Dumb Little Man | Tips for Life

They say that a million dollars in $100 bills is 43 inches high, but a billion dollars in $100 bills is almost three times the height of the Empire State building. A million dollars in $100 bills would weigh 22 pounds, but a billion dollars would weigh 11 tons.

Suffice it to say that the accumulation and maintenance of a billion dollars requires much wisdom. Today I want to look at seven amazing lessons from seven of the world’s most famous billionaires. These billionaires range from Bill Gates to Mark Cuban and each of these individuals have accomplished amazing things.

There are many things that we can learn from them so enough with the monologue; here we go!

7 Amazing Lessons from 7 Distinguished Billionaires

1. Look for Opportunities
   
   

   “It's through curiosity and looking at opportunities in new ways that we've always mapped our path at Dell. There's always an opportunity to make a difference.” – Michael Dell, Founder, CEO, and Chairman of Dell Inc.
   

   
   If you never look for an opportunity, you will never find one. The Wright Brothers were looking to see if it was possible for man to fly, they didn’t stumble upon it, they were looking for it. What are you looking for? The Scripture says seek and ye shall find, knock and the door will be open to you.


2. Believe in Yourself
   
   

   “I always knew I was destined for greatness.” – Oprah, Media Mogul

   
   As the famous poem goes, “If you think you’re outclassed, you are, you have to think high to rise, you must be sure of yourself, before you can ever win a prize.” You must believe in “you” before anybody else will. Oprah believed that she would be a success, and she is. What do you believe about yourself, whatever it is, that’s what you will become.


3. Create an Atmosphere of Success
   
   

   “It's better to hang out with people better than you. Pick out associates whose behavior is better than yours and you'll drift in that direction.” – Warren Buffet, Investor
   

   
   You can’t soar with the eagles, if you spend your time hanging with the chickens. Find people who are going where you want to go, and “conspire to aspire before you expire.” Atmosphere is critical, diligently guard who enters your inner-circle. Your friends are a prophecy of your future.


4. Empower Others
   
   

   “As we look ahead into the next century, leaders will be those who empower others.” – Bill Gates, Co-founder and Former CEO of Microsoft, currently the 2nd richest man in the world behind Carlos Slim.
   

   
   Who are you empowering, who are you helping, who needs you. You can’t go forward without helping others go forward. Instead of being concerned about how you’re going to get ahead, find a way to help others get ahead, and you will get ahead in the process. Empower others and you will empower yourself.


5. Focus
   
   

   “In the end, you're measured not by how much you undertake but by what you finally accomplish.” – Donald Trump, Real Estate Investor/Developer, TV Personality
   

   
   Don’t be a “jack of all trades” and master of none. Don’t bite-off more than you can chew. Decide what you want to accomplish in your life, and spend your time accomplishing it. Work hard, take breaks, and in the end, if your focus is single, you will have accomplished it.


6. Learn From Your Mistakes
   
   

   “I'm the type that thinks if you don't learn from history, you're doomed to repeat it.” – Mark Cuban, Internet Entrepreneur and NBA Team Owner
   

   
   It sounds simple, but many people live a life of repeating the same mistakes over and over again.
   
   The “cow in the ditch” example below gives us a pattern for how we should deal with our mistakes.
   
   Here are the three steps you should follow whenever a "cow ends up in your ditch:"
   
   Step 1: Get Cow Out of Ditch
   Step 2: Find Out How Cow Got in Ditch
   Step 3: Make Sure Cow Does Not Get in Ditch Again
   
   Using these three simple steps, you can solve many of life’s problems (from debt to relationship issues).


7. Only Go Forward
   
   

   “We will go forward, ... We will never go back.” – Michael Bloomberg, current New York City Mayor and Founder of Bloomberg LP
   

   
   You can’t make much progress forward if you keep on taking steps backwards.
   
   Make a decision to go forward, never settle, never stagnate, life is about growth, it’s about development. You are supposed to grow, you’re supposed to become all that you are capable of becoming, so go forward and never look back!

Thank you for reading and be sure to pass this article along!

Additional Details on the Image Used: Bruce Schneier, Mark Cuban and Cory Doctorow. Mark is the only billionaire although I am sure the others are working in it. Bruce and Cory were recipients, along with Yochai Benkler, at the EFF Pioneer Awards.

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The NCAA basketball tournament is right around the corner, one of the most over-commercialized, bloated, melodramatic monstrosities on the sports calendar. Right? I mean, nothing shows the exploitation of the college “student-athlete” more than CBS’ billion-dollar baby. Right?

