1. See task list.
  2. Do things that don't really need to be done today.

What happens at the end of the day?

  1. You don't complete your most important stuff.
  2. You work on stuff that ain't so @^% important.

The "Maybe" Tasks

You have a viciously important proposal you want to send to an important prospect.

Your task list:

  1. Proposal for Prospect
  2. Decorate office

Your thoughts:

  1. "Hey, I can do the proposal for the prospect later on today! YAYYAYA!"
  2. "Let's decorate the office now!"

4 p.m. approaches, and you still haven't gotten to that proposal.

You're still stuck doing a million "things that can wait for tomorrow" -- and procrastinating on the vital things you want dominated today.

You know why we all suck at completing the things we totally want/need to get done?

  • We do "things that can wait for tomorrow."
  • We do "things that can wait for tomorrow."
  • We do "things that can wait for tomorrow."

Meanwhile, we think there's time later on in the day to do our most vital tasks.

But, the more we wait, the likelier we procrastinate on those tasks until the end of mother-^@!$^@!-time.

Boo.

Reprogram. Mind.

Before you do "things that can wait for tomorrow," try this:

  • Do nothing else until you finish what you want done today.

That is:

  • No TV.
  • No newspapers.
  • No blogs.
  • No decorating offices.
  • No yaddas.

...until the viciously-vital-things-for-the-day get annihilated.

That is:

  1. "I will finish this proposal.."
  2. "I will finish this project..."
  3. "I will finish my calls..."
  4. "I will finish my workouts..."

...before I do anything that can wait for tomorrow.

First things @^%$ first.

Posted on October 15

  1. Teach a kid to ride a bike? Training wheels.
  2. Teach a teen to ride a car? Passenger-side brakes.
  3. Teach a father to change diapers? An extra pair of hands.

How do you learn new skills?

You do it like this:

  1. Place a safety net.
  2. Do.

Ta-frickin-da-da-da!

The Gymnastics Trick

Think of it this way:

  1. A gymnast learns new tricks atop of cushy pillows.
  2. If anything happens, she'll fall on those pillows.

Pillows = her safety net.

Thus, she's more inclined to try harder, stronger, crazier tricks.

Result: she becomes a more kickass gymnast.

Safety Nets = Magic

Without the pillows, folks stay inside their comfort zones.

For instance, the gymnast will stick with her skills without learning new tricks -- settling for mediocrity.

  • "I'm too scared!" she'd scream.
  • "I might fall!" she'd say.
  • "I'll hurt myself! OH NOES!" she goes.

Yet, with a safety net, she becomes confidently the biggest badass in the world's history and its mama:

  1. "I'm going to try some ridiculous moves."
  2. "I'll challenge myself to see what I can do!"
  3. "It'll be fun!"

At the end of one day playing atop her safety net, she learns freakishly-mother-frickin-of-the-freaker faster.

Oh, so much faster.

Crush Comfort Zones with Safety Nets

Humans psychologically avoid new experiences.

  • We're fearful of what could happen.
  • So, we avoid.
  • And, we end up sucking.

By installing safety nets, you remove the risks/shame/embarrassment/pain/rejections/yaddas that could potentially occur.

For instance:

  • Learning to manage? Coach youth sports.
  • Learning to sell? Practice on mom-and-pops first.
  • Teaching an employee to innovate? Don't criticize.

If you're scared of doing X:

  1. Place safety net to remove fears.
  2. Do.

You'll ramp up your skills ridiculously quickly.

Safety nets = Magic.

Posted on October 14

Peep your psychological wiring:

  • The more your procrastinate on things the worse you feel.
  • The less you procrastinate by working on your projects, the better you feel.

Think about that mofo for the day.

Work. Happy.

Posted on October 01

Here's what most will do:

  1. "Economy sucks!"
  2. "Let's not do anything!"

And then, eventually, they fail.

Here's what Warren Buffet and Google does:

  1. "Economy sucks."
  2. "While everyone else is resting on their laurels, we will take this time to kick some frickish ass."

Do What Nobody Else is Doing

When everyone and their mamas are buying real estate, what's the wiser decision?

  • Sell real estate.

When everyone and their mamas are selling real estate, what's the wiser decision?

  • Buy real estate.

