It’s not the clothes. Or the hair. Or the skin. Or the body. Or the voice. Or the walk. Or the smile.
It’s deep, deep inside.
Find it.
Find it behind their eyes.
[Happy Birthday, Love.]
Category Archives: Life
How much you make
If you ever get to the point in your career where you’re privy to and in charge of how much money people make, never utter the following words:
I know how much you make.
Or worse…
I decide how much you make.
Because if you do, the person you said that to will never look at you the same.
Either because they’ll have an enduring and overwhelming desire to break your face or because they already did.
Just don’t. Ever.
The orphanage
Animal shelters.
They look like prisons because everyone’s locked away in a cell.
But 99% of these dogs are not criminals.
They’re orphans.
Go bring one home.
Good standing, good cop
Find a bad cop.
It can be your doctor. Your spouse. Your business partner. Your kid. Your dog. Your mom. Your grandma. Your boss. Your whomever.
Blame it on them, get what you want, and maintain your good standing.
It’s spring now
Your briefcase.
Your website.
Your apartment.
Your car.
Your laptop.
Your storage closet.
Your cabinets.
Your Facebook.
Your life.
For 12 months in a row, these things collect dust, junk, clutter, garbage, and things that, at this point, ought to be donated.
It’s spring, now.
Don’t deprive these things of their annual cleaning.
Negotiation made easy
You can read all the books. All the blogs. Listen to all the podcasts.
But negotiating is so simple.
Tell them what you need.
Salary: I need this much.
Contractor: I need these terms.
Personal: I need this setup.
They can say yes or no. Or maybe add some additional terms.
But your needs are your needs. And you’ll be prepared either way to get them met.
My biggest regret in my time as a consultant
From the moment I started working as a consultant, I was studying on the side.
I studied for, took, and passed the CPA. No regrets.
I studied for, took, and did decently well on the LSAT. No regrets.
I read a lot of non-fiction. No regrets.
My only side-study regret?
I tried to learn another computer program. A closed-source, proprietary, niche product that would have made me more marketable to another consulting firm. (It was Hyperion Planning.)
I wish I had not spent that time studying a computer program. Rather, I wish I spent the time learning how to build a computer program.
Coding.
HTML, CSS, maybe even Java.
Learning how to build a website scratch.
Can you get by without knowing how to code? Absolutely.
I built the first iteration of Life is NOYOKE using an out of the box WordPress theme and zero computer programming skills. Today it looks like this (and is 30x faster) thanks to the help of some talented developers.
But I wouldn’t be where I am today without a core understanding of accounting and finance, logic, and what makes successful people successful.
Who knows where I’d be with a core understanding of computer programming. The ability to actually code.
Five years ahead of where I am today? Much less reliant on expensive web developers?
Do the three I did, if you can. CPA, LSAT, tons of non-fiction books.
But then drop whatever other side studying you’re doing and learn how to code.
__
For a step-by-step guide on how to teach yourself code, take the advice from a developer who sold his business for $20M.
This: Sivers’ step-by-step post on the resources and method he recommends for teaching you how to code.
You should read his life-changing book (that you can read in 30 minutes), too: Anything you want.
Giving most your all
Give people what they want.
Not 100% of it. Maybe like 90%.
Give 100% effort, though, of course.
Reversing it can be fatal.
Seek
Seek perfect and you’ll be disappointed.
Seek fun and you’ll be satisfied.
GWOA
It could be a comedian you saw. A writer you read. An actor you saw. A singer you heard. A teacher you learned from.
If you see them, remember they’re people, too. They’d love to hear your genuine words of appreciation.
Love.