Dear Reader,
There's a reason you're no closer to achieving your lifelong dream than you were last year … or five years ago. It's the same reason that keeps thousands of other people from making any meaningful progress toward something they really want to do or be.
And, as Paul Lawrence explains today, you're almost certainly going to keep on dragging your feet … until you take one very specific step.
- Will Bonner
The Internet's
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Saturday , January 28, 2006
Message #1638
WEALTHY: A successful new business based on an old, pre-Internet idea
HEALTHY: The dangerous "numbers game" that drug companies are playing with us
WISE: Steven Spielberg on dreaming
ALSO IN THIS ISSUE:
What do you wish you could be/do … if only? (Paul Lawrence)
A Rube Goldberg solution to a simple problem (Michael Masterson)
Add the word "myrmidon" to your vocabulary
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Success Story: Internet Dating … With a Twist
In this world of fast food and high-speed Internet, traditional dating can seem slow, painstaking, and even boring. A few years ago, 27-year-old Ken Deckinger and his 25-year-old friend Adele Testani took advantage of this by founding Hurry Brands, LLC, which offers a high-speed Internet dating service.
HurryDate gives clients the opportunity to have up to 25 four-minute "mini-dates" a night. The clients evaluate each date in order to decide whether to pursue a second – and hopefully longer – meeting with the same person.
The best thing about running HurryDate: "We are having a positive impact on the lives of tons and tons of people. We are producing a product that makes people happy." In fact, Deckinger claims that HurryDaters (the company's term for its clients) sometimes end up falling in love, marrying, and having children.
Along with perseverance and dedication, Deckinger credits his youth with being crucial to the company's success. "Everything we were doing was within our demographic," he explains. Instead of being a disadvantage to the business, his and Testani's youth was "a benefit, because it allowed us to relate to our customers." Deckinger admits, however, that "there is something to be said for experience. And experience comes with age."
"Follow your passions [and] don't give up," Deckinger advises other young entrepreneurs. "But listen to people who are experienced."
Founded in 2001, HurryDate began in only 10 cities. Even then, its projected earnings were well over $500,000. It has since branched out all over the U.S., Great Britain, and Canada. It has hosted over two million "mini-dates" since its inception.
- Suzanne Richardson
[Ed. Note: This is just one of many success stories cited by Michael Masterson in his soon-to-be-published book Automatic Wealth for Grads…and Anyone Else Just Starting Out. You'll want to help all the young people you know get an early start on their road to financial independence by getting them a copy. As soon as the book available ... we'll let you know.]
"I dream for a living."
- Steven Spielberg
Get Started Making Your Dream Come True
By Paul Lawrence
My old high school buddy Dan D. was a talented artist. Before he even graduated, he already had his first commission: to create a mural in a client's home. He earned as much from this one project as he did in a month at his part-time, after-school clerical job.
Dan was excited! He decided he would become a full-time artist. His plan was to build up a nice income by creating original works of art. And you know what? His future looked rosy.
Now, let's fast-forward 15 years. What does Dan do now? He delivers and installs flooring. He earns enough to always be just a little behind on the bills … and remain a "renter" rather than a homeowner.
What happened to Dan's lost dream? He procrastinated so long that he ended up never pursuing it. Still, to this day, you often hear him talking about doing it … some day.
Why did Dan procrastinate? I think it's because he turned himself into a victim of his own failure to clearly define what he really wanted to do.
In Message #544, Michael Masterson said, "There's nothing wrong with putting off unimportant tasks, but you will go to your grave with regrets unless you learn to take care of your important goals."
In other words, if you are going to have a real shot at achieving your dream, you must cast it in concrete.
In order to achieve a dream, you must be able to concisely state it – in one sentence. If you don't have a focused and measurable target, you're likely to flounder. So if, for example, you want to be a VIP corporate executive, your goal can't be "I want to be a bigwig in a large corporation." It needs to be something specific, like "By the time I am 45 years old, I want to be the CEO of a publicly owned company in the consumer-lending industry that has no less than $100 million in annual revenues."
So, Step One: Take out a piece of paper – right now – and identify and quantify your primary goal in life.
There are a couple of reasons why this is important. For one thing, I believe that what happened to Dan (and countless others) is that because they weren't specific about their dream, it didn't seem real.
For most people, their big dream seems more like a fantasy than something that could really happen. And it's perfectly normal to feel this way. Big dreams aren't easy to accomplish. When you dare to "dream big," you're likely to have doubts concerning your chances for success … and so will the people who love you and care about you.
My own family and friends did their best to patronize me when I first spoke of my dream to get a movie script that I wrote produced. It's understandable. The odds were stacked against me. Over 100,000 scripts are registered with the Writer's Guild of America each year. Yet, each year, a couple of thousand films (at most) are made. To make matters worse, I had no formal education in film, no connections, and I lived 3,000 miles away from where 99% of the film business exists. But I beat those odds … and you can too.
It all begins with identifying and quantifying your goal.
There's another critical reason for being very specific about your dream. Without having a highly specific goal, it's virtually impossible to identify the exact actions that you'll need to take to achieve it.
Let's use me as an example. What if I had simply said that my goal was "to make a living as a writer"? Well … that would've been much too vague for me to be able to make any plans to realistically achieve that goal. What should I do? Should I write a book? A play? A movie? Clearly – without giving myself more direction – I wouldn't be sure. And so, I'd probably procrastinate.
