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When Uncool Becomes Cool Then Uncool Again

March 4, 2010 in Books with 2 Comments

I finished another book from the 100 Best Business Book Challenge.

Yesterday, I finished The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell. I promised myself, after reading Outliers and What The Dog Saw, that I would take a very long and extended Malcolm Gladwell break. Then this book came up and I had the opportunity to knock it out.

I’ve decided that my reviews should be short and to the point, since I’m already five years late to the Tipping Point party. So here’s a quick understanding of the Tipping Point.

I call this review “When Uncool Becomes Cool Then Uncool Again” Or maybe it should be – “When cool becomes uncool then cool and back to uncool” I don’t know. It doesn’t matter.

Malcom wants to give us the “WHY”  reason things became insanely popular, or why suddenly crime in New York City, that was increasing dramatically every year for over 20 years, suddenly just dropped.

The bad people in New York didn’t just wake up one day and decide to start behaving themselves.

Remember when Crocs were kinda cool, or maybe they weren’t really at all. I had a pair and still do. Then they hit the tipping point and suddenly everyone owned some.

Not cool anymore. When George starts wearing them, we’ve tipped.

Malcom says that ideas, products, marketing campaigns, etc. spread just like the flu. He calls it a social epidemic when something takes off and hits the tipping point.

I sneeze on you. You sneeze on twenty people. They sneeze on 100 people. Those 100 people sneeze on 5000. They sneeze on 50,000 and then we’re all sick, laying in bed and ticked off.

Malcolm states three rules of a social epidemics.

The Law of the Few - These are the people who spread the disease. There are certain types of people who can spread diseases but not everyone can. In fact, Gladwell says epidemics start because there are three certain types of people.

See if you can figure out who these people are within your group of friends…..

1. Connectors – Your overly social friend who knows everyone. Everyone has that one friend that seems to be able to bring everyone together on Friday night for a great time. He or she is the connector type of personality. If he started wearing Crocs, you started to consider it…But you wouldn’t have before.

He’s the friend who, somehow or another, also knows everyone at the bar. He’s your friend with 1200 friends on Facebook.

2. Mavens – This is your friend who knows everything. He has knowledge on every subject and is willing to share it whether you need it or not. Want the best price on a pizza? The best place to order shoes online or find the cheapest shipping, this is your maven.

The thing about Mavens is, even if you don’t ask for this information, he is going to share it.

3. Salesman – The friend who makes you jump. The persuader. The peer pressure friend….. He/She has the ability and personality to convince you to wear those giant rubber clogs and, therefore, you do.

The Stickiness Factor

Great marketers have figured out how to make messages stick.
It’s all about finding the sticky element. When Sesame Street was first starting, all the professionals told the creators that they had to separate fact from fiction. Big Bird couldn’t be seen having conversations with real humans because this would be too confusing for most children.

When they tested the format, it flopped. They decided to go against all the professionals and mix the elements that became Sesame Street.

I don’t think we’re too messed up because of it, do you?

The Power of Context

The Power of Context is really interesting. This law states that we’re heavily influenced by our environment.

Crime dropped dramatically in New York when they simply started cleaning stuff up.

OK…. I’ve had enough.

I’m cutting this post short because, quite frankly, I’m five years late and there are 10 billion reviews of this book online already. Read it if you want :-)

Final Takeaways

It was a decent read. I’m not sure I totally agree with everything Malcom is saying, but it will certainly make me think about things just a bit differently.

When looking to spread your message, look for the three types of people I listed above. Don’t waste your time on anyone else. These are your disease infectors.

Change is possible. Your message just might not be sticky enough though. Look for subtle ways to make it stick. This might require meticulous testing and going against what the professionals say. Test, Test, Test.!

Surroundings Matter. Check out the Broken Window Theory.

Sometimes the things we think are very unexplainable are actually quite easily explained. We could just be assuming the wrong explanation.

And don’t forget, cool becomes uncool, but can always become cool again. It just needs to tip.

An example of something this is building momentum and moving toward the tipping point: Vibram Five Fingers!

The Leadership Moment – Will You Be Ready?

March 1, 2010 in Books with 0 Comments

Over the weekend, I finished the seventh book of my “100 Business Book Challenge.” All told, I was able to finish four books in the first week of my challenge. Three books had already been read and crossed off at the beginning. I’m feeling good about my progress since my reading time will be cut short this week. I’m in Toronto for The Art of Marketing conference where I’ll be fortunate enough to hear Seth Godin speak tomorrow.

The book I finished yesterday was The Leadership Moment by Michael Useem. What an amazing book! Nine amazing and inspirational stories of leadership and what happened when the moment to lead presented itself.

I highly recommend this book and give it a big two thumbs up. I’ll  be referring to this book in the future and most definitely reading it again.

Here’s a quick rundown of the nine stories and moments of leadership that are discussed in the book. You can click on the names of those involved for further information.

Roy Vagelos: Roy had to make a huge decision while he was leading, as CEO, to the billion dollar pharmaceutical company Merck. Merck had developed a cure for river blindness, a disease which was effecting millions of people around the globe, especially in developing and poor countries. The problem? The people who desperately needed it, couldn’t afford it. Roy Vagelos made a decision, which will forever be criticized by some and praised by others. Merck will give away the medication for free, forever. Final answer.

