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  #1  
Old November 8, 2022, 02:17 PM
GordonJ's Avatar
GordonJ GordonJ is offline
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Location: West Palm Beach, FL
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Default Some rocking chair thoughts about STORED VALUE.

The STORED VALUE concept has been one of my mainstay, foundational thoughts even before SowPub.

It caused a rift between my brother and I when we were flipping cars. He just couldn't wrap his head around it, and I think, M0ST people can't.

The reason MOST can't think this way is: they FEEL somehow cheated, or simply don't see the truth behind the idea:

Circulation BEATS Storage, 364 days a year, yea, MAYBE, one day a year it doesn't.

Here is the example that created our family rift: we bought a car at auction, it had a scrape along its side, deep "keying" like scrape, only wider. It was a beautiful, one year old Hyundai but that big two inch DEEP scratch made it very unappealing to dealers, so got it for a song.

I think about 1200. BLUE BOOK was around 7500. My brother being a body man and mechanic, had the dent out and painted within a week, for about 200 in paint, so we had 1200 plus his time and paint, so about 2500 into it.

I wanted to FLIP it, for 4k. NO, he wanted 7k, under blue book...but he advertised it for 7700, thinking he could drop the price. No matter how much I argued with him, he was FIRM. And I let it go, we had other deals to worry about.

His wife started driving and really liked it. She talked him into keeping it for a few months, through the winter. Long story short, after her driving it for over a year, and being full of McDonald's wrappers, he bought me out and kept the car...never getting any offer in his mind worth it.

See, he knew cars. He KNEW that car was worth 7k and no way in the world he would have taken less than 6 for it, which would have been a nice 3k profit for us...and he thought I was NUTS for wanting to send it down the road for 4 to 4.5K

And this is where everyone goes afoul. I see it everyday on eBay and I follow a lot of people, they want to get the MOST out of their stuff.

I, on the other hand, want to FLIP it quickly.

Because I knew/know, that the quick two thousand we could have made in a week, could have been kept in circulation, bought the next car from the profits, and that one would be 100% profit.

I know people with basements, attics, garages, sheds full of stuff, and then they go get a storage facility for more stuff, and these things have high occupancy rates, I used to manage one.

And many of these people need money, want to sell it...but by God almighty, they aren't going to give it away at some ridiculous low price BECAUSE it is worth more than that.

I, say get the cash today, put it to work, Fast turnover profits and build it up the ladder, the whole idea of the Grow as You Go Plan in the Chattel Report was based on that...THE SPRINT TO FREEDOM is circulation...

NOT STORAGE.

And likewise it is as I have been harping here for the last 22 years, the same with INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY...it is only good in the marketplace IF...if

IF..IT IS IN THE MARKETPLACE. I think it may be a big reason I have some people who won't talk to me, and did at one time, because they know I will ask them if they

Sold off the baseball cards? The marketing library? The tools they never use? All stuff in storage, which can be quickly converted to working capital, if they didn't share my brother's mindset, that they will hold it forever rather than sell for less than its worth.

Alrighty then.

And true DAT for IP too. Anyone want some quick cash, some capital to work with? Share what you know, can do, your experience, knowledge and expertise to the marketplace and get and keep it into circulation so it works for you.

STORED VALUE.

Any comments or questions?

Gordon
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  #2  
Old November 8, 2022, 05:35 PM
Dien Rice Dien Rice is online now
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Posts: 3,357
Default "Circulation" vs "Reserve" and finding your tortoise...

Hi Gordon,

Errr... guilty as charged...

My wife and I saw an episode of the reality TV show "Hoarders" and wondered...

Why are they making a documentary about our life?

(Okay... Just joking... We're not that bad!)

Meanwhile, on this topic...

A family finally got around to cleaning their jam-packed storage room...

...and found a pet tortoise that had been missing since 1982!

(And yes, it was still alive... See the link below!)

I guess the lesson is...

"Circulation" beats "Reserve" (or "Storage")... also because you might find your missing pet tortoise...

I think for some of us, there is the "emotional attachment"...

I need to do some "Marie Kondo" questioning... Like holding up an old bicycle, and asking... "Does it spark joy?"

Anyway... Big topic... and an important one!

Other "stored value" I have is...

- My information products - both those I created myself, and also those I have the rights for...

- My knowhow... That is another type of "stored value"... It's good to "release it" into the wild, where it can do some others some good...

