Thinking about what spending a dollar truly does
Jeff Bezos spends money better than you or I do. When we spend money, we’re basically influencing what someone else does with their time. There are certain tasks that are better for humanity than others, one would argue having someone spend their time to build a house, or cook a meal, is more valuable than […]
Work hard, play hard, finally decoded correctly.
“Stop playing those games and get to work!” – Alex Becker. Becker will have you working non-stop, ignoring all your friends, and so on. For him, it works. But for many of us, we can find success by working hard and playing hard. People misinterpret that statement all the time. Here’s a good way for […]
Mindset is only a permission slip.
“Work on your mindset everyday!” the gurus will scream. But really, your mindset is just a permission slip that grants you the ability to move forward. Granted, the real reason why people don’t move forward more is often mindset. But you can’t preach mindset advice to prisoners of war or to people that are slaves […]
Solving problems using the Onion Skin Method.
In a different post, I mention that finding more problems is often strangely the solution. However, another way to go about that idea is to consider whether you’d like to solve a problem or eliminate a problem by making the problem irrelevant. There’s usually an easier way to handle a problem, and it’s by noticing […]
Happiness vs Success and the deception of the 10 year goal
Gurus are always trying to tout that if you’re successful, you’ll be happy. The reality is these things don’t always coexist. We’ve seen many “successful” people kill themselves either intentionally or not (ie drug overdoses). The data is in: Being successful financially doesn’t equate to happiness. Gary Vee is always talking about “don’t you want […]
Why money can distract your happiness.
“Figure out a way to make money doing what you love!” – Random guru advice. This piece of advice can be good, but it can also turn someone’s life into a nightmare of distractions. Seth Godin actually accidentally told us a very good way to approach money and passion. Seth was a passionate writer and […]
Why the decision to save lives can be a terrible decision.
“The definitions of insanity is doing the same thing and expecting a different outcome!” – Bad Gurus (FYI – Einstein didn’t say this ridiculous statement, as he was false quoted as saying this.) The problem with a garbage statement like that is that it ignores 2 elements of every decision made: Probability of outcome. Potential […]
Why seeing silver linings is so dangerous.
Napoleon Hill’s Think and Grow Rich, as as well as gurus from The Secret, would tell us to simply visualize and think our way to wealth. Alex Becker tells us in the 10 Pillars of Wealth book that everything is our fault – both good and bad. There’s massive pieces of truth in this but are slightly […]
The unpleasant silver linings of corona virus.
Find out what’s holding you back in life and move past it! – Typical wrong guru. What’s actually holding you back isn’t the same as what you think is holding you back – Truth Cake. A lot of people think that if they didn’t have to deal with their job, their kids, their nagging spouse, or whatever that they […]
The massive missing detail for modeling successful people.
See what successful people are doing and model them! – Random Guru This is helpful SOMETIMES. The correct thing to do is, See what successful people DID and model them! – TruthCake The problem is that if you model someone that’s already made it, certain rules may no longer apply to them because they’ve already […]
The uncomfortable secret about doing what you love.
Some gurus like Joseph Campbell will tell you to do what you love and the doors will open for you. Mark Cuban will tell you to do what you spend the most time on already and get better at that. Gary Vee will tell you to just focus on being happy. Dan Kennedy will tell […]
The Efficiency Paradox
“You need to be efficient with everything you do!” – Random guru. The reality is that if you think about things from start to finish, optimize to increase efficiency, many times you could have already completed the task by just doing it already without having to analyze the full process. Longer tasks and/or repeated tasks […]
The only thing more valuable than time, and why valuing time keeps you poor.
“Focus on the work…consider your time…don’t be afraid to grind it out…obsess about the process. Work smart, not hard.” – Random gurus. This is some of the most confusing and misleading advice gurus have spewed. The problem with any of these ideas is that they’re only roadblocks in regards to your goal. Poor people value […]
The dark side of goal setting.
“Set your goals and write them down!” – Tony Robbins and every other guru. But what if you don’t have any goals? What if you’re content as is? Even content Zen monks still set the goal of achieving Nirvana – even the monks want a little more than where they are currently. If you don’t […]
Networking and decoding the value of advice
Many people giving advice to us have not achieved the same outcome that we want. Meaning, someone’s business advice to you is likely garbage if they’ve never started a business. Beware of taking advice from anyone that isn’t where you want to be. This works in all fields – you don’t take advice from the […]
Fear is your friend and why you don’t need to push through it.