This was a decision made by the CEO. A CEO’s goals are to increase profits, and nothing more, as some  would argue. Roy Vagelos made a decision as a leader that people came before profits. Brilliant.

Wagner Dodge: Wagner was a leader, but in his moment of need, his team experienced some leadership breakdowns. He was a strong and an amazing leader. But what we learn from Wagner is about the links that must be strengthened amongst teams and the bonds that must be solidified by their leaders. We can learn a lot from what happened to Wagner Dodge and his team of which 12 lost their lives in the Mann Gulch Fire. In a time of desperate need, as Wagner and his team were surrounded by walls of flames, the leadership chain was broken.

Eugene Kranz: Have you seen Apollo 13? This is the guy who brought people together to bring those boys back home safely. What seemed like an impossible situation become Eugene’s Moment-of- Leadership. Failure was not an option. This is an amazing story of someone who took charge, when the chances of survival were poor, and many team members had already given up hope.

Arlene Blum: Arlene led the first all-woman ascent of Annapurna. Another amazing story. She was one of the first to say “A Woman’s place is on top.”

Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain: Led his demoralized and battered troops into what would be their greatest battle of the Civil War. This story reminded me of Braveheart and the way Mel Gibson rallied his troops…. FREEDOM!

John Gutfreund: He made some critical errors as a leader. He became too busy and paid little attention to important matters that required immediate attention. He almost brought down the  now defunct Wall Street investment bank giant, Salomon Brothers. It was Warren Buffet who came to the helm of this severely battled ship and managed to guide them to shore safely. His role of leadership at the time of need is remarkable. There are some positive takeaways to learn from John Gutfeund and the mistakes he made.

Clifton Wharton Jr: He became CEO of a 50-billion dollar pension fund that needed a total restructuring. It was a new set of eyes that brought the fresh leadership skills to this massive and seemingly impossible situation.

Nancy Barry: Nancy gave up a high paying position of a lifetime so she could lead an organization with a vision and outlook more aligned with her own. She was one of the pioneers of micro-financing. I wonder if she gives to Kiva?

Alfredo Cristiani: The political leadership of El Salvador was in shambles. People were being murdered left and right. No one could agree on anything and, therefore, violence seemed like the only answer. What do you do in such political and tumultuous times?

Well of course! You bring in a former coffee grower without any political ties or existing biases to run for President. It worked for El Salvador. The leadership of a total outsider was needed to see things from each side and be able to lead accordingly.

This is a pretty brief run-down of the book and the stories involved.

Should you read it? Absolutely.

Does it deserve it’s recognition as one of the best business books of all time? Absolutely

Can it make you a better leader? Yes, of course. That can’t be guaranteed though; but if the moment does present itself, you may remember, in your time of need, the stories of these nine individuals, and it could make the difference between your success or failure.

This is part of the manual to being ready when the moment arrives.

Be ready.

Getting “Getting Things Done” Done

February 25, 2010 in Books, Business, Getting Things Done with 1 Comment

Sometime, back in  2005, I realized my office was a total mess. I was trying to collect  all of my files for my accountant and it was a major pain in the butt. Stuff was everywhere. I had files and papers stuffed in every space I could find.

I couldn’t take it. I hopped in the car, drove 40 minutes to the closest book store and purchased a copy of David Allen’s Getting Things Done (GTD). Can you guess what happened next? Being a diligent procrastinator, I gave the  book a quick glance and then it hit my bookshelf only to gather a smooth layer of dust for the next 4 or so years!

Here we are in 2010 and I’m reading 100 of the best business books of all time. The other day I finally got “Getting Things Done” done. 95 Books to go!

Getting Things Done rightfully deserves its spot on the list of 100 best business books of all time. David Allen delivers a solid, concrete, fool-proof system that would allow anyone to make major changes to the way they organize and handle incoming and stress-inducing information.

This is a solid system. David lays it out, step-by-step, while appropriately pointing out the times you may need to make changes in your own system to make it work for you.

This isn’t so much a review because I highly recommend you read the book. There are thousands of summaries to be found online. I’m about eight years late getting on the GTD bandwagon.

Reading this book now makes me think about how beneficial implementing this system could be to children in our education system.

Imagine during the final year of High School that, instead of looking at who said this and who said that back in the 16th century, we taught our students the GTD system. The system is so easy to  understand that we’d be sending our kids into the world as little bad-ass productivity gurus.

Life skills.

The GTD Workflow

If I could implement even  half of what David is saying, it would totally change my life. And I will.

It could change your life as well. Here’s what I realized as the big takeaway from GTD. Sure it would help me clean my office, feel less stress looking at my task list, and keep my inbox tidy, but it would force me to do something far more important.

David explains the amazing relief you’ll experience when you’ve got a system in place that clears your mind of ALL  “to-do related stress.” It can be remarkable. It can be life changing.

Near the end of the book, David really pushes the question, “What’s the next action?” He explains how even just implementing this single question can have a remarkable effect on your life. I remember attending meetings at my 9-5 job in Windsor, Ontario, where we sat for two hours and left without a single defined action step. I’ve talked to others who attend meetings on a daily basis, never to define a “next action step.”

Defining a next action step is a critical component to your success.

Of course, with such a great system, there’s always a catch-22.

The catch  of stress-free productivity is that once you implement the GTD system and you’ve got nothing left on your plate, you’re going to have to ask the question (What’s the next action?) to the hardest person of all…

Yourself.

