The Lazy Millionaire
Page 5
And because we also have an invisible dipper, we fill or empty the invisible buckets of others each time we interact with them…
When our bucket is full, or better yet overflowing, we naturally feel good…
And the opposite is true, of course: when it is empty, we feel bad…
Better still, when we fill another person’s bucket, we are filling ours at the same time, but when we empty another person’s bucket —a trend that is all too common and completely subconscious —we also empty our own bucket…
Haven’t you experienced this on several occasions in your own life?
When you say something bad about someone, or criticize them a little meanly, or deliberately refuse to recognize their merit, or when you simply don’t listen to them or ignore them, you almost automatically feel smaller, depressed, as if it was you who had been insulted, even subtly, or seemingly insignificantly.
How can we fill another person’s invisible bucket?
By paying a compliment or giving an unexpected gift…
By offering congratulations for a new appointment or promotion…
By lending an ear to a friend who is discouraged…
By spontaneously doing a favour…
By putting a failure or problem into perspective…
By surprising someone by doing a good deed…
By regularly telling someone how much you appreciate his services, partnership, company, or advice…
There are few people who realize to what extent each minor interaction we have each day is influential, because in reality, every moment matters in professional or conjugal life.
American marriage expert John M. Gottman, who wrote the wonderful book The Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work, strives to predict the future of a couple, to determine its “sustainability coefficient,” simply by observing the way its members interact for just a few minutes.
His observations of several thousand couples over more than 20 years led to this amazing conclusion, which is nonetheless logical when you consider that the magical ratio for interaction in a couple is 5:1.
This means that, if a couple has five positive interactions for each negative interaction, its chances of survival (and therefore conjugal happiness!) are excellent.
The farther the couple strays from this magic ratio, the more its chances for long-term survival and happiness decrease.
When we think that some couples cannot open their mouths without criticizing each other, making negative comments, or mocking their spouse, it’s hardly surprising that there are so many divorces and unhappy relationships…
As for me, when I learned about this magic ratio, I realized that I wasn’t as positive as I had thought with respect to my contributors, the members of my family, my friends, and my wife, and as a self-respecting lazy millionaire, I quickly made some corrections, which had truly miraculous effects.
Think of your own life…
What is your ratio?
5/1?
7/1?
Or more likely, 3/1?
Or even 1/1, which in reality isn’t so bad…
Most people probably have a negative ratio!
Like 3/5 or even 1/5, or worse: 0/5 or 0/10 or 0/20…
Why?
Because —and this is without a doubt the greatest tragedy in the world —8 in 10 people are negative 80% of the time…
Once again, it’s Pareto’s unavoidable principle!
In fact, when people are not completely negative, they suffer from restricted negativity (like Einstein’s restricted relativity!), or maybe they are indifferent, and don’t really care about others.
This is why the Lazy Millionaire is an original: he is an edifier…
For him, it’s a sport, a mental habit, a system, and it becomes second nature.
He recognizes the work of the people around him, whether they work with him or for him… He compliments them (intelligently and individually!), encourages them, supports them, listens to them, and makes them laugh, often at his own expense, which is even better…
In other words, more often than expected, he fills their invisible buckets…
His success with people, his popularity, his charisma, and his influence are AUTOMATICALLY increased.
Why?
Because survey after survey has demonstrated the same thing: 2 of every 3 employees do not feel appreciated for their work…
It’s hardly surprising that this is the number one reason why people quit their jobs…
And we know that departures, which are often hasty and for the purposes of going to work for a competitor, cause concerns, and losses…
Not to mention absenteeism and lack of motivation, which cost American companies more than $300 billion every year!
This is because only people who have never been a good boss believe that people work only for their salary.
Obviously, most of them wouldn’t even go to work if they weren’t paid (which is quite sad!), but it takes more than a paycheque (especially if it’s a small one!) to make people happy and to retain them, because they will feel that they have a chance of being better appreciated somewhere else (even if they are fooling themselves!), and will submit their resignation.
The same applies for a couple: sooner or later, the man or the woman will submit their “resignation” if they do not feel appreciated by their spouse at their full value.
If you want to become an accomplished lazy millionaire, ask yourself immediately what your normal interaction is with others.
Be honest, and be lucid: your success, both financial and personal, depends on it!
Do you fill the buckets of others more often than expected?
Or conversely, are you emptying them without even noticing?
It’s important for you to know this, and to make the necessary changes.
Because over the long term, nobody wants to interact with someone who is constantly emptying their bucket…
Unless they are masochistic, or unaware of their value and prepared to accept anything, even the worst hurt feelings!
But that’s another story!
By constantly being positive, you will become a magnet to others…
Not only because it’s original, because it’s like a fresh breeze in the desert of existence and the labour market, but quite simply because it’s what everyone is seeking, without even knowing it!
That said, it doesn’t mean that you have to be positive ALL THE TIME!