“Feel the fear and do it anyway!” – Random Guru. It’s garbage advice…but only because it’s incomplete. Fear is what keeps you from making stupid decisions. It creates loads of loser gamblers and a few winners. Self improvement coaches are seeking testimonials though, and this advice creates great testimonials since with higher risk usually comes […]
Why 80 Percent of small business fail is the stupidest statistic ever.
There’s an obsession about relentless success. But you only need to be successful for a very short period to make it big. People look at the amount of businesses that close after 1 year, 5 years, and then 10 years. Very few make it to 10 years…so that must be mean you shouldn’t do it […]
What if you have no passion?
You need to sit down and really dig and find your passion! – Random Guru There are ways to find and/or choose your passion, which I’ve discussed. But what if you have no passion? Being told you need to have a passion is what makes someone miserable. It’s like being a gay male and asked […]
Why seminar ending Q&As are screwing with your mind.
At the end of many seminars, they open it up for Q&A. Gary Vee is a big proponent of this allocating nearly half his speaking time for Q&A. There’s a few valuable lessons woven in the audience’s questions. Audience members love to give their backstory. Hopefully with you being an outside observer, and listening to […]
Passion can be replaced with discipline.
Follow your passion is common advice. Some gurus preach it, and some gurus say it’s garbage. Is someone that starts a million dollar sewage treatment plant passionate about sewage? Of course not. But most people are passionate about a very limited amount of things, and most of them don’t make any money. The reason why […]
Your dangerous subconscious quest for tragedy.
Kevin Smith recently talked in an interview with Joe Rogan that he’s “living on borrowed time.” This is because he had a heart attack and could have easily died but now is so grateful to be here for a little longer. It’s screwed up that people only feel gratitude when things are awful. The sooner […]
Strengths are sadly often a result of weakness.
“Find your weakness and work on it!” – Random Guru If people followed that bad advice, a lot of success would have never happened. I’m not saying “turn those weaknesses into strengths,” I’m pointing out that that: Persisting weakness in one area actually creates strength in another – Truth Cake Arnold Schwarzenegger has a weakness […]
What happens when you’re passionate about being lazy?
When Tony Robbin’s talking about his passion being “to serve the greater good” and other lofty ideals that make him leap out of bed in the morning, the rest of us think about being passionate about sitting around and doing nothing. Dan Kennedy once talked about how the idea of doing what you love doing […]
Forget mastery – all you need is to get lucky!
It’s been said by people like Jordan Belfort, Meet Kevin, and a slew of others that Grant Cardone just “got lucky” in real estate because basically everyone is making a killing in commercial real estate in 2019. But when the real estate market crashes, Cardone and everyone like him are going down because they’re not […]
The secret to progress: Stop finding solutions and look for more problems.
“Stay positive, and focus on solutions and not the problems!” – Random Guru. It’s garbage advice. It’s often bad advice since we’re often solving the wrong problem. Sometimes the better way to look at it is to consider why something is a problem to begin with. If your business has a turnover problem, reducing turnover […]
Why your 2 hour break is actually destroying you.
“You need to grind 80 hours a week on your business!” – Random guru Almost no one is going to be able to take this advice. Gurus want to give impossible advice, so when nothing they say works, they can blame you for not following instructions. Something as harmless as watching a movie might actually […]
Happiness it the delta between today and yesterday.
“Yesterday is behind you, just forget it and focus on the day!” – Random Guru. Where you are in regards to your goals barely matters for your happiness. And whether you want to forget yesterday, having an awful past that you’d like to forget about is the thing that’s going to get you to launch […]
The truth about having a backup plan.
“There’s no reason to have a Plan B because it distracts from Plan A.” – Will Smith Will Smith is successful, so we should listen to him, right? Not quite. What if someone had a dream that aliens told her to play the lotto. If she won the lotto, and began to claim that aliens […]
Using macro and micro goals to progress faster.
“Set and write down your your goals,” says the random guru with bad and incomplete advice. Earlier I wrote about having internal and external goals. And it’s valuable to see what type of goal you’re trying to achieve. But what’s also important is having a goal with it’s micro and macro goals that go along […]
Envy can be your best guide for goals.
