Do Over (Make Today the First Day of Your New Career) by Jon Acuff (Part 2)

Win the Way You Won Before. We have definitely picked up skills in the past. Ask yourself what skills did you learn in the past? It need not be work skills only. What were the circumstances that conspired in your favour? You might have an audience to drive your development of the skill. Sometimes, you could have been pressured by a tight deadline. Find a new crowd you share your skill with. You could devise a reward system once you have attained a particular skill. Set a countdown on your phone to motivate yourself to do something, it could be 60 minutes or something. Don’t be afraid to devise new methods in your pursuit of new skills. Learn the strategies employed in the past to help you improve and give yourself a better chance at success. Never reinvent the wheel and always learn from your past.

Kick-Start Your New Skills with Something Fun. You can learn by necessity or curiosity. Necessity are related to work skills. Curiosity is more borne out of desire. Both types of skills are important for us. A smarter approach is to start with something fun. Developing a curiosity skill is more fun and easier than a necessity skill. Keep it simple. You only need time and knowledge at the start. Time and knowledge are more accessible than money, time, gear. You can research about it for free on the Internet. You need to make time for learning your skill too. You must decide exactly when do you want to learn it. Macro means printing out next month’s calendar. You will realize that you have more time than you think. Fear likes to tell you that you don’t have enough time. Learn to utilize your time well and in a fruitful manner. The micro is exactly which days and how many hours you will use to hone your skill. What’s consuming your calendar daily? Start your day with what matters most and that will help you the most. Work on your skill before other things get in the way. Who will help you learn this new skill? Skills are no exception. It is more fun to learn with a friend. Someone should track your progress. This person should ask you for updates on a regular basis. Check in twice a week.

If you really want to learn something, you have to decide when you are going to do it. Otherwise, you dramatically reduce your odds of actually doing it. – Jon Acuff

Days are like snowballs rolling down a hill. I don’t care how perfectly you’ve planned it, something unexpected is going to get picked up as your day rolls down the slope. – Jon Acuff

An accountability partner you only contract when you are winning isn’t an accountability partner, it’s a cheerleader. – Jon Acuff

Learning a new skill doesn’t have to be miserable, especially if you start with something fun and easy. – Jon Acuff

Skills Get Sharp Slowly and Dull Quickly. Skills will go dull if not used frequently. If you are writer, you should write daily. Once you get lazy, it will be hard to kick-start the habit again. At that time, you need motivation from friends to kick you to start again. The hardest competition you’ll ever face. The key for sportsmen is to be disciplined and do the same time every day of the week, even during off season. Learn to outsmart yourself. There is a problem with first times. First times should be the worst experience. Every time you start a new job, the skills you learn in your previous job are not useless. For every repetition you make, you should lay another brick in your foundation. You work best when skills become second nature to you. This will free up brain space for other things. If you discipline your life, it creates freedom in another. For instance, you could buy many sets of the same clothing. This will help you pare down your decision making. Your career is not shampoo. Nowadays, videos are big part of blogging. You must step into the tension of skills. Some skills cannot be simply put on autopilot, but should be on fighter pilot.

The more you can turn an important skill into a repeatable habit, the more you can trust the power of autopilot. – Jon Acuff

When you refuse to practice a skill today, it makes it harder to practice it tomorrow. Weeds of fear grow stronger the longer we wait to hustle. Get in the garden today. – Jon Acuff

Grab the Right Kind of Hammer for Your Career Ceiling. Do not build your cage. When you are stuck, you can choose to accept it or change it. Your skills will help you break ceilings. The ceiling is challenging you to break through it.

The father of every good work is discontent, and its mother is diligence. – Lajos Kassak

Should you ever stay at a bad job just because other people in your field don’t have a job? What are you really saying? That until everyone in your field is employed you can’t apply somewhere else? You can’t have another job until everyone else does? That doesn’t make any sense. – Jon Acuff

We build elaborate internal campaigns justifying where we are. We trick ourselves into thinking it’s someone else’s fault or that maybe it’s not so bad. It’s not a horrible job, it’s a good-enough job. If we stay there long enough, we eventually forget that we are even allowed to change. – Jon Acuff

I can’t tell you if in ten years I will have written five more books. But I can tell you that this year I will write one. I can’t tell you if in 10 years my blog will have 5 million readers, but I can write a new post today. – Jon Acuff

Investment 3: Character. Character is who you are. Character is the reason why people will give you another opportunity if you fail the first one. It is a pre-requisite for many things to come. Everything is personal in work. Character is impossible to ignore. Character will also determine your resilience to move things forward. Start planting your orchard and be generous and empathetic. People with bad character might win, but they may not last.

A talent is formed in stillness, a character in the world’s torrent. – Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

Plant an Orchard. Character is a slow process and takes time to build. Character is like an orchard. The trees are the character traits and the weeds threaten to destroy your orchard. Which is one character trait that you want to develop? Ask a friend if you are clueless. Trust could be something you want to work on. Take a look at your whole orchard. I was addicted to chaos and busyness. However, if you like chaos, your character falls on the wayside. Write down the jobs you’ve had. Give a brief description of your job performance. List the way you left each job. Describe the strength of the relationships you left behind. Pull the weeds as fast as you can. Narcissism is a problem. Dishonesty is a horrible weed too. Pessimism is an issue too. Pessimism can grow and it can become a problem. Apathy is a big issue as well. Apathy cripples your ability to launch a career jump.

The future is purchased by the present. – Dr. Samuel Johnson

The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now. – Old Saying

Most destructive of all is that apathy cripples your ability to launch a career jump. No one who is apathetic has the energy or heart to try a positive, voluntary career transition. That entire quadrant is off the table when weeds like this have grown in your orchard. – Jon Acuff

Generosity is a Game Changer. We need to be generous as it can help us greatly in our careers. It helps to breed loyalty. People will support you if you have helped them before. Do not hesitate or hold back. Greed will cost you more than you think. Generosity is always cheaper than greed. Your generosity will pay dividends. It is for long term benefits. If you find that people are exploiting you, make sure you don’t have an itchy trigger finger. Learn to draw some boundaries. You can let the person learn from a painful experience. The worst case is to avoid them. Make your definition of generosity bigger. You can be generous with your time and skills. Ideally, you should be able to do something you are good at.

Service is renewing. When we serve, our work itself will sustain us. – Rachel Naomi Remen

Before you make a Career Jump give generously of your time, talent and resources without keeping score. If you keep a record of who you’ve been generous to with the expectation that they’ll return the favor, you’ll build transactions not relationships. – Jon Acuff

Empathy, No Longer Just for People Who Like to Cry with Friends. You need to navigate with empathy. It means understanding someone else’s needs and acting on them. Most people are the same and they all have hopes, fears, dreams, frustrations. Having empathy allows to work with just about anyone. If you have empathy, you can do sales and sell stuff. Take time to know someone’s real story. You will understand that they might have undergone to get to where they are. Compassion is important. Fear is an amazing storyteller. Care about what the people you care about care about. Character is an orchard, it changes over time. You don’t have to quit your job to engage in a career jump, but you can do something positive and voluntary. Read less minds, ask more questions. Instead of guessing, learn to ask them directly. Simply showing up shows empathy. It doesn’t have to be big actions. Make people bigger. Ask questions to your colleagues like ‘What can I do to make you look like a rock star to your manager?’ Put someone’s needs ahead of your own. What to do when empathy is broken. Be honest and admit you were wrong sometimes.

Everybody has a story. When we don’t take the time to know someone’s story or worse, create our own version of it, we lose the chance to understand what they need, which is the first step to empathy. – Jon Acuff

Be Present. Showing up at your job is important. You have to deal with your phone, your computer, and your meetings. We use our phones way too often. If you are not present, your relationships might be threatened. When you use your phone, you are putting other people on pause. Be present with your computer. People might surf the Internet at work in their free time. We are all guilty of it. Do work while you’re at work. Be present in meetings. Learn to take notes. It is easier to hide behind a laptop by being old fashioned and taking down notes is easier. Ask at least one question during the meeting will help you to stay engaged. Turn your phone upside down. You could just not bring your phone to the meeting or something.

Never Jump without Character. You need character when you decide to chase a dream. Character helps you navigate through chaos of change. You can always rely on your character. You can’t completely eliminate chaos from your life. Over time, you get used to living with chaos. It’s time to hustle.

Investment: Hustle. We are more capable than we think. Hustle means hard work. It helps you to build on relationships, skills and your character. You don’t get anywhere without hard work. There is a thin line between hustle and hassle. Use grit, awareness and flexibility.

‘Music is in the piano only when it is played.’ Jack Gilbert

Grit is a Choice, Not a Feeling. You will feel a sense of apathy if you have given up on your dream. Grit is not fun or easy. You might have to stay up late to work hard etc. It can be ugly and messy. However, grit is a choice. You might ask, what if I don’t have what it takes? You don’t need some ultimate goal to work on Do Over. Fear will always discourage you from working hard and acting on your goal. Tell yourself that you have what it takes to try. We all get to try. What if I pick the wrong thing to hustle on and miss my opportunity? The thing about life is that you will have many opportunities that will come your way. Therefore, do not apply the once-in-a-lifetime label to things you face. Regret is much worse than fear. Which would you rather choose, fear or regret? Make grit decisions. Give your hustle some time to succeed. Counsel and lean on your relationships. Ask for awesome opportunities. Give yourself permission to be kind. Be honest to yourself. Build a grit list. It’s like running, I don’t like it but I put in on my Grid List due to the benefits I derive from it. Go with grit, don’t be most people. Don’t wait until you feel brave to hustle, choose to hustle until you feel brave.

I didn’t want to be selling insurance at 40, wondering what it would have been like to do stand-up. – Steven Wright, Comedian

If you’re going to make new relationships, you need to have grit. If you’re going to learn new skills, you need to have grit. If you’re going to have strong character, you need to have grit. If you’re going to hustle, you need to have grit. – Jon Acuff

There’s no such thing as a perfect job. There’s no job where you get to do only the things you love doing. Those don’t exist. – Jon Acuff

There will be tasks, projects and activities you have to do in your career that you hate. No matter which stage you’re in, you’ll have to do some things you don’t love. That’s why we all need a Grid List, a short list of the skills we grit our teeth and do regardless of how we feel. – Jon Acuff

Hustle Has Seasons: Use Awareness to Recognize Them. Do not try to hustle at wrong points of your life. For instance, do not hustle on a holiday as you will not feel rested or recharged. You need to ask ‘what season am I in?’ Learn to focus. Hustle is a scalpel. Doing more action might not be the solution all the time. Do not hustle too much that you neglect your family etc. Instead of blaming your boss or colleagues, ask yourself ‘Did I expect this job to be something it never would be?’ It does not mean you are a failure. It just meets that you just took a wrong path and need to find a new one. Keep your head down and hustle on your work.

Be proactive about doing that in your own life. Work on your sense of awareness. Don’t wait for someone you love to call you out. – Jon Acuff

You don’t have to know the exact path, because nobody does, but are you roughly headed in the right direction? If you want to be a musician and you’re a pharmaceutical rep working 70 hours a week, not playing any music, stop kidding yourself. That path doesn’t lead to music. – Jon Acuff

Career Yoga. You need to spend time planning your day. Things rarely go according to plan. Hustling with flexibility is the best, as it leads to less disappointment. Be flexible with your dream. The work you end up loving might not even exist yet. You have to flexible about what you study as well. Your dream will change over your lifetime. Be flexible with your definition of success. Let new be different, not old. Humans love to idealize your past when our present doesn’t meet our expectations. Have fun storming the castle. Having fun is important as it helps you to get going and to push on. Having fun helps you to prevent burnout.

Always Use This to Multiply the Moment. Hustle offers you unexpected opportunities. Overcome your fear and learn to speak to a crowd. Say yes to small opportunities and learn to build from there.

Let no one be deluded that a knowledge of the path can substitute for putting one foot in front of the other. – Mary Caroline Richards

Hustle works those two ways. You hustle hard to stir up more opportunities. And then when you have one, you hustle hard to blow it up as large as it can possibly be. – Jon Acuff

Three Final Words You’ll Tell Me Someday Soon. Work can be more meaningful than we think. We have to change ourselves. We don’t get to pick a transition permanently. Your work is a lifestyle. Anyone can have a Career Do Over.

O you who sit over your full cup and do not drink, tell me, for whom are you still waiting? – Hermann Hesse

Do Over (Make Today the First Day of Your New Career) by Jon Acuff (Part 1)

The Career Savings Account

You control more of your career than you think. You need to rescue and look forward to Monday. A better job begins with building a better you. This book is about building a career. Career ceilings are problems and also retrenchment is one of them. In some jobs, you know when you hit a ceiling and can’t go higher anymore. There are a few options: 1) find another job; 2) Do a job you didn’t want to do; 3) Suck it up over 30 years. Over 70% of the people felt disengaged with their jobs. Learn to embrace career transitions. How do we make career jumps, navigate career bumps, break through career ceilings, make the most of unexpected career opportunities? Learn to build a career savings account. You must keep making deposits into your career savings account. Relationships + Skills + Character X Hustle = Career Savings Account. Relationships are the people you know, skills are the things you do, character is who you are, hustle is how you work. You should have all 4 of them. Most people only work jobs, not build careers. Most people do not have anyone to turn to for career advice once they are in a rut. There are only 4 possible types of career transitions around. Some are voluntary while some are involuntary actions. When you are stuck on a career ceiling, skills will help you breakthrough. When you want to do a career jump and gain progression, your character is the most important investment. Great lives are rarely created in great comfort. Most people are afraid of the unknown. It is never too late to do a do over. It’s time to DO a Do Over.

