Get Dissatisfied

I recommend spending a Saturday afternoon in an exotic car dealership where they sell sports cars that cost $200,000-plus. Here, you will learn a success secret of the sorts of people who purchase these cars (and those who prey on them). I have never driven a Ferrari, but for educational purposes I believe that Ferrari dealerships impart the lesson the best. A Ferrari serves almost no social utility. They are very fast, but they are not known to be particularly good cars.  All they really do is look good and go fast. Saturday around [Read more]

Being in the Zone

Nothing is more important to success in your career and life than being in the zone. The problem with most people, however, is that they are not in the zone; instead, they are merely doing what they and others think they should be doing. Most people are following a path that they believe will lead to happiness, wealth, and achievement, rather than doing what comes naturally to them, what they are good at, and the sort of work that makes them happy. You should not be doing anything as a career unless you feel you at least have a shot at being the best in the world at it. It does not matter what you do. Being a waiter might get you excited: If it does, try to be the best in the world at that job. Being a ski instructor might be your dream career–if it is, try to be the best in the world at it. Do not waste your time on earth doing something you do not enjoy, or something in which you know you cannot truly excel. Do what you love. You need to spend your time doing something that gets you excited. Whatever that [Read more]

Job Hopping: It Is Always About You

Many people’s careers and lives are often held back by one small thing. You might also be holding yourself back in your career, but if you can fix this one small thing, your career and life will change for the better. If you are not able to make this minor yet substantial adjustment, then everything will just continue in the same way as before, and you may never achieve all that you are capable of achieving. I have always believed that it is best to focus mainly on our strengths, not our weaknesses. When [Read more]

You Need to Pay the Cost

I have been working since the time I was around 9 years old. When I was 9 years old, I wrote my age down illegibly on an employment application so that I could get a job delivering newspapers for the Detroit News. At the time, you needed to be 11 in order to get a job delivering the afternoon newspaper.  Within a few years, I also got a job delivering the morning newspaper, The Detroit Free Press. I took on the largest paper routes my managers would allow me to have and, within a few years, was delivering hundreds of papers per day. The volume of papers on some days was so great that my bicycle would break. The handlebars would snap off.  Some days I would have so many papers that the rack on the back would be pushing on the tire to the point that the bike’s rear tire would not move. On those days, I often would carry sacks of papers on my back and push my bike a mile or more until I had gotten rid of enough papers to lighten the load enough for the bike.  On one occasion a cheap bike I had purchased at Sears simply broke in half. On rainy and snowy days, other kids would have their mothers and fathers help them with the paper route. They would drive them around in warm, dry cars and help their kids do the route. I lived with a single mother and she was off working—or sleeping—when I delivered my papers. Consequently, except for the occasional Sunday when my dad came to visit me from the other side of town, I did my paper route completely alone. When I started delivering papers in the morning, I had customers who left the house at 6:30 a.m. and wanted the paper before they left for work. Therefore, I needed to be up by at least 5:00 every day because some of these customers were at the end of my paper route.  I would finish my paper route by 6:30 and then go home and sleep an hour or so before getting up and riding to school. I lived about three miles from school and would ride my bike through snow, slush, and storms to get there after the paper route. Despite all this hard work, having a paper route gave me tremendous flexibility and financial freedom in my life—from the age of 9.

• I purchased mopeds and motor scooters to ride years before I could legally ride them.
• Before that I was purchasing expensive BMX bikes and doing tricks  on ramps and other obstacles on my driveway.
• I also purchased video games, bought snacks at the store, and always had lots of extra spending money. About every six months I purchased a new Sony Walkman.
• I maintained an exotic fish collection and even purchased myself an exotic bird.
• I joined the Columbia Record and Tape Club and got at least one new tape per month that I would listen to while doing my paper route.
• I bought new tennis racquets when I wanted to, basketballs, soccer balls, expensive baseball mitts, and similar athletic gear.

