How to Succeed

Heart of the Project

I'm in the midst of the project. I feel that my release date will have to be pushed back a few days. I was planning on releasing it this Sunday....but there are some more things I'd like to flesh out. One part of me just wants to put something out there, but I want it to be a good quality thing. So probably Tuesday or Wednesday is more realistic. I am working my butt off. Every spare minute I have is like doing this project. I am very passionate about it, yet at the same time, have objective criticism of everything so that I don't blindly fall in love with something just because I put in effort.

I am absolutely determined that this can work. I can't guarantee it will work right away, but by December 15, I think things will click.

It's good to be out of society's matrix of how they want everyone to live your life. To finally think ono my own and do what *I* love, not what they say is "important".

The Most Important Things To Be Successful

Most Important First:

1. Time
2. Time management/Efficiency
3. Ambition/Dream
4. Determination/Confidence/Independence
5. Creativity
6. Planning
7. Marketing
8. Adaptibility/Open Mindedness
9. Resources/Money
10. Competitiveness

Ashley Qualls fan

Believe in yourself because nobody else will do it for you! It is very important to be confident and independent in life. If you don't think you can do something, you're the equivalent of a toddler that is dependent on others. Grow up and take charge of life.

One of my heroes is 17 year old Ashley Qualls. She epitomizes what I believe in, that if you have a vision and follow it with passion then you can do anything. Here is my favourite quote from her:

I believe anything you believe can happen- Success can come if someone truly believes in themselves and the goal/object of their desire. I think anyone can do anything they want, anytime.

She is so vivacious and says it like it is. I love it.

I Love Being Creative

Working in an office or most other jobs in the world, for me, are very tedious. There is no sense of accomplishment. I feel like a robot doing drudge work.

For me, really, the only way I feel like I accomplished something great is to do something creative. In the past that has always been artwork like painting or writing something good. The problem I always had with this was I couldn't see how I could make money off of art. I wasn't talented enough in art to compete with the Michelangelo's of this world, and even if I could write pretty good, why would someone pick my book out of the millions of books out there?

I still would like to write a novel one day but not right now. Right now I've been focused on my own thing and it's feels energizing to do something that can combine both artistic achievement with financial rewards. I have truly changed my mind from that of an employee to that of a confident entrepreneur.

And it feels great.

People Hate Their Jobs

Well it's official, it's not just me saying it, apparently everyone else is saying it as well.

In an MSNBC piece from February 2007 titled Americans Hate Jobs More Than Ever, it says:

Americans hate their jobs more than ever before in the past 20 years, with fewer than half saying they are satisfied. The trend is strongest among workers under the age of 25, less than 39 percent of whom are satisfied with their jobs. Workers age 45 to 54 have the second lowest level of satisfaction (less than 45 percent

Apparently 20 years ago, job satisfaction was at about 60% and now it's a lot lower.

In a seperate article from a Careerbuilder survey, it was found that 84% of US workers are not in their dream job. They defined a dream job as something that was fun (39%). Making a contribution to soceity came in second (17%) and money came in third (12%). These results don't surprise me, as money in itself is often not the problem, for me it's been doing something that was either very stressful or a work environment that was boring that led to my unhappiness.

Interesting to note that 17% of respondents said that they wanted to be a "princess" when they were kids. So assuming they were all girls, 17/50 = 34% of all women. Firefighter was #1.

I feel like I'm playing the Family Feud. =)

What's interesting about the fact that most people 20 years ago liked their jobs is that it seems like they still do. In another article they say that over 90% of people over 60 enjoy their job. I wonder if it's because they always liked their job or if they got used to it. Probably both. Also, people who don't like working have most likely retired by then.

In this article, they say that only 7% of employees enjoy being told what to do. Surprise Surprise. 93% prefer to be asked questions by their supervisor. A good leader is supposed to ask questions.

I have met supervisors who ask questions very aggressively to the point where it's not really a question, but is said more like a statement. It goes like this "Would you mind running the reports right now?" That's not really a question since you can't really say no.

