LifeDev » Work

The World’s Best Boss is Standing in the Mirror

glen — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 13:27:18 +0000

After six hours of working in front of a computer, the only thing that really makes me feel better is a run.

Yesterday I knew I needed a break but didn’t have much time, so I laced up my running shoes anyway and ran as hard as I could for 15 minutes. Talk about cathartic.

While it wasn’t that long of a run, it was exactly what I needed: a quick jolt to my mind, and something to get my heart rate up. After a glass of water and a quick shower, I was back working like I had just started the day.

***

I’ve learned to listen to my body (and wife) to make the most of my time and energy levels. In fact, it’s the one reason I’m able to get up in the early morning and start my day excited.

I’ve worked both as a freelance consultant and with a company with layers of management, and I’ve been able to “be my own boss” in both places. It’s not that hard.

So many workers experience letdown when their bosses don’t manage them well, but I’d bet that the problem lies in our ability to make it clear how we work best.

Think about this: who best knows your workflow?

when are you productive/not productive?
what aspect of your day really motivates you?
what projects excite you most?
what physical environment is your best for working?

By answering these questions you can start to build a framework that optimizes how you work.

For example, I’ve found that I do my best thinking in the early morning hours, so that’s when I tackle the most intensive tasks of the day. I do more administrative (thoughtless) tasks in the afternoon, when my mind is aching for a siesta.

This works perfectly for me, and my bosses don’t try to micromanage my workflow. As long as I’m working hard and getting stuff done, they don’t care. They get it.

In fact, most management I’ve worked with are pretty accommodating to weird workflows if that’s when you’re most productive.

But the key here is you have to tell them. It’s impossible for a boss to know these things. The best person to manage your work is you.

You’re the only one capable of knowing exactly what you need to stay motivated and happy. You are your best boss.

The key is figuring out for yourself what you need to work your best, and letting everyone else know.

Join the discussion or vote on Hacker News

Photo by Profound Whatever

The Balance Between Motivation and Creativity

glen — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 16:11:29 +0000

There’s been something I’ve had to struggle with over the years: Creating for the sake of creating. You know, having to create stuff because you have to, not because you want to.

You might feel pressure to create because of any combination of reasons like

guilt
occupations
financial needs
routines

We all have to pay the bills and other financial responsibilities. For those of us who create for a living, it can become a grind. Quickly. Like anything, having to come up with ideas on a consistent basis can become difficult.

It all comes down to one major question: what’s our motivation?

What keeps you motivated?

It’s easy to stay motivated creating things that are our own ideas. But what about when need to create on a deadline? It’s really tough to stay motivated and excited about a project that we have to finish because of obligations.

I’ve talked before about the importance of a yearly review. During my yearly review I spend as much time as possible reflecting on the things I’ve accomplished. This helps me keep track of successes I’ve had over the past year, which helps shake me out of the doldrums.

I recently had a 6 month review to kind of realign and evaluate my yearly review, and again I spent time reflecting on what I’d accomplished. It was a powerful motivator.

The yearly review also helps give me a 10,000 foot view of my “plan”. Reflecting on the Big Picture helps during those times when you need a reminder of why you’re creating.

I’d imagine it’s a lot like changing diapers on a baby; while it’s not the most desirable task in the world, you won’t have to do it forever. And from what I’ve heard, the joy of having a child far outweighs things like dirty diapers.

The big picture helps keep us motivated while we tackle the smaller details. They’re small pieces of a much larger puzzle.

So what do you do to stay motivated every day? Is seeing the bigger picture enough of a motivator for you? This is mostly just me thinking out loud. I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Photo by Professor Fumolatro (aka: Tripletlads)

You might also like...

Creating Powerful Content (and Why the World Needs It)

glen — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 14:41:47 +0000

The news industry is essentially creating a race to the bottom when it comes to quality. Major online publications like AOL have started cranking out cheap and tiny bits of content, hoping to cash in on local news and the long tail. With plunging ad sales and a tough economy, the only way to keep the online doors open is to cut costs (and lower standards). Or so they think. It’s not about being prolific any more, it’s about keeping the doors open with pageviews.

There’s really two schools of thought when it comes to producing online content strategies:

The School of Quantity

The School of Quantity, like the name implies, puts an emphasis on churning a lot of content. The more girth you can add to the site, the better. You’re hoping that the long tail catches you, helping you to reach a lot of people once or twice. You may not rank highly for competitive keywords (if that’s your thing), but the beauty is of the quantity approach is that you don’t have much competition.

The benefits of quantity is that search engines can’t read. They can parse text, find similarities and all that good stuff, but they don’t care about proper sentence structure. Just make sure that a few keywords are sprinkled liberally across the page, and you’re golden.

