We're all losers
We're all losers! Yes, you're a loser. But please don't be offended, because I'm a loser too! The person you met yesterday is a loser, your brothers and sisters and parents are also losers. Your friends are losers. Even your best friend is a loser.
You might not agree with my verdict that we all belong to the Club of Losers, so here's my proof:
What is it that humans have that is of the highest value? Life.
And what is it that, no matter what we say, think or do, we ALWAYS lose and KEEP losing? Life.
In short, every second of every day, no matter what we think, say or do, we LOSE the most precious thing known to human beings: Life.
Bill Gates may be the richest man on Earth, yet every second, he loses one second and you also lose the same second.
So although we all lose time, all the time, there is some justice in that the rich as well as the poor lose the same amount of time. Death is the ultimate equalizer.
Okay, now that I have proven that we are all losers and that you're probably demoralized, I should quickly mention the good news so as to avoid having hundreds of subscribers unsubscribe from my blog!
The good news is that for every minute that you lose, you could gain one minute or even two minutes.
The ultimate challenge in life, therefore, is to create life -- that is, to create time for ourselves.
You might say, "Peter, that sounds crazy. How can I create time?"
Think, for instance, about how you spend your time every day. Where do all the minutes go? Are there things that you currently do that you can eliminate?
My test is very simple: If I had only 2 years to live, would I STILL be doing that thing? If the answer is no, then I stop doing it or I delegate it to someone else.
A second way to create time, is to make sure that whatever work you do today can be REUSED tomorrow to make you more productive.
Here's a metaphor to help you understand what I mean.
Most people spend their entire careers "doing" something. It never occurs to them to create something that would "do it" for them. The analogy is that of a person walking and walking and walking, never thinking about building a bicycle so he can get there faster and sooner.
(Of course, the biker should be thinking about how to insert an engine so his bike become a motorized vehicle such as a car. And the car driver should think about installing wings so his car becomes a plane to help him get there sooner!).
The ultimate is to stop doing, and to start teaching. After you teach others, they can start "doing" for you. Ah, that's when the sweet life begins!
Here's another example: I used to work for a law firm as a technician. I worked as a proofreader and quality control specialist. Since legal documents must absolutely be error-free, I had to find spelling mistakes and correct them. However, I decided one day to write macros that would automatically find and replace certain errors, This saved me several hours per day! Of course, I didn't tell my boss because I knew she would give me more work! I just sat back and enjoyed my coffee... for two hours!
I did the same in two other offices.
My success secret was that I learned, early in my career, the power of computerized automaticity. I call it "compucity." This has been my secret weapon.
Here's another powerful secret paradigm: don't compete. Let your PC compute!
In other words, delegate AS MUCH of your work, decision-making, research, effort, etc. to computers as much as possible.
You might not agree with my verdict that we all belong to the Club of Losers, so here's my proof:
What is it that humans have that is of the highest value? Life.
And what is it that, no matter what we say, think or do, we ALWAYS lose and KEEP losing? Life.
In short, every second of every day, no matter what we think, say or do, we LOSE the most precious thing known to human beings: Life.
Bill Gates may be the richest man on Earth, yet every second, he loses one second and you also lose the same second.
So although we all lose time, all the time, there is some justice in that the rich as well as the poor lose the same amount of time. Death is the ultimate equalizer.
Okay, now that I have proven that we are all losers and that you're probably demoralized, I should quickly mention the good news so as to avoid having hundreds of subscribers unsubscribe from my blog!
The good news is that for every minute that you lose, you could gain one minute or even two minutes.
The ultimate challenge in life, therefore, is to create life -- that is, to create time for ourselves.
You might say, "Peter, that sounds crazy. How can I create time?"
Think, for instance, about how you spend your time every day. Where do all the minutes go? Are there things that you currently do that you can eliminate?
My test is very simple: If I had only 2 years to live, would I STILL be doing that thing? If the answer is no, then I stop doing it or I delegate it to someone else.
A second way to create time, is to make sure that whatever work you do today can be REUSED tomorrow to make you more productive.
Here's a metaphor to help you understand what I mean.
Most people spend their entire careers "doing" something. It never occurs to them to create something that would "do it" for them. The analogy is that of a person walking and walking and walking, never thinking about building a bicycle so he can get there faster and sooner.
(Of course, the biker should be thinking about how to insert an engine so his bike become a motorized vehicle such as a car. And the car driver should think about installing wings so his car becomes a plane to help him get there sooner!).
The ultimate is to stop doing, and to start teaching. After you teach others, they can start "doing" for you. Ah, that's when the sweet life begins!
Here's another example: I used to work for a law firm as a technician. I worked as a proofreader and quality control specialist. Since legal documents must absolutely be error-free, I had to find spelling mistakes and correct them. However, I decided one day to write macros that would automatically find and replace certain errors, This saved me several hours per day! Of course, I didn't tell my boss because I knew she would give me more work! I just sat back and enjoyed my coffee... for two hours!
I did the same in two other offices.
My success secret was that I learned, early in my career, the power of computerized automaticity. I call it "compucity." This has been my secret weapon.
Here's another powerful secret paradigm: don't compete. Let your PC compute!
In other words, delegate AS MUCH of your work, decision-making, research, effort, etc. to computers as much as possible.
posted by Super Peter at 12:44 AM
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