A question to me is more like "what do you want to do right now...project X or task Y? Which type of things do you prefer doing?"

In a seemlingly contradictory survey, it states that 86% of Americans are satisfied with their jobs.

The article is misleading, as the title uses the word "enjoy" but the article uses the phrase "satisfied with their jobs". I think those are 2 very different things.

The most important factors contributing to more job satisfaction in descending order of importance are holding a job with high prestige, being older, being non-black, and earning more from a job

What they mean is that statistically those are the most highly correlated variables. I think it's quite sad that prestige is the #1 factor here. But it might be misleading; the answers here differ a lot from the above polls because this poll is not asking people "What is your dream job?" or "What would you love in a job?". It doesn't even say what they question was. Maybe "satisfied" in this poll was meant as in "not hating it". Statistics can be very manipulative and I don't really believe this one considering how most other polls disagree with it, and just by simply observing and talking to people, very few people I know have a job that they truly love.

Entrepreneur: Love What You Do

I honestly believe that the only way a person can be successful as a business person is to love what you do.

And you should already know deep down inside things that you're good at.

It doesn't have to be specific at first, but generally things that you're interested in. For example, I'm a very creative person, so I know I could do many things that provide creativity. Your interests in life do not have to be one specific thing.

When you love what you do you will put in time. And you will enjoy it a lot. Maybe not every minute of it, but overall yes, you will enjoy it because you're living life with passion.

If you really like something, then you will find a way to make it successful. The internal drive and determination is all it really takes to see something succeed.

It's daunting for many, no one to lead you, but you have to believe in yourself. I find inspiration in other people in similar fields. I look at their bios, or I try to communicate with them online, or I read some of their quotes on their philosophy. These things act as inspiration that yes, it can be done. I may not be doing exactly what they're doing, but if I can take something away from it, anything at all, then it has helped.

I'll Make $1 Million in 6 Months

What is the goal?
I started this goal approximately September 24, 2007. It is what I call a Passion Project. This will form the main basis for the reason this blog exists, atleast for the next 6 months. The ultimate goal will be to make $1 million profit by March 25, 2008, and as a general point of reference, to make $250,000 by Christmas 2007.

Why am I starting this?
This is the one goal that has always felt rather elusive--financial freedom. There are other goals that I haven't reached ofcourse, but all the other ones feel relatively easy to me. For example, I do not have a girlfriend at this particular time, but unlike in previous times, I don't feel desperate because I have gained so much confidence and social skills that it would be stupid and irrational for me to believe that I can't get one. Honestly I would just have to spend a day or two going out chatting with people and it would be done.

I am not content with working at desk jobs. There was a time not too long ago that I hated the office and felt like it was going to jail due to some bad experiences. I no longer view it like that anymore, but I certainly would get much more satisfaction out of life creating something I'm passionate about and succeeding in the business world, instead of droning in an office till I'm 65.

What am I going to buy with the money?
Ironicially, I'm not a materialistic person at all. Throughout my life, even as a child, I've been notorious for being a person who doesn't want to buy things. I've lived my whole life in a middle-class white-collar family, but for me, money is really only important if I either have a lot of it (millions) or none at all (barely scraping by). Whether I'm earning $40,000 or $80,000 a year doesn't really change my lifestyle very much. I'm not really one to indulge in a spending spree, and getting a luxury vehical like a Mercedes Benz instead of a non-luxury vehical doesn't really make much difference to my level of happiness.

If I use the money on buying anything, it would most likely be for travelling. I don't know if that counts as materialism. It's not really tangible, I would go because I like to relax and see the world. I find those experiences to be enlightening if you open your mind. The money would give me the opportunity and power to live a life where I can do what I want for the rest of my life.

Are there any rules or guidelines to this project?
One of the things about this is that it's not just about the money, it's also about doing something I love versus doing something that I don't really enjoy. If I make money doing something that I am not passionate about, then it will not count. This goal has nothing to do with getting rich quick like some sort of scheme.