“Don’t be envious.” – Random guru. I say, get green with envy! First, envy is just Admiration’s ugly sounding cousin, and we’re all fine with admiring someone. Regardless, think of whom you envy, what’s their life like? Who do they hang around? Who do you want to hang around? When you get the answers to […]
Why finding the foundations of success isn’t helpful.
“We interviewed 100 millionaires – here’s what they ALL had in common!” – Random guru. This results to this make someone believe that if they found the magic common fundamentals, they could have the secrets and be able to excel. There is no case of success where all they were in total was a conglomeration […]
Yawning – An exercise in logic
Yawning is riddled with logical things around it, such as “it’s to help you get oxygen when your brain is sleepy,” or a “herd communication to relax,” and so on. That’s why it’s contagious. But how is it contagious? Some say it’s the sound of yawning that creates the trigger of contagiousness. Some say it’s […]
How drug addicts have the root of all success.
Ross Jeffries (the wildly successful god father of dating advice) says that Tony Robbins creates people that are addicted to Tony’s work. Ross means well I’m sure, but Tony absolutely needs to create addicts for self-improvement. Tony Robbins made his customers addicted to him. Drug addiction illustrates perfectly the main concept of nearly all positive […]
You were born to lose (and the hidden curse of Mozart).
Mozart was cursed. People look for hidden talents in ourselves like we’re all a hidden Mozart with abilities to recall symphonies from memory alone and such. “If you could just find what you’re good at and born to do, everything else will fall into place!” – Random incorrect guru. Here’s what you were born to […]
How to learn twice as much from every statement.
We’re taught to listen to what someone has to say and that’s how we learn. But if you look at the meta information that’s being conveyed, that usually is helpful. Seeing “Do what I say, not what I do,” in a different light. Russ Ruffino from ClientsOnDemand.com says they made all their money without having […]
How to know if the answer is within or if you need to go find it.
“Still the mind, the answer is within you!” – Random Guru. Often times, you don’t have the answer and you can sit in a corner for hours on end and it will never come. You’ve got to read, learn, confer, etc to find it – the answer is everywhere but within. But sometimes the answer […]
How to know who’s always right – Ed Mylett vs Gary Vee vs Grant Cardone
You need patience – Gary VeeYou need to not be patient – Ed MylettYou can’t be broke and happy – Grant CardoneYou can be broker and happy – Ed Mylett Who’s right in these battles? The answer is they’re all right. Gary Vee’s idea that you need patience is true. Many people try something, it […]
The truth doesn’t always set you free.
There are certain true beliefs that are very empowering. But sometimes the truth is actually very disempowering. “It all works out in the end.” – A great belief, but it’s totally false. It doesn’t always work out, but it’s a good way to think of things that keeps you moving forward. “There’s always a silver lining.” – Many times […]
Why the future best economy is a dying one.
Right now there’s a drive for: business leaders to create jobs,employees to continue to remain employed,entrepreneurs to make money,and governments want to increase GDP. Entrepreneurs have goals like creating wealth for others (via jobs) or creating wealth for themselves. These are noble goals, but I’d like to see a future where the goals are different. What […]
The 2 mind blowing things revealed about all great interviews.
Sometimes judging yourself as if you were someone else helps see things more clearly. Go to school, study hard, blah blah, now you’re a doctor. But the path for being successful isn’t quite so ‘guaranteed’ for people. Aspiring entrepreneurs look for “Top 3 tips for starting a business,” and stuff like that. But would you […]
The one key to overcome everything.
Abraham Lincoln is quoted as having said, “If I had five minutes to chop down a tree, I’d spend the first three sharpening my axe.” I was going to say that Lincoln was totally wrong (no one is right all of the time), then I discovered Abe Lincoln aptly never said this quote to begin with! […]
Motivation Paradox: How feeling demotivated makes you get stuff done
Typical guru: You could just get everything done if you were a little more motivated! TruthCake: Wrong. It’s a massive paradox of motivation. When you get motivated to get a lot of stuff done, it’s the same feeling of being in a book store and feeling excited to read everything in there and really get to […]
8 massive benefits for businesses that have haters and critics.
