“Read the best books first, or you may not have a chance to read them all.” – Henry David Thoreau

Since the beginning of 2009, I’ve read about 50 books on different subjects in the realm of self-help, business, time management, leadership, teamwork, relationships, blogging & social media and of course, finance.

Most people in my age group, (18-25) wouldn’t touch a book with a ten-foot poll. I find any kind of material on these subjects fascinating! How many more books will I read before next year? Most likely another 50-100. All the extremely wealthy people I look up to say they read at least 10-20 books a year. Most of the wildly successful people I know, read upwards from 40-50 per year. This is 500 by the end of the decade.

After being subjected to thousands of hours of material like this, and keeping such a commitment, you can’t possibly go on living without being effected in some major way.

From personal experience, I would say that reading has not only made me more knowledgeable but also it’s given clarity, a boat load of tools for personal change, and an understanding for “mysteries” in life most people repeatedly get wrong. Reading has given me an advantage over people who are in the dark about certain critical key areas. It’s a fact that you can’t out earn your personal development.

The following are 12 books that have changed who I am!

Believe me, this is a hard list. There are so many books out there that deserve to be on my top 12. And I’m sure within 3 years from now, I’ll have a whole new load of books to add to this list. Everyone who reads a lot has a top X list of books they feel have made a significant change in their life. Take Sid Savara’s list, The Best Personal Development Reading List. Sid has Og Mandino’s, Greatest Salesman in the World,  as one of his top reads. Or how about Vlad’s 6 Personal Development Books That Have Changed My Life. Many of the books on Vlad’s list are on mine as well. Henrik Edberg, a well respected blogger, has read 100’s of books and posted what he believes are the best of the best in the niche, 10 of My Favorite Personal Development Books. He has books by Wayne Dyer, Tim Ferris(author of 4-Hour Work Week) and Ekhart Tolle. We can cut down the time we waste on reading by finding the best of the best.

In time, we all create our own top 10, top 6, top 12 lists and eventually who we are and what we become rests upon what we constantly put into our minds.

1. The Magic of Thinking Big by David Shwartz

One of the first personal development books I ever read and continue to read to this day. Magic of Thinking Big teaches you how to change your attitude, think like a leader, build confidence and destroy fear. Magic of Thinking Big goes into everything from using a big vocabulary to dressing for success. A quick read that is simple enough to be understood by anyone at any age.

2. 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey

A thorough book of timeless principles covering priorities, empathetic listening skills, seeking first to understand before being understood, sharpening the saw. Covey talks about the importance of the inside-out approach and how centering your life around principles is a smart choice. One of the earlier of my personal development reads as well. A book that has helped me create a base for my philosophy for personal effectiveness and proactivity. Stephen R. Covey is probably one of the best authors in his feild. This book will change your view on life and prompt you take your priorities into careful consideration.

3. Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill

If there’s one book you MUST read on wealth and finance, it’s Think and Grow Rich. Even though this book was first published over 70 years ago, the timeless laws will continue to live on for centuries. Think and Grow Rich was based on the Law of Success, a 16 lesson course that goes into much more detail then the actual Think and Grow Rich book. The only reason why I don’t put Law of Success above this book is because I haven’t fully read it yet. If you plan on accumulating wealth sometime in your life, Think and Grow Rich needs to become a permanent cornerstone in your personal library.

Once you start reading the first few chapters, it will be difficult to put down. Napoleon Hill brings up some of the most intriguing topics I’ve ever read. For instance, the concept of the Master Mind group, something which I had heard about before but not understood. I have to admit, one of the highlights of the book was reading the chapter on Sexual Transmutation. This was an eye opener and got me researching how to channel sexual energy into getting more accomplished in one day than I usually could.

Napoleon Hill explains multiple other techniques such as visualization to direct your subconscious mind in guiding you to create wealth in your life. One of the most amazing books, especially for being over 70 years old.

4. The Power of Focus by Canfield and coauthors Mark Hansen and Les Hewitt

Jack Canfield is a well known author of the Best-Selling and largely famous Chicken Soup for the Soul books. Canfield and coauthors Mark Hansen and Les Hewitt became instant heros of mine after I finished reading this. Why did I put this book on my top 12? Well, because it just about one of the best books I can honestly say I ever read. One of the most thorough peaces of material on goal setting, strength finding and staying focused. I have never read such an eye opening book on focus and discipline. Power of Focus is a book you may want to read and re-read, at least every year. This could very well be a complete success manual, even if you never read another book in your life.