- In my case, I have some algorithms I developed, which I must develop into a business...

Best wishes!

Dien

P.S. This is the "tortoise" article I referred to earlier...

Family Cleans House, Finds Pet Tortoise Missing Since 1982
https://www.treehugger.com/family-cl...arlier-4858635

Quote:
Originally Posted by GordonJ View Post
The STORED VALUE concept has been one of my mainstay, foundational thoughts even before SowPub.

It caused a rift between my brother and I when we were flipping cars. He just couldn't wrap his head around it, and I think, M0ST people can't.

The reason MOST can't think this way is: they FEEL somehow cheated, or simply don't see the truth behind the idea:

Circulation BEATS Storage, 364 days a year, yea, MAYBE, one day a year it doesn't.

Here is the example that created our family rift: we bought a car at auction, it had a scrape along its side, deep "keying" like scrape, only wider. It was a beautiful, one year old Hyundai but that big two inch DEEP scratch made it very unappealing to dealers, so got it for a song.

I think about 1200. BLUE BOOK was around 7500. My brother being a body man and mechanic, had the dent out and painted within a week, for about 200 in paint, so we had 1200 plus his time and paint, so about 2500 into it.

I wanted to FLIP it, for 4k. NO, he wanted 7k, under blue book...but he advertised it for 7700, thinking he could drop the price. No matter how much I argued with him, he was FIRM. And I let it go, we had other deals to worry about.

His wife started driving and really liked it. She talked him into keeping it for a few months, through the winter. Long story short, after her driving it for over a year, and being full of McDonald's wrappers, he bought me out and kept the car...never getting any offer in his mind worth it.

See, he knew cars. He KNEW that car was worth 7k and no way in the world he would have taken less than 6 for it, which would have been a nice 3k profit for us...and he thought I was NUTS for wanting to send it down the road for 4 to 4.5K

And this is where everyone goes afoul. I see it everyday on eBay and I follow a lot of people, they want to get the MOST out of their stuff.

I, on the other hand, want to FLIP it quickly.

Because I knew/know, that the quick two thousand we could have made in a week, could have been kept in circulation, bought the next car from the profits, and that one would be 100% profit.

I know people with basements, attics, garages, sheds full of stuff, and then they go get a storage facility for more stuff, and these things have high occupancy rates, I used to manage one.

And many of these people need money, want to sell it...but by God almighty, they aren't going to give it away at some ridiculous low price BECAUSE it is worth more than that.

I, say get the cash today, put it to work, Fast turnover profits and build it up the ladder, the whole idea of the Grow as You Go Plan in the Chattel Report was based on that...THE SPRINT TO FREEDOM is circulation...

NOT STORAGE.

And likewise it is as I have been harping here for the last 22 years, the same with INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY...it is only good in the marketplace IF...if

IF..IT IS IN THE MARKETPLACE. I think it may be a big reason I have some people who won't talk to me, and did at one time, because they know I will ask them if they

Sold off the baseball cards? The marketing library? The tools they never use? All stuff in storage, which can be quickly converted to working capital, if they didn't share my brother's mindset, that they will hold it forever rather than sell for less than its worth.

Alrighty then.

And true DAT for IP too. Anyone want some quick cash, some capital to work with? Share what you know, can do, your experience, knowledge and expertise to the marketplace and get and keep it into circulation so it works for you.

STORED VALUE.

Any comments or questions?

Gordon
__________________

Last edited by Dien Rice : November 8, 2022 at 07:24 PM.
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  #3  
Old November 9, 2022, 10:02 AM
GordonJ's Avatar
GordonJ GordonJ is offline
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Default My job as a manager of a storage facility.

Thanks Dien.

I had a cushy job as a manager of a brand new storage facility; at the time it was top line, state of the art, in an upscale area. A year later, the unpaid units went on the auction block, you wouldn't believe what people abandoned.

No turtles, pythons or pets, yet a lot of stuff. I was and remain amazed at what people hold onto until they just walk away from it.

A lot of storage is from events; divorce, deaths, moving, etc. But being a hoarder, pack rat is an American tradition, and without it, Marie Kondo wouldn't have even sold a book. But her concept, now a popular expression, lets KONDO that thing...means sending it down the road.

Anyhow, to address the STORED VALUE issue, many of us have.

What has helped me is bits and pieces of time REGULARLY, and RELIGIOUSLY adhered to. Take the second hour of my work day.

