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There are many ways to define wealth.  There are the more traditional definitions having to do with cash flow or net worth.  Some say that your health is the truest measure of wealth, while others claim that the quality of your relationships is a better metric.

There is value in all of these.  But let’s consider something else:

How much of your time do you control?

What good is it to be a deca-millionaire if every minute of your day is held hostage by meetings, phone calls, and people you loathe?

What good are boats, cars, houses, snowmobiles, jet skis, and other toys if managing them is a headache and takes up all your time?

What good is a high-paying, high-powered job if you spend all day joylessly grinding and zero time with your kids?

Your life is measured in minutes, and each one is precious.  It’s not too late to get a handle on them.

personal development

Fear and Loathing (and Anxiety, Anger, Shame, …)

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Fear and anxiety have their place.  You should feel them, and it’s neither possible nor healthy to try to turn them off.

But they are not you.  They do not make your decisions, decide your performance, or rule your relationships.

They can do those things, of course, if you allow them to.  But doing so will rarely, if ever, benefit you.

So feel your fear.  Acknowledge your anxiety.  Then deal with what’s really going on.

discipline, personal development

Gimme an ‘E’

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When you’re working on your life, how much time do you spend looking ahead?  How much time organizing and planning?  How much actually doing the nitty-gritty work?

In his book The E-Myth Revisited, Michael Gerber describes the three “personalities” he believes necessary in every business:  the Entrepreneur, the Manager, and the Technician.

Entrepreneur – focused on the future, develops a vision for the company

Manager – the organizer and planner, translates the entrepreneur’s strategic vision into tactical work for the technician

Technician – performs the actual work required to run the company

Gerber then goes on to argue that anyone starting their own business must regularly switch roles in order to keep driving it forward.

This is a also an important framework for working on your life.

Do you spend most days head-down, grinding out the work, rarely planning or even looking up to see where you’re going?

Are you constantly making plans, scheduling, and organizing, but getting very little actual work done?

Do you pass most days with your head in the clouds, dreaming of your future, but with no real path to get there?

Are you some combination of of the above?

If so, get back on track by forcing yourself to spend time doing each on a regular basis.

Take time each month to focus on your vision for yourself:  what are your goals?  What do you want your future to be?

Time should be devoted each week to translating that vision into scheduled, organized work.  You have a vision, now how do you get there?  What is the timeline?  What are the steps you need to take and the milestones you need to hit?

Finally, there’s the actual work, which should be done just about every day.

Dive into the work, come up frequently to make sure you’re on schedule and doing what you should, and take some time regularly to work on your vision.

Be the Entrepreneur, the Manager, and the Technician.

learning, personal development

Go Pareto On Your Ass

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Got 10 minutes?  Good.

Pick one:

A) Of all the things you do every day, what are the 20% that give you the most pleasure?

B) Of all the people with whom you spend time, who are the 20% that are most rewarding to you?

C) Of all the things you do every day, what are the 20% that frustrate or stress you the most?

D) Of all the people with whom you spend time, who are the 20% that drag you down?

Again, pick just one.   Then spend some time creating a list of either all the things you do daily or all the people with whom you spend time.  Finally, go over your list again and circle your 20%.

If you chose (A) or (B), what can you do to get more of the things or people you circled?  If you chose (C) or (D), what can you do to cut down or eliminate those stressors you circled?

personal development

Your Circle

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The people with whom you surround yourself:

Do they support you?

Do they call you on your bullshit?

Do they challenge you to grow?

Do they make you laugh?

Do you trust them?

Do you learn from them?

Do they inspire you?

Do they make your life better?

If so, great.

If not, why not?  Fix it.

personal development

Achieve, Then Appreciate

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Achievement is important.  Pushing yourself and others to do more, to be more, is worthwhile.

But don’t forget to take the time to appreciate both yourself and what you’ve accomplished.

Take a breath.  Reward yourself.  Give yourself a pat on the back and your soul a much-deserved hug.  Reflect on what you’ve done and how you got here.