This is the ultimate guide to dealing with haters – all in under 1400 words. Notice that many successful people have haters? Maybe haters caused the success as opposed to were an effect or result of that success? You need to reframe your mind to crave the haters as opposed to coming up with things to […]
You don’t want to hear this – How laziness is bending your reality.
People think laziness is just when you don’t want to do something, and you need to overcome it with hard work. The reality is that laziness is bending your whole perspective on the world. Be cautious of the people you follow and consider if what they’re saying sounds like something you want to hear or […]
Why lack of motivation ISN’T your problem when getting started.
The hardest part is getting started sounds like a motivation problem, but it’s actually the hardest part – period. Figuring out the technical details to setting up a website, running your first ad campaign, and so on IS the hardest part. If you can just focus on the getting started part of things, that is […]
The #1 reason why idiots have a massive advantage in starting a business.
Ever gone into a business and think to yourself that you could do it better? Amazed things are going so well in a business despite heaps of steaming ineptitude at every turn? It’s because idiots have 1 major advantage – contingencies (and their complete disregard for them) The infinite what-if scenarios intelligent people can dream […]
2 insanely powerful questions to ask yourself daily to get motivation on steroids and feel great no matter what.
Expectations: The mother of sadness. Certainty: The father of motivation. – Truth Cake. Staying off the emotional roller coaster of taking risks in life is much easier when you know the 2 players that are responsible for nearly everything. Expectations govern what you feel. Certainty governs what you do. Tony Robbins often mentions that if […]
The master key to decoding Amazon reviews like a boss: Disdain
“Look at what the majority of people are doing, and do the exact opposite, and you’ll probably never go wrong for as long as you live” – Earl Nightingale People read concepts like this but fail to execute many of the ideas because they fail at embedding the ideas into their mindset foundation. For example, […]
Stop pursuing your dreams.
Many years ago, I had a friend that loved going out in hopes to pursue his soul mate. It’s a good idea to get moving towards trying to pursue what you want. But it would have been easier if he just instead spent time thinking about how to become an attractive man. They call it […]
Why your intention matters more than your actual results.
“It’s the thought that counts!” This terrible excuse (usually for failing at something) may have more truth in it than it seems. Recall, this is a similar concept on premises and book summaries that states that the “why” matters more than the “what.” For example: The ‘what’ is – “He’s successful.” The ‘why’ is – “Because he’s […]
Revealed: The complete secret formula to find your passion.
You don’t. That’s the secret. Very few thought leaders will admit this idea of finding a passion is a terrible idea. It’s because it’s highly lucrative to sell people an easily believable model: 1) Find your passion 2) Then you’ll love what you do 3) Then you’ll get rich Give people some anecdotal stories about […]
Beware of the book summary.
There’s an art to doing a book summary, which I can assure you very few people do well at. Many book summaries have 2 fatal flaws: 1) They tell you the conclusion, 2) They boil it down. Sounds great right? It’s terrible. Because conclusions don’t matter nearly as much as the premises to have reached the conclusion. […]
The 3,253 step process to getting what you want.
Everyone wants a simple process…or a fast process. Generally they want both, at the same time. The “The 5 step process you need to do to make $10k a month in your business!” The problem with the desire for a simple process is the harder it becomes. Interestingly enough, when you have more steps though, […]
If you want to succeed – stop trying to do your best.
Beware of bad advice that gets hidden and wrapped around good advice. Your mind will embrace both ideas, which contradict each other, and result in not being able to progress. People can’t figure out why they can’t execute their plan, why they lack motivation, and so on. But the problem isn’t in a lack of […]
Having inaccurate beliefs can help you reach the next level.
Dan Kennedy talks about you should be interpreting all news as good news, since it’s very difficult to know if something that seems “bad” leads to something “good” later on. You never get any momentum of moving forward if you’re always assessing each thing as “good or bad” and also considering that many things are […]
The 2 precise reasons to know immediately whether to quit or not.
We already know that winners have no problem failing, but considering the difference between failing vs quitting can be illuminating. Quitting means you never got to the end point to know if you failed or not. If the goal is to knock out Mike Tyson, then “quitting” is going to the boxing gym for a […]
The monster opportunity behind being late to the latest trend.
When I’m 1 day late to wish someone a happy birthday, I don’t wish them a belated birthday, I wish them a happy 364 day early birthday. If you’re late to business trends, there’s usually something else that you’re inherently tremendously early for if the original trend is still going. You may have missed the […]
Taking the easy road is the only path of real progress.