5. Men are From Mars, Women are from Venus by John Gray

You might wonder why I list a relationship book as one of the best personal development books I’ve read. Well, because everyone who lives and breathes should read this over and over, own a copy and review it on a yearly basis. John Gray published Men Are From Mars almost 20 years ago and since then has been recognized as the “relationship guru.” Gray reveals some major differences between men and women in their communication and how major disputes and confusion can arise when we’re not aware of these differences. This is not a book on being a “pick-up-artist.” To be honest, relationships are ten times more important than one-night-stands. Pretty much all of us generally have an idea of how to get what we want as far as sex goes. Most of us are poor when it comes to relationships, of any kind.

Half way reading through Men Are From Mars, it dawned on me. If only they’d teach this to kids in High School. If only we were educated to handle relationships (add finance on top of that), education would be worth something.

Men Are From Mars is not only for couples. It can also be a helpful guide to understanding the differences between men and women and what each want and how they go about getting it. This is a great guide for every day life, and the work place, even for solving disputes or for better communication. If you don’t read another book on relationships, this is a good one to start with.

6. Millionaire Next Door by Thomas J. Stanley

Who are the rich, what do they look like? The Millionaire Next Door is a revelation of who rich people really are! For the most part, the book focuses on Self-Made Millionaires. Millionaire Next Door left me both, shocked and inspired. Stanley presents some surprising data revealing the real lives of the every day millionaire.

7. Secrets of the Millionaire Mind by T. Harv Eker

Another must read for wealth accumulation. T. Harv Eker’s 17 lessons of the difference between the rich and poor. “Rich people are committed to being rich. Poor people
want to be rich.” Eker explains that the definition of Poor and Rich people in the context his book are people who Think Rich and Poor.

8. Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie

Like, Think and Grow Rich, Win Friends and Influence People is another work of art published over 70 years ago that survived the test of time. Carnegie is known as the grandfather of all people skills, a well deserved reputation held long after his death. “Dale Carnegie had an understanding of human nature that will never be outdated.”

I’m not going to tell you what Win Friends and Influence People covers or give you a run down. There are more online reviews on this book than most people have braincells. Carnegie has had a life long lasting effect on millions of people in the world for the past 70 years. This should be one of the first books you read as far as people skills are concerned.

9. Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert T. Kiyosaki

My brother-in-law lent me Rich Dad Poor Dad when I was 17 and it inspired me to start building businesses. Though this book is simple, to the very depth of the word, it’s a book that should be a requirement for every child to read before they reach High School.

10. Built To Last by Jim Collins

If you’re serious about business at any level, whether you’re an MBA student, or just a regular Joe getting into entrepreneurship, this is a sound read. Jim Collins has authored other Best Sellers like From Good To Great and How the Mighty Fall. I suggest this as a good start to learning and researching the key factors in business longevity and what keeps successful giants successful over many centuries.

11. 177 Mental Toughness Secrets of the World Class by Steve Siebold

Mental toughness is the base of all great achievement and performance. Steve Siebold packs 177 lessons of high performing world-class individuals at all areas of life, whether sports or business, into this one invaluable masterpiece. 117 Mental Toughness Secrets is a road map for correct and clear thinking in your path to high performance and achievement in all areas of life. In short, Steve Siebold has created a profound and inspiring manual to mental toughness and higher thinking.There are few books out there that have the privilege of being an equal.

12. The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership by John C. Maxwell

Seriously, John C. Maxwell has published so many winning books on leadership, decision-making, ethics and everything else a leader should know that it’s hard not to put more of his books up here. The 21 Irrefutable Laws, The Law of the Lid, The Law of Navigation, etc, are the stepping stones to every great leader. Once you read 21 Laws, start on more of Maxwell’s books. Everything he writes has never failed to inspire me. His passion and love for teaching and leadership, and for helping other people change their lives shines through his work. Leaders at all levels and in all positions can benefit from his invaluable and unforgettable lessons on solid leadership. What did I learn from 21 Laws? Strong leadership is not an overnight process, it’s not a decade long process, it may even take you 30 or 40 years to develop yourself as a strong leader.

Concluding Words

Once I started getting into reading really good books I noticed something. My outlook on life, my thoughts, my attitude and the compass of my future, very slowly, started shifting in a new direction. Until a little while ago I never realized the profound impact this has had, not until I listened to something John C. Maxwell said about how books have changed his life, the way he thinks, talks etc etc. Zig Ziglar said, “if you don’t like your output, change your input.”

