The Art of Letting Bad Things Happen
Archives: Daily Issues
Issue #2332
- WEALTHY: How to turn a penny into $21.4 million (Michael Masterson)
- HEALTHY: Drink a beer before bed? (Dr. Ray Sahelian)
- WISE: Jawaharlal Nehru on peace
ALSO IN THIS ISSUE:
- Why you should let the urgent "fail" (Tim Ferriss)
- 3 powerful marketing efforts you shouldn’t ignore (MaryEllen Tribby)
- It’s Fun to Know… about wacky warning labels (Suzanne Richardson)
- Add "excrescence" to your vocabulary
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When would you stop going there?
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It’s often said , " The Stock Market is just a big casino ." And it’s true. But the important omission in that statement (to keep the masses out!) is the dealer in this casino tips his hand to the select few… the insiders.
Such powerful knowledge could make YOU very rich indeed… Click to learn more…
How to Turn a Penny Into $21.4 Million
If you took a penny and doubled it every day for a month, how much would you come up with? A hundred dollars? A thousand dollars? How about a million dollars?
Not even close. If you start with just a single penny and double it every day for 31 days, you’ll end up with… $21,474,836.48. Over twenty-one million dollars in a single month! This is an example of the power of compound interest.
Your original penny will have turned into two. But then those two will have turned into four, those four turned into eight, and so on. The growth of your money will have accelerated, or sped up, not only because your original penny was collecting interest but also because all the pennies you received as interest also began to earn interest. And so the growth built up – or compounded.
That’s how we get the term compound interest. That’s how you get rich. And that’s why, when it comes to wealth building, being young gives you a major advantage.
[Ed. Note: The above was excerpted from Michael Masterson's New York Times best-seller Automatic Wealth for Grads... and Anyone Else Just Starting Out.
If you know a young person who's going to graduate this year... or if one of your 2008 goals is to increase your income... pick up a copy. Learn more about this and all of Michael's books at his website.]
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"Peace is not a relationship of nations. It is a condition of mind brought about by a serenity of soul. Peace is not merely the absence of war. It is also a state of mind. Lasting peace can come only to peaceful people."
Jawaharlal Nehru
The Art of Letting Bad Things Happen (and Weapons of Mass Destruction)
By Tim Ferriss
I just landed back in CA from a long overdue mini-retirement through London, Scotland, Sardinia, Slovak Republic, Austria, Amsterdam, and Japan.
Some unpleasant surprises awaited me when I checked in on the evil e-mail inbox. Why?
I let them happen.
I always do.
Here are just a few of the goodies that awaited me this time:
- One of our fulfillment companies has been shut down due to the president’s death, causing a 20%+ loss in monthly orders and requiring an emergency shift of all Web design and order processing.
- Missed radio and magazine appearances and upset would-be interviewers.
- More than a dozen lost joint-venture partnership opportunities.
It’s not that I go out of my way to irritate people – not at all – but I recognize one critical fact: Oftentimes, in order to do the big things, you have to let the small bad things happen. This is a skill we want to cultivate.
What did I get in exchange for temporarily putting on blinders and taking a few glancing blows?
- I followed the Rugby World Cup in Europe and was able to watch the New Zealand All Blacks live, a dream I’ve had for the last 5 years.
- I was able to shoot every gun I’ve ever dreamed of firing since brainwashing myself with Commando. Bless the Slovak Republic and their paramilitaries.
- I was able to film a television series pilot in Japan, a lifelong dream and the most fun I’ve had in months, if not years.
- I met with my Japanese publisher, Seishisha (Tel: 03-5574-8511) and had media interviews in Tokyo, where The 4-Hour Workweek is now #1 in several of the largest chains.
- I took a complete 10-day media fast and felt like I’d had a two-year vacation from computers.
- I attended the Tokyo International Film Festival and hung out with one of my heroes, the producer of the Planet Earth television series.
Once you realize that you can turn off the noise without the world ending, you’re liberated in a way that few people ever know.