For the online world, an emphasis on quantity looks like it might be a promising plan.

The School of Quality

This school of thought is about creating limited content that has higher impact. Instead of publishing 10-15 short tiny posts, this strategy might only produce two incredible posts a week. This won’t get as many pages indexed in the search engines, but it creates more followers.

A fantastic example of this is The Oatmeal. Matthew Inman creates incredible cartoons that attract gazillions of links by publishing high-quality cartoons once or twice a week. And he’s created a viral, rabid following in the process.

If you’re producing content online, at some point you’re going to have to choose one of these two paths.

Why I Love the School of Quality

A long time ago I had a great gig at a popular tech blog that allowed me to post technology deals on a daily basis. For a college student, it was a fairly lucrative job. But I hated it.

Creating mindless, copy-and-paste content is exceptionally hard. There’s no thinking, just a process. The process got old quickly for me.

It’s draining not to be able to create things that measure up to our full potential.

Creating High-Quality Content

Creating magnificent content isn’t easy. Otherwise every website and newspaper would just be chock-full of fantastic writing. But that’s not the case, is it?

Creating powerful content demands a few things:

A battle plan,
razor-sharp focus,
flow,
and a splash of bold.

Sometimes projects just have to sit for a while before they’re perfect. Expect multiple revisions. Expect lots and lots of thinking and planning. Oh, and did I mention all that attention to detail that goes into it?

But eventually you’ll start seeing progress. In the end, it’ll all be worth it. You’ll actually be proud of what you created.

###

I’d bet everything in my wallet right now (er…$7) that more people are going to desperately start searching for Quality. As online content becomes less like a craft and more like a machine, it’s going to create a void of exceptional stuff online. Consumers need to be challenged and awed, and people flock to others who do huge things that they sink their whole heart in to.

If you’re just creating content to crank a buck, than the Quantity path might work for you. But if you want to create a sustainable business or lifestyle, you’re going to burn out. You’ll hate every minute you spend slogging away at the keyboard. Trust me.

It’s the perfect time to create something powerful. Drop some jaws. Spend that extra time and effort. (Jon Morrow believes that popular bloggers spend anywhere from 2 to 10 hours on each post.) Is it worth it? I think so.

You can’t change the world with a bunch of “meh”.

You might also want to check out The Long Tail (and Why You Shouldn’t Worry About It). It’s a nice companion article to this piece.

Photo of the Sistine Chapel by John Linwood, photo of David by Robert Scarth

You might also like...

Hustle 2.0

glen — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 20:12:18 +0000

Photo by pseudothoughts

My brother had an interesting job over the holiday season: selling fireworks. Fireworks are incredibly popular in the South on New Years, and every year a caravan of his friends goes to work a firework tent in Alabama. It gives them a chance to get away and make some quick money over the course of a week.

Thanks to some awful weather, sales were way down in my brother’s tent, selling only around $2,000 worth of fireworks in about a week. But on New Years Eve their tent sold over $11,000 alone. Sure, that sounds pretty normal considering that lots of people buy fireworks just on New Years Eve. Yet my brother had more than doubled every other tent’s sales that day.

And he did it in a really boring way. He hustled.

Move FAST

In the fireworks world (and customer service in general), people hate two things: waiting and waiting. Nobody wants to wait in line. Especially if there are plenty of other options all around you. My brother and his friend quickly learned that if they focused all of their attention on a) quickly restocking and b) moving people through the checkout line lighting fast, they retained more customers and sold more.

While the rest of the competition in other tents were lazily moving boxes and inefficiently stocking, my brother and his friend were busting their humps. So instead of customers waiting in line at other tents, they bought fireworks at the tent that had well-stocked shelves and fast-moving lines (not to mention a full parking lot).

For whatever reason, people seem to think that working more efficiently is the key. Sure, we have finite resources and there’s only 24 hours in a day, etc. etc. etc. But I’ve noticed that we’re becoming increasingly enamored with finding the better or faster solution, and not focusing on the important things in front of us.

And that’s when it becomes really dangerous.

When you’re spending all of your time working on ways to streamline, brainstorm, and all those things that are just sad excuses for action, then you’re not focusing on what’s important.

You’re the fireworks stand with poorly-stocked shelves and slow lines. And all you had to do was focus on the basics of your operation.

Hustle 2.0

Gary Vaynerchuk’s Crush It!:
Why NOW Is the Time to Cash In on Your Passion

Gary Vaynerchuk’s latest book has had a huge impact on me. I initially thought it was going to be your basic, run-of-the-mill “YOU CAN DO IT!” book on creating your own business. But it was so much more than that.