15 minutes to write thoughts of the day. 10 to review past ones. 10 to continue a short time project, 15 on long, 10 to fiddle fart on any of them.

Solid, everyday, for decades. A routine. Now maybe you or most don't have an hour. But I have made that sacrosanct, sacred, habitual. It has allowed me to get a lot of things done.

By taking a longer view, a longer time and allowing ACCUMULATION. See, that is why we need all those extra storage spaces, we ACCUMULATE so much stuff.

I habitually reduce this pile on a daily basis. So, for example, I may have several Word (Open Office) docs open during this work hour, and pick up the train of thought because I left right in the middle of one.

So, just by reading the last paragraph, I can easily just start from there...and a 50 page report, gets done in two months by 10 min. a day.

What happens, is and I think maybe you can see this...we tend to let the pile get big, and then it is overwhelming.

But spend 10 min a day on your algorithms, and by next year, you have your product. What most will do, is put it off until they think they have time to attack with all their time and attention...and years go by.

The year is going to go by anyhow, remember sitting at the Sheraton? YIKERS, but 10 minutes a day, every day, EVERY day, over a 20 year period and one has more work done than most will ever do in a lifetime.

I am a big believer in small increments of time, USED efficiently, and purposefully rather than trying to clear the busy plate off and trying to tackle something when time allows (it never does).

Likewise, in the Sprint to Freedom one gets to that 1k a week level by small increments of dollars kept in circulation.

I have scores of notebooks, most will never see the light of day, but all of them filled not because I went to Walden Pond and wrote non stop for a year...but because I faithfully committed to that hour a day of writing in small bursts, on many things at the same time. It is how I've been able to create over 100 (so far) small reports and HOTSHEETS.

Now recently, that hour has been tough to do, energy and health...but even through my covid, I've been pretty faithful.

SMALL amounts of time ACCUMULATED = Productivity

SMALL amounts of $$ ACCUMULATED = Profits and Prosperity

Gordon

Quote:
Originally Posted by Dien Rice View Post
Hi Gordon,

Errr... guilty as charged...

My wife and I saw an episode of the reality TV show "Hoarders" and wondered...

Why are they making a documentary about our life?

(Okay... Just joking... We're not that bad!)

Meanwhile, on this topic...

A family finally got around to cleaning their jam-packed storage room...

...and found a pet tortoise that had been missing since 1982!

(And yes, it was still alive... See the link below!)

I guess the lesson is...

"Circulation" beats "Reserve" (or "Storage")... also because you might find your missing pet tortoise...

I think for some of us, there is the "emotional attachment"...

I need to do some "Marie Kondo" questioning... Like holding up an old bicycle, and asking... "Does it spark joy?"

Anyway... Big topic... and an important one!

Other "stored value" I have is...

- My information products - both those I created myself, and also those I have the rights for...

- My knowhow... That is another type of "stored value"... It's good to "release it" into the wild, where it can do some others some good...

- In my case, I have some algorithms I developed, which I must develop into a business...

Best wishes!

Dien

P.S. This is the "tortoise" article I referred to earlier...

Family Cleans House, Finds Pet Tortoise Missing Since 1982
https://www.treehugger.com/family-cl...arlier-4858635
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  #4  
Old November 9, 2022, 03:23 PM
Millard Grubb Millard Grubb is offline
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Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: The Ozarks
Posts: 299
Default Re: Some rocking chair thoughts about STORED VALUE.

Thanks.

You've given me a good kick in the pants concerning all stuff I have created over the years to help performers.

Instead of trying to sell ALL my stuff in one BIG package for a nice payday, I like the idea of just getting stuff moving.

Sure, I have a lot of stored value.

Sure, I've got a LOT of stuff.

But, better to get things moving here and there, right now, than putter about trying to sell the "BIG" one.
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  #5  
Old November 9, 2022, 07:28 PM
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GordonJ GordonJ is offline
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Default Re: Some rocking chair thoughts about STORED VALUE.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Millard Grubb View Post
Thanks.
You've given me a good kick in the pants concerning all stuff I have created over the years to help performers.
Instead of trying to sell ALL my stuff in one BIG package for a nice payday, I like the idea of just getting stuff moving.
Sure, I have a lot of stored value.
Sure, I've got a LOT of stuff.
But, better to get things moving here and there, right now, than putter about trying to sell the "BIG" one.

