The SnowHow

Category: Strategy

  • Why Your Fantasies Can Make You Miserable!

    Why Your Fantasies Can Make You Miserable!

    When I was young I always wanted to be the richest man in Wales (I come from there! If you don’t know where that is, it is the country next to england look it up!)

    In fact I should say that I was totally convinced that I would become said richest man.

    Now that does not mean much unless you know what it takes to be the richest man in Wales. As we speak the two richest Welsh People according to The Sunday Times Rich List are

    Sir Michael Moritz (Sequoia Capital) £1.6 Billion

    Sir Terry Matthews (Newbridge Networks, Celtic Manor) £1.19 Billion.

    So I can feel you asking how am I doing? Well I will tell you I am fucking light years away. Light years I tell you.

    If I compare myself to my fantasy aspirations I’m a total and utter failure. An embarrassment to myself, my family and the Shaolin Temple. In fact I should be apologising to anyone who ever set a goal, to everyone for my very existence and all those who have ever helped me taught me or given me the time of day.

    Does that seem a little strong?

    Well the thing is this, this is how most of us treat ourselves. We compare ourselves to our idols, (Rockstars, Film Stars, Celebrities, Business Leaders even Spiritual Leaders) and we fall so far short of them. Jeez that’s depressing.

    Why oh Why oh Why can’t i be more like the people I admire? Life is so bloody unfair!!!!

    I’m definitely not the only person doing this not so long ago a guy I know asked me if I was upset that I had not achieved as much as Elon Musk (He owns Space X the first commercially successful private space enterprise. Not only that but he founded PayPal and also Tesla Motors) after all we are virtually the same age. Holy Cow. Look how far I am from the mark!

    So does this mean it is bad to aspire to anything for fear of falling short and being a failure?

    Hmm I think that is a good question.

    Buddha said words to the effect of “All suffering is created through desire!” So maybe we should give up on the idea of betterment.

    Or should we?

    Well maybe we should ask a better question.

    How about “How can we feel good about the pursuit of our goals without being reliant on the outcome?”

    Thus far the best definition of success I have ever heard came from Jim Rohn. He described it like this.

    “The progressive realisation of a worthy goal or ideal.”

    You notice there was nothing about completion in the sentence.

    Hey but that still may leave some of us falling short.

    Let’s get a little bit more scientific with this and let’s make a measure that is a little bit more concrete.

    Firstly we are going to do a little thought experiment.

    Have you ever looked at the horizon? Yep we all have.

    Have you ever traveled to the horizon? No you can’t! Why not? Because the horizon is not a real place, it is just our brains way of helping us deal with distance and geography. It is a trick of the mind and certainly not real. Agreed? Good!

    If as a traveler you had to judge your success by how well you were in getting to the horizon you would be leading yourself down a very miserable path.

    Ok this helps us with the second part of this.

    We all have unrealistic ideas of how we would like our lives to be. You know when everything is perfect you have everything you want things life fame, fortune, glory, the big house, the Ferrari, the Yacht and the private jet. You have everything you ever wanted right?

    (Some people get this and they are still not happy) But not you, you’d be over the moon right? The thing with fantasies is that they are always a moving goal post. That’s why some celebrities who seem to have it all are miserable because the posts always move. They are just like chasing the horizon.

    Crikey Snowy you really are depressing me!!! Throw me a bone man for goodness sake!

    OK so here is the bone and here is how you win the game.

    First we have to realise that our fantasies are just like the horizon but instead of geography this is how our brain deals with time! Please take a moment to get the implications of that sentence.

    Second, we have to look at three points.

    1. Our fantasy life (or if you prefer, your compelling goals) We will call this Fantasy 1 (F1 for short)
    2. Where we are right now! We will call this Reality 1 (R1 for short)
    3. Where we have come from (our journey thus far) We will call this Starting point 1 (S1 for short)
    S1 —————————— R1 ——————————————————————— F1
    All pain comes from comparing yourself to F1 when you are standing at R1.

    All pleasure comes from pursuing F1 but looking back from R1 to S1 and enjoying the journey and how far you’ve come.

