Personal Development

This post originally appeared on RyanWaggoner.com, but I thought it might be interesting to Bounteo readers, so I'm reposting it here. I'd love your comments and feedback...thanks!

Is it just me, or does productivity come in cycles? Sometimes I'll go weeks at a time and absolutely tear it up, getting tons done on client work, personal projects, etc. I feel great, motivated, etc. Other times, I struggle to get anything done and never really get into the groove. Why is that? I mean, I do get stuff done, but it just feels like such a freaking chore and I have to force myself to power through. These cycles seem to last several weeks each, perhaps a bit longer. I have a few speculations that I've pulled from thin air on why this might occur:

Natural biological process
It might be that there's some natural chemical process in the brain that makes some people more or less productive and that this process tends to be cyclical in nature. I feel like perhaps I've read something about this...if it's true, I'm not sure how much I can do about it other than be aware of it and try to use it to my advantage? For the record, I think this is the most unlikely of the three scenarios.

Reflection of what I'm working on
Perhaps I'm just more excited at times about things that I'm working on because they're more interesting. This one is hard to evaluate, because I'm not sure if I'm feeling unmotivated because of boring projects or if the projects seem boring because I'm feeling unmotivated.

Motivational momentum
I think is probably the most likely scenario. Basically, I think that certain people (myself included) swim better against the current. When things aren't going well and I've got a lot of pressure (both external and internal) to get stuff done, I tend to build up a lot of motivational momentum and push hard to get things done. On the way up this hill of accomplishment, things are good, as I'm getting a lot done, keeping up with all my responsibilities, etc. It feels great. But as I accomplish more and more, that pressure and stress begins to dissipate, and so does some of the motivation. At this point, I begin to crest the top of the motivational hill and the old feelings of being unmotivated begin to return. Over the next few weeks, stuff begins to gradually pile up again and the pressure and stress begins to build. But until it hits a certain point, my motivation doesn't seem to really kick in. Once it does, the cycle starts over.

This has been an issue my entire life and I'm just now getting to the point where I can deal with it more effectively. In college, I dealt with it by keeping my schedule absolutely slammed so there was virtually no room for error. I finished 75% of my bachelor's degree in 17 months and graduated with a 3.9 GPA. I say this not to brag, but just to point out that I had virtually no room to slow down or slack off. This is highly effective, but it carries two huge price tags: risk and stress. The risk is that you're juggling so much that if you drop one thing, it can all come crumbling down. The stress comes from the fact that you have no margin for error. These two things feed off each other, as the high risk stresses you out and the high stress increases the risk that you'll make a mistake. Obviously, this is not a viable long-term solution.

The core problem here (for me, anyway) is relying too much on motivation, which is a fickle emotion. It can be incredibly useful, usually at the start of a venture, to kickstart your efforts and give you that critical early boost in the right direction. But if you rely too much on it, you'll find that it never lasts long enough to get you where you need to go. The primary reason that people fail is because they give up, and I believe that the primary reason people give up is because they rely too much on motivation. The going gets rough and they find that the only fuel they really had was an emotion that's now gone, so they just kind of let things die out.

Here's what I've tried to do: replace motivation (emotion) with decision (habit). This is the primary reason that I do my seven daily habits. These habits were carefully chosen as things that I want to accomplish daily to get me closer to where I want to be, regardless of whether I feel like doing them or not.

That doesn't mean that motivation has no place in productivity and self-improvement, but I think that you can't rely too much on it. To the extent that motivation does play a role in my productivity, I've tried to replace external motivation with internal motivation, where I'm pushing myself harder rather than waiting for other people to pressure me. As an example, one of my daily habits is to look at my goal plan every single day. I also carefully track my goals from month to month, recording what percentage I accomplished, and preparing a new plan for the next thirty days. I also carefully track the amount of time that I work on various projects and initiatives in my life. I do all these things not because I have some weird fascination with data (at least not primarily so), but because by carefully tracking my productivity and advancement towards my goals, I am often motivated to push myself harder because I'm not moving as fast as I would like. The adage that "what gets measured gets managed" is true for the simple reason that when we're confronted with the data about how we're spending our time and the results of our efforts, we're often encouraged and motivated to improve.

