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Every day billions of people go to work. A majority of them don’t want to be at work. They work not because it brings them pleasure but because it allows them to trade their time/effort into money. That money allows them to buy things they want and to live the lifestyle they desire. Although people know how/why they make money, they seem to misalign their individual beliefs with their global beliefs.

Money is a Natural Outcome of Exchange

It’s much easier to trade goods when you don’t have to barter. Before money, a farmer, who produced milk, would have a hard time going to the barber for a haircut without a form of currency. What if the only barber in town was lactose intolerant? Who would the farmer get a haircut from? On top of that, how would the barber specialize into his industry? How lucrative is it to trade a haircut for groceries or rent?

I think we all agree barter isn’t the solution to exchange. Instead, we developed currency as a means of exchange. This allowed us to produce milk for the lactose lovers, provide haircuts to those who desired a haircut most and pay bills like rent without having to find the landlord willing to accept a lifetime of haircuts. All of this happened naturally out of the need to exchange.

We Work for Money

In a similar sense, the reason we go to work is for income. Some of us might love it, some of us might hate it, but we all have to work for a living. The return on our time and effort is currency, which we can then exchange for desirable goods. Although we live in a world where everybody is participating in a free market exchange people seem to question the viability of free market exchanges as a whole.

Misaligned Beliefs: Individual vs Global

We are all humans and we all have self-interests. No matter the work we partake in, and the means we use to make our livelihoods, we can only think on our personal levels. We are independent. There doesn’t exist another one of us in the world. We are unique. Yet, when it comes to global issues, we try to impose our minds on others, on the globe.

Even though each of us individually exchanges in markets, and we evolved currency, we forget that individuals make up each interaction. Whether a company sells to one client or one million, it’s still a one-to-one exchange. The size of the sale doesn’t matter, what matters is the individuals that went into the transaction, all of whom turned their time/effort into currency.

The problem is a misalignment of beliefs. If everyone took a step back to see the world we’ve created, each and every one of us, we should be pretty impressed with our developments. All great accomplishes have been spurred by individual voluntary exchanges. The world isn’t made up of 7.4 billion dots on a globe, but 7.4 billion individual human beings trying to better their own lives, and in turn, are benefitting the remaining 7.399999 billion of the population.

I’ve taken a deep-dive into learning about start-ups, the services they’re providing, and the problems they’re solving. There are companies all over the globe that have hyper-focused their efforts in solving really small problems. These niches have become their specialty. Combining the services each of these companies provides makes life far easier in general, but each problem is so small you can never master them on your own.

Solving Problems

Problems aren’t easy to fix. We all have them in our own lives, and at our jobs. A lot of problems are really hard and would require years of dedication to research and process improvement to master. Take U.S. sales tax law for example. How many people have memorized all of the codes for Federal, State, County, Municipality, and City taxes? There are a lot of tax laws!

Luckily, we have start-ups who take that task out of our hands. Instead of having to struggle with knowing tax law, we can outsource our research to a company like TaxJar or Avalara. They will calculate sales tax and file sales tax returns for us, without exorbitant fees. There are all sorts of start-ups out there solving big problems like tax law. Specializing on a small topic creates a simpler life on a whole, but specializing isn’t possible by everyone.

Specializing Creates Advantages

Since a business owner doesn’t have to fuss with sales tax returns, they have more time to do what they do best. The time that would’ve been spent futzing with state law can be used to hone their special talent. Because the economy is built up of many specialties, the sum becomes greater than the parts.

Once all of the specializations can be combined, solving problems benefits everyone. Every incremental improvement in our lives leads to a greater output for each and every one of us. Solving problems, and specializing our abilities, becomes a collective advantage for all participants and leads to a better world.

On week three of my weekends off blogging routine and I’m calling it quits. No more weekends off, every day will bring a blog post from here on out. Off/on switches don’t exist. You’re either on or you’re off, but if you’re off you’re not improving. I blog to get better at writing and don’t have time to slack. So, expect a blog post every day for the foreseeable future and better content.

Creating value is a skill always in demand.

Once you learn to create value it’ll propel your life and career forward.

Developing your skills, and ability to improve other people’s lives will forever be your best investment in yourself.

No matter what you do, people need the value you’re capable of creating.

When you work on mastering a language it starts with learning the basics. First you need to learn how to write letters, both capital and lower-case. Then you need to learn how to combine letters to make words. And last you need to combine words to make sentences. After that there are all sorts of other things to master. Sentence structures, proper punctuation, and an endless array of weird language variants. But it all starts with the foundation formed through learning letters.

Building your life is very similar. You have to first build your foundation, your understanding of the world, and only then can you start worrying about things like sentence structure and passive voice. Life is ever changing, but building a solid foundation is the only place to start.