You are not alone Millard, in fact, I think you might have many a kindred spirit here.

Before I trimmed my lists, I had over 10k+ buyers. Now, combined with Dien's list maybe only a few thousand?
And those few thousand will buy a report for 7 here, 10 there, and occasional 19 and every so often a 97 dollar report that I offer to those on my lists as well as new folk. My best sellers, wouldn't get anyone too excited...but those loyal buyers, some over 25 years now, apparently feel for my small no brainer change, these little ditties are worth it, if for no other reason to find out what my brain is looking at.

Now, I ask you, the big YOU, the group you, although Millard that would include you too...

What could you do with a list of 1000 buyers who bought from you 5 times a year?

And so what if your first product, maybe a 7 bucker, brings in only 98 bux, or a lousy 14 sales, a dismal waste of time, eh? Well, I saw that as 14 new names on my list, and almost immediately sent them another gift for free, a report that sold for 25...slowly, but because it was regular, at least every other month, those lists did exactly as Jim Straw told me they would...

Eat the peanuts on the bar, and order some drinks to wash them down.

The lifetime value of my avg. customer is around 250 and that is the avg.

So, imagine if you will taking the two or three years, as that is how long we have talked about bringing stuff to the market...that YOU the general and M.G. if you had 1000 names, a paltry amount, a measly sum, a ridiculous amount of small potatoes when compared to real IMers...imagine you had that list and they had a lifetime value of 250?

Then consider what someone who actually tries could do with a list of 10k on it.

I have eaten a lot of those elephants over the years, bite by bite...and then, when I had an overload of work, I jettisoned my worst customers and held onto and tried to serve them well...so they could keep sending bits and bits of cash, every time I requested it...

Make offers. Even little ones. Then serve up more and more.

As a PS idea, even though I've had bigger and some big ticket items in my offers...I'm content with tiny brooks, ever running tributaries pouring into the
streams which then add to a slow moving, but constant, reliable river of income.

ONE thing, even a HOTSHEET, one name on a list, then double that.

Gordon
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  #6  
Old November 10, 2022, 05:51 AM
Millard Grubb Millard Grubb is offline
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Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: The Ozarks
Posts: 299
Default Re: Some rocking chair thoughts about STORED VALUE.

Gordon,

Thank You ! Thank You ! Thank You !

You have given here some of the best advice for just about anyone who has experience or knowledge enough to create a valuable report.

This info has been hiding in plain sight if you think about it.

Sell quality information at a very fair price.

Sell some more.

Build a list.

Love those on the list.

Create something that will satisfy those on the list.

Sell some more.

So simple, it is almost scary.

Two thumbs ALL the way up !
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  #7  
Old November 10, 2022, 09:00 AM
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GordonJ GordonJ is offline
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Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: West Palm Beach, FL
Posts: 3,471
Default Some insights into leverage.

Thanks Millard.

It is the same thing I've been saying for a few decades now, it may take some a little while to 'get' it and apply.

I would add to the simplicity; start with what you know. With you, magic, and I still feel you have a gold mine, start digging, and keep at it.

Mine was golf, and BUSINESS OPPORTUNITY. I became involved in both very young, my dad, a barber, was always trying to add a profit center to the shop.

Back then, guys would linger, make an appt., come in early to 'read' the Playboys, munch on some chips and chill, talking sports, biz, or adult locker room talk away from the family.

One of our early successes was DYNA GLAZE, a new car polish. Those cans sold like hotcakes, because I did the cars next door for free...so guys would come into the shop and dad would ask if they saw those shiny cars...of course they did they had to walk right past them, and those cans flew off the shelf...and then he would offer my services to do the work.

It was child labor, in my mind, but I made more than older kids working real jobs.

Anyhow, we got these BUSINESS OPPORTUNITES type mags for free, back then, publishing houses would let barber shops pick out 10 or so mags, and they got them for free...apparently, that led to more subscriptions for them.

So, my dad and I would scour these things and send away for all the free information, all the cheap stuff, and since he had a small corner in the shop, something to sell to the MEN who came in.

In my teens, I took a job as a salt on a mailing list and had to drive around greater Akron picking up mail to take to downtown.

They also let me buy products, which once they analyzed, I could keep, and most often took my pay in product, Instead of getting 8 bux, I would get 16 products, THE DEFENDER OF WOMEN, which sold pretty good in the shop, and I sold them at wholesale to other stores.