In an interview with Tom Bilyeu, Michael Ovitz, a highly successful talent agency owner in Hollywood, talks about how much easier we have it now and subtly hints to the glory (and difficulty) of cranking things out from scratch as he did in the entertainment industry. It’s worth spending a moment to consider the implications […]
How to perfectly define what personal weakness to work on
Wait, didn’t I say to never work on weaknesses in another article? Yes and no. You’d think that if you asked for a laundry list of things, and got 90%, you should be content since you got the majority. In another article I talk about whether to double down on your strengths like many guru […]
The massive opportunity in stagnant and commoditized industries
Stagnant valuable industries that aren’t declining, are usually where we find the home runs for new businesses. People want to enter the obvious industries – VR, High Tech, and Artificial Intelligence. Nothing wrong with that, as there’s tons of opportunity there. But that often comes with the implicit conclusion that there’s no opportunity elsewhere. Go […]
How many more ideas can we come up with?
Seth Godin had an April Fools post where he said he’s out of ideas and totally tapped. Cooking, as an analogy, can have 2 types of ideas. One where you mix up the ingredients creatively, and something new comes out. This is creativity, but what happened when someone discovered pasta. The amount of variables in […]
If you’re not envious of someone you may be insane.
People love to say whatever they want is “very reasonable” and “isn’t too much to ask.” They say stuff like it’s pretty reasonable to: ask for a bunch of coworkers that are competent, expect the drive-thru worker to get your order done right, to expect your CPA to NOT get you audited again, to have […]
Great news – it’s all your fault.
People love to hate on lawyers. Are lawyers greedy evil people or an awesome way to understand a fundamental component of success? Should we hate on them, or realize they’re innocent and not to blame? If you try to entice someone to break the law, it’s actually illegal and called entrapment. It’s not ok to […]
The real reason why successful people wake up at 5am
“Successful people are working when others don’t!” – Not (fully) true. Richard Branson wakes up at 5am. Tim Cook (Apple CEO) wakes up at 4am. Warren Buffett wakes up at 6:45am (and this is considered sleeping ‘late’) Oprah wakes up at 6am. Gurus claim vapid things like “they’re awake while others are sleeping, and that’s […]
The 90 second secret to unlocking creativity in every field.
Some want to have their knowledge take on a life of its own, and come up with new ideas. This creative point happens when you understand your fundamentals. Listen to 100 videos by Gary Vaynerchuk, whom hits the fundamentals over and over in different ways, and when you listen to next one, there’s a good […]
Role models, mentors, and why getting rich doing what you love is likely impossible.
If you love mowing grass, making $150k a year business from it is going to be hard. If you love plastic surgery, making $150k a year business from it is going to be easy as hell. The gurus pounding the idea of visualization, persistence, marketing, and so on need to shut up for a second […]
Being logical and mean doesn’t make you smarter
“It is what it is!” – No shit… “It’s neither here nor there.” – Of course! “It might or might not be a good idea.” – Isn’t everything?! These vapid types of statements are like honey to a bear wanting to prove how dumb others are for using these types of statements. But is it […]
Nature abhors a vacuum.
People often don’t have rooms in their houses that are empty because they’ve already filled it up with stuff. Clean off a shelf? Watch knick-knacks start to pop up on that shelf. If you clean a room in a hoarders home, they won’t have an uncluttered room, they’ll just have a new spot to be […]
Marketing in the fine print.
Most marketers have their great ad headlines and sales copy that looks great, but down in fine print it shows that most people make no money at all (or lose no weight) or whatever the goal of the product is. But what if you can market infinitely better by breaking the Typicality of Results. Most […]
The 7 unconscious reasons you aren’t impressed with making a million bucks.
A lot of times we’re impressed when we hear of someone making a great deal of cash. Tom Bilyeu gives these wonderfully grand introductions for his guests talking about how bad they had it before they made it big. But the details on how they “made it” are what’s important. The reality is there’s 7 […]
Hope is the cocaine of the self-improvement industry.
Who sounds like they might be more successful next year, is it: a) “I’m hoping that next year I’ll find some time to start a business.” b) “I’m certain next year I’ll have more time to start a business.” You tell me. But yet, a lot of gurus sell hope, and it’s a great product […]
Tom Bilyeu’s great advice may inadvertently cripple aspiring entrepreneurs.