And if you don’t ask the question, guess where you are? You’re in The Waiting Place.

“Oh, the Places You’ll Go!”

February 24, 2010 in Books with 16 Comments

Yesterday, I announced that I was planning on reading “100 of the best business books” by the end of the year.

I was surprised when I saw  Dr. Seuss’s “Oh, The Places You’ll Go!” on a list of books that contained titles like “The Essential Drucker” or “My Years with General Motors“

I knew my wife would have a copy. She comes from a family of teachers and she too is a teacher. We have a few Borel Forest’s worth of children’s books and have no kids ourselves – yet.

As I read the familiar story, it all came back to me. How many graduations, keynote speeches, or business success conferences have used this story? The book has become the quintessential cliché of success!

The world is your oyster!……..  ”You’ve done it! You’ve finished school! Go and take over the world!” I’d be willing to guess this is the most common gift for graduating students on any level.

My wife was given her copy of the book when she graduated High School.

“Oh, The Places You’ll Go!”

Here’s my take on it:

This book is dark and scares the crap out of me. This book should scare the crap out of you!

Why? Because most of us are in the “The Waiting Place”

“You can get so confused
that you’ll start in to race
down long wiggled roads at a break-necking pace
and grind on for miles across weirdish wild space,
headed, I fear, toward a most useless place.
The Waiting Place…

…for people just waiting.
Waiting for a train to go
or a bus to come, or a plane to go
or the mail to come, or the rain to go
or the phone to ring, or the snow to snow
or waiting around for a Yes or a No
or waiting for their hair to grow.
Everyone is just waiting.

Waiting for the fish to bite
or waiting for wind to fly a kite
or waiting around for Friday night
or waiting, perhaps, for their Uncle Jake
or a pot to boil, or a Better Break
or a string of pearls, or a pair of pants
or a wig with curls, or Another Chance.
Everyone is just waiting.”

If you’re waiting for the right time to call an old friend, or the right time to find a new career, or maybe you’re waiting for the right time to start that business you’ve been thinking about, or maybe you’re waiting for the phone to ring with a better job offer?

Then you’re in the The Waiting Place.

If you’re unhappy with your career and think that another day of 9-5 will drive you crazy, you’re in The Waiting Place.

The Waiting Place is safe and secure. The Waiting Place, for most of us, is daily life. Our society has made The Waiting Place the safest place to be. It’s the easiest place to be.

You live in The Waiting Place and then you die.

The one thing that struck me about the book is how the character, known as “you”, is always moving. He’s never waiting or relying on some external force to move him forward. There’s never a push from his parents or help from anyone. He’s ALWAYS moving  on his own two feet.

Even when he finds himself in The Waiting Place, it’s him and him alone who finds the exit. Nothing external will ever get you out of The Waiting Place.

Most of us have a choice right now as we are sitting in The Waiting Place.

Let’s be honest with ourselves about the “Places We’ll Go”  and admit that 98 and 3/4 percent of us are just waiting.

So what are you waiting for?

Now Reading: The 100 Best Business Books of All Time (literally)

February 23, 2010 in Books with 13 Comments

I got turned on to a book a little while back that was written by Jack Covert and Todd Sattersten. The book is called ““The 100 Best Business Books of All Time”.”

As I mentioned back in January, I’ve been reading like a maniac, but there was no real rhyme or reason to what I was reading. I would simply start browsing through Amazon, look for or pick books recommended by others, and go from there. But then I started thinking that following a roadmap, like the one Jack and Todd have provided, may make my reading a little more interesting.

I’ve decided to set a goal and read all of Jack and Todd’s 100 recommended books between now and the end of the year. I sent Jack and Todd an email to let them know of my intentions. A nice little blog post showed up on 800ceoread (Jack’s company) about my endeavor. You can read that here.

I’ve set up a group page on Shelfari where anyone can join the group and take part in reading some of these books. Shelfari is a great social networking site for people who love to read. It took me a bit of time to add all the books to the Shelfari group page. You can check it out on here. I urge you to join the group and take part. If you’re not interested in taking part but you enjoy reading, join Shelfari and connect with me as a friend on there. I want to see what you’re reading regardless.

Jack and Todd have broken down “The 100 Best Business Books of All Time“  into the following categories.

  • You
    Improving your life, your person and your strengths.
  • Leadership
    Inspiration. Challenge. Courage. Change.
  • Strategy
    Eight organizational blueprints from which to draft your own.
  • Sales and Marketing
    Approaches and pitfalls in the ongoing process of creating customers.
  • Rules and Scorekeeping
    The all-important numbers behind the game.
  • Management
    Guiding and directing the people around you.
  • Biographies
    Seven lives. Unlimited lessons.
  • Entrepreneurship
    Seven guides to the passion and practicality necessary for any new venture.
  • Narratives
    Six industry tales of both fortune and failure.
  • Innovation & Creativity
    Insight into the process of developing new ideas.
  • Big Ideas
    The future of business books lies here.
  • Takeaways
    What everyone is looking for.

You can see the full list of the top 100 books here. Thankfully I’ve already read a few of them.

I’m honestly not sure if I can read them all between now and December 31st, but I’ll try my hardest.

What are you currently reading and why?