Just remember: If you don’t have attention, you don’t have time. Did I have time to check e-mail and voicemail? Sure. It might take 10 minutes. Did I have the attention to risk fishing for crises in those 10 minutes? Not at all.
As tempting as it is to "just check e-mail for one minute," I didn’t do it. I know from experience that any problem found in the inbox will linger on the brain for hours or days after you shut down the computer, rendering "free time" useless with preoccupation. It’s the worst of states, where you experience neither relaxation nor productivity. Be focused on work or focused on something else, never in between.
Time without attention is worthless, so value attention over time.
Here are a few questions that can help you put on the productivity blinders and put things in perspective. Even when you’re not traveling the world, develop the habit of letting small bad things happen. If you don’t, you’ll never find time for the life-changing big things, whether important tasks or true peak experiences. If you do force the time but puncture it with distractions, you won’t have the attention to appreciate it.
- What is the one goal, if completed, that could change everything?
- What is the most urgent thing right now that you feel you "must" or "should" do?
- Can you let the urgent "fail" – even for a day – to get to the next milestone with your potential life-changing tasks?
- What’s been on your "to-do" list the longest? Start it first thing in the morning and don’t allow interruptions or lunch until you finish.
Will "bad" things happen? Small problems will crop up, yes. A few people will complain and quickly get over it. BUT, the bigger picture items you complete will let you see these for what they are – minutiae and repairable hiccups.
Make this trade a habit. Let the small bad things happen and make the big good things happen.
[Ed. Note: Timothy Ferriss is author of the #1 New York Times best-seller, The 4-Hour Workweek. He is the world's top lifestyle blogger - more than 20 million hits per month - at www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog, which details all of his latest experiments and how-to case studies.]
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Department of Don’t You Hate It When This Happens
Last week, Michael Masterson shared an interview he had with J. Christoph Amberger about the declining economy. We must have still been pondering their great insights as we finished watching, because next thing you know our mind went out to lunch. We messed up and referred to Mr. Amberger’s multi-media site as "Taipan Financial News." In fact, the site is Today’s Financial News. So please check out the correct site – and get free daily updates on the U.S. and global investment markets at www.TodaysFinancialNews.com.
$3,012 in Online Income in Just An Hour?
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Now, to be fair, you may have to wait a few days or more in some cases to get paid. But the “work,” if you want to call it that, takes as little as an hour.
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Get Off the Internet
ETR is an Internet business. There’s no doubt about it. And there’s no doubt that we’ve experienced some major growth in the past few years. Four short years ago, ETR was a $3 million business. By the end of 2007, we’d grown to nearly 10 times that amount. And that’s just so far.
If you’ve got an Internet business, I’ve got a secret to getting your business to leap forward: Get offline.
Here at ETR, we’re all about multi-channel marketing. Wendy Montes de Oca has written about this before. Basically, it means that you should market your business in as many ways as you can.] Online, you can market via your e-newsletter, via other people’s e-newsletters, in banner ads on websites, in paid and organic search engine results, and much more.
But that’s not all you should do. To truly be successful as a direct-response marketer, you need to take your marketing to the offline world too.
Here are three ways to take your marketing into the "real" world:
1. Take advantage of a traditional direct-mail approach.
Start collecting names and addresses from the customers on your e-list. One of the best ways to do that is with a simple online survey. To get people to respond, give them a tangible product that has real value. A DVD or CD is perfect. After your customer has completed the survey, tell her you need her name and address in order to send the free gift. Once you have her name and address, start testing direct mail to her. For instance, if you are having a conference or an event and you have not met your quota through your typical e-mail blasts, send your customers invitations through the mail. I bet you will be pleasantly surprised with the results.
2. Put yourself out there.
Attend conferences and seminars as often as possible. I attend dozens of conferences each year. It’s a great way to meet potential partners, clients, and even employees. If you wind up speaking at a conference, you can market your products directly to your audience.
