Category: Uncategorized

Blogging Daily

On a perfect day I carve out time to focus on blogging. My showers are spent brainstorming. Some of my thoughts are spent reflecting. And a blog topic usually hits me during some point of my morning. I then spend the day slowly putting together a blog in my head, taking a few notes, and writing a post before going to bed.

That’s my habit on a perfect day. A lot of days aren’t perfect. That’s when I have to work harder to get a blog post shipped. But those are the days that truly form my habits.

Habits are Hard

It’s not easy to do something consistently well. A lot of things will interfere with building habits. The important thing is finding a way to accomplish the challenges you set for yourself and doing them. The lesson isn’t in doing, the lesson is in consistency.

I am not always proud of my blog posts. I typically think they’re imperfect and could use more work. I wish I had more time or could brainstorm for hours. But getting a blog post shipped everyday is teaching me an important lesson of being consistent and staying true to myself.

 

College Taught Me Thought

For the most part I believe education, in the general sense of grade school, high school, college and beyond, is overrated and not worth the investment. However, I don’t believe I would have that opinion without myself going through the steps and attending George Mason University for college.

At the time of my decision I had no idea where I was going. No idea how to communicate with the ideas in my head. I was in need of a tool to translate the thoughts in my head into actualities. That tool ended up being Austrian Economics. It took what I had been thinking and created concrete examples of how to apply my thought process.

The “Conveyor Belt”

I was following the sheep. I was told by everyone (friends, family, guidance counselors, society, etc) that the next stop after high school is college, and that’s what I did. My only requirement was to get out of New England because that’s where I was born and raised and felt I needed a change. My parents then gave me a budget and I went to find schools. I ended up applying, and getting accepted, to three: University of Louisville, Temple University, and George Mason University. None of these were decisions based on some vision. They were schools within the budget, that I knew a bit about because of sports, and were in cities outside of New England.

Choosing Economics as a major was also happenstance. I had taken a couple basic courses in Economics in high school, which looking back on it, were nothing close to the Austrian education I received, but to me it seemed interesting and it sounded more fun than a business major like finance, accounting or marketing.

Economics Connected the Dots

My first class of micro-economics, with Dr. Thomas Rustici, was the on switch. My brain started firing on all cylinders. The dots, nodes, in my brain were connecting at lightning speed. Comparative advantage, principle-agent, supply and demand, water-diamond paradox, broken glass fallacy, opportunity cost and so-on and so-forth took over my mind. These are the lessons that taught me how to think and something I use now on a daily basis in work, life and everything I do. It gave me the lens to see the world.

Education is Overrated, but No Regrets

There are possible paths I could’ve taken to lead me to where I am today but I have no regrets accumulating student loans in the pursuit of shaping my mind.  I could’ve tried to be a self-taught Austrian Economic thinker. I could’ve found books by Menger, Hayek, Mises, Rothbard, Coase, Kirzner on my own, but probably not in the timely manner that I did stumbling into college. Although I’d encourage others to have an open-mind about next steps in education, I myself am indebted to the education I received. George Mason economics was the light I needed yet didn’t know was there.

Technology is a Happy-Enabler

Week four of the #getHaPy challenge is to write down three things you’re thankful for each day for 7 days. So far I’ve written down nine things, three each day for Mon-Wed. I will share all of my thankful thoughts on Sunday in my summary post.

Although the challenge is to be thankful for things that make you happy and feel loved, technology enables me to spend less time working and more time doing fun things with the people I care about. Now that I am deliberately thinking of things I’m thankful for, I realize how thankful I am for technology.

Google

Google might be the greatest enabler of all. I put together a Google slide montage for our trip to Maine in under 30 minutes. That project, back in the day of Microsoft PowerPoint, probably never would’ve happened because pulling the photos and videos into the slides would’ve taken far too much effort. Instead it became a unique roadmap of the trip and added value to the experience.

Today I sat at a coffeeshop, 2,000 miles from my office, and completed a work task in about an hour. All of the information needed was stored on Google Drive. My Excel macro printed PDFs to Google. And then I was able to mass email those PDFs with a Google mail merge. Although I had to work on my vacation, technology allowed me to do it in a timely manner, allowing me to spend my vacation relaxing, which is how a vacation should be spent!

