"Think of yourself as dead. You have lived your life. Now take what's left, and live it properly." - Marcus Aurelius
We all struggle to “seize the day” in some aspect. Some may find it harder than others to do so, but at the end of the day, I'm sure everyone in some way struggles to seize it. We're all wrapped up in our futures. We're constantly thinking about the next few years than the right now. It's hard not to. Some people manage to live in the present, taking each day to do whatever, not thinking about the possible consequences of their choices. Or at least not overthinking it. Some people make it seem easier done than said. Living their best lives, their social media filled with today’s adventures and you wonder, how do they do it? Truth is, only they know. It’s a solution for everyone that differs for everyone. Taking life by the horns. In all facets that tackle you. Waking up and conquering the day. In a little field I recently became fond of, Neuroeconomics, studies have shown human behaviour is heavily linked to our economic states. Bringing brain development into practice with market development, this is one of the typical explanations for why we (for lack of a better term) fail to “seize the day”. Other factors such as fear, anxiety, and responsibilities come into play but more often than not, it’s due to a lack of resources. However, we can and must make the best of our circumstances or “make do” with what we have. “Seizing the day” is different for everyone, and just because someone else’s version of it seems more extravagant doesn’t mean you aren’t seizing your day.
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“A simple fact that is hard to learn is that the time to save money is when you have some.” --Joe Moore
Being frugal is one of the best lifestyle choices anyone can make, even for the wealthiest of people. Overspending, even when you have a greater deal of money, is still overspending. Setting aside extra cash is an imperative but challenging task for many. It comes with three implications. Firstly, to spend less, reduce consumption, give up some of your favourite weekly thrills and foods. Secondly, to make sure cash set aside stays set aside, so that all those wonderful sacrificial moments of saving don’t go up in flames in one quick but costly lapse of judgment. Thirdly, to make sure your money isn’t just sitting there, but put to good use that doesn’t involve spending on your favourite guilty pleasure. All of these obstacles can be tackled, however. In any case, it's anything but easy to commit yourself to all three. For some, one may be easier than the other. Let’s look at some methods to help you ensure you can put cash away AND keep yourself from dipping your hand in the cookie jar. Check yourself: Be honest with yourself about your spending habits. Yes, you have a problem. The first step is acceptance. Download a budgeting app: So many are available on these app stores to choose from. My favourite is Money Manager. Keep track of where your funds are going and coming from. Keep track of what you’re spending on and how much. Set limits. Charge yourself: Pay yourself 5% of every purchase you make. If you buy something for $100, consider it $105 and put that $5 away. This not only helps you put cash away, it makes purchases appear to be more expensive than they are. Spare change: Put away coins. A lot of people don’t even notice their spare change as a part of their disposable income to begin with. When these stack up, you’ll be surprised how much money you actually have. Bargain: Not everyone loves a good negotiator, but it goes a long way in saving money. If you see an opportunity to get a fairer price, go for it. Reward yourself: Associate saving with a reward. Every time you reach a particular saving goal, allow yourself the freedom to enjoy one of the things you may have given up. Don’t go overboard though. Switch it up: Condition yourself to thinking you already have less than you do. Sometimes mind games are good. When you withdraw any amount of cash, keep two thirds of it and hide the rest from yourself. Forget about it for now. Spend like that’s all you have. Start investing: I suppose this goes without saying. I’m no investment expert, but it sure helps to open an investment account and put away some of those savings, so they can grow, grow, and grow. Make sure to keep some of the savings for an emergency fund though — don’t put all your eggs in one basket. We accomplish so much throughout this life we're given. Even the smallest of things like making our beds in the morning.