We eat at TGI Fridays not TGI Mondays. We live for the weekends because we’ve accepted that the weekdays are where dreams go to die. Poke your head up if you’re reading this book at work. – Jon Acuff

Do This First. Fear and complacency are things we need to overcome. Choose your attitude and adjust your expectations. Don’t listen to feelings, but rather, learn to make choices. Adjust your expectations and write down what you see in a job. However, do not completely eliminate them, rather, you can adjust them.

Tomorrow at work, choose to have a good attitude. Choose not to be cynical. Choose not to act like you’re doing them a favor by showing up. Choose not to complain. Choose to cheer for the accomplishments of your co-workers. Choose to treat customers like superstars. – Jon Acuff

Relationships. Finding good people is the key for a successful business. Skills can be judged on a resume, but attitude can’t be judged. Therefore, relationships get you the first gig. During career setbacks, relationships help you too. This book provides some tips on how to strengthen relationships.

You Don’t Know Who You Know. People hate change. Most people despise networking. However, we acknowledge the importance of networking. Who is someone you can turn to for help with your career Do Over? Use note cards. Writing stimulates information retention. Please buy them. It’s okay if you don’t know what to do with your life. Find an accountability partner to monitor your progress on a skill. Answer the question ‘Who do I know that is wise about career issues?’ Answer the question ‘Who have I worked with?’ Answer the question ‘Who do I know that is influential?’ Answer the question ‘Who do I know that owns a business?’ Answer the question ‘Who do I follow online that is in my desired career space?’ Answer the question ‘What casual relationships am I forgetting that might have a career impact?’ Always remember that you don’t know who you know unless you spend deliberate time focusing on your relationships.

It’s better to hang out with people better than you. Pick out associates whose behavior is better than yours and you’ll drift in that direction. – Warren Buffett

Dentists say, “Only floss the teeth you want to keep.” The same is true of career relationships; only invest in the ones you want to keep. – Jon Acuff

Gives Your Foes What They Need Most. You must know what type of relationship you want to develop. You could meet foes along the way, these people are against your dream. They do not support your dreams. Friend is someone who will cheer you along. Advocate is someone who is significant in helping you shape your career. Start to label your friends in the different categories. How do you deal with your foes? This category doesn’t matter and your best bet is to ignore them. There is a difference between an idiot and a foe. Shrink your definition of the word ‘foe’. Don’t search for foes. That’s your best solution. Compare the Internet to Real Life. People are often critics only online and they do not like to criticize in real life. If you have such people, distance yourself from them. Stop hanging out with lobsters. Lobsters just want to make others feel miserable. Distance yourself from them. How do you deal with bad bosses? The first you can do is to improve your work performance to see if it improves your relationship. Admit you’re an employee. Turn the frustration of working under a bad boss into fuel. Your boss is essentially saying ‘I dare you to get a better job’.

One of the easiest and fastest ways to turn an accomplice into a friend is to simply tell your accomplice what you are working on. Most of the time just the act of telling someone what you are trying to do with your life changes things. – Jon Acuff

Sometimes, people who hate on your dream aren’t really mad about your dream. They’re mad because you’re making them jealous. – Jon Acuff

You can’t change someone, but you can impact a work relationship sometimes if you improve your work performance. – Jon Acuff

Casual Counts. Casual friends count too and you never know when they might be able to help you. You need to have a massive collection of these people. Throw as many boomerangs as possible. If you are lucky, one might come back into your life with a work opportunity. Use social media to connect with people whom you haven’t kept in touch. You should try to do some casual relationships. I hate asking people for help. Most successful people didn’t accomplish everything alone. We have to give the casual relationship information. If you’re looking for a new job, tell them that. Start with a small table. Say things like ‘it was wonderful seeing you tonight’. You need to find a table. Put a big table in your house and invite people over for dinner. You need to be a little brave and desperate for community. This is how friendships start. Find a table first. Make new casual relationships on purpose. Casual means deliberate. It’s impossible to predict whether someone can work with you at the start. Be a first responder and do not sit on emails for days. Don’t ignore people and pick up on the first ring. Learn to own the inconvenience. Increase the frequency of your interactions with these casual acquaintances. Friendships built on selfishness never work out. Increase the frequency you see them on their terms, not yours. Own the inconvenience.

Casual relationships run on (and deepen) based on your willingness to share information. – Jon Acuff

If people don’t know you need help, they can’t help you. – Jon Acuff

Whether you’re chasing a new dream or trying to climb the ladder at work, casual relationships won’t know how to help us unless we ask for help. – Jon Acuff

Great Career Take Great Advocates. Not all your friends can give you good advice. There are 3 characteristics that advocates must have. They have to be brave and to tell you the truth, even though it hurts. They have to be respected. They also have to be trustworthy. Cheat Codes make the game a lot easier. They will tell you shortcuts which actually work. However, you must be willing to listen to them. What do career advocates need from us? What’s in it for them? Expand your definition of the word ‘expert’. There are generally 3 types of expertise: Industry, life and You. A best friend can be an advocate too. Advocate is like a mentor and the advice mostly goes one way only. An advocate must be someone smarter than you. Join people in your profession and ask for advice. Know other people in similar firms. You might also build some long-distance advocates or heroes you have read about in books.

It’s one of my theories that when people give you advice, they’re really just talking to themselves in the past. – Steve Garguilo

An advocate is only as good as the amount of access you are willing to give them into your life. The best advocate for your career can’t do anything if you stay surface level with them. – Jon Acuff

Don’t Burn Many Bridges. Sometimes, it is inevitable. However, do not burn many bridges as it might haunt you. Boomerangs will return, even bad ones. The fewer you burn, the better. Do you form hate clubs about people you don’t like. Sometimes, stupid people can be your boss also. Leave Jobs with your thumb raised. Do not raise your middle finger as the experience is not worth it at all. Keep your matches away from digital bridges too. Don’t do social media gloating. Apologize if you have to. Your industry is smaller than you think. Treat everyone like you’ll work with them again someday.

It is seldom indeed that one parts on good terms, because if one where on good terms one would not part. – Marcel Proust

I’m not asking you to be fake and give long, deep hugs to people who spent the previous day verbally assaulting you. – Jon Acuff

If you currently have a job, do not go online and criticize the company you work for. – Jon Acuff

Community Shines Brightest in the Darkness of a Career Bump. There are only 4 things which can happen: 1) career ceilings; 2) career jumps; 3) career opportunities; 4) career bumps. Relationships will pick you up. Friends will be there to help you. Rock Bottom is a Trampoline. Sometimes, you will spring back into life, just like that. A career bump will rock your boat and it will reveal who are your true friends. We need friends and advocates.

Investment 2: Skills. Relationships get you the first gig, skills get you the second. However, if you have no skills, you sink. The difference between an amateur and expert are skills. They give purpose for life. Skills are ability and provide you with natural talents. Old dogs can learn new skills. Your skills can come in handy. Skills are the key to getting unstuck.

Everybody wants to be somebody: Nobody wants to grow. – Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

Once you have skills, they are yours forever. No one can take that skill away from you. When you leave a job, the skills you learned there leave with you. You must keep them sharp, but a skill you put in the Career Savings Account stays there. – Jon Acuff

You Have More Skills than You Think. Most people claim they don’t have many skills. This is because they are just things you do, but you don’t classify. Get more skills. You should write down a list of current skills. Write down ideas. Look for patterns. Ask what are you good at. Do not be humble. It could be personal skills as well, need not be work-related skills. Ask yourself what comes naturally? Write down ‘what do people pay me to do?’ Write down ‘what are you afraid of?’ Write down ‘If you wrote an eBook, what would the topic be?’ Bring the cards along with you. If you do not know what your skills are, ask a friend for advice. You need to be aware of the skills you might want to acquire.

Whether you want to get better at your current job or find a new one, chances are you will need new skills. – Jon Acuff

Somewhere on the road to adulthood we decided that dreams were dumb. We stopped wanting to be firemen and astronauts and settled for stuck and predictable. We accepted the lie that Monday must be boring. – Jon Acuff

Master the Invisible Skills. Everything is a skill, everything you do at work is a skill. Communication, fixing paper jams are all skills. The small things add up. The small skills do not seem flashy. You just need some tweaks to be great at them. Many people miss these invisible skills and overlook them. Going to work is a skill as it shows that absenteeism is not value highly by employees. Go to work and go on time. You will already be better off than others who don’t show up at work. Learn to add value. In every job, there must be something that you do which adds value. Ask yourself what is the currency of your company. How does what you do add to your company’s mission? You can tell your boss: ‘I’ve been thinking a lot about the best ways for me to continually add value to this company. I’d love to hear your thoughts on how I can do that.’ Employees must add value. Own your attitude. It is not the employers’ job to fulfil your career desires. When you have a bad attitude, it shows. It’s your job to enjoy work, not your employer. Attitude is a decision you choose on a daily basis. Express gratefulness. Show consideration for others. Focus on what matters. Play to your strengths and everyone else’s. Learn to be flexible. Respect their gear. Continue with your education and learn more. If the company wants to train you, you should be grateful.

The goal of your first job is to teach you how to have a job. – Jon Acuff

Over and over again, career experts bemoaned the fact that employees who don’t show up to work get fired. – Jon Acuff

Attitude is a skill. It can be changed. It can be improved and it starts with owning it. You determine your attitude, not your day, not a job, not a situation. You. Own it. – Jon Acuff

If you need more to do, find more work to do. Finishing the work your boss thought would take you 40 hours in only 25 hours doesn’t mean you’ve just earned an extra 15 hours of me time that week. – Jon Acuff

Never Become a Dinosaur. There are people who don’t love to learn new skills. With technological advances, skills are important. If you don’t have them, you are a dinosaur. Your skills can get obsolete quickly if you are not careful. Old skills might not work all the time. New skills open the doors to wonderful opportunities. It will value-add to your resume. Sign up for classes is also a signal to your boss that you care about the job. Passion won’t show up from nowhere. You won’t find calling out of nowhere. There are hassles with learning something new. It’s not easy but you can pretend to be a tourist in a new country and ask a lot of questions to find out more. If you want a Do Over, you have to pick up new skills. It’s hard to get stuck in your old ways when you prioritize learning new skills.

I like being a beginner. I like the moment when I look at everyone and say, “I have no idea how to do this, let’s figure it out.” – Jon Acuff

If we all don’t want to become dinosaurs, bemoaning the good ol’ days, we have to stay current. We have to stay relevant. We have to stay employable and the best way to do that is by learning new skills. – Jon Acuff

New jobs always require learning new skills, even if that just means learning a different way a new company prefers to do something. – Jon Acuff

Learning a new skill can reveal a new dream. How can you know you love doing something if you don’t try it? – Jon Acuff

How To Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big Kind of the Story of My Life By Scott Adams (Part 1)

Introduction. This book is about a guy who failed his way to success. It wasn’t entirely due to luck. The author pursued a strategy of managing opportunities. Make luck easier to find you. This book is not about dispensing advice. ‘Money distorts truth like a hippo in a thong.’ Advice is not one size fits all anyway. This book is about personal experiences. Learn to narrow your choices. People can’t filter fact from fiction well. Develop a system to sort truth from fiction. The six filters for truth are: 1) Personal experience; 2) Experience of people you know; 3) Experts; 4) Scientific studies; 5) Common sense; 6) Pattern recognition. Consistency is your best bet. Many people do not have smart friends to help them out. He created Dilbert. Profit is a good benchmark for success in a business. Use pattern recognition and trial and observation to succeed.

Goals are for losers’; ‘Your mind isn’t magic. It’s a moist computer program.’; ‘The most important metric to track is your personal energy’; ‘Every skill you acquire doubles your odds of success.’; ‘Happiness is health plus freedom.’; ‘Luck can be managed, sort of.’; ‘Conquer shyness by being a huge phony (in a good way)’; ‘Fitness is the lever that moves the world.’; ‘Simplicity transforms ordinary into amazing. – Scott Adams

The Time I was Crazy. In 2005, the doctors diagnosed him with being crazy. He was behaving crazy. He had lost ability to chat with humans. His grandpa was also a little crazy in the past. He had to stutter in his speech. It was a social nightmare to say the least. Loneliness was debilitating and affects your body the same way aging does. Humans need to be heard. His quality of life was dropping because of loneliness. The author was slated to give a talk to thousands despite his ailment.

Sometimes, the only real difference between crazy people and artists is that artists write down what they imagine seeing. -Scott Adams

The Day of the Talk. He couldn’t conduct small talk well. He soaked in the energy from the crowd. He has created a unique relationship with failure. You can always learn from failing. He has a long history of profiting from failure. He failed to succeed in the corporate environment. He nailed the speech and later sought to cure his problems of speaking normally off-stage as well.

Experts say public speaking is one of the most terrifying things a person can do. – Scott Adams

I invite failure. I survive it. I appreciate it. And then I mug the shit out of it. – Scott Adams

Passion Is Bullshit. Successful people tell you to follow your passion. You should never make a loan to someone who is following his passion. For example, to a sports enthusiast. You want to offer a loan to the boring guy, without passion but generate profits. You want the grinder. Successful people want to offer advice and be humble. Therefore, most of the time, they offer passion as a reason. Passion gives people hope and feels more accessible. It seems like the people’s talent. This is bullshit. Passion is a by-product of knowing you will be good at something. Sometimes, talent plays a larger role than passion. Most success stem from desire, luck, hard work, determination and appetite for risk. Energy is good. Passion is bullshit.

