is en pointe) Stanford's Swift Development Course: This isn't just for the sake of ruffling feathers! This course provides a poor feedback loop and you fail to get the mental model of the coding an application. MY Top 3 Recommendations 1. The only book I recommend you pick up is: IOS 9 Application Development in 24 Hours - John Ray I was angry at myself for not finding this book sooner, because this would have saved me those moments where I wanted to chuck my Macbook like a frisbee. He really built the book with the reader in mind. There are certain sections of the book that moves at a slow pace or it would be easier to watch a video on the section. 2. The one website that I suggest you check out is: Raywenderlich.com I know professional IOS developers that use his websites' tutorials to learn new skills on the fly. 3. The one skill I Recommend you learn: How to draw out storyboards. Basically, drawing on the screens that you want for your application on a piece of paper. This drastically accelerated my ability to learn IOS application development. I'll do a later post on how I was able to teach someone how to build an app within an hour using the principles I've learned. Results This entire process has been fairly wild! As a result of what I've learned people have reached out to me and asked me to storyboard applications for them. As well as since the IOS Development has been sharpening my visual thinking abilities, I've been getting calls from people asking to start drawing out their business plans and create small applications for them to prototype ideas they've had. As a result I've started a company out of this. Overall, this quest into IOS development has already paid dividends and its been a lot of fun an interesting experiment in learning. UPDATE: Looking for UI inspiration: Check out Pintrest Citations (1) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4291831/ (2) http://www.pewinternet.org/2011/07/19/college-students-and-technology/ (3)http://er.educause.edu/articles/2015/6/students-mobile-learning-practices-in-higher-education-a-multiyear-study I have been on a quest to become a world-class computer programmer in 6 months.
Why? Because I see computer science and programming as a way for me to be lazy. (If you haven't read, "How to Be Free"-by Tom Hogdkinson. I highly recommend it) It gives me more time to think. Here is what I've encountered so far. A. Awesome Resources 1. Automating the Boring Stuff- https://automatetheboringstuff.com/chapter16/ honestly, one of the best books I've found on programming in general. Because the author assumes you know nothing about programming. 2. Code Academy Python- so I'll tell you what, I'm not a big fan of code academy, for how the learning is sequenced, but the content is useful. I found myself saying "Wow I wish I knew what string sequences is when I was iOS programming?!" 3. MIT Software Engineering OpenCourseWare - The pdf section had some cool insights in programming. Here is what we are doing so far. signing off! Moose Recently I watched the TEDx Talk "Why people believe they can't draw."
This is fundamentally I changed my thinking about startups, big businesses, and mastery because of how Graham Shaw in this 15-minute video shows you how 6 lines can help you sketch cartoons. The simple instructions & incredibly consistent the results blew me away. The next day when I went to my local college library to study and I drew on the Whiteboard someone stopped and asked me, "Are you a cartoonist?" Impressive amount of value in a tiny period of time, "Don't yah think?" Same holds true for whatever product, training, conversation, or relationship in your life. You have got to hold this standard of: "How can I pack 10,000X the value other people are offering in 1/8th the time?" I did this with iOS development course I created by taking what I learned over months trying to teach myself iOS development and hundreds of videos and put it into a one-hour long course the by the end you learn how to create a working prototype within an hour. And I tested this how would a physician friend of mine who absolutely hated computers or within an hour she was saying this, “I enjoyed learning something new!!! Especially in an area that I HATED lol” I say this not to brag but to press upon you that answering that question above how can you pack ten thousand times more value into an eighth of the time that other people are doing it is an extremely powerful skill. A skill that you must practice and execute to be absolutely world class- and this Tedx talk is an incredible model for that. The simple repeatable system that people can follow in order to achieve the desired goal consistently at a high level is Incredible strength. Create that and you'll be golden! The goal
Capture thoughts at pace you are thinking! Tier I: For the Beginner Budget: $0 Workflowy: Focus on the big picture and little details. At the same time. Dictation.io : Capture Thoughts as quickly as you speak. Coggle.it : Mindmap the BIG PICTURE Draw.io: Draw out the flow diagrams as quickly as you think Excel: Turn Diagrams & Dictation into measurable action plans Tier II: Skilled Budget: $500-$1000 Dragon Dictate : I personally Use this Software for Dictation with Accuracy Mindmapping Software: TBD Xcode: Turn the movies or clips in your head into fully functioning applications. Backstory and USP Scrolling through Quora yesterday, a question caught my eye. “What are 10 game-changing books that you must read?” Usually I hate these types of questions, however one book on the list caught my interest: Richard Branson’s Autobiography Losing My Virginity. I was intrigued by both the pithy title and visionary book cover. Below are some in-depth meditations gleaned from the pages of the autobiography that you could apply. If you were looking for a “Top-10 lessons from Richard Branson, than kindly leave now.” However, stay tuned if you want in-depth commentary on the novel without reading the book. Also included are lists of pages