Trizle

Think of great NBA stars, world-class golfers, and renowned artists.

1. They obsessively crave their work.
2. They're constantly driven to perfect and utterly dominate their craft.
3. They kick ass regardless of the incentive system.

Yet, businesses think they can get better work by doing this:

• "Hey! If you can accomplish XYZ, we'll give you $$$. YAY!"

Then, they sit back, relax, and anticipate better work -- which never comes.

What Managers Don't Understand

• Tiger Woods doesn't try harder because he sees a financial reward at the end.
• Kobe Bryant doesn't score more points because he gets a season-end bonus.
• Yo-Yo Ma doesn't record better compositions because his label pays him more.

The Rule: People produce X work, regardless of what rewards you give them.

That is, despite their incentive system:

1. Great people will produce great work.
2. Shoddy people will produce shoddy work.

Yet, managers tend to go for the latter attracting the wrong peeps, then try to set up a reward system to get better work.

Boo.

You + College

Remember back in college: Who got the best grades?

1. a) those worried about their grades
2. b) those focused on rocking the work

B.

Worrying about external rewards distracts you from the channel that will get you that reward.

For instance, if Johnny A constantly talks about:

1. incentives
2. rewards
3. $$$

...all day, and everyday, you know:

1. Incentives distract him from his work.
2. Therefore, he'll produce shoddy work.

Provided you sufficiently compensate them, great people will produce great work regardless of the reward system.

• A passionate web designer will produce an amazing website, provided you sufficiently pay her.
• A money-motivated web designer will produce a horrible piece of S.U.C.K., even if you pay him a million bucks.

The 3-step Process to Attracting Great Talent

1. "What compensation will make you happy?"
2. Satisfy.
3. Watch great work.

Seek passionate peeps.

A product will sell ridiculous amounts if it's:

1. lowest-priced
2. OR elicits most loyalty

Anything else: Product's Sales Will Suck.

(Rule ^9086934086340643909. Tattoo that mofosoko to your fo-head.)

How Do You Compete?

For the 99.9% of businesses who don't have the freakish resources to compete on price, your next best bet:

• Compete on brand loyalty.

That is:

1. Be like Apple.
2. Build a status brand.

If Apple sold $8 pencils, pretentious little Apple fanboys would line up down Market Street dreaming of their little Apple pencils.

1. **Build brand loyalty.
2. Command greater premiums.
3. Make greater profits.
4. Kick more ass for your customers through more funding.

Build a company you want to have passionate sex with.

You have a task due.

1. If it's due in a year, you'll get it done by a year.
2. If it's due in a month, you'll get it done in a month.
3. If it's due this week, you'll get it done by this week.
4. If it's due tomorrow, you'll get it done by tomorrow.

Remember that semester-long term paper in school that you waited until the last week to do?

Give yourself X days to do a job, you'll get it done in X days.

So Why Put Off Tasks?

You think:

• "I know a year from now, I have to do X."
• "So, let's get started on X today!"

So what happens?

1. You spend the entire year trying to accomplish X.
2. You take away (read: waste) time to do X.
3. Other important things that would rock your company's bottom-line much more get overlooked.

Because you gave yourself a year to accomplish it, you wasted freakish time to do it (i.e., freakish time throughout the entire year).

How would Superbusinessbadasses accomplish X?

Peep:

1. A week before X is due, accomplish X.
2. Spend the rest of the time on something else.

That leaves you a ridiculous bunches of more time to do things that affect your company's bottom line tomorrow.

WIN.

Delay long-term tasks.

1. Go to Vendor A.
2. Vendor A gives quote.
3. You: "Buy! OMGz! Buy! Buy! BUY! OMGz!"

BOO: That's how you get bad deals from vendors.

Instead, use the supply-and-demand magic:

1. Create more supply.
2. Decrease prices. Get better deals.
3. Win!

(And even if you don't get lowered prices, you'll still get more bargaining power -- e.g., nice add-ons/features/coupons/etc.)

You + Coffee Beans

Say you want to buy coffee beans for your office.

