Time Maximization

Changing The Light On Job Security

Garth Beyer

Job security is not a constant. – This is not a good thing.

For years I thought job security was uncontrollable that every occupation had a permanent level of job security. Obviously that is not true, but that’s actually a great thing. Now, Wiki says job security is dependent on economy, prevailing business conditions, and the individuals personal skills. How wrong are they!

  • Job security is not dependent on economy, economy is dependent on job security.
  • Job security is not dependent on prevailing business conditions, prevailing business conditions are dependent on job security.
  • Job security is not dependent on the individuals personal skills, job security IS the individuals personal skill.

Let me share a personal story, story of missing out on $1,520 but getting $2,560 in the end.

I have worked as a Data Entry Clerk and got paid $9.50 an hour for 40 hours a week. There was a large set of online forms that needed to be entered into the database. Rather then spending 4 weeks entering each record individually into the database, I spent an hour and a half working on downloading the file and exporting it to an access document and from there, reformatting it to fit the excel spreadsheet where I was to enter the data. In essence, I got paid $14.50 for the hour and a half I spent reconfiguring the files instead of taking four weeks to enter the data manually which would have made me $1,520. Some would think I am senile for destroying my job security.

Why did I say I got $2,560 in the end? Because that is what I will make in four weeks with my new raise.

Bringing You Into The Light

Working smart and job security go hand in hand.

Consider reading The Lazy Way To Success Sample Chapter

Now, I have quickly learned that working smart always creates greater benefits than working hard. In fact, working hard can actually cause damage. For example, you can try and carry 5 bags of mulch from the front yard to the back and pull a muscle in your back. Or you can put the 5 bags in a wheel barrel and roll it casually to the backyard.

1. Well, since you pulled your back, you can’t even bend down to spread the mulch across the garden. Job security gone…and your wife is upset.

2. Well, since you were smart and used the wheel barrel, you had enough energy to spread the mulch before your wife got home. Job security and your wife’s happiness, granted.

Analogy: Apply it to your job!

Spreading mulch is = to your daily work.

Your wife’s happiness is = to your pay check.

Work Smart > Work Hard

If There Is One Thing I Hate

It’s being told to slow down and I get told it at work all the time. It’s not because I am too fast that I screw up, I tell everyone that I have one pace and it’s called “quality” and I am damn good at it. They tell me to slow down because all their lives they thought job security meant always having something on the to-do list.  Like Wiki, how wrong are they!

The Spotlight

I said job security is the individuals skill. The economy, business success, and everything else to do with career and money is dependent on this skill because this skill says everything about a persons character, integrity, work-ethic, attitude, and every other quality that defines a successful person.

If a person can turn a 4 week task into one hour, I’ll hire them and give them a permanent position with a lot more money. If there is a boss who doesn’t do that, clearly that workplace is not for them. Which leads me to the last factor of job security. When you get tasks done far before the deadline, when you deliver greater quality than is expected and when you have a positive attitude about it, what you thought you lost out on, always comes back – with company.

My biggest scenario is what I mentioned earlier, missing out on $1,520 but getting $2,560 in the end.

When you look at job security as skill, you can make much larger increases in income and quality of life then me. In fact, if you change the light on job security, it wont be long until you can say that you don’t even need a job.

Stay Positive and Try To Beat My $1,040 Increase

Garth E. Beyer

Manage Twitter To Manage Success

Garth Beyer

If you don’t manage your money, it will manage you. If you don’t manage your time, it will manage you. If you don’t manage your to-do list, it will manage you. If you don’t manage your social media, it will manage you.

Social media is not used to get popular, known, or for a start-up – despite thousands of people’s efforts. Social media, like Twitter, is used as a link to the rest of the world AFTER you begin to attain a degree of success.

Yes, Twitter and other social media tools work best when they are set up and prepared for people to find, but too many people devote too much time to it. People use social media like a machine gun with unlimited ammo when it really works best to load up and let your followers pull the trigger.

2% of your energy is more than enough to devote to Twitter and other social media each day to keep connections. Keep, not make.

You want people to find you. If you spend 98% of your time finding other people, 1 in 200 will actually want your service. What happens when you put that 98% toward your self-employment? People start pulling triggers.