    So clearly I’m not the richest man in Wales (yet) but I am happy where I am and how far I’ve come, and I am still looking to the future with optimism. And well to be truthful by most peoples standards I’m doing much better than OK.

    Each day is a win because I get a little bit closer to my fantasy and travel a little further from where I have come.

    My friend Julian has tattooed on his arms the words Journey and Destination when I asked once asked him about them he told me that there was no difference in either word, he said “The journey is the destination!”
    Snowy

     

    Picture courtesy of the legend Julian Castaldi (c)

  • I Will Have My Vengeance! In This Life Or The Next!

    Sorry, this article is all about being great has no relevance to the title. So I know that this sounds a bit like bait and switch but if you came here looking for vengeance then your shit out of luck. If you came to this looking for greatness then read on.

    I want to be the best person I can be. That is a sentiment that we can pretty much all get on board with.

    The problem is, that usually in order to be our ideal self we need an objective measure of just exactly that means.

    For the most part we have no real clarity on what a fully self actualised person looks like. After all we are bombarded from all sorts of directions as to what “success” should look like.

    From pop stars, movie stars and other celebrities to business moguls and spiritual leaders.

    So how do we compare and how do we stack up? You see it’s a hard comparison.

    Each of the groups often have quite different individual characteristics, so there is no real way to tell which area we need to improve.

    Often we start to break down this idea by making individual goals for each area of our personal self.

    They could be physical, emotional, mental, spiritual, creativity etc.

    Ok that may be a start, and for many people that works. Sometimes isolation of a particular area gives us clues.

    But what if we wanted a more complete measure of what we think we should look like?

    There have been people from history who have been held up as examples to us all. People like Buddha, Jesus, Lao Tsu from the spiritual realms. We also have the great military leaders like Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar and Ghengis Khan. Hey lets not forget the creatives like Leonardo Da Vinci, Mozart or Shakespeare. Or should we just go for the pure intellects like Newton, Einstein or Hawking.

    See it is a tough ask to find one person who embodies everything.

    For years I used to have an imaginary master mind group (I got the idea from Napoleon Hill’s book Think And Grow Rich) it contained many different people who I believed were the embodiment of a characteristic I thought that I needed in order to become successful.

    (If you have not read TAGR then you certainly should. Many of the most successful of people site it as the singularly most important book they read when it comes to success. The thing is the internal mastermind group idea was the one idea from it that I found the most useful. Surprisingly, I have never met one other person who has ever used that idea… Go figure!)

    Anyway I read countless biographies trying to find my guy, the person who I thought embodies all I want to be. Not one person stood out from the crowd, a few got close but each and every one fell short in some way.

    Then I read “The Memoirs of Marcus Aurelius” and I found my guy!!!

    By the way it was not Marcus Aurelius himself, great man though he may have been. It was one of the people in the book he described.

    Have you seen the film Gladiator with Russell Crowe? I’m sure you have it is a great film. Marcus Aurelius (Richard Harris) puts an appearance at the start. He is the one killed by Commodus (Joaquin Phoenix).

    The funny thing is that what most people don’t know is that Maximus was based on a real historical character. His story in the film is fictionalised but he really did live. And believe it or not he was my guy.

    Not the film version but the version that Marcus Aurelius wrote about in his memoir.

    Here is his description. Her is my model of what a self actualised human being looks like.

    “Maximus set an example of self-mastery, steadiness of purpose, and good cheer that no circumstance, not even illness, could extinguish. He combined in beautiful measure gravity with charm, and he did whatever needed to be done without making a fuss. Everyone believed what he said was what he thought and that he never acted with an intention to do harm or give offense. Nothing surprised or frightened him, and he never seemed to be in a hurry or slow to accomplish a task.

    He was neither intimidated and embarrassed on one hand, nor aggressive and suspicious on the other. So giving, forgiving, and loyal was he by nature that he appeared to be a man whose virtues were inborn rather than acquired. It is unimaginable that anyone ever felt inferior or superior around him, perhaps as a result of his pleasing sense of humour.”

    Ever since I read that description I have my model for the person I am looking to be.

