The story of willpower…told through cookies.
Read MoreThe Best Willpower Hack I Know (My Cookie Jar Story)
Your Actions Are What You Believe
Hot take: Your actions reveal your beliefs.
You can’t say you despise lying, then lie to someone.
Your actions have just given evidence that you’re ok with lying.
You can’t say you’re a dedicated employee and then not show up.
You can’t say you’re a serious athlete yet never exercise.
These things are simply false.
“But wait, Gabe! Sometimes I mess up, sure, but that doesn’t mean I don’t believe what I say!”
Are you sure about that?
What you do is actually direct evidence of whatever it is you believe in.
To quote Carl Jung, “You are what you do, not what you say you’ll do.”
It really is that simple.
If you never lie you believe it’s never ok to lie.
If you sometimes lie you believe it’s ok to sometimes lie.
If you always lie you don’t believe in telling the truth.
This works vice versa as well. If you simply do something, anything, you show you believe it to be true.
Worried about what your beliefs are? Worry not. Look to how you treat people (yourself included). Look at how you behave when others are not looking. There lies your beliefs. Your actions are the answer.
My No. 1 Tip for Personal Finance
Automate.
Automate.
Automate.
DO NOT put it off.
DO NOT rely on yourself to “start saving next week.”
“Next week” will never happen.
What will happen is you’ll just kick yourself...and that’s no fun.
NEXT!
Do this today:
Log into your payroll system
Change your settings so X% of your paycheck goes to a pre-tax investment vehicle (ie. your 401k). Make this amount meaningful.
Split the remainder of your paycheck so that Y% goes to one bank account for expenses (rent, netflix, etc.) and Z% goes to another bank account for savings/investments (high yield savings, robinhood, etc.). I personally prefer to have my 2nd bank account at another bank entirely so that I know “Bank X” is for spending money, “Bank Y” is for savings/investment only. Do whatever works best for you.
Bonus of this approach: No need to budget anymore! The saving is done without you thinking, allowing you to spend your time where it should be spent...making more money (not freaking out over the cost of a latte) and living a great life (not fiddling with your budget app).
I could go into blah blah blah about motivation and whatever but I’m not going to...instead just picture this as your future:
Option 1: Retiring by a lake.
Option 2: Eating cat food.
You know what you want...now go make the change!
If I Want My Life To Be Great, I Have To Do Things That Are Great For My Life
If I want my life to be great,
I have to do things in that are great for my life
(not just good in the moment).
My life, however, has a big gap between:
The desire for my life to be great.
And the moment-by-moment decisions I need to make in alignment with that desire.
To make my life easier, I’ve been trying to nail down activities that are both good for my life AND good in the moment.
Here’s 3 things that work for me:
Doing work I love
Jiu jitsu
Slow sunday mornings, reading on my couch with a teacup of coffee in my hand...I LOVE THIS!!!!
Here’s some things that don’t:
Pint(s) of ice cream...anytime, anywhere
Starting off relationships with judgement or a hard agenda
Youtube after 10 pm, with an open box of cookies by my side (WHHHYYYYYY DO I DO THIS?!?!??!?!)
Makes me wonder...how could I design my day so that 95%...100% of it was spent doing things that are good for my life AND good in the moment?
What works for you?
What doesn’t?
How could you design your life so that more of your day was closer to 100%?
What’s one thing you could do today?
Post below!
How Do I Get People Interested In My Startup?
Ever heard something like this?
“My startup is amazing!! This is going to be the Facebook/Uber/Airbnb of Micronesia!”
Or this?
“…the space is totally uncontested...we’ve got first mover advantage!”
PLEASE LISTEN. Don’t be that guy or gal.
If you want people to care, you’ll need to focus on something else instead.
People do care about something.
It’s true of you.
It’s true of me.
It’s true of Betty White.
It’s true of everybody.
People care about what you can do for them.
What do I mean?
Well let’s take a look at some of the studs on the market right now.
Why do people love Uber?
It reliably gets them from Point A to Point B, cheaply and easily.
Why do people love Airbnb?
It unlocks novel, inexpensive travel experiences for them around the globe.
Why do people love Robinhood?
It brings simplicity and ease to their fingertips in the previously arcane world of personal investments.
To call out my current company...why do people love Alignable?
For the first time in world history, we’re connecting small business owners by the millions on one platform to help them grow their business.
Big or small...you can look at any business you yourself love:
Why do I love my favorite coffee shop?
They offer me incredible coffee and tea along with friendly service in a fun environment...like sipping a jasmine green tea inside a former bank vault.
Why do I love my gym?
With world-class instructors and many of my favorite people on earth, it’s a place where I develop into a better martial artist and human being.
So why should I care about your startup?
Note:
I did not ask you why your startup was cool.
I did not ask about all the investors you are in “active discussions” with.
I did not ask about your projections.
I did not ask you about your fancy matching algorithm or the technology involved.
Also worth noting- the underlying lesson here holds true for business communications in general.
Trying to get a customer's ear?
Understand them and the problems they face. Listen. Be laser focused on what value your product or service can deliver to them.
Trying to get your employees motivated?
Explain why what they’re working on matters, tell the customer story, and what’s in it for them should it be successful.
So to summarize: Maintain a relentless focus on:
The “Why” and “who” (your specific customer and their pain)
If you do that, the what your startup is and how it does it will take care of itself.
Now back to your startup...
Why should I care?
:)