 

Stay Positive and Stockpile

Garth E. Beyer

 

Slap In The Face Elevator Speech

Garth Beyer

For everyone who does not know, an Elevator Speech is like taking an entire encyclopedia book set and turning it into a one page slap in the face. I call it a slap in the face race because those who can summarize themselves or their business to get their listener to act the quickest, wins. The typical elevator speech summarizes

1 everything you do*

2 everything you are made of*

3 everything the listener should consider

4 everything you envision*

5 everything you achieved*

5.5 every reason the person you’re talking to should quit whatever job they have and come work for you

*Note: I always remind people that an elevator speech should encompass both your business and yourself because the listener may love your business but not like you and vise-verse. It is not only about getting someone to fall in love with your business — winning them over and having them fall in love with your purpose is just as important.

How To Start Writing An Elevator Speech

Molly Gordon advises you to jot down words and phrases that stand out most to you and promote yourself and your business. She then has you pick two of the words or phrases and reflect upon them to create part of your elevator speech. Almost the same as breaking down an encyclopedia isn’t it? Just as you, if I were given enough time to use a thesaurus to find words that made my blog sound as if it were rated #1 in all countries of the world, I could. Unlike Molly, I don’t want you to choose two out of the hundred words you think of. I want you to choose two words that encompass the hundred words you wrote down and the thousand you didn’t. Once you have accomplished this, you have the basis of your elevator speech. Now you can do the same for the 5.5 variables of an elevator speech that I provided above. Make a list for each variable and then finding two words or phrases that encompass everything on your list, do not use the best two achievements. Why not? Because you can gloat about specifics after your elevator speech is up.

How To Get Off The Elevator… With Your Investor

Personally, I do not have an elevator speech, not because I hate time limits and restrictions. I think having time restrictions on everything in life allows you to live it to the fullest (Pareto Principle). I do not have one because I do not see an elevator speech as being a pitch to sell an idea. I do not see it as a challenge which the only reward is getting a chance to have a longer conversation at a later time. The true point of an elevator speech is to get your listeners to forget about the thirty seconds. What I bring to the table with every new idea is the goal of forgetting the time limit. Every meeting I go to, especially the ones with a time limit of 15 min, 30 min, or an hour, I make it a goal to be there longer. Whether I am with there along with the other members, or just the boss — I am there after the meeting “ends”.

At one job interview I had, I was told that I had 30 minutes because they were meeting others to interview as well. Before the day of the interview, I told myself that I was going to be there for 45 minutes. I told other people as well because I know the power in telling people that you are going to do something. (Fear of disappointing the ones you love is a strong motivator) The next day I checked my phone for the time as I left the Coffee shop where the interview was held… 45 minutes exactly. I promoted myself and connected with the employer enough to get them to forget about the time limit. Success

Why Bother Having An Elevator Speech

If it does not make sense to you yet, an elevator speech is “one of the most effective methods available to reach new buyers and clients with a winning message”, says Bloomberg BusinessWeek. You might be thinking how you are going to work hard for everything in life and there are no easy rides to success like an elevator. I was once told that the elevator in life is always broken — I was going to have to take the stairs. How true is that? We will always have to work for our success, hence the “stairs to success” or “steps to success”. Although I look up to the one who told me that, I have to argue that the elevator is always there but someone is always on it already. You can’t argue that you wont get your chance to take the elevator at a hotel no matter how many people are using it. Your time will come. I am positive that each and every one of us gets at least one chance to use the elevator..

Will you be ready to go on?

Stay Positive and Prepared

Garth E. Beyer

Knowledge Overdrive Leads To Burnout

Knowledge Overdrive Leads To Burnout

Garth Beyer

Showcasing your intelligence can only be done by gaining too much knowledge that you do not know what to do with.

On the other hand, you can overdue your schedule by reading too much only to end up as mentally shriveled as a trash-basket piece of paper.

I had 35+ bookmarks on my computer and at one time had 55+. I have a bookcase collecting various books I come across, and a longer list written down of books I want to get. Then there are the piles of Success, Mens Health, and other magazines being piled up. Not to mention the fact I spend a majority of my time in a bookstore. I surround myself with all of these informational resources because I want to learn as much as possible and become successful just as you are!