    I now have my objective measure. I can compare myself to the above description and see where I live up to that description or where I am falling short. I can assess myself in each of the areas and make the adjustments and improvements as and when I am falling short. Now I have my measure.

    Have you got a measure of what greatness looks like? If not maybe you should find one.

    Maximus is my guy.

    Who knows maybe he can be yours too.

    Snowy

  • Your next thought might save your life.

    I tell you what I’ve noticed, different thoughts have different levels of power. Power to raise you up power to bring you down.

    As much as thoughts have no real depth in the physical world they have a great deal of size and weight in the mental world.

    You see everything comes to us as a thought. Try and think of something that doesn’t 🙂

    You see our day to day life is almost totally controlled by the thoughts we have. Sometimes our thoughts manifest in the real world. I’ll give you an example: try thinking about all the reasons why the world is out to get you. Things like big business never giving you an opportunity to make it for yourself, the government stealing all your money for taxes. Your boss never being grateful for the work you do. Your romantic partner never appreciating all the effort you put in. Or more mundane things like why is everything so much more expensive these days, why is there never anything good on tv. Why is this wifi so incredibly slow.

    When you get into those sort of thought patterns it is so very easy to spiral further and further down ever onwards gradually drawing closer and closer to despair.

    You see each thought within your mind has a certain level of gravity to it. It attracts to it similar thoughts making the weight of the first thought that little bit heavier and that little bit more magnetic to the next thought. On and on the weight of the thought goes getting bigger and bigger as it attaches the next thought to it. In the form of negatives this might over time look like this… Indifference to meh to grumpy to annoyed to angry to depressed to despair.

    They don’t generally happen quickly they sneak up on you like some sort of mind directed stealth ninja. And because these thoughts come gradually we never tend to notice the itty bitty changes that are taking place.

    Maybe it gets so bad that the next thought after despair leads you to the thought that there is no hope and it is better to end it all. Literally in that situation your next thought could kill you.

    See what I mean when I say thoughts have weight and power.

    So what do we do when we are starting to spiral well the logical thing would be to think of the happiest thing possible the most wonderful thing in the universe. Well, you know what from the depths of despair that may not be possible, but I’ll tell you what is possible is to choose the next best thought.

    From where you are if you ask yourself what could make my day just that tiny bit better? Who knows you may find an answer that could literally save your life. Maybe your journey starts with the thought hey maybe i will just take a couple of deep breaths. Nothing ground breaking.

    Maybe your next thought is that you say to yourself maybe i should just get up and take a stretch. Then we continue upwards with our thoughts. i know that water is good for me maybe i will have a nice cold glass. maybe i should go for a walk that always clears my head. Maybe i could go to the park I am always feel better when i look at nature. On and on we go up and up our thoughts go starting to develop a gravity all of their own.

    Then as we get back to neutral we start looking for happy thoughts. What is good in my life right now. who are the people I care about. What are the things I’m looking forward to doing. on and on up and up we go. Then we get to the 600lbs gorilla thoughts like what am I grateful for.

    For years I made the mistake of intellectualising the idea of using gratitude thoughts (no pun intended). You should heed these words and avoid that mistake. Gratitude thoughts have more gravity to them than any other thoughts with the exception of maybe love. They have power to make radical changes in your psyche and in your life.

    They are like rocket fuel to our psyche and we should reach for them as often as we can. At any point in the day be grateful for something anything. Currently I’m grateful to Apple for building a laptop for me to write these words on. I am grateful to Evernote for keeping these words safe. I’m grateful to everyone involved in getting me my coffee to me as I write this (from the farmers, the roasters, the transporters, the exchange, the grinders the packagers to the lovely barista who served it to me etc).

    There are not too many things in the world in which we get to claim absolute control of. Our thoughts are one of those things. On a side note you may think other people can affect your mood this is a mistake in thinking that many people make. I may cover this in another article. For now I will leave you with one parting thought and it is this. So wherever you are whatever you are doing reach for the next best thought (it could save your life.)

    Snowy

  • How To Meet New People Without Getting Told To F**K Off!

    So it’s really hard to meet new people these days. Especially in person.