Another example is how I’ve started blogging. This very post was written using Google Keep. It’s a notepad that saves everything to my Google Drive. Instead of typing my blogs on WordPress or in a notepad and then copying to WordPress I can write it throughout the day on whatever Google enabled device I have. Google saves time. And time is what I need to enjoy life.

Technology Allows Freedom

As technology progresses, tasks become easier and easier. With less of our lives being spent on mundane tasks we are able to focus on what truly makes us happy and living on our own terms. Living the way we want to live is what freedom is about. That’s why I’m so thankful for technology, it’s another piece to living free.

I remember in high school when my economics teacher recommended reading “The World is Flat.” A lot of the book discussed outsourcing jobs to China and how trade was a global commodity. That was 10 years ago. I don’t believe the world is flat anymore. I believe the world is interconnected.

I am currently flying from Denver to Maine to visit my family and attend a wedding in Boston. Although it’s really nice to see people in person, and be back on the east coast, I don’t feel it’s completely necessary. I am always connected to people on the east coast. I am always connected to my family. And I’m a Skype, email, text or Facebook chat away from all of my friends.

With this interconnected world comes specialization. We can specialize on what we do best, what geography makes us the most happy and still be connected to the people we love. The world we live in is amazing.

Don’t think of the world as flat, but think of it as a web. At each intersection we can either go left or right, we may choose to go hundreds of miles from the closest intersection, but at the end of the day we’re still within reach of our first direction choice. No longer do we have to worry about geography as an impediment, but an option to thrive.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. It’s an amazing time to be alive.

Information is Everywhere

We are living in a time with information at our fingertips and new ways of doing things constantly being invented, turned into startups, or being used by larger segments of the population. With all this information it’s really hard to start gaining knowledge. The easiest way to start learning is by doing and taking small steps towards growing.

Being a Sponge

Sponges are really good at soaking up water and dispersing soapy suds onto dirty dishes. Although inanimate objects, I like to think of my brain as a sponge. I am constantly learning. The oceans of knowledge that surround us on a daily basis can be soaked into our minds to gain incredible insights on how people live, laugh and love. We can continually grow these insights into a robust framework of our future. With more knowledge constantly expanding our minds, we can find more opportunity to secrete our insights.

Finding Dirty Dishes (Opportunity)

Once you start thinking of knowledge as bits of water filling up your sponge you will start to develop a need to use this information. You’ll want to find dirty dishes to use your mind on. For me I was a sponge around other people’s insightful blog posts. I read a lot of blogs, was fascinated by writing styles, and wanted to write helpful posts that would benefit others. In doing so I noticed there was an opportunity for myself to start blogging. This was all opened up by my awareness to my surroundings and soaking up the knowledge I had a passion for.

Learning While Doing

The only way a sponge will get the job done is by being picked up by a human who applies elbow grease. A sponge won’t move on it’s own, but a sponge in action can clean almost anything. Similarly, the only way your mind will obtain knowledge is by doing tasks. Every task you complete is filling in a little more of the puzzle. Slowly your brain will completely fill up with water, enabling you to clean more and more items. Finding a way to clean more dishes can only start happening once you start scrubbing.

Relax

Whether you’re aware of the lessons you’re currently learning or not, you’re still a sponge. As long as you’re located somewhere close to the sink you’re soaking up knowledge. As you’re figuratively scrubbing dishes reflect on what you’re learning. Take the tidbits of information from each pan and move on, always soaking up a little bit more. One day your sponge will be full of knowledge and you’ll be able to tackle the dirtiest of dishes.

NFL is Not For Me

Sundays in America are about NFL football. Everyone makes sure they’re in front of a TV set for their team, which, since the advent of fantasy football, every team is their team. I get the obsession. I used to be a huge NFL fan and was commissioner of a 30+ team fantasy league. But the NFL is big business. They use government subsidies and taxpayer dollars to fund their audacious stadiums. They cover up concussion related health issues. And they have players wising-up who quit because of the long term side effects on their personal health. The NFL has created an untouchable monopoly on strong guys running full speed into each other with no regard for their health. In short, I am no longer an NFL fan.