To the astonishment of the kids in my elementary school—not to mention parents and teachers–by the age of 12 I had started riding to school in the mornings on a moped I purchased (one of several I would [Read more]

Success Requires Ignoring Group Norms

When I started legal recruiting, within a few months of starting the business, I met a man who was one of the founders of the dominant legal recruiters association. At one time, he had the largest legal recruiting firm in California. As I spent time getting to know him, he told me that he had been ”kicked out” of the recruiters’ association he started because he had started a job site to help attorneys get jobs as well. Apparently, the recruiters’ association viewed the job site as competitive with legal recruiting—despite the fact that less than 1% of attorneys are even qualified to use a legal recruiter. I found this very odd, but at the time I realized that there were certain rules and dynamics associated with being part of this organization. Several years later, I largely forgot about what had happened to this recruiter and joined the organization myself. Soon thereafter, I started receiving all sorts of correspondence from them stating that I should not make any statements that my job site for attorneys (LawCrossing) was a good way for attorneys to get jobs (because doing so was competitive with recruiters who were also members of the association). To my astonishment, in order to be a member of this organization in good standing, it was a virtual [unwritten] requirement that you only be in the legal recruiting business and have only one opinion about how attorneys should get jobs. You are most certainly surrounded by people with all sorts of opinions regarding what is ”normal” and ”expected” in your life and career:

• What your opinions should be
• What lines of work you should be doing
• How you should dress
• How you should act
• How you should spend your free time
• Who you should associate with

In fact, no matter your profession, my guess is that there are certain norms regarding what is expected of you with respect to items such as [Read more]

Release the Lack That You Feel, and Reach Your Full Potential

Several years ago, I was working and living in a small, inexpensive city. At the time, I was renting a huge two-bedroom apartment that cost around $700 a month. I went out to dinner a few times a week, had lots of cable television channels, and drove a brand-new BMW. I was making less than $50,000 a year, but I made enough to live well. I was paying off student loans and supporting my girlfriend. I knew another guy about my age who had a job making the same amount I did, and he lived close to me. [Read more]

The Inner Voices, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Your Life

When you consider all that you are capable of achieving, nothing is more exciting than imagining who and what you can and will become in your life. To do this, you must first learn to ignore that voice inside your head that may tell you otherwise.

You have the ability to become happier.

You have the ability to become more successful.

You have the ability to become healthier.

You have the ability to become a better friend.

You have the ability to become a better wife or husband.

You have the ability to learn new things.

You have the ability to get a better job.

You have the ability to get a raise.

You have the ability to live where you want.

You have the ability to work how you want.

You have the ability to do what you want for a living.

You have the ability to pursue the hobbies you want.

In fact, pretty much whatever you want out of life is yours for the taking.

[Read more]

Do and Give More Than Is Expected of You

When I was 18 years old I spent three months working as a garbage man in Detroit.  It was one of the more interesting experiences of my life. I had taken the job out of necessity because I had the good fortune of being cut off from any spending money by my parents. Facing my first year of college in a few months, I wanted to make sure that I had money for my books and other expenses. When I started the work I threw myself into it with a great deal of enthusiasm. I had not [Read more]

Relationships, Inefficiency, and Your Career

One of the greatest obstacles for efficient businesses is the influence of relationships. In fact, relationships are sometimes so strong that they can ultimately end up crippling a business.

Conversely, some of the greatest powers you personally have in your own career and in business are relationships. Relationships are a powerful force that you can use to your advantage in your career. Inefficient and top-heavy organizations are everywhere, and they become this way mostly due to the power of relationships between the people working there. People often get hired and stay employed–due almost entirely to their ability to connect with their employer–and develop strong relationships at the workplace. I would go so far as to say that probably 20% to 30% of the people inside of most organizations are not actually needed at all. These people are kept employed and are allowed to collect salaries, benefits, and so forth because of the power of the relationships they have developed inside the organization. [Read more]

Self-Help Means Helping Others

There is a simple concept that separates those who experience great success from those who do not. I am going to tell you all about this concept in a second, but first I want to talk a little bit about self-help. I have read countless books that discuss various methods of improving one’s life and career. I have always found it interesting that these books are almost always classified as self-help. The first self-help book ever written is generally considered to be Samuel Smiles’ Self Help, originally published in 1859. The book begins with the sentence “Heaven helps those who help themselves.” The principle that self-help seems to be founded on and seems to revolve around, is that people need to take charge of themselves in order to improve their lives. Most books that fall within this classification generally offer the same prescription for improving any area of life:

• Discover what you want!
• Have a positive attitude!
• Create big goals!
• Have discipline!

[Read more]

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