Wrong. For all the headaches and hype associated with the Field of 64, there are some important lessons the rest of the month can teach us. Between upsets and cutting down the net, keep these thoughts in your mind and think about how they relate to your life, career and even your relationships.

• Winning easy isn’t worth as much as winning hard
  One of the first lessons of the tournament is getting in. Behind closed doors, the NCAA tournament committee decides who makes the field and who doesn’t. One of the key parts to their formula is the strength of your opponents. Think about that as you measure the successes of your business life. Have you built up your ego and by piling up easy victories? Do you know what it’s like to win hard, against someone just as smart or as talented as you, if not better? This is how the selection committees in our life (bosses, professors, recruiters) measure success. They are going to look at not just you, but who you beat. If you are cruising along with no challenges, who knows what you will do when you make it out of the first round?


• Everybody needs a spring break
  For many students, the first round of the NCAA Tournament comes the same week as spring break, giving them a reason to pack up the car and take a road-trip for first-round games in Boise, Oklahoma City and Dayton. Just because you are a working person now doesn’t mean that you have to save all of your vacation up for the summer. You body needs to recharge every few months. Go ahead and take a few days, park it on your couch and watch the first two days of the tournament. Turn off your computer and your phone and watch the updates come in, late into the night.


• Sometimes you’re Goliath
  Sure, it’s easy to root for the 16th-seeds of the world. Scrappy, small-school ballers who get everyone to cheer for them if they keep it close. But don’t make the mistake of always empathizing with the underdog. If you are doing business right, you will have smaller competitors looking to find your weakness and topple you. Don’t underestimate anyone who you may be squaring off with for a client or a contract. Stick with your strengths and don’t let up until the buzzer sounds – every time.


• Support your folks and root for the uniform
  One-year wonders come and go these days in the NCAA Tournament. Kevin Durant spent a season at Texas, John Wall will be one-and-done this year at Kentucky. So if your school is in the field of 64, don’t fall too deeply in love with your superstar. Instead, root for the uniform, the colors and the tradition that make you a proud alum. The loyalty to those things are what unites everyone across the country who are tuned in to see your team tip off.


• Hustle and clutch are great skills
  Two great plays you’ll see during March Madness are the buzzer-beating shot and the player diving out of bounds for a loose ball. How would you like to have members of your team at work who could deliver with everything on the line? Or someone who will throw their whole self into a project just to keep you from losing your momentum? You can’t teach those things, but you can look for the qualities when you decide who to surround yourself with at work.


• Everyone is an expert (they think)
  It’s guaranteed that the person to win your basketball bracket pool isn’t going to be the office’s resident basketball expert. It may be a co-worker who picks the winners based on cute mascots or your friend who picks all the lower seeds or a rabid fanboy who thinks his school will win the title – and they do. Everyone has a system that works for them and sometimes they strike gold. Find your own system and don't rely on mimicking others success.
  


• Great individuals don’t make great teams
  North Carolina and Oklahoma both had rosters filled with high school All-Americans this season. One thing they have in common? Neither is going to make the tournament. If your team is made up of a bunch of people who think they should be the star, no one is going to want to share the spot light. A team works best when everyone knows their roles. Who is your point guard? Who is your defender? Clearly defined positions, including a superstar, work best.


• When in doubt, musical montage
  When you’re all finished with a huge undertaking, like crowning an NCAA champion, it always helps to reflect back on the emotions that everyone went through. That’s why CBS ends with “One Shining Moment”, the teary-eyed music video who shows the highs and lows of the entire tournament experiment. It gives even the most jaded of fan a chance to say – “hey, this is a great thing. And I’m glad I was a part of it.” Celebrate wins.

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Although we might still have the archetypal view of college life involving keg parties, frat houses and last-minute panics when a paper’s due, many of us integrate our studying into the rest of our lives. Whether you’re taking a PhD over many years or simply learning a foreign language before your trip this summer, your studying is going to take up time – and it needs to fit into your life.

If you’re struggling to find space for studying along with everything else, here’s how to make sure you have the time to study and to live:

Step 1: Look at the Big Picture
How much have you got going on in your life right now? What might you need to give up in order to have time to study?

We often end up too busy, trying to “have it all” or trying to life-hack our lives so that we keep stacking up achievements. Often, though, just cutting back on our commitments a little can make life a lot more relaxed and straightforward.

Do you need to put some of your goals or activities aside, for a time? What can wait for a few months or years?