“It’s already been done before” – is it a cop out reason to not execute or good reason to avoid a business idea? Some good advice and also the title of Alan Beckers book is “There’s always room at the top.” We hear Tom talk about being the best at a Google talk on YouTube. Tom Bilyeu thinks […]
The hidden costs that your job is costing you.
When you think about retiring, people are told to look at your expenses and say, “I’m spending $5k a month now. So I need $5k a month in retirement income.” But this forgets the fact that all jobs cost money, which is going into your current budget, and making you think you need more post-retirement […]
Car horns suck and kittens can save lives.
Engineers are wracking their brain on how to make a safer vehicles. That’s hard, but thankfully ingesting Truth Cake is far easier and more productive. What’s easy is realizing the stat that many accidents / deaths on the road are attributed to road rage. Car horns are supposed to alert another driver that you’re around. […]
Be aware that many goals are figments of your imagination.
Let’s say your goal is to own your own private jet. Nevermind the idea of whether this a good goal or whether it will “truly fulfill you” – simply look at the goals reality and purpose. The goal of owning your own jet has the reality that you can travel places fast and more easily […]
Failure is always an option, and winners often quit.
“Winners NEVER quit! Failure is NOT an option!” Just kidding – it’s a great option. Beware of the idea that failure isn’t an option. First off, it detaches you from reality, which is never a good thing, because you can’t make good decisions when you don’t have a grasp of reality. Here’s reality: you can […]
You’re only 5 friends, and 3 steps, away from getting rich.
Science or BS: You’re the average of the 5 people you hang around with? It’s a little bit science, a little magic, and a little vague too. Jim Rohn, Tony Robbins’ mentor, said you’re the average of the 5 people you hang around with. The easiest example was to consider those 5 people’s income that […]
Why you’ve got to give up on being the best.
James Altucher talks about “idea sex”, which is simply combining different ideas and skills to come up with something unique. Seth Godin, Jim Rohn (Tony Robbin’s mentor), Tom Bilyeu (founder of Quest Bars), and most all people say that you should be a master of one thing. “When you find yourself on the side of […]
The Paradox of Content
Google, data filtration, paradoxical advice, and the next billion dollar app. Seth Godin, Gary Vee, and many others are talking about how you need to be producing more content and we need more producers and not consumers. The problem is, most people probably shouldn’t be producing content. And really we have too much content as […]
The most accurate, best, and relevant advice that’s totally worthless.
Long time ago, I saw a YouTube comment where the guy was grumbling that the speaker didn’t ever seem to get to the point and that it was a bad speech. I agreed with him. Then I came back 2 years later and had my mind blown with the exact same speech. Here’s what happened… […]
There’s no secret to success?! Wrong…
“There’s no secret to success, it is the result of preparation, hard work, and learning from failure.” – Colin Powell. “There are no secrets [to success]. Be humble. Be hungry. And always be the hardest worker in the room.” – Dwayne Johnson Telling someone that hard work is the answer is like saying, “You can get […]
Why you need theoretical, non-actionable advice.
When’s the last time a craving really took you down the right path? A fat body craves sugar. A junkie craves another hit. A narcissist craves another compliment. The gurus that want to sell you something usually want to sell you “actionable advice.” Since that’s what we crave – not more of this ‘worthless’ theory […]
Revealed: Work on your weaknesses or double down on strengths?
Gary Vee says stop working on your weaknesses and double down on those strengths. James Altucher says he had to work on speaking to crowds and had to work on many his weaknesses. This gets ridiculously convoluted. So here ya go, Double down on your core strength, and work on whatever weaknesses the core is […]
The internet murdered the underline
It’s neat to think about that writers in the past used bold, italics, and underline to emphasize things in different ways. But writers on the internet can’t use underline anymore because it’s implied to be a link to click on, more so than it’s something that’s important to call attention to. Maybe underline wasn’t ever so great or needed, […]
Finding gold in garbage.
I watched a video by Gary Halbert, arguably the best copywriter that wrote “The Boron Letters” that shaped a lot of the way direct mail ads were written. As a kid, I’d read these letters selling me the best speed reading techniques, kung fu secrets, and ancient wisdom from Zen monks. The video I watched […]
Gambling vs Investing and how words expose expectations.