Okay. So let's say that I was a little more precise – that I made it my goal "to sell screenplays and make over $100,000 a year." Sounds good, right? But while this dream goal is much more focused, it's not focused nearly enough. Let me explain why …
There are basically two markets for screenplays: television and film. And these markets are entirely different.
In the television world, a writer has a job that requires him to report to the studio each day as part of a staff. The only way to pursue this kind of career is to reside in Los Angeles. Since I live in South Florida, I would have virtually no chance of becoming a television screenwriter … unless I decided to move.
But … to sell a screenplay for a feature film, you can technically live anywhere. You could live on the moon. Nobody cares … as long as the script is great. They buy it from you … and that's the end of it. I didn't want to move. And that's why I made it my dream goal to write a screenplay for a feature film.
As you can see, if I hadn't given myself a goal that was this specific, I probably wouldn't have achieved it.
Whatever your dream is, you're probably struggling with similar details that need to be addressed before you can come up with a plan of action that will work. Unfortunately, my friend Dan never got over this hurdle. He just talked about becoming an artist. Imagine what would have happened had he come up with a specific, measurable goal like "In my first year, I want to be commissioned to paint at least 12 murals and earn no less than $10,000."
Wow! Today, Dan might be a well-known artist who is earning a huge income in his chosen field.
What more can I say?
I strongly urge you to make the most of your life. Remember that some of the saddest words in the English language are "What might have been."
Today's
Action Plan
If you'd like to learn more about Paul's "Dare to Live Your Dreams" program so you can make sure you don't let life pass you by, follow this link:
http://www.paullawrenceproductions.com/dream/dream.html
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NNT: Hiding the Side Effects of Statin Drugs
In Message #1575, I criticized pharmaceutical companies for manipulating statistics to magnify the benefits of their drugs, while pushing the risks under the rug:
"Lipitor promoters insist that those with so-called high cholesterol can achieve a 36% 'relative risk reduction' in heart attack by using the cholesterol-lowering drug. They ignore that the same raw data can yield a more revealing 'absolute risk reduction' of a paltry 1%."
As I said yesterday, an ETR reader – a cardiologist – strongly disagreed with me. He suggested that a 1% "event" reduction might not appear to be impressive "if you are talking about treatment of a short-term rash." But if the event that is prevented is death, then the 1% takes on a whole new meaning.
In other words, Lipitor could potentially save 100 lives for every 10,000 patients treated. Or 10,000 lives per million patients treated. Add this drug to the Windy City's drinking water, and we could prevent 28,000 heart attacks in Chicago alone. Oh boy!
The doctor is referring to a statistic known as "Number Needed to Treat (NNT)." This is the number of people you need to treat in order for one person to receive a benefit. But to rely solely on NNT is superficial and dangerous thinking. Because NNT focuses only on a single event – the positive one. It does not take into account the negative side effects of the drug: the Number Needed to Harm (NNH). And, as you will learn on Monday, this can have deadly consequences.
A patient should be able to make an informed decision as to whether the benefits of a drug are worth the costs. And this is one more way drug companies make it difficult for you to do it.
As always, we want to hear from you. If you would like to read the e-mail I received from the cardiologist – and/or comment (pro or con) on the use and marketing of cholesterol-lowering drugs – please visit the ETR Speak Out forum.
(Reference: "Hidden Truth About Cholesterol-Lowering Drugs" by Shane Ellison, M.Sc.
- Jon Herring
It's Good to Know: A High-Tech System to Stop Cellphone Interruptions
Yesterday, in Message #1637, I told you what I think about the lack of manners exhibited by most people who use cellphones. Most disturbing … if their phone rings in the middle of a conversation, they completely ignore the person they're talking to and take the call.
Turns out a graduate of MIT – Stefan Marti – has developed a technology intended to eliminate such undesirable interruptions. Based on the theory that "the caller has no way of knowing if he has chosen a good time to cut in," Marti's elaborate system silently surveys the members of any nearby group and allows the call to go through only if they unanimously agree. Everyone in the group has to have a device that is in wireless contact with their cellphone and a special ring that they wear on their finger. The device can tell who you're in conversation with by comparing your speech patterns with those of people nearby.
Kinda crazy, isn't it? Especially when you considering that the problem Marti's insanely complicated scheme is trying to solve could be easily fixed by nothing more than old-fashioned good manners.
- Michael Masterson
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Can you visualize your success?
It's not an unreasonable desire to have a nice home for your family… to be a good provider… to see your kids enjoy the finer things… to have a little bit of security for yourself and your family. My goal now is to retire with at least $5 million in five years.
Whether it’s from a home office, from your den, from your kitchen table, even from your bedroom if you need to – there's no reason why you can't do the exact same thing I did.
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Word
to the Wise: Myrmidon
A "myrmidon" (MUR-muh-don) is a loyal follower – especially one who executes orders without question, protest, or pity.
Example (as used by Bruce Fein in a Washington Times article titled "Follow U.S. War Crimes Advice"): "He risked assassination, torture or … retaliation, the defining signatures of Mr. Milosevic and his ultranationalist myrmidons"
Michael
Masterson
Copyright ETR, LLC, 2006
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