It’s impossible to dive into the minds of authors like Brian Tracy, Tony Robbins, John C. Maxwell and not become effected in some way, shape or form. This list proves, there is no one book you should read. Hell, read ‘em all! Maybe you read an entire book, and only learn a few new things…but you learn one thing that changes your life forever.

“Show me the books he loves and I shall know the man far better than through mortal friends.” – Dawn Adams

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“We live in the age where text is one of the most common methods of communication. The people who know how to communicate the best are the ones who put into practice each technique in proportion to their effectiveness.” – Clinton Skakun

As a Gen-Y, I can text and use computer chats pretty fluently…and almost always get my point across. And as a Gen-Y I wish I could say the same about my verbal communication skills. Why is it that I can write fairly good blog posts but I find myself stumbling over words when trying to explain the same topic? One word…practice. What we don’t practice we loose.

I’ve been writing this blog for about 2 1/2 years and within that time period my writing communication skills improved by 40-70%. This is good considering I used to leave much to be desired in the writing department. And even if my writing isn’t still that great, I could give two flipping bricks what a English teacher would say about my writing now days. I can be the judge of that. These days I can spit out 3-4 posts without barely any effort, just pure inspiration. Once I get going I just keep going. But let’s take a closer look at other mediums, for example PodCasts and Vlogging, two methods of blogging that I’ve never delved deeply into.

Not only can using other forms of blogging, such as podcasting and video blogging, allow you to reach larger audiences but it can also develop some of your personal and professional skills if you’re still a relatively new blogger like me.

How can this help you out personally. Let’s take a closer look at some of these observations:

• Videos create curiosity and allow you to get a clearer point across by using tone and body language.
• People will fall in love with your videos before your text. Video, being a medium that reveals a lot of personal traits that people are curious about.
• A lot more people are using YouTube to find subjects of interests instead of blog articles. Videos are quick and to the point.
• People like to know you’re human, and even if you’re not a great speaker, many people prefer seeing you in a video instead of text.
• Most of our human relations skills depend on us expressing ourselves verbally and physically. We spend too much time already texting, e-mailing, chatting, blogging etc.

I’m seriously considering adopting a video blogging project onto my plate and posting less on this blog. Why don’t you consider doing the same thing? If the idea of 1000’s of people seeing you in video strikes fear into you, just view it as a way to expand your comfort zone. Also, it will improve your verbal skills therefor making you a better speaker giving you the basics to deliver powerful speeches.

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A fact of life: “Everything that can go wrong, will go wrong.”

Monday morning’s common theme: “I can’t get to the important stuff today…too much stuff to do.”

Ever have an entire week of doing nothing but putting out fires, solving other people’s problems and working on a pile of stuff that never seemed to get done? At the end of the week nothing really important got done…but hey, at least your bills are paid, your toe nails are clipped and you’ve just cleaned up all the spam that collected in your inbox. If this sounds familiar, it’s only because everyone who is responsible for their own work has experienced it 50 times a week.

The problem is not that we don’t have time. We have more than enough of it! The problem is the value we place on the myriad unimportant stuffs.

If you break your typical day up, what percent do you really spend on truly productive tasks? 80%? 60%? 20%? 10%?

In my experience, you can break all work-related activities into three categories:

1. Truly productive
2. Indirectly productive(e.g. education, planning, tracking)
3. Busywork/Urgent (e.g. the last signature you forgot at the office, paying bills, fixing the car, “Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong”)

To stay healthy and alive we need to balance all of these out. That said, each has a priority. #1 should get the highest priority(say, 5-12 of the most productive hours of the day), #2 should get moderate attention(30mins-3hours a day), #3 should be made last priority whenever possible and rushed as possible (one hour MAX).

I got sick of stacking all of these categories together each week and only getting #3’s done. As you might expect, I always felt behind. If you’re not careful #3 will suck you in every time. So you have to be CAREFUL! This is how I plan my days now:

I left he biggest space for A. A is IMPORTANT tasks. Things like, making sales, getting leads, writing up business, sending invoices, MAKING MONEY!!! Other personal development goals can be added to this quadrant as well. For example, working out, or anything else that you have planned for the long term. B is for URGENT or LESSER IMPORTANCE tasks! Your goal is to keep this quadrant as EMPTY as possible! These are of course, things that cause you to spend time and/or money and all those things that “can go wrong and do go wrong”–Murphy’s Law again! C is the INDIRECTLY PRODUCTIVE quadrant! Work in this quadrant, while not as pressing to get done like quadrant A, can be EXTREMELY productive. C covers mostly education, planning, activity tracking and goal setting. While C is one of the most productive categories, working on this alone of course will not be enough. Plans need to be undertaken, thus the need for A.