If you run with the pack, doing what everybody else is doing, you gain no advantage over the market.

Result: You/your-company's earning power: The SUCK.

How to Get Rich

People get rich (see: Warren) when the economy sucks.

They slowly and gradually build up their investments until.....WHABAMABOSHAKAH....the economy picks itself back up.

  1. When the economy turns, it's too late for the laggards to catch up.
  2. Those who invested during the downturn will have built one ridiculous lead.

For instance:

Take MamaShubumba's Bakery.

The other bakeries are cutting costs, firing folks, and trying to hang on through the turmoial.

What does MamaShubumba do?

  1. She starts recruiting hidden gems who got laid off at bargain salaries.
  2. She buys liquidated products from other bakeries going out of business.
  3. With less demand, she hires bakery experts on the cheap to improve her offerings and decor.
  4. She freakishly invests in deliciously awesome new recipes, testing them with her prime customers.

MamaShubumba invests in her business during the downturn, while her competitors stall until they're more optimistic about the economy.

What happens when the economy = good?

  • MamaShubumba will have built one tremendous lead with new recipes, new decor, and an amazingly loyal/top-notch staff.
  • Meanwhile, the laggards will have to jumpstart its ailing business.

When the economy sucks:

Invest.

Posted on September 30

Crzybizflks do this:

  1. Try one new product.
  2. Test.
  3. Keep it if it works.

Ridiculously-good businesses do this:

  1. Try a freakish-bunch of products, simultaneously.
  2. Test.
  3. Keep those that work.

Why?

Time is your enemy.

What if the market hates your one product?

  • With one offering: you = screwed.
  • With a variety of offerings: you can still succeed with other products.

What Will Suck You Up Good

A bad-bad-bad-bizomofosko does this:

  1. "Lets' try this for 3 months! YAY!"
    Experiment fails? No progress.
  2. "Now, let's try this one for 3 months!"
    Experiment fails? No progress.
  3. "Let's try this other one for 3 months!"
    Experiment fails? No progress.
  4. "Let's try this other thing for 3 months!"
    Experiment finally succeeds.

That is, you spent the entire freakish year to finally produce a successful product.

Now, peep this other mofo perspectiviko:

  1. "Let's try Experiments ^1, ^2, ^3, and ^4 simultaneously -- albeit, in a smaller scale."
  2. 3 months later: You discover Experiment ^4 succeeds.
  3. You = win. Your customers = win. HIPHIPHIPHOORAY!!!!!111one

When you try a bunch of experiments as quickly as you can, you'll quickly discover what the market wants.

Result:

  1. more productivity
  2. fatter profits
  3. happier customers

The To-Do

Check:

  1. List out a variety of offerings you want to experiment with the market.
  2. Test them out simultaneously.
  3. Rank them in profitability.

Act accordingly. Kabing.

Test out like a fat horndog octopus.

Posted on September 29

  • "It's just the impression I get from their interview!"

Why does that suck?

  • Some people = great at interviews
  • Others = not so great

What You'll Get in Interviews

In this crazy ^@$^@%@%^@ world, you'll find plenty of those who can embellish the heck out of what they've done.

Then on the other side, you'll find those who are a little more freakishly humble, understated, and just do great work without a hint of boastfulness.

The latter folks are usually the hidden gems that will productively kick you ass.

The downside? They'll probably suck at interviews.

So how do you identify potential greatness?

Seek Accomplishment in Numbers

A demonstrated history of success = good.

  • Can Joe X list his accomplishments for you in numbers? (e.g. ^ sold, ^ revenues generated, ^ products built per day, etc.)

Try this:

  1. Go through each job on the resume.
  2. Have him/her list his accomplishments quantitatively.
  3. The stronger the list, the better.

Then, just to make sure they're not BSing you, check references.

Kabamdeezy.

You just might have your next superstar.

Seek previous quantitative accomplishments.

Posted on September 16

Before every big investment, ask:

  • If this investment dramatically falters like a mofokoko, will we still have a chunk of the business left?

Peep:

  1. You're running a 160-year-old company.
  2. You've invested chunks into the mortgage industry.
  3. The mortgage industry hits the destruction period. Now, if that current investment fails, your entire company is headed for doom.

What do you do?