But I have come to find very quickly that you don’t learn first to be smart. You need to be SMART first, to learn.

What do you need to know before you start learning everything that you are passionate about?

S for Substantial – Define what is most important. What information are you really looking for?  Let go of the less credible websites and books and be sure of solid content. Stay focused on what you are out to learn and avoid being distracted by other information. Look at everything as a magazine — skip over the advertisements no matter how many girls they promise you.

M for Modest – The opposite of substantial, make sure that you are not overwhelming yourself with the toughest jargon-filled resources. Search for the middle ground to what you already know and what you have absolutely no understanding of. Too often people who want to learn jump the gun and it backfires. Modesty is also a reminder to find resources that remain free of vanity, bias, egotism and even boastfulness. Unless of course, that is your taste.

A for Allocate – Since you have observed what is most important to you, you can organize all of those bookmarks, books, blogs,  lists, etc. This allows you to focus on one subject rather than flipping through three different ones. I also call this Cleaning House. Go into your all your resources one by one and while you find the category for each, you can toss all the resources that do not matter or do not fulfill the substantial or modest requirements.

R for Relation – Now it is time to connect with your resources. Establishing a relationship requires much more work than simply following people on twitter, and “liking” something on Facebook. –It also produces a larger benefit– You need to expand your connections to communicating with other people who have the same interests. I have at least 4 blogs that I contribute to each day and 12-15 blogs that I give feedback on a few times a week. In addition, as I start a new book, I find the website or blog that goes with it so that I can connect even better and understand the information more clearly. What is even more clear is how quickly people will come to you for info, simply by participating in other people’s content.

T for Take Down – Originally I meant for “T” to stand for transcribe, since the best way to retain the most important information is to write it down. (Often in the form of your own blog or journal) But as I have gone through these processes multiple times, you need more than just writing your ideas and thoughts down. Save the fire crackers for the fireworks. I have never been a competitive person, but I cannot stand Journalists who go for the most posts, the most followers, the most “likes”. They are after numbers and these numbers are little fireworks. You want to TAKE DOWN these noisy competitors. CONTENT, CONTENT, and more CONTENT is the only way. Make sure each time you sit down to write your thoughts out that you EXPLODE with content. Let your competitors light off the kiddy fireworks. If you followed the previous four steps to the SMART process than I can guarantee you will have a much easier time creating firework information.

Stay Positive and Get SMART

Garth E. Beyer

Limit Yourself to be Unlimited

Garth Beyer

It was once only high-school students who waited until the day before a homework piece was due to do it. College students then adapted to these frowned upon practices. What do you know, now we see it in the work place. 10, 20, 30+ years of experience and people still wait until the last-minute to do projects, write speeches, create a game-plan.

These are the most successful people in the world. I do not even have to pull data to show you, I can tell you right here and now.

These people are true Pro-accelerators. That’s right, the title of Procrastinator will soon be obsolete as more begin to see the significance of limiting yourself.

Starting Off Simple

Those pursuing outrageous activities such as Parkour are always bombarded with warnings to “take it easy”, “don’t push yourself”, “are you sure you’re ready?”

By sending these warnings, it pushes the Traceur (Person who is involved in Parkour), to take a minute to evaluate himself before performing a dangerous acrobatic move. What are we doing? We are limiting them to be safe and make conscious decisions. Or are we?

As much as I believe that life should be lived like a sport– acted on impulse — this minute that the Traceur has to evaluate his situation is powerful. Not only because it can save his life, but because he can make the wisest decision in one minute than he could if he took an hour to observe, calculate, trace, and run smaller trials of his overall acrobatic jump.

He is already pumped and ready, the adrenaline is coursing through his body and every sense is focused, yet expanded to encompass all angels of the jump. His mind is the most acute and focused on creating a successful jump.

If he had taken that hour to observe, calculate, trace, and run smaller trials of his jump, he would end up nervous, afraid, and even if he still thinks he can make it. The adrenaline is long past, he has over-thought the execution and in the hour he was studying the move, he remembered about the holiday dinner he has with his family on the weekend. He called a couple friends to ask about the move and they ended up talking to him about going out that night to the movies. The whole hour he spent studying the jump, he used 5% of his energy on the task at hand and 95% on the rest of his life.

