Success Making Machine

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Recently Daily Blog Tips asked a question What is a Blog? The answer is it doesn’t matter. To someone who hasn’t heard of the concept it’s just a new/easy way for a person to publish content on the internet. That’s all you need to know. When you come across a website it wont matter to you if it’s a blog, wiki, microblog, social website, 2.0 site. All that matters is if it’s delivering what you need. If it is, then subscribe or check back often otherwise it’s called trash.

The problem with the web is that it introduces many ways to waste time- it’s up to you to take the good and leave the bad. Usually Daily Blog Tips is a very informative site, but occasionally even good sites do bad things- but don’t count them out for it. If they make it a pattern though, you should decide if it’s worth it.

Now let’s not waste more time with this- go back to being productive.

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Posted by Heshy under Think & Time Management | 3 Comments »

Recently I mentioned the The Best Diet- eat what you love. Here’s a way to eat and still lose weight: Eat breakfast. The study shows that kids who skip breakfast tend to gain more weight despite the fact that breakfast eaters consumed more calories.

Go eat.

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Posted by Heshy under Health & Principles | No Comments »

I was excited with my first post-college job working for a computer consulting company. The work was interesting and challenging and my hourly pay was 4 times what I was making in my college part time job.

One day, I was setting up time tracking software for a partner in a law firm, a distinguished gentleman with a cool accent. There was a cryptic sign that hung over his computer that said “CANI- Constant and Never Ending Improvement“, without any context.

After the installation I showed him how to use the software. As I demonstrated I turned on the timer and explained the basic functionality of the system. Finally after about 5 minutes of discussion i turned off the timer. The software showed us how much money he would earn for a similar transaction. When I saw the amount on the screen I was floored. That 5 minute conversation would earn him as much as I made in an hour- this is after my big increase.

Obviously this was a successful person. With constant improvement it’s no wonder he was making the big bucks. Maybe it’s time for me to paste the phrase on my computer:

CANI- Constant and Never Ending Improvement

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Posted by Heshy under Layering & Motivation | No Comments »

One of the foundations of a Success Making Machine is setting up systems that work and let them run automated. For example, I have my utilities (gas, electric, phone) set up with automatic recurring payments. As long as charges are within range I need to take no action. But I make it a point to review my utilities periodically to make sure I’m still paying market prices. Here’s my successful recent “system review”. I’ve had equivalent success with reducing auto insurance (50%), gas(5%) and other utilities.

Here’s my latest story. My internet/cable/phone (triple play) company sent me a notice that they were increasing their price by $15 a month. That was the last straw- their fees were inching up monthly and I was being bombarded with ads from their competition that their prices were lower.

Try to work it out

First I called my old company to see if they had a better (or at least equivilant) deal. This has been a helpful strategy in the past. It’s worth it for me to keep the old company even if they just match the deal because I’ll save the headache of switching. They couldn’t do better than the new deal- but still offered me something better than what I currently had. I wanted to make sure I wouldn’t be missing something- so I asked. They admitted that the new deal was superior. With a superior deal and without any loss of features I knew it was time to switch.

In with the New

I called the ad to make sure it was legit. It was. As I was deciding which package to get the company rep offered me better and better deals. I ended up with a free DVR, an extra install line and some more free channels- all for a lower price than I previously paid (before the increase).

Out with the old

After the new service was successfully installed I called to cancel the old one (I don’t cancel in advance in case something goes wrong). Interestingly, the “customer retention rep” who took my cancellation was prepared to offer me some good deals not offered elsewhere- I didn’t pursue the conversation because after installation it’s not worth it for me to switch again. An addition lesson here is talk to numerous people in the same company.

Next Action: Try this with your utilities. They should be reviewed annualy. Let me know how much you save.

photo credit: whiteafrican

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Posted by Heshy under Finance & Principles & system | 2 Comments »

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Posted by Heshy under Principles & Success & Success Machine | 2 Comments »

The difference between a dream and success is whether you pursue your dream.

You’ve no doubt heard you need to set your goal before you achieve it. If you’ve thought about your goals you’ve compiled a long list of all your projects. But it’s likely there’s one project you missed- your life goals(a.k.a. dreams). Dreams are the ultimate that you want to achieve. They are your super goals. Here you are picturing what success looks like for you.