Time constraints

1. A, Truly productive — Spend 5-12 hours a day
2. C, Indirectly productive(e.g. education, planning, tracking) — Spend 30mins-3hours a day
3. B, Busywork/Urgent (“Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong”) — 1 Hour MAX

Energy constraints

1. A, Truly productive — Most productive hours of the day, Morning(depends on individual…for most it’s 8am-5pm)
2. C, Indirectly productive(e.g. education, planning, tracking) — More relaxed time of day
3. B, Busywork/Urgent (“Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong”) — Last grabs

Productivity Myths

• If you want something done right you have to do it yourself. No!!! Actually, delegation is the best thing in the world. Teach people to do things that you’re better off not doing.
• Haste makes Waste. Procrastination is the cause for all of my “waste.” Getting stuff done fast is the wave of the future, don’t you know…
• I don’t have time to join a gym. If you don’t take care of your health now, you’ll be paying to get it taken care of later…by a medical specialist.
• There’s just not enough time in a day. As many times as I’ve said it myself, it’s just not true. It’s called the Parkinson’s principle, if you DID have any extra time you’d find a way to fill it, waste it or forget it. Your time gets sucked in by what you make priority.
• I’m going to loose 20 LBS, make $10,000, run for mayor and win this week. Maybe if you’re some type of crack junkie that’d work, but quantum leaps don’t create habit as well as constant consistent action does. Wouldn’t it be amazing if you could perform at a consistent level for 5 months, 5 years, 15 years. You would out power everyone, and all you’d have to work on is being consistent.

Productivity Facts

• “Everything that can go wrong, WILL!” – Murphy’s Law. I’ve planned a lot of perfect weeks, but never had a week where everything went as planned. Everything that can go wrong will. And you can use that knowledge to your advantage.
• The 80/20 rule We tend to spend 80% of our time doing things that only bring 20% results. Highly productive people spend 80% of their time on 80% of productive tasks.
• Every 10 minutes spent planning is 2-7 hours saved a week. If you know what you’re going to do ahead a time, you won’t have to decide when you get there.
• Work expands to fill time.Give yourself 16 hours to do a days work, and you’ll most likely get the same amount of work done as a 8 or 12 hour day. 4 hours is often spend thinking about it, another 4 is spent getting distracted and the last few hours are racing to make up for lost time.
• Hofstadter’s Law: It always takes longer than you expect, even when you take into account Hofstadter’s Law.

Now quit reading posts like this and go out and do something!!!

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Courtesy of Philanthro Media

Can the web allow your local business reach the greatest number of potential clients?

Just a few years ago when we needed to find a phone number of a business, where did we turn? You guessed it! The Yellow Pages. And as well as that worked five or ten years ago, it’s not working as well in the information age we live in today. While traditional advertising is still a great solution, new statistics prove that consumer local online search usage is growing more and more rapidly each year.

A few quick facts about online search…

• The recession is forcing business owners to find new, more cost effective solutions for advertising and marketing. Many of them are turning to the web!
• According to Internet World Stats, Internet user growth has climbed 140% from 2000 to 2009 in North America!
• comScore data shows from February of 2007 to February of 2008 local business searches increased by 76% and Kelsey Group estimates that 20% of all online web searches have local intent.
• Forrester Research estimates $917 billion worth of retail sales in 2009 were “Web-influenced” in contrast to $155 billion of consumer goods sold online in the same year.
• Matt Ackerson, from CenterNetworks, in early 2009 said: “The future of the internet will become more locally focused.”

What should these facts mean to you? Right now it’s easier than ever to launch and promote your own website! The opportunity the web has to offer is skyrocketing! The number of people using the web is greater than ever before. More and more people are using online search engines to find local businesses, and most exciting news is that…nearly half of these searches have a buying intent!

“Our company is currently expanding and looking for business in the local communities of Southern Alberta. We believe that there are many business owners out there that, when enlightened to the facts, would be willing to say YES to the web and its benefits. While the web isn’t a new idea, it’s obvious that there are still many businesses owners that need to hear about the benefits we offer. We serve Calgary, High River, Okotoks, Strathmore, Black Diamond, Nanton, the Foot Hills and Southern Alberta!” – Learn More Here!