    More and more are we relying on electronic devices to provide a digital solution to our human connection needs. And hey sometimes that is a good thing. I mean lets be fair Facebook has allowed me and everyone else to get back in touch and stay connected to friends from the past. People who we would no longer have a method to reach if it wasn’t for them. They also allow communication and exchange with people who would other wise be separated by distance to keep updated with their comings and goings.

    We see pictures and status updates of what is going on with their life. Oh and if we are really enthused by that we can say what the hell and give them a like. Maybe if we are particularly moved we can throw in the occasional comment (if like me mostly sarcasm or some for of derogatory comment.)

    But with the advent of this, communication real human communication is being lost.

    We now no longer connect with people we exchange information. You see there is a ladder of communication and on its lowest rung lies exchange. Only slightly higher up the ladder comes connection. Now connection is not bad when it comes to communication the fact of the matter is that connection is great we all love to connect yet we are getting further and further away from that.

    With the advent of SMS/text messaging, Twitters” 140 characters and countless other digital devices, our method of communication has been limited to an exchange of ideas and thoughts in short format.

    This in and of itself sounds fine, but the reality is that it verbally but more importantly humanly it isolates us from the rest of our fellow earth dwellers.

    I have a question, and it is this. How often do you speak to strangers? Actually, when was the last time you spoke to a stranger?

    Let’s take this a little further, when was the last time you gave a stranger a simple greeting like “hello” or ‘Good morning”?

    If you are one of the bold people who says I do that all the time, then ask yourself when was the last time you tried to find out from a stranger what made them unique and special?

    A number of years ago the author Neil Strauss wrote quite a controversial book called “The Game” about an underground society of pick up artists. The book introduced the masses to many concepts of how it is possible for men to systematically and strategically have a process to meet connect and then seduce women. Interesting stuff.

    Within the book a concept was introduced called “approach anxiety”. What it is is as the name suggests is an uncomfortable feeling/fear (even dread) at the thought of walking up to an attractive woman, with the view of trying to get to know her and then effectively chat her up.

    They gave evolutionary reasons for this about how if we got it wrong we would be ostracized from our tribe and could likely die because of this etc.

    I was familiar with the feeling, if in small doses, and sort of understood the reason why (after all hot women are scary and could probably beat you in a fist fight).

    At the time I assumed that approach anxiety was confined only within the terms of meeting and connecting to people of the opposite sex who you had romantic aspirations with.

    However, this now appears to me to be not true.

    More and more do I see this phenomenon happening with every day people. We are losing the ability to talk to other people in general.

    I know you may be thinking “so what” but i will tell you why this is important. In business there is an expression “your network is your net worth”. OK so you don’t care about business! So how does it effect your everyday life.

    Well Anthony Robbins the well known peak performance strategist has stated you will become the average of the 5 people you spend time with.

    What happens if the only people in your life are total dipshits and all they do is drag you down?

    If you have no way to meet new people your screwed.

    Never mind that more than anything else people are what most effect the quality of your life.

    In fact on a side note the quickest way i know to change your lot in life for the better, is to start to surround yourself with people who you admire and inspire you.

    If you can’t speak to these people how on earth are you going to bring them into your life.

    So if you feel that you are having trouble meeting new people start to exercise your conversational skills.

    You can start small and work up. Smile at a stranger until you get one to smile back.

    Say “Hello’ to a stranger until you get a hello back.

    Ask a stranger how their day is going until you get a reply. Then hey tell them about your day.

    Build on this until you get to the point where you get good at conversation. (I will write more on the art of conversation at a later stage but for now you should practice the building blocks)

    Once you get good at talking to strangers you will become more and more socially confident which makes you more socially attractive. People will gravitate towards you and want to be in your company.

    As other peoples social skills decline through technology your skills with ascend through practice and repetition. As you become better and this you will become a leader of men/women, after all we naturally gravitate to people with charisma and charm and that is what you will attain by this process.

    So before I go I want to leave you with a poem i read as a very young man. It changed my life for the better all those years ago without ever realising it. I would suggest you read it often and adopt the sentiments contained within it. So here it is from Walt Whitman.

