There was once a businessman who was sitting by the beach in a small Brazilian village.
As he sat, he saw a Brazilian fisherman rowing a small boat towards the shore having caught quite few big fish.
The businessman was impressed and asked the fisherman, “How long does it take you to catch so many fish?”
The fisherman replied, “Oh, just a short while.”
“Then why don’t you stay longer at sea and catch even more?” The businessman was astonished.
“This is enough to feed my whole family,” the fisherman said.
The businessman then asked, “So, what do you do for the rest of the day?”
The fisherman replied, “Well, I usually wake up early in the morning, go out to sea and catch a few fish, then go back and play with my kids. In the afternoon, I take a nap with my wife, and evening comes, I join my buddies in the village for a drink — we play guitar, sing and dance throughout the night.”

The businessman offered a suggestion to the fisherman.
“I am a PhD in business management. I could help you to become a more successful person. From now on, you should spend more time at sea and try to catch as many fish as possible. When you have saved enough money, you could buy a bigger boat and catch even more fish. Soon you will be able to afford to buy more boats, set up your own company, your own production plant for canned food and distribution network. By then, you will have moved out of this village and to Sao Paulo, where you can set up HQ to manage your other branches.”

The fisherman continues, “And after that?”
The businessman laughs heartily, “After that, you can live like a king in your own house, and when the time is right, you can go public and float your shares in the Stock Exchange, and you will be rich.”
The fisherman asks, “And after that?”
The businessman says, “After that, you can finally retire, you can move to a house by the fishing village, wake up early in the morning, catch a few fish, then return home to play with kids, have a nice afternoon nap with your wife, and when evening comes, you can join your buddies for a drink, play the guitar, sing and dance throughout the night!”
The fisherman was puzzled, “Isn’t that what I am doing now?”

So the question is what are you working for?

Photo courtesy fotografar

Story adopted from wishboxproject.com

After watching the first few minutes of the disgraceful video about ‘Black Friday’ on Youtube last week coupled with an email from Nick Tart, the young co-author of What it Takes to Make More Money than Your Parents, describing the biggest complaint his readers had which was that his book didn’t give enough ‘how-to’ advice, I decided I’ve finally had enough.

Unofficially I have counted 519,730* ‘how-to’ books on solving the mystery of life, making money and everything in between; well something like that anyway. I think I lost count after a couple of hundred. From how to seek eternal bliss to how to build a rocket ship seemingly everything imaginable has been done  and now passed on in the form of  how I (or they) did it and how you too can do it like me (or them). Well guess what; you can’t and more importantly why would you want to?

When ‘How-To’ doesn’t Work and Why

I know, I know – I have no right to tell you what you can and can’t do or even what you are capable of doing. But hear me out for a second.

Marketers have used the ‘how-to’ hook for centuries with great success to lure the hungry consumers in search for the ‘secret sauce’. Unfortunately most of those people who embodied that new found ‘how to’ knowledge didn’t have a fraction of the success the marketers did.

The two main problems I have with ‘how-to’ is it’s based on the past and it tries to be applied to everything.

The first problem limits forward thinking, evolution and adaptation. How can anything new get created if we’re constantly looking to the results of the past to base our decisions for the present and the future? Worse yet, how can any problem get solved with the same kind of thinking that created the problem in the first place? Research today, for the most part, seems to be still inside the box – trying to come up with a better mouse trap instead of trying new and innovative ways to eliminate the mouse (my apologies to the Mickey lovers for using the mouse yet again as the prototype – but couldn’t think of a better one at the time and I don’t like editing at 1am in the morning).  I believe this is why billions of dollars in research and development are wasted every year in healthcare, education and financial sectors.

The second problem, taking ‘how-to’ as the end all be all to everything hypnotizes us into believing, literally, that all future events, no matter who, what, when, where, why, will carry the same results as it did in the past if carried out in the same fashion. I just can’t imagine Shaquille O’Neill winning the Breeder’s Cup after reading a book on how to ride a horse by last year’s winning jockey.

Sounds ridiculous doesn’t it?

Yet so many people set their expectations this way and wonder why things didn’t turn out the way they thought it would. Things that are subjective or self-measured like ‘how to be happy’, or, ‘how to be successful in business’ or even ‘how to make a million bucks selling the same widgets I did last year’, are extremely difficult to model from someone else’s achievements.

Success and achievement don’t come in the form of ‘how to’ it comes in the form of ‘how-do’. Knowledge and understanding is useless without application to it. That part is up to you.

To be continued…

Photo: Christopher Chan

Watch this brilliant video from Professor Philip Zimbardo as he conveys how our individual perspectives of time affect our work, health and well-being with brilliant illustration from RSA Animate (www.thersa.org).Time influences who we are as a person, how we view relationships and how we act in the world. Comment below.