Taking Back (my) Sunday

Instead of spending my day going to the bar and watching the NFL I prefer to spend it being around people I love, playing outdoors (I went hiking last Sunday), taking time to get chores done, and getting my mind ready for the week ahead.

This is my third year that I haven’t truly been a fan of the NFL and I can tell you I don’t miss it a bit. Yes, I do miss texting about the Cowboys with my dad, usually “God, what are they thinking?” but we’ve found different, less superficial ways to connect.

Question the NFL 

You should be questioning the NFL. If you’re watching your team play, or every team play, today then please at least question what’s going on. Your taxpayer dollars that pay for the stadiums, the grown men bashing their heads into each other and the wealthy owners sitting in the stands, counting their dollars.

The NFL is not the sport for me, and I think you should question your loyalty to The League.

 

Self Reflection

My self reflection lately has been focusing on what makes me thrive. I have taken it upon myself to think of the situations where I am able to complete everything I put my mind to, as well as, the situations where I fail to meet my and other’s expectations. In this self reflection I’ve come to the realization that I thrive in completing challenges.

Challenges 

I use this term in the sense of challenging myself to ship something, put my skills to the test and complete a task. Although there are other challenges: Work, personal, long-term difficulties, I am using a challenge as setting your mind on something and getting it done.

Lately I’ve been completing challenges, The $100 MBA challenge, blogging for 30 days, #getHaPy challenge, and others in both personal and professional settings. It feels great to accomplish things I set my mind to, but that’s only the start. Since I’ve set my mind in a challenge completing mindset, I’ve started using it as a way to complete another task.

Short-Term Focus

A key ingredient to my challenges is they’re short term. The nature of quick challenges enforces you to focus on getting something done within a limited time-frame. It also enforces just-in-time learning as opposed to typical college-setting learning, where you study for a test because that’s what the professor tells you to do. Challenges are about having a real world obstacle and discovering what is necessary to get over the obstacle.

Challenge Mindset

Today I helped some of my friends move. They had a ton of stuff to move and the scope of the move seemed almost insurmountable. However, looking at moving as a challenge, I was quickly able to define the critical portions to start with, and set my mind to completing one task at a time. Eventually we got everything moved, and although I’m exhausted, it was a great learning experience. Once you develop the habits and abilities to complete challenges, other challenges become easier. And once seemingly big obstacles become smaller. Completing challenges has helped me determine what’s important, what’s not important, how to be resourceful, the necessity of shipping, and how strong just-in-time learning truly is.

So, if you’re reading this I challenge you to ship something. Whether it be a blog post, a quora answer, an email to a possible mentor or any other challenge you’ve been putting off. You never know where it might lead you and maybe you’ll also develop new ways of thinking from the challenge mindset.

Phrases Have Truth

Two phrases that we often hear from a young age “Talk is cheap” and “Action speaks louder than words” are fundamentally true. Although those phrases are usually overused by the media, in an office, or by a parent, the value they provide is quite high.

Talk is Cheap

I can talk all day about the things I want to do, the ideas I have, the business I could create, and the world I want to live in. I can complain to friends and family about how my boss treats me, that it’s unfair I have to do chores, that I don’t like dealing with certain decisions. In these instances talk is either used to project an idealistic future, or complain about a changeable circumstance.

It’s cheap to talk. Saying you’ll do something or saying you’re unhappy is a cry for attention. Instead, maybe you should be focusing on doing something, building a company or changing your situation at the job you hate. Doing is far more valuable than talking.

Action Speaks Louder Than Words

I’m not sure if the saying is “Actions speak” or “Action speaks” but I like the latter version better. Action starts with doing something small. If I say I want to start a business I need to take a single action. Maybe I research how I would build a business, or start developing a product in my mind. I don’t simply take actions, I take calculated action. Each action builds on the previous action and creates the business on its own.