    To You

    STRANGER! if you, passing, meet me, and desire to speak to me, why should you not speak to me?
    And why should I not speak to you?
    Have fun talking to people. Practice every day.

    Snowy

  • How To Become Super Interesting!

    If you have ever wanted to be the most interesting person in the room, then read on…

    Being interesting, It’s not easy! It takes some skill.

    Today, each person will have thousands of distractions that will vie for their attention. That sucks if you are looking to be an important part of someones life.

    Think of the things you are competing with if you are looking to gain someones attention.

    In no particular order, other people, their chosen mobile device (and all of the apps on it, news, sport, social media, games etc) TV, radio, newspapers, books etc. Not to mention their own mind and the problems that they are having to deal with. Things like work, finances, relationships (friends/family, romantic etc) and all the other day to day worries and woes that we each face.

    So in order to break through all of that noise we have to offer something that can rise above the rest of what life is throwing at that person.

    We have to be a shining beacon of light, the proverbial water in their desert of life.

    So that sounds like a tough ask when you put it that way doesn’t it!

    Well, I can see why you would think so.

    But fear not there is a secret!

    First we have to figure out what is the single most interesting subject to each person?

    Yep I know that sounds like you would have to be Sherlock Homes or some type of cold reading expert to figure that out in advance, but no that is not true there is a universal subject that each and every one of us is interested in. In fact it is the single most important subject to each of us.

    Can you guess what it is yet?

    Well, I will get back to you on that in a little while. Before I do that I want to tell you a story I first heard from legendary marketer Jay Abraham.

    As the story goes Jay was once over in Australia on a business trip and before he headed to bed he headed to the bar for a nightcap. What he had to drink is unimportant to this story, but what happened next is incredibly educational.

    At the bar was another man. Let’s call him Dave. Jay being a friendly guy, introduces himself to Dave saying words to the effect “Hi my name is Jay I’m in town on business, pleased to meet you. Dave says “hi my name is dave”. Jay then asks so Dave what is it that you do?

    Dave replies “I sell population control programs!”

    Fascinated by this Jay begins to ask dave a series of questions about that.

    To whom do you sell them?
    What is the average price?
    Is there much competition in that marketplace?
    How do you persuade people/governments to buy your product and not your competitors?
    What are the problems of implementing the programs?
    What are the ethics of such a program?

    On and on Jay asked astute questions all about Dave and his business.

    After about 45 mins Jay has finished his drink and is not feeling a bit jet lagged and tired. Says to Dave “Hey i’m a bit tired now and going to head of to bed, it was really nice meeting you.”

    What is interesting about this story is what Dave said next…

    So just as Jay is leaving Dave stops him and says this “Jay in all my years of travel you are without doubt the singly most interesting man that I have ever met!”

    So if you are smart you will say but hold on a second, Jay only told him two things about himself.

    1. His name is Jay
    2. He was in town on business.

    Yet Dave clearly stated that he thought him the most interesting of all the people he has ever met!

    Why is that?

    Well, lets go back to our earlier question what is the single subject that is most important to all of us?

    The answer is simple… It is OURSELVES!

    We are the most interesting subject to ourselves.

    The easiest way to to be the shining light to another person is to be genuinely interested in exactly who they are.

    It doesn’t have to be about either. It can be all manner of things, their hopes and dreams, their problems and worries, their regrets, their current situation, their hobbies all manner of things that make them them.

    Each and every person is a unique microcosm of complexity for you to discover.

    If you take the time to find out you will find that you can become fascinated by the wonders of each and every persons unique situation.

    The lesson we learn from Jay and his experience is this… In order to be INTERESTING we just have to be INTERESTED!

    Don’t be boring telling people about you, there will be plenty of time for that as long as first you find out what makes this new person unique and special.

    So go be Interested!

    Snowy

  • Drive A Stake Through The Heart Of Emotional Vampires!

    The people in your life can be an amazing source of value to you. They provide fun, conversation, entertainment, drama, information, education. They give you highs and lows and sometimes take you on an emotional roller-coaster. Some add incredible value to your life and some don’t.
    For most of us we let the good people mingle with the bad. We give equal amounts of time to each type of friends.