This video was adapted from Dan Pink’s talk at the RSA. It  illustrates the hidden truths behind what really motivates us at home and in the workplace. Surprisingly enough, if we are able to think logically about what he’s saying, is Dan’s conclusions really that surprising? Please post comments below…

One of my favorite shows on television is The Big Idea with Donny Deutsch. The show’s slogan is “Your Toolkit For Success.” On the show Donny interviews top achievers in various disciplines from athletics to business in effort to give you insight into the tools, the strategies, and the connections you need to start living a richer life.

During an episode of the show he remarked:

“If Sunday night doesn’t feel like Friday night you’re doing the wrong thing.”

-Donny Deutch

How does Sunday night feel to you?

Does it feel like Friday night?

Or does it feel like you can’t wait until next Friday night comes again?

The degree of truth in the above quote from Donny Deutch depends on what Friday night feels like to you.  If Friday night means doing cool things with cool people then I’d agree with Donny.

But unfortunately for many people it doesn’t matter whether it’s Friday night, Wednesday afternoon or Sunday morning. A lot people seem stuck on the treadmill of life and don’t know how to get off. They spend their lives on autopilot every day; an endless battle getting pushed around by the monotonous. They jump from task to task in effort to finally catch up on their never-ending to-do list.

Does this sound all-too familiar?

If you’re spending your days on that treadmill, existing day-to-day doing things you hate with people you don’t like, then read Steve Jobs’ advice[1] below and make it part of your morning routine:

“If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today? And whenever the answer has been “no” for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something. Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important thing I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life, because almost everything–all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure–these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.”

On the other hand, if you truly love spending your time doing what you’re doing then hats off to you for creating the life you want.  After all isn’t that the essence of life – doing what you want, when you want with who you want?

If you’ve read my post, Something’s Missing: Is it Your Life, do you think all those people with luxurious yachts and huge mansions, were they doing the wrong thing?

Do you think Sunday night felt like Friday night to them?

If all their time was being spent doing what they loved, then why the need for all these other lifeless luxuries?

I’m not suggesting that having the luxury and material lavishness of yachts is bad. I ask, on the other hand, shouldn’t they at the very least be enjoyed? Isn’t that why they were purchased in the first place?

Could it be that all these people who owned the big boats and even bigger houses were working, trying to pay for them? This couldn’t be right; not possibly. Rich people, the wealthiest of the wealthy, with possessions this grand, don’t work. They don’t have to. They have more money than they know what to do with.

Surprisingly enough, after some research I discovered my initial reaction was valid.

Sure, there were many successful and genuinely wealthy people with money to burn. However, there were more people living beyond their means buying stuff they never enjoyed with money they didn’t have. They were always working, constantly struggling to pay for it and playing their part in what many are calling worst economic crisis they have ever seen.

Further research into the county courts confirmed this. The extremely high number of foreclosures and repossessions were devastating, especially in an area so welcoming to the life of luxury.

To compound the matter even further over 50%[2] of people who work hate what they were doing for a living. This echoes the careerbuilder.com[3] survey that said more than 4 out of 5 people in the U.S. are not working in their dream job.

I can recall speaking at an event a couple of years ago with a little over a thousand people in the room. On a whim I asked this question to the audience, “How many people would quit their job yesterday if they could?” The results astounded me. In a room full of above average achievers more than 70% had their hands up.

So let me get this right. The majority of people spend most of their time working at a job that they don’t like; to try and pay for things they want but rarely use or have time to enjoy. Are you one of those people?

And we wonder why we’re experiencing so much turmoil and economic uncertainty.

If you’ve recently made a change to start doing what you love, comment below and share with us what you did.

[1] –Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple Computer and of Pixar Animation Studios, Stanford Commencement address delivered on June 12, 2005

[2] Inc.com survey

[3] CareerBuilder.com reference

(Photo: nfarley)

A modern Renaissance may have reached us in the early 21st century, and it just may be the time for us to capitalize on our own creativity. While we can learn from mentors and model their behaviors there will truly never be another you. With the amazing influx of technology and information since the 1980s and 1990s, the world has reached an apex of information-facts, figures, communication, connections, cell phones, fax machines, PDAs, and the wonderful World Wide Web. All of these developments have spelled a different kind of working and living life, and has altered things from the way they were in the past. While everyone has access to the world of information just mentioned, it will be up to the individual to utilize the creativity that makes up such a part of life. Will creativity become the new leader?