3 Steps To Being a Great Marketer in 2010

February 18, 2010 in Books, Business, Events, Marketing with 15 Comments

Remember last week when I talked about “The Art of Marketing” conference in Toronto?

Mitch Joel, author of the new book Six Pixels of Separation, and also one of the top 100 on-line marketers in the world, announced on his blog he was going to have a contest.  Mitch said he would give away two tickets to the event and two signed copies of his new book. Mitch is also one of the speakers at this amazing event.

The rules of his contest were simple:

“To win this pair of tickets and the free books, all you have to do is leave a comment below with your thoughts on what it takes to be a great Marketer in 2010. I’ll choose one winner who really exemplifies passion on February 16th“

I have my own ideas on what it takes to be a great marketer in 2010, so I figured, I’ll enter the contest.

What did I have to lose, besides a few minutes of my time?

As it turns out, my answer exemplified the passion they were looking for because yesterday, I got an email from Mitch telling  me that I had won. My response had been chosen.

Here’s what I said (I’ve cleaned it up a bit since my original response was a tad messy….I was writing  in a bit of a rush as I went out the door)

3 Steps To Being a Great Marketer in 2010

Here’s what it takes to be a great marketer in 2010.

A great marketer….

  • “cares” instead of  “sells”.

Old marketers will teach you tricks like how to write clever sales copy or how to write a proper headline.

A great marketer, in 2010, is able to spread this exuberance and touch people through the art of caring.

A great marketer realizes, in 2010, that a genuine fan of one is greater than a thousand drones and a 0.03% conversion rate.

Great marketers now give a crap.

A great marketer….

No longer does “fake-it till you make-it” work.

2010 is about honesty and transparency. A great marketer doesn’t take on the client who doesn’t believe in this. It’s not only about the pay. Great marketers, in 2010, understand the importance of social responsibilities.

Social responsibility, within your marketing efforts, is  equally as important as being socially responsible towards the environment.

There is no in-between. You either litter or you don’t. You either give a crap or you don’t.

There is no toeing the line.

A great marketer, in 2010, is socially responsible for all his/her actions.

A great marketer, in 2010, understands that all marketing is done for the good of the people (even if it’s one person) and not the almighty dollar.

The dollars will follow those who do the greatest good.

A great marketer….

  • (and most importantly)  has giant balls. (yes ladies, you too)

A great marketer, in 2010, takes chances while still maintaining an intense social responsibility for all her/her actions. A great marketer doesn’t sit in the slow lane or drive in the middle of the road. A great marketer doesn’t colour within the lines. A great marketer, in 2010, takes chances and has giant balls. The marketer understands that  multiple failures is the only option for great marketing.

The questions is, do you have the balls and are they enough?

That’s it. That was my answer. Hope you like it.

I’ll review Joel’s book after I receive my copy.

To find out more about Mitch Joel check out:

His Website: TwistImage.com
Twitter: twitter.com/Mitchjoel
Wikipedia: Mitch Joel


Here’s a post from my Lizard Brain

February 1, 2010 in Books, Entrepreneurship, Life, Social Media with 14 Comments

You’re probably wondering what the heck my lizard brain is and why it would be posting to my blog. I don’t blame you. When I first heard the term I was just as confused as you might have been when you read the title of this post.
I first heard the term in Seth Godin’s latest book “Linchpin.”

If you’ve been reading my blog for any amount of time, then you already know I’m a big Seth Godin fan. When I saw Seth offering to send advanced copies of Linchpin as a gift to those who made a donation to the Acumen Fund, I took up the opportunity.

Waiting…waiting some more….and a bit more after that my advanced copy  never showed up. The book was released on January  26th and I still don’t have my advanced copy.

Seth sent out an email apologizing to us Canadian folk still waiting. It didn’t come as a surprise to me to still be waiting. I’ve been dealing with my share of Canada Post issues over the past few weeks so I could understand this.

Friday comes around and FedEx comes knocking on my office door. Inside an envelope is a copy of Linchpin with a note. The note is from Seth. He’s thanking me for my generous donation to the Acumen Fund and because of that generosity he’s sent me a second copy of Linchpin. Seth suggests I can continue the spread of generosity by giving this second copy to someone else as a gift.

Brilliant marketing and truly generous. FedEx all your early adopters a second free copy of your book that they can share and give away! Ideas spread and so does generosity.

That would be great and I plan to do so if the first copy ever shows up, but for now, this copy is mine.

What did I think?

Being a Godin fanboy I knew I’d enjoy the book. I didn’t know I’d enjoy it as much as I did and here’s why.

This is Seth Godin’s best book. This book has more going on inside than any of his other books.  When I read Linchpin I could hear Seth’s honesty and passion for what he was saying. I feel that Seth has gone to the next level with this book.  I’ve read nearly all of Godin’s books and this one trumps the rest.

Unless you’ve read all his other books, you won’t really get that.
That’s OK. This book is still for you.

Godin starts the book by calling my a genius. Many will be taken back by such a direct and forward compliment. Me? A Genius??? You MUST be thinking of someone else? (this is your lizard brain)

I went with it anyways. I figured if Seth Godin was willing to call me a genius I’d accept the compliment.

I’m going to spend most of this week looking at the book in more detail because my lizard brain thinks it’s a great way to spend the week.

So what’s the lizard brain?

The Lizard Brain is an actual part of your brain. You can read more about it on Wikipedia.