I'd love to hear what other people's thoughts are. Have you experienced cyclical productivity? If so, how do you deal with it?

This post originally appeared on RyanWaggoner.com, but I thought it might be interesting to Bounteo readers, so I'm reposting it here. I'd love your comments and feedback...thanks!

Look back over the last week, the last month, the last year, and ask yourself this question: did I accomplish what I thought I would? Am I happy about the progress I made during that time? Am I likely to accomplish what I think I will over the next week, month, or year?

Truthfully, I can't say that I'm unhappy about the progress I made over the last year, but it's definitely less than what I had hoped for. I tend to look forward a year and imagine that things will have changed much more than they have. I imagine that my progress towards various goals will be much more substantial, that my life will look more different than it inevitably does, that I'll have changed more than I have. Why? Well, probably because I'm an optimist. But also because change is hard.

There's nothing really profound in this post, just some lessons that I need to remind myself of on occasion. Earlier this evening, I was sitting at dinner, pondering some conversations I had today about opportunities in the real estate market. The real estate market has taken a beating, and right now is a fantastic time to buy if you can make the deals happen. But financing those deals is hard, lenders are wary, and cash is scarce. On top of that, the general feeling in the real estate market right now is one of fear and dejection. The vast majority of people (even experienced investors) would conclude that this is a good time to sit on the sidelines for a bit and wait for sanity to return. But I wonder if times like these separate the timid from the titans. I spent some time today on the phone with lenders and people who are out there doing deals, and I'm much, much further along than I was at the beginning of the day, though perhaps still a long way from doing any deals. But the thing I realized tonight is that lack of capital, connections, experience, etc, etc. are not what's holding me back. The only thing holding me back is me. The only thing keeping me from diving in 100% and making something happen is my unwillingness to do so, for whatever reason. Sure, lack of capital, connections, experience or whatever else will slow me down and make it that much harder. But it definitely can be done. I just have to want it badly enough.

As I think about what's truly and honestly holding me back, I'm reminded of a quote:

"After a lifetime of making money and observing better men and women than I fall by the wayside, I am convinced that fear of failing in the eyes of the world is the single biggest impediment to amassing wealth."
-Felix Dennis

What's holding you back?

Merlin Mann had this great post today about how people get addicted to "tips" on the many sites and blogs that talk about how to accomplish anything you can imagine, but they never really go out and do anything or change their lives. They get addicted to advice that they enjoy, rather than the advice they need.

That's my biggest fear with Bounteo, that nothing that's written here will ultimately help anyone, or change anything. So here's some advice that you probably need to hear, but you probably won't enjoy:

• It's no one else's fault that you're not where you should be.
• It's probably not too late, but it will be someday.
• Stop making excuses, to yourself or anyone else.
• Things do not change for the better on their own.
• Wake up and get your act together. Right now.

Shut off the TV, get off of Facebook or whatever other site you're wasting time on, and just do whatever it is you know you should be doing. It might not be fun, it might not be perfect, it might not be anything you feel like doing. Do it anyway. Right now. Because if you don't, you'll look back one day and hate yourself for it.

This post originally appeared on RyanWaggoner.com, but I thought it might be interesting to Bounteo readers, so I'm reposting it here. I'll be posting a few more items from RyanWaggoner.com over the next few days. I'd love your comments and feedback...thanks!

For the last week or so, I've been working on reviewing, streamlining, and unifying my goals across different areas of my life. I'm building a comprehensive goal plan for the next ten years, and I'm calling this effort Project Goalpost (cheesy, I know). One of my guiding principles that I'm employing while working through all these goals is to ensure that each goal is SMART, which is a useful mnemonic that says goals should be:

• Specific
• Measurable
• Achievable
• Realistic
• Time-bound

I have found this device to be a useful one when devising my goal plans, as it helps avoid nebulous and ill-defined goals like "get into better shape" or "prepare for the future". How would you have any idea when those things have been accomplished? Currently, I'm dividing my goals into these different life areas:

• Personal
• Physical
• Financial
• Entrepreneurial
• Real Estate
• Spiritual

I'm doing pretty well with most of these, but it's the Spiritual category that's giving me the most trouble. I'm just not sure how to write specific, measurable goals for matters of the heart, especially for several years out. For one thing, faith is about the journey, not really the destination, and much of that journey occurs in ways that don't lend themselves to metrics. For example, it doesn't really make sense to say that you want to be 35% closer to God, or have your prayer life be twice as good. The destination doesn't really exist, either, as I don't believe that Christians can ever really say that they've accomplished their mission as a Christian, at least not in this life. Second, I'm not entirely sure that our faith is something that should get a category of its own. Shouldn't our faith undergird all that we do, rather than being put into its own bullet-point list of todo items?