  • a) Hang on and hope for the best.
  • b) Hedge your bets by selling a freakish chunk of your mortgage investment.

Merrill Lynch did the latter, and saved itself to be safely acquired.

Lehman did the former, and now they're headed for bankruptcy.

The moral: When an investment turns sour, try this:

  1. Think of the worst possible motherkeruffin thing that can happen to that investment.
  2. Will that destroy your business?
  3. Act accordingly.

Do a Merrill.

Posted on September 15

Bad company:

  1. Pay good performers market rates.
  2. Pay bad performers market rates.

Good company:

  1. Pay good performers X% above market rates.
  2. Pay bad performers X% drastically below market rates.

Result:

  1. Attract and retain good talent.
  2. Drive away bad talent, quickly.

Drive away bad talent?

Bad talent thinks:

  1. "Hey! I can make better $$$ over at the competitor!"
  2. "Here's my pink slip, biatch. BOOYAH!"
  3. Fail.

Your company: Win.

"So what do I do?!"

Try this:

  1. Base salary below market rates.
  2. Target commissions/bonuses/etc. (coupled with base salary) above market rates.

(e.g., "top 10% of our sales folks get $_")

You'll start driving the bad folks away, opening up more free cash to restart another round of hiring.

BOOYAH SON.

Compensate to kick @$^&$^@ ass.

Posted on September 11

  1. I'm scared I'll lose everything.
  2. I won't be able to recover.
  3. Therefore, I won't take the risk.

Think back to your college days:

  1. You dreaded a bad grade.
  2. You eventually received a bad grade.
  3. You survived.

And eventually, you learned from the experience to kick future ass -- rendering the bad grade fruitless.

The crazy way we human folks work:

  1. Anticipation scares us.
  2. Reality gives us options: (a) survive, (b) surrender.

The distinguishable difference between survivors and those who surrendered:

  • Survivors choose to survive.

Simple.

How Crack Addicts Recover

  1. Rwanda's survivors? They chose survival.
  2. Vietnam's surviving POWs? Survival.
  3. College kids raised from the projects? Survival.
  4. 1896's marathon finishers? Survival.
  5. Recovering crack addicts? Survival.

An account from Angelique Mukamanzi, a 14-year-old Rwanda survivor:

Three days after the plane crash, a small company of us moved into the church at Ntarama: my family and neighbouring folk, with bundles of what we needed to survive. During the day, the courageous ventured out into the surroundng fields to bring back some food. At night, we slept inside or outside, according to who was weak or fit. When the interahamwe encircled the fencing, men began letting stones fly so as to slow down their advance. The women gathered the stones, because they did not want to die any old way.

Survival.

If a doctor told you your dad/mom/wife/husband/son/daughter had 5 months live, the anticipation leading up to that last day will utterly destroy you.

  • You don't know how you'll survive when the day comes.
  • You can't imagine pleasantries with that future.
  • You anticipate the slow decay of your own existence.

But ask survivors who's been through that experience, and what would they tell you?

  1. I can survive this.
  2. I can go on.
  3. I will endure.

Taking a 'crazy' risk in business? Child's play.

And if the worst-case scenario ever happens:

Choose survival.

Posted on September 10

  1. You confront a sales meeting.
  2. You instantly become timid.
  3. You suck.

"So what do I do?!"

Try this:

  1. Think of Brad Pitt in Ocean's 11.
  2. You = Brad Pitt.

Done.

Imagining yourself as someone else's persona helps you adopt that person's persona.

You start asking:

  • What would Brad Pitt do in this situation?
  • How would Brad Pitt respond in this situation?
  • How would Brad Pitt talk to this person?

Magically, you start:

  1. standing up straighter
  2. having more conviction in your voice
  3. doing stuff you wouldn't have done minutes ago

Productively-Confident You.

And if something undesirable happens to you, you experience this gem:

  1. "I didn't get rejected."
  2. "Brad Pitt got rejected."

Result: You take more risks that propel you forward on your freakish journey of total domination.

Model X's confidence.

Posted on September 09

WTH is Trizle?

Trizle helps you rock ___ with your business.

Subscribe

Get a complimentary subscription to our freshest articles through email or through your feed reader.

Don't Miss Out!

Subscribe to Trizle through email or through your feed reader.