It’s easy to passionate about things that are working out, and that distorts our impression of the importance of passion. – Scott Adams

The business ventures that didn’t work out – and that would be most of them – slowly drained my passion as they failed. The few that worked became more exciting as they succeeded. – Scott Adams

In hindsight, it looks as if the projects I was most passionate about were also the ones that worked. But objectively, my passion level moved with my success. Success caused passion more than passion caused success. – Scott Adams

We humans tend to enjoy doing things we are good at, while not enjoying things we suck at. We’re also fairly good at predicting what we might be good at before we try. – Scott Adams

Some of my many failures in summary form. You want to be steeped to your eyebrows in failure. Failure is where success likes to hide in plain sight. Success takes effort. It keeps lazy people out of the game. Ramp up your energy levels. Failure is a tool, not an outcome. Failure is a resource that can be managed. Success is accessible, even if you fail 95% of the time. Some of his failures are listed below. Velcro Rosin Bag Invention. Partake in things which you have a natural advantage. The author also partook in learning computer programming. He took 1 year to work at it. The technology in the modern world was advancing too fast and he couldn’t keep up. He wrote a computer program to track the ‘psychic’ ability of users. All his computer ideas failed. He was working at a bank. He worked at Crocker National Bank for 8 years till he reached lower management. He learnt a great deal of banking, finance, technology etc. After that, he worked at Pacific bell for another 8 years. He wrote a program for file transfers as well. He started a crackpot idea website too. Google bought Youtube for $1.65 billion and the shareholders made a fortune. He tried to create something like YouTube, it didn’t work out. Timing is often the biggest component of success. Scott created a technology to make home deliveries more practical. The author bought Webvan stock, which eventually went bust. There is no such thing as useful information that comes from company’s management. He started earning royalties from Dilbert but didn’t have time to research. The money he placed with investment managers lost money as well. The author also tried to start a restaurant and create nutritious foods.

Everything you want out of life is in that huge, bubbling vat of failure. The trick is to get the good stuff out. – Scott Adams

If success were easy, everyone would do it. It takes effort. That fact works to your advantage because it keeps lazy people out of the game. – Scott Adams

What doesn’t kill us makes us stronger. – Friedrich Nietzsche

I want failures to make me stronger, of course, but I also want to become smarter, more talented, better networked, healthier, and more energized. – Scott Adams

Good ideas have no value because the world already has too many of them. The market rewards execution, not ideas. From that point on, I concentrated on ideas I could execute. I was already failing towards success, but I didn’t yet know it. – Scott Adams

And since timing is often hard to get right unless you are psychic, it makes sense to try different things until you get the timing right by luck. – Scott Adams

I have to say the richness of the whole restaurant experience was totally worth the money. I was in a position to afford the losses without altering my lifestyle, so I don’t regret any of it. – Scott Adams

My Absolute Favorite Spectacular Failure. Most failures involve bad luck, ignorance, and sometimes ordinary stupidity. He went for an interview in a snowstorm and didn’t bring a jacket. He didn’t wear a suit and tie as well. His engine died on his way home. He got out of the car and started running. However, the air was extremely chilling and he lost feelings in this hands. His legs were failing as well. The author detested snow at that moment. A travelling shoe salesman saw him and saved him. He eventually sold the car and flew to California. He left NY for California.

Thank you, failure. I no longer fear death when I go outdoors. – Scott Adams

Goals vs Systems. Scott was 21 years old when he flew to California. He wore his suit on the flight. He spoke to a CEO of a company that made screws. One should have a system instead of a goal. Keep looking for better options. At long as you are not learning, you should think about moving. This businessman didn’t care about loyalty. Appearance matters a lot. The people who use systems tend to fair better. Devise a system to succeed. A system is something you do on a more regular basis. Systems have no deadlines. Most successful people follow systems but not goals. Try to improve your odds of getting lucky. Warren Buffett has a system that works. The system is to buy undervalued companies and hold them forever, until something major changes. A spectacular system beats passion every time.

Every time he got a new job, he immediately started looking for a better one. For him, job seeking was not something one did when necessary. It was an ongoing process. This makes perfect sense if you do the math. Chances are the best job for you won’t become available at precisely the time you declare yourself ready. Your best bets, he explained, was to always be looking for the better deal. – Scott Adams

In the exercise realm, running a marathon in under 4 hours is a goal, but exercising daily is a system. In business, making a million dollars is a goal, but being a serial entrepreneur is a system. – Scott Adams

My System. When he was six, he chanced upon the Peanuts comics. He spent hours working on them. However, he never became good at it. However, he never gave up. He got rejected by the Famous Artists School for Young People because he was too young at that time. His dad persuaded him to pursue a career in the postal service. His mum decided that he should be a lawyer. However, he had to fund his college education. He pursued economics as it would be a good prelaw degree. Scott accepted Hartwick College in New York. He received a partial scholarship for Hartwick College. He contracted mononucleosis. He was sick, however, he wanted to work hard and so his grades improved along the way. Scott did not follow his dad’s instructions to work for the Postal Service. Scott decided to create and run a company. He landed himself at a big bank and took as many classes as possible to learn about a business. All this while, he started to pick up business acumen. Create something that has value. His competitively edge was creativity. This was a solution that allows luck to find you. Create something that the public wants and reproduce it. Being system-oriented allows you to be more resistant to giving up.

In time I started to understand something called the odds. Some things were, by their very nature, likely, and some were not. – Scott Adams

I learned by observation that people who pursued extraordinarily unlikely goals were overly optimistic at best, delusional at worst, and just plain stupid most of the time. – Scott Adams

I was the kind of person who needed a job that made other people happy, ideally with a side benefit of making me rich and famous too. And for that I needed a system. – Scott Adams

I wanted the product to be something that was easy to reproduce in unlimited quantities. I didn’t want to sell my time, at least not directly, because that model has an upward limit. – Scott Adams

I wanted to create, invent, write, or otherwise concoct something widely desired that would be easy to reproduce. – Scott Adams

The world offers so many alternatives that you need a quick filter to eliminate some options and pay attention to others. Whatever your plan, focus is always important. – Scott Adams

My Corporate Career Fizzled. He walked into Crocker National Banker and wanted to be a bank teller. His plan was to start from the bottom. However, he did perform well at it. Scott has a do-it-wrong-then-fix-it personality. Due to his inability to keep track of people’s transactions, he was unfit for the job. He could either get fired or promoted. He wrote a letter of suggestions on how to improve the bank. He asked to join the management training program instead, like a management associate program. Luckily, Scott was granted an interview with the senior vice president. The suggestions gave an idea of his potential. In total, Scott spent 8 years in the bank. He took on multiple jobs in the bank. There was a headcount freeze at the top and he couldn’t get promoted. It was not due to his incompetence. Pacific Bell hired him. An acquirer took over his previous bank and hired many people. 60% of the time, Scott was trying to look busy. Scott declared the workplace a hazard as there were many smokers. It was at this time that Scott completed his MBA. Similar to the previous bank, the company were not promoting white males anymore. Scott worked at Pacific Bell for 8 years as well. His affirmation was ‘I, Scott Adam, will be a famous cartoonist.’ He practiced art every morning before heading to work.

Deciding VS Wanting. After you decide, take action. Wishing starts in the mind and generally stays there. If you decide to be successful, you need to pay the price. Sacrifice sometime in your life to pursue your aim. Successful people pursue success. They need a system.

If you want success, figure out the price, then pay it. – Anonymous

The Selfishness Illusion. There are 3 kinds of people when it comes to generosity. They are selfish, stupid or to cause a burden on others. Your best option is to be selfish. Successful people don’t burden the world. Don’t be the petty selfish kind. Rather, be the important kind of selfish. Spend time on fitness, eating right, pursuing your career and spend time with family and friends. If you ignore your health, you become stupid. We have been told that it is better to give than receive. The problem with this is that it is short term and may harm yourself in the long run. Humans are easily influenced by those we talk to. This is known as peer pressure, modelling or imitating. Generous people should take care of themselves first. Being selfish means you take a long term view of things. Once your needs are taken care of, will you look towards the world. Success changes you to be less selfish.

If you pursue your selfish objectives, and you do it well, someday your focus will turn outward. It’s an extraordinary feeling. I hope you can experience it. – Scott Adams

The Energy Metric. There is an opportunity cost whenever you choose to do something as you will have to forgo something else. To achieve more, maximize your personal energy by eating right, exercising, avoid excessive stress, getting enough sleep etc. The quality of your work will improve etc. Find something exciting to wake up to and look forward to. How you behave and your mood affects those around you. Learn to be a very positive person and stay happy. It will affect the social lives of those around you. Have calm, focused energy. Scott exercised on most weekday evenings and had the side projects which could set him free. Blogging exercises Scott and charges him up. Everyone has their own activities which can be an energy booster. Shopping is exhausting to him. Capitalism inspires people to work hard and to take risks. Match mental state to activity. For example, if you are creative in the mornings, then start writing things. At 6am, I’m a creator, by 2pm, he is a copier. The creative juices usually flow in the easy mornings or late evenings. In the evening, he does the mechanical tasks etc. It is a match of energy level with a mindless task. If you don’t have a flexible schedule, try to plan your time to do something outside of work. He woke up at 4am to start his comics. Simplifiers vs Optimizers. The simplifier will look for the easy way to do something, although it may not be the best. The optimizer will look for the best solution, even if it is more complex. His wife is an optimizer. He is a simplifier. If you have detailed plans, you are more likely to fail. Optimizing can be stressful and exhausting. If a task requires communication, simplifying it would be the better option. If it an individual task, you might go for the optimizer mode, provided you can control the variables involved. For Dilbert, Scott used little art in the background. Dilbert was meant to be simple in design. One way is to simplify first, and then try to optimize later. Simplification frees up time, which is a valuable resource. Scott is an entrepreneur, author and cartoonist in a normal 40 hour work week. Maximize your personal energy. Sitting position. Sit with good posture with both feet on the floor. Your brain will tell you that it is time to get into serious work. Don’t work in the same position as when you relax. Do not use the bed for work. The way you sit makes a difference to your productivity. Tidiness is an important factor as well. Some people don’t mind chaos and mess. Some people work better when it is neat and clean. The author feels more energy after tidying up actually. A big obstacle is not knowing what your career plans require. Flash research is research under a minute in google. Sometimes, people have already asked similar questions before. Don’t be an asshole. You know an asshole when you see one. It includes selfishness, arrogance, mean-spiritedness etc. Examples include bragging, dominating conversation, cheating, lying, honesty. Asshole behavior is an addiction. Some people like doing it. Make taking care of yourself your number 1 priority. Economics is your second biggest priority, especially your job and investments. If you can’t get this right, you will be a burden to your family. When these 2 are taken care of, your friends, family and lovers are next. The next ring is your community, country and the world.The problem is that life is not so easy. Your priorities will overlap and conflict. Right choices should charge you up and make you more motivated. It will feel right. If it feels unhealthy and draining, it’s probably wrong. Meaningful work can be energizing.

Once all of my personal needs were met, my thoughts automatically turned to how I could make the world a better plan…It just happened on its own. – Scott Adams

Apparently humans are wired to take care of their own needs first, then family, tribe, country, and the world, roughly in that order. – Scott Adams

This book is another example of something that gets my energy up. I like to think that someone might read this collection of ideas and find a few thoughts that help. That possibility is tremendously motivating for me. – Scott Adams

Ideally, you want to manage your personal energy for the long term and the big picture. Having one more cocktail at midnight might be an energy boost at the time, but you pay for it double the next day. – Scott Adams

When you start asking questions, you often discover that there’s a simple solution, a Web site that handles it, or a professional who takes care of it for a reasonable fee. – Scott Adams

If you piss off your people around you, it may haunt you and be very distracting at the end. – Scott Adams

I would define an asshole as anyone who chooses to make the lives of others less pleasant for reasons that don’t appear productive or necessary. – Scott Adams

Your self-interest is best served by being a reasonable person whenever you can muster it. – Scott Adams

The next rings are your local community, your country, and the world, in that order. Don’t bother trying to fix the world until you get the inner circles of your priorities under control. – Scott Adams

If your boss routinely asks you to work overtime for no good reason other than to claw through piles of brain-deadening administrative work, you probably need to look for a new job. – Scott Adams

Quitter by Jon Acuff (Part 1)

Closing the Gap between Your Day Job and Your Dream Job

Don’t Quit Your Day Job. I hated my day job and the feelings of Monday mornings. I felt that my dreams were crushed. I had 8 jobs in 8 years. Many employees are also looking out for new jobs. The average tenure of a job is only 3.1 years for the younger generation. Now, we converted from stayers to leavers. We hate our jobs and only see work as a means to pay money to fund our lifestyle. We often feel that work is miserable and that it is possible to separate our work from our personality outside of work. Quitting your job is one of the worst things you can do. It sucks when you have a lousy boss and the only person he can manage is you. We always assume things will be rosy once we quit. All your financial responsibilities will creep up on you. Your wife will start arguing with you. You will get scolded if you watch too much TV. Quitting your jobs might throw your relationship into chaos. You can get to your dream job, but that doesn’t involve you leaving your day job immediately. When you don’t have a job, you don’t have a good bargaining tool to get what you want. If you have a day job, you can still reject shitty offers. The cost of raising kids is very high nowadays. I got to earn some cash speaking in front of a crowd. You lose leverage if you quit without a job. At the heart of a dream is change. People do not like change in general. Financial commitments are tight and inflexible. Stay true to your dream and do not quit your day job. People with jobs have more creative freedom than those without jobs. Once I started a diet, I realized that other aspects of my life was improving as well. Discipline begets discipline. Men need to work and need a project/ need progress at all times. Money issues are very sensitive. Humans need to work. We need to learn to be successful at work. Having a day job will stabilize your marriage.