Limiting Yourself in School

I skipped my junior and senior year at high school and went straight to college thanks to the Running Start Program in Belvidere, Illinois. I took all college courses and received my associates degree with honors, two days before I received my high school diploma. During the two years I spent in college, I wrote over eight 5+ page papers, seven of which I wrote the night before or the morning of the day it was due. This is how I produce the best work possible, and it is the same for you.

Do you remember writing any papers for school that you wrote the day before or day of? You probably recollect the feelings you had about staying up until 3 or 4am in the morning to write it. Sure you can complain about how tired you are the next day, but it is rare to complain about how tired you are while you are completing the task. There is no time to so who cares.

You did it!

You were even an over-achiever and wrote an extra page to make it seem like you spent a longer time on it than most. You get it back and of course you received an A. You nearly pulled an all-nighter to write the paper, you damn well deserve an A.

What You Did When You Didn’t

That paper you received an A on was assigned nearly a month before you turned it in. Silly professor!

I can put an endless list here, right now, of what you could do in a 29 day period while you “procrastinate” on the assignment. That would be a waste though, you just had all that time to do whatever you wanted before the paper was due. So what are some things you do to enjoy yourself?

Can you guess what some of the other students did while you were using your imagination to mix mentos and pop together, play video games, and whatever other things you did in that 29 day period? Ah, of course they were preparing, they were in the..the..the LIBRARY!

That actually is not a bad thing, I saw you in there too. You were researching how to Parkour while the “other students” were reading ancient history  written half in Greek.

You get the point.

Alleviate your worry about the assignment and take part in activities that you can learn from, sports like Parkour or learning a new language with Rosetta Stone

Due = Do

When it is due, is when you should do whatever it is.

Do you get the life lesson of this yet? The task itself will expand to the time allotted for it.

I just came back from the bookstore where I read Purple Cow by Seth Godin. I got there at 9:45 and had to pick up someone at Starbucks at 11:05. Lucky for me, the bookstore and Starbucks are right across the street from each other. Before I arrived at the bookstore I told myself I had until 11 to finish the book completely — I have not even started it.

At 10:59 I turned the last page and saw a picture of Seth’s bald head, often the signature of both the beginning and end of his book. I did it, and it was no easy task. I read quickly and took from the book the most important factors, but I did not skip a single page. I have to thank Tim Ferriss for teaching me reading techniques to read quicker and still gain the same amount of knowledge.

Thoughts Become Things

Who knows how many great philosophers, great leaders, great activists, and even a common person has realized the power of their thoughts. The impossible has been done in life because one person thought it was possible. This is the only time you should NOT limit yourself.

When you set time limits to complete a task, you adjust your mind-set to complete it in that time. It seems we have forgotten the power we have even though we continue to use it. Now that you are aware of your pro-accelerating abilities you can break your worry of “procrastinating” and truly enjoy yourself.

Stay Positive and Unlimited

Garth E. Beyer

Subsidizing Delegation to Acquire More Time

Garth Beyer

Team-Work Accountability

In a haste to delegate and decrease your responsibilities, you may hand tasks and duties to someone else. I highly encourage it when you are looking to acquire more freedom from stress and more time to take part in what you love. But when the tasks are for a shared vision you need to take the time in the beginning to make sure you are not putting the extra weight on their back before you teach them how to work with it on their back. Delegation is a shared process and will be added as a chapter by itself in the eBook “Parents Cost Us Money Too”, as a matter of prevention over clean-up.

In the beginning the vision needs to merge between the partners. Not only the desired result of both parties, but also the process and timeline. By communicating a timeline together there is a lesser necessity to make frequent meetings in the future, which results in exactly what you wanted: more time!

Delegation is tough… to start

When you begin delegating you will often feel that you are doing even more work than before. I thought the point of delegation was to give you freedom and remove stress from your life? This empowering result of delegation comes AFTER you follow the four D’s of delegation.

1. Define the problem

What is the issue at hand? What are you delegating?

2. Discover the resolution for the issue

Ask questions to focus on the result of the delegation.

3. Discern the ideas by brainstorming

How are you going to get the desired result? What will work? What wont? What needs to be taught?