1. Vendor A: "I can offer our office beans for $100!"
2. You: "But, I just went to Vendor B who's equally as good as you, and they offered $95 plus free shipping."
3. Vendor A: "Okay, okay. $95, and I'll give you 20% off your follow-up purchase. Free shipping."

You: Win!

Now, go to the equally competent Vendor C -- and see what they can offer you.

Say NO! to Rookie Mistakes

Rookie mistake:

1. Go to one vendor.
2. Listen to sales pitch.
3. Get enthralled.
4. Buy.

You'll slowly see your bottom-line decline like a constipated bovine.

Instead, decrease your prices and get better deals by going to multiple vendors.

'COFFEE BEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAANS."

1. Set goal.
2. Fail goal.
3. Set no more goals.

"I always fail my goals!", you scream like a little bizattchi.

"I now avoid setting goals because I don't want to fail anymore!"

Say that to Supertreezy, and he'll throw you off a cliff and eat your children.

Instead, know this:

1. Sure, you'll occasionally fail at your goals.
2. You'll fail even more if you set no goals.

Read that last little bizattch again:

• You'll fail even more if you set no goals.

Why?

Goals psychologically compel you to get work done in the allotted time.

That is, subconsciously:

1. Brain sees goals.
2. Brain magically revolves its priorities around demolishing those goals.

Result:

• Your inner voice: "Hey! I will strive to complete these things! Oh yes I will!"

Yes, You'll Suck at First. But, You'll Suck Good.

Get this:

1. Like an inept little 4-year-old who can't play t-ball, you'll initially suck at kicking ass.
2. But over time, the more you work on accomplishing your goals, the better you'll become at it.

It's like lifting weights:

1. "I will try really hard to complete my goals at first."
2. "But, rocking my goals will soon become a natural thang!"

Eventually:

• You = Alex @^^% Rodriguez.
• Goals = Kaput like mofos.

Yay for you. Hooray we all say. High five to you.

Set goals. Blast goals. Repeat.

What drove amazingly crazy companies to colossally destroy the market?

This:

1. If you're not passionate about something, don't do it.
2. If you're not passionate about something, don't do it.
3. If you're not passionate about something, don't do it.
4. If you're not passionate about something, don't do it.
5. If you're not passionate about something, don't do it.
6. If you're not passionate about something, don't do it.
7. If you're not passionate about something, don't do it.
8. If you're not passionate about something, don't do it.
9. If you're not passionate about something, don't do it.
10. If you're not passionate about something, don't do it.

Get this.

1. 6-year research study.
2. 2000 pages of interview transcripts.
3. 21-person research team.
4. 6000 pages of documents.
5. 7-year New York Times Bestseller.

What drove companies to become @^^% great?

1. Passion.
2. Passion.
3. Passion.
4. Passion.
5. Passion.
6. Passion.
7. Passion.
8. Passion.
9. Passion.
10. Passion.

If you're not passionate every second of your working life, use that as a clue:

• The more you spend on that sucky-suck-suck task/product/project, the more your business destroys its potential.

For each and every little mutha-@^^% thing your business does, ask:

• "Am I/we deeply passionate about doing this mofosoko?"

(Otherwise, delegate/outsource it.)

The barometer:

• Your company's chance to kick-ass is directly proportional to how much passion your company taps.

Passion. Win.

Every @^^% tick.

1. You = running your company.
2. "What should I work on today?!" you ask yourself.
3. You form your to-do list.

Your to-do sheet lists these items:

1. Help Client A.
2. Respond to Customer B.
3. Sell to Customer C.

Sure, that might look super-efficient -- but ask yourself:

• Will the stuff I do today also matter 5 years from now?

Peep:

• If no: outsource/delegate it.
• If yes: do it!

You'll be super-productive/efficient if you work on things that will be relevant:

1. now
2. 5 years from now

Why?

You kick-ass for both the:

1. short-term future: "What I do today, I can use tomorrow."
2. long-term future: "What I do today, I can use 5 years from now."

