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September 23, 2010 By Andy Traub

Poems for Doing Something

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Here are a few thoughts I’d share with you today about taking action, about doing something. Allow me to start with a poem called “Writer Waiting” by Shel Silverstein from “Falling Up”.


Writer Waiting
by Shel Silverstein

Oh this shiny new computer-
There just isn’t nothin’ cuter.
It knows everything the world ever knew.
And with this great computer
I don’t need no writin’ tutor,
‘Cause there ain’t a single thing that it can’t do.
It can sort and it can spell,
It can punctuate as well.
It can find and file and underline and type.
It can edit and select,
It can copy and correct,
So I’ll have a whole book written by tonight
(Just as soon as it can think of what to write).


We all know Shel Silverstein was a genius. This book was published in 1996 so obviously computers were out.  But could he have known the advancements that we have these many years later and how easy it is to create content on a phone, on an iPad, a digital voice recorder and on your computer?

There’s so many different ways that you can create content, so many different tools.  There are so many different ways to record, to pull down those ideas.  Yet the most common problem that I see, and that frankly I experience myself at times, is the gap.  There’s an enormous gap between the ability to create content and actually creating the content.

The ideas that could become action, that might follow, but often do not. What’s the solution? For some people it’s a schedule. For others it’s an accountability partner. For others, it’s demand.  People simply demand it, they expect it, they request it. Remember this, in the spirit of Shel Silverstein, that just because something can do it, doesn’t mean it’s going to do it on its own. You are capable of greatness! You are capable, as Seth Godin would say, of being a Linchpin. Of being unique and different and bringing something completely special to those you have an audience with.

Whether that audience is your own children, other people at your work, or the world which is now so easily accessed through the internet… Whatever and whoever your audience is, you are capable of reaching them in so many different ways and so many different forms.

And yet, so many of us, don’t do anything.

You have what you need.

Most of us have what we need.

Let me give you one more thing that can help you get to writing that book, to creating that song, to creating that piece of art that’s inside of you right now, that’s just an idea, that’s just potential.

And what I’d like to give you is permission. I think someone wants to hear what you have to say. I think that there are going to be critics, no matter what you do. But if you do nothing, you definitely don’t have to worry about the critics. If you do nothing that’s very safe because no one will care. Except that you know what you’re capable of.

So my encouragement to you is…you have the ability, you have the idea, you have the tool. You just need to give yourself permission and take action. Let me end with another poem by Shel Silverstein. This one’s called Woulda-Coulda-Shoulda.


Woulda-Coulda-Shoulda
by Shel Silverstein

All the Woulda-Coulda-Shouldas
Layin’ in the sun,
Talkin’ bout the things
They woulda-coulda-shoulda done…
But those Woulda-Coulda-Shouldas
All ran away and hid
From one little did.


The thing that will make it so much easier for you to get past your woulda, shoulda, couldas, and we’ve all got them, is doing something.  Just one thing will dispel the fear and the doubt and the worry and the excuse that comes with woulda, shoulda, couldas.

Tell me what you want to ship in the comments. Write it on your own blog. Sing your own song or whatever you’re going to produce. Whatever it is, do something. It will not be perfect the first time. Nothing you do will actually ever be perfect. Perfection is a lousy excuse.

Go do something.

Something.

Filed Under: advice, Attitude, Audio, organizing, Productivity, Social Media, Solopreneur, Tech tools, Uncategorized

September 21, 2010 By Andy Traub

Abundance versus Scarcity

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[audio:http://traffic.libsyn.com/andytraub/Abundance_versus_Scarcity.mp3]
Chris Guillebeau in his new book, The Art of Non-Conformity, talks about the idea of abundance vs. scarcity. He encourages us to have a lifestyle and a mentality that focuses on abundance instead of scarcity. So I created a little bit of a comparison, an either-or.  It’s about thinking with abundance or thinking with scarcity. So here they are.


Abundance Scarcity
You share with as many people as you can – how you became or how you found success, either with a specific product, or with your overall business. You share your road map to success. You keep your track to success to yourself.
You have a bent towards sharing. You have a bent towards hoarding everything.
Finds win-win situations all the time. There’s always a winner, and there’s always a loser in the same transaction.
You celebrate everyone. Even your competition. You’re jealous of successful people, especially your peers.
You assume success for yourself and you hope success for others. You have a great fear of failure and that is what you think and focus on.
You ignore your competition emotionally. You don’t let their successes bring you down. You focus on your competition emotionally. You focus on their successes and you worry about their potential. Because again, there are always winners and losers.
You think of ways to help others. You calculate and measure every relationship for what it will bring you.
You assume people will help. You assume people will lie.
There are no-questions-asked refunds, like Bed, Bath and Beyond. You have a very, very strict return policy.
You compete on value – the value you provide. It’s always about cost.
You over-deliver, unintentionally very often. It’s all about minimums, one refill, that’s a good example of scarcity.
You give. You trade.
You’re willing to lose money on the short-term to earn trust on the long-term. You ignore trust, and you end up losing money in the long run. Trust isn’t even part of the equation.

Abundance
In his book The Art of Non-Conformity, Chris talks about how he wrote this this manifesto.  It has been downloaded, at this point, over a 100,000 times.  He also wrote a thesis that’s been read by 3 people and approved. The cost of the manifesto was very low. It’s a PDF document. The cost of his other document (the thesis) was much higher, it required many years of education.

The time was about equal between the two when it came to actually writing the documents. But the return on the manifesto, was abundant. He gained relationships. He gained trust. He gained a name for himself.  Most important, I believe, he changed many people’s lives writing that document. Now, with the other document (the thesis) the return was minimal and that he got very little feedback compared to the manifesto. Not that many relationships were created or deepened through the writing of the thesis. Very few people read it. It didn’t have that much of an impact.

And as he talks about in his book the Art of Non-Conformity, he could’ve expanded the thesis to other sources but even then it would be much more of a trade journal and wouldn’t be sort of for-the-masses, like his manifesto was.

So my encouragement to you is try to focus on and find ways to live a life of abundance in your business. Of course if you’re going to do it in your business, you should do it in your personal life as well.

But remember, in scarcity, and in that mentality, there are winners and losers. That means, there’s a 50% chance you might be a loser.

And the mentality of those who think with abundance, there are only winners.

So which one do you want to be?  You get to choose.

Filed Under: advice, Attitude, Audio, Generosity, Permission, Permission Podcast, Promotion, Small business, Solopreneur, Uncategorized

August 27, 2010 By Andy Traub

Why people don't ship like Seth Godin tells them to

https://www.takepermission.com/podcast-player/10164/22reasons.mp3
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Listen to my 22 lousy reasons…

1. I really need a new computer
2. I need a new logo
3. I need better pens
4. I need a better office
5. I need some business cards
6. I need a better microphone
7. I need more Twitter followers
8. I need more of a track record
9. I need more experience with clients that are that big
10. I need a better desk
11. I need a stronger voice
12. I need more blog posts [Read more…]

Filed Under: advice, Attitude, Audio, Permission Podcast, Productivity, Promotion, Small business, Social Media, Uncategorized Tagged With: advice, Attitude, Audio, podcast, reasons, seth godin, shipping

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