It's about something similar to what Ayn Rand talks about in some of her books like Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged. I was introduced to her books when I read that NBA billionaire owner of the Dallas Mavericks, Mark Cuban, read her book Fountainhead religiously. I'm not a big fan of her writing style, but I am a fan of her ideology of Objectivism even though I'm not really an idealist. She describes it like this: "My philosophy, in essence, is the concept of man as a heroic being, with his own happiness as the moral purpose of his life, with productive achievement as his noblest activity, and reason as his only absolute." She also says that in order for this to work, Laissez-faire capitalism needs to be the framework.

How much start up capital will I have?
I'm thinking a couple hundred dollars at most. It's not really that necessary for me to spend money on this, because hopefully when I make a product that is great and use proper marketing, I won't have to. It's really the time and guided effort of my creativity that I put in that will determine if I can succeed. I truly go with the motto that life is what you make of it.

What are my obstacles?
I'm taking a senior level Accounting class at night that is very difficult and will no doubt take up a lot of time. I will probably be working at a full time job for the entire time of this goal. And there will also be a learning curve for me since this is the first time I've worked on this sort of project.

So what exactly is this project?
I cannot state the specifics as of yet. I would much rather have more of my work done before going into detail about it. One thing I can say is that it has to do with a LOT of creativity.

Conclusion
It's the first time that a guy like me who has always focused on school and working for somebody else, has decided to do something entrepreneurial. I might not have much to lose when it comes to money since there isn't a lot of start up costs, but I will have a lot to lose in terms of the lifestyle that I might not be able to have for the remainder of my life. That, in my own life, is much more important. Again, I do not want to work in an office and follow all those rules forever; life should be about being free, doing what you love, and using your head to see success.

Learn to Write with Left Hand

When you can do something new, it really helps cultivate a desire to achieve. I think this happens because you start to see how you can improve from being horrible at something to being good at it, and as they say "success breeds success."

How can you not be positive in life when you can see with your own eyes that you can improve on something so much?

When I learn something, it reinforces the reality that I live in, which is one where I believe I can basically do anything as long as I work hard and keep my eyes open to opportunities around me. One of the minor things I've done over the last few months is learning to write with my left hand.

I got kind of annoyed by not knowing how to use a hand that I've had all my life. Also, when I got fatigued with writing with my right hand, I figured it would be practical to start writing with my left, sort of like a back up plan.

When I started, like most people, my left handed writing was horrible. I could barely even write the fricken alphabet. It would take me a very long time, and every line was so squiggly you'd think it was written by a 3 year old. I obviously couldn't just write with my left hand only or else I would never finish homework on time (or not be able to read it). So I would do it on and off at first. After awhile I could do more of it, although still very slow and quite messy.

I remember a turning point a few months later.

I returned back from a trip where I didn't write anything with either hand, and was taking a night class. I was writing with my left hand, not as messy as before although still about 3 times slower than my right, but something very strange happened. I would like to know if this only happened to me, but my head felt strange whenever I wrote. It felt awkward...like a very irritating itch, but obviously one that couldn't be scratched away. It was like my brain had for the first time in twenty some years re-wired itself such that it no longer viewed my left hand as being a foreign object. I was still quite bad at writing with my left, but I really think that at this moment something just changed neurologically.

Most believe that being left or right handed is something you were born with. I have read that people who are right handed predominantly use the left side of their brain to write, but people who are left handed use both sides of their brain to write. Many studies have also shown left handed people as being on average much more creative than the average right handed person. Some studies also show a slight (10%) higher average earning salary for left handers.

I think that is why my head felt weird when I was writing with my left hand. I wish there was some sort of cat scan on my brain that day just to see what was happening. Anyway, I don't know if I'm ambidextrous right now, because I still prefer my right hand. As dexteric as I may be, I'm still about twice as slow with my left, although it has become much more neat.