At some point in my post-college career, I became infatuated with supply chain management. I downloaded, and read, a supply chain textbook for fun (yes, I do that kind of stuff!). Then I stumbled upon a book about the supply chain management practices of Alexander the Great. I was hooked. My favorite “hero” from history was a supply chain genius. Although my passion for supply chain management subsided, the lessons it taught me still influence my long-term outlook on life.

Systems From A-Z

Let’s think about a particular item purchased from Amazon, one of the most prolific supply chain managing companies in the world. A person orders an item and within two days the product has arrived at her doorstep. Quite the miracle that can be mapped out high-level and then widdled down to each piece that got it there.

Basically, she ordered the item, someone (most likely a robot) in a warehouse received the request, the robot grabbed the item off the shelf, the item was placed in a box, and the item was packaged for shipment. After that, someone from a shipping company came to pick up the item, delivered it to an airport, and you get the picture…

There is a massive system to get from a mouse-click on Amazon’s website to the front door of this lady’s house in only two days. But we only see A and Z, we don’t see B-Y. Life is very similar. We rarely see inside a person’s individual decisions leading us to only seeing outputs.

Life Isn’t as Simple as High-Level Supply Chain Management

Once you get a grasp on basic supply chain management you start to understand all the little parts, and planning, that goes into having a product go from point A to Z. Instead of a miraculous button-click to delivered package you start to realize the supply chain is an ingenious, man-made process with planning down to the smallest process. Each little process adds up to create the system, and each process is extremely fine-tuned.

Life, your life, is the output of all sorts of systems and processes. What people see on social media is merely the output of the processes you put in place. It doesn’t tell the story of the underlying thought processes, and day-to-day activities, that led you there. The goal in life isn’t to have glorious Instagram photos (output Z) but to have awesome processes (inputs B-Y) that lead you to an awesome, Instagram-worthy, brunch in Manhattan.

Life as a Process

It has taken me years to realize life is a process. Each little input into my life affects my outputs. Each process I add to my life adds to my long-term output. When one process fails, I fail to achieve my desired outcome (Z).

Although I sometimes set myself to high expectations, I find when I don’t do everything in my power to control my life, my processes, that I end up letting my goals slide. However, when I take control and execute my processes like a master supply chain manager, my life becomes a work of art. Output Z looks great to the people on the outside, but they have no idea the processes (B-Y) that made it a reality.

Each day I have to remind myself that life is a long-term game. And much like supply chain management, the sum of the parts is greater than the whole. For every little process I incorporate into my life, the end goal is easier to achieve. The more times I execute on my path, the more the engine keeps humming.

Life is a process, the output is merely your internal supply chain producing results. Although we all love the dopamine hits, and instant gratification of recognized outputs, the real beauty of life is the inner feeling of improving our processes.

There is nothing more rewarding than highly-functioning internal processes and, once we understand long-term happiness is achieved from the sum of these processes, life becomes a game against ourselves to improve each hub on the supply chain.

Entrepreneurs, startup founders, and technology-forward employees are glorified for their dedication to the craft. Praise is handed down for their blood, sweat, tears, and time. A common statement is something like this: “You worked 100 hours last week? You must really believe in what you’re doing.” Yet, that goes against everything science knows about not only happiness but productivity. A 100-hour work week will not create a better product or service all it will achieve is burn out.

Everything in Moderation

Entrepreneurs have a fire, a passion, a vision that pushes them forward. Sometimes it becomes an obsession and, as the old saying goes, everything in moderation (yes, even business). I firmly believe our best thoughts come when we are most open. And to be open we can’t be putting 70+ hours of work on our minds.

Instead of stressing our minds with more work, we need to focus on the most productive work and give our minds a break. If you’ve noticed, over the past two weekends I haven’t written blog posts. That’s been intentional as I’m trying to test my ability to bounce back. I’m passionate about writing every day, I want to get better at it, but I also think our minds need a break. So I’ve been putting my theory to the test. So far I’m succeeding.

Start/Stop Approach to Blogging

After no posts Saturday/Sunday of the last two weeks, I have posted every day following the weekend. This not only shows me I can stop/start, but it also shows me that my writing gets better with a clear head. I’ve been skiing in the mountains over the weekend and enjoying the moment. When I don’t have the “I have to write a blog post” thought hanging over my head, I’m more mindful of life around me.

The stop/start mentality is something missing from entrepreneurs and it eventually will suck the life out of them. As humans, we are not meant to work all the time. Our ancestors spent a few hours a week hunting-gathering and then enjoyed leisure time. It’s important for the mind to relax, connect synapses, and develop away from work.

Live Mindfully

Instead of busting our butts for long-hour accolades it’s actually more efficient to stop when we need a break. It may be hard as obsessed entrepreneurs but we must do it for the long-term. Life is meant for love, passion, and happiness but that can only be achieved from living our lives mindfully.