    Is this smart? Does this really help us?

    Well then let’s take a look at that shall we.

    I want to offer up two ideas…

    1. the emotional vampire/mood hover.
    2. the 80/20 rule/Pareto principle.

    OK so the first idea is this we all have friends that take more value than they give. Have a think about that idea. You see most people don’t (think about that.) When you think about all your friends do you rate them by who gives the most value and who takes the most value. Well neither did I.
    You see most of us have awesome friends who we love and trust and rely on, in return they do the same for us. Real friends who make our day brighter for having them in it. That when we think about seeing them our hearts and our smiles lift.

    We also have those friends who only come to us with their problems and woe. They come telling you of all their hassles and dramas most of which they cause for themselves. They never take responsibility for anything. It’s as if they go out of the way to find problems that never existed before they got involved.

    They never take advice they only want to bend your ear. They want your shoulder to cry on and your sympathy. They take take take with very little in return. This is the dead wood of your life.
    But hey, do you know what, there is an argument that there is a place for both types of people in your life. The argument is a little thin on the ground but hey some people like being that shoulder or that listener.

    I’m not here to judge, just offer a tiny bit of advice.

    Here it is…

    Make a list of the top ten most important people in your life who give you joy and pleasure and really add to the quality of your life. Pick no more than ten. (yes it gets really hard when you have to exclude people you like but do it anyway. If you like, think about the people who you would like to still be in your life five years from now.) I know that it takes a bit of effort, but you will have quite a nice feeling at the end, knowing who you think are the really important people in your life.
    There you have your list (and some clarity.)

    Here is the second part, the 80/20 part actually we are going to change it to 90/10.
    Spend 90% of your time with your top ten people and 10% with everyone else.

    I know it will be hard at the start to distance yourself from the others. Just start to learn to say no to them in a nice way.

    So they ask can they come over or for you to meet up. Just say “I can’t tonight I’ve already got plans, I’ll call you later in the week when I have time”. Don’t say a direct no just a deferred no.
    Saying no is hard, deferring is much easier.

    If they try and invite themselves to your plan again defer them.

    Next start to schedule time with your top ten. Easy you like being around them anyway.

    If you do this you will notice a marked improvement in your life. There is a popular notion that you become the average of the five people that you hang around with most.

    If this is true then you are clearly stacking the odds in your favor.

    If you want to take this to the next step then I would suggest culling your ten every six to twelve months and trying to keep improving the quality of your group that way you will have people in your group that constantly lift you and inspire you and take you to the next level.

    Keep a vigilant eye on the people in your life, and make sure no one goes lame. If they do cut them out.

    Say after me no more dead wood!

    Until next time. Question everything.

    Snowy

  • How To Always Make A Good Decision!

    Each and every one of us is constantly bombarded with the need to make decisions. Most of the times these decisions are trivial and every day things. What shall I have for lunch what color underwear shall i wear. Nothing important and very little bad can happen making these decisions.

    The thing is from time to time we run up against some really big life choice type decisions that can really affect our future.

    Should i stay in this job, should i go for that promotion. Is this person the right person for me (should i ask them to marry me). Should i buy or rent. What should i do with the rest of my life. Should i go to college of go get a job.

    Should I travel the world or settle down. Should i buy a new car or keep the one i have for one more year. You get the idea.

    There are loads of these life choices that we all eventually have to make.

    Often though we don’t have a sound methodology in order to know if we are making the right decisions. This leaves us full of doubt and causes us to worry.

    We are also given advice like go with your gut or follow your intuition. Seeming good advice but so few of us exercise our decision muscle that we are not sure if we should trust ourselves and our decisions.

    Well i have a foolproof method that will allow you to always make the right decision for yourself in the big decision moments.

    The first rule is stop.

    Don’t make any long term/big decisions in a rash moment.

    With the big decisions give yourself time. Minimum 1 minute. Preferably a great deal longer.

    Second, find a quiet spot.

    Step 3. Now this is the interesting part. You need to time trip in your head.

    Go to a place in your future where you can imagine that your are perfectly happy and content and that your life has brought you everything that you ever wanted and you are full of joy.

