What people say about you when you’re not around?
Maybe they don’t say anything at all.
But don’t you think it’s better that they did?
Better yet, shouldn’t you know exactly what they’re saying?
The Consequences Failure
Understand them. Be aware of them.
But then let them go.
Because if it’s all you focus on, it’s all you’re gonna get.
Just do what you do.
Sure, you might end up dealing with the consequences sometimes.
But usually, you’ll get just the opposite: The glory of success.
10 things I’ve learned from watching Last Week Tonight
HBO’s Last Week Tonight with John Oliver is my new Daily Show. I watch it religiously, and it’s my main source of the news.
Pathetic? To some, probably.
But here are some non-topical things I’ve learned from watching the show.
- The daily format is dead. (Sorry, uncleleosblog.)
- The weekly format is better for a million reasons. Applies to TV, blogs, podcasts, etc.
- Make a promise and keep it. (Theirs is 30 minutes every Sunday.)
- If you’re going on vacation, say it.
- Breaks make people miss you and improves the quality of your work. (Double benefit!)
- Make stuff worth sharing.
- Build a team with one goal.
- Embrace where you came from.
- Demand change.
- Love your work.
Aside from key lessons in business and life, there is so much to learn from Last Week Tonight (food waste, the IRS, prisons, to name a few).
Are you watching?
12 things I learned from watching Going Clear
I watched the HBO documentary “Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief” this weekend.
Wow did I learn some things.
Aside from the obvious (Scientologists are crazies), here’s what I learned:
- Religions are a lucrative business. Similar to TM.
- Money and power can cause destructive paranoia (similar to the inevitable fall of movie-depicted mobsters).
- Taking through your fears can be cathartic.
- “I’ve already paid” is enough for people to proceed despite better judgement.
- Belief is a force to be reckoned with.
- People are lonely.
- People are scared.
- People need hope.
- Paying for the rights to a secret and being asked to keep it is a sign you’re being duped.
- After watching footage of L. Ron Hubbard, I’m really interested in what Jesus, Muhammad and other religion starters were like pre-holiness.
- I’m obsessed with living forever and am pretty sure starting a religion is the best way to do that. But, I’m not going to do that because…
- Forever isn’t a real thing since the universe, too, inevitably dies. (I didn’t learn that from the movie, but #11 combined with this video is a good reminder to live a life of love.)
Eye-opening movie for anyone interested in entrepreneurship, religion, or Tom Cruise or John Travolta.
Friday time
When Friday rolls around, what happens?
Do you count the minutes until it’s time?
Or do you count the minutes like you’re running out of it?
Seek the latter.
15 and 5
Remember that 55-minute timer I mentioned a while back?
You know, work for 55 minutes then take a break for five? Get up, stretch, chug water, pee, etc.
Well, I’ve been playing with a new version of that.
The 15-minute timer.
It’s fifteen minutes of work followed by five minutes of break.
Seems like a lot of breaking, right? 25% of your work day is spent NOT working.
But isn’t that the case already? (Even when I was doing a 55-minute timer, I’d only get through a few full cycles with the rest of the day spent goofing around).
This way, your breaks are scheduled and the time you DO work is more productive.
With fifteen minutes on, five minutes off, I’m feeling:
- More productive with day (as a whole).
- More aware of how I’m spending my time.
- More efficient with tasks (not getting lost in minute details that don’t move the needle).
I’ve been using the free focus booster app for a few days now. Try it?
[HT to NF for the 15 and 5 suggestion]
Gain for two
Losing things is no fun.
I don’t need to explain why.
But here’s why it’s not so bad:
- New home. If you lost it, someone else found it. Exciting for them.
- New thing. Go get yourself a new pair of sunglasses or baseball glove or cell phone. Exciting for you and good for the economy.
- Things are things. Maybe you don’t need to replace it?
Sure, losing things that have zero value to the finder (your car keys) has few redeeming factors.
But for everything else, your loss is a gain for two.
You in a meeting right now?
Is it a complete waste of your time?
What if you left?
You know. Just gathered your things and walked out the door.
Would you be in trouble?
Or would the opposite happen?
People whose time is valuable sometimes just need to leave. The important ones.
Is that you?
The Worst
You can usually identify who’s “the worst.”
- The worst at work.
- The worst in social settings.
- The worst amongst a group with whom you have zero personal relationship (celebs, athletes, etc.).
Ugh, they’re the worst.
But when you say that out loud, you instantly become incorrect.
Now, it’s you.
Rhyme requests
In life, there are some annoying requests we have to make.
- Do this.
- Don’t do that.
- Remember to do the thing you’ll forget which will upset me, and therefore, upset you.
So how do we make these requests without sounding annoying (and actually get the results we’re looking for)?
Rhyme time.
(Many of these examples are urine-related. Oh well.)
“If it’s yellow, let it mellow. If it’s brown flush it down.”
“If you sprinkle when you tinkle, please be neat and wipe the seat.”
“If you kill it, fill it.”
Isn’t that more pleasant than nagging and / or negotiating?
What other rhyme requests do you use?