Author Dwayne Melancon is always on the lookout for new things to learn. An ecclectic collection of postings on personal productivity, travel, good books, gadgets, leadership & management, and many other things.
A couple of days ago, I posted a review of one of the most re-read books on my shelf: Thick Face, Black Heart by Chin-Ning Chu.
Click on the banner above and check it out. You'll also find a fantastic book-a-day review cycle going on, all part of Joyful Jubilant Learnings annual "Love Affair With Books" - enjoy!
Read MoreI flew back from European business trip the other day and, as usual, did a bit of reading on the plane. One of the books I read was Robert Shemin's "How Come That Idiot's Rich And I'm Not?" This was a different sort of business book than I expected, from a few of perspectives.
First, the author introduces a lot of contrarian thinking about how to get rich - he firmly believes that conventional thinking about wealth and opportunity prevent most people from becoming wealthy. Second, he provides a lot of very specific steps to become financially successful. Third, he spends a lot of time on philosophy and your outlook on life, in an effort to help you get past preconceived notions about how to make money.
Here's the pitch...
Initially I was a bit turned off by this book, because a lot of the book leads toward a methodology that Shemin offers on his web site and it felt a bit like a late night infomercial (Shemin's program centers around real estate investment schemes). As I read through it, I found myself taking a lot of ideas away that apply whether you use his system or not, and applicable even if you never get into real estate.
For example, there is a section I really liked about "Forgiving and Committing," which I think applies to many situations in life. Shemin even includes "Forgiveness Scripts" to help you learn to ask for forgiveness from friends, family members, and yourself. And don't think asking for forgiveness gets you off the hook - he is very clear that you're still accountable for your actions even if people forgive you for them.
The part about committing provides a clear and concise process to clarify goals and commit to them in an action-centric way. The concepts will be nothing new here, but Shemin's explanation is very easy to follow and will help you get through the fuzzy front end of deciding what you're committing to.
Relax - good things will happen
Another theme in the book relates to the power of positive thinking. Yes, the concept has been around pretty much forever, and has been reinvented in "The Secret", "The Power of Intention," and other books in recent years. In spite of this being an old concept, I find myself learning or identifying with the concept a bit better through each author's adaptation of this model -- and Shemin's take on it in this book is no exception. He has some great stories (some which sound to good to be true, and he acknowledges that in the text but insists they are absolutely true), detailing how various people's lives improved through positive imagery, keeping an open mind, and going out into the world to embrace success. I have seen enough examples of this in my own life to know there is something to it, and found this book's treatment of this concept to be very energizing.
On to the "doing"
The first half of the book is focused mostly on getting your head in a good place and getting to a point where you are able to look beyond some of your preconceived notions about success. In the second half, the author begins to take you into the details of how he has become independently wealthy (in spite of having a severe learning disability and being labeled as an "idiot" by at least one of his teachers, by the way).
The "doing" part of the book deals with how to save, how to invest, how to use credit responsibly, how to create meaningful objectives and action plans, and -- of course -- how to get into the real estate investment business. It's very well written, and quite intriguing.
Summary
As I mentioned early in this review, I enjoyed this book much more than I expected to. According to Shemin's thinking, the very reason I was inclined to write it off as an informercial is the very reason I'm not yet a Rich Idiot: I'm stuck in my "right side up" thinking and I need to turn my thinking upside down. We'll see how I do with that...
Read MoreFor those of us immersed or enmeshed in the David Allen "Getting Things Done" (GTD) methodology, lists take on a big part of our daily lives. In a sane day, I go to my lists, consider my options, and pick the "next action" I want to work on based on available time, energy level, and my context. This method can alleviate lots of stress because it makes it easy to live a dynamic life while capturing everything you'd like to do (just add it to the list if you don't want to do it now).
However, many days (and lately, most days), life comes at me pretty fast. On these days, my lists actually increase my stress because there are too many things to choose from. About a year ago, I had to modify my approach to GTD to help me cope with this phenomenon.
