A Eulogy: the Penultimate of Goals

I just realized that every, and I mean EVERY, book I've read on success, investing, and business always has a section on Goal Setting. It doesn't matter if the author is a steady investor, a speculator, or Rich Dad - they all say that without goals, it won't happen.

Yogi Berra says, "If you don't know where you're going, how will you know when you get there?"

More on actual How To for goal-setting later. First, I want to talk about a part of goal-setting, the Eulogy. The exercise goes - imagine you're sitting at your own funeral. People are getting up and talking about your life and how you affected them, giving eulogies. What would you like to be remembered for? What do you want people to say about you? Write for them - what would you like the following people to say:

1. Your partner or spouse
2. Your child
3. A co-worker or business partner
4. A stranger, someone who barely knows you
   

Now, I've thought about this a bit but never really did it. About five months ago, though, I saw the perfect example, with Paul Newman's passing. Read through that article - it's amazing. And look back at the list above.

1. Married 50 years in "one of the most successful marriages in Hollywood"
2. Newman's daughters described him as a devoted husband, a loving father, an adoring grandfather and a dedicated philanthropist.
3. Awards and kind words from co-workers and Hollywood in general, including an Oscar
   
4. Some 135,000 children have been able to go to summer camp for free because of Newman's Own
   

Any one of those would be a great accomplishment. All four, and more!, is absolutely amazing. For more on his entrepreneurial success, read here and this book, here.

So what would you like people to say about you? That you 'got by'? That you 'did okay'? Settling for getting by is aiming for mediocrity. And once you know where you're going, it's much easier to recognize the road signs. It's time to sit down and write out what you want to be known for, and start making it come true.

Are You the Average of Your Friends?

"You can judge a person by the company they keep." I've heard this before, but didn't understand it the way I do now... Now I've come across a very interesting statement - you are the average of your ten closest friends.

It was stated about income, but it applies to a lot more. Take a moment and think about your closest friends, and ask yourself the following questions:

1. Do most of them like to stay out late and/or drink?
2. What are their favorite TV shows?
   
3. Do most of them smoke?
4. Do most of them like to read books?
5. What cars do they drive?
6. What is their average income?

Since, for the most part, like attracts like, I think you'll be amazed at the similarities when taken as an aggregate. Now I think this works both ways - you attract people who have similar interests to you, and you influence them and they influence you. For example, if you went to bed at nine every night, how long would you stay close to people who partied until 2?

How about - how comfortable would you be hanging out with people who made 1/5th the money you did? Or didn't know how to handle money, and were deeply in debt, while you had half a million in the bank? Along the same line, if you were working on a new business idea, would you want to be around people excited for you and with helpful experience, or a group of people who kept finding reasons your ideas won't work?

In Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, they tell the members that they'll have to find a new group of friends. The ones they got drunk with aren't going to help them stay sober. Likewise, if you want to make strides in your personal situation, it's probably time to take a good look at the people around you. Luckily, it doesn't have to mean leaving friends. When I asked a friend about this, his reply was, "Heck no, I'm going to help make my friends wealthy too. Then I'll have my same friends, and I'll still be their average."

Some Things to Consider

• Are you the average of your closest friends?
• Do you like what you see in them, or do you wish they would change?
• Do you honestly believe you can improve while keeping to the same environment?
  
• What can you do to, as Gandhi put it, 'be the change you wish to see in the world?'
  

Making the Most of Productivity

This is an extended apology for not writing in almost two weeks.

I have been in a very tight situation financially, and it's making me look very closely at a lot of assumptions I have and things I do. I do believe that everything you do is an outgrowth of what you think you are. When we act in a certain way, it is in accordance with our values - no matter how we act. So by simply sitting back and watching your own actions, you can gain deep insight into your core beliefs. Which will give you the ability to affect those beliefs, automatically affecting change on how you act.

Therefore if I say I value money, but act differently, maybe spending too much, I show that I don't really value money. Action speaks louder than words... Therefore, as we currently are having money difficulties, I see the hint of a belief that interferes with being wealthy. And given my beliefs about money, that will not do.

Thus I have been focusing on the following question:

How much money did I make today?

This has been very powerful, as it forces me to look at each action, and decide what to do based on the return. I have been doing quite a few things that haven't given me the productivity I need to have right now. Thus it is time to change. By asking myself this, or a permutation without the word 'money', I have been able to cut out some things that haven't pushed me forward as much.

Blogging hasn't made me much money yet, so it got pushed back. My jobs - especially online - have been making money, so they got moved forward. Time watching my son has been distracting, so I cut back and made sure the time we spend is more special and personal. I think the quality has gone up in my interactions because of this. I've really appreciated time with the family the last couple days, partially because I've been creating less of it.

Thus the focus has been productivity - financial, emotional, spiritual, mental, or physical. I am working out a system to follow my successes and label my mistakes, like we have dollars for the financial side. See, money is easy. At the end of the day, if you have more than you started with - you are ahead.

What about physical health? What is the 'bottom line'???

More on Personal Marketing...

So I was checking out President Obama's Inauguration Speech on YouTube, and noticed all the hate going back and forth in the comments. Right at the top was this:

moron, or momominnosh, same thing according to Websters

So, my curiosity piqued, I searched Google: nothing. I felt a little nerdy, looking this up, but continued. Nothing when I checked YourDictionary.com or Wikipedia either.