One thing I want to say though, is that for me, the learning curve for drawing was much quicker. Within a month I could basically draw as well on my left hand, probably because drawing is all about visualization. When I draw, I tend to have a very sketch like style where I go over lines over and over again, so it doesn't matter if the precision is off by a little bit. Writing words requires precision that isn't needed in drawing. Have you ever noticed how people who are good at art almost always have terrible writing and yet many people who write very neat are horrible at art?

This was just a small example of learning something. I am in the process of learning animation, and in the future I plan on learning languages, work out more, and so on. My lifestyle is very forward looking and optimistic.

Why You Should Set Goals

If you're a person like me, you like to procrastinate every now and then. I'm not one of those anally retentive type-A personalities who feel the need to constantly occupy their time with something to do. Maybe it's because I'm very independent minded, but I can entertain myself and do "nothing" all day if I wanted to.

But if you live in the real world, you'll know that this doesn't fly. It would be very easy to just spend the day surfing the net, or watching TV, or having illusions of grandier. I know this from experience. One of the best ways to deal with this, is to write out your goals.

It's one thing to have goals floating around in your head like popcorn, it's another to write them out, have them stare back at you everyday like an un-wavering reflection in the mirror. It's preferable to do this on paper, like a stick-it note because of how it stands out at you, but electronically could work too. When you see these goals, make it a routine to check on them everyday.

For example, at the start of the day write out your goals, rank them in order of importance, and start working. When you're done that particular goal for the day (e.g. "Call Mr. Smith about the appointment by noon" or "Finish working on the second page of the document") then you can cross it off.

It's possible you might not finish everything you wanted to. That's fine, just learn from it. Was it too many goals crammed into one day? Or should you put in more time tomorrow? You get the idea.

The great thing about this is accountability. It's very objective on whether or not you are being productive. It won't let you day dream or procrastinate and waste valuable time. If you make listing out your daily goals a routine, this will be very effecient for your time. You can put weekly, monthly, seasonal goals on another piece of paper too to supplement this.

The Power of Ideas - Nintendo

Mr. Shigeru Miyamoto, the founder of Nintendo, one of the most profitable companies in the world defines an idea as the following: "something which solves multiple issues at once". His entire business is based on ideas. Using quick-fix schemes to focus in on one issue at a time usually yields side-effects and even more problems that weren't there before. An idea should fix multiple things at once. Miyamoto's ideology is that everything he comes up with should fit this criteria for an "idea".

There is always a trade-off, whether it's one person or a company, there is only a limited amount of resources of time or money that one can give. When everybody does the same thing, there is no competition. In order to succeed, you must have these ideas, which are solutions bringing together different problems that can be solved at once. This is what produces uniqueness, and gives value.

I would say that most psychological disorders stem from lack of confidence. When you have depression, or anger management issues, or avoidant personality disorder, or panic attacks, it comes from a place of non-faith in oneself.

I have frequented different types of messageboards or forums with mental health, and the one thing I realized, struggling myself at times, was that most of these problems are not going to be fixed by attacking it individually. When a person solves other aspects of their life, such as being grounded, or learning about themselves in a meaningful way, or enjoying a new perspective on what life has to offer, then everything else will fall into place.

Some of My Role Models

There are lots of different types of heroes. People in our family who we admire, people we've met in our day-to-day life who we respect in some certain way; but I'm not talking about them necessarily. I'm talking about people who truly motivate you because they are living the dream--your dream. They don't have to be people who are in your field of interest, but people who you identify with and in turn, encourage you to work hard for your goals.

I feel it is important that people have heroes--not to put them on pedastols, but to have them as guides on your journey in life. Briefly, some of my heroes include Walt Disney (very successful entrepreneur in animation, themepark design, and the entertainment industry), Lance Armstrong (cancer survivor and winner of a record 7 Tour De France's), and 17 year old girl who is an internet millionaire who does what she loves.

There are certainly more, and I will talk more about all my heroes as this blog progresses.