Gary is walking proof that hustle is a gajillion times more important than workflows, pie charts, and a well-groomed business plan. Not to say that he wasn’t incredibly smart in building his empire (because he was). He just did all the little things that other people really don’t want to do to become successful. Gary’s book is great for showing that ultimately, if you’re not passionate and constantly hustling (Gary’s favorite word), then you’re already dead in the water.

We like to spend ways finding the next big thing that will save us an hour a day, or make us a buck more, or give us just a bit more happiness. But really, a simple routine is what powers your business. You can only start worrying about streamlining and saving once you’ve got the system in place.

As we enter this new decade, hustle is going to become more and more crucial to becoming successful. The internet has matured enough so that nearly every vertical is saturated. If you’re going to start a venture, odds are there will already be players in your field. They already have the marketshare so you’ll have to steal it. How?

Hustle, baby.

Follow Your Passion Wisely…

glen — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 19:25:13 +0000

Post by Tim Brownson.

Photo by Stephen Poff

There are any number of books, magazines and blogs out there that are happy to tell you that you must follow your passion in your work to be really and truly fulfilled.

I’m here today to tell you, they’re all wrong.

I must admit that until fairly recently I too believed in the ‘chase your passion’ school of thinking and I even say in my first book:

“I can’t guarantee that you will earn big bucks living your dream, but if you are really happy and can meet your basic needs, do you really care?”

In principal it’s fine and for a lot of people, good advice. However, in practicality it fails to deal with two aspects that should be taken into consideration if you are looking to change direction in life.

Can You Earn a Living?

What if your passion can’t pay you a wage? It’s unlikely (although admittedly not impossible) that you’re ever going to find anybody to pay you good money to go plane spotting, coach kids to play softball or race pigeons.

Don’t get me wrong, I feel sure there are people out there that do get paid for doing similar jobs, but there isn’t and endless supply of such openings and it is wise to understand that before embarking on a career plan that may lead to endless sleepless nights and angst-filled days.

It’s a seemingly obvious roadblock that surprising amounts of people fail to notice. They have read all the well-intentioned advice that assures them if they pursue their passion with every fiber of their being the big money wont be far behind.

Unfortunately, it isn’t always like that. Sure, we all know stories of people that have done amazing things and truly become Rich and Happy by staying fully committed to their dreams. The reason we know of these people though, is because they’re the exception to the rule and their stories naturally bear repetition.

Unless they’re your friends or family it’s unlikely you’ll get to hear about many people that failed in their quest to work their passion. Yet there are many more of them than there are runaway success stories.

This may sound like the words of a naysayer and doom merchant, but nothing could be further from the truth. Am I saying do not chase your calling in life? Absolutely not. I just want you to do it with your eyes wide open, stay flexible in your approach, but most of all, and understand your values:

Do Your Values Align?

What about this scenario? You get the job of your dreams in a traveling circus and you absolutely love it. However, the pay is atrocious and you find out that the performing Chimp in the red stripy pants is earning a buck an hour more than you.

Worse than that, the hours are ridiculously long and you are working all over the country, which keeps you away from your beloved family. Suddenly the whole deal doesn’t seem quite as enticing, does it? Ok, so you’re not one of those poor unfortunate souls whose every working hour is spent wishing they were somewhere else, but you’re not exactly living a Utopian ideal either.

So what’s the deal? After all it’s what you always wanted to do and the books have told you to go and do what your heart tells you to do.

The drawback with this situation is that although you love the job, you’re still not meeting your ALL own value needs, and these are the things that truly dictate how happy and content you are at your core level.

You may well have nailed the work side of your life, but that is only one aspect of your day-to-day existence and if other areas are collapsing around your ears a great job will be a minor consolation.

If family is absolutely critical to you then being away from home is going to be unacceptable, no matter how much you love the job or how much money it pays you. You simply cannot compromise your top values without seeing negative side effects.

I was working with a client one time that was looking to start up his own business. We were discussing what he was passionate about and it was so incredibly niche there seemed few if any opportunities to make money without uprooting his family again. This led to a momentary impasse as we looked for ways to advance the process.

Then a thought occurred to me. What if we forgot about the specifics of the passion and just tried to align his values with the values of the business? After all, it’s values that dictate your passions and its values that are at the core of who you are as an individual. Surely then, they are the logical starting point?

Imagine you’re looking to change careers or start your own business and you have done a proper value assessment and your top 8 top values are as follows: Family, Wealth, Commitment, Passion, Peace, Fun, Leadership and Open-mindedness

If you could do something that met (or at the very least didn’t conflict with) all those values and also met them for your employees too, wouldn’t that be something to get really excited about?