To set goals, you first need to crystallize your dreams. What do you want? What do you want out of life? How do you want to live it? Where do you want to be in 5 years? 10 years? 25 years? These large decisions can have effects down to: How do you know which job offer to accept? Which house should you buy, if any? To the day to day decisions: should I buy this fancy coat?

What’s stopping you from achieving your dreams? For many people it’s simple, they haven’t verbalized their dreams. Without verbalization, dreams can’t happen. One way to put some structure around your dreams is to determine your dreams for each area of your life: career, financial, family, social, community, health etc. When you are verbalizing your dreams- focus on what you want, not what you don’t want. For example, “I want to be fit” is more powerful than “I don’t want to be fat”.

A dream should be something you truly want. Then set your energies to it. Your thoughts, beliefs and actions should be geared toward achieving this goal. You’ll need to believe this dream is possible. You don’t need to know all the details of how it will happen- just know that it will. Logic tells you if you believe something, invest yourself in it and your mind works toward achieving it, you will be more likely to succeed.

Before you commit to a dream ask yourself if it’s really what you want. Picture your life with your dream achieved. You may find that it isn’t quite what you want. Growing up, many of us wanted to be sports/music or film stars. If a genie came and offered to grant you that wish would you still want it? Maybe you wanted the fun that went with being a baseball player but do you really want to play every single day for 10-20 years? Perhaps you may want it, but do you want to keep up that rigorous travel schedule? The pressure of performing every day? How will this correspond with your goal of raising a family? So before you commit to a dream- think it through.

Just verbalizing your dream will get you closer to achieving it. Add your dreams to your goal list so you take steps to make it happen. Layer your dream to break it into reasonable parts. Review your dreams often to ensure you’re still striving to reach it.

May all your dreams come true.

What are your dream?

photo credit: Tracy O

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Posted by Heshy under Goal & Layering & Success | No Comments »

I’m very careful to avoid new time sinks- activities that will end up wasting my time. Sometimes they seemed like fun at first and then turned into obligations(fantasy baseball), other times it seems interesting and turn into time consuming distractions(new TV shows). You get the idea. There’s just too many opportunities to waste time on a large scale. Now I’m faced with a new dilema: in today’s world it’s hard not to go five minutes without hearing about social media (facebook, twitter, delicious), is it a new time waster or a useful tool?

I wish I knew the answer. Steve Pavlina, who I respect, just took the plunge, so I figured I would experiment too. Organize IT put together a productivity twitter list. With much hesitation I’ve joined twitter: http://twitter.com/heshys. I previously signed up with Facebook too.
What do you get out of social media? Is it worth it?

photo credit: carrotcreative

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Posted by Heshy under Calculated Risks & Time Management | 1 Comment »

43 unread emails, 1713 emails in out inbox, 18 new letters in the mail, 33 ideas in our head, 4 piles of papers on our desk, 36 items on our to do list and a blinking answering machine. Our inboxes (electronic and physical) are constantly being filled with more demands on our time. To keep our sanity and be productive we must take a short time to “process” our overflowing inboxes and get it empty (or as close as possible). This will ensure that our task lists are filled with manageable tasks.

Here’s a quick mnemonic to making this process go faster and efficiently- use the 9 Ds: Delete, Deposit (file), Deflect, Deter, Delegate, Defer, Designate(calendar), Do Now, (To) Do List.

Delete

If an item is junk or you’ll never need it, get rid of it right away. Newspapers are trash(yesterday’s news is worthless), old magazines are trash(you’re not going to get to it anyway), junk email should be vaporized, old clothes go to good will, you get the idea. Bonus: figure out how to never deal with it again (e.g. unsubcribe from lists, sign up on do not call lists etc.)

Deposit

File your reference information. Many of the files on your desk or old emails are no longer needed except as a reference just in case. If you think you’ll need it someday- just put it in a obvious file folder- out of site so when you’ll need it you can quickly find. Get it out of the way so it’s not cluttering your workspace.

Deflect

If you are definitely the wrong person for this task then quickly point the requestor to the right place and get this out of your boxes. You don’t to do this immediately so you don’t hold up the project.

Deter

Learn how to say no. Not every request that comes to your inbox means you must do it. See if it fits within your responsibilities and/or goals. If not just say “no”.

Delegate

There are some tasks that should be done but someone else can help you with it. If someone on your staff or your spouse etc can do it let them help you especially if they can do it better. Some people get in the mindset that only they can do a task, that they do it best. Given some else a chance. Keep in mind when you delegate you are not completely giving up the task, you will still get the last word and should keep a follow-up on your task list so the issue is done on time with quality.

