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The Right Tools & Mindset For Success

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Why You Shouldn't Work With Friends

The Negatives
They know your weaknesses, your family’s issues, your failures, your insecurities, and it might hurt the relationship if things don’t work out. 

The Positives
On the other hand, if they know your weaknesses then they won’t be surprised by them. If they know your family’s issues, they’ll be more sensitive when they come up. If they know your failures, then they’ll know how to help you avoid repeating them. If they know your insecurities, they’ll know how to encourage you to try again. 

Finally, working together might hurt the relationship, but not if you’re honest with each other from the beginning. 

The Verdict
I like working with friends because your best friends tell you the most truth. (highlight that sentence to share it). I want to work with someone who cares about me and tells me the truth. 

Ignore the headline. Work with your friends. 

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Work-life Balance is a Stupid Idea

“Work-life balance” implies that when one is happening the other isn’t. It implies that “work” takes and “life” gives. Work doesn’t take from our life, it gives life meaning if we allow it to.

Work-life Synergy

We need work-life synergy, not work-life balance. Work should dance with the rest of our life. Work is a component of a great life, not an opponent to it.

Life isn’t what it was meant to be when we don’t do meaningful work.

Stop trying to achieve work life balance. Mix them together. Life cannot be great without doing meaningful work.

[Tweet “Life cannot be great without doing meaningful work. “]

We Get To Ascribe The Meaning

Mothers, writers, baristas, and pastors all feel their work is thankless, unappreciated and many days unproductive. The truth is that we ascribe meaning to our work.

  • Mothers bring into the world then shape the future of our world.
  • Writers birth words and use them to influence culture.
  • Baristas create drinks and shape the day of each customer they greet.
  • Pastors bring vision to their church family and remind them of a forever life.

Work has meaning if we give it meaning. There’s no need to balance it with life.
[Tweet “Work has meaning if we give it meaning. There’s no need to balance it with life. “]

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When Setting Goals Never Make This First or Last

Goals are scary, powerful and necessary but before you set them remember what happens when you make money your first or last goal. The results are eerily similar.
Money Calendar
[gss-content-box]If this post was helpful you can get them all via email by clicking here.[/gss-content-box]
[one-half first]

When Making Money is Your First Goal

Bad Clients
We work with anyone even if that person is annoying, impatient, unprofessional, dishonest or lazy.

Bad Service
We under deliver on our service because the profit is the goal, not the product.

Unequal Treatment
We treat our projects and customers differently based on how much profit we are making.

Poor Work
Our work ethic will be inconsistent.

Never enough
We will feel like we never have enough money even if we really do.

Poor Partnerships
We are less likely to partner with capable people because capable people don’t work for cheap.

Money Complicates Things
We will talk about money too early in the relationship which is more likely to hurt the chances of landing the deal.

Poor Work Boundaries
We will have poor work boundaries because we are always pursuing more profit.
[end-column]
[one-half]

When Making Money is Your Last Goal

Bad Clients
We work with anyone even if that person is annoying, impatient, unprofessional, dishonest or lazy.

Bad Service
We under deliver on our service because the profits aren’t motivating us to work diligently.

Unequal Treatment
We treat our customers and projects poorly because they aren’t giving us a sense of worth.

Poor Work
Our work ethic will be inconsistent.

Never enough
We will literally never have enough money.

Poor Partnerships
We are less likely to partner with capable people because capable people don’t work for cheap.

Money Complicates Things
We won’t talk about money until we’ve made too many promises then under-deliver because we’re not making enough money.

Poor Work Boundaries
We will have poor work boundaries because we’re always pursuing more profit.
[end-column]

Have you made a financial goal for next year? Did you make the mistake of making money the first or last goal for your business?

[gss-content-box]If this post was helpful you can get them all via email by clicking here.[/gss-content-box]

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If Your Dream Is Worth Something It Will Certainly Cost You Something

She mentioned she had been at the office since 4:20 a.m. She wasn’t trying to impress me. She went in early so she could spend time with her kids after school. She gets over a million page views a month.

I was just finishing lunch and she had already put in an eight hour work day.

Rooster by Leocub at http://www.sxc.hu/profile/leocub
Rooster by Leocub at http://www.sxc.hu/profile/leocub

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What the heck is self-motivation?

We all have our reasons for going to work

These are two of the reasons I go to work.  Samuel is on the left, Caroline is on the right. They’re two of the things in my life that motivate me.  I think it’s dangerous to try to “motivate yourself” because frankly motivating yourself for yourself is like a cat chasing it’s tail, it’s not a good thing if you get what you’re after.

How to quit quickly

Owning your own business, building your own brand and growing as a person can fill up every moment of your waking (and a few sleeping) hours.  Don’t get caught in the line of thinking that tells you that you have to “self-motivate”.  You’ll quit quickly and often if that’s where you’re looking for motivation.  You’ll quit because if you’re digging within yourself for motivation then it’s likely you are running low on resources.  That’s a bad idea. Try asking a guy panhandling for change for your $20.  You’re asking the wrong guy.  When you seek motivation from within you’re unlikely to find it.

The world, your world, your kids, yourself

Making the world (planet Earth) better is part of my motivation.  Inside of that big world is my world, that’s the connections I have through the internet that have turned into friendships as well as where I live geographically. Providing for my family and making the name “Traub” a good one is the next layer of my motivation.  My last source of motivation is myself.  I have pride.  I don’t want to suck. I don’t want to be embarrassed. I don’t want to lose. I want people to like me, to read my content and to listen to my shows.

Where do you get your motivation?  How’s that working for ya?