Then I realized what the person quoted was doing - marketing. He wanted to insult the guy, so he puts this up, knowing only a couple nerds are going to double-check him anyway. Momominnosh doesn't mean anything - the only links I found on Google were to this Momominnosh's posts. But since we (mostly) won't question it, the poster could create a connection in our minds of Momominnosh and moron. Who would question it?

So how many times a day does somebody say something that we don't check? How often does some false, misleading, or purposefully malicious thought get into our brain? I remember a lot of little details, and I really don't want 'another way to say moron is _____' in there. I'm glad I checked, as I now don't have that connection.

So how often does some false, misleading, or purposefully malicious thought get into our brain? What can we do about it? How can we go about putting some more positive ideas there?

Taking down the billboards that are the collection of beliefs in my head. I don't want to drive by them any more...

Vilfredo Pareto, and the Law of the Vital Few

Vilfredo Pareto was an Italian economist living in the early part of the 20th century. He made the first observation that has come to be known as the Pareto Principle, the 80 / 20 rule, or the Law of the Vital Few. In its earliest form, it said, “You know, 80% of the land in Italy belongs to 20% of the people.”

Now it has been applied to many areas, and is considered a universal economic principle:
1. 20% of customers account for 80% of sales volume
2. 20% of customers account for 80% of profits (not necessarily the same customers!)
3. 20% of the people own 80% of the wealth
4. 20% of cars produce 80% of the pollution
5. 20% of sales campaigns produce 80% of the results
6. 20% of errors produce 80% of complaints
7. 20% of your work produces 80% of your results

The second to last point is interesting if you work in sales, service, or manufacturing – and that’s most of us, isn’t it? It means that if you can determine which small part of your job causes most of the problems, you can streamline yourself greatly with a minimal amount of effort. By fixing 1/5 of your “challenges”, you fix 4/5 of your losses. Now that’s leveraging your time! And, once you’re there, it means there’s not much point to working on the other 80%.

And the last one is the big one. As we’ve just started a new year, you’re probably looking at several areas you plan to improve. You have resolutions and goals that you’d like to meet in the coming year. But what if you could pare down your goals to a few steps most likely to get you where you want to be?

80/20 and You
Let’s start with a pretty easy application – your To Do list. Take it out, and look it over and pick out the 1 in 5 things that will give you the biggest returns. Focus on those, and forget the rest. I know this seems extreme, but it works. Once you have your top 20% done, you can re-work your list and get into the next part, or maybe new things will come to the top of your list.

Keep in mind this is a rule of thumb. It won’t always work out – maybe you have eight things on your To Do list. Or you see that 40% of you work creates most of your productivity. You will have to determine how it fits in your life. Here is an example on how to apply it to your finances. The principle is critical though: a minority of your efforts create most of your results. This demonstrates leverage and inverse leverage – you don’t want to spend half your time getting 10% results!

So make this a core philosophy, and streamline your life. A little efficiency at the right place can make a huge difference!

New Year’s Resolution – To Be Debt-Free in a Year

New Years is always a time of introspection and resolutions. I’m currently snowed in with my family, thinking about the last 12 months, and the next 12. It’s been quite a year, but I want to focus forward. It’s been said that the best way to predict the future is to create it! How do we do that? By following our goals and resolutions. It’s a good idea to make personal, social, health, and financial resolutions, but I’m going to focus on the financial.

With a new child, my main intention is to create a great environment for him to grow up in. At first, I thought I meant enough toys and friends, room to play, and a clean, safe place to live. The more I think about it though, the more it comes to mean getting my finances together so I have lots of stress-free time to spend with him.

I resolve to create financial freedom for my family.

Hmmm. This resolution fails on several levels. First and foremost, a resolution must be inspiring, achievable, and measurable. This is certainly inspiring, and makes me want to get out of debt, but what is financial freedom, and how do I measure it? On what time scale is it achievable? So, looking at that, and the mention of debt makes it more clear what I’m aiming for.

I resolve to be free of credit card debt by the end of the year.

Now, let’s put it to the test. It is inspiring, because the feeling of not having to deal with debts, credit card bills, and phone calls when I’m late is a really great feeling. I can really latch onto that feeling to help keep me going when I start to lose focus. Is it achievable? It can be, if I follow through and stick to the program. And that’s why it has to be inspiring – to keep me on the program through the ups and downs.

Now, is it measurable? Certainly. Let’s say I have $10,000 of debt – that’s very measurable. I have to pay off $10,000 this year. But to keep on the program, we have to have a program. So we’ll break it down to $5,000 in six months, or $850 a month. Now we take those monthly goals, and put them on the calendar.

Debt, January 31^st: $9,150

Debt, February 1^st: $8,300 all the way to

Debt, December 31^st: $0

The Way to Accountability

Now I know how to check on myself. Every month, before I turn the calendar, I can look at my goal and see how I’m doing. I will have monthly reminders, and my inspiration of a debt-free life to keep me going. The calendar creates accountability, and by putting it up, and telling my family about it, I create more accountability.

This is the last step – accountability. What happens if I fall off a little? Will someone call me on it, or do I just ignore it? Do that, and it will be easier to forget next time, and soon I’ll be right where I started next December.

But by following my five parts of a good goal, I can make it. Of course, this isn’t a replacement for hard work, it’s a way to direct my hard work. I just need to keep in mind:

1. Inspiring
2. Achievable
3. Measurable
4. Steps on my Calendar
5. Accountability