But it always seems to cloud our judgement that this could've gone better, or this still should've happened - so much so that we forget to acknowledge what got done. Even if it wasn't perfect. Even if it wasn't how we imagined it. If even just for a moment each day, remember to cheer the little victories - they deserve it. Most of all, you do. Never Underestimate The Influence Of Entrepreneurship and Who That Influence Can Come From12/18/2018 “Success is the sum of small efforts - repeated day in and day out.” - Robert Collier
How might you approach persuading a marketplace skeptic of the benefits of opportunity, rather than a direct controlled environment? A typical strategy is to examine efficiency gains as customers and clients consume costly items from the market, under each condition. Rigid structure, or flexible opportunity? Full-time commitment to a company as an employee or pave your own path? How does anyone decide? Rivalry between organizations pushes associations to discover innovative techniques and efficiencies, both with their products/services and their employees. Employees are rarely given the chance to contribute to this innovation. Innovation is usually thought of as something business leaders or entrepreneurs do. It’s either employee or entrepreneur, never both. Entrepreneurship is the process of finding new ways of blending resources. An entrepreneur is a business visionary. A business visionary would be an operator of progress, the agent of change. Consider the approaches of economists Joseph Schumpeter and Israel Kirzner in describing entrepreneurs. Schumpeter is well known for his theory of creative destruction, innovative devastation if you will, where entrepreneurs are the drivers of unsettling influence, overturning the norm and changing the market, abandoning rivals. Kirzner focuses on the discoveries that entrepreneurs recognize, as they look for new markets, new procedures, and new business models. All things considered, seeing entrepreneurs as business visionaries gives a nice aggregate picture of who they really are, taking a chance with their ideas and furthermore, capital ventures. Entrepreneurs are normally thought of with respect to small business owners or startups, however I’d contend a great deal of the elements of an entrepreneur, a business visionary, can be seen in even the freelancer or digital nomad, and most certainly employees that are given the chance. They can look for new ways of conducting business, current market openings, better approaches for leading business, and they tackle risks, much like a business visionary starting a new company. The advantages of entrepreneurial qualities can extend far beyond the desk. “Always treat your employees exactly as you want them to treat your best customers.” - Stephen R. Covey
Company Culture — what is it really? Does it matter? To put it simply, it is the foundation the company operates on, so yes, yes it does. A company’s culture can make or break the organization. It tells so much about what your organization values, the path you’re on, the goals you care about, and what you’re willing to enforce to get there. So in essence, it embodies the daily work experience of its employees. “Business is the ultimate sport. In business, as in sport, the only thing you can control is effort.” — Mark Cuban
What’s one weakness I have? Giving up control in my business. I find it hard to delegate. I always want to do everything myself. I know I can’t always, but I still try. I find it hard to assign a project to another partner when I could do it — even though I do sometimes, but only when I really really REALLY have to. “Entrepreneurship is living a few years of your life like most people won’t, so that you can spend the rest of your life like most people can’t.”
People always tend to ask — what are you? What do you do? Well I say, I’m an entrepreneur. In a summary, that’s fine, but it’s quite vague. Not to mention, to most people that means I’ve started some massive company, with this and that many employees. Someday? Maybe, sure. Right now, not quite. But I’m still an entrepreneur. Entrepreneurship is so much more than just starting a business. It’s waking up and going after what you want, despite your setbacks. It’s doing what you have to do to get things done. It’s working a 9-5 job to pay the bills then coming home and working on your own thing until unrighteous hours. It’s relaxing with your cat, dog, turtle, snake — whenever you want, because you acknowledge your time is yours. It’s also working nonstop because you acknowledge that your time is yours, and it’s going into something you’re connected to. It’s no sleep. It’s lots of sleep. It’s days off. It’s no days off. It’s the path less traveled by; the path of the unknown. It’s growing comfortable with risk. It’s taking more than you can handle, then learning to handle it. You don’t have to amass an amount of wealth and people working for you to say you’re an entrepreneur. The goal isn’t more money; it’s living life on your own terms. Once you’re making real decisions about your work, what you do, how you do it, who you serve — you’re already there. It’s helping other people live life on their own terms as well. Lots of people are entrepreneurs and don’t even know it. So what am I? I’m an entrepreneur. What do I do? I research. I analyze. I design. I write. I think. I create. I help. Who do I do it for? I do it for myself and I do it for whoever needs it. Why do I do it? Because that’s what I want to do. It’s that simple, but also not. Entrepreneurship is one of the most complex things but it all boils down to the simple stuff. All anyone really needs to get started is the unbelievably strong desire to do what you want and help who you want. We all do what we have to do but how often do we do what we want to do? If the answer is not often enough, change is your best friend. So what are you? Are you an entrepreneur or are you living life on someone else’s terms? “Creativity is intelligence having fun.” - Albert Einstein I believe this. This is true. All the time? Maybe not. But this is true, of most people, I think. Being someone who enjoys both the analytical and creative side of things, I can identify with this quote. It feels like the best of both worlds. Why do some people assume you need to be one or the other? As someone who loves numbers but loves art, this is true. As someone who is critical, analytical (sometimes over), and quantitative, I find great joy in the complexities in the metaphorical, abstract behaviour of creativity. It’s inspiring to see the presentation of the human brain dancing to its own beat with the ordered and systematic nuances structuring its every move behind it nonetheless, I believe everyone who is creative is intelligent, and everyone who is intelligent has the opportunity to be creative. The brain is a vastly complex place, with an abundance of capabilities. Who are we to limit what it can do?