My point is, BUSINESS OP, and GOLF were lifelong interests and so I had a huge store house mentally of the HOW TO. And those were products I started with.

I recall my very first golf lesson I got paid for. It went so well, it gave me a lot of confidence, and also got some referrals. Also, about a third of the price for a PGA PRO too. And I knew several PGA pros, who laughed when I went to the tee...but when I built a following of over 1200 members, on subscription, their laughing stopped, and I actually gave some of them work. HA!

Today, if I hadn't fallen out of love with golf, I could easily (and Millard this should interest you)...create a short report, a lead gen on how to make money by giving golf lessons in your back yard.

So, instead of offering a how to GOLF, which I had several products, I would offer a how to get paid to teach golf, a BIZ-OP, AND, this could be remotely.

A camera, Internet, I could analyze a golf swing from anywhere in the world, and offer instant suggestions. Say I sold a report for 10 bux, and the back end would be an affiliate offer for NETS and balls, and CLUBS.

Nothing I would ever touch. But then, if they were to charge 30 bux for half an hour, and I came on for 5 minutes to review some video, and make some corrections...I could get this BIZ OP into many hundreds of hands. But only one to start, and the time is the little snowball thrown down the hill.

So, with you, as I have said before, ONE of the many values I see, and just my non-magician Biz Op side here, the one that would be a fast sell, would be for THE ENTERTAINER'S GUIDE TO GETTING BOOKED.

Now, magicians, storytellers, comedians, etc., would be your target markets, and a simple little report for a few bucks gets these folks on a list...and from there, segment, and show some love for the list, and I guarantee it will grow.

In your case, as in almost everyone's, I see multiple pronged product attacks, so your tricks and magic patter can be products, MERCH, but from my perspective, ENTERTAINERS are an evergreen Parade of Life target market, and how many do you think would like to book a few more gigs?

There's your market.

Start with what you know, go small, build fast. Same old Gordon 'nonsense', as I've been told by more than one Big Dog Guru. Oh well, silly me.

Gordon



Quote:
Originally Posted by Millard Grubb View Post
Gordon,

Thank You ! Thank You ! Thank You !

You have given here some of the best advice for just about anyone who has experience or knowledge enough to create a valuable report.

This info has been hiding in plain sight if you think about it.

Sell quality information at a very fair price.

Sell some more.

Build a list.

Love those on the list.

Create something that will satisfy those on the list.

Sell some more.

So simple, it is almost scary.

Two thumbs ALL the way up !

Last edited by GordonJ : November 10, 2022 at 09:24 AM.
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  #8  
Old November 10, 2022, 12:45 PM
Dien Rice Dien Rice is online now
Onwards and upwards!
 
Join Date: Aug 2006
Posts: 3,357
Default Great, inspiring post!

Hi Gordon,

For me, this was a great post!

One thing I got from it is how you can spend just 10 or 15 minutes a day working on one thing, and split your time during the day between different projects...

I haven't mentioned him much, but my Ph.D. advisor, Charles Osborne, was a remarkable man...

(Sadly he passed away in 2012...)

He's someone who did many things, in many different fields...

(Sound familiar? I suspect you, me, and him have some things in common... )

He was a professor of physics...

Yet he also was involved in many other areas...

Probably his biggest claim to fame is that he coined the phrase "digital watermark" - which is an important field.

(A "digital watermark" is a way of putting a kind of "hidden tag" in electronic data)...

You can see his name mentioned in the Wikipedia article on "digital watermarking" (in the "history" section)...

In his youth, he was a guitarist in a rock band, The Sapphires... (He's briefly mentioned in this Jan. 17, 1962 article, in a magazine called "The Australian Women's Weekly"... here, under the subhead, "Local Talent"...)

Along with his Ph.D. in physics, he also got himself a diploma in psychology... and had his own psychology practice on the side!

(It probably differs around the world... In those days, you could open up a psychology practice in Australia with just a diploma, which is not permitted any more nowadays...)

Anyway, you've reminded me of some advice Charles gave me...

He also recommended to have multiple projects going on at one time.

His advice was - when you get bored with one project, then go on to the next one...

I had no idea about ADD/ADHD at the time... but I think he recognized it in me...

And with hindsight (and now that I'm more knowledgeable about the topic), I think he may have had it himself, too...

Thanks for the advice, Gordon!

So... what I'm "testing" now is kind of like a modified "Pomodoro" technique...