Would it really matter what the business actually did, couldn’t you get passionate about what it stood for just as much as what it produced or offered? The fact is, as I’m sure you well know if you’re a business owner of more than a couple of people, you should be working on your business in a strategic sense anyway and leaving the minutiae to others.

Do you think Warren Buffet is enthusiastic about the products or services of the businesses he buys? On the whole I doubt it, but I’m damn sure he values people and creating sustainable successful companies for those people to work in.

If you’re sick of compromising and you now want to follow your passion I whole-heartedly applaud you. Just make sure you use your values as the starting point and refuse to allow yourself to be dragged away from then however tempting something may at first appear.

Tim Brownson is a Certified Life Coach and NLP Master Practitioner and the co-author of How To Be Rich and Happy. You can read more at The Discomfort Zone.

You might also like...

10 Misconceptions the Self-Employed Deal With Daily

glen — Wed, 07 May 2008 12:37:31 +0000

photo credit: chanzi

Working from home has many, many advantages. Comfy environments, no commute, to name a few. However, working from home also comes with just as many disadvantages. It’s easy to become distracted, the pay is never guaranteed, and it can get quite lonely. However, one of the worst parts about being a home worker for me are all the stereotypes that follow people who work at home. Here are few that I run into all the time.

1. You’re ALWAYS open for business.

It seems that once people learn that my “office” is in my house, that I can answer work-related calls, IM’s and emails whenever is convenient for them. I’ve managed to curb this pretty well by using away status messages and not picking up the phone after 5pm, but it’s still annoying.

Home workers need to have standards like everyone else. You don’t work 16-hour days. Why should we?

2. “You’re at home. How can you be working?”

To this day I still have to answer this question. You’d think with the Internet establishing itself as, well, a huge business opportunity, people would catch on that you don’t have to drive to an office to actually work. We can turn on computers at our house or a coffee shop just as easily as we could in a cubicle, thankyouverymuch!

3. You take too many breaks.

Never. Ever. Will I take too many breaks in a given working day. I’ve found (time and again) that taking breaks is a boon for productivity. It’s at the heart and soul of my productivity plan, and I will always center my day around them.

Breaks keep me sharp, energized, and most importantly, sane.

4. You don’t NEED decent office equipment.

Sure, I can work on a couch just as easily as a nicer desk. Don’t get me wrong, it’s nice to have that flexibility. However, the home worker should never skimp on office equipment. You need to have a place that you can call your own work place that isn’t a part of the living room seating. It’s a psychological edge more than anything. Having a place that is associated with working/thinking allows you to enter the zone much quicker.

5. You never have to leave your home.

Leaving your house is incredibly important to the home worker. It’s easy to get used to the work environment of your home, and your productivity will lag. Or you’ll get sidetracked easier. At your house, there are way to many things that could easily distract you. For me, that would any of the seasons of The Office. Or my guitar. Or other household chores.

If you’re really wanting to buckle down on a project, leave the house and go to a coffee shop. Moving to a different environment keeps you focused on the task at hand, and quickly removes all of those temptations.

6. You can work whenever you want.

It’s no surprise that for most people, the most productive times of the day are in the morning. This is when the rest of the world works. That means that it’s even harder to work when the rest of the world isn’t working.

7. You’re rich.

Maybe this is just my own experience, but it seems that when I tell people that I’m my own boss, I must be making bank. Completely untrue. Although I think I do pretty well, I’m not by any standard wealthy. I pay my bills, and that’s about it.

8. You work in pajamas, don’t brush your teeth, and never see the sun.

Oh, and we only eat delivered foods, shower bi-weekly, and have no “real” friends. Just because we work at home doesn’t mean we aren’t humans, people! I make it a point to take a shower, go for a run, eat a great breakfast and read every day before I start work. Also, all bragging aside, I lead a decent social life with many friends outside of the online world.

If you do find yourself living an unhealthy lifestyle without physical friends and decent habits, start working on them. You’re missing out on one of the greatest aspects of being a home worker. You have more freedom to do the things you love apart from work, making it much easier to lead a social life.

9. You only work 45 minutes a day, and the rest of the time is spent playing video games.

Yup. As soon as I tell people I work from home, they automatically think I’m a slacker. In reality, I usually put in a fairly productive 6-8 hour day. I am constantly learning, and I hardly ever feel like I would work less than someone in a cubicle. Actually, I’d guess home workers are more productive because they have more motivation than a cubicle slave.