According to Daniel Pink, “We’ve progressed to a society of creators and empathizers, of pattern recognizers and meaning makers.” This means that this whole new mind has given us the opportunity to abandon a life of fear and scarcity. Thanks in large part to economic uncertainty we have begun to reevaluate what it means to be successful, rich and prosperous. We have been forced into analyzing our lives outside of our possessions and search for truer meaning.

While we have reached a point that everything sold in stores must be useful, beautiful and effective, technology has leveled the playing field for everyone; allowing access to the mechanical tools necessary for creative innovation in this new world that were once privy to only the wealthy and the corporate.

Daniel Pink argues that because people are becoming savvier, the price of essential products like automobiles has been reduced for us to live more comfortably. Our ability to be more creative has allowed for cheaper products, more intensive high education courses, and has allowed us to bring together separate disciplines to more productively live and work our lives.

As we continue to develop our creativity and desire things for their meaning, and not  just for their other throw-away intangibles, we are giving ourselves more room and more money to live with these things. We must stop looking at the individual lines and texts of our life-the products and work hours and the gadgets-and instead look at the broader context and concepts that envelop us.

Pull some merits from the other humans you work with, precious people like you. Find some art and satisfaction in whatever it is that you are doing. Do your absolute best at writing reports or closing accounts-be artful with it to a point of pride and perfection. Use the design of your workplace to pull some beauty out of it. Enjoy your surroundings by being creative. Take it all in with the story of your day and your  co-workers. Tell some jokes and share some stories, and try to get wrapped up in the giant story that is life and living.

Find a crush or a friend; find it in a person or an animal, a character on your computer, or a spot in your mind. Use all of these things at work and at home to be creative, contextual, and conceptual. Pull them all together into a symphony of your day, and hear the beauty of the life within.

Have empathy for the people around you. Know what makes them tick and what makes you tick. Know that they are trying to work a little, and live a lot, and relate to them. Find the meaning in their struggle, in your struggle, and in every dollar that you make and in every day that you work. Find the meaning in all of your aggravations. Know that that aggravating traffic jam brings you to your pay check, it gives you time to sit and listen to the music of life, and time to reflect.The hours spent at work give you time interacting with coworkers, time with yourself, and time to excel and be the best and be your best.

Perhaps above all of these, above symphony and empathy and meaning, find time to play. Play at work, play at play, and play in between. All of these things will fill you with confidence and with pleasure. Find the right people to play with and the right way to play, whether this is talking about sports, goofing around, going shopping with a co-worker on lunch to buy a purse, or drawing a stupid picture of a bee at your desk, have some time to play. It will keep you alive, it will keep you creative, and it will keep you, you.

A couple of years ago, around Christmas time my wife and I were listening to the John Tesh radio show. With its mix of music and relevant talk, the show’s savvy slogan is “music and intelligence for your life.” On this particular day a great narrator brought a brilliant story to life that even the toughest of the tough would have trouble holding back tears. It went like this:

“Once upon a Christmas season when the snow floated gently to the earth in search of tranquility a man and his ten year old son walked slowly down quiet streets. They marveled at the decorated houses ablaze in Christmas color, lost in the stills of wonder in awe of the silent celebration that coaxed the heart of man to reach out in love.

Hand in hand they walked, each lost in their own thoughts yet as close to each other as the dreams that called them. Suddenly the father looked at his son and said, “If you could be anyone in the world, either past or present, anyone at all, who would you be?”

The boy was contemplative as they walked the snowy street. For a moment the father had thought his son hadn’t heard him. But then the boy looked up at him and smiled and said, “Me. I’d like to be me.”

The father laughed, gave his sons hand a squeeze then said, “No, you don’t understand what I mean. I mean, just suppose you could be anyone; a great sport hero; or a great actor or an inventor, or scientist or writer, even the President of the United States – who would you choose to be?”

The boy grinned up at his dad. “Me.”, he said again.

“I’d choose to be me.”

The father stopped. Looked down at his son in awe and asked him, “But why? With all the people to choose from in history and now, why wouldn’t you want to be one of them; with fame and wealth; someone everyone looked up to?”

The boy shrugged and said with a happy grin, “Oh that’s ok I guess, but I like being me. I like you being my dad and my mom being my mom. I’ve got Gramma and Grandpa. We live in a nice house and I’ve got lots of friends to play with. I like school, my teachers and the church we go to. I don’t think I could be anybody better than me.”

Father and son continued to walk down the festive street with the snow gently falling on them. They were silent as the melody of a distant carol reached out to touch them. “Who would you be dad?” the young boy suddenly said. “Who would you be if you could be anybody you wanted to be?”

The father didn’t answer immediately. He was too busy fighting back tears. But finally he said with a bit of a sob. “You son, I’d like to be you.””

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year.