The Pomodoro technique (for those unfamiliar with it) is where you work for a certain amount of time... 33.33 minutes seems popular among copywriting circles - since that's what copywriter Eugene Schwartz did, apparently.

When the 33.33 minutes were up, Eugene Schwartz would then take a 10 to 15 minute break... Then start another 33.33 minute session after the break.

However... Sometimes "switching" tasks is almost as "mentally refreshing" as a break... (At least to me.)

So, I'm testing out a modified version (inspired by your post)... Work for 15 minutes on one task or project. When the 15 minutes is up... Switch projects...

Though I'm allowing myself not to switch if I'm on a "roll" and want to keep going...

Anyway, I'm testing this out... We'll see how it works out. I was testing it all day, and so far I like it, and I do feel it helps to make me more productive...

Best wishes,

Dien

Quote:
Originally Posted by GordonJ View Post
Thanks Dien.

I had a cushy job as a manager of a brand new storage facility; at the time it was top line, state of the art, in an upscale area. A year later, the unpaid units went on the auction block, you wouldn't believe what people abandoned.

No turtles, pythons or pets, yet a lot of stuff. I was and remain amazed at what people hold onto until they just walk away from it.

A lot of storage is from events; divorce, deaths, moving, etc. But being a hoarder, pack rat is an American tradition, and without it, Marie Kondo wouldn't have even sold a book. But her concept, now a popular expression, lets KONDO that thing...means sending it down the road.

Anyhow, to address the STORED VALUE issue, many of us have.

What has helped me is bits and pieces of time REGULARLY, and RELIGIOUSLY adhered to. Take the second hour of my work day.

15 minutes to write thoughts of the day. 10 to review past ones. 10 to continue a short time project, 15 on long, 10 to fiddle fart on any of them.

Solid, everyday, for decades. A routine. Now maybe you or most don't have an hour. But I have made that sacrosanct, sacred, habitual. It has allowed me to get a lot of things done.

By taking a longer view, a longer time and allowing ACCUMULATION. See, that is why we need all those extra storage spaces, we ACCUMULATE so much stuff.

I habitually reduce this pile on a daily basis. So, for example, I may have several Word (Open Office) docs open during this work hour, and pick up the train of thought because I left right in the middle of one.

So, just by reading the last paragraph, I can easily just start from there...and a 50 page report, gets done in two months by 10 min. a day.

What happens, is and I think maybe you can see this...we tend to let the pile get big, and then it is overwhelming.

But spend 10 min a day on your algorithms, and by next year, you have your product. What most will do, is put it off until they think they have time to attack with all their time and attention...and years go by.

The year is going to go by anyhow, remember sitting at the Sheraton? YIKERS, but 10 minutes a day, every day, EVERY day, over a 20 year period and one has more work done than most will ever do in a lifetime.

I am a big believer in small increments of time, USED efficiently, and purposefully rather than trying to clear the busy plate off and trying to tackle something when time allows (it never does).

Likewise, in the Sprint to Freedom one gets to that 1k a week level by small increments of dollars kept in circulation.

I have scores of notebooks, most will never see the light of day, but all of them filled not because I went to Walden Pond and wrote non stop for a year...but because I faithfully committed to that hour a day of writing in small bursts, on many things at the same time. It is how I've been able to create over 100 (so far) small reports and HOTSHEETS.

Now recently, that hour has been tough to do, energy and health...but even through my covid, I've been pretty faithful.

SMALL amounts of time ACCUMULATED = Productivity

SMALL amounts of $$ ACCUMULATED = Profits and Prosperity

Gordon
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  #9  
Old November 10, 2022, 06:49 PM
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GordonJ GordonJ is offline
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Default We were good cavemen, as hunters...not so great farmers.

'Thanks Dien.

There is a difference in hunting for sport (deer, duck, etc.) than in hunting for food, where if you didn't bring home the bacon, no dinner for you.

We of the ADD/ADHD family, make good hunters for food, because we notice small movements, sounds, have a higher sensory alert...not so great as hunters, sitting for hours in a blind, trying to remain motionless and not fidget.

So, we tend to be good with eating and having meals, not so good with heads to hang on the wall or down for the pillows.

Before I was even diagnosed, I knew I had to focus for short bursts of time, and to switch activities quite often, and my many jobs reflect that, those in a chair were short lived, whereas, when freely moving around, I did OK (still not great).