The traditional office worker is guaranteed a paycheck, even if he doesn’t work as hard as she could. The home worker has much more pressure and motivation because her paycheck is not guaranteed. If she doesn’t perform, rent isn’t paid. Plain and simple.

10. You know everything about computers.

Anyone else out there like me who doesn’t know squat about the workings of a computer? I have a passing, if not barely passing knowledge of computers. I know a decent amount about software. Yet people always assume that because I work on the “Internets” all day long, I can fix their computer. Or configure their home network. Or some other computer hardware problem.

It must be a lot like the assumption that if you own a truck, you’d love to help everybody move.

So carry on, self-employed warrior. Wear these misconceptions as a badge. Some day the world will understand that we work just as hard, if not harder, than every one of those office-bound serfs.

Some day.

As always, I’d appreciate a Del.icio.us or a StumbleUpon, but only if you enjoyed the article. Thanks everyone!

You might also like...

How to Take Great Breaks at the Office

glen — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 15:49:24 +0000

photo credit: Adrià garcía

Post written by Albert from Headspace.

Most of us feel that we work too hard and that we don’t have enough breaks during our working day. The time between 8am and 7pm is a blur that only ends when we unlock the front door at night.

We generally give time pressure as the main reason for the stress in our work day. But a lack of time is not the only reason. Most of us simply do not know how to take a lunch or coffee break.

When we do have a little time, we end up scrolling through emails with coffee cup in hand, talking about work with colleagues or playing computer games. Often we even drift back into work without realizing it. Yes, we are often dragged back to work by ourselves, not by the boss.

Where to start?

Taking quality breaks is good for company productivity as well as your heart and soul. (Click here to see some research)

Reminding yourself that taking good breaks will make money and save you from a heart attack will no doubt motivate you to start changing the way you work.

As a first step, take the 2×2 test.Try two of the techniques described below for two days. Afterwards, leave a comment about your experiences or email me at getheadspace@gmail.com. We’d love to hear about your experiences with this.

Do nothing

The best way to take a break is to do absolutely nothing. Don’t think about what you are going to do next. Don’t sit and stew about what your boss just said. Don’t check emails or take calls or even read the newspaper. If you find doing nothing hard to do, use some of the following techniques.

Variety, variety, variety

To get rest during work breaks, do something different. If you are glued to a computer, move around. If you are a waitron, sit down for a while. If you are a manual laborer, read something. If you are an academic, do something physical.

At least get away from your computer screen. Leave your cubicle if you can. Getting out of your building would be even better. This is easier done than said. A simple walk to the water fountain or a walk downstairs to buy the newspaper may do the trick.

Draw the line

Do not mix work and breaks. Clearly marking the beginning and end of a break will help you take a break in the first place. It will also ensure that you do not float back into work without realizing.

Designate a few minutes for a break set the alarm on your mobile phone to mark its beginning and end. Many of the techniques described here only take a minute or two.

Avoid discussing work with colleagues during this time. If you can, don’t take or make phone calls. When you do work during breaks, it stops being a break and starts becoming part of the work day blur.

Move

Most people are sedentary at work, so movement gives a break. Take a walk, do a few stretches (check out this nicely illustrated 3 minute stretching routine or simply check your posture.

Breathe

Breathing deeply reduces stress. Simply close your eyes and breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth. Doing this 3 or 4 times is surprisingly calming.

Look

Your eyes need rest too. Closing your eyes for a minute or two is a surefire break.Looking at something calming like a plant, a garden or even just the clouds can also bring you back into the zone. If all else fails, have a look at the photo gallery of the Cloud Appreciation Society.

Listen

Close your eyes for a few moments and listen to the sounds around you. If your mind is too busy to do this, try and concentrate on one of the sounds. My loud old air-conditioner is very useful for this exercise.

Or hook up your MP3 player. Listen to whatever works for you, but in the end Mozart and John Coltrane may be more calming than Sepultura or Cannibal Corpse.

Take Micro-breaks

Micro-breaks can be taken at any time of the day. Many of the techniques discussed here can be applied without taking a formal break.

Take calls on your balcony. Try micro-napping by closing your eyes for a few seconds during meetings – if asked, tell them you were trying to listen carefully.

You could also try printing out your work to proofread it rather than proofing from your monitor. Walk over to your colleagues rather than phoning or emailing them. Or just stare at the clouds when you are sucked into another interminable conference call.

Albert’s blog provides weird, insightful and funny bits that allow you to protect and enhance your Headspace. Check it out or subscribe to his feed.

You might also like...

What Jay-Z Can Teach You about Massive Success and Work Ethic

glen — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 21:04:52 +0000

This post was written by Ramsay of The Daily Mind.

