Intangible Wealth (IW)

Many of us manage to stay ‘busy’ throughout the day.  We’re running here, going there, stopping at this place, and going to that place.  Our days are full, packed with this activity or that activity: you have a full time job, you’re a full time student, a full time parent, and/or a full time member of X club or activity.    Between our professional, academic, and social pursuits we’re much occupied.  But have you ever stopped to ask yourself, “Am I working full time or fool time?

Working Fool Time???

Yes.  You’ve read that correctly…fool time. You are working fool time when you falsely believe that since you allot a certain amount of time for an activity that you are actually engaged in that activity for the entire amount of time you allotted.  Basically, if you are fooling yourself into believing that allotted time equals productive time you are probably working fool time.

Time is one resource that we all have in common.

If your clock is anything like mine, it’s got 12 numbers on it.  And when the hour hand takes two laps you’ve completed an entire day.  Twenty-four hours comes and goes.  Now, here’s the really important question: have you ever set aside the time to reflect on how effectively you used your last 24 hours?  Most people haven’t.  I strongly advise you to give this a try.  Take a moment to think about some activities you did yesterday, how much time you set aside for them, and how much of that time you wasted.  Perhaps, instead of analyzing a few activities, you could just pick out one or two.  This will enable you to tell whether or not you are working fool time.

Running My Mouth

I gave myself this same analysis a while back when looking at my exercise routine.  I found that I was spending a little over an hour and a half (1.5 hours) in the gym.  I’m a huge advocate of physical fitness and I love to exercise.  Still, the question I asked myself was, am I truly exercising 1.5 hours in the gym or simply spending 1.5 hours in the gym? How much of that time is productive?  Am I working out fool time?

I knew I needed to be more efficient, so I bought a stop watch and began to time myself.  Every time I finished an exercise I took note of the time and how long it took me to complete what I did.  Not long after doing this, I found that I was

(1) Sluggish moving from one exercise to the next, and

(2) Running my mouth too much instead of working out

I wasn’t really working out for a full 1.5 hours.  What I was really doing was working out fool time!  I decided I needed to stop fooling myself.  I pity the fool.  So I developed three goals, which were to

(1) Immediately move from one exercise to the next with no delay

(2) Focus on my exercises and minimize the socializing, and

(3) Maintain the quality of my exercise routine.

How long did it take to see results?

In only five days, I had amazing results. Each day, I decreased my exercise time and still completed all of my workouts. On day one, it still took me 1.5 hours to finish my workout… no improvement. But after that, the results poured in. On the second day I decreased by time to 1hr and 10 minutes; the third day was just over an hour; the fourth day was just under an hour.  I was pumped! Each day I was making progress.  Eventually, I was able to get my exercise routine cut down from 1.5 hours (90 minutes) to 50 minutes on the fifth day!  Wow.  I practically cut my workout time in half!  I added 40 more minutes to my day by simply being proactive about the answer to this question: Am I working fool time?

You can apply this same concept to virtually any activity in your life and you will see remarkable results. I guarantee it!

What’s the big deal about 40 minutes?

What could you do with 40 minutes more a day?  You could use that time to take a nap, beat the rush hour traffic, pick the kids up from school, read a book, etc.  And if 40 minutes a day doesn’t mean much to you, how about almost 5 hours more per week (40 minutes x 7 days)?  You could use that time to go on a date, have a dinner party, take an evening course, or make some extra money.

How to Stop Working Fool Time

(1) Pick one activity that you do, preferably at least every week or most days of the week.

(2) Time how long you are engaged in that activity

(3) Complete this same activity in the least amount of time possible and record how long it takes you.  Keep doing this until you feel you have minimized the time as much as possible without sacrificing the quality of the activity.

(4) This amount of time will be used as your baseline.  Your goal is to conduct this activity in this amount of time, every time, without reducing the quality of the activity

Once you have completed this successfully on one activity, select another activity and apply the same four steps.  I guarantee that you will find yourself completing activities more efficiently and will have more time to do other things that are important to you.

What are you waiting for?  Stop fooling yourself and give it a try!

It was a beautiful September night and the sounds of crickets ricocheted through the trees with soft winds rustling the leaves. My wife and I sat on the sofa with the aroma of incense and the soft glow of votive candles. This was our romantic night of brainstorming where we put our minds together to think creatively!

“This is the perfect idea!” I said while we developed product and service ideas. “This will be a good one too” I said as the ideas were really beginning to flow.