And why does this bother me at all? I guess because my goals should reflect a lot about who I am, but when you look at my list, it seems so shallow and materialistic, because a lot of my goals revolve around financial gain, real estate, and other items in that vein. Those things just lend themselves to measurement. But they aren't what matter most in life, and I know that. What matters most in life are things like relationships, contentment, and faith, but can you really create SMART goals for those things? I have a few ideas I'll explore in a future post, but I would love to know what you think.

Image by Zach Klein

One of the most annoying types of financial articles and blog posts that I see on a regular basis is the "If you had invested in these stocks 20 years ago, you would have made $14 million by now." I just saw another one by Intuit: Pennies to Millions. These articles are nothing more than shallow linkbait that play on the human tendency to reevaluate our decisions now that we have the benefit of hindsight and manufacture artificial regret.

"If only" scenarios are a waste of time. The fact that you could have made $xx dollars by investing in whatever twenty years ago is meaningless today. If only you had started Microsoft instead of Bill Gates, you could be the richest man in the world today. Thinking this way is just a distraction that will keep you from moving forward.

This whole subject does raise a good point though: this site focuses on what young people can do to prepare themselves for future success, but what if you haven't done everything you could have? Or what if you're no longer that young and you're stressing out about all the chances you missed, and all the opportunities that are no longer available?

My advice is simple: get over it, and fast. Every second you spend thinking about what might have been is even more valuable time wasted. The fact is that you can't go back and change the past, so stop kicking yourself, and just move on. If you're having trouble, here's a few things you might want to consider:

Transform mistakes into a strength

Think of it this way...every mistake you make and every missed opportunity is a chance to learn and grow. You may not have seized a great chance ten years ago, but by recognizing it, and learning from it, you'll be better prepared the next time around.

Remember that you're not alone

There are few successful people who didn't go through periods where they failed, where they missed great chances, where they felt like giving up. Some of the most successful people in the world spent years toiling away with no reward or recognition until they finally broke through. It may be helpful to read some biographies of successful people that you admire; you might be surprised to find out some of the trials they've gone through and mistakes they've made.

Pass on your experience

This one relates back to viewing this as a learning experience. Because you've learned something, don't be afraid to talk to other people that you see making the same mistakes you did, or missing the same opportunities. Perhaps you've got a younger sibling who is graduating from college and getting their first job; talk to them about investing and preparing for their future. Or maybe you know someone who really wants to write a book, but is afraid of failure; encourage them. Whatever the circumstance, if you can see that someone might make one of the same mistakes you've made and learned from, say something. You'll feel better.

Finally, the most important thing you can do is stop stressing and start doing something. As the saying goes:

"The best time to plant a tree is twenty years ago. The second best time is today."

So get out there and do it. Today. Right now. Go.

Now that Bounteo.com is up and running (though we still are working on a design for the site), I want to start things off well, so I'm looking for post ideas and guest bloggers. Please contact me with any ideas you might have for posts and if you're interested in posting a guest post here, please send in any ideas you have. I would love to get some perspectives from other bloggers and authors about how young people can make good choices and make progress towards a life of success.

This blog is about the pursuit and attainment of success for young people, so we should probably determine what that means. Too often in our society, we think of success only in terms of money, power, fame, sex appeal, stuff, etc. The truth is that none of those things are success for everyone. We each have a different definition of success. But what can we say about success in general? After some reflection, I propose that success can be described as follows:

Success is the process of defining goals, developing plans and strategies, and working hard towards the fulfillment of those goals. It is a journey of self-discovery and transformation towards the ultimate goal of a more meaningful and fulfilled life.

