Asshole Envy and the Value of Extreme Focus

by: admin - January 29th, 2008   Filed under: Business Lessons, Money Thoughts 38 Comments

What do Simon Cowell, Steve Jobs, Dr. House, Bill Belichick, and Donald Trump have in common?

They’re all assholes… but lots of people (including me) love them anyway. Why is that?

Maybe its envy. Deep down, we would all like to be able to say anything to anyone, cause trouble without consequence, and act without caring what others think.

But we don’t do it.

We can’t bear the shame of becoming an asshole. We’ve been conditioned by centuries of faithful mothers teaching us to mind our manners. We are proud of being polite.

Except… could that be the problem?

I know about a dozen people that make over $1 million per year, and I’d imagine all of them are called assholes on a regular basis. The two seem to go hand in hand, and I think there are reasons why.

Extreme Success Requires Extreme Focus

If you want to be successful, you have to focus. We all know that, but I don’t think many of us understand it.

Focusing means giving one objective all of your attention and ignoring everything else. Dr. House from the House M.D. TV show focuses on saving people’s lives, and nothing else matters to him. He’s willing to cheat, lie, steal, manipulate, and coarse in the pursuit of that end. And it works.

The wealthiest people in the world use the same approach with their finances. Frequently, they’ll:

  • Leave behind a trail of broken marriages and forgotten children
  • Lose the life savings of their friends and relatives on an ingenious but doomed business
  • Refuse to lend anyone money or give to charity
  • Avoid unnecessary expenses to the point of miserliness
  • Treat everyone that can’t help them as if they’re expendable

We hold up cases like those as “how not to be successful,” but really, I think it’s exactly the opposite. The amount of wealth you’ll accumulate in this lifetime depends on how willing you are to put money ahead of everything else.

Frugal investors become millionaires because they’re willing to give up immediate gratification and luxury for a few decades. Successful entrepreneurs become billionaires because they invest every ounce of their life in the business and convince others to do the same. In each case, someone will inevitably labeled them as a miser, workaholic, or asshole, but they don’t care.

For them, it’s worth the trade-off. So ask yourself: how much are you willing to trade?

Are you willing to let some people think you’re an asshole?

Tags: , , , ,

How to Find Work That You Love — A Logical Guide

by: admin - January 12th, 2008   Filed under: Work Thoughts 34 Comments

“So… uhh… how do I find a job that I love?”

Talk about money long enough, and the question inevitably comes up. And it should.

Most of us spend 60-80% of our waking hours doing something work-related. If you don’t enjoy that work, then it means you’re unhappy 60-80% of the time. Logical, right?

It would also make sense that the quickest way to improve your happiness would be to improve your enjoyment of the thing you spend the most time doing. Since that’s work, you wonder if you couldn’t find something better.

But the question is, “How?”

Here’s what I think: the answer is in the title of this post.

Let’s break it down, starting at the end of the title and working our way back to the beginning.

Read More

Tags: , ,

Vote for Me in 2008

by: admin - January 9th, 2008   Filed under: OnMoneyMaking.com 11 Comments

Update: Voting is now closed. Thanks everyone!

Forget Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Mike Huckabee, John McCain, and Ron Paul. They can wait their turn.

Vote for me in 2008.

No, I’m not running for President. This is eminently more important.

On Moneymaking is in the race for best Business/Money blog at Performancing’s Blog Awards. Admittedly, I’m an upset candidate, facing stiff competition from some of the biggest personal-finance blogs on the Web, but I think we have a shot.

Why?

Because those other guys are Conservatives. They believe in conserving your income, incrementally increasing your savings until you can retire 30 years from now.

Me? I’m a Liberal. I believe in using your income to buy liberty, where you define your hopes and dreams and then make enough money to achieve them, as quickly as possible.

So, vote for me in 2008. No, I take that back. Vote for you.

This is about your freedom. This is about building a blogosphere you can be proud of. This is about rising up against the tyranny of frugality and saying, “I deserve to make more!”

Because it’s true. And I’ll personally make it my mission in 2008.

That’s my promise.

But only you can make it happen. Click here to vote.

.

Tags: ,

Stop Planning: 50 Ways to Improve Your Finances Today

by: admin - January 4th, 2008   Filed under: Easy Finance, Money Thoughts 34 Comments

I only have one resolution for 2008: action.

You can set all the right goals, have all the right intentions, and know all the right stuff, but if you don’t act, none of it means anything. I learned that when I was a teenager, and it’s the only resolution I’ve made ever since.

If you want to achieve your financial goals, I think you should make it your only resolution too. Most people spend their entire lives intending to get rich but never make it, and it’s almost always because they never actually do anything

So take action. Here’s how:

First, forget about planning for 2008. A year is too long of a timeline. I don’t know about you, but I have a hard time remembering what I’m supposed to be doing for 15 minutes, much less an entire year.

Second, focus on today. Figure out just one thing you can do today to move yourself closer to the finances you’ve always wanted. Then do it.

Third, pick one thing the next day, and the next day, and the next day, until you wake up six months from now and realize you’ve already achieved all of your goals for 2008, and you have to set new ones.

If you’re having trouble coming up with one thing to do, I’ve put together a list of 50 ideas to get you started.

Read More

Tags: ,