The unfortunate truth is the escaping the land of bad bosses is just a fantasyland. The second you quit your bad boss you get dozens of new bosses. And some are more demanding than the one you just left. – Jon Acuff

You effectively lose that option when you quit. You lose that freedom when you jump without a net. You lose the power of the walkout or the shredded contract. – Jon Acuff

When you keep your day job, all opportunities become surplus propositions rather than deficit remedies. You only have to take the ones that suit your dream best. – Jon Acuff

Discipline begets discipline. When you step up to a challenge before you, your ramped-up resources rub off on other areas of your life. You wouldn’t think eating less ‘fat’ would impact how closely you monitor your family’s financial budget, but it’s all tied together. – Jon Acuff

Quitting a job doesn’t jump-start a dream because dreams take planning, purpose and progress to succeed. That stuff has to happen before you quit your day job. Often it should occur months and even years before. – Jon Acuff

Removing the ‘I’m’ From Your ‘But’. It feels sexy to quit. We usually label quitters as winners. This is the “I’m, but’ generation. This means that ‘We don’t know what we want, but this isn’t it’. People seem to know what they want to do without even trying that thing. There are ways to find out what your dream job is. For instance, one could work on personality tests. The truth is that most of us don’t know what our dream job is. So ask yourself, so what do you want to do? We often think that what we want to do is going to be a revelation. The author believes that it is more a process of recovery. Somehow, you lost it along the way. Everyday distractions are bad and divert us away from our dreams. Being busy is an excuse. Do not simply discount your dream. You will always meet people in your life who dismiss your dreams, who think that you are not good enough. Nothing can’t hurt you. Nothing is comfortable. Nothing is normal. We are embarrassed to share our big dreams. Don’t believe that you have no gifts in life and you have nothing. It is difficult to answer the question what do I want to do with my life because is a discovery question. Learn to look for hinge problems. Mercedes Benz redesigned the SLR range to appeal to the rich. They added a hinge to the ignition. You needed to open the cover and then press the ignition button with your thumb. It was like launching a missile. That made a tremendous difference to the car’s outlook and appeal. The lamination of your text makes it seem like you are a true published author. My dad also sent my book for publishing and that was great. My dad believed in me, that was one of my hinge moments too. However, most hinges are difficult to recover. Ask yourself the following questions to figure out hinge moments. 1) What do I love enough to do for free? 2) What do I do that causes time to feel different? 3) What do I enjoy doing regardless of the opinions of the people? 4) If only your life changed, would that be enough? 5) Are there any patterns in the things you like doing?

If you recognize that, if you admit that there is a chance that you are good, perhaps even great at something, you should feel a little uncomfortable. Because if your gift is not nothing, that means it is something. – Jon Acuff

A hinge moment occurs when you are planning to do something standard and normal, and then seemingly out of nowhere, a small detail usually hinges you in a different direction. – Jon Acuff

What Lies Between a Day Job and a Dream Job. Every dream has risk associated with it. When you stare at risk, you tend to make irrational decisions. We will now examine 3 risks associated with a dream. They are ‘The Magnifying Glass’. We blow things out of proportion. The next is ‘The Kaleidoscope’. Your dream is also connected to every aspect of your life. This is basically overthinking and thinking of all the worst case scenarios. The last fear is ‘The Telescope’. This is the best as you view from a safe distance and see the big picture. Risk is holding us back from pursuing our dream. Perfection is a real problem. This is because it tends to make you procrastinate and not do anything. Get organized and get things in motion. Perfect is not possible. This does not mean you should write half-hearted work. It is still better to pursue your dreams rather than leave it not pursued. Once you decide, just do it. We often like to say I could be so-and-so if I really wanted to. This leads to apathy. We ask ourselves ‘What if I try and I fail and it turns out I’m not really a writer?’ Apathy is about being a fake somebody. The chance of you failing to get your dream job and then rotting away and going to waste are extremely slim. If you do not attempt your dreams, you fail 100% of the time. We often say that we are too busy to pursue our dreams. However, most of us are also busy. However, everyone can set aside time for time management. Instead of time, learn to focus on the amount of tasks at hand. Financial foolishness is different from being committed to your dream. Do not take drastic measures. Money can be a huge obstacle if you are not careful. I hate the words ‘by now’. We say this when it is too late to pursue our dream. What if I did the wrong thing? Your past career can still teach you valuable lessons. Do not keep saying things like ‘It would be easier if …’ For instance, people say ‘It would be easier if I didn’t have a full-time job’. Having a lot of money will not save your life. Do not blame your kids, marriage for not being able to pursue your dreams. This is simply outrageous.

90% perfect and shared with the world always changes more lives than 100% perfect and stuck in your head. – Jon Acuff

Money will become a high-walled border around your dream if you don’t control it. It will limit what you can do and when you can do it, like a barbed-wire fence at a prison. If you can control it though, money can be a strong, stable place to jump from. – Jon Acuff

I know sometimes it’s scary to think that you might do the wrong thing. But let me assure you, nothing you do will be wasted. Every decision you make, every path you take, has the ability to contribute something you need to succeed at your dream. – Jon Acuff

We always assume that more free time will equal more productivity but often that isn’t true. I personally tend to get more done when I am busy. – Jon Acuff

The Rich Employee by James Altucher (Part 2)

How a Poor Employee Thinks. Jobs can be either outsourced to other countries or be replaced. Education might not protect you from it. Do not look for employers who will outsource people at the first opportunity. Use time to learn to be innovative. Learning from online courses is a great idea. Avoid the poor employee mindset. A poor employee gossips, under promises, doesn’t understand company vision. He never invests in himself. He spends on showing off instead of learning new things. He never comes up with great ideas. Does only what is required to get a salary. He surfs the net a lot for personal interests. He hates the job.

How to Become a Rich Employee. This is a practice.

The Rich Employee Miracle Morning. You are the alchemist of your life. A near death experience can change you. Do not fight with any bad things that might have befallen you. Adopt the daily practice of choosing yourself: striving to improve every day 1% for both your physical and mental health. Some of the miracle morning strategies you can adapt are ‘Meditation’; ‘Prayer’; and ‘Breathing’. Use affirmations to help you every morning. For instance ‘Today, I am open to learn new things’. ‘V’ is for visualization. Learn to visualize your goal. ‘E’ is for exercise. ‘R’ is for reading. Read books that contain positive ideas. ‘S’ is for scribing. It is very important to have a healthy routine. Start to take action and develop positive habits.

How a Rich Employee Creates His or Her Side Hustle. What worked in the past might not work well today. Hence, it is better to cultivate the rich employee mindset. Being an entrepreneur is about mitigating and not creating risk. Find a system for developing a side job. Pay attention to your emotions. How do you make a blog more successful? You love more. Learn to spread the love and share others’ posts. Link others to your page. Have guest bloggers. Learn to make more love. Buy low, sell high. Use drop shipping tactics, like buy from AliExpress and then sell on Ebay for instance. Adopt the QVC-A method for success. Q is for Quality, V is for value, C is for consistency, A is for authenticity. Learning to find happiness with less is true wealth. We are the sum of our experiences and not the sum of our belongings. It is okay to do nothing at all on some days.

How Does a Rich Employee Handle When Others Get Jealous and Trash Her or Him? You gain success and others will start hating you. People will be jealous of your success. It is not possible to be loved all the time. I have learnt to deal with death threats and hate mails. Learn to live life like it’s your last day. It might be the last moment you see your loved ones. Hate will eventually pass after a while too. Those haters are just junk status binging. Just say ‘thank you’ and let go. Learn to have a vision. Write and work from the heart. Laughter cures all and makes people relax. Laughter is indeed the best medicine. Do not waste time living other people’s fears.

Habits of the Mentally Strong Rich Employee. Anyone can learn to mentally strong. Mentally strong people have very strong relationships. ‘You are the average of the 5 people you spend your time with’. Honesty is important. Understand it’s not about me, it’s about you. Focus on solving the problems of other people. Don’t keep thinking about making money. Smart people keep reading and become stronger. Some of the good books to read are ‘As a Man Thinketh’. Every mentally strong person was a voracious reader. Health is wealth and you can’t achieve big things in life when you are sick. Sleep 8 hours a day and walk a lot. Be curious and try to learn more things in life. Ask questions and learn and do not be shy. Learn, say, repeat. Exercise your idea muscles and come up with ideas. Learn to exercise the idea muscle and keep learning. Mentally strong people give themselves permission. Give yourself permission to fail and to try again. Ask ‘what can you do to help others?’ Understand that life changes fast. There is no grand purpose for you out there. Also understand that experiences are more valuable than goods. Learn to listen more. Pretend everything is going to die tomorrow and treat others well and with compassion. News is completely unimportant. Art and innovation are main stayers. Always take the job that gives you as much freedom as possible.

When you buy something nice, the neurochemicals spike, and then go away. When you have an experience, you have days of anticipation for the experience. Then you have the experience. Then you have the memories that can last forever. – James Altucher

Habits of the Poor Employee. The poor employee has an opinion. The poor employee thinks they are special. We do not have a special purpose in life. The poor employee talks a lot. Try to talk less when you know nothing much. The poor employee has no career. The poor employee thinks it needs X to get Y. There are many other paths to get Y. Some people think that ‘If I don’t do this then bad things will happen’. The poor employee thinks that he can’t leave. There will always be haters. You can’t change them, so you can just delete them. You are the coach of your future self. Take a walk when you feel like shit. Spend time with those who are good around you.

Get good at three, four, or five things. Then find the intersection. Then become the best in the world at the intersection. That’s how you can pretend to do your special purpose. – James Altucher

How the Rich Employee Learns

A Rich Employee is Always Learning. How do you know what you are talented at? Everyone is talented in many things. There are 10 step technique for learning. The first is to love it. Write every day. Study every chess game and work hard. Quantity of ideas is more important than quality at the start. Get a teacher. That will make you learn 10 times faster. Study the history and study the present. Do not read so many self-help business books. Write down the things you learn from each book. Do easy projects first. This will be the small wins which you give you enough confidence to continue. Study what you did. Analyze and do a post-mortem for any failures you might have suffered in the past. No man is an island and we work better in teams. Find your evil plan. Change the world.

Don’t forget the important rule: the secret of happiness is not “being great” – the secret of “growth”. If you only “try”, you’ll get to a level that is natural for you. – James Altucher

Frequently and Important Questions Rich Employees Have

How Does a Rich Employee Deal with a Crappy Boss While In Transition. When a boss yelled at me once, I quit. However, that is not the best way to deal with things. One should learn to deal with them and train them. The first tip is never kiss ass. Engage as little as possible with him, only talk about work. Never talk badly behind his back. Always give him/her credit for everything as Dogs like to be loved. Write a cover-your-ass memo every day describing what you are up to and who you are dealing with. Keep track of every detail. Build relationships with his network of colleagues and contacts. Help other employees of your boss with their jobs. Learn to over deliver. Understand what’s your market value and apply for jobs.

If your boss is a crappy person then you want to engage as little as possible. Only work stuff. Never joking around. Never anything that builds a meaningful dialogue that he will twist later. Don’t make friends with an animal. – James Altucher

On anything he asks you to do provide an extra touch. That is how he gets promoted. When you are more creative than him, over deliver for him, and he gets full credit. – James Altucher

Why is it especially important for women rich employees to become idea machines? Women need to bring things to the table too. This is because women still get paid less than men. As women, you should ask more questions. Men tend to ask the questions during talks. Men do things even if they are not 100% prepared. The transformation might be slow but slow and steady wins the race. Get out of depression. Remember to give to ourselves. Remember that ideas help to save lives and relationships etc. Learn to debunk stereotypes of women. Come up with 10 ideas a day. Ask yourself what is your passion for today? Learn to cut ourselves some slack. Understand that there is no beauty in playing small. The author recommends that ladies read ‘Lean in’.

Just One Thing to Do. Are women afraid that they will ask dumb questions? Do not be afraid anymore.

How Does a Rich Employee Master New Skills? Most of us will not be masters at anything. Talent is indeed a factor. How do you find what you are talented at? The first method is to write down what you enjoyed doing as a kid. Another way is to go to a shop and see what books you pick up to read. We are after all a combination of all of our experiences and if it is garbage so be it. Work on it four hours a day. You will also need to study history rather deeply. Study those who had failed before you. Study your failures. Do not blame others if you fail. Always learn from your experiences. Be able to recognize patterns. To become a master, one has to endure much pain. With mastery, big failures will always come. Build your ego. Persistence creates luck.

There’s a myth that everyone is talented at least one thing and you just have to find it. This isn’t true. Most people are not talented at anything. Most people can be pretty good at something. – James Altucher

At some point you have to cook 10,000 meals. Or play a million hands of poker, or 1000s of games of chess. Or start 20 businesses. Very few are successful right away. That would require too much luck and luck favors the prepared and the persistent. – James Altucher

One reason most people in the world don’t get really good at anything is because they have no talent for anything that anyone cares about. Another reason is they don’t want to put in the work. – James Altucher

How Does a Rich Employee Transform Anger into ‘What Works’? When you experience paranoia, you start losing intelligence. It will destroy you. Resentment is very bad too. If you think of revenge, that is very bad too. So does feelings of regret. Perfectionism is bad too. You can’t control the fact that you are not perfect. There are always things outside your control and you simply care too much. Feelings of guilt are not desirable too. Thinking of worst case scenarios are not desirable too. Talking unnecessarily also removes confidence.

