When you sit down and turn on your computer, do you know exactly what you are about to do or are you just turning on your computer because it is something to do? I constantly find myself sitting down at my computer without a clear agenda and goal in mind only to end up checking everything online that can possibly be checked.  My email, my website analytics, my stock portfolio, my social networks, and anything else that may pop into my head at the time.  What I find is that I end up using wasting a ton of time because I don’t have any agenda or plan to follow.  I could probably get away with checking my email three times per day and checking my analytics and portfolios once or twice per month.  I use social networks for a few reasons so the frequency of my using them would depend on the situation.  I use them to stay in touch with people, to network, to promote myself and to learn about new features and applications.  The point is that myself, along with much of the rest of the world gets lazy when we are in front of a computer.

Productivity is not Measured by Hours Some people feel productive if they sit in front of a computer all day long and answer a few emails.  A great day would be when you participated in a long chain of emails that came to a conclusion.  In reality, that “productive” day could have been accomplished in a fraction of the time it took but so much time was wasted between each check of the email that it seems like you never stopped working.

Productivity is measured by accomplishments For me, a productive day is a day where I waste as little time as possible and accomplish something that will bring me closer to a goal.  Sometimes that goal is finishing a project or a major piece of a project for a client or securing a new client altogether.  Sometimes it’s doing something to promote myself or my business.  No matter what it is, it is measured in accomplishments, not time spent on my computer or number of emails answered. The same can be applied to your personal time.  When you come home from work, do you turn on the TV? Do you go online to surf the net?  I’m not saying that there is anything wrong with doing either of these activities but I am saying that you should know what you are getting into.  For example, instead of just turning on the TV, consciously decide “I need to relax so I’ll watch 2 shows”.  Instead of just going online, decide “I’ll check the news and then see who’s online to talk to for the next 30 minutes”.

Unless….. Unless… you just want to “waste time”.  But, if you’re reading this blog, you probably don’t want to waste time.  This blog is about getting lucky and finding opportunity in everything that we do.  You can’t find opportunity when you keep doing the same thing over and over.  As the Albert Einstein so eloquently put it, “the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results”.  When we turn on the TV, we end up watching the same types of shows, often while zoning out.  When we spend time on social networks, we end up spending time with the same friends and sharing the same type of content with each other.  If you want to get lucky online, participate in new conversations on open networks like Twitter or finding new types of content through sites like StumbleUpon.  Just make sure that before you log on, that you decide what you will be doing and for how long you will be doing it.  Otherwise you just get sucked in. If you have an agenda before starting something, even as simple as checking your email, you will end up saving yourself a lot of time that otherwise would have been wasted.  Then you can squeeze more activities into your day, be more productive, accomplish much more and get really lucky. Pic: Grahambones Similar Posts:

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Doing something because you “have nothing better to do” always seems to have a negative connotation.  You are bored and someone asks you if you want to go to the mall and your response is “okay, i’ve got nothing better to do”.  I personally think that doing something because you have “nothing better to do” is the absolute best thing you can possibly do with your time. If you think about it, having “nothing better to do” means that the particular activity that you are thinking about doing is the absolute best thing you can possibly be doing with your time at that given moment.  Obviously if you are bored and have nothing to do and going to the mall becomes an option, it is the best thing you can do at the moment.  I love going to the mall because it is full of lucky opportunities.  Something is always happening at the mall.  You can people watch, notice trends, see the newest products, get a feel for what is going on in your community and so much more, but that’s just the mall. I work because I have nothing better to do. I love the work that I do, I love being creative and helping people and I love making a living to support my family.  I can’t think of anything better to do with my time during the day when my kids are at school. I spend time with my family because I have nothing better to do. My family is the most important thing in my life and I can’t think of anything in the world that I would rather do than spend time with my family. I blog because I have nothing better to do. I love to blog and share my thoughts with anyone who is willing to listen.  I enjoy getting my ideas down on paper (or an electronic document).  Most of all, I enjoy reading through my archives and impress myself with articles I’ve written in the past. As you can see, doing something because you “have nothing better to do” is a really good thing and you should be doing everything in life because it is the best thing you can be doing at any given moment.  What are you doing because you have “nothing better to do”?

