[SERIES] 2/7 Unpopular Belief: Be Good At One Thing

In his list of directives, Derek Sivers refers to this idea as pursuing market value instead of personal value.

Part 2 of the 7 Unpopular Beliefs Series

Don't be a starving artist!

When I was I college, I spent a lot of time studying and training for what I wanted to do: brain research.I was studying the neuroscience of the developing brain. I wasn't thinking about how much money I'd have later, or the value I was worth as a researcher. I was just thinking "hey, brains are really important and really interesting. I bet I could help a lot of people if I understood how they develop and how they work."I was sort of right.It turns out, researchers can bring a lot of money for their institutions. At Penn State, a top research institution, people are often surprised to find out that the amount of money researchers bring in far exceeds that of the football program. It's not even close.Anyway, the point is that what I wanted to do and what was valuable had a great overlap. This is called "an opportunity."If you're in love with the idea of being a starving artist, don't be mad when you are starving and can't help anyone else because you need to take care of yourself.

Go where the opportunities and money are.

If you are trying to help people, this can only lead to good outcomes. Your hard work in combination with opportunity will yield.Here's an equation for success that I pulled from a book Michael Johnson (the Olympic gold medal sprinter) wrote:

Success = Hard Work (Talent + Opportunity)

The notable part of this equation is realizing that if Opportunity is 0, the whole thing nulls out.Also notable, is the understanding that Hard Work is the multiplier. This means if your effort is distributed across many projects you're less able to drive up the success of any one of them.

Focused, deliberate effort applied in a single direction can lead to a hefty multiplicative factor.

The tricky part is that I truly believe that if you want to develop personal value, you need to be good at lots of things.Here's the conundrum:If you want to make a difference to the world, you're going to have to build something the world values--not just something that you personally value.It's up to you to pick and adjust. It's not that you can only do one thing for the rest of your life. It's just that if you choose too many, you will have a hard time getting the flywheel moving.

In fact, it's not always a good thing to make a career out of the things you really like.

Examples might include and are not limited to: sex, drugs, rock/roll, etc.

2 Minute Action

Make a list of the things you love to do.Make a list of the types of impact you're making.If you had to choose only 3 in each category, which would they be?Great. Now pick one in each category.Remember, each of these is fighting for its life for your attention and hard work.You don't have to decide your entire future in 2 minutes. But you do have to start with a change.

[SERIES] 1/7 Unpopular Belief: You Should Get Rich

I light of the new year, let's do something new.

This week, let's do a 7 part series of posts.

This series will be on 7 Unpopular But Powerful Beliefs.Some of these I've stolen from others. Some of these I've developed myself.This post is about getting rich.

You should get rich!

And use those resources to help people.The truth is that you can't help anyone if you're broke.Just to be clear, being rich means that you have abundant resources. Specifically, I'm talking about money or a money-generating asset.

Getting rich means owning as little "stuff" as possible.

I think you know what I mean by "stuff." I mean depreciating assets. Things that take up space and get less valuable over time.Owning rental properties or stocks that yield dividends are good examples of things that put money in your pocket, making them worthwhile to maintain or invest in.

Getting rich means being expensive.

Money is a great, non-biased way to measure value. If you're expensive, you're doing something that the market is deeming as valuable! We'll talk more about this one in the next post.

Getting rich means you can be generous.

When it comes down to it, money is a lot like oxygen. Without it, it's difficult to survive--as a person or a business. I'm not talking about what's right or wrong or what should or shouldn't be. I'm just talking about the way it is.If you can provide oxygen to people who need it, you can change lives and improve the planet.

2 Minute Action

Take 2 minutes to do one of the following:

• Lookup a high-dividend index fund and make your first deposit.
• Call a friend in real estate and ask them what it would take to get into the rental market
• Look around 1 room in your house and pick 3 things that are taking up space without adding any value to your life. Donate them.
• Raise your consulting fee, rent, subscription rate, or whatever it is you do for money.

The All-Too-Common, Sure-Footed Path to Unavailing Grief

It's that time of year.

Tell me if you remember this . . .

"'Oh! captive, bound, and double-ironed,' cried the phantom, 'not to know, that ages of incessant labor, by immortal creatures, for this earth must pass into eternity before the good of which it is susceptible is all developed. Not to know that any Christian spirit working kindly in its little sphere, whatever it may be, will find its mortal life too short for its vast means of usefulness. Not to know that no space of regret can make amends for one life's opportunity misused! Yet such was I! Oh! such was I!''But you were always a good man of business, Jacob,' faltered Scrooge, who now began to apply this to himself.'Business!' cried the Ghost, wringing its hands again. 'Mankind was my business. The common welfare was my business; charity, mercy, forbearance, and benevolence, were, all, my business. The dealings of my trade were but a drop of water in the comprehensive ocean of my business!'It held up its chain at arm's length, as if that were the cause of all its unavailing grief, and flung it heavily upon the ground again.'At this time of the rolling year,' the specter said 'I suffer most. Why did I walk through crowds of fellow-beings with my eyes turned down, and never raise them to that blessed Star which led the Wise Men to a poor abode! Were there no poor homes to which its light would have conducted me!'"--The Ghost of Jacob Marley in A Christmas Carol, Stave 1: Marley's Ghost, by Charles Dickens

What is your focus?

I tell people that they don't have to wait for the new year to make a resolution, but that doesn't mean that it's not a great thing to feel like you have a clean slate once a year.The sun keeps coming up and you will get another shot, each day.

2 Minute Action

Most offices and workplaces are closed today, take 2 minutes to reflect on your trajectory and if you feel you are moving in the right direction.Is mankind your business?You should know the answer in 2 minutes or less.The next steps are up to you.