The problem for us, is the lizard brain is what causes us to not ship. Seth uses this terminology all throughout the book.
You may be thinking “great, I don’t have anything to ship,” or “excellent, I’m not in the shipping business.”

But shipping is a metaphor for finishing your ideas and spreading them. It’s not about the actual physical exercise of shipping something (although it might be in your case.) It’s the term used for taking an idea and shipping.

We’re ALL in the shipping business.

This means you don’t just create. You take what you’ve created and you spread it. Employees can ship. They ship by doing amazing work that creates change.

According to Seth our lizard brains are hungry, scared, angry, and horny. The only thing our lizard brains want are to eat and be safe.

The lizard brain effects all those in business because it wants us to be safe.

  • Safe means not shipping.
  • Safe means not taking chances.
  • Safe means not getting outside your comfort zone.
  • Safe means not being laughed at because the business you just tried to start has failed.
  • Safe means writing this blog post when I should be creating.
  • Safe means checking into Facebook and tweeting your day away.
  • Safe means answering emails all day long because it makes you feel busy.
  • Safe means not creating.
  • Safe means creating but not shipping.
  • Safe means you’re the employee who follows the manual and job description word for word.
  • Safe means driving in the middle lane because it’s not too slow and  not too fast.

The lizard brain is very real.

That’s the scary thing. I hate knowing that I’ve got a lizard living inside my brain. The scariest thing about it for me is I think my lizard is more like a vicious velociraptor.

Seth goes on to explain how the lizard brain works. We’re all able to pull from the lizard brain but we’re usually snapped back to reality by the resistance. This is the lizard brain at work.

But even with all the talk of the lizard brain, Godin’s really only got one true goal in Linchpin.

He wants you and I to become indispensable.

I’m going to talk about this more throughout the week. Most people in our society aren’t indispensable. We’re cogs in the machine and unfortunately, we’re disposable cogs.

I used to believe that having an office job made me different than a factory worker or a blue collar worker, but it doesn’t. It’s the same thing and both of these types of  employees are disposable cogs (as we’re more frequently finding out.)

The high paid executive or office worker is nothing more than a nicely dressed factory worker. Seth’s goal is getting you to see this NOW because soon it will too late.

Being a linchpin isn’t about quitting your job to work 4 hours a week. If written for anyone, it’s especially important for employees and people looking to remain “safely employed” because Seth would argue that safe doesn’t exist anymore. The only safe position in our ever-changing economy is to become indispensable.

Speed Read like Rain Man – 75% Increased Reading Speed in 20 Minutes

January 14, 2010 in Books, Life Hacking, Time & Money with 12 Comments

One of my goals in 2010 is to read a lot more. I bought so many books in 2009 and I bet I only read about 20% of them.

If you have seen my last post, you’ll know that I recently read the expanded and updated version of “The 4-Hour Work Week.” by Tim Ferriss. One interesting section was a little exercise in Chapter 5 called “How to Read 200% Faster in 10 Minutes.” A quick Google search led me to a similar post on Tim’s blog only this time it was called “Scientific Speed Reading: How to Read 300% Faster in 20 Minutes”

I’m not going to talk about the exercises here because you can read it in much more detail over on Tim’s blog but I want to share with you my results and findings.

In the article, Tim provided a quick synopsis on how we read using a sequence of saccadic movements. Interesting. I never knew this and Tim provided us with a way to understand how it works: “To demonstrate this, close one eye, place a fingertip on top of that eyelid, and then slowly scan a straight horizontal line with your other eye-you will feel distinct and separate movements and periods of fixation.”

To make a long story short, in less than a week and a half, I’ve become a much faster reader. Here are my results from following Tim’s exercises.

Day 1

  • Initial Reading Speed: 305 words-per-minute (wpm) Average reading speed in the US is around 200-300 wpm and I’m guessing it’s somewhat similar in Canada. We’re maybe a bit faster here:-)
  • After Test Reading Speed: 505 wpm – Amazing! A 65% Increase in reading speed the first time I did the exercises. I will admit that my comprehension of what I was  reading was terrible at this speed.

My results were not exactly 200 or 300% higher as Tim suggested but they weren’t bad either.

Day 2 – The very next day I decided to complete the exercises again. Using the same formula, I began the test by assessing my initial reading speed.

  • Initial Reading Speed: 370 wpm. While I hadn’t retained a speed of 505 wpm, I did come out of the gate faster and my comprehension was back at my normal level.
  • After Test Reading Speed: 540 wpm. 35 wpm more than my best speed yesterday.

Day 3 – Here’s where things started to get interesting.

  • Initial Reading Speed: 468 wpm! Today I came out guns blazing! I tested in at 468 wpm and comprehension was there! I managed to soak up everything with no back skipping.
  • After Test Reading Speed: 612 wpm. Insane. And you know what? My comprehension level was way up – of course this is based on my own self-assessed comprehension level of what I could remember and recall about what I just read.

Just to be sure I wasn’t going berserk, I went home and went on a reading frenzy. Over the next 5 days, I read a ton of books, flying through them at a speed I’d never been able to even come close to before. Maybe that’s the reason I very rarely finished a book – I was reading too slow.