Hunter and gatherer tribes passed down lessons to their youth about the berries to eat, and the berries that’ll end in death. Techniques on capturing game and stalking prey were also passed down. The ones who excelled became the head of the tribes and for generations, the practices continued. Even today, some hunter-gatherer tribes still have the same traditions as their relatives millennia ago. Today’s society seems to be missing the “Don’t eat that berry!” approach to being a successful adult.

Life Lessons by Trial and Error

A good part of my 20’s, since graduating college at 22, have been a lot of trial and error lessons. A lot more errors than successes.  I’m not incriminating my parents for their inability to foretell my problems. Or society for leading me down a path of less success. But I do wish I had learned from my errors at a much younger age.

Unlike hunter-gatherer children, society shelters today’s children from an early age. Instead of trying things on our own at three years old, we’re coddled, cuddled, and protected. Throughout our childhood, into our teens, and through college we live in a protected world. We don’t get to learn first hand what errors feel like until we’re tossed out at the age of 22.

Tell Them “Don’t eat that berry,” and then get out of their damn way

Trial and error is the mechanism in which entrepreneurs learn best. It’s also how I’ve learned a majority of my life lessons. It’s an amazing mechanism for learning, however, trial and error at the age of five is better than at the age of 22. There are a lot fewer stakes on the line when we’re younger and, as we grow older, trial and error becomes more daunting.

Being able to teach children “Don’t eat that berry” from a young age is helpful, but only if it’s accompanied by a create-your-own-rules mindset. Children learn by falling on their faces. So do adults. But it’s important for the younger generation, those about to enter the “real world,” to understand what they’re signing up for and where they can find happiness.

For years I have been compiling a Kindle To-Read list. The only problem is I add more books than I read. Over the next six months, I plan on changing that. I have segmented my reading list into separate categories by month and challenged myself to knock out four books each month (or a book a week). Here is what I have so far:

February – Life My Way

• The Last Safe Investment – Bryan Franklin, Michael Ellsberg
• How I Found Freedom in an Unfree World – Harry Browne
• Leading the Life You Want: Skills for Integrating Work and Life – Stewart Friedman
• Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action – Simon Sinek

March – Philosophy, Psychiatry, and Stoicism

• Square One: The Foundations of Knowledge – Steve Patterson
• A Guide to the Good Life: The Ancient Art of Stoic Joy – William B. Irvine
• Man’s Search for Meaning – Viktor E Frankl, Harold S. Kusner, William J. Winslade
• Ego Is the Enemy – Ryan Holiday

April – The Future

• The Evolution of Everything: How New Ideas Emerge – Matt Ridley
• The End of Jobs: Money, Meaning, and Freedom Without the 9-to-5 – Taylor Pearson
• Rise of the Robots: Technology and the Threat of a Jobless Future – Martin Ford
• The Age of Em: Work, Love, and Life when Robots Rule the Earth – Robin Hanson

May – Inward Innovation

• Driving Honda: Inside the World’s Most Innovative Car Company – Jeffrey Rothfeder
• Unleash Your Inner Company: Use Passion and Perseverance to Build Your Ideal Business – John Chisholm
• The Inner Game of Tennis: The Classic Guide to Mental Side of Peak Performance – W. Timothy Gallwey, Zach Kleinman, Pete Carroll
• The Here-and-Now Habit: How Mindfulness Can Help You Break Unhealth Habits Once and for All – Hugh G. Byrne

June – Think Big and Kylon Geinger Recommendations

• Bold: How to Go Big, Create Wealth, and Impact the World – Peter H. Diamandis, Steven Kolter
• The ONE Thing: The Surprisingly Simple Truth Behind Extraordinary Results – Gary Keller, Jay Papasan
• Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of Nike – Phil Knight
• Influencer: The New Science of Leading Change – Joseph Grenny, Kerry Patterson, David Maxfield

July – Because They’ve Been on my List For Forever

• Finite and Infinite Games – James Carse
• The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles – Steven Pressfield, Shawn Coyne
• Steal Like an Artist: 10 Things Nobody Told You About Being Creative – Austin Kleon
• The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don’t Work and What to Do About It – Michael E. Gerber

Lately, I’ve tuned out all news, not only the news on TV/the internet but have stopped checking my Facebook feed. I truly have no idea what’s going on outside my bubble. I’m sure to be missing something I should be enraged about, but that’s okay, I prefer it this way.

Instead of spending so much time obsessing over what people are doing all over the world, I’m focusing my time on what will make me a better person. With all the time not spent reading about other people’s lives, I’ve been putting in the hours reading books. Really good books. Each one has an underlying theme: How to live the life you want in the dynamic world we live in today. I’d take this reading, and this life-message, over anything going on in the “real world.”

Call me selfish, disconnected, or out-of-date with current events, but I call it living free. I get to choose what I consume, and I get to think for myself.