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Make 3 changes this week
I did another Facebook live broadcast last night (this might become a 2–3 times a week thing) and as we got to talking the conversation shifted to action items, as it tends to do when I get going. Eventually we landed on the three things I think everyone can do regardless of talent to increase their success rate in life.
That last part is important because in a world where everyone gets a trophy and we toss around “thought-leader” “entrepreneur” “social maven” and “hustle” until they are worthless, I feel it is important to understand that not everyone has the same gifts.
You might not be wired to work 23 hours a day; you might not need to in order to have success. You don’t have to be the leader in order to be happy and feel like you are making the world a better place. You don’t need to be a “personality” in the connection economy in order to carve out your place in the world. But I feel these three are must haves for anyone regardless of skill set.
1) Do what you say you are going to do.
If you set a deadline, hit it. If you promise you will help your friend move, help him move. If you say you will do something, hold true to that word no matter what. Technology shifts, jobs and titles change, we have good days and we have bad days, but your word is your currency and in an era of social currency if your word is worthless — you might find it hard to get ahead in the current economy.
2) Be where you say you will be.
This is the older brother to #1 because it has to do with one of my favorite maxims, use time wisely.
You will find if you listen, read, or watch me I spend a lot of time shaping, understanding, and attempting to bend time. So if I am scheduled to be someplace I am at that place ready to do what is asked of me and in many cases beyond what is asked.
My daughter was asked to attend a birthday party this past weekend and she was one of a few kids invited. The lesson Evelyn and I talked about afterwards was what an honor it was to be invited to a party with such a small guest list and when we are invited to such things we want to be on our best behavior so that we get invited back. If you are supposed to be there…be there and be in the moment.
3) Don’t be late.
Which leads us to the building block by which the other two are successful.
Don’t be late, ever.
Yes, there will be instances where it cannot be helped and in those cases use one of the various forms of technology we have in order to let people know so that they can react to your tardiness and adjust their plans. However, as a rule 10 minutes early is my EST (Eric Standard Time) because your time is extremely valuable.
We only get a finite number of seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, and years to traverse the globe and the best way to use them is be mindful of the fact that they will run out. I do my best under every circumstance not to waste your most precious resource, I hope you would do the same.
I will jump on Facebook on Wednesday night and would love to talk to you again at that point or you can check out any of the podcasts we are creating on a weekly basis.
Have a great Tuesday.
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All In a Days Work
I was at lunch with a friend last week who asked me, “how do you get all that stuff you do done in a single day?”
She was asking about a full-time job at MLive, a daily marketing podcast in Everything is Marketing, The Incredible Hult podcast, the Way of the Warrior MMA podcast, the I Hate Your Favorite Movie podcast, the BarrettAll podcast, teaching at Aquinas, writing for Medium and Linkedin, keynotes on social media, raising two amazing kids, spending time with my beautiful wife, and still having time to take care of myself.
The answer is simple — automate what you can, ditch what doesn’t matter, and sacrifice the bullshit.
- Leave work at work.
Sure there are going to be times that you need to attend to something that is either a big project, or a big problem but those are the exceptions.
In EVERY other case you need to disconnect and recharge as you will be MORE productive in your work and put in better ideas if you get a chance to be inspired and experiment in your personal life.
Work/Life balance is a non-negotiable part of getting more out of life.
2. Cull your friends.
This may sound horrible but I am very serious.
You are the sum of the five people you spend the most time with (digitally or IRL in real life) if those people talk about how everything is someone else’s fault, live in a world of woe is me, or think that life is “out to get them” you are going to lose with them, I promise.
It is imperative that you shift your focus to being optimistic about the world around you and I understand after the last ten days that we have had that can be difficult. But, you will be better prepared to respond when things go wrong if you were not waiting for it to go wrong in the first place.
3) Ship your art.
This is my favorite Seth Godin quote ever.
You should make something, anything, and then share it with the world. Instead of spending 4 hours a night looking at other people’s Instagram posts — learn to make cupcakes, write for an hour a night, read a book (the average American fails to read ONE a year), build a business, play with a new app or learn to code. 2–3 times a week take those nights and MAKE something.
4) Automate your life.
You are doing dumb shit with your time. How do I know? Because we all do and in most cases it revolves around email. Here is how your typical day starts; you wake up, check your email, and decide how the day is going to go.
Think about that for a second.
Your day is planned for you depending on what is in your inbox.
Which means you spend your whole life reacting instead of acting.
Want to know why you don’t feel like your life is full of purpose? Because you are waiting for an email to give you a direction.
Am I saying ignore email? No, I am saying have some intention behind it. Use products like IFTTT or WorkFlow will help you automate some of the things you just don’t need to do anymore. Attack the rest with purpose.
5) Put the phone down
For two hours a night try putting the phone in a drawer and being in the moment. I was listening to Tim Ferriss talk about a Zen Buddhist quote the other day that goes “If you walk, just walk. If you sit, just sit; but whatever you do, don’t wobble.”
What does that mean?
It means do what you are doing in that moment and don’t be distracted. If you are at dinner with friends BE at dinner with friends. If you are playing with your kids PLAY with your kids. Be intentional with your time and enjoy your surroundings.
So, start with putting the phone away for two hours a night and see if you can graduate to my favorite day of the week “social-free Sunday.” It is exactly like “sucka-free Sunday” with all the awesome hip-hop but none of the Facebook or Instagram.
In all honesty, I do take one whole day a weekend and leave the phone alone. I don’t respond, I don’t consume, I am just in the moment. Try it, it will be life-changing for you.
Later at lunch, at one point in the conversation, my friend asked what time I got up and I said 5:30am. She asked, “every day?” And I responded unless I am sick, yes. Fast forward to yesterday and she texted and said, “I have gotten up the past two mornings at 5:30am, I feel amazing.”
The thing about it is, it isn’t at all about what time you get up — but that you get up with intent about the day. Every minute, every second, every hour of the day is yours to spend — How will you spend today?