(Photo: JonathanCohen)

A couple of hours ago I had the pleasure of spending time in CBC studio 43 watching a live taping of The Hour hosted by George Stroumboulopoulos with a good friend of mine. His guests included Taylor Branch author of The Clinton Tapes, David Jacobson US ambassador to Canada and Battle of the Blades team Tie Domi and Christine Hough-Sweeney.

George first interviewed Taylor Branch who was a friend, transcriber and sometimes unofficial therapist to President Clinton during his tenor in office from 1993-2001. In Clinton’s eight years as President, the two men would quietly escape to a private section of the White House usually late a night. It was there that President Clinton would answer questions and tell stories about his presidency. Taylor recorded seven nine of these intense and sometimes unpredictable dialogues  to compile a memoir for the gifted and resilient former President of the United States.

One of the most memorable stories he recounted was when George asked Taylor about how President Clinton was as a father.

In a tense session on the night of the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995, Taylor recalled, President Clinton’s daughter Chelsea  sought  advice for a homework essay on the character Dr. Frankenstein in Mary Shelley’s novel. In the midst of catastrophe  the President of a nation did what every great parent would do, put everything on hold  for their kids. He read Chelsea’s essay out loud, offered his daughter some assistance in her composition and reassured her she was doing a great job.

David Jacobson was up next. In his interview he talked about one of the most memorable nights in US history. It was almost one year ago to the day when he was with the new President-elect Barack Obama. He discussed, among other things, his role as US Ambassor and his relationship with the current US President. George probed him for some insider information and asked him what President Obama was really like. David responded by simply saying he’s the real deal; the same person behind the scenes as his is in the public eye.

After a short, fun interview with Tie Domi and Christine Hough-Sweeney and recording had wrapped I asked George how he got his job as host of The Hour. He said, after working at Much Music (Canada’s version of MTV) for several years he wanted to try something different. CBC television had a time slot available but no show. They asked him if he would create a show to put in the time slot. After rejecting them four times for fear that the government owned television station (CBC) wouldn’t allow him to have creative control George finally agreed.

George’s manager suggested he had nothing to lose thinking his show would be lucky to last a month.  So George took his creative team and spent two days in a pool hall and created the show. Five years later the show is still going strong.

I believe that much of the show’s success can be attributed to one of the core values  Clinton and Obama embody – Keeping it real.

(Photo: The RobeGuy)

In the last post we talked about why Zappos was so successful and why Amazon would be willing to pay over $900 million dollars for them. I also asked you about what values you use to govern your life both in business and personal life.

In return here are My Eleven,The Core Values that Guide Me:

1. C- Commitment. Be committed to everything you say yes and no too. We have a limited amount of time on this earth. Give a little thought to the things you want to commit to before you do so. But when you commit see it through. In other words say what you mean, and do what you say.

2. O- Openness. Be open, objective and honest when communicating with others. This is one of the most challenging things to do yet can be one of the most rewarding.

3. R- Responsibility. Take 100% responsibility for everything you say and do. Whether you’re right or whether you’re wrong, whether you have a huge  failure or great success, be humble and take responsibility for all your actions.

4. E- Energy. Continually build energy by nurturing your mind and body. Energy is the juice of life. It keeps you up late at night and gets you up early in the morning. It determines your outlook, what you attract into your life, and the quality of experiences you’ll have throughout your life.

5. V-Value. Seek to add value first. When you give more value than you promise you quickly build trust and loyalty. Be someone who people can count on to over-deliver, always.

6. A-Action. Take action on the ideas you want to bring into reality.  All that is real today is nothing more than action being applied to someone’s  idea or thought. Remember nothing happens without movement.

7. L- Learning. Always listen before speaking. Ask questions first, give answers second.  The more questions you ask the more you’ll learn and grow. The beauty of learning is that it’s a life long practice. Never stop learning.

8. U- Unique. Be an original. It’s ok to learn from others and model their behavior but always add a touch of you to it. It’s your life not somebody else’s. What makes others successful, happy or fulfilled may not be the same as what quenches your thirst for these things. Jonathan Sprinkles has a great quote that has stuck with me, “You were born an original, don’t live like a copy.”

9. E-Experience. Life is all about the experience. Surround yourself with positive people who think, feel and act the same way you do. Strive to give the people around you an unbelievable experience every time they’re with you. Put a little WOW in your life and watch what happens.

10. S-Specific. Be crystal clear when defining what you want and what your willing to give. Life is a constant trade-off between giving and getting. The more specific your intentions are the truer your results will be.

11. And One More Always have fun and don’t take yourself too seriously. Work Less. Live More. Grow Rich.

Feel free to share comments below to help inspire others.

(Photo: alfarman)