Over the next 5 days I read:

The Catcher In The Rye
The Four-Hour Work Week (again)
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
Vagabonding: An Uncommon Guide to the Art of Long-Term World Travel
Bad Monkeys

I also limited myself to the following rules:

  1. An hour to an hour and a half of fiction reading per night before bed
  2. The non-fiction could be read whenever. I usually spent an hour or so reading after dinner while sipping a glass of red wine.

Day 4 – Five days later it was time to test myself again.

  • Initial Reading Speed: 416 wpm. Interesting results. In the time away from training and completing the exercises, I had slowed down but I had also read 5 books at a speed and comprehension level faster than I’d ever read in my life.
  • After Test Reading Speed: 624 wpm

The last test I did was three days ago. Since that time I’ve read a few other books and will continue to do so. My conclusion is that with daily training and practice anyone could easily double or perhaps triple their reading speed. I made a comment on Tim’s blog that I was having trouble finding any consistency in my results which you can see through my results. But I think it’s important to recognize that I’m getting faster, and with more practice and repetition I might find that consistent level.

Tim did mention that if your goal is to read at 900 wpm then you actually have to train at 1800 wpm, which is the equivalent of 10 seconds per page or 6 pages per minute. Could you imagine? 6 pages per minute!

If you decide to try the exercises, let me know your results and findings.

UPDATE

January 19th, 2009 update

I decided to re-test today as I felt I was slowing down with some books over the weekend but the tests said I was wrong.

  • Initial Reading Speed: Came in at 424 wpm with solid comprehension
  • After Test Testing Speed: 624 wpm – Funny exact same number I put up last time I did the test. I wonder if this is a max for me?

Creating Your Own 4-Hour Workweek in 2010

January 3, 2010 in Books, Business, Career & Work, Entrepreneurship, Internet Marketing, Success with 24 Comments

Hey everyone, Happy New Year! I hope everyone had a safe and enjoyable holiday season, but now it’s time to get back at it. I apologize for any typos or grammatical errors in advance, but I’m tired and fat from too many delicious treats over Christmas.

I’ve spent the last 4-5 days driving my wife totally bonkers. Why? Because I’ve been reading the 4-Hour Workweek again by Tim Ferris. I read the book when it was first introduced, and I immediately implemented some of Tim’s recommendations. But now Tim is back with an Expanded & Updated version of the book which was just released last month.  I believe 2010 is the year to truly put Tim’s methods into action. 4hour

So first things first – I’ve found that when I mention The 4-Hour Workweek (4HWW) it can instantly turn some people off just based on the title. My wife being one of them… She can’t imagine why I would only want to work 4 hours per week or how it would financially feasible to do so….So  we better get something out-of-the-way, right away…The 4HWW isn’t really about working 4 hours per week. On a deeper level it’s about living and creating the ultimate life for yourself during this very short time we have here.

Many people hear the title and react as if you’re holding some sort of scam or get rich quick scheme. Maybe the title is a little off… Tim suggested he tested the title of the book and I believe with some it turns them off and with others it invokes some serious curiousness.

There’s a whole lot more going on here and I want to briefly explain to you some of what you’ll find.

I also want to mention that the 4HWW is currently my #1 reading recommendation for everyone looking for a plan in 2010. I’ll be implementing various aspects of the teaching and documenting them along the way.

The newly expanded and updated version has 4 sections or steps that give you a guideline for achieving the 4-hour workweek.

  • Step 1: D is for Definition
  • Step 2: E is for Elimination
  • Step 3: A is for automation
  • Step 4: L is for Liberation

The DEAL is the core of what makes up Tim’s step-by-step training plan to living the life of the New Rich (NR).

Tim constantly refers to the NR as those who realize that there is more to life than materialist possessions and retirement planning or as I would say, working to  “buy stuff.” We all have so much “stuff.”

Here’s how we classify the NR versus Old Rich (OR)

To be considered NR you value

  1. time
  2. income
  3. mobility.

I’d put an emphasis on time because with all the money in the world and no time, the money really means diddlysquat.

“The NR are those who abandon the deferred-life plan and create luxury lifestyles in the present using the currency of the New Rich: Time & Mobility” – TF

The OR spend a lifetime building wealth and buying things along the way with the hopes of living and experiencing only if and when enough money is acquired and they can finally retire (i.e. granting themselves time)

The NR understand that all three can be had right now. Just reading the above sentence and the OR sounds like such a backwards way of thinking.

Tim says “Retirement planning is worst-case scenario insurance.” Suggesting that we should view planning for retirement as the life insurance against the absolute worst-case scenario. Diligent savers and the OR will also scoff at such a suggestion.

But Tim isn’t suggesting not to save, (he’s maxing out his own retirement savings every year) rather he’s suggesting that a life of working with retirement as the end-goal is flawed and he gives three reasons why:

1)   It’s predicated on the assumption that you dislike what you are doing during the most physically capable years of your life.

2)   Most people won’t be able to maintain their current quality or standard of living.

3)   Most hardworking people get so bored one week into retirement they begin looking for a new job. Tim notes, “kinda defeats the purpose of waiting.”

Let’s break down each section of the book.

Step 1: D is for Definition

Definition is truly a great way to start the book. This chapter is about letting it all hang out. It’s about defining what your dream life looks like.

You’ll find similar aspects in various business books. Most goals in life will never come to fruition unless you can totally define exactly what it is you want in life.