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Photo Credit http://www.flickr.com/photos/natalielucier/ When I was about 7 years old, my class learned about the Titanic and how it ended up at the bottom of the ocean.  It was such a massive ship and the captain felt that a tiny little iceberg couldn’t do any damage to the Goliath of a ship he was conducting.  As any 7 year old knows, that was just the tip of the iceberg.  In life, you can learn a lot from the Titanic and specifically Icebergs.  Just because it looks tiny, it doesn’t mean that you are seeing the whole picture.  From the Captain’s point of view, he could only see what was above the water, not what was below.  If he was able to see the whole picture, the titanic would have had a very different ending, James Cameron wouldn’t have made so much money from Titanic the movie and thousands of people would have had 3 more hours of their time, if they all lived happily ever after. Recently, a friend approached me to complain about the web developer that he had just fired.  The guy built him an e-commerce website for about $3000 for my friend’s business which has been working out pretty well for him.  The business has been doing well and has been expanding so much that the website now needs a “search” feature for visitors to properly navigate it and find what they want.  My friend was flabbergasted when the developer told him that the search feature he was looking for would cost about $1200 to develop.  When he finished complaining, I asked him what he wanted the search to do and he told me.  Basically, what he was looking for was a very customized search engine that would integrate with all of his products.  I told my friend that $1200 seemed reasonable for what he was interested in doing.  ”But it’s just a tiny little search box! All I want is a tiny little box on the side of the site”.  If he wanted, he could have put a free Google Search Applet on his site which would use Google to search his site but he wasn’t interested.  He needed specific features in his search box.  This is a perfect example of someone just seeing the tip of the iceberg.  He has no clue what goes into the back end of web development.  The same goes for anything else in life.  How can anyone make good decisions if they don’t see the whole picture. Lucky people try and get all the facts.  They research, they talk to people and hire professionals and consultants when needed to make sure they have the whole picture and make the best decisions.  My friend could have held onto a very good web developer if he would have just done a little research to learn what was involved in adding his “tiny little search box”.  Next time, before making rash decisions, try and look for the whole picture and you will get lucky.Similar Posts:

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Image from http://picasaweb.google.com/julyfourcasey In general, people are very “happy go lucky”. They have their beliefs and values and everything in their life pretty much falls into place based on the systems they were brought up with, or have set for themselves. Cognitive dissonance comes into play when you have two beliefs or values that come up at once and contradict each other. People don’t know how to react so they are forced to alter their beliefs to accommodate the contradiction. For example, Michael likes to save money for his retirement and therefore never spends more than the absolute minimum on anything he buys. Then one day his computer breaks and he goes to the store to buy a new one but ends up buying the most expensive computer in the store with the most features, memory and storage. He then convinces himself that it was a “good buy” because it will last longer and after all, it’s a business expense. What Michael actually did was slightly modified his values so that he can be comfortable with his new purchase. Conflicts of these sorts are in most cases resolved by a change in values or beliefs that will do the least damage to the person’s ego. Did you ever get an email from a millionaire in Nigeria who needs help getting his money out of the country? All he needs is your bank account and he will give you a cut of the money. It is common knowledge that giving away your bank information to a stranger is a bad idea. At the same time, just think of what you could do with 10 million dollars, especially since you just lost your job. The reason that this sort of scam is so popular is because it works. People are blinded by the thought of making so much money that they are willing to risk it. It’s sad that most people who lose money to these scams don’t report it to the police or anyone else because they are embarrassed. They knew that giving away their information was a bad idea and can’t believe they did it anyway. Salesmen often use cognitive dissonance to make a sale. When I was looking to buy my first car, I was brought in to the dealership by an advertisement I saw for the car that I wanted at an incredible price. When I got to the dealership, they told me that it must have been a mistake because the price is much higher but they will show me the lot and help me pick out a similar car at my price point. Once I was already there, I figured I may as well look around. As I looked around, I started to get excited and as the salesman saw it, he began a few other little tricks up his sleeve. He lowered the price on the cars that I wanted, he spoke to his manager so that he can give me an even better deal, he even told me he liked me so much that he would give up his commission to give me a better rate. As we were talking, he asked for my licence so that he could start the paperwork “just in case”. I should have seen him playing around the whole time but I wanted the car and I had already invested an entire day over there. I convinced myself to keep going. After many more of the salesman’s little tricks, like making me wait for hours to speak to the financing guy, I was finally exhausted and wanted to drive off the lot and go home. I was given a pile of papers to sign and told, “as soon as you sign these papers, you’ll be the new owner of your car and can go home”. I asked what percentage of financing they were giving me and they told me not to worry about it. I insisted and finally they said 12%. I have excellent credit and told them I wouldn’t go for it. They pretended to look at their computer and said “oh yeah, ok I can give you 10.4%”. At that point, I told them to jump in a lake and I walked out to everyone’s surprise. A couple weeks later, I bought a newer version of the same car from another dealership for less money than I would have spent with their financing.