Note that I have defined success as a process; in other words, the journey counts as much as the destination. For example, if your goal is to retire at 45 and you develop a plan to get there and spend 20 years diligently working towards that goal but end up retiring at 47, would you define that as a failure? You may not have achieved your original goal, but the process you underwent of setting and working towards that goal is a success in itself.

Since this blog will focus heavily (for now) on the topics of personal finance and development, a fair question to ask is that of the relationship between money and success. Are they the same thing? Do you have to be wealthy to be successful? Do you have to be successful to be wealthy? I think the answer to all three questions is a resounding no. Experts tell us that happiness tends to increase with more money, but only until people have been lifted out of extreme poverty. When you're starving and homeless and sick, money absolutely can buy happiness. However, once you have a certain amount, adding more usually does not increase your happiness.

Bounteo.com is site that explores the pursuit of a life more abundant, particularly as it applies to young adults in their twenties.  However, readers of every age are certainly encouraged to interact and share their opinions and perspectives.  In subsequent posts, I'll explore a bit more about my own definition of success, the topics that I think are relevant to its pursuit, and why I've chosen to focus on young adults.  But first, a short introduction is in order.

My name is Ryan Waggoner, and for some time I've blogged at my personal website about personal finance, including a 12-part series for young adults on how to start investing for the future.  That content will form the genesis of Bounteo, but as we progress, I hope to add content in areas other than personal finance and investing, such as career development, entrepreneurship, time management, personal development and motivation, and other topics related to the pursuit of success in our lives.

Finally, I would like to say that I myself am a young adult (25 years old) and possess little in the way of credentials and professional experience that would qualify me as an authority of many of the topics we'll discuss.  I'm just a guy with a burning curiosity, a passion for learning, and a willingness to see others succeed.  I will do my best to ensure that I provide sources and solid logic and reasoning for the content on this site, but I hope that my readers will do their part to scrutinize my words and conclusions and challenge me where my own reasoning or research has fallen short.  In this way, perhaps we can actually accomplish something in our pursuit of the truth and a life more abundant.

I'm finishing up Winning by Jack Welch, and I wanted to highlight an excerpt from the very last page.  When asked at a conference about his legacy, Jack responds:

First off, I hate the word legacy.  It just sounds so arrogant.  Presidents and prime ministers have legacies.  I ran a company and wrote a book or two.

But here we are at the end of this book, and the question did get asked, so I'll attempt an answer.

If there is anything I'd like to be remembered for it is that I helped people understand that leadership is helping other people grow and succeed.  To repeat myself, leadership is not just about you.  It's about them.

I would also like to be remembered as a huge advocate of candor and meritocracy, and believing that everyone deserves a chance.  And I'd like to be remembered for trying to make the case that you can never let yourself be a victim.

He goes on to talk about his family and how much he loves and admires them.  I very highly recommend this book.  If I had a company, it would be required reading for everyone from the janitor to the top executives.

I think that's probably the best definition of leadership that I've ever heard: Leadership is about helping people grow and succeed. 

If there are three kinds of people in the world, people who tear down, people who build up, and people who just scrape by, the choice is clear.  Become the type of person who builds others up.  Learn to manage your own life, and then pour yourself into finding ways to help others find their passion, overcome challenges, and reach their dreams.  You won't regret it.

Yesterday was not quite what it could've been
As were most of all the days before
But I swear today with every breath I'm breathing in
I'll be trying to make it so much more

Cause it seems I get so hung up on
The history of what's gone wrong
That the hope of a new day is sometimes hard to see...

"Up and Up" by Relient K

I went for a long run tonight and I was listening to this song and thinking about the baggage of failure and how it weighs us down. There are things I've struggled with over and over, and sometimes it's very difficult to try again without having the idea in the back of my head that I'm going to fail. I thought I would write up a few strategies and tips that have helped me move past some of my previous failures.

Reevaluate your goals
First of all, you need do some soul-searching and ask yourself: is this goal still something you want to achieve? Don't waste your time trying to meet goals that you have little interest or passion for. Not only does it waste your time and energy, your likelihood of success is very low in this situation. Spend some time determining where you are, where you want to go, and what some of the steps in between are. Put it on paper and review it periodically to help keep that source of motivation fresh in your mind.

Be Accountable