Your language colors more than you think. If you use $1 in hopes to turn it into $2, it’s an: a) Investment if the odds are in your favor b) Gamble if the odds are out of your favor Consider the workaholic that works so much and makes so much money that he doesn’t have […]
The paradox of brain chemistry of masochists
If hurting your self is inherently painful, but if you like hurting yourself on some sort of level, what does the brain chemistry look like for a masochist (is it all cortisol or dopamine)? There’s a lot of studies on this that are pretty interesting. Vote Up +0 Vote Down -0You already voted!
Stop wasting your time and watch a cat video!
Simplifying everything allows for the greatest progression many times. Let’s simplify the world economy… Corporations buy time (employees), mark it up and sell the time back to you (time saving devices), or they sell you drugs (dopamine), which is what you’d do with your time. You’re spending money on either: 1) Dopamine from 2 means […]
The biggest secret on beating an industry monopoly.
Britannica, the most successful encyclopedia business for 244 years failed, not to World Book, but to the internet. Yellow Cab, failed not because of their competitors, but (likely) to Uber / Lyft. Walmart closed stores, not because of K-Mart / Sears, but because of Amazon. Ted Levitt (the Harvard profession that coined the word ‘globalization’) […]
Why focusing on your goals makes some people lose.
People talk about success comes with hard work. Keeping your eye on the prize and the ultimate outcome. And the journey is more important than the destination. These things might be true, but I think another way to rethink this into something more concrete is to consider what it takes to win the game you’re […]
How to properly become a selfish philanthropist
There’s studies that show that as people start to give their money or time away to some sort of charity that the money tends to come back to them even more so. There’s lots of “eerie” stories of random charity coming back (eg. giving $5 to a hobo and then finding a $20 on the […]
The ultimate paradox: The lazier you are, the richer you are.
Relax your way to riches! You need to start realizing how the laziest people are the richest. If you don’t know what the best business to get in is, someone else will tell you, but you’ll find yourself chasing your tail. I was reading a real estate investment book written by the successful Dave Van […]
Why knowing the difference between an Equinox vs a Solstice matters so much.
It doesn’t matter. That’s why. And that’s why you likely we never fully understood the difference between the two things. When things don’t matter to us, it’s hard to learn. Obvious? Not really… It matters deeply to someone about to take a test if they care about their grades though. So when I mean it […]
Statistics, stories, and death of the book summary
Statistics don’t seem to work well in the human mind, it has to create it’s own conclusion from the stories of something actually happening. It’s far more powerful if I tell you 3 stories about how someone not wearing a seat belt all died vs saying “After surveying 1000 accidents, 95% of the time, seat […]
Why learning from others mistakes doesn’t prevent us from making mistakes.
We see successful people all the time talking about the mistakes they made, and usually have a course to help you “avoid the mistakes they made.” But why do we see all these successful people talking about having made the mistakes to begin with? Was there no “home study course” back in their day for […]
The top 4 tricks for DIY brain surgery. And #2 will surprise you!
The death of depth is going to catch up with us and our desire for speedy hacks and “top 10” lists. Neil Patel gave a presentation on building online businesses and in the Q&A afterwards, someone asked, “How do you do Adwords?” Which is a great question really, but it’s terrible in this environment, because […]
The truth can be very misleading.
In an interview with Neil Patel, in regards to producing content that spreads, the interviewer says, “It’s quality that matters, not quantity.” This is true and is likely the right advice, but it’s not very good advice. The issue is that you often only can start to get quality from creating quantity – this has […]
The internet is lying to you.
Consider the question your asking google. If there’s a money trail, the answers you’re getting are likely useless. Books may win yet another battle over free web articles. If you ask, “Do I need an attorney for XYZ” The answer is ALWAYS yes, because every attorney website will pop up giving you free “helpful” advice […]
You don’t need self improvement mumbo jumbo.
You also don’t need a shovel to dig a hole when your hands will do just fine. Digging faster with your hands can happen for numerous reasons: If you were born with big hands If you work out, you’ll scoop out dirt faster If you’re a good planner, you’d dig near the coast in sandy […]
Cookies and privacy policies are killing people.
Things wasting time without any value are damaging to humanity.