I haven’t offered tips for life success in quite some time.  Welcome back dear reader.  I’ve yearned for your attention these many months.

 

Here’s a running commentary of important things to keep in mind when you’re sitting at your faux wood desk, in your faux leather chair, or even on a sun-drenched Saturday morning when you’re doing what makes you . . . you.

 

I’ve enjoyed some great travel in 2009.  Tossed in with some life-altering events like Elite Retreat and other recent business meetups and brainstorming sessions, now’s the time to go on a rant.

 

If you want to take my word for it . . . Please remember:

 

Today’s news is tomorrow’s fish wrap. 

With homage to Dan Kennedy, it’s important to know that the majority of the crap you’re consuming through 24 hour news services, yo’ feed reader, and even a good chunk of tweets, are completely useless a mere 12 or so hours from now.  How much time can you waste with the daily news? 

 

Your inbox and outbox are a ‘busy’ trap.  Quit faking it.

In my world, everybody sits at their computer all day.  With their Inbox open.  They get real time notifications whenever an email arrives (even if the subject is “Happy Birthday”).  Constant interruption ruins your ability to be productive.  Additionally, having a flashing “56 new messages” on your Inbox does not equate to you being busy.  Or important.  Nor does sending 30 emails in a day vs 50.  Quit fucking faking it.  Email is not work.  It is a communication tool, a means to an end.  Make your emails count and take your (work) life back.  Take 15 minutes and use your brain to complete a thought or a project or a plan, and ignore the reply-to-all for a second.  The beauty of email is you can check it any time.  So set some boundaries and set yourself free.

 

Write concisely.

Never say in 12 words what you could’ve said in 5.  I’m guilty of this transgression, even here in this post.  But a great thing about the flood of messages and content from the Information Age is it is undoubtedly forcing people to write concisely.  No one wants to consume long-winded content.  People scan.  Headline.  15 words.  Get the point across or get ignored.  This applies to email and published works.

 

What are you working towards?

Why do you work?  What is it you hope to gain from this gigantic time and energy suck?  I’ve come to think the majority of people consider these thoughts less and less as they age, as they get comfortable in a job, as their life “matures”.  You need to figure out if you want $40,000/year or $450,000/year.  You need to figure out what makes you happy.  Whether that’s standing tickets to Vegas or Fridays off to go on hikes or paint, who cares?  You do.  You should.  Don’t just mosey along down the timeline (for too long) without a purpose.

 

 

Old school networking pays big.

Me personally, I was turned off by most ‘networking’ crap from my younger days because they came in the form of clubs and the like.  Hated it.  Sit around and play the name game and everyone gets a t-shirt?  Fuck that.  But I was just seeing the wrong things.  There is a lot to be said for finding the right “club”.  People that interest you.  People that you can provide value to, and get it on the flip side in spades.  Investing time and effort into creating relationships with others like you, who challenge you, and who you can share mutually beneficial interests with is worth your weight in cocaine.  Considering all you’re going to do at home is fake it with your Inbox, might as well go to that conference instead right?

 

People are open to ideas.  Just propositioning them is worth quite a bit.

Pick up the phone or send off an email to a potential business partner/contact/vendor, and most people are going to listen to what you have to say.  You can’t lose.  Seriously, people dig it when a little passion comes along.  A little intrigue.  “Yo, I know this is out of the blue, but I’ve got an idea  . . . “  Might as well always go for it right?  People will be receptive.  They need to be, cause most ideas turn out to be pretty bad.  Law of averages – try as many as possible.

 

Time is what you should value.

Money is tight.  Very useful.  It can buy time, pleasures, freedom.  But when shaping your day-to-day, old mother Time needs to be priority #1.  Value your time.  Time spent on money ventures, time spent with your family, time spent doing whatever it is you want.  That’s all I want – time.  My time. 

 

Constantly modify the scope of what you read.

While it’s true that today’s news is tomorrow’s fishwrap, it’s still important to shape your experiences and knowledge through a relatively diverse set of information.  From Kennedy again – you should specialize, but not too much.  I’m into internet marketing and try to stay up on that.  But the WSJ, the Economist, GQ, Charles Dickens.  Ha, just saying, you still need variety.  Everything you experience or learn, it has an effect on your line of thinking.  It will feed future ideas.  Spread it out some.

 

Read.

Smart people read.  Books.  You could make a living just taking shit out of books and putting it online.  Don’t worry – no one is going to figure it out.  You know what else?  So like 85% don’t read anything.  Of those that do, 85% of them read the exact same stuff.  You’re not going to wake up and find a Purple Cow in your living room unless you step outside the masses a bit here.  (all TGS stats are made up)

 

Quit being a pussy.

Don’t say you’re going to do something and don’t.  Do not get all pumped up about changing your life or some new idea and then let it fizzle out by Friday.  That’s weak.  Most men lead lives of quiet desperation.  Most do so spending 20 years in the same job, getting fatter, watching TV, not going for it.  What can you possibly fear?  What is the worst that is going to happen?  I’ll tell you – you’re going to die.  And that’s already going to happen.  I promise.  So quit being a pussy.

 

Technology is a tool that will always change.  Don’t rely on one.

Don’t build a business around Twitter.  Don’t obsess over technology and hot trends in that space.  Tackle them as they come along.  Your business should transcend changes in technology.

 

Spend time with people you like. 

Whether it’s work or play, spend it with those you like/love.  No sense in working with somebody that you do not gel with.  Personally, I like people who challenge me and dream big, then act on it.  Love a good email about taking over the world.  Love a good roundtable with some beers on the same topic.  And at 5 or 6 or whenever you go home, let it be and live life with the loved ones.  Reward yourself for being instead of doing.  There’s time for both.

 

You don’t build wealth off a W-2.

Kudos to Zane T. with this one.  On the one hand, “rich” is not “wealthy”.  But we’ll save that for now.  You do not build wealth off a W-2.  You don’t create financial independence working for someone else.  If you care about doing as much, plan accordingly.  Own something.  Build, invest, and get some capital gains. 

 

So there it is yo.  Follow those and I believe you’ll be much closer to a great success than otherwise.  (OMG, he used the blog name inside a post!) 

Tweets.

Nate

 

Images from Shots by Me and peterbphoto1390

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