“Be fluid. Treat each project differently. Be water, man. The best style is no style. Because styles can be figured out. And when you have no style they can’t figure you out.” – Jay-Z

Jay-Z is one of the most successful rappers in history. He has had more number one hits than I can count on my two hands. He has been CEO of two powerful music labels. And, most importantly, he is married to the hottest girl in the business! So what can Jay teach us about success and work ethic?

The answer: a lot.

Who is Jay-Z?

In case you have been living under a rock for the last 20 years I will quickly tell you who Jay-Z is and why he is worth studying. However, you don’t need to know who this man is to appreciate what he has done.

The Early Years
Jay-Z grew up in the projects in Booklyn, New York. He was abandoned by his father at a young age and got into selling drugs and skipping school. A renowned intellectual; his gifts were being used to create a massive drug business. However, he soon turned all that around when he established his own record label, Roc-A-Fella Records, and released his first album. It was a huge success – the first of many.

The Name
The name “Jay-Z” is a stage name; his real name being Shawn Corey Carter. There is a lot of speculation as to where this stage name comes from. Some people think it is because his mentor’s name was Jaz-O, others say it was because his childhood nick name was Jazzy and others say it is because the Brooklyn Subway runs from station J to station Z. Whatever the reason the name Jay-Z now stands for so much more than just a few good hip hop albums.

What Jay-Z can teach you about success and work ethic

Now that you know who he is we can look at some of his amazing life events, poetic rap quotes and pioneering innovation and extract some useful lessons on success and work ethic. Pay attention because this man is exceptional.

1. Give people what they want

“I dumbed down for my audience to double my dollars, they criticize me for it yet they all yell holla.” – Jay-Z

The rap game is, truthfully, a very snobby industry. If an underground rapper gets famous people call him a sellout. But, if he stays underground people say he hasn’t got skills because he hasn’t got a record deal.

This didn’t bother Jay.

He knew he had skills and he was confident in that. He didn’t create rap albums to prove anything to anyone else and as such was able to make moves that put in him in a very good financial position. His first album was poetic and deep but after realizing that he was alienating a large portion of listeners he “dumbed it down” to increase his fan base. He knew what people wanted and he gave it to them. The rap industry might have called him a sellout but the listeners bought his records. Soon he was a best seller and a powerful player in game – others were now going to the “sellout” for loans and advice.

If you want to be successful you need to know what the people want. Know your market. Know your niche. There is no point trying to sell music to deaf people or movies to the blind.

2. Take risks

“The Martha Stewart that’s far from Jewish, far from a Harvard student, just had the balls to do it.” – Jay-Z

Jay-Z started out as a drug dealer from the ghetto. He didn’t graduate secondary school. But, he knew he had something special inside and so he took big risks to better his position. The drug dealer soon set up his own record label (unheard of in those days) and turned himself into one of the most successful musicians in history. After 10 years of pumping out hit after hit he accepted a high powered role as the CEO of Def Jam Records. This is yet again an amazing feat – an uneducated man taking control of an international firm.

However, these are not the only risks that Jay has taken. He has an extremely wide variety of investments ranging from clothing lines to basketball teams. On the surface it looks like Jay has made a lot of risky investment decisions. But, is it more risky to diversify or more risky to put all your eggs in one basket? If Jay’s records stop selling he will still extract millions from his clothes, clubs, merchandise, signed musicians, sporting teams, etc.

If you want to be successful you need to take some risks. However, do like Jay did and invest wisely. If you risks that are not calculated and measured you will lose out badly.

3. Don’t give up

“Put me anywhere on God’s green earth, I’ll triple my worth.” – Jay-Z

Jay-Z didn’t have his first big hit until he was in his 30′s. Most musicians are done and dusted by that age but Jay backed himself and his team and he didn’t give up. It would have been easy for Jay to stay in the drug trade and make big money living a life of crime. However, he wanted something better for himself and he knew that with hard work and dedication he could get it.

Take a look at what Jay says about persistence:

“Sure I do, I tell you the difference between me and them
They tryin to get they ones, I’m tryin to get them M’s
One million, two million, three million, four
In just five years, forty million more
You are now lookin at the forty million boy
I’m rappin Def Jam ’til I’m the hundred million man.”

Jay-Z’s “never say die” attitude has taken him to places that other people will never reach because they give up too quickly. Successful people never give up, even when everything looks pretty gloomy. It doesn’t matter which successful person you look at, they have all faced adversities and they have all pushed through them.