    (You should do this exercise anyway even if there is no decisions to make. After all we become our controlling thoughts.)

    Once you have rustled up that feeling and you can either see the place or feel how that feels and it feels or looks real we can move on.

    Step four, Now that you are in that place, bring to mind the decision that you are looking to make and ask yourself does the outcome of this decision bring me closer or further away from this place.

    You will definitely get a strong leaning one way or the other. With practice you will virtually always get the right answer to your big decision.

    More importantly you will always make the a decisions that you will be happy with so you won’t be second guessing yourself about having done the right thing. No stress, no worries and no regrets. Problem solved!

    Snowy.

  • How To Avoid The Lie Of Perfection!

    We have all been taught a lie. What is this lie i hear you ask. Well it is the lie of perfection.
    We are told in every endeavor that we must seek perfection in whatever we do. Be the best we can be. Well as much as there is some truth in this the reality is that blocks many of us from getting going.

    You see perfection is damn hard if not impossible to reach. We start an endeavor looking to make it the best possible thing/outcome.

    Let’s take two examples. Starting a business and losing weight.

    So lets look at starting a business… You come up with an idea. You believe it is a good idea. Lets say it is creating websites for builders (Hey maybe they need one, and after all they are not normally the most tech savvy folk, so there may be a gap). Ok so now we have an idea and a target market.

    So what’s next well let’s see.

    I’m going to need a website of my own to sell my services. (Hey they are going to need to see what i can do.)

    Oh and I’m going to need some business cards.. That will make me look professional.

    Oh and a logo. Can’t forget my logo after all branding is important.

    Maybe I should get a brochure done.

    Hmm well i will need to get some copy for both the website and the brochure.

    Got to set up my social media so i need to create an account on Facebook, twitter, instagram, Linkedin and youtube.

    Hmm what else well i should register my company (should have thought of that first.)

    Oh and a good name for myself why didn’t i think of that in the first place.

    Must brain storm the cleverest name that is both professional and quirky. (after all i need to be up to date with all things modern and cool.)

    Actually going back to social media i should start getting followers and likes etc after all I don’t know want my customers to think that i have not been around for a while.

    This is after all what we need to do to start a business after all right?

    Well we will get back to that in a bit.

    Now let’s look at weight loss.

    Ok so so i need to lose some weight.

    well what should i do?

    Well I know I should change my diet and maybe do some exercise but which type should i do.

    hmm i know i will search the web for weight loss see whats working at the moment.

    Oooh lots of diets to chose must do some research into which is the best one.

    So much to choose from Paleo looks popular and so does the slow carb diet. but hey i know things like the Atkins diet used to work but has sort of fallen out of favour. What about the low fat diets and the alkalizing diets? What about the Mediterranean diets and GI diets. Hmm all of these are going to need some looking into. After all I don’t want to do the wrong one.

    Maybe i should look on amazon to see which books people are reading. Hey I could also what diets the celebrities are using after all they always look good. Ok pick my five favorite celebrities and find out what diet they are doing to stay in shape.

    Speaking of staying in shape well yeh i need to do some exercise.

    Hmm should what should i do well i could go jog. Well if I’m going to go jogging I should really do it properly so I’m going to need some new running shoes. oh and the right outfit after all i don’t want to look like a slob. Oh and i need to find out how far I’ve run so i will have to get a nike fuleband or some other gadget that tracks that. Oh and the appropriate app for my phone that way I can always know just how well I’m doing. Maybe I should also get an app to keep me accountable I know i procrastinate from time to time.

    Then again is jogging the right thing for me after all there are other options.

    I could join a gym but which type a normal one or a specific one (i hear a lot of people talking about cross fit.)

    Or maybe i should buy some of them dvds from the infomercials but which one p90x looks good but then again so does Insanity and now there is that 25 minute one. ok I will watch the infomercials again.

    Then again Yoga looks like it’s relaxing, good for you and fun. Should i do know there are different varieties maybe i should look into Bikram as hot yoga is meant to be great. Then again i heard about that DDP wrestler guy who has got some great videos on youtube.

