Month: January 2020

Are you disappointed enough in yourself to do something about it?

I love being an entrepreneur. After spending the first 19 years of my career working for ad agencies owned by other people I decided to start my own. That was almost 4 years ago. It was also a leap year. Which is a good year to do anything because it gives you a 24 hour advantage. I tell this to presidential candidates and olympic hopefuls all the time.

The Reaction

Since I launched my advertising and idea agency, The Weaponry, people often treat me like I am doing something impressive. Or daring. They are positive and supportive of my entrepreneurial adventure. I often hear from people who want to launch their own business. They tell me I was really brave to set out on my own. But when I analyze the driving force behind my leap into entrepreneurship it was not bravery. Not even close.

Ambition

I wanted to own my business since the beginning of my career. I envisioned myself as a business owner or business launcher-type-guy. Whatever that meant. In fact, in my head it was so clear that I would be an entrepreneur that after 15 years of working for other people I considered myself a failure for not actually being a real entrepreneur.

Disappointment for the win!

Eventually, it was the disappointment, and  sense of dissatisfaction in myself that finally moved things forward. Don’t get me wrong, I like myself. But I have a strong vision of my ideal self. And whenever I am not acting in accordance with that vision, or I am too far off the pace I set in my head, I really bothers me. And that disappointment and embarrassment is a powerful fuel. One we should guzzle regularly.

Disappointment (Is better den dat appointment)

Most people never become so disappointed in themselves that it propels them forward. But that is extremely valuable. An injury to your pride is one of the best things that can happen to you. You don’t have to become a prostitute or a heroin addict. Because there is a point of diminishing returns. You just need to be incongruent with your self perception. That feeling eventually pushes you forward like the other side of the magnet.

Key Takeaway.

Create a strong image of who you really are at your core. Write a glorious story about yourself in your head. Make it vivid and real. Think about it all the time. And eventually you will get so fed up with not being that version of yourself that you will take drastic measures. It’s in those drastic measures that the magic happens. And when you do you will feel remarkably alive. Like you are no longer coasting through life. I hope that happens to you. Here’s to you experiencing disappointment in motivating quantities in 2020.

*If you know someone who could benefit from this story, please share it with them.

This year treat your spare time like valuable gemstones.

Happy 2020! I absolutely love the Mulligan that every new year brings. If you are like most people you’ve resolved to make this your best year yet. According to a quick and dirty research project I conducted there are four basic ways to improve your life with a New Year’s resolution.

  1. You can start something good.
  2. You can quit something bad.
  3. You can make a habit of something positive.
  4. Or you can generally just stop being lame.

Best! Year! Ever!

I have one goal that will help make 2020 the best year in my career and personal life. Simply stated, I want to make the most of my remnant time.

What That Means

We all have a slew of things we have to do. Those include our standard work and home obligations. Make sure you take care of those must-do’s or your fresh new year will spoil before February. But like that poor forgotten ‘r’ in February, we all have time in every day that we are overlooking.

Today I’m envisioning all that I can do with my remnant time over the next 12 months. In fact, I am considering adding this quote to the back of the next round of business cards I print this year:

“Guard well your spare moments. They are like uncut diamonds. Discard them and their value will never be known. Improve them and they will become the brightest gems in a useful life.” -Ralph Waldo Emerson

Apparently Ralph Waldo was into the bling.

Go Rumpelstiltskin in 2020

Today consider what you can do with the time hidden between your must-dos. Instead of killing that time with digital thumb twiddling or catching Zs, spin that time-straw into gold.

The Perfect You Project

I challenge you to use your remnant time to do the things the perfect version of you would do. Read something, write something, create something, solve something, learn something, experience something, accomplish something, improve something. Or maybe buy a thesaurus and find other words to use instead of something.

Compounding Interest

Like compound interest, even little moments add up over the course of a year. Two months ago I began picking up my daughter’s guitar each night and practicing for just a few minutes. And while I’m no Eddie Van Halen, a little invested time each night enables me to play most Christmas songs well enough to not get booed off stage at a nursing home.

Entrepreneurship

I started my advertising and idea agency, The Weaponry in my spare time. I looked for little moments at night, on the weekends or over my lunch hour to research, plan and create the business. And like Andy Dufresne, by using my remnant time wisely, I was able to create a path to the place I always wanted to be. Except, unlike Andy, I didn’t have to crawl through an active sewer pipe. And chances are, neither will you.

Key Takeaway

Make the most of 2020 by making the most of your spare time. Use it to make magic in your career. Strengthen your connections to family and friends. Start that business you always wanted to start. Read more. Finally do those things you have always wanted to do. Use you spare moments to have more fun, learn something new, and accomplish more than ever. Start today. You have 1440 minutes every day to work with.

 

The key to great problem solving.

I love my job. I thoroughly enjoy all aspects of my work. Not just the advertising-specific stuff. But all of the businessy work I have to do as an entrepreneur. The problem solving I do is extremely rewarding. Every day feels like a game. Sometimes it’s Monopoly. Sometimes it’s Go Fish. Sometimes it’s The Running Man.

Netflix

As much as I love the work I do, one of my favorite parts of the workday at The Weaponry is when we eat lunch and watch shows on Netflix. We watch a broad range of programming that either helps stimulate our thinking, makes us laugh, or both.

The Repair Shop

Yesterday we watched an episode of The Repair Shop, which is a reality show about a British repair shop (go figure) that people bring antique treasures to in order to have them restored to their former glory. At the shop there is a furniture expert, a fabric expert, an art expert, an electronics expert, a clock expert and more.

The Repair Shop

I love watching the experts at The Repair Shop work, because they are all really great problem solvers. And I learn from the way they solve their problems

The Desk

In the episode we watched yesterday an old Davenport desk came into the shop with a great deal of damage. One of the problems that had to be addressed was that there were drawers with locks but no keys to open them. Because the furniture expert really wanted to get in those drawers (#snickering), he approached the clock and lock expert to see if he could help unlock the locked drawer. The clock and lock jock was happy to help.

Davenport desk
A Davenport desk, like the one on The Repair Shop. Not like the Davenport my Grampy used to nap on.

The Keys

The lock expert then pulled out a large jar full of all kinds of random old keys. The man explained that he has a large collection of old spare keys that he uses to help unlock tricky locks. He then said that whenever he sees keys in an antique shop he will always buy them to add to his collection. So that he can unlock even more locks in the future.

skeleton keys
A collection of skeleton keys, in case you ever need to get inside a locked skeleton.

Ditto

I instantly recognized that I do the same thing. I am always collecting keys. Except my  keys don’t come from antique shops. They come from books, magazines and podcasts. From discussions with experts, and from asking a lot of questions.

The keys that I collect don’t go into a jar. They get stored in my library, my notebooks and in the files of information in my head. My keys wait patiently for me to call on them to help me unlock the next problem I need to solve. And while I can’t display them for the world to see, I know they are there. And the older I get, the more keys I have in my collection. Which means I can unlock problems faster now than ever before.

Key Takeaway (literally)

There are keys to unlocking problems everywhere. They are found in the things you read and the experts you meet. They are found through experience, and observation. So look for them. Collect them before you need them. And be prepared for whatever your world and your work send your way.

*If you know someone who could benefit from this story, please share it with them.