willie jackson

Month: March 2012

  • Be the resource

    My father half-jokingly laments that he doesn’t like watching the news because he’s always finding out that some food he loves is killing him. The fact that he’s from the rural South notwithstanding…

    It’s true.

    We’re constantly bombarded with reports and studies about the things that have made their way into our everyday lives, and how they’re going to cause cancer of the everything™ in twenty years: cleansers, asbestos, cell phone radiation, DDT, lead paint, high fructose corn syrup, water, oxygen, the list goes on.

    The trouble is that in many cases we get this information second and third-hand from media outlets looking to create the latest hysteria, with research funded by companies looking to sell us a cure or solution. Everyone’s biased! Who should we trust?

    I think one solution is to get curious.

    We have access to unbiased research if we’re willing to look for it, and you can bet that there’s someone trying to get the word out about their findings.

    And if it’s not a popular opinion to hold (see: it could cause large companies to lose lots of money if the truth got out), it’s likely that their efforts have been undermined and disregarded, making them all the more willing to talk to you about their opinion.

    Help them start a blog. Or release an ebook.

    Or perhaps you can be our resource. I’d love to know what you find.

  • Look for snowballs

    The most terrifying part of any worthwhile undertaking comes right before step one.

    Once you’re moving, momentum and positive feedback loops and sheer determination help you along. It won’t be easy no matter the circumstances though, and there will be times where the momentum fades and your enthusiasm wanes.

    It’s your job, then, to look for projects and opportunities that will propel you along once you’re moving by the sheer excitement of the idea or value of the project. Things that excite you at the very thought of them.

    We can count on the burst of energy at the beginning of the race (adrenaline) and at the end (our friends cheering near the finish line), it’s the middle ground that becomes the most troublesome foe during the act.

    So look for snowballs and get moving.

  • Closed-minded danger

    It’s easy to dismiss certain things as being for “other people” but not ourselves. Yoga, meditation, raw food diets, vision boards, the list goes on.

    Maybe it’s because of the way we were raised or a general skepticism or downright discomfort in considering something new and terrifying. Maybe we’ve just never tried.

    The danger in being closed-minded is that we eliminate the chance that a novel experience will spark something within us and create magic.

    Trying something new might result in our entire world view being shifted. Maybe turned on its head completely. And that’s the point, isn’t it? If we’re not growing, we’re fading into irrelevance and obscurity.

    Our thoughts become stale, our bad habits take deeper roots, our prejudices crystallize, and before we know it, we’re the person we swore we would never grow up to be.

  • The level playing field of opportunity

    No one in history has ever had more than 24 hours in a day to complete their work. Not the President, the Queen, Mother Teresa, or Leonardo da Vinci.

    If you’re reading this, you are undoubtedly smart enough to learn anything you set your mind to.

    You have access to more information in your iPhone than was ever considered possible 100 years ago, and you are living in what is undoubtedly the greatest time to be alive — during the information revolution.

    So.

    …how will you change the world today?

  • Race and Vine

    Michael Parrish DuDell knows what he’s doing.

    I first met Michael during my Domino interview (December 2010) and was impressed by his poise and energy.

    This same poise and energy kept the Domino publishing train on its tracks for six wonderful months, and I’m not sure we would have gotten as much done in the office without his project management oversight.

    Michael recently transitioned out of an enviable and lucrative role with a firm to make his mark in the world, and I’m thrilled to share it with you today.

    Introducing race + vine:

    Specializing in connecting businesses to their consumers in more genuine and meaningful ways through content marketing, millennial engagement, and consumer experiences, race + vine fuses the most valuable elements of traditional PR, marketing, and branding with bold innovation and authentic storytelling to create deeply compelling (and sometimes edgy) work.

    If his services are a fit for your company’s needs, do yourself a favor a book him before everyone else does. You won’t regret it.

  • When will you make the sacrifice?

    If reaching your goal took 300 hours of discomfort, how would you schedule them? All at once or over several years?

    We don’t often think about it like this, but there’s no question that achieving anything worth talking about requires focus and therefore, sacrifice (since you can’t pay attention to everything at once…).

    ***

    The brilliance of Ramit’s approach to personal finance isn’t that he teaches you how to retire wealthy after a lifetime of ordering water while your friends are ordering wine, it’s that his approach targets behavioral change and the absurdities that keep smart people poor.

    As you can see, sugarcoating the truth is something that Ramit spends little time on:

    Earning more is also rife with psychological issues, most of which deal with getting out of your own way and confronting your own barriers. We’ll cover some psychological aspects of earning money, as they are central, yet often invisible, when starting out.

    Finally, if you want to complain about how these tactics don’t apply to your specific situation, go away. Smart people take broad strategies and specific tactics and apply them to their own lives. Whiners complain about how it doesn’t apply to them. Don’t expect to be spoon-fed.

    ***

    I can’t help but wonder what keeps us paying the minimum on credit card debt and mortgage payments is the same thing that causes us to shy away from the sacrifices that make our dreams attainable.

    Would you be willing to work every weekend for six months if it was guaranteed to double your income? How about quadruple?

    Would the allure of high income and some measure of financial security be enough to offset the feelings of sadness when you see pictures of your friends playing reindeer games every Saturday night?

    I’ve been reading a lot about habits and behavior recently and let me tell you…we are a strange species. Here’s the book I just read about this stuff: The Power of Habit

    ***

    This post was inspired by recent discussions with Jenny and Monique, who you should know about if you don’t already.

  • Trust through competence

    I’ve been shadowing my CEO on some customer projects recently, and it’s been eye-opening.

    Sure, he has a decade and a half of high-level engineering experience that he draws from, but what’s most interesting to me is the dynamic that exists during client calls: even previously hostile customers listen with rapt attention, excited to hear about how their business could improve.

    Early on, when I would handle customer calls on my own, I found myself just hoping not to blow a deal. Slowly, I became more confident in what I was “selling,” and that confidence in turn assured the person to whom I was speaking.

    There is a posture that gives customers the confidence to spend money with your company, and it’s forged only by 1) actually knowing what you’re talking about, 2) experience (not just the ability to do the work proposed, but a demonstrated history of delighted customers), and 3) a deep understanding of the customer’s business.

    Oh, and having a quality product to sell.

    As I told clients for years during my freelancing days, the technology is the easy part.

  • Stop Stealing Dreams

    Seth’s latest Manifesto, Stop Stealing Dreams is out (released last week, actually), and exceeding expectations.

    Few peer into the abyss like Seth does (which takes a combination of courage and the ability to synthesize mountains of information at a high level, while also being keenly in tune with human motivation and desire), and I hope you’ll help me spread this manifesto far and wide.

  • Clarity

    Some people resort to strong substances in order to obtain it, but that’s not my current method. I notice the most intense moments of clarity arriving when I’m 1) well-rested and 2) exercising regularly.

    Clarity of mind becomes a powerful tool in:

    • Determining the “right” answer to lingering questions
    • Eliminating unhealthy relationships and obligations
    • Identifying destructive or unproductive habits and patterns of thought
    • Some other things

    You’re probably a lot more disciplined than I am, but I have Sunday routine that helps me with this. It keeps me balanced, focused, and in a constant state of self-improvement.

    The worst misstep, as you can imagine, is missing a day…

  • Work time

    …should be guarded aggressively, even if it’s just an hour of uninterrupted time per day. I know people who thrive in environments where there are constant interruptions (I am not one of these people…), but I’ve noticed that they also make time to get their work done.

    This could mean no phone calls scheduled after 10am and before 4pm or all notifications being turned off when writing, but there should be some time carved out every day for producing and synthesis.