Carsonified

During my 1-hour quiet/meditation time this morning, I was thinking about how short life is. It’s shocking really. So I drew a little sketch that would help me visualize how much time I’ve got left. I know it sounds a bit morbid, but oh well.

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I absolutely love sitting down with a pen and pad - no computer. Just my thoughts, a nice gel-tipped pen and a ‘Black n’ Red’ notebook.

When I’m brainstorming with pen and paper, it’s easy to get distracted when I remember things I need to do. So I’ve figured out a handy way to deal with that: I just stick a little chunk of sticky notes inside the front cover. Whenever I remember I’ve got to do something, I write it down on the sticky note and get right back to brainstorming. Bam!

Then I detatch the note and put it somewhere where I’ll see it later. Distraction averted.

I’ve decided to get up one hour early every morning (6am).

The reason why is because life is so hectic that there’s very little time to reflect and think about what’s important. You can easily get wrapped up in working your ass off and quickly forget what’s really important.

These are some of the questions I like to reflect on:

• Am I happy? Why or why not?
• Am I making the world a better place, or just existing?
• What are my priorities? Why?
• Am I being a good husband?

I’m amazed at the difference this ‘Quiet Time’ has had on my well being. It’s helped me see some problem areas in my priorities and has given me a lot of peace. I’d highly recommend it!

I just finished a book by Felix Dennis. I don’t agree with him on several things, but one thing he said really strikes a chord with me:

The world is full of money. Some of it has your name on it. All you have to do is collect it.

I believe this is the biggest difference between successful and unsuccessful entrepreneurs.

If you’re creative enough, you can find a way to make money out of something that you’re passionate about. You don’t need to dream about doing something meaningful and profitable with your life - you just need to do it.

I’ve been spending this weekend thinking about possible business models that would achieve two things:

1. Help humans in that are truly in need (homeless, hungry, alone)
2. Make a decent profit

I know there’s a way to do this, I just need to find it (by the way, if you have any ideas, feel free to comment below :D). I don’t think humanitarian efforts and good profit are mutually exclusive.

Go get it

Next time you come across an business idea that you really get excited about, it probably means there’s a big pile of cash with your name on it - you just need to get our there and claim it.

I found an amazing tool that will help you determine if you can achieve your lifetime financial goals. It’s called Retirement Savings Planner 2006, and at $89, it’s a fricken steal.

Do you have financial goals?

I’m a big believer in the idea that it’s important to know what you’re working towards financially.

If you don’t sit down and decide how much money is enough, you’ll just work yourself to death always believing that financial freedom (and happiness, to some extent) is just around the corner.

Instead of aiming for a salary of $200K per year (or some other meaningless number), it’s important to figure out what you want to buy or own. I know it sounds pretty materialistic, but it’s really important.

For instance, Gill (my wife) and I really want to be able to afford our dream home in five years time. I know how much that is going to cost so I’ve set that as one of my financial goals. We also want to own a vacation home in the USA, so I’ve set that as another financial goal. Some other goals we have include putting our (future) kids through a good college, retiring at 55, starting a charity, and a few other fun things.

Ignorance is not bliss

Setting exciting financial goals can be fun, but it needs to be firmly rooted in reality. This is where that software comes into play.

Here’s basically how it works:

1. Enter in your basic details: retirement age, amount you can invest per year, current savings/investments, expected rate of return (we always use 5% to be safe) and a few other bits and bobs
2. Enter in expected cash lump sums: sale of company, sale of house, etc
3. (This is the important part) Enter in “Special Expenses”: Down payment on your dream house, college fund, etc

Then you get a wonderful (or depressing) graph about whether or not you can achieve these financial goals before you die.

This is the most important financial exercise you will do all year. Now that I’ve done this, I have a real clarity about what we want to achieve and when it will happen.

I encourage you to do the same - you won’t regret it.

The other day my wife Gill and I were out shopping over lunch. The town center was packed and it was starting to get a little hectic.

I’m a pretty chilled out guy and I rarely get angry at folks. However, a fellow shopper did something to annoy me (I can’t remember exactly what) and I felt myself getting agitated and annoyed.

Then it hit me - how much of my life would I waste if I let stupid things piss me off? By getting frustrated or annoyed at something small, I’ve just lost five minutes of my life that I’ll never get back. They’re gone. And was it worth it? Nope.

So whenever I’m tempted to get annoyed at something stupid and meaningless, I just force myself to smile and think of something I’m thankful for. This always seems to work and I’m transformed from being grumpy, to thankful and cheerful.

If I make a concerted effort to do this my whole life, I’ll change years worth of being annoyed and agitated, to being cheerful and thankful. What a deal!

(By the way, that freaky photo of me is when Gill and I went to Boston during Holloween. If you’ve never been there, try to go at some point. It’s amazing.)

I’ve been trying a new strategy and holy biscuits, am I getting a lot done.

Every day, I grab about 10 things off my “This Week” list and put them on my “Today” list. Then (and this is the key) before I even open my email program, I try to knock at least two things off my Today list.

It works :)

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: email is a great way for other people, instead of yourself, to dictate what you do on a day-to-day basis. Take control by doing what you want to do, before responding to what others want you to do.