Nobody likes hearing you complain. Instead of talking about your miseries maybe you should reflect on why the miseries exist, what you can do to fix them, and then put your plan into action. It starts by doing. The truest path to walking the walk is to start walking. Instead of talking about your fortunes and misfortunes you should take responsibility for yourself.

Action is Taking Responsibility

By taking responsibility of your actions you are able to become the person you want to become, and not the person nobody wants to be around.  Responsibility is about being fully in control of your mind. Once you have developed your mind you can start assessing plans of action to achieve the things you want.

Action is about doing. Words are about dreaming. The only way to arrive at your dream is to shut up and start doing.

Fiverr is Amazing

Yesterday I was in a hurry to ship something, I had most of the pieces together but needed one last finishing touch. Remembering The $100 MBA challenge I went to Fiverr and searched for what I needed: An excel graph. Yes, I’m very capable in excel, but I figured someone out there could make a prettier graph than I could.

I had never used Fiverr and I had just left my house to head to the office. I logged onto the Fiverr website, did my search, found a 5 star excel person, logged into PayPal, downloaded the app and was immediately asked to send what I wanted. I typed in the data set and walked to work. By the time I was in the office I had a notification that my data set was now a bar graph. Is that not amazing?

Working is Overvalued, Knowledge is Not

How many times have you said “If only I had more time?” or “I’m sick of doing the same mundane tasks over and over.” In the palm of your hands you can summon a person from anywhere in the world to do almost anything you want. And within a timely fashion. And from someone you trust (remember, I used a person with 5 stars). You don’t have to have more time, but more knowledge of who can create value without wasting your time.

What’s better than working? Having someone work for you. Fiverr is full of people who will do almost anything you want. And for cheap! All it takes is having knowledge of what is being offered.

I could’ve easily made the bar graph. Once I received the excel file I realized that’s within my capabilities. But I didn’t have to do anything to make it. I typed 50 letters into a text message. That’s it. For $6 ($5 + $1 processing fee).

Decentralizing Work

This will be a larger blog post in the near future, but we are entering a time when we can be truly comparative advantageous. In the words of Dr. Thomas Rustici, comparative advantage is “doing what you do best and trading for the rest.” In an interconnected world we can focus on doing the stuff we enjoy, selling ourselves on sites like Fiverr, and use our earnings to enjoy things we want in life.

Again, it’s truly an amazing time to be alive.

Defeatism

When I think back over the years, graduating high school, graduating college, working at CPA firms and now a startup, I have a feeling of regret. I wish 26 year old me could go back to 16 year old me and say “Fuck the system, go build your dream tomorrow.” But that’s the defeatist approach.

My Approach

“The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now.” – Chinese Proverb

Yes, it would be great to have a time machine, teach my 16 year-old self the basics of starting a business/entrepreneurship, and watch myself grow into the person I’m starting to become now. Since time machines haven’t been invented I am choosing the second best option: Now. We can only change ourselves from today on. Whatever you did yesterday, last month, four years ago has no impact on you becoming a better version of yourself today. If you truly want to be free and live life to the fullest you have to actively change yourself. Not your past self, but today’s self.

My approach to changing my today’s self has a lot to do with learning me. What makes me tick? What makes me happy? When I feel angry, why? Am I doing stuff I hate? These questions aren’t something my past self thought about. And they’re not a burden for my future self to tackle. They are the quest for my present self. If I’m happy I try to reflect on my happiness and put myself in that situation more often. If I’m angry I try to think about why, take a couple deep breaths, and work on a happy resolution. And  if I’m doing something I hate, I actively try to find the best way out. These are all things that can be done today and are not tied to the person you were but the person you want to become.

Be a Gardener Today

Don’t become a square peg for the square hole. That would be a shame. Become a shape that doesn’t fit any cookie cutter (a bonsai tree, perhaps!). We should be creating our own path forward and not be afraid to step beyond our comfort level. And it starts with now. Don’t put it off until you think you’re ready. Do it today. Start transforming yourself into the person you want to become, and you’ll look back to your past-self seeing your growth each day. Become a gardener and plant your wildest dreams right now.