3. Get people talking.
Word-of-mouth marketing is one of the most powerful tools in your marketing arsenal. Read my article "Use Your Mouth" for a few strategies you can use to get people buzzing about your company.
Having a profitable Internet business doesn’t mean the Internet is the be-all, end-all of your marketing efforts. Get offline, and you’re sure to see your business grow by leaps and bounds.
[Ed. Note: MaryEllen Tribby is ETR's Publisher and CEO. You can meet all your marketing objectives - and achieve all your personal, social, financial, and business goals - with the help of ETR's Total Success Achievement program. Learn more here.]
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Alternative Medicine for Sleep, Part 3: 2 More Natural Ways to Get Your Zs
If you have no trouble staying asleep, but find yourself lying awake for hours before finally drifting off, you may have onset insomnia. Here are two herbs that can help:
- Hops – the herb that beer is made from. It can help induce sleep, but is not as good at maintaining sleep throughout the night. Many people find that hops have a sedating effect. A dosage of 300 to 600 mg is one option to try an hour or two before bed.
- Valerian – perhaps the best-known sleep-inducing herb. I find that about half of users like it, while the rest don’t feel that it does much for them. Try 300 mg one to three hours before bed to see if it works for you.
When trying natural sleep aids, remember that dosage and timing can vary from person to person. Since you can develop a dependence on these supplements, refrain from taking any sleep aids more than three times per week.
[Ed. Note: Ray Sahelian, MD, the author of Mind Boosters, is internationally recognized as a moderate voice in the evaluation of natural supplements. Visit Dr. Sahelian's website at www.RaySahelian.com, and read more of his articles about the supplements you should and shouldn't be taking at ETR's free natural health e-letter.]
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It’s Fun to Know: Wacky Warning Labels
The fear of lawsuits can make people do crazy things. That includes putting ridiculous warning labels on their products.
Case in point: I bought a package of pre-cut celery at the grocery store. The label said something like "Pre-Cut, Pre-Washed Celery." Underneath, in smaller letters, it read: "Caution: May contain celery." I kid you not. (Sorry I didn’t think to take a picture.)
The Michigan Lawsuit Abuse Watch keeps an eye out for crazy labels like this in its annual Wacky Warning Label Contest. This year – the contest’s 11th – the winning label (found on a small tractor) read "Danger: Avoid Death."
(Source: mlaw.org)
How to Get the Heart of 370 Business Magazines in Just 30 Minutes a Month
Did that headline catch your eye?
How about this one:
"32 Ways to Save Time and Money From the Pages of Good Housekeeping."
Gene Schwartz knew the power of a compelling headline. He wrote those two – and went on to generate over $2 billion in advertising sales during his career.
Now you can find out, step-by-step, how to accomplish breakthrough marketing results no matter what you are selling, with our "accelerated marketing" program.
If you are involved in any form of sales, the benefits you’ll receive could be worth hundreds of thousands to you in future earnings. Click to continue…
Word to the Wise: Excrescence
An "excrescence" (ik-SKRESS-unts) is something – especially something abnormal – growing out from something else. The word is from the Latin for "to grow out."
Example (as used by Stephen Budiansky in U.S. News & World Report): "It wasn’t just predictable curmudgeons like Dr. Johnson who thought the Scottish hills ugly; if anybody had something to say about mountains at all, it was sure to be an insult. (The Alps : ‘monstrous excrescences of nature,’ in the words of one wholly typical 18th-century observer.)"
Copyright ETR, LLC, 2008
Hello everybody at ETR
My dearest friends,as you know how really bad i miss most of you guys!
It’s almost a year now since Denver 2007
But you know something..I really like your essays,it always has a moderate cooling effect on me , althought i’m a bit far in Cairo now but that’s what the internet is all about…. Bridging the gap!
Narrowing the distances!!
Fullfilling the dreamzzz!!!
I think dealing with sh*t when it happens separates the men from the boys in business. Some want to be consumed by the attitude “Oh woe is me!” whereas I always just got on with it and did not dwell on the downside.