Tag: jobs

Always Run The Numbers

“Amidst the chaos and uncertainty surrounding our daily existence, there is a guiding beacon for us, which illuminates the fog of uncertainty and leads us towards success. That beacon for you all is the power of running the numbers.”

You should always be running the numbers in life. By doing this consistently, you’ll be able to make better choices and decisions that could impact your overall destiny. Every choice we make, whether consciously or not, shapes the path we tread for ourselves. Amidst the chaos and uncertainty surrounding our daily existence, there is a guiding beacon for us, which illuminates the fog of uncertainty and leads us towards success. That beacon for you all is the power of running the numbers.

In every aspect of our lives, from career advancement to personal relationships, from financial management to time allocation, running the numbers empowers us to make informed decisions, thereby maximizing our overall lifestyle and potential for success.

In the area of career advancement and pursuit of opportunities, running the numbers is like conducting a cost-benefit analysis of our possible actions. Imagine standing at the crossroads of a fateful career decision such as a new job offer presenting itself, promising higher pay and greater responsibilities. The allure is undeniable to take the new job, but is it truly the right move for you?

By running the numbers, one can evaluate the tangible and intangible costs and benefits associated with the decision. You can start with calculating the potential increase in income against the added workload, hours, and stress. Then, consider the long-term prospects of career growth and personal development from taking this job. Lastly, you should factor in the commute time, the impact on work-life balance, and the job’s alignment with your own personal values and goals.

Running the numbers empowers people to make informed choices rather than succumbing to impulsive desires or societal pressures. It provides a basic framework for assessing the risks and rewards involved in a decision, allowing someone to put themselves forward with confidence and clarity after making a calculated move.

Moreover, in the realm of relationship building, running the numbers fosters authenticity and empathy in forming your relationships. Whether forging new connections or nurturing existing bonds, understanding the dynamics at play, the emotional investment, personality compatibility, mutual respect, helps enable individuals to cultivate better and more worthwhile relationships, which are grounded in trust, care, and understanding.

Beyond both careers and relationships, the importance of running the numbers extends to the realm of financial management and time allocation. In a world where resources are finite, and demands on our finances are seemingly endless, strategic decision-making is paramount to take into consideration.

Budgeting, which is often overlooked yet indispensable to becoming a fully formed person, lies at the heart of having financial stability. By meticulously tracking both your income and your expenses on a consistent basis, individuals will gain better insights into their current spending habits and can identify areas for improvement. Running the numbers reveals possible opportunities for savings, investment, and debt reduction that you may have missed before, helping to pave the way towards having greater financial freedom and security.

Similarly, time, the most precious of all commodities, demands a similar kind of numerical allocation. In a culture beset with constant busyness and distractions, the ability to prioritize tasks and allocate one’s time effectively is a real-life superpower. Running the numbers by evaluating the return on investment for each activity enables someone to focus on endeavors that yield the greatest impact and fulfillment to our own life.

Moreover, by embracing the quantitative approach to time management, individuals cultivate a mindset of both productivity and purpose. They learn to distinguish between the activities that contribute to their long-term goals and those other activities that merely serve as momentary distractions or procrastination traps.

The average person should be ready to do a cost-benefit analysis when deciding on whether to do an activity by weighing the potential gains against the incurred costs. Firstly, the benefits must be evaluated, considering both tangible and intangible gains such as enjoyment, learning, or personal fulfillment. Next, the costs, including time, money, and opportunity costs, should be assessed.

For example, if the activity is a hobby like learning a musical instrument, benefits might include personal growth, relaxation, and skill development. However, the costs would involve purchasing the instrument, dedicating time for practice, and possibly forgoing other activities that you could do instead.

Quantifying these factors allows you to make more informed decisions. Assigning values or ratings to each benefit and cost helps to compare and prioritize your options effectively. If the benefits outweigh the costs significantly, the activity is likely worthwhile. Conversely, if the costs exceed the benefits, the activity should be deemed a waste of time. This kind of decision rests on our own individual preferences, goals, and circumstances. To follow up, doing a regular reassessment ensures that the activities we do align with our evolving priorities, maximizing both personal satisfaction and productivity.

Whether it is applying for jobs, going out on dates, making sales calls to potential clients or customers, you need to be giving yourself the best chance that you have at success. It may not take one time, ten times, or even a hundred times to get the result you are looking for and that’s why part of running the numbers involves improving your odds as much as possible, putting in enough work where you have enough volume or experience in surging those numbers, and then learning from your mistakes or errors when you are partaking in the numbers game.

Taking chances, sometimes more than you would like, will eventually help you succeed with enough perseverance and hard work. Most people will quit after their first attempt or their first rejection but let that person not be you. Keep working at making the calls, asking the woman or man out, hitting ‘send’ on that job application, and eventually you’ll be able to see some progress towards achieving your goals, but it’s going to take a lot of ‘numbers’ to get to where you want to be. Make sure to give yourself enough chances, enough options, and enough experience to where when you get from hearing ‘no’s’ to hearing ‘yes’s’, you’ll be able to take advantage of the shift in the numbers working for you and not against you.