My coping mechanism
I have adopted an approach that I call my "Daily Watch List," and I create a list of the things I really must get done today -- no matter what. At the beginning of the day (when things are quieter), I scan my various GTD context lists and identify the top few items (sometimes only 2 or 3, sometimes as many as 6 or 7) that will cause me pain if they don't get done today. I then write them on an index card that I put in my shirt pocket.
I find this approach very focusing because it gives me a shorter list of tasks to focus on within a given day. It's sort of like ordering in a restaurant - I find it easier to decide what I want to eat if the menu is shorter.
Benefits
This approach has several benefits:
Proven effectiveness
As I said, I've been doing this for about a year and am sticking with it. I was commenting to my office-mate the other day that I felt validated because I'd heard about someone else using a similar approach, discussed on a recent interview I received through David Allen's "Connect" subscription. The person on the Connect interview called his approach the "Daily Radar" but the implementation sounded very similar.
As I described it, it turns out that my office mate hadn't noticed I was using this approach (I guess I'm a poor evangelist), but he liked it the minute he heard it and has since adopted it as part of his toolkit. He now says he 'doesn't know how he ever got along without it.'
Give it a try - and let me know how it works for you.
Read MoreMy pal Bren (formerly the proprietor of SlackerManager and now the proud pappy of BikeHacks) recently pointed me to an awesome thread on "How to be a True Professional."
The thread starts with a sincere question, "What makes someone in a true professional...?" and the ensuing comments are very wise. I encourage you to go and read them.
If I were to summarize what I've read - and weave in what I've learned on my own -- here are some of the "precepts" that pop out from this long list:
Be rational: Think before you act.But don't take my word for it - go read the list. Got any to add? Think I'm blowing smoke? Would love to hear more in your comments on this post.
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A few weeks ago, I received a copy of "The Power of Incremental Advantage" from its author, David Wanetick. This is a fascinating book, and its premise is summed up by the title: "How Incremental Improvements Produce Dramatically Disproportionate Results."
In essence, this book is about consistently seeking small advantages to enable you to achieve greater success. It reminds me of a quote I heard a long time ago, "The more I practice, the luckier I get." This book is partially about being prepared to seize the moment when opportunity presents you with an advantage, and partially about taking actions to create more situations in which you benefit from an incremental advantage.
Object lessons
The first section of the book is filled with some thought-provoking stories, through which Wanetick gives examples and object lessons of when a slight advantage has made a significant difference in various events. There are examples from entertainment, retail, finance, world politics, and myriad other sectors -- each providing great illustrations of the power of incremental advantage.
The second section analyzes the common traits of the world's most successful people. Some of these will sound familiar (know your strengths and actively develop them, concentrate on placing yourself in contexts that favor success, etc.) but Wanetick does an excellent job of adding some meaningful color to these ideas, again through some engaging stories. There are some excellent nuggets of advice here in a bunch of topic areas, including personal productivity, planning, preparation, financial strategies, and negotiation.
Create your own advantage
In the last section of the book, we get down to brass tacks. In this section, Wanetick offers a great collection of advice, tips, tricks, and philosophies to help you create your own incremental advantages in your life.
These range from where to sit in a meeting, how to manage others, how to "network" more effectively, how to be more productive, how to deal with stress, how to use your gestures and posture as an advantage, and a broad assortment of other topics. This is awesome stuff, (again) illustrated with memorable stories.
A few of the many stories I loved:
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Advice from the author
I was intrigued by this book, as well as the long (and fantastic) list of reading recommendations at the end of Wanetick's book, and I wanted to dig in a bit more. I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to talk with Wanetick for a few minutes the other day, and asked him for some key take-aways from his book. Here is a paraphrased recap of some of the things he told me:
"I want people to understand the power of small things -- the power in the little decisions we make every day. By learning from the stories in my book, and trying to implement some of the advice in this book, people will begin to create advantages for themselves and see better results in their lives.""Through subtle actions as simple as where you sit in a meeting, you can significantly influence outcomes. Understanding the power in these actions and becoming more conscious of their cause & effect enables you to achieve your results more quickly and with less effort, no matter what results you are seeking."
Summary
I really liked this book, and I suspect you will, too. You can find this and more resources at the book's site.
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