Is there a ‘right way’ to ask for things that the rich employee utilizes? Do not be ashamed when you have to ask for something. The passive aggressive ask. By keeping silent, it will ruin your life. By asking, sometimes it can hurt your chances in future. If you can handle a lot of Nos, then keep asking. This is known as the cold ask. It doesn’t hurt if you don’t really care about the person and also what they of you. You are asking for something very small. You can ask people out for coffee. I asked 100 people to give me $5 on the street, only 1 guy gave me $1. Begging might work. Learn the ‘no pressure’ ask. Asking is good if whether they say ‘yes’ or ‘no’ doesn’t affect the relationship. Later on, you can follow up with No Pressure Asks. One good way is to ask for advice. Ask for advice on how you can improve at work or in your personal life. Try the reciprocity ask. Therefore, the trick is to give something first. You don’t have to ask immediately, you can store up your asks. What to have to offer in return? Therefore, sometimes you need to do the background work first.

As a Rich Employee, how do I know if I should take up a job in a start-up? If the CEO has built a business before, the odds of failure go down to 25%. The company must have enough funds to last 1 year at least. You must also believe in the company’s vision and the CEO must be good at communicating that vision. If you use the product and you like it, even better. Don’t work for a company that is easily replaceable at a lower valuation. Learning is the key. Look out for the subtleties of the company. If you hear about the company trashing their clients, you will probably not want to work for them. All gossiping is bad. You have to like your boss. Work for promising companies utilizing new technologies. Do not ask for when the company will IPO, because it can take up to 7 or 10 years. Make sure you see the path to profitability.

Resources for the Rich Employee

Create a Choose Yourself Meet-up in Your Town. Improving yourself is a practise and not a goal. Associate yourself with others who strive for self-improvement too. Associate yourself with people with similar goals. Share with others how to keep learning, network etc. How to Run a Choose Yourself Meet-up. Keep the meetup small. Gossip should be kept out of the way. This is like a self-help group.

Suggestion Websites where you can pick up new skills: Fedora; TedX; Coursera; Coursmos; Highbrow; Skillshare; Curious; Lynda.com; CreativeLive; Udemy; Codecademy; Stuk.io; Udacity; Platzi; Learnable; Code School; Thinkful; Code.org; BaseRails; Treehouse; One Month; Dash; DataCamp; DataQuest; DataMonkey; Duolingo; Lingvist; Busuu; Memrise; Chesscademy; Pianu; Yousician; ClaudiaYoga.

Recommended Books: ‘The End of Jobs: Money, Meaning and Freedom Without the 9 to 5’ by Taylor Pearson; ‘The Miracle Morning: The Not-so-obvious secret guaranteed to transform your life (before 8am)’ by Hal Elrod; ‘Become an Idea Machine. Because Ideas are the Currency of the 21^st Century’ by Claudia Azula Altucher; ‘Bounce: Mozart, Federer, Picasso, Beckham, and the Science of Success’ by Mathew Syed; ‘Seven Years to Seven Figures: The Fast-Track Plan to Becoming a Millionaire’ by Michael Masterson; ‘Quitter’ by Jon Acuff

The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Office Politics by Shane Dustin

This book is for you to step on others in order to climb up. This book is for entertainment purposes.

A Dangerous Game. There are also two kinds of positions: candidate (play the game) or constituent (get run over). Learn to say and do the right thing at the right time. Shape inter-personal relationships at work. There are two types of career driven people, White Hats and Black Hats. White Hats will do the right thing and pursue self-improvement programs and play by the rules. Black Hats take aggressive steps to step on the toes of others. Like it or not, office politics is always present. Sometimes, you need to be selfish and play the game. Stand up and be counted. Learn to take a stand. Learn to play the game. To defend against the black hats, learn the following 21 rules.

Some may say playing the office politics game is a cowardly way to get ahead, but those in the know, and in the top corner offices, understand that getting ahead is about seizing opportunities, and using any means possible to serve themselves first. – Shane Dustin

Develop the Right Mindset. You are your own best advocate and you need to accept that. White Hats will volunteer for tough assignments. Black Hats will join projects that are already successful and leave those that are failures. Do not volunteer yourself for projects unless you understand the risks/rewards for the project.

Nobody cares as much about his or her career as you do, and nobody will step out on a limb to back you or support you, unless you take the first step. – Shane Dustin

Court Productivity. Productivity is not enough, self-marketing is important. Learn to create a continuity folder and help a subordinate to learn your job. Create SOPs and guidelines for your subordinate to follow so that hiring of the new guy can be smooth.

One of the shortest route to the top is to be better than anybody else. Once you know your job, learn your boss’s job. And where your job uses measurable goals or quotas, always set new standards. – Shane Dustin

Build a Network. Protect yourself from making wrong connections. You can help your juniors to excel, provide feedback on how to improve the department, volunteer on process improvement teams. Black Hat’s tactic is not to associate yourself with losers.

Politics is known as the art of compromising, and in the corporate world, you get ahead by helping the right people pursue their agendas and realize success. – Shane Dustin

Master the Redirect. Wear a rubber shield so that you can deflect criticism elsewhere. Learn to absorb praise when you receive it. You must learn to deflect blame and absorb credit to climb up the ladder. To be a good worker, accept responsibility for your failures. To be a black hat, disassociate yourself from department shortcomings. Transfer out of the department, if necessary.

Listen First. Do not spread gossip or rumours. A good worker will stop a rumour in its tracks.

Avoid the water cooler gossip circle, and do not get caught spreading rumors. Instead, keep your mouth shut, listen carefully, and observe which way the wind is blowing. When overwhelming evidence suggests the right course of action, take a stand with the winning side. – Shane Dustin

Stay Focused. You must have a plan. Know what it takes to get promoted and the skills required for that position. However, realize that it takes effort and hard work. Remind yourself of this goal and that should motivate you. Consistently learn about your boss’s job in order to stay head of your peers. A Black Hat doesn’t believe in loyalty to an organization and will jump around to different organizations in order to climb the ladder.

Be Resilient. There will always be critics, whether you are a white or black hat. You must have thick skin to win. You must tolerate the abuses your colleague gives you. Look for training opportunities. Attend conferences that are related to your job. A black hat will not attention to the conferences, but use it for networking purposes.

Get Impersonal. Make your colleagues your friends outside of work. Defend yourself when things get nasty. As a black hat, get your friends to achieve your goals. Only think about yourself. If you want to play office politics, understand that you may not be the most well-liked person around.

Maintain Plausible Deniability. Ensure that you obey the rules and code of conduct for your department and organization. Do not stray for it. For every crisis you survive, you will emerge stronger and fitter. To a black hat, do not commit to a deadline unless you are very sure you will not fail.

Know the Unwritten Rules. As you know the organization better, you will know that you can play outside the rules and regulations. The trick is to understand the written rules, but push the boundary. As a good worker, set rules and ensure that people comply and do not play dirty or over-step the rules. As a black hat, tell people to perform things outside of the written rules.

Copy Success. Learn from the people who have made it. Do not ‘re-invent the wheel’. Copy your supervisor’s good behaviour. As a black hat, steal others’ ideas and claim credit for it. Find out what are your boss’ hobbies and then research and chat with him about it.

It’s sad in human terms, but the reality is, getting ahead is often a game of attrition. Your job is to outlast your peers, and be the last soldier standing in the field when the war is over. If you copy the habits and behaviors of survivors, you will greatly increase your chances of joining their ranks. – Shane Dustin

Be Assertive. Learn to be assertive, and not aggressive. An assertive people is confident of their views and takes a stand. Be the person who is best prepared. Let the facts speak for themselves. To be a black hat, be very aggressive during meetings.

Grow Up. You must play by the rules of the big boys and girls. There is no shame in excelling at your work. Accept credit where it is due. Do not hide your accomplishments. Analyze your skillset and determine weak areas. Ensure you get the right training you need. Find ways to impress your job.

Take what is offered. Don’t let ego get in the way. Be bold to state what you want. Look to be number 1 even if others may not be happy with you. Accept what is rightfully yours. Accept any promotion.

Dump the Employee Mindset. The employer and employee goals are usually opposites. The employee wants to work as little as possible and get paid as much as possible. If you don’t like your employer, leave and start your own company. Change your attitude towards employers and treat them better. This is the capitalist system and you have to accept it. Always speak highly of your employer. Ask what you can do to improve the situation.

Your job is directly tied to the value you add to the organization. – Shane Dustin

Everybody Lies. We all lie. The best players of office politics do it the best. However, you can lie to your advantage. Listen to things from your colleagues with a pinch of salt. You can use lies of omission, as this is not completely lying, but just leaving out the key details. Exaggerate the good traits of your co-workers.

Cash in Your Chips. Negotiate the best trade-off. Give when you can, and take when you can. Co-operate with colleagues and make concessions.

Be Seen. Learn to draw attention to yourself. Volunteer to be the emcee at events.

The fact remains, anything you can do to grab the attention of the boss is good. Ideally, you will place yourself in the position to be noticed providing outstanding customer service, helping a co-worker resolve a problem, and being the last employee out of the building at night. – Shane Dustin

Adopt a Hobby. Learn to play golf and understand what hobby your boss likes. People like being around others with similar interests with them. Align yourself with those who have similar interests. Learn things about your new hobby. Spend time practising your new hobby.

Spurn Mediocrity. Do not be mediocre. Many are happy to be mediocre and have no drive in life. Do not be like them.

Nobody wants to be labelled as “average”. But few people will take the extra effort to rise above mediocrity. Which is a good thing for you, because it means there will be less competition for the better jobs. – Shane Dustin

Be a Professional. Learn to be a professional. Have consistency in your actions. Pursue excellence. Be punctual and make yourself available. Complete all the tasks within a given timeframe. Continue to play the office politics game.

Screw Work, Let’s Play by John Williams

How to do what you love and get paid for it

The book will show you how to get paid to do what you like. Create an ideal life in the present now. Happiness leads to better success. There are 10 secrets to obey closely by. Secret 1: How to work out what you really want. Secret 2: How to choose what to do next. Secret 3: How to get started right now. Secret 4: How to guarantee your success. Secret 5: How to play for profit. Secret 6: How to play the fame game and win. Secret 7: How to create an irresistible offer. Secret 8: How to win your first paycheque. Secret 9: How to play full time. Secret 10: How to play your way to the rich life. There are 21 myths you need to understand. The author has interviewed many people for this book. Join the play revolution. It is possible to make money from the things you do. Nowadays, people value freedom and want to stretch themselves. The image of an entrepreneur is more fun now. The internet has allowed many to create online businesses. The play ethic encourages to be more spontaneous and fun. Play isn’t a selfish thought. Nowadays, people with a developed right brain wins. Work will are easy to do will be outsourced nowadays. Times are unpredictable. Start what you want to do right now. It really plays to have fun. Happiness leads to successful outcomes, more than the other way around. Good jobs have the following characteristics: autonomy, meaning and variety. Choose the right things to play. You must get into the flow of things. The problem is that many people are doing the wrong work. We have done work that is based on previous generations say are good. You should find a job that suits your personality and strengths. Try and each your first playcheque before you quit. Be a creator, and not someone passive anymore. Sometimes, you can work anywhere you want. You can even change countries to run your business from. Players must put creativity and fun first. Players are multi-faceted. Learn to respond to the world around you. Be actively engaged in the world. Never stop exploring and never stop learning. However, it is also necessary to know what the market needs and wants. You must solve real world problems in order to make money. Work is never effortless. Seek full expression of yourself. Scrap your career plan as things change too fast. Learn to live in the present. You can’t compete with someone who loves what they do. I wanted to get paid to play. Set your own hours. Now, I am a different portfolio of many different acts. The book will give you an idea of how to make every minute count.

But I’ve found out that the more I focus on what I enjoy doing even when it’s not immediately obvious how I’ll make money, the more successful I am. – John Williams

If you limit your choices to what seems possible or reasonable, you disconnect yourself from what you truly want, and all that is left is a compromise. – Robert Fritz

One of the most valuable things you can ever do is to get to know what you do and don’t enjoy doing. And it can also be one of the most difficult things to do. – John Williams

A scanner is someone who loves to learn and explore new things but gets bored easily. Scanners are more about breadth than depth. – John Williams

When you are truly in play, when you are following the unfolding path of what provides you engagement, expression, excitement and curiosity in the world, then your work is simply a natural expression of who you are and who you are becoming. – John Williams

How to work out what you really really want? You must know what play feels like. People usually see work as something they must do. What would work that feels like play look like? Ask ‘what do you want’ first. Your progress will be tremendous if you like what you do. Write down ideas in a notebook that excite you wherever you go. The first of 21 myths are (1) If it’s important, you’ll remember it. This is not true in reality. Always carry a notebook around with you. Pay attention to every detail. See exactly what draws your attention. Follow every lead, act on your hunches. Myth 2: The answer to my work search is in some magical new thing I have never tried before. Most times, you will actually realize that you are doing what you like, just that it cannot be considered work. Take a year off to discover. What would you do for a year? Write down all you would do if you had a year off for yourself. Pretend money is not an issue. Look back at your career, recall your happy moments. Who is your career hero? Brian Eno had a very varied career. Who do you envy? Envy is good. It shows you something which you need but don’t currently have. What do you find difficult stopping? For a player, you can bring all the skills you have onboard and don’t need to focus on one label. Are you a Scanner? A scanner is someone who has many varied interests. Entrepreneurs turn out to be often scanners. By owning your own business, you can do whatever you like. Craft a life that suits you. Write down a few different 1 years off you can take and imagine the different possibilities. You can have what you really want but you need to be flexible about it. You must visualize the exact experience you want to have. Don’t worry about what others think of you. You don’t need long expensive training as well. Work at its deepest level is play. Make minor adjustments in your life first, but start with doing what you like.