4. Direct the partner– the most important.

What resources do you have available to increase their success rate? What role will you play while they carry out the task? Are there other members of your team that assist?

There you have it, a quick and straightforward approach to delegating.  Remember, it is often difficult to start but you only have to focus on the results that delegating will offer. Need further help or a more in-depth reasoning behind an aspect of delegation, feel free to comment and I will get back to you within 24 hours.

 

Stay Positive and Delegate

Garth E. Beyer

An Accord With Greatness

An Accord With Greatness

Garth Beyer

Today we focus on positive perspectives and cultural knowledge. What do you get when you combine the two? If you thought of the Tao Te Ching (Dao De Jing), then you are correct. This incredible piece of literature has two to twenty lessons per Chapter and 81 chapters in all. Since there is so much knowledge to discover, I do not want to overwhelm you. Let’s read the second and third stanza of Chapter 63 and discuss how it can affect your life, business, and relationships.

Tao Te Ching, Chapter 63, by Lao Tzu

Second Stanza:

The difficult problems in life
Always start off being simple.
Great affairs always start off being small.
Therefore the sage never deals with the great
And is able to actualize his greatness.

Third Stanza:

Now light words generate little belief,
Much ease turns into much difficulty.
Therefore the sage treats things as though they were difficult,
And hence, never has difficulty.”

–   Translated by Charles Mueller, 2004

Can you visualize the power behind Lao Tzu’s words? In life we often take problems and set them aside, saying that we will deal with them later. We are all examples of this mistake. Before we know it, the problem has grown to a size we could never have fathomed. It then begins to come out of hiding and crush us. Can you think of a way or two that would prevent this from happening? Does being honest and strong come to mind? Be honest to yourself and others and muster up the strength to overcome the obstacle early on. By doing so, your reward is time and supplementary strength to strive for life success. For example, you have a couple of tasks to carry out for work. You have to write-up an introduction to the meeting you have tomorrow and file a summary to your boss of an interview you established. In regards to the second stanza, it would be in your best interest to follow through with these tasks early in your day. If you decide to contradict Lao Tzu’s philosophy, you will find yourself full of stress and pressure to complete the task before the following morning. Not only that, but your boss called you up hoping that you had a rough draft of the report done yet so that he could get prepared for the meeting as well. That was a lost opportunity for progress and greatness for you. To have the power to activate greatness, you must continuously distinguish the small tasks, duties, and callings of each day.

You may be feeling that this is irrelevant to your life. That you plan your day and you knock out all the simple tasks and to-do’s early on so that you can focus on your greatness the rest of the day. Whether this is you, or not, you might be interested more in what stanza three offers to enlighten you with. So I begin by asking you this? When you execute the small tasks, do you accomplish them? REALLY accomplish them? Or do you put forth just the right amount of effort to cross it off your list and move on? You will be more fortunate to discover greater success if you truly delve deep into the meaning that stanza three carries. Why don’t we extend the previous example to encompass the lessons from stanza three as well?  As Lao Tzu’s suggests, by taking the time and maximum energy to write an introduction for your meeting tomorrow and file a summary to your boss of the interview you partook in the previous day, you are paving your path to even further success than you deemed imaginable. Having put forth so much effort into such small tasks, your boss allowed you to run the meeting the following morning, allowing you to get on a first name basis of the CEO of your company. Not only that, but now your boss wants you to do a full-scale interview with other clients and he is going to your completed work to the Wall Street Journal. Does this inspire you and help you see the importance of putting forth your greatest effort even with the smallest of tasks? How can this relate to your career?

But wait, your success does not end there. I said at the beginning of this blog post that you can affect all areas of your life by following Lao Tzu’s factual philosophy. By executing the advice of dealing with small obligations, and dealing with them with all your effort — you show others that you are ready for the opportunity to excel in your business. In doing so, you become more prosperous. After becoming more prosperous by being an honorable hard-working person, you have more time and energy to devote to balancing your personal and family life. By using all of your will and effort to get tasks done, both small and large, you become wiser and stronger, you are able to do more of what you love, and have more time, energy, and money than ever before. The effort of positivity, honesty, encouragement, and success in daily tasks, is what you will receive in return from your accomplishments.

Stay Positive and be Sage-like

Garth E. Beyer