Wikipedia has a great example of cognitive dissonance on smoking: Smoking is often postulated as an example of cognitive dissonance because it is widely accepted that cigarettes cause lung cancer, yet virtually everyone wants to live a long and healthy life. In terms of the theory, the desire to live a long life is dissonant with the activity of doing something that will most likely shorten one’s life. The tension produced by these contradictory ideas can be reduced by quitting smoking, denying the evidence of lung cancer, or justifying one’s smoking.[3] For example, smokers could rationalize their behavior by concluding that only a few smokers become ill, that it only happens to very heavy smokers, or that if smoking does not kill them, something else will.[4] This and other forms of chemical addiction are not so clear-cut, but this analysis may be valid for those wanting to start smoking. This case of dissonance could also be interpreted in terms of a threat to the self-concept.[5] The thought, “I am increasing my risk of lung cancer” is dissonant with the self-related belief, “I am a smart, reasonable person who makes good decisions.” Because it is often easier to make excuses than it is to change behavior, dissonance theory leads to the conclusion that humans are rationalizing and not always rational beings.

As you can see, people play games with themselves to make themselves feel that they are doing the right thing and to rationalize their behaviour. Nobody should even open up an email from a stranger in Nigeria. I should have left the car dealership at the first bait and switch they pulled. Smokers should admit to themselves that smoking is bad for their health and contradicts their want to live. To get lucky, you need to be true to yourself and take a slap to your ego. Otherwise, you will just continue to fool yourself and open yourself up to being scammed even more and putting yourself in positions that you don’t want to be in. Cognitive dissonance prevents us from getting lucky and moving forward in our lives by making us protect our egos over doing what is best for ourselves and our future. Once again, slap that ego into place and do what’s right and you’ll start to get lucky. Similar Posts:

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I was just thinking about Nickelback’s song “If Today Was Your Last Day” and it really struck a chord. He talks about the best advice that his friend gave him to live each day like it’s his last since “each day’s a gift and not a given right”. I agree that living on the edge is the only way to live and get lucky but you have to take that advice with a grain of salt. You need to think about what if today is not my last day. How am I going to eat, pay rent or plan for the future? After all, most of us are optimists when it comes to staying alive. We would prefer not to think about our final day so we convince ourselves that it’s far away and we have plenty of time. Once we convince ourselves that we have all the time in the world, we get lazy and “push off today what can be done tomorrow”. In previous articles, I mentioned that the way to success and luck is baby steps. It takes many small goals and could take six years to become an overnight success. That said, you can’t follow both sets of advice without going insane. Andy Dufresne summed up my advice in my favourite movie of all time, Shawshank Redemption. You should “hope for the best but prepare for the worst”. By hoping for the best, you have plenty of time to live.  When preparing for the worst, you might as well live each day like it’s your last. Use each day to the fullest to prepare to get lucky in the future but make sure to do something each day as if it was your last. The song gives several examples such as “call those friends you never see”, “reminisce old memories”, “forgive old enemies” and “find that one you’re dreaming of”. Go ahead and do something crazy each day to get your blood pumping. Take 30 minutes out of your TV watching schedule (all the good shows were cancelled anyway), get off the couch and live. “It’s never too late to shoot for the stars, regardless of who you are”. Here’s a video of the song to enjoy. Similar Posts:

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