RAMON GIL

Life Lessons from Steve Jobs, Deepak Chopra and Eddie Murphy (Yes, Eddie Murphy)

I was at a children's birthday party over the weekend, and a friend I only see once a year (at this birthday party) asked me "So why have you stopped blogging?" I thought about it and the truth is, I feel like I'm at a cross-roads and needed to first do some serious "soul re-searching" regarding my life, business and career.

I say "soul re-searching" because, for me, this meant gathering as much information from mentors, books, articles, documentaries and TED talks and organize all I've learned and all my thoughts into some kind of coherent road map. Here's what I've come up with so far and you know I'm serious because I'm actually using footnotes.

QUIT
Cut out the not-so-great stuff. It's easy to get distracted, to want to pursue all your different interests and explore all your different business ideas. But the fact is, dividing your attention and energy means not being able to give your all to any of them. So choose the 1-3 things that you know are the best or most important pursuits and focus on them. Quit, get rid of or shelve everything else and any activity that doesn't support those top priorities.^{1, 2, 3}

MONEY SCHMUNY
Focus on the work, not the rewards. When we are obsessed with making money or having a great image or status, we make different decisions for ourselves and our businesses as opposed to when our goal is to do great work for it's own sake. Be it a service, a product or even just an activity, do your best and relish the process. Besides "The best way to get more clients, is to do great work for your current ones".^{1, 2, 4, 5, 6}

THE BEST THINGS IN LIFE AREN'T THINGS
Value your relationships. Whether it be a client, a friend or a family member, having good and close connections to each other are actually one of the three most important keys to happiness. Ever notice how no matter how many "things" you accumulate, the happiness fades? But not if you accumulate time and closeness with the people around you. Material things will never make you as happy as the memories you make and the feelings you share with your loved ones.^{6, 7, 8}

BE COOL
The truth is, we have no real control over anything outside of ourselves. How happy our family is, how our bosses or clients treat us or whatever else life dishes at you. The one thing you can control is how you perceive your situation which in turn influences your attitude, reaction and behavior. If you can have the presence of mind not to react badly when a little child says "I hate you" why can't you have that same presence of mind to react positively to another bad situation…any situation. Sure, you still have to deal with it, solve it, whatever…but how will a bad attitude, worrying or a lost temper help matters? In fact, a positive attitude usually generates a positive outcome. Life is messy. Accept it. Be present. Choose the right attitude and move on.^{8, 9, 10, 11, 12}

HELP
Being helpful has several interesting benefits. 1. It makes people want to connect with you. 2. It makes you a valuable resource to people you do business with. 3. It helps you forget your own troubles and actually makes you happy. And of course, 4) there's karma. In fact, our brains are hard wired to feel good after helping someone. "When in doubt, focus out."^{6, 8, 13}

There are a few more but I'll stop here for now as these are the ones that most closely relate to business. (Let me know if you'd like to see the ones on "Having a Happy Personal Life"). Hope this little entry was as helpful for you to read as it was for me to write. Take care!

Sources:
1 Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson
2 Rework by Jason Fried and David Heinemier
3 The Dip by Seth Godin
4 Eddie Murphy on Inside the Actors Studio
5 On Advertising by David Ogilvy 
6 The Happy Movie (documentary) by Roko Belic 
7 Nic Marks on TED.com 
8 Momentum Education, New York, NY 
9 The Road Less Traveled by M Scott Peck
10 Who Moved My Cheese? by Spencer Johnson 
11 Roy Sutherland on TED.com 
12 The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success by Deepak Chopra 
13 Joyce Moy, The Accceleration Group

The Power of Options

Way way back in college, one of my design instructors asked us "Who has more power in a negotiation? The client or the vendor?" Most of us said "the client." Then the instructor gave us the answer which has stayed with me ever since. "The person with the most power, is the one who has the most options." Wow!

As if a follow-up to that, my Dad always liked to say "The more options, the better." (I had a girlfriend who also liked saying that, and now I understand why, but I'm not sure if that's relevant to this discussion.) ANYWAY...let's examine how this works in the real world.

