15 Things I Believe – Part II

Ok, another day and some more things I believe. Let’s get right into it!

If you missed part one of this series,
check it out here!

6. Sustainability makes sense; It’s just good business. I’m about as far from a dirty hippy as I can get, and my hippy friends consider me to be one of the few “open-minded capitalist pigs” that they know. While I certainly don’t wish Mother Earth any ill will, I gotta tell you that I’m not particularly overwhelmed by some need to rock the hemp clothing and drum circles.

However, I am a businessman and I’m also a “big picture” kind of person. What we have is a society that is growing (I have some opinions on that, too) and is on a rock with a very limited amount of resources. You know what happens when we run out of resources? We’re “F’ed”. So why wouldn’t we recycle, downgrade expenditures, and focus on renewable resources and technology? Why wouldn’t we also provide as much value as possible for our clients and customers, so as to develop a relationship to continue to market to them.

The “slash and burn” style of business, both physical and philosophical, is so retarded to me that it enrages me to see. On the physical side I’d much rather reuse and recycle the same lump of iron 35 times and get 35 uses worth of value from it than have to a) find more, b) engage in the expensive act of procuring more from the ground, and c) wasting MORE money, space, and time disposing of the original lump.

As a business philosophy I’d much rather sell 100 people fifteen widgets over the course of our business lifetime than try to find 1500 people to buy widgets. Anything other than a sustainability and circulating style of economy is just dumb.

7. All people aren’t created equal, but everyone has something of value. I know that I’m supposed to say that we’re all equal and have just as much opportunity and so on. That’s bullshit. The truth is that we’re not all equal. Genetics, environment, and mutation are a bitch. I am not going to be an NBA center. That is simply the way it is with my 6′1″, 265 lb frame. On the other hand, that NBA center is not going to be a Kentucky Derby-winning jockey. There’s not a racehorse on the planet that wants any part of that.

However, I firmly believe that everyone has something that they’re good at. Some people are good at a lot of things, some people aren’t. The real key is finding what people are good at, what they like doing (usually the same thing), and maximizing their contribution to society through their gifts.

I know some engineers who can barely tie their own shoes or order a pizza but can design terrific bridges. You know what? We’ll find someone that is great at tying shoes, ordering food, and keeping the Red Bull pumping to Mr. Pocket Protector so that he can work up a bridge. He’s good on the drafting table, while the supporter is good at multitasking and organizing. Both are maximizing their skillset.

8. Everyone knows something that you don’t. Intellectual snobbery doesn’t do you any good. At times in my life this has been one that I’ve had to swallow and learn the hard way. Just because you’re a smart person and you may be much more educated than the person across from you it doesn’t mean that you can’t learn something from them.

Even if the topic is one that they don’t know much about sometimes a fresh outlook or line of questioning can help you achieve further understanding. I guess I’d say that the bottom line is that you should seek to learn something from every person you meet, and know that there is something to learn if you look for it.

9. The principal of pleasure/pain and its associations rules our lives. It’s encoded in our DNA to seek pleasurable things and avoid painful things. This is what kept us alive back in the day and it’s what still rules our thoughts now. Understanding this and harnessing it is the way to achieve the life you want.

One of the interesting things about human psychology is the associations of pleasure and pain. This isn’t always as cut-and-dried as it would appear. Have you ever wondered why some people continue to do the same things over and over again even though they know that those actions will bring them misery? Chances are those are the same people that continually talk about how awful their life is, how badly they’re treated and so on. They’ve learned to associate pleasure with their complaining and the sympathy of others! So for them, the misery of whatever is going on is less than the pleasure they get from complaining about it!

If you want to change something in your life then it’s imperative that you associate displeasure and pain with the behavior you want to change, and associate pleasure with the opposite behavior. There are a plethora of resources out there on the methods by which to do this that are beyond the scope of this article, but a quick search will point you in the right direction.

10. Take information in, evaluate it critically, keep what is useful and discard the rest. There’s a saying in my line of business that says “the best strength coaches are the best thieves”. Now what that means is that those of us that are good at our field are constantly finding out new and innovative ways to improve our clients. We are on the constant lookout for new ideas. When we find one we learn about it, experiment with it, and critically evaluate it. If the idea or some part of it has merit we “steal” it and add it to our toolbox. We chuck the non-useful stuff and don’t waste time with it.

Like strength coaching, life and business presents many opportunities to learn, improve, and try the latest thing. I believe that in order to truly succeed you need to be like a sponge and try to learn as much as you can.

After soaking in that information you must then evaluate what you’ve learned and decide if it’s worth applying. This is where many people fail. They learn something new, buy into the hype, waste time and resources with things that aren’t valuable, and rather than admitting their failed experiment and moving on they continue to cling blindly to the sinking ship as it’s going down. Learn instead to constantly test and evaluate and keep putting your energy into the things that are working while ditching the stuff that doesn’t help you.

Ok, so that’s five more things I believe. I’ll be back tomorrow with the third and last installment. Thanks to all who’ve managed to read my ranting so far and again, feel free to digg, stumble, tweet, or pass this along to anyone you know that would find an interest here. Comment away below!

For part three of this series, check it out here!