For instance, take this task:

• Build an employee manual.

You spend today writing the rough outline for your company's employee manual.

What'd you just do?

You're working on something you company:

1. can use tomorrow
2. can use 5 years from now

Da-ding!

You freakishly clobber two birds with one stone.

Discover the Sweet Spot

• Fighting daily fires might be swell, but you surrender your long-term future.
• Similarly, working on things that will only be relevant 5 years from now wastes your short-term future.

Find the sweet spot; work on things that you/your-company can use:

1. now
2. 5 years from now

You'll solidify your company for the long-haul.

Kabadadababingobing!

Work short + long.

1. Plan to make dinner. Skip.
2. Plan to make movie date. Skip.
3. Plan to contact Customer A. Skip.

Get this:

1. You give up at small things.
2. You'll give up at big things.

Read that mofoshizzle again:

1. You give up at small things.
2. You'll give up at big things.

When you habitually give up on the little things, you spill that habit over to bigger things you want accomplished; e.g.,:

• establishing your startup
• growing your business to X revenues
• getting your business acquired/going-IPO

"So what do I mother-$^@$% do?!"

Habitually, finish things.

...even the littlest-tiny-tiny ones of 'em all:

1. Finish a book
2. Finish a recipe
3. Finish a story
4. Finish a side project
5. Finish a daily goal

Consistently finishing gets your brain comfortable to the concept of chasing down your goals and beating them into submission.

• Translation: 'I have accomplished small goals, so it will be much easier for me to accomplish larger goals'

WINNER! HOORAY! HIGH-FIVE TO YOU!

Finish every freakish goal as freakishly-frickin-freaker possible.

1. "I'm the best!"
2. "I know everything!"
3. "I will lead us all to victory!"

You'd think a lead must never admit his/her faults:

• "A leader must never show weakness!" you'd think.

But, what happens when you think you're the greatest thing to happen since Billy Mother-@^%^ Idol?

1. You ignore where you suck.
2. You ignore how your competitors are going to kick your ass.
3. You ignore better approaches to lead your company.

Result: A state of denial gradually destroys the engine that drives your company.

How Humbleness = Good

A humble person constantly seeks to:

1. improve his faults
2. improve his efficiency
3. improve his team's morale/skills/productivity/direction

Admitting to your team:

• "I suck in these areas: , , __."
• "I don't know how to approach: ."

...leverages your team's collective strengths to resolve those weaknesses for you:

1. "Hey! No sweat! I actually did that at my last job!..."
2. "You're in luck! I read about some tricks the other week!"
3. "I have tons of experience doing that...."

How Denial Sucks Your Company

Without admitting your faults, your team members think:

1. "He knows everything."
2. "He knows where to take the company."
3. "He doesn't want or need my input."

Result: You create a bunch of yes-men -- people that wait for your directions instead of taking the initiative to kick ass.

Admit your faults. Embrace team's input. Rock the @!^^@ world.

This is how I suck.

• A million things.
• A million things get attention.

Or try:

• 5 things.
• 5 things get attention.

Why do chefs serve their shizzlekabizzles individually?

1. All-at-a-time? You give none any much attention.
2. One-at-a-time? You get focused on every-frickin'-bite-of-every-frickin'-dish.

Likewise, the more you simplify your life:

• The more you focus on the most important things.
• The more productive you become.
• The more value you provide your customers.
• The more @!^@% you ^@!$@!.

Peep Your To-Do List

...or your email list, your project list, etc.

The rec:

1. Cut 80% of the sucky ones.
2. Work on the remaining top 20%.

The less you place on your plate, the more you kick mother-kafluckin assizzle.

"So I'll just work on the top 20% of things to do!"

Supertreezy would give you a flying Flying forearm smash to the nuts if you say that to his face.

The more things you see:

1. The more things you subconsciously give attention.
2. The more energy you drain.
3. The less productive you get done.
4. The more you ignore your most important tasks.

Start cutting shizzlekabizzle out of your life.

Be productive. Start filtering out crap.