for pertinent information. #1. “…the best way of learning was to get on and do it.” #2. Fun is at the core of the way I like to do business and it has been key to everything I’ve done from the outset… I am aware that the idea of business as being fun and creative goes right against the grain of convention, and it’s certainly not how they teach it at some of those business schools, where business means hard grind and lots of ‘discounted cash flows’ and ‘net present values’. Business is a lifestyle. In a lifestyle I want to have fun, not just look at the numbers. I believe a successful business has to be reflective of the founder’s way of having fun. For Branson, it was simply doing the “seemingly impossible.” #3.”Business is a fluid, changing substance, and, as far as I’m concerned, the group will never stand still.” Most people miss the point of business being “fluid” and ever changing. There is a ton of talk in the entrepreneurship space of “rapid iterations” and “constant feedback,” however, very few provide the analogy I think about for business being ever changing. Thing about surfing the face of the wave, it is fluid your body is constantly adjusting on the wave, just like a business must adjust to the wave of opportunity. One must meet the dynamism of the wave with dynamism of the body. Inertia that meets something moving will be swept away in the undertow. Thus an inert business will be swept away by the dynamic wave of “disruptive” companies. #4. If we hadn’t reinvented ourselves, we would have gone bust. There was no choice.” Reinvention is a essential in a modern day society to stay competitive/. To truly explore all your personal facets of human potential, you must continue to meet the constraints in your life by reinventing and expanding yourself. Place yourself in a position where you have to reinvent yourself, where there is no other option and then rock , roll and execute. This reinvention may be called “the Hero’s Journey,” or “crucible” however one thing is for certain: Reinvention leads to Renaissance. #5. “I am too informal, too restless, and I like to move on.” For those of you who believe the pyramid hierarchy is the only way to build your business think again. Richard designed his company to fit the way he moves into ideas. He creates unorthodox structures for companies because he has an unorthodox approach to his life. Do the same with the design of your start-up or life. Design it according to the way you function. #6. “That curiosity has led me down many unexpected paths and introduced me to many extraordinary people” Branson’s powerful ability to cultivate his curiosity and scratch his own itch is what makes him phenomenal. Branson reminds me of this amazing Ted talk by Ken Robinson “Do School Kill Creativity?” which he emphasizes thinking laterally. Thinking laterally is the ability to produce multiple answers to one question. Branson’s problem is his constant desire to solve and provide the greatest customer experience. He takes this problem and searches far and wide and thinks laterally into different fields. Start to find ways to think laterally. This is the first step to being able to see opportunity. #7. “made me realise just how slim the line is between genius and insanity and between determination and stubbornness. Yet again, I thank my lucky stars to have had the stability of a family around me during all the years of turmoil that Virgin has had to navigate without the balance sheet of a multinational corporation or the luxury of a cosy state monopoly” #8. I love the challenge of learning about industries I know nothing about. At school, I had no interest in chemistry. Now I wanted to learn everything there was to know about ethanol, cellulosic ethanol, ISO butanol, methane and carbon; the best products to make fuels from Whatever subject you jump into hop into what you are curious about and then learn backwards from there. Did you know that Elon Musk lived on $1 per day prior to becoming a multi-millionaire?
Inspired by how Elon leveraged the few resources he had to successfully build and exit Paypal, this post addresses the idea that living in material poverty, (defined below), does place you at a disadvantage. In fact, people in material poverty have a competitive advantage, because of the following reasons. I want this post to inspire you to look at the resources you have at hand and see how you can maximize them. Inspired by how few people are maximizing the resources [DU1] they have their disposal hand and how Elon Musk lived on $1 a day (more details below), I'm explaining how "coming from nothing" [DU2] is a competitive advantage. 20% of the world 1.2 billion people lives on $1 USD per day. Meaning no prestigious schools, no private education, and no teachers to spoon feed them material. People with “nothing” Focus on the Essentials They can’t cheat and they distill things down to their bare essentials. What I mean by cheating is You can't throw money at the problem!" How many times have you seen someone try to gloss over a problem by throwing money at it? I know person who go on shopping spree after a recent break up instead of addressing their hurt feelings. This person has been using material possession as a crutch to not dig deep go inside and get what they want. They have yet to build their internal resources. People in poverty are forced to focus on the essentials, because… By not being able to afford the luxuries in life, people in poverty repurpose things they have into the things that they need. Poverty teaches you how to be crafty real quick. It forces you to repurpose what you have and squeeze the living life out of what you have. For example, watch someone in poverty squeeze the past out of tooth brush. [DU3] An example of an entrepreneur who kicked ass and lived on $1 a day is Elon Musk. This is a great way to mitigate against risk. [DU4] What risk specifically? The risk of using large resources as a crutch to not do proper creativity and problem-solving thoughts. People