4. Take care of the people around you

“I got mouths to feed til they put flowers on me.” – Jay-Z

It is important to take care of the people around you. If by some chance you do strike it rich you need to realize that you got there because of the kindness and efforts of a lot of people. No body got anywhere by themselves. To think so would be a mistake. Jay is well aware that he is who he is today because he had the moral and financial support from the friends, family and business partners in his life. To forget them would be a serious error.

If you take care of your business partners other people will perceive you as trustworthy and be more likely to engage your services. Furthermore, the people with whom you have already done business will be more likely to take care of your in return.

With this in mind I should take a second to thank my home-boy Alex for digging up all the quotes for this post!

Success is not about what you know, it is about who you know. But it’s no use if they know you for the wrong reasons.

5. Watch your mouth

“A wise man once told me don’t argue with fools, because people from a distance cant tell who is who.” – Jay-Z

Leading on from number four it is important to watch what you say. One of the first things my father ever taught me about business is that you should never say anything bad about anyone in the industry because sooner or later you will be known to be untrustworthy.

Jay-Z is very careful about who he disses in his rap songs. He has never bitten the hand that feeds him. His disses always go out to competitor rap artists and are used as a marketing method to make himself known in the media and music industry.

I myself would never say some of the things he has. However, you have to take note of how he has done it as every word was deliberate and intentional. None of it came as en emotional response – it was a business move. Let me illustrate:

For over five years Jay-Z had continuous beef with a fellow New York rapper called Nas. They were both fighting to become the best rapper in the city. Each artist took turns saying things about the other until the conflict became so popularized people thought there was going to be bloodshed.

Finally Jay-Z called a massive concert at Madison Square Gardens called “I Declare War”. People feared that it would trigger a new gangster war in New York City. The concert sold out and to the shock and awe of the people attending Jay walked out with rival rapper Nas and the two did a concert side-by-side. He declared peace instead.

Be careful what you say about people. It will have an effect.

6. Make your own destiny

“Gotta keep it peace like a buddhist…
Nobody gonna Wesley snipe me
It’s less than likely,
Move back,
Let I breathe Jedi knight,
The more space I get the better I write,
(Oh) Never I write, but, if, ever I write,
I need the space to say whatever I like.” – Jay-Z

This quote is my favorite of all of Jay’s quotes and it might need a little explaining. Like many of his lyrics it is multi-layered and allows for many different interpretations.

Firstly, Jay says that he needs space and that no body or no circumstance will get in the way of that. He creates his own space and doesn’t let other people bring him down.

Secondly, Jay-Z is somewhat of a prodigy whose lyrics are composed on the spot and usually in the recording booth. It is well known that he never writes any lyrics down but instead commits it all to memory. In the quote Jay is playing on this fact saying that he never writes but if he did it would say exactly what he intended.

He is the author of his own destiny. Are you?

Some other inspiring Jay-Z facts

Jay-Z has said and done so many amazing things so I thought I would share a few as a conclusion to this post. I have selected some of the most inspiring for you to browse through. Hopefully something will stand out to you.

If you have any other I have missed be sure to leave a comment!

Facts about Jay

Jay is worth a reported $182 million.
Jay is married to singer Beyonce Knowles
Jay had six consecutive albums reach number one
Jay’s album the Blueprint 2 has sold over three million copies
Jay is part owner of the basketball team the New Jersey Nets
Jay takes equity in his business deals instead of endorsements and as such has built up massive wealth.
It was Jay who signed Rihana, NE-YO and Mariah Carey all in one year to make Def Jam a fortune.
Jay and Kanye West donated $1.3 million to Hurricane Katrina victims
Jay sold his clothing company for $204 million in cash

This guest post has been written by The Daily Minder from the blog that makes the daily grind meaningful – The Daily Mind.

You might also like...

15 Features of the Perfect Work Space

glen — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 17:11:21 +0000

photo credit: kogakure. No workspace is complete without a Samurai long sword.

There’s no getting around it. Working environments are one of the biggest factors that affect how productive we can be throughout the day. There’s a major difference between spending time in a tidy, aesthetic area or a bowling alley dumpster. It may have worked alright for Oscar the Grouch, but as his name implies, he wasn’t much fun to be around. And who can blame him?

Yes, there are many factors that go into creating a great working environment. I’ve compiled a list of the 15 main components that I believe to be pretty important in creating a killer workspace. While individually they aren’t end-all solutions, together they can create something that even Oscar could appreciate.