Where the needs of the world and your talents cross, there lies your vocation. – Aristotle

If you’ve been stuck for a long time on what to do next in your work, and you can afford some time for experimentation, it’s worth choosing almost anything you’re really keen to do and having a play with it for a few weeks. – John Williams

How to choose what to do next? Paul McCartney contemplated between being a coil winder or a musician. His dad kept persuading him to get a proper job. It requires courage. Myth 5: Doing what you love is selfish. Do not hold back as you are short-changing the human race. Don’t hold back. Even if your work isn’t good, it might inspire others. Your play must meet a need that people have.Learn to help others. ‘Pleasure + Engagement + Meaning = Happiness’. Pleasure means enjoying positive emotions from tasks and relationships. Engagement is getting lost in a task which is play. Meaning is using your strengths to serve a greater good. You need all three to be happy. Look back at your work, when did you stand out? Write it down. Increase your frequency. How to enter a flow state? You can go for personality profiling. Wealth Dynamics is one such system. There are 8 different profiles: 1) Creator; 2) Star; 3) Supporter; 4) Deal maker; 5) Trader; 6) Accumulator; 7) Lord; 8) Mechanic. Which profile are you? Do not try to be an all-rounder. Instead, work on your strengths. Hire people with complementary skills and to fill in where you are lacking at. You must be aware of your talents. Some people are good at flirting. It’s a skill. The sweet spot is when talent, skill and passion mean. Skills are important because it is not easy to compete with the veterans. You must try to apply skills from your previous work. There is always the love vs money balancing act. There are far too many people stuck in lousy jobs. How to avoid starving? The problem with arts is that there is too much supply and not enough demand. Get creative about how to distribute your product. Get someone to promote your work. Do not be afraid that your work will be rejected. ‘The facts are always friendly.’ Carl Rogers. What do you value more? Try and network to get to know more people. Experiment to figure out what you truly want. Get others to describe your strengths.

Successful people apparently have fewer thoughts; they don’t engage in endless deliberation. Perhaps this is because the research shows that over-thinking makes you miserable and unmotivated. – John Williams

People who strive for something significant, whether it’s learning a new craft or raising moral children, are far happier than those who don’t have strong dreams or aspirations. Find a happy person and you will find a project. – John Williams

Begin somewhere; you cannot build a reputation on what you intend to do. – Liz Smith

How to get started right now? It’s trial and error. Try and see if it works. Sam Bompas and Henry Parr have embraced play. They have experimented with food. Pitch for something and try to make it work later. Myth 6: I can’t start anything until I know exactly where I’m heading. Things move too fast and are unpredictable. Pick an interesting project and go for it. Pursue projects that are important to you. There are problems with goals. Myth 7: Once my life is the way I want it to be, then I’ll be happy. How you choose to live life everyday matters. Your happiness will create your success. Start on a project straightaway. Thinking is overrated. If you can’t solve a problem, overthinking might not help if you don’t have new inputs. How to pick a play project? It should last for from a few weeks to a few months. The point is to get into motion. Listen to your gut feeling and do it now. The skills you learn will come in handy again next time. Make sure that it is enjoyable to do. If you’re stuck in career paralysis, any project will help you. Don’t worry about making money. If you’re self-employed, pursue a project that is close to your heart and in line with your strategy. Read about leaders in the new field of work. Go to networking sessions and get your hand on any experience you can get. Myth 8: I should go and research this all day on the internet. There is no need to research excessively. Try to speak to someone knowledgeable instead. Track down the smart people. Think big start small. Break it down into smaller parts. Start with a short novel or a blog. Explore about business opportunities on the blog. Turn your home into a gallery. Launch a regular event. Talk to random people and use meetup.com. Write down a larger objective of your project. Get your idea and evolve it. Commit to your play project. Create something and share it with the world. Give yourself some deadlines too. Record the feedback that you have received. Have some direction. Having a mission is attractive. When you’re playing, even if you can’t make money, it will feel good.

If you’re changing somebody else’s baby’s diapers that feels like work. But if it’s your own kid, that doesn’t feel like work. – Derek Sivers

The fact is that motivation often comes after you start something, not before. – John Williams

How to guarantee your success? Simply do not stop. It is always risky in business. Setbacks are painful. Setbacks are there to see whether you will give up. Our thoughts can become self-fulfilling prophecies. A positive outlook on life is the key. Tackle your negative thoughts and doubts. Your head might be filled with negative voices. This is your ‘top dog’. Your top dog is not your voice of reason. Think of the supportive alternative to the top dog. The key is habit. Learn to hang out with supportive people. Build your support team. Your support team should consist of 4 to 5 people. Myth 9: People who are successful don’t need support. Learn to manage your fear. It is important to deal with your fear. Whatever scares you, go do it. Do not always play it safe. Don’t stop. Keep fine tuning your play project so that you can make money. Don’t simply throw away your play project unnecessarily. Take total responsibility of your life and don’t blame others. Ask people for what you need. Learn to have uncomfortable conversations with yourself. There is no need to ask for permission. Don’t ask ‘how’, ask ‘who’ instead. Look back at how you overcame challenges. Steal the strategies of others, not the content. Myth 10: Famous people are just different from me. Use the Millionaire Test. ‘If I were already a millionaire, would I do this thing I am considering right now?’ It is important to do things even when you don’t feel like doing them. If you don’t have big blocks of time to spare, do little and do often. Learn to manage time in micro-blocks. Do not feel overwhelmed. Do things to reduce your overwhelm. How to manage your brilliant ideas? Store your new ideas so that you can refer to them again. Ideas have a half-life and it pays off to work on them immediately. Ideally, work on your project a little each morning. Do give yourself some creative idling time as well. Try to take a nap as well.

How to play for profit… and purpose? This chapter will show you how to actually get paid. Never give up too quickly. How do you get paid to enjoy what you’re doing? You must solve a problem. People pay to get rid of their pain. It should alleviate some form of discomfort. Offer something that is on people’s to-do lists. You have to solve an existing problem. Link your current field with life. Sometimes, people are interested in what they want. Write down the problems you think people have. Look for the pain that people are experiencing currently. Write down your clients’ desire and the obstacle that they are currently facing. What challenges have you struggled with in your life?

How to play the fame game – and win. You must be known for something at least. Play out your ideas on a global stage. Start with a blog or a meetup group. Share your ideas with people and garner feedback. Test and see what happens. Myth 11: I must keep my good idea secret otherwise someone will steal it. There are very few ideas out there. Execution is what matters. Try not to keep it secret for too long. Step 1: Pimp your project. Learn to brand yourself. Don’t blend in, do something big instead. Humor is a great tool to use throughout your work. You need to market yourself and show how you are different from the rest. Use what you have learned. Marketing won’t help you if you’re mediocre. Never underestimate the power of a good story. Start a movement. People are generally attracted to those who are passionate. Step 2: Choose your channel of communication. Authenticity and integrity are very important. Which channel do you want to use?. Email is one form, where people can subscribe to your posts. Blogging is a great way to build ideas. Simply chronicle your journey and blog about it. Writing in your own authentic voice makes you unique. Tumblr is better for images. You can even blog about your life. Make use of free services on the net. Print on demand sites like Lulu and Blurb work as well. You can run your own radio or tv show too. It just takes one afternoon and is very simple indeed. Step 3: Who are your kind of people? Who would you love to sell your services to? Find a niche and a group of small people who find you irresistible. People prefer specialists. Step 4: Start the conversation. Step 5: The art of seduction, or how to turn your fans into customers. Think from your customer’s perspective. ‘Enter the conversation already going on in your customer’s head’.

How to create an irresistible offer? What will you offer to people? The Money gym is an interesting concept. You need to find something that people really want. How do you deliver your product or service? Learn to provide a service to individuals. If you possess a skill, it is much easier. However, there is a disadvantage in selling your own time. People in the annual rich lists do not sell their time. Combine your service offering and offer people a package. It is possible to work 6 months and then travel 6 months if you are a free lance worker. Find a supporting income stream that is enjoyable. Attend conferences and networking events. How to make passive income? It is thrilling to be able to do so. The internet is one of the lowest risk passive income you can generate. Use the internet as a vehicle to sell your expertise. These are known as information products. You need a large number of people to talk about your product. Another way is to interview people for free. The power of knowing the problem. Even if you don’t know enough in the topic, you can hire people to write for you. You can sell ebooks through your website. You can organize teleclass etc. You can also promote other people’s products. Very few people can make money from their blogs. A membership programme is a good way to earn money too. This allows you to have a deeper connection with the customer. You can take your work and produce an e-book on it.

The secret of living is to find people who will pay you money to do what you would pay to do – if you had the money. – Sarah Caldwell

How to win your first playcheque? Money makes play sustainable and can keep you going. Myth 12: You can’t get paid for doing what you love. If you choose the right path, you will enjoy the journey. It is also possible to ask for a new job scope to revamp your career etc. You can also consider working part-time. Let your enthusiasm win the job. Your first playcheque will be your landmark. If possible, try to achieve this without quitting your job yet. Myth 13: All my friends have said they would buy what I’m offering, so I must be on the right track. It is not sufficient as you must really collect the money from them. When you’re new, you can do some work for free. Later on, charge a token sum. Charging a small amount also guarantees that people will show up. Myth 14: I can’t possibly charge for what I’m doing yet – I need to read more books and take more courses and workshops. Don’t use that as excuses not to start. Run a campaign. Learn to focus. Success takes a while. Gather feedback from others and fine tune your product. If you want something, show focus and enthusiasm. Myth 15: I can’t talk to anyone until I have some fancy business cards printed and my website launched. Business cards are over-rated anyway. Celebrate your first paycheque.

Don’t be too quick to jump from the work that’s currently providing your income: better to gain momentum first while still being paid elsewhere. Being stressed about money is not a state conducive to playfulness –  John Williams

How to play full time? How do you play full time? You need some word of mouth recommendations. What you do must excite people and your friends alike. Do not let your friends do favours for you. Find 10 people who will rave about it. You need to find 10 people who truly truly love it. If not, seek a rethink. Others will tell you whether they like it. In ordinary jobs, you can’t say I don’t like that task, so I’m not doing it. You should shape the product for yourself. Try to avoid recruitment agencies. You should always try and create your own role. Join networking events to get noticed. When you seek out your ideal job, your enthusiasm shines. Go freestyle. This book says that self-employment is less risky. Some businesses can perform well in downturns. You don’t need a new idea. You just need to do things better than others. An online business is easy to start. Launch one project at a time only. Learn to focus on your type of projects. Collaborate with others. Hire people to make up for your weaknesses. You don’t need a very long business plan. Do your sums properly. Please do your market research. If you switch fields, you will take a while to get used to it

How to play your way to the rich life? The richer you want, the more impact it should create on others. Most entrepreneurs don’t care about the money at all. Appreciate the rich moments in life. Is it about the freedom to travel? Travel using your laptop like Chris Guillebeau. Is your rich life about free time? Is your rich life about the power to change the world? If so, set up a social enterprise. Start your play fund to manage your money. Remove your internal blocks. Change your perception about sales being tacky. There are no prizes for being a starving entrepreneur. Your closest friends have a big impact on you. Charge exactly what you’re worth. Sometimes, lowering prices might cheapen your product. Learn about supply and demand. Sometimes, the bandwagon changes due to regulation etc. That is the time to make more money. P is for Product – Sell the right thing. R is for Right People. I is for Increasing Trust. C is for Communicating value. E is for Expect it. If people say it’s too expensive, it’s because they haven’t seen enough value in it. Choose a rich strategy.

The Art of Work by Jeff Goins

The Art of Work by Jeff Goins

A Proven Path to Discovering What You Were Meant to do

Finding your calling can be difficult and tiring. It also involves many twists and turns. There is no destination and you will always be on a journey. Everyone is searching for their calling in life. This book also contains messages and examples of people who have made it.

A calling is not some carefully crafted plan. It’s what’s left when the plan goes horribly wrong. – Jeff Goins

There is no guarantee that you will still be alive tomorrow. Therefore, it helps that you can should live life to the fullest. Garrett was a blind cyclist. However, he overcame the odds and became a miracle. Discover what you were born to do. ‘What should you do with your life?’ Learn to find your vocation in life. A vocation is more than a job. You are dealt with a pack of cards and you need to make the most of what you have. It’s what you do with your chances that counts and makes the difference. When you were young, you had big dreams. But somehow along the way, you gave them up. Listen hard to the whisper in your voice. Do not come up with excuses on why you shouldn’t want to do something. Trust your gut but also do things that are uncomfortable and painful. There are 7 themes to someone’s story: 1) Awareness; 2) Apprenticeship; 3) Practice; 4) Discovery; 5) Profession; 6) Mastery; 7) Legacy. Some stages are overlapping in nature. There is a process to finding your life’s work. Do not think of everything that you could have been. Every life is important and significant. Learn to see difficulties as opportunities. Life is full of surprises and you need to react best to them.

Listen to Your Life. Listen to clues and be aware. Larry did a CAT scan and found that he had brain tumour. Larry only lasted 9 months more before he passed on. Always remember to show your appreciation to people you love. Even in your painful moments, life is teaching you a lesson. You must be aware and learn to pay attention. Sometimes, things are not always in your control. Hard work can only get you so far. Some people like to believe that if you must your mind at anything, you can succeed. But getting whatever you want may not make you extremely happy. Life would not be very fun if you were determined in everything you do, but you had no choice over what you could do. How you react to events makes a difference. 87% of the workforce is not engaged in their work. Maybe we should stop looking for happiness. Rather, we should look for meaning or find a reason to be happy. If people have an on-going project, or a job to do, then they have a reason to live another day. See the purpose in your suffering. Do what is required of us. Pain can be a blessing too. Fear can be a motivator. You must know when a good time to listen to it is. Sometimes, if you didn’t do well in a certain aspect, you could strive to help others improve on the situation. Look out for major events or ‘inciting events’ in your life. This big event might just spark you into action. You must believe that you are called to something. You need desire and willingness to begin. Many people know what their dream is, the problem is that they do not dare to admit or say it out. Ask yourself something deeper. There are no guarantees against failure. The key is to keep moving and do not stop. Some of the answers are already inside you. You just need to dig them out. ‘Clarity comes with action’ J. Everyone has a calling, somewhere deep inside them. The unknown is what is keeping us from pursuing action. Listen to your life. Habits of awareness are very important. Learn to listen attentively. Write down the major events of your life on paper. Look out for a recurring theme. Understand that nothing is wasted. Everything that has happened in your past can shape your future. Look below the surface. Learn to watch other people. When in doubt, commit to the path. Do not have a commitment problem. A vocation is something you become. Change takes time. Committing to a wrong thing is better than standing still. This is better as you will still learn from failure. Failure is painful, but it is the best way to learn.

