Kind of a mantra for life around here, think different, help people, get paid.
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Get paid to help people think different
For the full presentation, you can download the slides here: Think Different, Help People, Get Paid
Like Apple, you must think radically different than your competition.
Like Patagonia, you have to care about people or the planet OR SOMETHING, or else people won’t care. Your team won’t care and finally, at one point you won’t care.
Like Amazon, you must understand your path to profitability, and generally, it’s non-linear and illogical. Amazon lost money for years understanding precisely what they were building. An ecosystem where they can play in and profit from for years to come.
The presentation was broken down into three Acts. We also had one only one but TWO trivia competitions throughout.
Act 1: do you assume thinking the same is going to help you in the future? It’s the idea that the style of thinking that got you this far isn’t the same style of thinking that’s going to take you to another level. Bad things are always going to happen, this won’t be the last pandemic, what are you doing to help your future self? Writing? Creating? Learning? Volunteering?
If you don’t have an answer to that last question, it’s time you set some goals around personal development.
One of the easiest ways to “think different” is to write better emails. I learned this from teaching a University Class on Social Media. 48 students emailing me weekly gave me a wonderful insight into how students communicate AND how poorly it sounds to the reader when you don’t put in an effort.
Start your emails off with something pleasant, and finish them off with ANYTHING other than “best regards”. HA! I make jokes about it but people can feel your enthusiasm in an email. If you don’t have time to care about how you’re communicating you need to get out of your career now. Some of my favourite email salutations:
- Keep on rockin’ in the free world
- We built this city on Rock n Roll
- And I think to myself, what a wonderful world
- Roses are red violets are blue, this is the best email I’ve ever written to you!
- Love, Jeph
- Damn it feels good to be a gangster
A job isn’t worth having if you have to stress out over email.
Act 2: Help People. If you aren’t happy because the pandemic has decimated your friend circle then this section is for you. People preach “self-care” as the answer but I disagree. I think helping others is the answer! It’s the easiest way to make your day better! It sounds counter-intuitive but helping other people is the easiest way to help yourself.
Mattress Mac is a great example of what we should all strive for in business. This video is worth a watch, Mattress Mac is a hero to me.
Act 3: Get Paid. Making money isn’t the hard part, it’s fulfillment we should be worried about. Fulfillment > achievement.
After you make $70,000 a year you aren’t getting any more happy day to day, so what are you focusing on? How will you measure your life? We all need to get paid to live, but for those who do work they’re meant to do, the money always follows. Those who focus on the money, always seem to struggle with not having enough of it.
Find your purpose early on. Find what you’re meant to do as soon as you can. That’s hard and involves trying many different vocations until something stands out to you. If you’re lost, watch the Mattress Mac video. That should help.
If you’re struggling with the whole “purpose” thing, I’d suggest Clayton Christensen’s How To Measure Your Life. It’s a fantastic book that gives you perspective.
For the full presentation, you can download the slides here: Think Different, Help People, Get Paid
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