Step 2: Look at Your Weekly Schedule
Once you’ve taken a long-range view of your life, narrow in on your weekly schedule. What regular commitments do you have? (Perhaps you work 8-4 each day, you take your kids out every Saturday afternoon, and you’re in church each Sunday morning.)

What gaps of time do you have free for studying? If you can, find times when you’re easily able to concentrate: if you’re a “morning person” then use that! You may be able to adjust your schedule slightly to suit your best studying hours – for instance, if you normally do chores on Saturday mornings but you also study best between 8am and 11am, then can you switch to doing chores during your “slump” time in the afternoon?

(If you’re not sure what times of day are your best hours for working, try the Productivity Heatmap from Productive Flourishing)

It’s particularly crucial to identify regular times for studying if you don’t have any regular deadlines – perhaps if you’re learning purely for your own interest, or if you’re working on a very long term goal like a PhD. Building studying into your schedule will help ensure that you don’t let it slide week after week.

Step 3: Have a Good Space for Studying
No-one can study effectively with the television on, clutter everywhere and no space to spread out books and papers. Having a good space for your studying means making sure that you’re somewhere which gives you the physical conditions that help you to concentrate.

That might mean:

• Using a particular room in your house to study (and closing the door while you’re hitting the books)


• Going to your local library, or if you’re enrolled at a college or other academic institution, using facilities there


• Asking a friend to let you use a room in his/her house at the weekend, if you find it hard to work undisturbed in your own home


• Heading out to a coffee shop with your books – or even sitting in your car to study!

Step 4: Learn Good Study Habits
If you’re going to study and live a full life, you’ll want to use your studying time as effectively as possible. That means developing good habits: not just to help you concentrate and avoid distractions, but also to make sure you’re not spending hours and hours doing something in an ineffective way.

There are lots of books aimed at students who want to improve their studying: your college or local library should be able to point you towards useful resources (e.g. on essay writing or exam technique).

The University Blog has great advice about all aspects of the student experience, but focuses particularly on studying well.

Step 5: Figure Out How You Learn Best
Some of us are kinetic learners – we like to do things, and we’re more likely to remember something if we’ve learnt it in an active way. Others are auditory learners – we have great recall for things we’ve heard. And others are visual learners – taking extensive written notes and using diagrams to understand a new concept.

In fact, most of us will find that we can learn in all those ways, but we’ll have a marked preference for one or another. I know that I personally much prefer to read a book than listen to it – but I know several people who find audio books a far better match for their way of learning.

Don’t struggle along with a technique that isn’t right for you, just because it’s how your friend, partner or colleague learns best. If you know what style suits you, then try to focus your studying on that; if you’re not sure, try out different techniques.

If you’re fitting studying of some description into your life, how are you doing it? What structures or habits are helping you?

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I hate miserable people! OK, let me rephrase this last statement: I don't hate miserable people because to hate someone we first have to love them. But let's say I can't stand people who constantly complain, whinge, and choose to be miserable while they DON'T do a single thing to lift themselves out of their misery.

Being miserable sucks, but we all are at times - yes, even me. I have my bad times too. I tend to stick my head under the covers for a day or so before I re-emerge into the world.

Getting into a funk isn't planned; it just happens. Whether it's a sting of bad luck in life or some complicated chemical setup in our brain, it doesn't go away easily.

Depending on the day of the week, you answer here may vary, but: Is your glass half empty or half full? Is that always your answer? No? Well, it that your answer most of the time? There are two types of people on this planet: Those who are negative by default, and those who see the positive side, even in dark times. I consider myself to be the latter.

I take failure as a means to move ahead in life because I analyze my shortcomings and use what I learn to do better next time. If the Sh7$ hits the fan, I might get upset, angry or depressed, but I NEVER GIVE UP!

I'd choose happy over miserable any day. By choosing happiness we open ourselves up to experiencing great moments. By being happy we invite success, fun, opportunities and love into our lives.

Naysayers: Some people choose to be naysayers. They consistently complain, bully, whinge and find reasons to see things in a bad light. Naysayers are bitter people! Why? I don't know because my mind doesn't work that way.

Perhaps you can tell me.

It beats me really. Why would you want to make your existence on this wonderful planet a miserable one if you have a sound mind to choose otherwise?
Do you choose happiness? If so, why? Why do you choose happiness over misery? Is it perhaps because doors open to you that otherwise wouldn't? Or is it because your outlook on life is generally positive like mine?