With a pen in hand, I wrote down each specific idea that we developed. Eventually, the page was filled with an assortment of creative projects and random phrases of inspiration. This was a very energetic brainstorming session and, after generating so many different ideas, I was shocked at the variety of ideas we came up with.

But what is an idea without action?

Of course none of the ideas we brainstormed will manifest without work. The page I wrote on was filled with great ideas but without taking the steps to bring them to life the entire list can easily transform from a nursery to a cemetery.  In other words, action gives birth to our ideas; inaction brings death to our ideas.  Activity is vital. And as we came up with ideas we made sure to remind ourselves of this fact.

There’s a deeper concern than just action.

But do you know the evil culprit that tiptoes under the guise of activity? It can sneak into any of the ideas you undertake. It is so sneaky that it can sneak into well-intentioned and even well-planned activity. In fact, it thrives on activity. Simply put, it breaks in the moment you decide to… wait.
And I don’t mean “wait” as it is used in the typical sense of inactivity where a person is on standby for the next step in a sequence of events. Instead, I am referring to when a person is engaged in activity, even vigorous activity. I’ve found that waiting, as I define it, can be detrimental to any of the ideas my wife and I are taking action on. Here is what wait really means…

Wasted Invaluable Time (WA.I.T)

In this sense, to wait does not mean that you are being inactive. It means that you may be taking action all the while. Therefore, you can actually be busy and be… waiting. You can have a full schedule lined up for yourself and still be… waiting. You may be thinking, how is that possible? It doesn’t make sense? If I’m taking action then I’m not waiting at all!

Let me explain: whenever you take action steps that are contrary to the action steps you need to be doing… you are waiting. We often fill our agendas with activities that make us feel like we’re accomplishing our goals but they actually are not. They are illusory steps that keep our schedules occupied in order to dodge the real action steps we need to be doing. We wait by creating a mirage of activity that is meaningless.

How I Waited

As a visual artist, I’ve had quite a few years experience drawing. All of my art was merely for my own private viewing and not intended for marketing. I just wasn’t interested in marketing my work. But with my mother, brother, uncle and aunt’s encouragement I decided to do some marketing. I figured here’s an opportunity; why not give it a shot?

So I pulled the trigger and started my business selling my motivational artworks. Ready, fire, aim was my approach! With this approach, I was vending and selling my art but I lacked a plan. My efforts lacked niche-market specificity and it was solely premised on face-to-face transactions. It also did not harness the leverage of other people’s time, other people’s money, or available technology. I was setting myself up for a setback! The effort to sell my artwork became very costly and laborious. I decided I needed to make some changes if I wanted to continue so I started brainstorming. I came up with two great ideas:

1. Research niche-markets for the product
2. Automate the sales process so that it does not require my presence

In a few days, I compiled a long list of potential customers in the niche-market. Before long, I also found a way to automate the sales process. I’ve got the niche-market and I have an automated system that can get them the products. Excellent! Now I’ve just got to contact the list of potential customers and coordinate.

But, hold on… wait.

Even though I had a sufficient list of potential customers, I told myself that I needed to do more research to find more customers before contacting any of them. I also figured it might be a good idea to create more products just in case the customers want more products than I had to offer. So I got busy doing more research and creating more products… waiting. Wasted invaluable time (wait) continued passing by as I preoccupied myself with useless activity.

Although it may appear that additional market research and product generation were necessary, they were not. They were illusory steps that kept my schedule fully occupied in order to dodge the real action steps I needed to take. What I really needed to be doing was calling the list of customers I already had, not researching more as a prerequisite for contacting any. What I really needed to be doing was marketing the products I already had, not creating more products as its prerequisite. These actions were contrary to what I needed to be doing. I was waiting… and waiting… and waiting…

What were the consequences of this?

There are three basic consequences to waiting:

1. Delayed Goals
2. Frustration
3. Quitting

My goal of contacting my niche-market and truly utilizing the automated system were pushed further back. For each day I decided to do additional research and product generation rather than active marketing, I delayed my goal. As the goal moved further away, the results I wanted traveled further with it. I started getting frustrated with my efforts and more exhausted chasing after them. Despite running as hard as I could to reach the goal it never seemed to get closer. The problem was that I was running hard at wasting invaluable time (waiting) with meaningless tasks. Eventually I began losing enthusiasm and doubted my efforts. My motivation decreased, activity slowed, and I eventually quit. Waiting ruined my business.

Why do we wait?

The real reason we waste invaluable time is because of fear. We’re scared of taking action and doing the things we know we need to do. So we create a façade of activity that makes it seem like we’re being proactive when we’re just being cowards. That’s what happened to me. I was being a coward. I hid in the comfort of being busy because I was scared to face potential rejection, scared to be uncomfortable, and paralyzed with fear.