NOW, also a family ADD trait, is we can get lost in a project and hours, maybe even days go by. There's a bit of a manic in us too.

My attention span is about 22 mins. I can't quite make it to the Schwartz 33.33. When I get the two minute warning, I start bullet points, akin, in IM lingo to Keywords for SEO...so when I come back to it, there is an unfinished sentence, with keywords for thoughts I didn't want to lose. Over time, this habit makes it very easy to slip quickly back into your flow and train of thought.

As you test, keep an eye on your sweet spot, it may be more than 33 or less than 22. Once you get that fidgety feel, make note, that would be a good time to write key thoughts out and move on to next.

It is like playing with your daughter, it is fun, you get lost in it, but if it is closing on nap time, you don't want to kick her excitable self unwilling...so fifteen mins before, you wind down with a sit still story time, hypnotize her.

Of course this theory, my #2 I had to literally walk around for an hour every evening or we were in for a long night.

Anyhow, set your important, must finish work up to match your time, or circadians, I get more done in the AM, although I tend to be a night bird...when on deadline, I get into my Clayton Makepeace mode (he used to get up at 4 am)...and start an earlier schedule.

Once you have your sweet spot, and habit, count on it being broken and interrupted, which is why my masterpiece, now 5 times longer than War and Peace, with only 15 min a day for, only, 30+ years. Another 5 and I'll be ready to edit.

Gordon




Quote:
Originally Posted by Dien Rice View Post
Hi Gordon,

For me, this was a great post!

One thing I got from it is how you can spend just 10 or 15 minutes a day working on one thing, and split your time during the day between different projects...

I haven't mentioned him much, but my Ph.D. advisor, Charles Osborne, was a remarkable man...

(Sadly he passed away in 2012...)

He's someone who did many things, in many different fields...

(Sound familiar? I suspect you, me, and him have some things in common... )

He was a professor of physics...

Yet he also was involved in many other areas...

Probably his biggest claim to fame is that he coined the phrase "digital watermark" - which is an important field.

(A "digital watermark" is a way of putting a kind of "hidden tag" in electronic data)...

You can see his name mentioned in the Wikipedia article on "digital watermarking" (in the "history" section)...

In his youth, he was a guitarist in a rock band, The Sapphires... (He's briefly mentioned in this Jan. 17, 1962 article, in a magazine called "The Australian Women's Weekly"... here, under the subhead, "Local Talent"...)

Along with his Ph.D. in physics, he also got himself a diploma in psychology... and had his own psychology practice on the side!

(It probably differs around the world... In those days, you could open up a psychology practice in Australia with just a diploma, which is not permitted any more nowadays...)

Anyway, you've reminded me of some advice Charles gave me...

He also recommended to have multiple projects going on at one time.

His advice was - when you get bored with one project, then go on to the next one...

I had no idea about ADD/ADHD at the time... but I think he recognized it in me...

And with hindsight (and now that I'm more knowledgeable about the topic), I think he may have had it himself, too...

Thanks for the advice, Gordon!

So... what I'm "testing" now is kind of like a modified "Pomodoro" technique...

The Pomodoro technique (for those unfamiliar with it) is where you work for a certain amount of time... 33.33 minutes seems popular among copywriting circles - since that's what copywriter Eugene Schwartz did, apparently.

When the 33.33 minutes were up, Eugene Schwartz would then take a 10 to 15 minute break... Then start another 33.33 minute session after the break.

However... Sometimes "switching" tasks is almost as "mentally refreshing" as a break... (At least to me.)

So, I'm testing out a modified version (inspired by your post)... Work for 15 minutes on one task or project. When the 15 minutes is up... Switch projects...

Though I'm allowing myself not to switch if I'm on a "roll" and want to keep going...

Anyway, I'm testing this out... We'll see how it works out. I was testing it all day, and so far I like it, and I do feel it helps to make me more productive...

Best wishes,

Dien
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  #10  
Old November 11, 2022, 08:04 AM
Millard Grubb Millard Grubb is offline
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Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: The Ozarks
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Default A Wealth Of Info

Thanks AGAIN, Gordon !

Once again you have expressed in a few sentences the keys to success in our ever-changing marketplace.

Even though the marketplace changes, the selling principles remain the same.

I appreciate greatly the reminders you give us in simple English, so all we have to do is implement.

And I especially THANK YOU for your personal encouragement based on my magical career !
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