Did you know that your mind is directly responsible for your failures and successes in life? If you don't believe me do this little experiment:

Observe what happens to you when you feel miserable the moment you get out of bed the next time it happens. How does this influence your day? Then observe how great life is when your mind is positive and open to new experiences and opportunities.

How does this influence your day now?

You should have no doubt that by choosing happiness over being miserable you hold the key to all the good things in life that are naturally yours. Are you ready to claim them?

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I know that when I’m not feeling particularly confident in one area of my life, the other areas begin to suffer too. When my job becomes stressful and tiresome, for example, so do my relationships and personal health.

However, I don’t think I’m alone. Many of my friends tell me they also feel a connection between self-confidence and their personal level of happiness. After all, we all want to feel good about ourselves. We want to realize the incredible potential we possess and to really feel worthy, be loved, and have nice things.

But to hold your head high and feel strong on a consistent basis takes focus. It also takes the commitment to look at your life from a holistic point-of-view. When one element of your life is out-of-alignment, then self-confidence is not operating at maximum strength.

A 360-degree approach to improving self-confidence may be the best solution because of the synergies that exist between the different parts of your life. When you begin to understand how these parts connect to one another then you begin to see the beautiful picture that is being created – the picture of your confident life.

Health and well-being
To feel strong, your body must first be strong. Fatigue, a lousy diet, and lack of exercise, all contribute to poor health and a weak body. Good health, however, does not happen overnight. Consider these simple, but healthy quick-wins to kick-start your lagging confidence as well as your metabolism:

1. Take the stairs if your destination is less than five flights.


2. Commit to walking just 10 minutes a day.


3. Trade the fries for a salad and the soft drink for a bottle of water.


4. Start going to bed one hour earlier or wake-up one hour later.


5. Slow down and find a place of stillness where you can be calm and centered; if only for a few minutes.

Finances
The feeling of paying the bills on-time while putting a little money away is a good one. For some, a sense of confidence grows at the same rate as one’s bank account. But money, in a cruel twist of irony, can often determine what we think our true value is.

Feeling empowered over money, or at least the management of money, is the first step to capturing some financial self-confidence.

1. Make a plan. Create a budget and keep to it no matter the temptations.
   


2. Begin paying more than the minimum payment on your credit card statement.
   


3. When you receive your paycheck, pay yourself first by putting a modest percentage in a savings account.
   


4. Attempt to pay each bill by its due date. For ones you can’t pay, contact the merchant and see if different terms can be reached.
   


5. Schedule a meeting with a financial adviser or accountant with the goal to create a plan that will allow you to be in charge of your financial position.

Relationships
My self-confidence soars when I know I’m making a difference in the lives of my wife, children and friends. Connection, communication and intimacy are all taken to the next level by my soaring confidence.

Nothing is as important as the people I choose to share a life. To keep my confidence strong, I often remind myself of the following:

1. To stay away from negative, toxic people.
   


2. To live in the moment and appreciate exactly what I have, right now.
   


3. To put the needs of my children before my own.
   


4. To tell my wife that I love her every night.
   


5. To love myself a little more each day.

Career
You spend a lot of time at work. Long hours, difficult projects and missed opportunities can often lead to a lack of self-confidence. However, you can crack the code to your career and get your confidence back on track, too with these reminders:

1. Pinpoint one area you want to improve and put a little more effort there.
   


2. Tell your boss everything you are doing. Don’t assume she knows; tell her.
   


3. Put 100% effort into a project for your benefit; not for anyone else’s.
   


4. Look for the new talents and skills you are developing and then celebrate them.
   


5. Build your career the right way and never compromise your values or standards.

360 Degrees of Self-Confidence
Good health, a viable financial position, strong relationships and an effective career game plan will all conspire together and deliver a much-needed dose of self-confidence. By blending these elements together and relying on your ability to maintain a focus to each one will give you what you need to improve your self-confidence and complete that beautiful picture of a confident you.

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Do you use a to-do list? Most of us have some kind of running list of tasks which we want to get done (even if we keep this list in our heads). And I expect that at some point, like me, you'll have had the experience of creating an extremely ambitious to-do list ... only to end up completing just a fraction of the tasks on it.

A to-do list in itself isn't any kind of magic. You might feel good about writing it, but on its own, it won't get the work done! And sometimes, your list can end up being a hassle, draining your energy or just getting in the way.