Waiting is a losing game! Get down to business and take deliberate action on the steps that need to get done. Activity is not an end in itself. We need to stop being busy with our goals and start being productive with them.

3 Action Steps to Stop Waiting

1.  Set milestones for yourself. World renowned business philosopher Jim Rohn says that we should make “measurable progress in reasonable time”. Don’t give yourself one year to do something that should take a week! Break your larger goal into smaller steps. Write those smaller steps on calendar dates leading up to the larger goal’s completion and stick to it.

2.  Use Parkinson’s Law to your advantage. Compress time frames and put the pressure on. Set shorter timeframes to reach each milestone. If you give yourself less time to get it done chances are you will complete it in less time also. Test the possible.

3.  Reward yourself. Positive reinforcement is critical. Give yourself healthy incentives for completing your milestones. After completing your milestone, I guarantee you will be excited, so go do something else that makes you smile!

What are you wasting invaluable time with? Do you have any methods that have helped you stop waiting?

I know you probably didn’t think I’d ever write about something as devious as this.  But I couldn’t help it.  Robbing everyone else is so easy to do, and surprisingly, most people don’t realize the step by step process on how to do it.  Well, at least they don’t consciously realize it.  Some of you may actually know how to rob everyone at once and escape undetected.  If you’re one of them, then great!  But if you’re not, and you would be interested in learning how to, I urge you to read on!

I’ve got to be honest though, I didn’t know how to rob everyone at once until a few weeks ago.  I had a pretty good idea of how to do it but I made it so complex.  My friend captured it so simply.  He made it very clear to me.  I was so surprised by how simple and concise it was I asked him to repeat it.  I then pulled out my pen and notepad. 

Here’s what he said. 

The moment you try to be something you’re not, you’re not only robbing yourself, but you are robbing everyone else of everything you have to offer. 

 

Please re-read that aloud. 

The cat is out of the bag. 

What does it mean to “try to be something you’re not”?

What are the principles you live by?  What are your morals?  What is your concept of integrity?  Who do you consider yourself to be? What do you represent? 

Think about that for a moment…

Your answers to these questions are part of who you are.  So when you violate your principles, operate outside of your moral framework, lack integrity, and fail to represent what you’re about, you have officially tried to be something you’re not!  And you have also just begun your heist on the world.  You have just begun to rob everyone else of what you have to offer. 

 You are robbing yourself of the opportunity to spread your knowledge, wisdom, and experience into your surrounding society.  That moment when you are trying to be something you’re not is the moment where you have eliminated your opportunity to express your valuable thoughts and ideas.  It will also weaken your character because deep inside you will always know that you didn’t have the courage to stand for what you believe in.  You will live a life full of regret and disappointment. 

Take myself for example, having this website with my personal writings containing my thoughts and ideas.  This is me.  This is part of what I have to offer society.  There are people out there that have read this in the past or may even read it 10 years from now and find it valuable.  Hopefully you’re one of them.  Regardless, my point is this:  I would only be weakening my society and myself by not being me.  And part of me being me is sharing these concepts.  But if I never shared these ideas with anybody, who would actually know that I was hoarding these thoughts?  Who would know that I was robbing all of you? 

Nobody! 

Except me.

You’re not innocent.  And neither am I.

I’ve actually robbed the world on many occasions.  Hiding my true thoughts and ideas in order to conform and seek acceptance.  And if you’re honest with yourself, then you’ll see you’ve got your fair share of robberies too. 

But the first step to change is awareness.  So if you’re constantly trying to be something you’re not and don’t see anything wrong with it because your “friends” think you’re cool at the moment or because you get immediate gratification from it in someway, I am here to tell you this…

YOU’RE A THIEF!

But this crime is fairly easy to get away with.  After all, who will likely be the first person to know that you’re not true to yourself?  You!  If not you, then maybe you’re fortunate enough to have some extremely honest people around you who also know you well enough to warn you.  But don’t count on it.  I find that these types of thieves are so common nowadays most people think nothing of them. 

So, for you thieves out there don’t worry…

NO ONE WILL TELL ON YOU! 

How to Keep a Clean Record

Stay true to yourself.  Live by your principles, morals, beliefs, and keep your integrity intact.  To do otherwise is not smart.  You’ll be robbing everyone else and yourself.  You’re life will ultimately be unrewarding and unfulfilling.  Stay positive, live fully, and reap the rewards by being the best version of you available.  Stand up for what you believe and make a positive difference!