Reading it is one thing. Applying it is another. Choosing what to apply is a totally different story.
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Big libraries are nice, but only if you’ve read the books.
When I first started to read a bunch of books, I read a bunch of books just for the sake of reading a bunch of books.
It felt good to carry a book around. Honestly, it felt good to know that other people saw me carry books around. It fed my ego. I talk about this type of thing in the sixth point when it comes to my clothing.
But I soon realized that reading in itself wasn’t productive. No matter how many books I read, I wasn’t making a ton of progress.
That’s when I realized the problem: I wasn’t applying any of what I learned.
Since then, I’ve applied a bunch and learned a bunch. For example, it’s not just about applying the advice; it’s also about picking which advice to apply.
The following are a few nuggets of wisdom that I’ve read, chosen, and applied that have led to the best results.
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1. “There is a fundamental disconnect between the way we pitch anything and the way it is received by our audience.” — Oren Klaff, Pitch Anything
There are a ton of sales books out there to read.
Many of those books say basically the same things in different ways. When one of my friends recommended that I read Pitch Anything, I assumed that it’d be no different than the many other.
So what did I do? Well, I made him sell me on the book!
What he did worked, so I picked it up. My expectations were low, and I somewhat reluctantly crack the cover.
I was sure glad I did.
Since reading–and applying–some of the mindsets in that book, I increased my revenue by more than 20%, and I was able to sell my vision to several new team members.
2. “Creators are at the top of the food chain–those who create productivity.” — Andy Kessler, Eat People
The cover of this book shows a stick figure being forked by a fork, so I drew some attention when I took it out in public.
The book offers a fresh perspective on how to create true value in an economy.
Kessler’s quote has a couple levels to it that have helped me reframe the world and my work. First, he talks about “creators.” Personally, that’s a gentle reminder to stay a creator. The earners in our society create more things than they consume.
It’s easy to become a consumer; harder to be a creator.
The second part to Kessler’s quote has to do with what the creators create: productivity.
For Kessler, productivity is the key to creating real wealth. Before I took his advice and ran, I had to take a second to think about what it really meant to create productivity.
He’s not necessarily saying that we need to be productive. That’s a function of activity.
More accurately, he’s recommending that we actually create the productivity. In other words, we need to find a way to make others more productive. Make it so they get more from less.
Thus, eat people.
3. “Because you’ve got to succeed to survive, you will. Trust me on this.” — Daymond John, The Power of Broke
There are times when having good things too early is a bad thing.
I fully believe that someone can have too much success too early. Someone can have too much money too soon. Someone can receive too much funding for their startup before they’re ready. Someone can build a great team too soon. Someone can outsource too soon.
In short, I believe it’s good to be broke early on.
Daymond’s book talks the power of broke. It’s a mindset. One that keeps you hungry. No matter how much success you’ve found, having this type of mindset forces you to stay creative and do the type of things you had to do when you were actually broke.
One of my friends embodies this mindset.
His business is doing great. Lots of money, really cool clients, everything you’d want. And he’s done almost everything himself. Why? Simple. He wants to know and feel what it’s like to do the grunt work.
He’s leveraging the power of broke.
4. “In real life, a startup is a portfolio of activities. The challenge of entrepreneurship is to balance all these activities.” — Eric Ries, The Lean Startup
I’ve been talking this entire time about business, but let’s apply this one to life.
We’ve all got at least a handful of responsibilities. We often don’t have the luxury of doing just one thing.
School, work, personal finances, relationships, etc.
Really, we all have portfolios. We have to understand and embrace that.
Then we find balance.
5. “Unfortunately, ‘learning’ is the oldest excuse in the book for failure of execution.” — Eric Ries, The Lean Startup
Here’s another good one from Ries.
This is a mental trap that I’m working myself out of.
We’re consistently told that failures are learning experiences.
That’s not completely true. Really, it’s nuanced.
The trouble begins when we use the “learning experience” explanation to make up for the fact that we didn’t do as well as we could. It’s like writing it off, when there was actually something we could’ve done to be successful.
There’s a difference between a “learning experience” and an “opportunity to learn.”
While writing something off as a learning experience makes us feel as if we accomplished something, creating opportunities to learn isn’t a disguised excuse.
We should absolutely want to execute.
At the end of the day, there’s no room for excuses.
6. “If you are insecure, guess what? The rest of the world is too.” — Tim Ferriss, The 4 Hour Workweek
I’m constantly trying to learn more about who I am.
When I was in high school, I cared a lot about my appearance. I went to a private high school that was full of upper-class kids, and I felt out of place.
So I made up for the societal gap by dressing like them.
Unfortunately, that only made me feel like a fraud. I wasn’t comfortable. I felt like people could see right through my clothing.
Despite being a successful lawyer, my dad dresses in flannel shirts and jeans he bought in the 1980s. I soon realized that I needed to model my dad’s style. Not literally, although sometimes he and I dress alike.
Rather, I needed to copy his philosophy. He dressed for himself, not for the approval of others.
The way I dressed was for other people’s approval. I was insecure, and I thought that dressing like my friends would win their approval. Maybe it worked, maybe it didn’t. Regardless, I realized that I wasn’t my best when I was trying to win that approval.
I began to dress the way I wanted, which let me focus on things that really mattered.
This works in other aspects of life and business, too. Feel free to join me in the constant journey of being yourself.
Life is better that way.
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Photo: Flickr/Marketa