Watch out for your friends that are stupid and diligent. Get beers with them whenever you can and love them as much as you love everyone else, but don't give them anything really important to do.
Also just realized this link is also from that coach.me site. I'm not a Tony Robbins schmuck, promise. – Calvin
How To Get The Most Out Of Your Calendar
For all my friends who, inexplicably, still don't use calendar apps. Not going to name names, Gerry, but this post has several methods you can try to see which one works best for you. Everyone calendars (new verb) differently; I'm actually trying out his method of adding fixed blocks of time for recurring tasks.
Favorite quote:
You’re spending your time either way, but unless you’re planning how to spend it, the world will determine it for you.
Or said another way, if you don't intentionally plan your day then others will plan it for you. If you enjoy sprinting around from place to place and meeting to meeting, and getting nothing done, then you should continue to not use a calendar. But if living that life has gotten old, do yourself a favor and start planning your time. – Calvin
Would you be willing to offer me any advice on how to get involved in the design industry?
This is a popular time of year to take a step back and evaluate your job. If you're looking to make a career change, or you're still in college, check out this post that my main man James D. Graffam put together of all of our responses to a student who asked for a little advice. I think her name was Rory Gilmore, not sure. – Calvin
Jim Collins - Concepts - The Hedgehog Concept
A Hedgehog Concept is not a goal to be the best, a strategy to be the best, an intention to be the best, a plan to be the best. It is an understanding of what you can be the best at. The distinction is absolutely crucial.
Aligning your business around maximizing profits will lead to less profits in the long run. For some reason it is required to instead focus on an ancillary goal, something that customers value highly, and strive to do that well. Outsized profits then often come raining down. And yet our shared experience in American business belies this and I'm sure we could all give example after example of the bottom line becoming the only focus, usually at the expense of stakeholders, customers, and employees.
The hedgehog concept from Jim Collins touches on this to some extent. If you haven't read Good to Great I do recommend it. It came out a number of years ago and may be a bit cliched but to be honest I don't care... recommending Good to Great is my personal hedgehog. -Brian
What we think about when we think about money
This is from a buddy of mine, Brian P. He writes about personal finance in his spare time (what is that, by the way) and I've always enjoyed his articles. Follow him on Medium. – Calvin
The 10/10/10 Method: Make Decisions Like Warren Buffett and Ray Dalio
Another article about prioritization. I like little short articles like this sometimes, even though they're a dime a dozen on Medium.
I can knock down this 5 minute read to 30 seconds with a quote:
The idea is fairly simple. Any time I feel a slight conflict about a decision or an action, I take a moment to ask myself the following three questions:
How will I feel about it in 10 minutes? How will I feel about it in 10 months? How will I feel about it in 10 years?
Read the full article for some examples, but that's the gist.
It’s Okay to “Forget” What You Read
“What’s the point of reading if I just forget it all anyway?”
Answers to that question after the jump.
Why “I Don’t Have Enough Time” is a B.S. Excuse
Remember, you have the same amount of time in your day as Beyoncé. But for reals, this post is a great challenge to think about whether or not time is the reason you can't do something. Favorite quote:
A trick that a friend shared with me is to replace “I don’t have enough time” with “that’s just not important enough to me to do right now.”
Try that out a few times to see how you really feel about a task.
Three Simple Principles for Creative Leadership
Inspire, Direct, Support. This is a straightforward guide to really practical methods for leading well, but I think this article is also applicable to anyone regardless of your role in a company. You should encourage leaders to take these concepts into consideration and always be looking for ways to help mold the company culture.
How I Filter the Advice I Get About Business and Life
Obviously this is advice about advice, but the author acknowledges as much so just read it anyway. These are really practical tips, and easy to remember. I think they apply just as much to business as they do life, but I need a link for this category so I parked the article here. I'm going to be re-reading this article often.