When you are stuck fulfilling an obligation instead of chasing a dream, you aren’t your best self. This is why we find more people moving from one job to the next. They are doing their best to be happy but failing miserably. Most of us have done this at some point, quitting one thing for the promise of something better. And we were disappointed to find that the next job or relationship held the same complications as the one we were escaping. – Jeff Goins

You don’t need some big plan. You just need to be a little dissatisfied. You need to have a vague premonition that the world is not completely right. That’s what awareness is: a sense that something more is possible. – Jeff Goins

If you pay attention to your life and the lessons it can teach you, you won’t feel so lost. Your story will seem less like a series of disjointed events and more like a beautifully complex narrative unfolding before you. – Jeff Goins

Nothing is wasted. No job, no task, no obstacle is useless, if we are willing to see how it can fit into our calling…As you explore your calling, you will be surprised by how your previous experiences are conspiring to lead you in the direction of your life’s work. You just have to listen. – Jeff Goins

You cannot find your calling on your own. It’s a process that involves a team of mentors. And everywhere you look, help is available. – Jeff Goins

Accidental Apprenticeships. You can’t do it alone. An apprentice eventually becomes a professional. Sometimes, apprenticeship takes very long, even up to 10 years. It can take up to 10 years to master a craft. Unfortunately, the apprenticeship model is not popular nowadays. There is no such thing as a self-made man and we are all products of the environment. We need help to grow. Learn to refine and sharpen your skills. Help is instructive, but essential. You cannot master something on your own. Listen to those voices, even if people enter your life willingly. When you give birth, it is important to be able to receive support from your loved ones. A mentor need not stay in your life for long as there would be other mentors that come along the way. It is difficult to find a mentor because most people are self-reliant and think they can do it on their own. A teacher will challenge you to think and act differently. ‘The teacher appears when the student is ready’. You must be willing to look for mentors in unexpected places. How do you find them? Fortune favours the motivated. You just need to keep your eyes open. Interns should be involved in the whole process and they should be able to acknowledge the work that they have done. Pass the skills on to the master and multiply it. In Germany, apprenticeship is very common. The student can work and study at the same time and this helps to add tremendous value. An apprenticeship allows you to obtain guidance from an expert. Opportunities are always available, but you have to look at the right place. Practise the tools available to you. You need to seek out your mentor. Give each other support. You need to be deliberate about the opportunities you seek out. Leap and the net will appear. There is a power in harnessing the community. Your mentor might come from the least likely of places.

Always do more than what is required of you. – George S. Patton

For many of us, there is a fundamental problem with our understanding of our own capabilities. We are often exceeding our own expectations of ourselves. And in spite of the evidence pointing to the contrary, we continue to believe in the myth of talent, that some people are born in the certain way, and we cannot rise above our circumstances and achieve something greater than we’ve ever done before. – Jeff Goins

Painful Practice. Forget about passion. Rather, you should do something you are good at. However, there are singers on American idol which were not very good in the competition but went on to be superstars. Talent is over-rated. Everyone needs intense preparation. The type of practise is very important. Doing your best doesn’t work all the time. Mindset is very important. Do not give up too quickly and still think that you tried your best. Most skills are learned. Deliberate practice is a type of performance that leads to expert performance. The right type of practice is the key. Do not give up when the going gets tough. It is easy to settle for good, but not great. The practice must not be too enjoyable and it has to be difficult. Recognize what you do for fun and what you want to excel at. You must love your work. A spark of inspiration is important. Sometimes, you might be practising even without knowing it. This is known as accidental apprenticeship. Where does motivation come from? It starts with a spark. Inspiration and motivation to practice is important. We all want to make a contribution to the world eventually. William Hung’s video went viral. He even cut an album and achieved fame.

Putting an activity through painful practice is a great way to determine your experience in life. If you can do something when it’s not fun, even when you’re exhausted and bored and want to give up, then it might just be your calling. – Jeff Goins

If you can love what you do, even when it hurts, then you may have more than a hobby. And if you’ve never pushed your talents this far before, if you’ve never tested your skills that much, then you probably haven’t discovered your true vocation. – Jeff Goins

The idea that every person can be whatever he or she wants isn’t always true. Success is more than a matter of hard work; it’s contingent on factors sometimes outside of our control. Where and when you were born can influence what you do. – Jeff Goins

When you see a little hope, doors will open…Never give up, because all you need is a little hope. – Jeff Goins

Building Bridges (The Leap That Wasn’t a Leap). Some people can just relocate to Africa. Sometimes, if you move to a new area, you can make a bigger difference doing what you love. Find what you love and what the world needs. A calling is always messy. There is no guarantee of success, but you just have to take the leap sometimes. Do not trust people when they say they just know when they have found their passion. It is an intentional process. Famous people usually like to admit that they have special powers. Action is more complicated than you think. Listen to the whisper in your heart. Clarity of calling doesn’t come from a moment of epiphany, but rather, a series of deliberate decisions. It is crucial to find a mentor. You have to RESPOND to the call by taking ACTION. Prepare and learn to trust your feelings. Every step will reveal choices you have to make. Learn to take small steps at a time. There is no need to do something audacious. Take small steps. Reality doesn’t conform to what you think life should be. Sometimes, leaping without preparation is not a good idea indeed. It would be good if your project can offer hope to others and change their lives. Before you leap, you need to do your research. Instead of leaping, build a bridge. Not knowing is an excuse. It is normal to feel afraid after leaving your job. If you want a safe journey, continue to do what you do. You MUST KEEP MOVING, even if it is in the wrong direction.

If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. Then quit. There’s no point in being a damn fool about it. –  W.C. Fields

Pivot Points (Why Failure is Your Friend). You might find your passion by experiencing failure. Even when opportunities have dried up, you can pivot. Sometimes, what you do isn’t what you planned from the start. Pivoting is learning how to deal with difficulties and uncertainties. Successful people learn to deal with failure. Sometimes, you will need to try new stuff. Make the most of any situation that you are thrown in. When you are failing, do not give up and despair. Hardship is an opportunity to succeed. Learn to push through your failure. Focus on what you are meant to do. Life is not a dream. You must transform yourself into a dreamer into a doer. Say ‘let’s’ instead of ‘what if’. Keep moving, even if it’s in a different direction. Stop talking and start doing. You must try.

Albert Einstein worked in a patent office; Benjamin Franklin was forced to flee his hometown; Steve Jobs got kicked out of his own company. We all face times of irrelevance; of falling on our own faces and thinking we have no business doing any of this. But pain is a great teacher and failure is a faithful mentor. – Jeff Goins

Dreams are powerful. They are fuel for change. But by themselves, they do no good. Hanging out in coffee shops and talking about one day being a writer or an activist or an entrepreneur is just about the worst thing you can do. – Jeff Goins

The Portfolio Life (A New Kind of Mastery). Places can also have a big impact on you. Later, I decided that I wanted to be a park ranger. Jody changed career from a financial analyst to be a park ranger. Have a portfolio life. Most self-employed people take up portfolio lives and try different types of tasks. Freelancing is the trend. We are hardwired to take up multiple hobbies and combine them to produce our best work. There are 5 different types of work: 1) fee work; 2) salary work; 3) homework; 4) study work; 5) gift work. Careers do not last that long nowadays. Have a portfolio mindset. Invest your life. Have someone to share your vocation with. Play is important too. Play is what you do to make your work interesting. Your work must have an ultimate purpose. Sensible people reinvent themselves every 10 years. You must do your work well. Masters keep pushing and carrying on. Stop focusing on being famous. Money is a by-product. Understand the true meaning of work. What are you working for? We all have a moral responsibility to ask whether the work is good or not. Work is a means of making people better. Increase in income, to a certain extent, does not make people happy. Flow is an important stage to achieve. Use your gifts in a challenging way. A calling may evolve over time as well.

Don’t search for your calling. Explore, try new things, keep your feet moving. Something will grab you. It will call to you. It is no different from falling in love. You can’t sit on the couch and decide that you are going to marry a certain girl. You fall in love after sharing experiences, joy, challenges, maybe even heartbreak. All of which could not have happened without leaving your couch, being involved, and meeting the one girl you can’t stop thinking about. – Jody

A life isn’t significant except for its impact on other lives. – Jackie Robinson

You don’t have to earn a living for 30 years to turn around and spend the next 30 years giving it away. If significance is what matters to you, you can structure your life and work in a way that allows to live your legacy now. In fact, your giving doesn’t have to be a by-product of your success; it can be the very thing that drives it in the first place. – Jeff Goins

Sometimes, all the little things in life aren’t interruptions to our calling. They are the most important part. – Jeff Goins

Your Magnum Opus (What Legacy Looks Like). Poverty is not objective, but it is more subjective. It is more of a mindset. How do you turn your work into something generous? Work should be both the means and the end to a better life. ‘Do what you love and do it for people who you love.’ Success isn’t about you. Work isn’t just a means of getting a paycheck. Do what you are good at and help others. A job is not just about improving yourself. You are still making a difference even if you don’t do things you like. The small things in life count. A calling is a life well lived. Freedom must have boundaries attached to it. Do not spend time pretending to be someone else. You can also prove your talent through great work. If you do meaningful work, you become yourself. Do not ignore your call. Your calling is not just your vocation, it is your entire life. Legacy should be your goal. Be consumed by the calling. Your work is a support system for your life.

It can be dangerous to have a compulsion to work. Lose yourself in the process. However, this could be a problem if you cannot disassociate yourself from it. Use it in your advantage. How do you not let a passion destroy you? You should work hard, but you need to acknowledge the limitations of life. There will always be unfinished work before you die. But you don’t have to kill yourself over it. At that time, you should try to pass it on to the new generation.

Repurpose Your Career by Marc Miller

A Practical Guide for Baby Boomers

After a near accident, I knew that I had to find a good path of life. It was a moment of awakening. Is it possible to change your life? I am a career design expert. Whatever change you want to make, you will need a strategy and a plan. A career pivot is taking small steps towards your goal. Ask yourself what your skillsets are, what your resource system is? Your health? Your financial situation?  Are you ready for unchartered territory? You may have to ask for help and even take up more courses.

Many people embrace retirement. Retirement, to many, are like golden hand-cuffs. My life didn’t go according to plan. Many of the baby boomers were hit badly by the financial crisis. Homes are worth a lot less nowadays. Does owning a home make sense anymore? However, retirement is a period of inactivity which some people really can’t stand. Work is supposed to provide meaning and not just a simple pay check. Your job is to find something which suits you and not think about retirement. What are the rewards you get from home apart form a pay check.

Figure out a clear destination for yourself. You need to be in charge of your own schedules and organizational systems. Seek out exactly what you need from the particular job. Most people seek rewards, in one form of the other. We want to feel appreciated. What types of rewards do you want? Most people crave freedom, such as not being micromanaged. Freedom could also mean the ability to be creative in the way we work. What type of freedom do you crave? People also like to be respected in their work. Networking will be useful to solve this. Do you like a job where you are multitask and where is a wide variety in the work? Does multitasking make you feel more stressed than necessary?

Have an assessment. Know thyself. You must understand your stresses and what makes you happy. Birkman assessment is a good tool one can use. How much alone time do you need? Some people are deep down frustrated and angry. The assessment will be able to show this. However, sometimes, it is not easy to ask for what you want. How high are your empathy levels? Your job preferences might be different from someone else’s. Some people need long stretches of uninterrupted peace in order to get their best work done. Look at how best you work. Take a career assessment to find out more about yourself.

Big and major moments in your life might give you clarity. It might reveal truths about you. You would finally have the chance to learn something about yourself. You must act once you have clarity. Through this, you will discover peace. After these moments, you might pivot to try new things. Fill up the pattern for every job you have. 1) Description of Job; 2) Reason you took it up; 3) Influenced by who?; 4) How You Found This Job?; 5) Environment; 6) Feel; 7) Team or Solo; 8) Independence; 9) Manager’s Style; 10) Work Pace/Schedule; 11) Rewards; 12) Best Thing about your job; 13) Worst Thing about your job; 14) What I learned about what I needed; 15) What I learned about what I do not need; 16) Reason You Left Your Job; 17) Who/What Influenced You to Leave; 18) Exit Status.

You need to understand the nuances of what the career entails. You may not like every aspect of the job and your previous experience may not always be applicable in your new role. Talk to those people who are already in the industry you want to be in. You MUST strategically network to find out more.

That’s the problem with just jumping from one job to another. We romanticize the pleasant parts and make assumptions about the rest. – Marc Miller

Before you drop everything and jump into a career, you need to understand the career. It’s not enough to be passionate. – Marc Miller

Happiness comes from the intersection of what you love, what you’re good at, and what the world needs. We’ve been told time and again to keep finding the first. Our schools helped develop the second. It’s time we put more thought on the third. – Unknown

What if you hate the people you are working with? You must figure out exactly why you want to leave. Is it because of the boss? A supportive team is crucial for your happiness. List what you value most in a team. If you have good colleagues, you may have a crappy boss. Identify his traits which make him so unlikeable. You more you have control over your work, the happier you will be. Are you the type who likes to walk around and talk to people? Do you fit in the corporate mould? Take the career assessment to find out more about yourself.