    Hmm will have to think about that to make sure that i do the right exercise for me.
    You get the idea always seeking perfection always avoiding trying to make a mistake. After all you have to remember the 5 P’s (Perfect Preparation Prevents Poor Performance).

    This is all horseshit!

    The reality is that it is far more important to get it going that get it perfect.

    This is how this should really look.

    Starting a website for builders business.

    Pick up the phone book call 20 builders ask them why they have not got a website, ask them can they see the value of a website (if they can’t explain the value) ask if they want one if you can do it at a reasonable price.

    If any say yes you have a business, If they don’t you have saved yourself countless hours, days, weeks and a ton of money.

    Losing weight.

    Diet.

    every time you feel hungry and are going to eat ask yourself what is the tastiest healthy thing I can eat right now? Eat that. Do that for one meal a day and build up from there until you reach 80% good choices for your meals.

    Exercise.

    Drop to the floor and do 1 press up. If you want to do more so be it. Add additional exercises as and when you feel like it. Do this at least 3 times a week maybe before you eat first thing.

    Perfection is a barrier to action. Without action there is no progress.

    So remove Perfection from the start of an endeavor and if you like aim for it at the end.

    Don’t seek perfection in the beginning it will cripple you before you start.

    Just start and see what happens.

    Snowy

  • You, Your Life And Winning The Kobayashi Maru!

    If you are like most people then the game of life is unwinable. Harsh but True. It’s the Kobayashi Maru.If you are unfamiliar with the Kobayashi Maru well it’s an idea from the StarTrek universe. For the non Sci-fi folk bear with me as the idea is more important than where the idea arrives from.
    Ok so the Kobayashi Maru is an unwinable simulation taught to all would be star ship captains. In brief it works like this there is a ship. The aforementioned Kobayashi Maru. It is in enemy space and has broken down. If you leave it there all the crew will die. If you try and rescue it you will die. Unwinable!
    However, one captain… James T Kirk found a way to beat it. I will tell you how a little later.

    For now that’s where we are at, the game of life = Unwinable.

    I know, I know some people clearly are winning the game of life! They have fame, fortune and glory!

    But for most people they as Theroux quoted live lives of quiet desperation and go to their grave with their song still in them.

    So why does this happen. Well I have a few theories but the main one is that they take bad advice from well meaning people. People like friends, family, teachers and colleagues.

    So what sort of advice keeps you trapped in an unwinable game.

    Work hard in school/University and then get a good job.

    It is better to have someone than be alone.

    Starting your own business is risky.

    Get a job first and you can do what you love later.

    Your own home is an asset.

    Think about this how many people do you know who take this advice?

    Now ask how many of them are happy and are winning the game of life?

    Let me just drive this home. How many out of 100 put a number on it.

    People hate their jobs, stuck in a rut, hate their boss. Hate there partner/spouse, getting divorced. No money, living pay check to paycheck, in debt, massive mortgage hanging over their heads. Looking forward to that two weeks a year when they get to go on a second rate holiday and thinking that it is the bees knees.

    So how many out of the 100?

    It’s not pretty is it!

    So how do we win the Kobayashi Maru?

    Well we do what Captain Kirk did we cheat!

    We break the conventional rules and make our own.

    Kirk reprogrammed the simulation in order to win!

    We are going to do the same with the game of life. We will do this in a systematic way.

    We have a three step plan…

    First,  we are going to learn the rules of the game.

    Second, we are going to play better than the rules.

    Third, we will make our own rules.

    Simple!

    This is where TheSnowHow comes in. We will look to show you just how the game is played. Then show you how to build your skill to beat the game. Then make your own game a game you can win. This will come though observations of what it really take to win the game of life in all its different areas. Things like health, wealth, business, freedom, psychology, success and real happiness.

    We will upgrade your thinking, your knowledge, your performance and your understanding of what it takes to be able to take your life by the scruff of the neck and lift yourself out of the game that other people want to force upon you and go on to be able to win your game.

    If that sounds like something that appeals to you then keep reading. You are just about to swallow the “Red Pill” and see how deep the rabbit hole goes!

    More importantly it should allow you to live long and prosper!

    Snowy.