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1. Must eventually build towards residuals

Life’s too long to work ALL your life. Eventually you’ll want to kick back and enjoy all your hard work, without needing to worry about getting up the next morning and paying for it. This means building a autopilot business that works for you and can possibly work without you for long periods of time. To build such a business you need to become a system builder not just a self-employed professional. Residual income means you have to become good at handling people, either selling subscriptions or building a team of people that will do the work for you while you tend to the system innovation.

2. One must keep you financially secure

Building businesses are tough and you wont always have enough income coming in from your new ventures. Thus the need for a J-O-B. While you’re building a business you want to keep putting away into your savings, retirement funds, etc etc let alone expenses, debt and business overhead. If you have a choice, get a job that will create opportunities for building your skills and finding connections and contacts for your long term career(your businesses). Don’t break yourself working on a business venture. Most of your businesses may end up being self-invested, more than likely. If you want to keep focused on building businesses and not fighting off creditors, make sure you take care of both sides well ahead of time.

3. Must be synergistic

Focusing on too many things at once creates mediocre success. If you want to be driving Ferrari’s, making payments on your parents’ ranch and buying your signifcant other’s love(oops, I didn’t say that…I meant bringing home the bacon) you need to work smart and hard. Work hard on building and moving things forward AND work smart by making sure your hard work pays off. This means working on businesses that all require similar skills from you. For example, I decided to get into building businesses that required people skills. You may want to build engineering companies or car businesses. Or you may have one business that sells multiple products. You need to decide what works for you and know how to pull it off without driving yourself crazy.

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Hiring Madness and Freelancing

With technology with now days, outsourcing is common place and anyone with a laptop and a Internet connection can become a web developer. We call them freelance developers. People who work for multiple employers or clients. Many of these freelance developers are amazing, they blow your mind and compel you to tell the world. Then, there are those developers that set high expectations of themselves, make big promises to clients, and after the initial deposit you never hear from them again, or they spoof the project. And then there are those developers that are sincere, they work their asses off … but they can’t communicate with you. Maybe they can’t speak your language, or maybe there’s a lack of communication because of the medium you’re using(e.g. Text only gets across 7% of your communication), OR maybe your coder is just one fo those people who think you’re full of crap and don’t want to listen. Have you ever been in one of these situations? Most people who have had any hiring experience have.

I believe the main pitfall of even experienced programmers is listening to the client from a “coder’s” perspective. Thinking about HOW to get it done instead of truly understanding WHAT the client’s vision is.

You’ve lost Time and Money and … You’re Not Alone!

A gentleman, I previously talked to about a web project, told me about an experience he had with a non-local freelancer. His complaint was that the coder he was dealing with just simply didn’t listen, he didn’t possess empathy and he couldn’t fully understand what needed to get done. He came to me because he wanted someone local and he liked what he saw on my blog(one of the reasons why I blog in the first place).

Don’t just hire anyone! How much money do you have to spend on people who don’t get the work done? How much of your time and hard earned money will you waste if you don’t hire the right programmer right now … instead of later?

Lesson 1: Empathy is always the 1st trait you want to look for in a freelancer, especially a developer. A developer must always shows he or she cares and make attempts to dive deeper into your vision.

Price vs. Quality, is there even a correlation?

It’s a popular thing to do now days. Hiring overseas to cut costs and widen margins. Everything from Virtual Assistants to Writing Articles can be outsourced to people anywhere from India to Texas to the North Pole. Does lower cost automatically mean lower quality? Of course not. The fact that anyone with a computer and a PayPal can become your employee doesn’t mean there aren’t tons upon tons of excellent, experienced people out there ready and waiting to serve you with every ounce of breathe they have. For people in India, or other foreign countries, your work might mean food or no food for them and their family. Most people won’t fowl that up. Then we have to deal with people who don’t have a concept of professionalism. When you work with businesses all around the world your professionalism has to be peak. For example, spelling mistakes or grammar errors on a resume is a professional leak. Or people you don’t hear from for 3 days because they went on vacation and forgot to tell you.

Lesson 2: Professionals almost NEVER undersell themselves. Why would you encourage people who do?

Does Education Matter?