A lot of us can be happy doing so-so tasks for adequate pay if we really like the people we work with. – Marc Miller

You will have to talk to real people. I know it might be difficult to ask for help, especially when you have a big ego or are very successful. But the thing is that asking for help is really important. Most people will be willing to help you too. Ask people on the inside, people who are already in the industries you want to enter. Suck it up and be humble, especially when you want to make a career change.

Your Tribe are those who can help you in your career, not just acquaintances. They are the ones who will be able to help you with in your career. Don’t do a pivot without a tribe. You have to cultivate it. Send messages with TLC once in a while in order to stay in touch. Make a connection once in a while. Try to be of mutual benefit to one another. Look for opportunities to help others without expecting anything in return. Don’t forget to say thank you. Remember to continue networking with those from your tribe.

You must have a goal in mind. Build relationships with people who can help you to enter your preferred industry. Learn to network with recruiters. Conduct strategic networking with an individual. Ask for ‘advice’. Ask for introductions to others in the company as well. Remember to send thank you notes at the end.

It is never good to bitch about your boss to your other colleagues. The same applies to your ex-relationships. Create the elevator pitch. Know what type of boss you like. Why is your boss so good?

Do research before joining. Talk to recruiters to find out more. Try to find out what the hiring manager will be like. Always ask questions at the end of the interview to reveal your interest. Write down at least 10 questions which you are planning on asking. Ask about the work environment, management style, level of freedom etc.

Reframe the question ‘Why do you want to leave your current position?’ Have a pivot sort of response. Pivot back with a question instead. I am looking for more job variety. Is your job able to achieve it? Never get negative when asking this sort of questions. Never tell what you dislike about your job. Put it in a positive light. Frame the question in a way that it sounds positive.

It is unlikely that you want just more money. What sorts of benefits are important to you? Never ever talk about pay in the interview. Learn to negotiate the non-financial needs first.

The Start-Up of You by Reid Hoffman and Ben Casnocha

Adapt to the Future, Invest in Yourself, and Transform Your Career

This book is written by the cofounder and chairman of LinkedIn. All Humans are Entrepreneurs. Along the way, we forget that we are entrepreneurs. However, not everyone should start companies. The will to create is in human DNA. We all need to grow our careers. This book will guide you with tips on how to develop the start-up mindset. Unemployment is high nowadays and grade inflation is a problem. It is hard to climb on the corporate ladder nowadays. It is time to invest in yourself. Now, contracts are shorter and lifelong employment doesn’t exist. This is caused by globalisation and technology. Skills need to be upgraded or else you will be left behind. Given that people spend shorter periods of time on each job, they will need to be adaptable. Tap on your networks. LinkedIn was founded in 2003. I also invest in other start-ups. I have learnt to recognize what makes companies successful. The success strategies for individuals and companies are remarkably similar. Entrepreneurship is a life idea. Detroit is a city that embraced entrepreneurship. GM, Ford, Chrysler were all born. However they lost it after a while. The auto industry got too comfortable. They kept building new cars instead of smaller cars and didn’t practice lean manufacturing. Decision making was too slow due to bureaucracy. Why are so many winners ending up like Detroit? This results from the inability to adapt to change. You need to take calculated and bold risks to great something great. Netflix is a good example of a company that perfected its distribution system. Stay nimble. This book seeks to include specific action items on how to invest in yourself.

Develop a Competitive Advantage. Many people can do your job but what makes you so special? You need to be better than the competition. You must build products that differentiate you from the rest. Zappos offered a 365 day return policy. They also offered free shipping. Its customer centric nature is what makes it stand out. What are you offering that makes you rare and valuable? Are you faster, cheaper and better. You just need to be the best in your industry and do not be too ambitious. The best way to learn is by doing. Soft assets are the knowledge you have in your brain, hard assets are your possessions. Money matters as it will determine whether you can pursue your interests part-time or full-time. State what you are able to do with your experience and not whether you have 2 years’ experience in something. Develop your competitive advantage by combining skills and experiences and connections. Start to develop your assets. Always have aspirations and stick to your core values. A compelling vision is a competitive advantage. Understand the market realities. You need to meet the needs of the market in order to thrive. Entrepreneurs have to be grounded in reality. Howard Schultz visited Italy many times before he got the Starbucks idea right. You must learn to ride the market as well. You need all 3 of the above to succeed. Also, the industry is ever changing. Put yourself in a niche where there is less competition. Change your local environment. LinkedIn placed the individual in focus and not the company. These 3 ideas must be actionable. You must articulate your competitive advantages. Identify your mentors. Find out how you are value adding to your company and your environment. Focus on growth markets and opportunities.

Plan to Adapt. A lot of books say find your passion first before looking for a job. However the world is not a static place. Even your passions can change over time. Sometimes, it will not be possible to turn your passion into a dream job. You must follow a plan but be flexible to change. Flickr wasn’t set up by photography pros. Flickr is the photo sharing service for millions of users. Most start-ups go through stops and starts and struggle a lot before succeeding. Sheryl Sandberg doesn’t plan much as well. ABZ planning has upside and limited downside risks. Plan B is in the same general direction as Plan A. Plan Z is your back up plan, your lifeboat. You need to plot specific steps to make your aspirations happen. Start-ups which invest in learning early on tend to have higher chances of succeeding. Learn to build soft assets but also do not neglect the hard assets. Test hypothesis through trial and error. Actions will help you discover where to go and how to get there. Keep your day job first and iterate accordingly. Think two steps ahead. Do not be attracted by instant gratification. A good plan is to focus on something general first before moving to something specific.

Start a personal blog and begin developing a public reputation and public portfolio of work that’s not tied to your employer. That way, you’ll have a professional identity that you carry with you as you shift jobs. – Reid Hoffman and Ben Casnocha

The Palm Pilot didn’t catch on. Plan B is to learn as you pivot. Always try to make the most of every situation. How do you know when to pivot or pursue a Plan B? When the grass is greener, move elsewhere. Some major event in your life can be an inflexion point. External forces can have a big impact on your career. A big industry change will force you to pivot. Build up your soft skills and embrace new technology. Never lose your competitive edge. Pivot into an adjacent niche. Start with Plan B at the back of your mind. Learn in the evenings and in your free time. Start building relationships with people in another industry. Experiment on side projects. You can explore Plan Bs without having a very heavy commitment. Plan Z is a fail-safe plan. This is when you have failed with Plan A and B and need to re-group. Learn to develop general skills that can be used anywhere.

Set aside one day a week or month or even every few months to work on something that could be part of your Plan B. If you have a business idea you want to pursue, a skill you want to learn, a relationship you want to form, or some curiosity or aspiration, start on it as a side project and see where it goes. – Reid Hoffman and Ben Casnocha

The fastest way to change yourself is to hang out with people who are already the way you want to be. – Reid Hoffman and Ben Casnocha

It Takes a Network. You can’t accomplish everything alone. Assembling a talented team is the key. Invest in your professional network. Invest in a team of allies. Every job involves working with people. When it comes to promotion, being on good terms with the boss can matter a lot. The time you spend with others shape who you are. Even Franklin’s networks played a big part in his success. You cannot dissociate the person from his environment. You are only as good as the worst member in your team. You will always have your friends outside of work and also those who you meet in a professional context. It is tricky to ask your personal relationships for career help. Learn to build genuine personal relationships. Networking is not fake and is indeed necessary.

When you’re deciding whether or not to build a professional relationship with someone, there are many considerations: whether you like him or her; the capacity for the person to help you to build your assets; reach your aspirations, and position you well competitively, and for you to help back in all the same ways; whether the person is adaptable and could help you adapt your career plan as necessary. – Reid Hoffman and Ben Casnocha

Social cliques, which are groups of people who have something in common, often limit your exposure to wildly new experiences, opportunities and information. Because people tend to hang out in cliques, your good friends are usually from the same industry, neighbourhood, religious group, and the like. – Reid Hoffman and Ben Casnocha

In fact, all it takes to stay in touch with the people you know is a desire to do so and a modest amount of organization and proactiveness. – Reid Hoffman and Ben Casnocha

See things from the other person’s perspective. Understand what your customers want. Put yourself in someone else’s shoes. Think about how you can collaborate with the other person instead of trying to make use of the other person. Always look out for shared interests. Start off with friendly gestures and be sincere. Ask ‘What’s in it for us?’ Always try to keep things fun. Relationships should be fun. Relationships are fun when you can understand each other. Engage with people you already know. Use your existing connections to link to others. Professional allies matter. Weaker ties and acquaintances are very important too. You can consult an ally for advice. Mark Pincus was my ally. Alliances are very enriching. Weak ties are more common than allies. These are the people who can refer winning jobs. The problem with close allies is that they are too similar with your other friends and you can’t be exposed to different stuff. Weak ties can serve as your bridge to other worlds. Weak ties are useful when they can offer more information. Humans’ memory is like an SD card. You can only maintain relationships with that many people. Dunbar predicted that humans can only socialize with about a 150 people. However, this may not include weak ties. Use your second and third degree friends as well. The world is actually a small place where everyone is interconnected. Know the six degrees of separation theory. LinkedIn helps link people with similar skills together. When it comes to meeting people, three degrees of separation are sufficient. To know the second and third degree friends, it is best to get a mutual friend to introduce you to the friend. If not you can reach out to the person directly. The Grameen Bank is one that works on social networks. You can strengthen relationships by helping someone else. If you want to help someone, figure out what type of help that guy needs as well. Don’t be too eager without knowing the person first. The second way is to let yourself be helped. Introduce people to others when they lack information or contacts. Even the other person doesn’t reply, try different polite means to contact the person. Try and add value. If you can, meet in person. Be the proactive one and reconnect with someone you lost contact with. Set up an interesting people fund. Be a Bridge. Make it a point to stay in touch with old connections. Pre-commitment is a sure way to make things happen. Set aside a fund to meeting interesting people. A person’s status depends on what’s around him. Sometimes, if you are too talented, you may make others look bad. Not all people are equal. Do not be late for meetings and let the person with higher status decide the place. To deal with people of status, you must be accommodating but do not agree on everything. It is okay to let some relationships naturally drift apart. For those relationships you do not wish to keep, it is okay to let it fade.

Pursue Breakout Opportunities. Success begins with opportunities. It’s up to you to find such opportunities yourself. Find great business opportunities. Groupon has managed to reinvent itself. Reality is not stable and growth is often not stable. Be proactive and seek out opportunities. Luck also plays a part. You must brim with curiosity in order to succeed. Passionately curious people around you are a source of influence. Even if you have a good start, keep trying to find such opportunities. How to find and generate career opportunities? Court good randomness is the key. Be alert to potential opportunities. You need to be in motion and can’t be static. You do not have to be deliberate about the activities you do. Make the effort to talk to interesting people. People get ahead if they tap their circles to dish out the right chances. Franklin knew that people can produce ideas in the right atmosphere. Join as many groups and associations as you can. Meetup.com is a great place to meet like-minded people. Join alumni club events. High quality people really matter a lot. Start your own meetup group or association. Hustle means to be persistent and not to give up. Learn to be resourceful. The AirBnB folks sold cereal just to raise enough money. Be resilient and ignore the naysayers. If you want to be hired, make yourself known by advertising yourself aggressively. Opportunities can come at any moment and you may not be prepared. Do not keep options open, rather, make decisions.

The less money you have, the fewer people and resources you have, the more creative you have to become. – Caterina Fake

Take Intelligent Risks. Risk is a part of life. There is competition for good opportunities. Entrepreneurs pick opportunities that have slightly more upside than downside. Breakout opportunities all involve some element of risk. Inaction is a form of risk too. Taking intelligent risks will give you an edge. Risk are ever changing. Humans tend to overrate risk. Our ancestors had to be risk averse in order not to be eaten up by a predator. The question you should ask is whether you can tolerate the worst-case scenario. If you realize you have made a mistake but can’t go to Plan B or Plan Z quickly, it is probably risky. It is not possible to make decisions with 100% certainty. Learn to accept the uncertainty. Accept higher levels of risk when you are younger. You need to be both contrarian and right. Some entrepreneurs see a downturn as an opportunity because others are less likely to pursue opportunities. Short term risk increases long term stability. We should expect to see more black swans in our lifetime. A system is more vulnerable to shocks if it has not experienced volatility or has been tested. Try to introduce a bit of volatility in your everyday life. The only answer to risk is to be resilient.

Who You Know is What You Know. Learn how to gather and manage and use information. Entrepreneurs are good at gathering information and spotting trends. Business intelligence is important. Talk to people in your network. Tapping on others’ knowledge is called network intelligence. You can learn a lot from others and get more in-depth knowledge as compared to books etc. The advice is also personalized. People can filter information for you as well and direct you to the relevant sections to read. Now, the skill to wade through large chunks of information and narrow the search is very important. Pull intelligence from your network. One way is to target direct questions to specific people that you know. The people you know can be classified into domain experts, those you know well, or just really smart people. Learn to ask a lot of questions. Asking questions in the right frame is very important as well. Asking more questions will make you seem like you are interested. Keep questions in your back pocket and you never know when you might use them. You can find out more about your potential boss by asking others. Do note that all information you obtain contains biases. Good networking will definitely give you an edge over others.

Conclusion. Will you take control of your life? Our networks are crucial nowadays. The society you are in matters a lot too. Dedicate some of your time to try and help improve the community. Invest in yourself, in your networks, then in your society. Live up to your fullest potential.