Good drinks: coffee, tea, etc. – A comforting beverage is great for a helpful work environment. It’s a small perk, but every little bit helps.
Nice view – If you’re working out of your closet, odds are you don’t have very good natural sunlight or an aesthetically pleasing view. Try putting the desk near a window to add some natural lighting and something interesting to look at every now and again.
Good chair – Oh my. If there was one piece of furniture that I’d gladly plunk down some coin for, it’s the office chair. It will really make or break your overall working experience. It’s one of those items that the more you pay for, the better it will be.
Foliage – Add some carbon-munching plants around your office. They can provide some color and fun to any workplace.
Fountains – There’s nothing quite as relaxing as the sound of running water. Try adding a little fountain in your office to add this relaxing noise. However, don’t make the mistake of buying a mammoth fountain that’s usually reserved for the gardens. It will totally dominate the noise of the room and will make you have to pee every 2.5 minutes on average. Not great for productivity.
Non-distracting music – I’ve found that a little jazz, world, rhythm or classical background music helps lighten the mood, and can even help focus. Some people can focus with any kind of music, but I’ve found that the stuff without words typically works the best. To each his own though. Oh… one rule. No Michael Bolton.
Great lighting – This can make a huge difference on your eyes. It’s a major problem for your eyes to stare at a flickering light like a computer screen for hours on end. Ensuring that you have proper lighting will take some of the strain off of your eyes.
No clutter – Clutter is an aesthetic problem as well as a mental problem. Cluttered work spaces give create cluttered thinking. Your mind will never be as clear as it could be with a messy, unorganized environment. This also includes your desktop clutter as well. (ZenHabits has a great post on how to reduce clutter for extra reading.)
Your own space – You have to have a place to call your own in order to get into the flow of work. A place where your brain can say “ahh… this is where the magic happens” and productivity abounds.
Manageable work loads – Unrealistic work loads will nag at your psyche all day long. Your productivity will curl up into the fetal position and start sucking it’s thumb faster than you can utter “GTD” if you consistently set unmanageable work loads for the day.
Become unplugged - I’ve found that the best way to become productive isn’t by adding tools, it’s taking them away. Doing as much as you can with the smallest amount of tools is an incredible way to really focus on the task at hand. Using simple, offline tools work wonders for sparking creativity and efficiency. If you’re a web developer, try offline environments like Mamp. If you’re a write, use simple text editors. Unplug from the Internet and only use it as needed. Wi-Fi is overrated, my friends.
Breaks – Working with rests is incredibly critical to ensuring that you’re going to get the most out of your day. I’ve argued before that these breaks improve efficiency and creativity.
Exercise – The typical modern office or homeworker leads a pretty sedentary lifestyle. Health can drastically go down hill if we don’t take care of ourselves and exercise. This isn’t an option: it’s a must. Aside from all the health benefits of exercise, there are lots of great work benefits as well.
Great desktop wallpaper – While it’s a small aesthetic thing, it can make a huge difference. Clean, fun or just different desktop patterns changed every now and again can add little spice to your workday, and can provide a slight boost. If you’re a mac user, try Desklickr. It automatically changes your desktop at certain intervals to high-quality pictures from Flickr. Variety is the spice of life, friends.
Treadmill-desk – This is possibly one of the greatest ideas a web worker can implement. Want to burn calories and work on a computer? Look no further than the treadmill desk, as shared to me by Jonathan Fields. A very quick hack can get you working on your treadmill in no time, burning calories while cranking away.

You might also like...

The Cost of Working In a Digital World

glen — Mon, 07 Apr 2008 04:32:24 +0000

photo credit: misterbisson

Just wanted to share a little food for thought this Sunday evening. A very important article has been written by the New York Times showing the hazards of being a web worker. Without boundaries and carefult attention to our Internet usage, we can quickly find our health declining. Prolific blogger Om Malik, who suffered some life-threatening health problems late last year, shares some insights his doctor gave as to why web workers have health problems.

Why my doctors told me that if you are going to spend inordinate amount of time in front of a computer screen at night, you might have tough time going to sleep. The screen-flicker makes your eyes and your mind think it is day time, hence you have trouble sleeping. If you drink too much coffee, you are going to have trouble sleeping. If you don’t sleep your heart works longer hours and has to pump more blood and is under stress. Problems get compounded when you are a smoker, are overweigh, lead a sedentary life (phone/computer) and/or are on a plane constantly.

These are problems ALL web workers are faced with. Sitting and staring for hours is never going to be good on our health, so it’s imperative we find ways to take care of our bodies.I love the creative approach Jonathan Fields has taken with his own working environment. He literally turned his treadmill into a desk and walks while he works. Brilliant.

If you’re looking for other ways to keep a healthy and manageable online work routine, we’ve got you covered. I’ve compiled some previous posts below that all deal with healthy web working.Remember: it’s definitely possible to be a productive, creative AND healthy web worker as long as we don’t let the work control us.

You might also like...