Some Random Original Quotes

Years before I wrote my first Axiom I would occasionally jot down my thoughts whenever possible. It was, and still is, my way of figuring things out in the world. What started out as tiny fragments written incoherently in a journal eventually turned into the Axioms I later wrote about. 

I went back recently to look at a time about 12 years ago when I was finishing my undergraduate degree and starting graduate school. It was a time of immense self-discovery and learning for me. 

Below are some of the interesting quotes I wrote down ten years ago:

"Happiness means you don't own an alarm clock."

"People work hardest when the challenge is the greatest."

"Great people lead by example, not words."

"Words are meaningless illusions cast by the soul."

"If you call out to God in a time of need, does that mean he doesn’t care? Or does it mean he cares too much?"

"Two men are wealthy. One is admired, and the other is despised. Why is this?"

"Sometimes it is better to be lucky than smart."

"Nothingness is the greatest pain we face. Even God cannot stand to be alone."

"Adversity helps bring about happiness and satisfaction."

"Man is mortal and immortal. All of his actions should bear this in mind."

"True fulfillment can only be reached for and sometimes touched, but never held permanently."

"People are never satisfied unless they are satisfied with being unsatisfied."

"Finding million dollar ideas is not the problem. It's executing them."

"You will never get big-time results if you are a small-time thinker."

"Being poor is a choice, just as being rich is. Poor choices + poor mindset + poor time management will always = poor results."

"The rule of scarcity: If people read my works when I’m alive they might be amused. If they read them 100 years from now they might think I’m a genius."
   

DISC Personality Test

When I attended some sales training classes last year I had to take a DISC personality test. I had always though these types of tests were quack pseudo-science. I mean how could answering 24 quick questions tell someone everything they need to know about my personality? However, the results were astoundingly accurate

I'm not going to summarize what the DISC test is. You can read more about it here. What I actually found is there is a lot of support for this test. Many companies are using it for hiring. Steve Jobs believed in it. I became a believer after I saw my results.

I now see the world in D-I-S-C colors. I interact differently with people based on their personality style. As a manager I have to know my strengths and weaknesses and my staff's strengths and weaknesses. DISC is the easiest way for me to do this.

Whether you are skeptical or not you should take the test and judge for yourself. There are many free versions online you can find. You'll find out if your career fits your natural personality type. You'll find out why the people around you act the way they do. You'll find out what your own strengths and weaknesses are. Lastly, you'll find out that the world is much simpler than you may think. 

5 Skills You Can Study to Change Your Life

Are you stuck and not sure what to do with your life? Below are five skills you can start learning that may lead you onto something bigger and better. They are five skills that pay dividends and transcend multiple careers.

5. Learn a Second Language - Learning a second language increases your vocabulary. It makes you a better thinker. It opens you up to new cultures. It introduces you to new people to do business with. It opens up new travelling opportunities to you. Once you master a new language you'll always be of higher value in many situations. A free site to check out is www.memrise.com 

4. Work on Your Computer Skills - Take a little time each week to learn something new on the computer. A great website that has video tutorials is www.lynda.com. Learning computer skills helps you learn new shortcuts you can use at work. It helps you learn problem solving skills. It helps you learn how to accomplish big projects by yourself. Starting and running a company, designing a product, marketing products, shipping and distribution - they can all be done by one person and a computer with a little know how.

3. Practice Writing - Writing is a skill that gets better the more you do it. Set aside some time each week to write. You can do it via a blog, a personal journal, or as a freelance writer. Great writing skills will help you become better at expressing yourself. You'll become better at negotiations and pitching products. You'll be a more effective communicator, especially in the new business environment of emails.

2. Networking - Joining groups and reaching out to people is a great way to open up new opportunities. Go out of your way to help others without any expectations of anything in return.

1. Sell Something - Find something to sell. Sell something on Ebay. Sell something on Craigslist. Just practice selling. Start a business and sell something on the side from your daily job. Everything in life comes down to selling, so practice it as much as possible.

Sleep Less, Do More

The problem most people face is not having enough time. When I was in graduate school I was also working full time so I started trying to figure out ways to sleep less so I could get more done. Up until that time I had always slept about 8 hours a day, but I started to wonder how much of that time could I cut off that 8 hours and still function properly. 

I first started by just slowly going to bed 15 minutes later each night and forcing my self to wake up at the same time. This got me down to 7 hours pretty easy, but that's where I got stuck. Any less than 7 hours and I was like a zombie. So after some more research I started using sleep cycles to my advantage.

The body functions on an approximate 90 minute sleep cycle. This means you go through all the levels of sleep including the most important, REM sleep, in about 90 minutes. When you wake up in the middle of the night naturally you know you have just completed a sleep cycle. You can use the times you wake up naturally to go back and calculate your average sleep cycle time. For me a its about 80 minutes.

This is helpful because you can use this information about your own body clock to time going to bed so that you'll end a sleep cycle close to the time when you want to wake up. I was able to get down to 4-1/2 to 6 hours of sleep per night no problem doing this method. I actually felt more tired waking up mid-sleep cycle from 8 hours of sleep than waking up exactly at the end of a sleep cycle with 6 hours of sleep.

I've also converted to bi-phasic sleeping. I've found for me that sleeping once a day leaves my mental energy low in the evening. So now I sleep for about 3 hours in the evening and then 3 hours at night. I know this may seem a little weird to sleep twice a day, but most animals are polyphasic sleepers. I think monophasic sleeping is an unnatural habit that has become a cultural standard. Sleeping multiple times a day also cuts down on the number of hours you need to sleep to feel refreshed. People sleeping 3 hours twice a day will feel more refreshed than people sleeping 6 hours once a day.

Good night and good luck!