Playing Santa isn’t easy. (Credit: GarlandCannon)
I dislike shopping, but I love finding the perfect gift.
Finding that gift, though, gets harder with time. Those damn adults seem to already have everything. That includes me.
More salt and pepper shakers? Nah. Alternate versions of the shirts I got last year? No, thank you. In the eternal quest to eliminate clutter, I now give Santa a not-to-buy list instead of a wish list.
If you’re having trouble thinking up killer (in the good sense) gifts, here are 12 goods that deliver.
All of them have either changed my life or saved my ass… Read More
“To avoid criticism, do nothing, say nothing, and be nothing.” – Elbert Hubbard (source: uberzombie)
Right alongside the cash and credit cards, I keep a number of strange things in my wallet.
The largest is a folded-up page from the July 6, 2009 issue of Fortune magazine. In a profile, Scott Boras, widely regarded as the most powerful agent in professional baseball, describes a dinner with one of his mentors after a record-breaking contract:
“He said that if you are really effective at what you do, 95% of the things said about you will be negative. Keep your head on straight, don’t get emotional, take the heat, and just make sure your clients are smiling.”
Doing anything remotely interesting will bring criticism. Attempting to do anything large-scale and interesting will bring armies of detractors and saboteurs. This is fine – if you are willing to take the heat.
There are good reasons to be willing, even eager.
Colin Powell makes the case: pissing people off is both inevitable and necessary. This doesn’t mean that the goal is pissing people off. Pissing people off doesn’t mean you’re doing the right things, but doing the right things will almost inevitably piss people off.
Understand the difference.
Being responsible sometimes means pissing people off.
Good leadership involves responsibility to the welfare of the group, which means that some people will get angry at your actions and decisions. It’s inevitable, if you’re honorable. Trying to get everyone to like you is a sign of mediocrity: you’ll avoid the tough decisions, you’ll avoid confronting the people who need to be confronted, and you’ll avoid offering differential rewards based on differential performance because some people might get upset.
Ironically, by procrastinating on the difficult choices, by trying not to get anyone mad, and by treating everyone equally “nicely” regardless of their contributions, you’ll simply ensure that the only people you’ll wind up angering are the most creative and productive people in the organization. (full presentation here)
Don’t go through life with kid gloves on. The stakes are too high, and it is oftentimes more important to give people what they need, rather than what they want.
This includes ourselves. By facing the fire early and often, we ensure the confidence and breathing room later to do bigger and better things.
Or to just sit back in a hammock with the peace of mind that only comes with belief that you did your best.
Be criticized for doing small “safe” things, or be criticized for doing big things that you’re passionate about. That is the choice. The criticism will come either way, whether in the form of self-talk (the former) or ankle biters (the latter).
Let the critics criticize. It’s the builders who count.
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Get the brand-new Expanded and Updated 4-Hour Workweek, published 12/15, which includes more than 50 new case studies of luxury lifestyle design, business building, reducing hours 80%+, and world travel.
On this blog, I try and strike a balance — well, it’s more like a ratio — of 80% useful content and 20% fun for sh#$% and giggles.
If the blog isn’t fun for me to write, it will end up boring to read, so I sometimes visit Random Land. This is such a time. I think athletic girls are fantastic (don’t worry, ladies — goodies for you soon), and I like stickers. So what do you get?
The 4-Hour Body promotional stickers!
The 4-Hour Body is almost exactly 4 weeks away, and each week, I will be debuting a new countdown sticker, ending with a launch sticker. This week features my friend Taryn Southern, whose new video “Keep It In Your Pants” might just make your head explode or your boss fire you.
How do you get the stickers? Simple:
– “Check-in” via the GetGlue app or website
– If needed: click the “Reading Book” icon, search for the book by title or “Ferriss”, and then click “Check-in”.
– You get a digital sticker automatically, but…
– Once you earn 15 stickers (via “check-ins”) for any of the books, movies, TV shows, etc. on GetGlue, you can have free 4-Hour Body physical stickers shipped to you! Put them on your dog’s forehead, laptop, or iPhone.
Crazy times. Three years ago, I never could have imagined that I’d be promoting stickers, half-naked women, and erections. Just goes to show that what my parents told me is true: when you grow up, you can do ANYTHING that you want.
God bless the Internet.
(Photo: Matthew Field)
[UPDATE: We have all of the products we need at this time. Thanks so much!]
This post will be short and sweet.
The book launch for The 4-Hour Body, the follow-up to The 4-Hour Workweek (#1 NY Times, 35 languages), will be enormous. There will be big media, incredible partnerships, never-before-seen experiments, and much, much more.
Here are two things I’m looking to add to the mix:
- Giveaway products or services.
- Party location in NYC for a huge launch party the week of Dec. 13. Minimum 400-1,000 people.
Now, the details… Read More
