Written by: Isaiah Hankel
Topics :Business And Entrepreneurship, Entrepreneurship Development
“Wherever you are, be there. If you can be fully present now, you’ll know what it means to live.”
Steve Goodier
“Technology is the knack of so arranging the world that we do not experience it.”
Rollo May
“Computers are useless. They can only give you answers.”
Pablo Picasso
It’s easy to outrun zombies and robots.
Giant leaps in your personal and professional life follow in person interactions, not online messages. Sharing ideas and taking action with real people is far more productive than sending emails and obsessing over daily tasks. Most people believe that human beings are more valuable than tech gear and to-do lists. Yet, many of these same people spend their days looking down at laptops, tablets, and phones while ignoring the people right in front of them. Others spend their days rehearsing daily tasks and worrying about the future instead of engaging in the present moment. People that are constantly plugged into gadgets are robots. People that are never mentally present are zombies.
How To Spot A Zombie Or Robot
Robots and zombies are easy to spot. Do you know someone at the office who pulls out her phone to read a text message while you’re talking to her? Robot. Have you ever had to repeat yourself to a colleague over and over again before his eyes unglaze and he finally understands you? Zombie. Did your boss ever call you into his office and have an entire conversation with you without looking up from his computer screen? Robot. Did you ever ask a group of people a question after a presentation and watch each of them stare blankly back at you? Zombies. Understand that people who are always plugged in and never present cannot succeed. Achieving your goal and fulfilling your purpose in life is … More »
Written by: Isaiah Hankel
Topics :Business And Entrepreneurship, Entrepreneurship Development
“Be willing to be uncomfortable. Be comfortable being uncomfortable. It may get tough, but it’s a small price to pay for living a dream.”
Peter McWilliams
“It’s far more impressive when others discover your good qualities without your help.”
Judith Martin
“Character may almost be called the most effective means of persuasion.”
Aristotle
Get comfortable with discomfort.
Life is full of red tape, gatekeepers, and bottlenecks. Some of these sticking points are set in stone while others are set in sand. The key to getting ahead is deciphering which decision-makers are real and which decision-makers are fake. Phony gatekeepers can be bypassed quickly and unemotionally. Real gatekeepers; on the other hand, must be dealt with strategically. This is true in academia, medicine, business and entrepreneurship. First, you have to find a way to put yourself face-to-face with these people. Then, you have to melt their faces.
Impress yourself onto important people. Decision-makers are people who make important decisions relevant to your goals. Whether you’re vying for a promotion (or admission), trying to close a sale, or seeking exclusive information, achieving your goal will involve persuading other people. You will have to convince real decision-makers that your product, service, or self is worth their time and energy. Impression drives persuasion. Understand that the best way to persuade people is to impress them in a meaningful way. And in today’s world, the only way to impress people is to get directly in front of them and give them a reason not to forget you. Thanks to the Internet and social media, everyone has access to everything. As a result, no one is impressed with online information anymore, and no one is wowed by second-hand connections. Sending out a sea of keyword-loaded resumes or asking a friend of a friend to put … More »
Written by: Isaiah Hankel
Topics :Business And Entrepreneurship, Developing As A Leader, Entrepreneurship Development, Making Money
“Failure should be our teacher, not our undertaker. Failure is delay, not defeat. It is a temporary detour, not a dead end.”
Denis Waitley
“Worry compounds the futility of being trapped on a dead-end street. Thinking opens new avenues.”
Cullen Hightower
“I live on a one-way street that’s also a dead end. I’m not sure how I got there.”
Stephen Wright
A professional journey is worthless if the destination is a dead end.
Never ignore the endpoint in front of you. Everyone is on a professional journey. By definition, this journey has a destination. Whether you’re unemployed, self-employed or gainfully employed by someone else, you’re on a professional journey. The problem is that most people have no idea where their journey ends. They are on a specific career track but do not know, or refuse to know, where the track is taking them. As a result, too many professionals are arriving at dead end destinations in business and entrepreneurship. A destination is a dead end when arriving at it is unfulfilling, limiting, or both. The only way to avoid arriving at a dead end is to confront reality and risk changing tracks. This means looking closely at the people ahead of you and seeking opportunities that shock the system you’re in.
Distraction is a trap. The reason that so many people stay on dead end career tracks is because they are distracted by daily tasks and short-term rewards. This is especially true for professionals earning and holding advanced degrees. These people spend the majority of their time and resources putting out day-to-day fires and chasing certifications and other “carrots.” Then, one day, they find themselves standing in the middle of a cul-de-sac chewing on a carrot that taste like crap. For example, in the United States, less than 30% of Ph.D. faculty … More »
Written by: Isaiah Hankel
Topics :Achieving Your Goal, Business And Entrepreneurship, Entrepreneurship Development, Making Money
“The important thing is to concentrate upon what you can do – by yourself, upon your own initiative.”
Harry Browne
“Never stand begging for what you have the power to earn.”
Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra
“Remain hungry but do not start begging.”
Turkish Proverb
Life will keep you on your knees if you let it.
Begging is hardwired into our DNA. Everyone is born a begger. When you were a newborn, the only thing you knew how to do was beg. You begged for milk, sleep, attention and comfort. As a toddler, you continued to beg. You begged for toys, friends, candy, and television. In school, you begged to be popular, make the team, and to get good grades. Then you begged to graduate and get into a decent college. Then you begged for a job. That’s when the begging really began. Please give me a job. Please give me a good review. Please give me a promotion. Please don’t fire me. Please like me.
The effects of constant begging are gruesome. I saw these effects first-hand in Graduate school. M.D.s and Ph.D.s who managed University laboratories would spend 80 hours a week writing grants, begging for enough money to stay afloat for another year or two. As government funding continued to drop, many of these labs were forced to shut down. Worst of all, the people running these labs had no idea what to do with themselves afterwards. They were so dependent on a single skillset and a lone career path that they didn’t know how to do anything else. As a result, most of them had to beg the University to keep them on as a part-time professor or a research scientist in someone else’s lab. Even though these people were highly educated, they had no idea … More »
Written by: Isaiah Hankel
Topics :Business And Entrepreneurship, Entrepreneurship Development, How To Enjoy Life, Making Money
“If you want to build a ship, don’t drum up people together to collect wood and don’t assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea.”
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
“Enthusiasm is the electricity of life. How do you get it? You act enthusiastic until you make it a habit.”
Gordon Parks
“Nothing is so contagious as enthusiasm.”
Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Give people something to look forward to and they’ll give you anything you want in return.
Excitement is the most motivating emotion. Excitement is empowering because it puts you in the driver’s seat of your own life. When you’re excited, you want something to happen. You’re no longer worrying about the future, you’re anticipating it. You’re expecting something good. You’re expecting pleasure. And positive expectancy acts to increase happiness and boost self confidence. This means that you can improve your self esteem and mood at any time simply by getting excited.
Excitement is the most charming emotion. Nothing is more magnetic than excitement. When excitement is expressed, it’s called enthusiasm, which literally means intense and eager enjoyment, interest, or approval. Excitement is the greatest gift you can give to other people. This is because there’s nothing more valuable than inspiration. When you excite someone, you help them see their future in a positive and enticing light. You give them something to look forward to. This fills them with the magic formula of anticipation, confidence, and boldness. Understand: anything is possible under the spirit of excitement. The key is learning how to initiate excitement in yourself and in other people. Once you learn how to initiate excitement, you can harness its full power by directing it towards ideas and objects of your choosing. Excitement will not only help you influence motivation … More »