In Career Paths
Most people go through life content to work their 9-5 jobs. But when for some reason, they lose it, they are forced to find and take another one based on what limited jobs are available or offered to them (maybe one or two) . But the person who scans the job listings every week has several options open to them on a regular basis. Every week, they have the choice of staying or doing something else - EVERY WEEK. But if you only look for a job AFTER you get laid, off, well, a bunch of other opportunities could have already passed you by. In fact, your dream job might be out there somewhere, but if you're not CONSTANTLY looking out for it, you could miss it!

In Networking

In business and in careers, it's all about relationships. A manager bringing his loyal employees with him to his next post or the business owner who has cultivated deep personal ties with his best customers. Well, when you need a new employer or a new client, the person who has built up a huge network of friends and acquaintances to call on has the advantage. If you need to send out an email asking asking people if they know of a position or a prospective client, wouldn't having 300 people on your list be better than having only 20? Wouldn't a thousand just rock?! It may be what you know that gets you the job, but who you know can get you to the front of the line. And knowing more people, means getting to the front of more lines. (Why do you think you keep getting these emails from me?)

In Business

They say the best time to look for new (and bigger) clients is when business is good. Here's why: When business is good, you can go after new business and if the match isn't good, you can actually AFFORD to turn it down. A company that doesn't have enough business will have a hard time turning down anything! Which can lead to bad clients, unprofitable projects and low morale. A company that is flushed with work has the option to be choosy. So when you have more clients, that's when you should be selling more. Not when you have less. No matter how busy you get, always make the time to go after new business.

In Creativity

They say that it takes a thousand shots to get one good photograph. This is true for many things. A designer or entrepreneur who has come up with a hundred or a thousand ideas has more to choose from than the ones that only came up with five or ten. Albert Einstein had hundreds of ideas in order to get that one theory that changed the world. You could even say that brilliance is simply a matter of quantity. So brainstorm, brainstorm and brainstorm some more! Don't stop at five or ten!

"The more options the better." You can apply this same principle to many things. Shopping, dining, finding a place to live, selling, even dating. EXCEPT maybe girlfriends and especially NOT spouses. 

 

 

Do What You Love

As some of you may know, the family and I recently spent a month in the Philippines partly as vacation, but also partly to explore the possibility of opening up an operations office there or find new talent or at the very least look for any excuse to call this trip a "business expense." 

Aside from the capital city, we spent a lot of time on the lush tropical island my parents retired to, eating truly fresh and organic fruits, fish and vegetables and spending time in their beach house. (Yes, it is amazing what you can deduct as a business expense when you're an entrepreneur.)

Then one day, we headed off to some nearby mountains and I couldn't resist jumping into the bottom of a waterfall. Turned out the water was frigid and later that night I felt something amiss with my heart. After an ambulance trip to the nearest city with a modern hospital, it turned out I had atrial fibrillation. My heartbeat became irregular. Not that serious but scary nonetheless. Especially when you're on a tropical island that, despite its lushness, had only one modern hospital. 

I came through it okay and recovered after a 3-day hospital stay. But it made me really think about what was truly important in my life. And what I came up with was this: my family, my health and getting lots of attention from young nursing students who live on a lush tropical island. 

But seriously, I realized that what I truly want is to be passionate about what I do for a living. And for me, that's helping business owners, especially new ones, achieve their potential, grow their businesses and themselves, grow as business and community leaders. 

Dave Schlueter recently wrote "Every day, millions upon millions of people are forced from their homes by a disaster called work. Work they hate." A sad truism but not an inescapable one. While it is possible to learn to love the job you have by taking responsibility for it and making a conscious decision to embrace the challenges it offers, I also believe in finding and getting the job that will give you the satisfaction and happiness you truly want. And if that job doesn't exist or is out of reach, then create it for yourself! That's what entrepreneurship is all about and why I advocate for it so enthusiastically. 

You've all heard the saying "Do what you love and the money will follow" but here's one you may not have heard and one I often use when people ask me how I juggle so many things. "You always have more than enough energy for the things you WANT to do but never enough for the things you HAVE to do."

So do what you truly want. Except maybe jumping into frigid waterfalls.