talk about "calculate your burn rate" figure out what you need. I think that is important but a lot of the time it's total bullshit. You need to stay afloat, when you take the same sort of urgency for the success of your company as you do to breath, eat or survive then you know what true creation is. Which is creation out of necessity. Creation out of Necessity This isn't some abstract directive, "you need to be innovative" from some MBA program. (I would know considering I am in an MBA program). The people in everyday poverty need to make "something from nothing" in order to survive. Thus, they innovate of necessity instead of it would be nice for a competitive advantage. I vividly remember seeing this while studying public health and medicine in El Salvador. Three little kids saw the El Salvadoran national soccer team playing on TV. They looked at each other with a somber silence knowing they didn't have enough to afford a soccer ball. But as fast as lighting, one of them took off towards a garbage can. Which leads to the next reason... Poverty forces you to have a vision. Tony Robbins says there are three mandates to leadership: "Step 1: See it as it is, not worse than it is. Step 2: See it Better Than it Is Step 3: Make it the way you see it. " Poverty makes you skip to step 3 very quickly. No sitting, no brooding, just full fledged energy! IN A NUTSHELL Poverty is the hotbed for renovation because: People are undervalued. In their environment they can't cheat, they have to focus on the essentials, they have to understand how to not live with a lot, they have to create out of necessity, and they are forced to create a vision of things can be better than they are and create it. What does this mean for you? The next time you think you don't have enough resources or enough tools, think to yourself. "How can I leverage this situation of having nothing to create something awesome? as if my life depended on it?!" [DU1]Who else other than Elon Musk is maximizing their resources. SEPARATE POST WE ARE CUTTING THIS BLOCK OF TEXT OUT. [DU2]What exactly does it mean to come from nothing? I’m defining nothing here as the statistic lvining on $1 usd per day that the majority of the world lives in. Think of Bangladesh, El Salvador and Ecuadorian slums as the scenario. [DU3]This is the same thing as the above with example [DU4]Elaborate on how it mitigate the risk. What risk are you talking about? The risk of getting lazy of living on excess. Hello Everyone! Good day and welcome to Self-evolution Sunday where we provide you with the knowledge you need for the next evolution to build your future.
This week we will be looking at the book Everybody Matters by Bob Chapman and Sisodia. Now I know what you’re thinking “NOT ANOTHER LEADERSHIP BOOK!” But….. Wait…..Hear me out. This book has fantastic need to know nuggets of wisdom for anyone and I mean anyone looking to improve their leadership skills and an absolute game changer for people who have not lived the culture described in the book. So….what culture is being described in Everybody Matters? The culture described in Everybody Matters, is the culture of basic human understanding that is the understanding that people are human. Now I know this sounds so basic and repetitive(I bet you’re scratching your head thinking “Moose what are you talking about??”) However viewing everyone as humans and truly understanding and caring for them is fundamental idea that is continuously overlooked! People are in the habits of constantly pushing their agenda and in the constant need to getting what they want, they forget the person across them has needs and wants. This book emphasizes the need to care for the person across the table! Everybody Matters, highlights what we all know but fail to practice , everyone’s desire to feel special and be cared for. The two key parts of the book I felt drawn to were:
AND B) Courageous Patience The 10 commandments of leadership emphasizes the key to enjoying life while achieving your deeply significant goals at the highest level are: “1. Beginning every day with a focus on the lives you touch. 2. Knowing that leadership is the stewardship of the lives entrusted to you 3. Embracing leadership practices that send people home each day safe, healthy, and fulfilled. (e.g. not having your teammates or employee’s work ridiculous hours in a verbally- toxic environment) 4. Aligning all actions to an inspirational vision of a better future. 5. Trusting is the foundation of all relationships; act accordingly (In this case you are trusting the person’s judgement and intuition) 6. Looking for the goodness in people celebrating it daily. 7. Asking no more or less of anyone then you would of your own child. 8.Leading with a clear sense of grounded optimism. 9.Recognizing everyone’s uniqueness 10. Always measuring success by the way you touch the lives of people” These set of 10 commandments succinctly summarizes the book. Courageous Patience Delving deep into the book one line stood out the most to me , “you must be patient with people because you don’t know what they’ve been through” Pg. 146. Think about giving patients to people in terms of years not months. This quote ties in with my personal philosophy of “anthro-investing” (#action we will put a link here next week for my anthro-investing article)a nd this notion coincides with the belief I have of holding on to the right people for the long-haul invest knowing that the return of investment will be worth your while! For a more detailed example of how courage patience works, read this. #action. (Link to my anthro-investing post. Overall, I recommend this book for people who have been through alot (e.g. went through a brutal divorce, lost their first company, are jaded) and are struggling to find ways to be a more humane leader. For others who live by these principles, gloss through the book and let it serve as a reminder of why you live this way. Signing off, Moose |
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