Defer

Some tasks are interesting but it’s not important or urgent. Put it on your “someday/maybe list”. This way you’ll still have it on your radar but it wont clutter your mind. Examples of items to defer are painting the house (you dont have time for it now anyway), launching a completely new product etc or other tasks that you know aren’t needed in the near future.

Designate

Designate a specific time for an appointment. Just put it on your calendar and move on. An appointment should sit in one central place so you dont double book your time or miss appointments.

Do Now

Any task that takes two minutes or less should be done quickly. No excuses- do it. It will feel great to shorten your to do list.

(To) Do List

All other tasks go on your “to do” list. Just get it out of your inbox.

This post was inspired by: Matthew Cornell’s post The Path of Maximum Productivity: Seven tensions, and how to resolve them. Thanks Matthew.

photo credit: nate steiner

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Posted by Heshy under Delegate & Eliminate & Reduce Stress & Time Management & productivity | 5 Comments »

Recently I received an email from a reader of Success Making Machine:

Hey Heshy,

When I saw this article I thought of your blog so I thought I would share it with you. i hope you like it.
10 Coaches That Could Be Exceptional CEOs

–Paul

This email gave me a good feeling. Not only was a reader thinking about the site even when he wasn’t on it but he thought of me and was kind enough to email me. Plus the article was interesting.

In today’s hectic world we lose track of friends quickly and struggle to maintain relationships. Sometimes a simple reachout can enhance friendships.

Moral: Think about people and let them know it. Giving to people doesn’t have to cost anything.

Thanks Paul.

photo credit: Untitled blue

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Posted by Heshy under Invest | No Comments »

In this series you will learn the steps needed to turn your dreams into reality. In the first part of this series we saw how to define your dreams. Dreams give you something to shoot for and strive for. In this part we’ll take dreams and turn them into goals. Without goals you wont know what needs to be done to achieve success.

SMART Goals
Let’s take the “standard” dream “I want to be rich and happy”. That’s actually touching two parts of your life (some would say one leads to another but that’s for a different post): financial and personal. We’ll take your financial goal first as that is easier to quantify. We need to turn rich into something we can quantify (not necessarily in terms of dollars but in terms of actions). Your gut reaction may be “I want a million dollars” (or even a billion if you’re “ambitious”) but is that really what you want? You probably want what that money can buy. I’m not talking about physical assets- a car, a boat, a house in Italy. I’m talking about a life style. When you take out the physical items what you really want is the independence, fun, excitement, prestige etc that goes with those objects. As you peel layers off your dream you find out what you really want. Then you can start defining your goals. Goals are the subset of results you want. In this case you may say: “I don’t necessarily need to be rich, but I want to be able to retire when I’m young and spend my time traveling- then life would be grand”. There’s a simple way to make the dream more realistic and aligned which what you can achieve. Let’s make the dream SMART- Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Timely- then you’ll succeed.

Specific

Use the 6Ws (Who, what, where, when, why and which) and how to get as detailed as you can about what you really want. Here you will pick the lifestyle you want your dream to achieve. You may decide that retire doesn’t mean not working- what are you going to do if you don’t work? Retirement may mean working the hours you want at a job you want. You may decide you want to teach or freelance etc. Perhaps you’ll want to join the peace corp- you get to experience more of the world, fulfill your consious and it doesn’t cost you an arm and a leg.

Measurable

What gets measured gets done.

How will you know when you reach your dream? I’m sure you’ve read about all these quotes from rich people. I just need a few more millions and I’m done. Then when they achieve it they keep trying until they work themselves into the grave. Usually this translates to a date and/or a number. What number is “young”? A 90 your old can consider himself young and a 26 year old can consider herself old. What age do you want to retire 30? 40? 50?

Achievable

Are you able to do this? Is it reasonable? Do you truly believe it can happen? Can you reach a billion dollars? You can’t assume that you’re salary will be increasing at 100% a year without some major changes.

Relevant

Is this something you can make an impact with? Is it important?

Timely

Give yourself a deadline. Nothing gets done without a deadline.

With a SMART goal you are more likely to know what to do to get it.

As far as your happiness goal. The more you succeed at achieving your dreams the happier we’ll be but I offer you this quote by Abraham Lincoln: “People are about as happy as they make up their minds to be.”

photo credit: krisdecurtis

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Posted by Heshy under Goal & Principles | No Comments »