Maybe it’s a Ferrari…

Maybe you want to spend 6 months of every year living in Patagonia fly fishing…

Maybe you want to learn new languages…or study the martial arts….or become a chef…

Whatever it is, this step is crucial for the NR. It’s about figuring out what it will cost to live your dream life. Tim does suggest a limit on material possessions when planning your dream life but it’s OK to include them if they are truly part of your dreams.

Tim wants you to nail it down, actually putting a dollar amount on it. He even suggests calculating it right down to the daily cost of living your dream life.

But aside from dreaming up your ultimate life, this chapter is also about defining your fears and nightmares or conquering pessimism in your life.

We’ve talked about fear of taking chances before. Tim wants you to define all your fears and challenges getting in the way of your dreamlining.

Step 2: E is for Elimination

This chapter is about time management. Many of Tim’s suggestions on just about everything in life are summed up using the Pareto Principle of 80/20.

The Pareto Principle states that 80% of effects come from 20% of the causes.

Tim asks us to consider the following

1)   Which 20% of sources are causing 80% of my problems and unhappiness?

2)   Which 20% of sources are resulting in 80% of my desired outcomes and happiness?

One of the things I really enjoyed about this chapter was Tim’s look at 9-5 work. I worked 9-5 in an office environment for a few months and I totally get it. Tim suggests that society has agreed to shuffle papers between 9-5 and much of that time is wasted (80/20). Yet society has deemed this the time when things get done and we do somehow manage to accomplish all the required tasks during this time even if we’re only working 20% of the day. Tim believes the concept of 9-5 is a totally arbitrary one and I tend to agree.

The ultimate goal of elimination is to find the  80% of distractions and eliminate them.

We then take the 20% of sources and use various techniques to even further optimize our output and eliminate time required.

Step 3: A is for automation

This is where things start to get interesting.

Outsourcing life and taking advantage of Geoarbitrage.

The NR take advantage of outsourcing.

“Becoming part of the NR isn’t just about working smarter by applying the 80/20 rule, it’s about building a system to totally replace yourself.” TF

Think about all those lingering tasks that we constantly put off and procrastinate. Imagine you no longer had to worry about them because your personal assistant in India was handling them.

This chapter seems to get most people’s blood boiling the quickest. “How appalling,” some might say to the thought  of hiring a personal assistant in India, paying them far less than you’d pay someone in North America and having them do work for you.

But it’s really quite the contrary. The biggest companies in the world have been outsourcing everything for years and the NR have realized they can do so as well.

For example, if you believe Microsoft has been manufacturing and boxing up xbox’s to ship out, you’re dead wrong. They outsource and the NR apply the same techniques to both our personal lives and businesses.

Many will say, “why would I hire someone to do that when I can do it cheaper?” Tim confirms this…. “You can always do them cheaper but just because you can it doesn’t mean you should”

The book is chalk full of examples of how the NR are using outsourcing to improve their daily lives. I wanted to include a few here for enjoyment.

For the record I use outsourcing from a tech support company in India that handles the support of all the web-hosting clients I deal with. The support is professional and extremely fast. It costs me about $120 per month but frees up and unprecedented # of worry-free hours for me.

Examples of ways the NR have used outsourcing:

1)   Finding a parking spot for your car in another city before you make the trip

2)   Personal Chef for less than $5 a meal

3)   House repairs while you’re out of the country

4)   Charting a diet plan and ordering the groceries for you

5)   Apologizing to your spouse and sending flowers when you screw up

6)   Automatically sending flowers to your mother and spouse on the important days

7)   Scheduling interviews

8)   Personal daily wake up calls

9)   Research

10) Creation of reports, legal documents, graphic design, marketing

11)  Web development, SEO

12)  Travel Arrangements

Just about anything you can think of can be automated.

Outsourcing isn’t just about going overseas either. Just because you can get it done cheaper overseas doesn’t make it the right decision. There are certain language barriers that might not be as problematic if working with a Virtual Assistant in the USA or Canada. Either way, the 4HWW provides a ton of tips and strategies for finding appropriate outsourcing.

The main and ultimate goal is freeing up your free time to pursue your dream and dream life.

Relative VS Absolute Income

The NR are interested in relative income over absolute income.

Absolute income refers to the “Old Rich way of thinking” in that that the dollars made is what defines being rich. Your wage per year determines if you’re rich or not….

The NR value relative income and understand both money, time and mobility. The money you make per year is an arbitrary concept much like 9-5.

Here’s the example Tim provides.

Jane makes 100k per year
John makes 50k per year

In absolute terms Jane is wealthier than John. But take a closer look:

Jane works 50 weeks per year and makes 2k per week. She’s a workaholic and ends up spending about 80 hours per week in the office. She eats and sleeps with her blackberry.

In reality she makes $25 per hour.

John works 50 weeks per year and makes 1k per week. John is a member of the NR and works only 10 hours per week to provide 50k. In relative income terms , John is 4 times wealthier than Jane. John also earns $75 more than Jane per hour. Go figure… Yet our society would say Jane is richer.

You must keep in mind, 50K is all John needs to live his dream life he defined earlier. Your dream life will be different.

The rest of this chapter deals with creating a business that can automate the task of making money. When I first read Tim’s book this section was a let down. Tim started a company that sold a supplement and he did extremely well. But he didn’t share much more beyond that and still doesn’t in the expanded and updated version. Tim includes some basics on Google Adwords and testing but otherwise I was a little let down by this chapter. I would have liked to see Tim really break down the process of his supplement company or at least expand on this section.