I can't give you a magic system, because the way you work is no doubt different from the way I work – we all have slightly different approaches which suit us. But these steps should all help you to get your to-do list under control:

Step 1: Try Different Mediums
Do you keep your to-do list on the computer, or on paper? For a week, try doing the opposite – and see what difference it makes. I've gone through various to-do list mediums including:

• Single sheets of lined paper (as a student – a whole week of tasks fitted on one sheet!)


• A notebook with a page per day (when I started freelancing)


• A computerized solution which uses templates to easily input recurring tasks (nowadays)

Your system will depend on how you like to plan and work, and on the types of tasks you have. My best suggestion here is to experiment – it's very easy to get stuck in our ways and to assume that the system we have is effective just because it vaguely works.

Step 2: Don't Over-Plan
The biggest mistake that most of us make with to-do lists is to get too ambitious. We write down all sorts of things which we want to get done – only to end up feeling overwhelmed, frustrated and annoyed at ourselves when we don't achieve it all.

Many experts advise limiting your to-do list as much as possible: some suggest writing down just three-five tasks each day. When you put an item onto your list, ask yourself: Do I want to do this?

If not, can you delegate it? And does it really need to be done?

Don't fill up your to-do list with "nice to do" items ... if you want to track these, try keeping them on a separate page or in a different file, so that you can turn to them when you've completed the day's work. That way, they'll feel like bonus achievements rather than yet another thing to slog through!

Step 3: Make New Tasks Wait
Another common mistake is to plan out a perfect day or week, only to end up shoving new tasks in as they arise. Perhaps you've got your three key tasks for the day all planned, but then you check your email and a client is asking for some revisions on a project.

Unless a new task really needs to be done the same day, write it on tomorrow's list. (Or on a different day later in the week.) I find that creating this buffer lets me focus on what's important first, rather than just on what happens to catch my attention. Often, an emergent task can wait 24 hours without any problems at all.

Step 4: One Task At a Time
Finally, when you're actually working from your to-do list, be clear about what item you're tackling at any given moment. Flitting around trying to do five things at once won't do you any favors: you're more likely to forget things, make mistakes, or get distracted.

I like to annotate my list as I'm going along with "1" against the task I'm going to tackle next, "2" against the one after that, and "3" against the third. This helps me to stay focused – if I'm tempted to switch to something else, I remind myself that I've chosen to work in a particular order so that I can get all the important things done while I've still got plenty of energy.

What does your to-do list look like? Is it working for you?

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I believe that in each man there is a prince and a king. In each woman there is a princess and a queen. Each of them has the ability to obtain the keys to his or her personal kingdom. However, somewhere along the way, society classified us and we got it in our heads that the keys to the kingdom are reserved for a special few.

Believe that and you will be stuck with nothing more than the rabbit's foot key-chain that’s supposed to hold those very keys that you seek. So, how do you find the keys to the kingdom? Let's go through a couple of ideas.

• Courage
  Without a doubt the one of the most important qualities that will enable you to find the keys to your kingdom is courage. This means having the courage to walk away from stability. This means having the courage to keep going when you seem like you won’t make it. This means having the courage to go against the grain, when the world around you throws doubt at you.


• Risk
  It’s an obvious fact that with high risk, comes with high reward. For most of you who read my blog, you know that I spent the last 6 months looking for a job. I found one and two weeks later, I decided to quit because I hated it. That was a big risk, but one I was willing to take. A blogger I had the pleasure to interview recently said “Sometimes you’ll take 2 steps backward to take 20 steps forward.”
  
  Risk and reward have an almost interdependent relationship. If you have been holding back on something, go ahead and take that gamble and let the chips fall where they may. Whether you succeed or fail, you succeed because you improve and learn.


• Your Greatest Strength
  If there’s anything that will allow you to find the keys to your kingdom and open yourself up to the riches that await you, it’s finding your greatest strength. If people in high school knew that I run a self-help blog about positive thinking, they would be shocked considering that I was once likened to Holden Caufield.
  
  Finding your greatest strength is really about riding a wave in the direction that it’s taking you. If you do this, then your effort will be minimal because you are embracing what you do best naturally. If you try to ride in the direction opposite of where it’s going, you’re going to have a short ride and inevitably will have to start all over again. A few days ago I posted a Facebook status to ask my friends “what are my greatest strengths?” and I learned quite a bit. To find your greatest strengths, ask people around you “what do you think I’m good at?” Choose people who have spent the most time around you. They’re best suited to answer that question.

Just realize that everybody deserves to have the keys to his or her kingdom, and obtaining them is just a matter of understanding how they are obtained. I’m sure there are many ways in which these keys can be obtained, but these are just a few simple ideas on how to get there.

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