Some take part in the right-brained, left-brained debate. Some say you can only be analytical and mathematical, or spontaneous and imaginative. Some say you can lean more to one side with a little of the other. Why not embrace both if you can? Why choose? Why can’t I analyse a set of data and then present them in an appealing infographic that captures attention with its color balance, contrast and design elements? Why can’t I splatter paint on a canvas, and yet examine the dimensions and measurements of the spacing between the colors and the borders? I believe there is no reason. Be brilliant. Be analytical. Be bold. Be creative. Be experimental. Be organized. Be careless. Be meaningful. Be meaningless. But whatever you do, just let your creativity and intelligence, be. You are intelligent. You are creative. Let your brain dance. "I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work."
This is one of my favourite quotes. Thomas Edison knew what he was talking about and I stand by it wholeheartedly. Why? It attributes the idea of failure to something that propels you, not holds you back. It tells you to try, and try again. Simply because there is no one way that works for everything. What might work for one person may not work for you. What works for me today probably won’t work for me tomorrow. That does not mean I have failed, or that I must give up. It means I can just add that to my list of things to not waste time and energy on since it isn’t working. Try another way. There is always another way. Try it. If you don’t see another way, take a step back. Give it a break. Gain perspective. Then come back, and try another way. Do something else. Use a different approach. Formulate a different strategy. Failure is going to happen. The best response is to not look at it as that, but as a way that simply did not work for you. There may just be a million other ways to do it, or even if you’re just about to give up, you may just find one way that could be your saving grace. So try. "Decide where you'll be in five years and get there in two."
Some may wonder how someone just figures out where they see themselves in five years. Some have specific goals, some just go with the flow. Some tend to float between both thought patterns. I consider myself one of those people. Some days I am extremely motivated, coming up with all kinds of ideas, blazing through my work at hand, completing projects and flowing through all my tasks. Other days I'm not so lucky. It's a drag, I'm bored, and I'm not interested in anything enough to relieve that boredom so I stay set in a state of unwavering disregard for everything productive and even fun. In essence, I'm just kind of there without a care. I'm sure a fair amount of people can relate. If not, then by all means, teach me your ways. For me these stagnant days happen, maybe not too often, but often enough for me to feel like I'm running out of time. I need to do something. So I don't run out of time to have the life I want. We all want to live a certain life. If it was up to any of us, it is doubtful anyone would choose to be tied down day by day just to earn a living. But it is our means. Why? Barter. We each have something to offer that another person may desire and so we engage in transactions and exchange, and of course the only way to truly quantify value for our exchanges is through money. Granted we are the only species who lives like this. Bound by time, by money, by possessions. Therefore we spend our lives earning and exchanging perpetually, but there is always the greater value that may result from this way of life, such as being able to afford (both time and money-wise) certain experiences with your loved ones. So when I hear the phrase "decide where you'll be in five years, and get there in two", the first thing that comes to mind is my career and where I hope to stand professionally and financially, and I'd strive to get there sooner as the quote suggests. Because this is is what we've grown to associate success with. Surely, I'm not the only one with such a thought process. I don't want to only think about that though. I want to think about my personal values too. I want to think about the interpersonal connections I've developed and will develop, my spiritual life, among other things. So should I decide where I'll be in five years, and with all my might get there in two, if it is only visible in my career because I focused on that solely, at the risk of all the other aforementioned facets of my life, then that is not my true success. Give yourself long-term goals. Challenge yourself to accomplish them sooner, both professionally and personally, whatever it is that that means to you. |
AuthorHey there, I’m Racquille. I’m a B2B freelance consultant for research, content development, and design. Your above & beyond personal brain-picker. Currently building 2 start-ups; fingers crossed. Archives
June 2019
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