Many of you who I work with or that read my blog will be at skill levels far beyond what Tim is teaching and I’d consider that a huge advantage…. By implementing the rest of Tim’s training you’re already going to be way ahead. For those who’ve never developed a product to sell on the Internet, Tim’s training will provide a nice base and starting point for you.

Step 4: L is for Liberation

This chapter is really what it’s all about for me and probably the reason I drove my wife completely nuts over the past week or so.

This chapter is all about breaking away from the norms of traditional society and truly embracing the ideals of the NR.

This is about working from home or working anywhere else in the world for that matter. Tim suggests mini-retirements and experiencing the world rather than seeing sections of it in a short 1-2 week vacations. Tim wants us to remove the shackles of the expectations of Western life and develop the rules on our own terms.

For the employee it’s about escaping the office but maintaining your job.

You’ll find it extremely interesting to see the employees who’ve used Tim’s advice to arrange remote work arrangements. I find this chapter most fascinating for those who do actually love their jobs but are looking for more.

Finally, this chapter is about filling the void in your life after you eliminate work.

There is so much more in this chapter but I’ve really gone on long enough.

All in all, this is a really rough take on the 4HWW but I hope I’ve said enough to intrigue you to buy and read it. The book has been on the bestseller list for over 2 years so he must be doing something right.

2010  is a big year for me. I plan to implement many of the ideas in this book and hope to share my journey with you.

Over the past week I’ve been suggesting to my wife the following:

A summer in Tuscany in a rustic old apartment drinking wine (maybe some of which we’ll actually make)

Three months of skiing in the Swiss Alps

An apartment in Paris where we could fatten up on pastries and poutine

Sipping Vodka in Prague

A few months in wine country in Argentina where I could do some world-class fly fishing…

She isn’t convinced yet or sold on the idea but she’s starting to see the light…maybe…….

Once again, Happy New Year and I wish you all the best in the coming year.

Noah

P.S. Right now on Tim’s site he has 18 videos and case studies from people who’ve successfully implemented the techniques and strategies found within the 4HWW. I suggest watching them all.

What Matters Now

December 18, 2009 in Books, Business, Career & Work, E-Commerce, Entrepreneurship, Marketing, Social Media, Success, Technology with 4 Comments

Looking for some direction in 2010?whatmatter2

Seth Godin has compiled a free eBook titled “What Matters Now” with a collection of ideas from over 70 “big thinkers” about the world in 2010.

You can download the eBook free directly by clicking the button below. WhatMatters

Here are a few of my favourite ideas, thoughts or quotes from the book.

Seth Godin – This year, you’ll certainly find that the more you give the more you get.

Chris Meyer writes about the evolution of capitalism but does so by comparing business to Darwin’s finches of the Galapagos Islands. Darwin observed that the finch’s beaks would evolve and change shape to match the form of the flowers which provided their food.

Chris suggests that businesses will need to evolve as capitalism changes in our new economy. Chris suggests that the game is changing and businesses in  developed countries will need evolve their beaks and learn the new rules of the game.

Jackie Huba and Ben McConnell’s story on “Bacon Salt” and how it’s our job to find the “one percenters.” The 1% of people deep in the trenches of a niche who become the roots of word of mouth marketing.  Many are looking for the masses right out of the gate. Focus on finding the one percent first and allow them to get the roots buried deep into the soil.

William Taylor suggests that in the past businesses found a feeling of comfort by staying in the middle of the road and today the middle of the road is the most unsafe place to be. Where is your business?

John Wood – “The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago. The second best time is now.”

Tony Hsieh (CEO of Zappos.com) – Everything Tony learned about business he learned from Poker. Here’s an example: The guy who never loses a hand is not the guy who makes the most money in the long run.

Guy Kawasaki on Evangelism. Guy’s message is usually pretty consistent. He is constantly hammering home what it takes to be successful. You think he’s trying to tell us something?

Dave Balter on “Dumb”

For example,

  • Putting a college Yearbook online was considered dumb..
  • Limiting small micro updates on the web to 140 characters was considered dumb.

“Recognize that your dumb idea may be tomorrow’s huge breakthrough.”

I remember when the iPod was first announced. It was considered “dumb.” Why would anyone want to carry all their music on a digital pocket device?

Look at the hilarious comments (especially the last one) left on CNET”s very first article about the iPod being introduced

“Naw …. wont take off”
“This will be the last thing from Apple ever, they’ll never be successful with this.”
“apple is going to go bankrupt with this new mp3 player thing. mp3s are going to be obsolete within the next couple years anyway”
“This is crazy. Next thing we know Apple will move all the Macs to Intel processors”

WOW. In case you don’t get why the last one is the funniest it’s because just a few years later Apple did switch to using the PC’s Intel Processor.

Gary Vaynerchuk and the “Thank You Economy.”

Gary is  right on the money and I’ve seen it in action. Two years ago if you made a video, posted an online petition and tweeted about Frito Lays not delivering enough Fritos to your restaurant, nobody cared.

Today, Frito’s headquarters calls you up and takes care of the situation personally. It’s an amazing world and the tools are here. How are you using them?

My father-in-law over at Quoteflections has done three awesome posts of his favorite quotes from the book. Check them out as well. #1 , #2 , #3

~Noah

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