In the grand scheme of things, running the numbers serves as the ultimate conductor, orchestrating harmony, and fomenting balance amidst ever looming chaos. It empowers each of us to navigate the complexities of our daily existence with clarity and confidence, enabling more people to seize opportunities, manage resources effectively, and cultivate a life of purpose and fulfillment.

By embracing the quantitative approach to decision-making and ‘running the numbers’ as much as possible, anyone can transcend the shackles of uncertainty and indecision. The power of numbers can be used as a guiding beacon, illuminating the path towards success and prosperity.

Essentially, running the numbers is not merely a basic tool for living better, it is a mindset, a philosophy, and a way of life. It is the relentless pursuit of greater knowledge and understanding behind the choices that lie before us. It is the unwavering commitment to taking informed action instead of embracing endless speculation. Remember to take the time and the effort to embrace the power of numbers and begin to chart a course to a more successful and prosperous life.

Creating Something Out Of Nothing

“The greater the ownership over an idea, a product, a thing, or a concept that you create, the more investment you’re likely to have over it.”

Every one of us has a creative impulse that should not be ignored. It is important to tap into it throughout our lives to create something out of nothing. What better gift to share with the world than something that comes from within us alone and can bring something of utility to another person. I personally find that being able to create something that you made or built or established from your own hard work is the most fulfilling thing that one can do in life. It is beyond rewarding to see something that started from just an idea alone come to fruition through your own efforts.

While it can be exciting or interesting to help someone else build their dream into reality or help be part of that team that executes another person’s idea or vision, it simply does not compare to making your own idea into reality and having others work on that idea to help you develop it into something real. Fulfillment can come in many forms, but I find that making something of your own and having it go out in the world to be a successful product, service, or thing that will be used for months, years, or generations is one of the greatest joys that one can experience in one’s life.

The greater the ownership over an idea, a product, a thing, or a concept that you create, the more investment you’re likely to have over it. When you are the owner or the founder rather than an employee or a team member, the feeling of accomplishment that you have when it happens or becomes something that is fully realized, it is hard to go back to being in that complementary role going forward.

It is good to start small when you are creating something, and to set your expectations within reason. You don’t have to start building a massive business or a large product to feel its joyful effects. It’s best to start with a small project like an eBook, a small product you designed or built, or some kind of freelance service that you alone provide. Once you start to advertise, market, or sell that small product or service you built, it will give you that needed boost of confidence that can propel you forward with other ideas to implement.

When it comes to the act of creation, you must stick with it for a while whether it is an invention, a business, or a service because it will need some tweaking, refinement, or even a rebuild especially if people aren’t buying what you are selling. Sometimes, you’ll need to start over again with a different idea and other times, you’ll need to do a lot of revisions or tweaks to make it more palatable to your audience. Any creation has a strong possibility of failure but even if it does fail, you should rest easy knowing that the act of creating anything is something that not many people can do or even try it at all.

If you can create anything at all, that’s taking a step that most people are not comfortable with doing themselves. You may think that if you create or build something that isn’t successful that you failed entirely but that is not the case at all. If you take that pivotal step in creating something out of nothing, you went further than most people are willing to go. You should keep your spirits up by knowing that just because what you built, made, or created wasn’t exactly financially profitable or sold a lot of units, it does not mean your efforts were wasted.

When you build something from scratch, you gain valuable skills in that process that you would not get otherwise as an employee or team member. Creating something takes innovation, critical thinking, subject matter knowledge, and knowledge of the components of that product or service. Additionally, any kind of creation often involves website development, shipping / delivery, sales, marketing, advertisement, content creation, and networking with other people in that area of expertise. If what you first created did not reach your own goals or hopes, don’t stop creating.

Be bold enough to create something else and to keep trying new inventions, new products, or new services. I am a believer in a creator’s ability to keep tinkering with new ideas, trying out different ideas, and being able to revise their ideas to build something even better. Many inventors including Thomas Edison, one of the greatest creators in history, had to submit hundreds of inventions and establish hundreds of patented creations, before he was able to establish and market the early version of the incandescent light bulb, the phonograph, and the motion picture camera.

Any great creator from Thomas Edison to Steve Jobs to Elon Musk did not just stop with their one creation or one product or one invention, they used their talents and their ideas to propel themselves forward into different creative areas. You should build on a small success and use that fuel to try out other ideas in your area of expertise. If you can create something that generates a little bit of success, that motivation will carry you forward in being able to develop other ideas that may be even more successful. Do not be afraid to fail either. If you can be one of those people who can create, can invent, or can build something from nothing, you should know that you are a unique individual who is changing the world in a small yet measurable way. Even if you are not the next Thomas Edison, you are a creator in the world and that is quite the personal achievement.