Let me tell you something: YES! Can you imagine hiring someone who’s uneducated? Let’s avoid the topic of formal education or post-secondary. I believe that there are better forms of education than college. Self education, learning at your own pace, is the most valuable and most overlooked education out there. There is no limit to what a person can learn by simply going to a collage library, picking up a bunch of books and then instantly putting what you learn to practice. Educated people are more passionate, they know how to sell themselves(even if they don’t have a degree) and usually more street smart.

Lesson 3: Having a BS in Computer Science or MBA or Marketing degree does not assure you that the person capable of getting the job done. It’s how much they learned in those classes and how much they put to use. Don’t judge by education alone.

Does Experience Matter?

Let me tell you something: HELL YES! I have a saying, “You don’t *know* anything until you *do* it and do it well.” The people who know and the people who do are two very different people. The people who have perfected their skills though practice are the ones you want to hire, not the people who have perfected their knowledge. I have to tell you, in my own career, experience is something I’d pay 10 million dollars for if I could get it the first day. But of course you can’t get sufficient experience in one day, it takes a long time. That’s why it’s important that you pay close attention to how much experience a programmer has before hiring him or her. The less experience a programmer has the longer it takes, and you’re paying for that inexperience.

Lesson 4: A programmer must have lots of experience, and show signs of constant and never ending improvement.

The Pain is Greater than the Paying, Always!

A good programmer or web developer is your best friend. Good people are rare, GREAT people are even rarer. A great programmer has improved VERY FAST! He knows a lot about what he does and has spent hours upon hours experimenting and pulling his hair out. If you run into a bald programmer you’re in luck!

Can I be your Web Developer Already?

After all this I’d like to thank you for the opportunity to someday serve your web development needs. I know how hard it is sometimes to find a good web developer and that it can be a frustrating process. I know you might be saying, “what sets you apart from everyone else?” This is why I’ve devoted my web development career to helping people like you find true quality service. And isn’t that the kind of service you want? I’d love to hear from you and learn more about your project, your needs and what you look for when hiring a developer. If you want to know more about what it is I do, please head over to my Service Page. Maybe I can even find someone who could do the job better than I can. Do you have any concerns, any questions? I’d love to hear your comments and opinions on this post. Please feel free to network with me on Twitter.

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Photo Credit: The Wisdom Journal

Outliers is a MUST READ for anyone who studies history, successful people or the hidden side of what people call “genius”. Outliers explains how people who like Bill Gates, the Beatles and Dale Carnegie achieved on a massive massive scale and how it wasn’t caused by luck or genius like most like to believe.

What the hell is an “Outlier”?

“Outlier” is a scientific term to describe things or phenomena that lie outside normal experience. In the summer, in Paris, we expect most days to be somewhere between warm and very hot. But imagine if you had a day in the middle of August where the temperature fell below freezing. That day would be outlier. And while we have a very good understanding of why summer days in Paris are warm or hot, we know a good deal less about why a summer day in Paris might be freezing cold. In this book I’m interested in people who are outliers-in men and women who, for one reason or another, are so accomplished and so extraordinary and so outside of ordinary experience that they are as puzzling to the rest of us as a cold day in August.

Bill Gates, Lucky or Genius?

You’ll learn that Bill Gates, the whizkid who had a higher than average IQ, didn’t actually make his business success on smarts, or at least not alone, but rather because of the one in a million life time opportunity to have constant use of a computer(which in those days, most grown ups didn’t have access to a computer, unless they designed or programmed them). Bill Gates spent more time using a computer back then, than more kids now days dp. How many kids Bill’s age had a computer 40 years ago? Not too many. How many more “genius” billionaires would there be now days if more 13 year olds had full time access to a computer 40 years ago? A lot! If you continue to read the book you’ll find out that Bill Gate’s mother had a lot to do with his business success. Having two rich parents who both, had connections and money to buy him computer time, it’s not a surprise Bill Gates had chances no one else had.

The 10,000 hour rule

Malcom Gladwell says that almost everyone who has succeeded at a large scale, some time in history, all had around 10,000 hours of solid practice under their belt. 10,000 hours is a lot and Gladwell says it’s almost a guarantee that you will do well at your craft, and maybe even become another billionaire(or millionaire). Not everyone is interested in becoming a billionaire, some people are just happy to live a productive life. By any rate, success never comes unless there is a great deal of practice involved. Someone once said, “If you haven’t practiced you don’t deserve to win.” Rarely does anyone do really well just on talent, without commitment and hard work and constant practice. If you want to beat everyone else, just practice for 10,000 hours, most people quit half way through.