Main Goals In My Life

My first goal is financial freedom. To be able to be free of all the non-sense of doing monotamous office work and just be able to enjoy life to the fullest would be wonderful. I would like to live without any fear of paychecks, listening to what an over-controlling supervisor wants me to do, and all that other B.S. A person's life should be about doing something that they love, and having the flexibility to go on vacations or doing a leisurely activity without rigid rules about when and how long that can be achieved.

The second goal, less important at the moment, is to be more social. I have battled and battled with social anxiety (a topic which I'm sure to cover a lot more on later) and finally feel like I have won. The only thing is that I still would like to make more friends and become a social butterfly.

Blogs vs. CMS

In a lot beginners for websites, there seems to be a question that many people have of whether to start a blog or a content-management system. I personally don't like CMS systems because they require you to know quite a bit of html and css if you want it to look a certain way, although you can pay to get people to professionally do them for you. I guess CMS typically have a higher potential for growth because people generally would rather visit a "normal" website as opposed to a blog.

That being said, I find it a lot easier to post on blogs. It's like writing in a diary, quick, and easy. With CMS's you have to constantly fiddle around with some pretty annoying things. You will literally waste dozens and dozens of hours if you do not know what you are doing, and I'm all about efficiency. I've learned the hard way in the past that time efficiency is probably one of the most important things you'll ever need.

CMS's like Joomla, Drupal, Mambo are all good if you have a group of people submitting articles. Otherwise, I would say blogging is better because of the user-friendly interface that makes publishing a sinch, which in turn makes it much more likely you'll be spending the time writing as opposed to figuring out the miriads of things that would occupy your time inefficiently. If I really wanted a true website, I'd probably try to find someone to design it for me, instead of spending all that time pulling my hair out with a CMS.

Comparing Wordpress to Blogger, I really give the advantage to Blogger/Blogspot when it comes to user interface. They make the site and menu very easy to use and clean to look at which makes everything a lot more inviting. Wordpress is more powerful, but I don't really need much more than a fast and easy blogging system. Perhaps later on, when I, for some reason, have some need to use a more sophisticated product then I will use it.

Microsoft Joining Facebook = Megatron

So in the news is that Microsoft wants to buy 5% of Facebook. 5% might not seem like much to you, until you take into account that Microsoft has valued Facebook at a net book value of $10 billion. Yes, that's not a typo. Five percent of that would be an astonishing $500 million.

Is it worth it? I guess it is. Even though I'm not the biggest fan of Facebook, I have to admit it has a lot of people on there who go on atleast once a week, and even more for the college crowd. People who never even got into social communities are even logging into Facebook just so they can tell people they have an account.

The advantage of these online communities is that once a person registers, they are more likely to stay than compared to other websites where users feel little sense of commitment to them. For advertising purposes, Facebook could probably make billions.

I still find that amount to be ridiculously high. Facebook turned down a $1 billion buy-out from Yahoo last year. This happened right after Google purchased Youtube for $1.6 billion.

The problem with Facebook is that I think it will always target a very young crowd. People will not grow old with it. Teens and young adults like to occupy their time chatting back and forth, but I find that older people are too busy with their lives and raising kids and getting their mortgages paid that it becomes to cumbersome to log on to see what your friends are doing this weekend.

Personally, if I was Bill Gates (ha!) I would use his billions of dollars to try to beat Facebook at their own game. All you'd have to do is start a similar community and attach it with Hotmail or MSN. He would certainly have enough capital, but I get the sense that in his older years, he's less competitive, willing to give away much of his money to 3rd world countries. I guess when you can buy everything and have that much power, you start to reflect on how you can give it all back to the under-priveledged. Kudos for that.

My First Post

Hi, I really like this platform. A lot of people recommended wordpress over blogger, but this seems as good as anything. It's free, clean looking, very user friendly (anyone without any computer skills can use this), and fast to set up. I hope to use this blog to not only inform people of what my thoughts are, but used to keep track of my own progress for myself in the many goals that I am sure to have...