Life is too short to drive all the time.  Pull over and enjoy the view.

personal development

This Might Not Work

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When was the last time you said to yourself, “This might not work,” then followed it up with “Screw it, I’m gonna try it anyway.”

Usually we think, “This might not work,” and walk away.  It’s easy to believe that there’s little value in doing something that’s going to end up a mess.

That’s wrong.  Failed reps make you stronger.  Puzzles you can’t solve right away can make you smarter.

Find something that you may not be able to do, take a deep breath, mutter “This might not work,” and hit it head-on.

You’ll surprise yourself.

learning, personal development

Ditch the Highlighter

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If you’re the type that reads with a highlighter, using it every few minutes to mark something striking or brilliant before plowing on only to forget it later, try this instead:

As you’re reading, if you come across something that seems significant, close the book and put it down.  Go for a walk and turn the idea over inside your head.  Digest it.  Reframe it.  Absorb it.

Once you’ve explored it thoroughly, then pick the book back up and continue.

Highlight all you want, but slow down and reflect on those gems before moving on.

personal development

See Things As They Are

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Sometimes it seems as if the world is just deliberately trying to piss you off.

Assholes are everywhere.  Events conspire to frustrate you.  Even inanimate objects like your phone seem to be deliberately driving you crazy.

To not only survive, but thrive at such times, you must first realize that the key word in the above paragraph is seems.  People and inanimate objects do in fact exist, and events do occur.  But how they affect you has more to do with your opinion of them than how they actually are.

As the Roman Emperor, Stoic philosopher, and owner of a jealousy-inducing head of hair Marcus Aurelius wrote in his Meditations:

“Take away thy opinion, and then there is taken away the complaint, “I have been harmed.”  Take away the complaint “I have been harmed,” and the harm is taken away.

If you think something is causing you pain, you’re probably wrong.  The way you’re thinking about it is what’s causing pain.

Think back to the last time something pissed you off so badly that you spent the better part of the day being angry.  Which was worse?  The thing that pissed you off, or spending the day feeling that way?

For the next few days, watch for anything causing you pain or aggravation.  When you feel it coming on, stop.  Take a step back and try to see things for what they really are.

Is that person really trying to hurt you, or are they just looking out for themselves, oblivious to any effect on you?  Is the ding in your car that’s going to cost $500 to fix really worth anguish and soaring blood pressure?  Is your 3-year-old really trying to drive you crazy, or is she just learning about cause and effect?

Ask yourself if it’s really worth causing yourself pain because someone was rude to you.  Or cut you off on the highway.  Or insulted you on social media.  Or blew you off for lunch.

See things as they really are, not as how you perceive them.

entrepreneurship

Three Key Qualities of a Good Tech Hire

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In a small, growth-minded company, there are three key qualities to look for in a “tech” hire:

  1. Technology skills – Duh.  This isn’t necessarily the most important quality, but naturally it’s up there.  No tech skills, no tech hire.  What we’re looking for here isn’t gobs and gobs of experience, but fluency in at least one area (e.g. C++, network administration, database administration, image processing, etc), the ability to identify and solve problems, and the capacity to acquire deep knowledge quickly.
  2. People skills – Engineers with no people skills are so common they’re cliché.  They can be excellent precision instruments, but in a fast-paced, growth-focused environment they can be deadly.  Technical staff that work so well with others that they make them better at their jobs aren’t just employees, they’re force multipliers.
  3. Business awareness – It’s very easy to find a geek who’s thrilled about building cool stuff regardless of whether or not your business needs it.  Avoid them or you will be tearing your hair, rending your clothes, and wishing you were folding denim at The Gap.  Experienced technologists with good business sense know how to deploy technology to support the business.  Cost/value calculations are second nature to them, and their solutions to problems just make sense.

Finding someone with all of the above is difficult, but well worth the effort.  When you do, grab them, share your vision with them, and keep them close.