This was true for the Beatles, who were given the chance of a lifetime to practice over 10,000 hours before going mainstream and becoming a hit.

Even Mozart needed at least a decade before he was up to standards:

“By the standards of mature composers, Mozart’s early works were not that outstanding. The earliest pieces were all probably written down by his father, and perhaps improved in the process. Many of Wolfgang’s childhood compositions, such as the first seven of his concertos for piano and orchestra are largely arrangements of works by other composers. Of those concertos that only contain music original to Mozart, the earliest that is now regarded as a masterwork (No. 9, K 271) was not composed until he was 21. By that time Mozart had already been composing concertos for ten years.” – Quote found at BeatleTracks Band

“I don’t know if I practiced more than anybody, but I sure practiced enough. I still wonder if somebody — somewhere — was practicing more than me.” – Larry Bird

Study their Environments

Gladwell says that there are tons of self-help books in bookstores that are more than eager to give you the 7 steps to success, or the 5 traits of successful people. But, he says, there aren’t a whole lot of books about the environments of these successful people, and how that contributed to their successes. It’s important to study the person, and it’s also important to understand the chances they were given in the age they lived in, their heritage, and so on. At first it may seem like Gladwell is saying that success is an accident or caused by luck(growing up in the right place at the right time) but what he’s really saying is that the people who were presented with opportunities took them. We ourselves are all born with opportunities and we have the ability to take them when presented. This theory backs up that most extremely skilled investors and entrepreneurs study the future needs, wants, changes etc and are the ones who can best adapt to them and can take advantage of these changes when they come(while everyone else wakes up one day and wonder why doing the same old thing doesn’t work any more).

Consider this book apart of your education! Read it and share its ideas with people around you.

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“How do you cut through a rock? You either use time or a water-jet-cutter. The problem? For most, the proverbial water jet cutter hasn’t yet been invented.”

As a nation where the word “instant” is commonplace and where we can get results within seconds, we’ve undervalued this thing called consistency. We’re always looking for instant cash, instant breakthroughs and instant improvement. The problem with breakthroughs is that their extremely rare and most people cant live on lucky breaks. Instantaneous change also brings low value. Usually, the faster something is made, the lower its quality. It creates unpredictable and artificial results. It ignores the laws of momentum and the worst part is, it only works once in while.

“Trying to make a single momentous change is often not only successful, but often does not result in the desired effect. In fact, it is far better to make small habitual positive life changes that will catapult you to success. “ – Lighthouse Marketing Blog

Success could be much easier and would come much sooner if we could control our urges to rush things beyond their capacity. A lot of problems can be solved if we’d quit working so hard on having it all now and just learned how to pace ourselves. There are countless day to day routine actions you could take to improve your future. Maybe like working-out daily or finishing one small task on an unfinished project every day.

How many times have you spent entire weeks on a project to the point of complete burn out? It distracts your attention from other projects and other things that need to get done. It ends up feeling like you’re moving backward instead of forward. The climax of this overkill is a day of the week where you’re warding off a million urgent little things, fighting burn out and on top of that there’s regular work to do.

There’s nothing wrong with hard work, and sometimes/often you’ll feel the need to pull an all nighter to meet a deadline or get back up to speed. The point is, an effective work philosophy takes all the important areas of life and moves them ahead on a consistent basis, thus creating momentum. Much of this progress is so small that we tend to underestimate its significance. A lot of people throw in the towel before results have a chance to reveal themselves. However once the snowball grows larger it starts moving faster and starts cutting down and crushing whatever stands in its way. Only once it has come to a complete stop is when it’s hardest to get going again.

The momentum factor is what we miss when we overload ourselves with too much work, or try too hard to move things too fast. We’d all love to get a massive load of work done in a short period of time. Although the reality of it is, it somewhat goes against a few laws of nature. What happens when things grow too fast? Growing pains, other parts have to catch up and it can turn into a mess. After the fact, we expect to eat an entire elephant in one bite.

Jeff Olson explains the Sligh-Edge formula: the philosophy of “constant and never-ending improvement” similar to Dr. Deming’s philosophy. Dr. W. Edwards Deming partly responsible for his influence in reviving the Japanese economy after the second world war:

“Dr. Deming is credited as one of the leaders who brought one of the first quality movements to the Japanese. His basic premise was that the secret to help the Japanese achieve world power and economic success was if every single person and organization commit to constant improvement.” – Tony Robbins CANI System Explained.

It has been said, “you can eat an elephant if you do it one bite at a time.”

“Jeff Olson talks about the Slight-Edge Formula for success. Imagine an incremental system where you consciously plan to improve just ¼% each day, or even each week. Can you do that? Sure you can. Everybody can. It has been said that “you can eat an elephant if you do it one bite at a time.” The same idea holds true with this concept. The premise is to experience minute improvements on a consistent basis that tend to compound over time like interest. A ¼% improvement in any skill each day is a 1-¾% improvement each week! A 7% improvement each month! An 84% improvement in just 1 year! It’s actually higher than that because all of your advances are compounding at an exponential rate! Are you beginning to see the potential of this compounding power at work within you?” – The Slight-Edge Formula

The Slight-Edge formula is easy, but it’s hard if you lack patience. The Slight-Edge formula will work faster than the overload, 20-hour-day-burnout formula. Even a baby can use this simple but dangerously powerful model.

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“How to use News Releases, Blogs, Podcasting, Viral Marketing & Online Media to Reach Buyers Directly”

If there’s one online marketing book you want to read this year, it’s The New Rules of PR and Marketing. The New Rules are all about using social media to market your business. The book starts out explaining how mass marketing is good at advertising when you don’t need it and hides on you when you go looking for it. Social media is about providing the right information to the user at the right time, at right place. This is what makes social media so powerful. I believe you could take this book and use it as a handbook in implementing social media for your business.

David explains the different vehicles you can use in social media and who their for. David does a fantastic job of summarizing the tools available and also explains that you don’t have to use ALL of the tools or just ONE, you can use as many as you want and whatever you have time for, and whatever your focus can handle in order to be most effective. I’m pretty much sold on the idea of using News Releases, which is one of the most powerful tools for attracting journalists and getting better results out of your search engine optimization. Tools like Blogs, Podcasts, Viral Marketing, News Releases, Forums, Videos etc etc can be used to reach to buyers directly. David will also explain to you how to create content specifically to attract and interest your buyers.

The New Rules can be applied to your personal brand as well. I believe this material applies to anyone who “sells” something on the web, whether it be a product, an idea, a political campaign, education, informative content or a community. I highly recommend you read this book cover to cover, if you’re really serious about growing an online presence for your brand or business.

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I recently picked the brains of team member who I’ve worked on several projects with over the course of a few years. If you’re anything like me you find a ton of value in anticipation. I guess it only makes sense, if you’re going to survive, to know what changes to make in order to adapt and prepare. Whenever I want to learn something about the future I search around, get some opinions and get inquisitive.

Brief Interview with Nick Wiltshire:

What is one thing that makes developers marketable in a economic downturn?
The web is an easy, efficient and low-cost way for businesses to either advertise themselves or actually operate online. For that reason I think developers sell themselves. Businesses are looking for any edge they can get, and the web can provide that.

What three very important lessons, that would be of value to younger/newer coders, that you have learned over the course of your Web Developing/Programming career?
First, there are no short cuts. Coding is a learn as you go process, and there is no secret formula. You can’t effectively use existing libraries unless you understand them. Theory only goes so far, you need to practice to find out what works and what doesn’t.
Second, have the right attitude. Learn standards and follow them. Don’t cut corners because it looks like the easiest way to roll a product out the door.
Third, if you don’t love to code, stop. If you got into it to make some cash but hate it as much as you’d hate flipping burgers, don’t do it. People who code solely for money make poor programmers.

In your eyes, what are a few steps coders, designers, programmers etc (in various fields i.e. freelance, self-employed, employed etc) should consider taking in the down economy? More specifically, how can developers take advantage of or secure their business/jobs in the times we’re in?
Nothing changes in a downturn, it just gets harder. You still need to be visible to your targeted potential clients. You need to have competitive rates. You need to deliver a high quality product. These sound very basic but many people utterly fail at them in good times. In tougher times, you need to be aggressive with these basic things because competition may heat up. However, trying too hard can lead to burning ad money and lowering net profit. Understand your target, and move with it.

It seems that developers offer cost effective solutions to companies, more so in a downturn. We may have to work harder to gain trust, build strong relationships with clients and build the highest quality product/service we are capable of. Social media is a possible answer for companies who wish to cut costs. And with changes coming in the Internet we need to be on our game. Rates should be competitive and yet not too low. People are willing to pay, as long as the services are top quality.

Nick Wiltshire is a web developer, programmer and president of Custom Designs Inc.

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