There are moments when we MUST say things that are unpleasant; things that don’t make people happy.
But when the intention is good, and when the criticism is constructive, it’s acceptable.
Especially if there were previous interactions during which you filled the other’s bucket, and there will be others…
Being positive does not mean that you always have to say yes…
For example, in publishing, a publisher may say no to 9 out of 10 manuscripts —perhaps more.
Is that because he is negative? NO.
He might be the most positive publisher in the world, but he knows that good manuscripts are few and far between.
The great movie director Steven Spielberg refused the first three screenplays he was presented for the final Indiana Jones sequel, even though he knew that time was of the essence, and that he would have to find one soon if he didn’t want Harrison Ford to play the role from a wheelchair!
Was it because he was negative? NO.
In fact, judging by the extraordinary number of projects that he has developed and his countless successes, he is probably one of the most positive men in his profession.
Murphy’s law says: “Anything that can go wrong will go wrong.”
In reality, that is what most people think, even if they swear otherwise.
Because they are fundamentally negative.
Without even knowing it.
That’s the normal colour of the water in their aquarium, and they can’t imagine that it could be otherwise.
The Lazy Millionaire says: “If something can go well, even if there is a chance that it will go wrong, it WILL go well!”
Not only is the Lazy Millionaire fundamentally positive, and not only does he seek a way to triumph, to find an advantage or a benefit in any situation, but he also strives to constantly improve himself.
To constantly and patiently take small steps toward his objective…
He is animated by the kaizen philosophy, which is the Japanese concept for the constant spirit of self-improvement.
If he had known Seneca the Elder, he would say, like him: “It takes the whole of life to learn how to live…”
The lazy millionaire constantly works on himself in order to learn how to live better, and to use the various tools at his disposal more effectively and more subtly: the principle of least effort, which is his favourite; Parkinson’s Law, which is useful when it is not abused; delegation, when it is enlightened, etc.
The Lazy Millionaire is POSITIVE.
CHAPTER 10
THE LAZY MILLIONAIRE TACKLES
THE MOST PROFITABLE TASKS FIRST
You probably already know the story of the old Harvard professor who was a time management expert.
But I’m going to tell you again, to illustrate an application that you may not have thought of.
When he started his course, the professor kept a large jar on his desk, which he used as a portable aquarium.
From beneath his desk, he took a box filled with stones as big as his fist, and asked his students:
“How many stones do you think can fit into this jar?”
Everyone made a guess, and then the professor filled the jar, and asked the students:
“Is the jar full?”
Because the professor had trouble fitting the final stone into the jar, everyone agreed that it was full.
The professor smiled and pulled a container of gravel from under his desk, which he began to pour into the spaces between the stones.
Again he asked: “Is the jar full?”
Because they were Harvard students, and they were upset at having been outsmarted the first time, they answered no. With good reason, too, because the professor then proceeded to pour nearly half a pitcher of water into the jar.
At last he asked: “In your opinion, what was I trying to demonstrate with this experiment?”
“That even if we think our schedule is full, it’s always possible to add something else, especially AFTER taking your course!” one student ventured.
Amused, the professor smiled again, but gently negated the student’s musing.
“No, what I wanted to demonstrate to you was that, if I hadn’t put the large stones in first, I would not have been able to put them in at the end, because there would not have been enough room.”
Of course, the large stones represent the important things in life…
For the Lazy Millionaire, the important things (in his work, of course) are the things that are most profitable…
Again, this is not because he has an obsession with money. But it is because he is aware of his own personal value, and the value of his time…
He knows that money-making activities, and only money-making activities, will free himself and give him more time… to think about other money-making activities!
And to be able to relax, travel, play golf, learn piano, see friends or simply… do nothing!
He knows that if he lets himself get overwhelmed by “the gravel and water,” he won’t have enough time for the “large stones,” and he will only be able to handle the “small potatoes”?
You see, that’s the “virtuous circle” of the Lazy Millionaire!
What about you?
Do you think like that student?
The student who uses time management only to have an even fuller, and therefore more stressful schedule?
Do you fill your jar with gravel and water until there was no room left for the stones?
It wouldn’t be surprising if you did, because that’s what most people do, and that’s why they spend their lives chained to their jobs, and never manage to become lazy millionaires!
They don’t realize that, in their jar of life, the water represents the everyday activities, the daily obligations and habits that they think they have to take care of, because … that is what they have always done!
They don’t realize that the gravel represents the emergencies —emergencies that they feel are important simply because they are emergencies, and that devour their time and cause them to lose sight of the things that are really important.
Later on, they are surprised to discover that, if they continue to do what they have always done, they will continue to have the same results as in the past!
For the Lazy Millionaire, the real emergency involves immediately and constantly finding and working on profitable activities…
The Lazy Millionaire does everything in his power to avoid making the mistake that half of American executives make.
Which you might also be making, without even realizing it…
According to a study conducted by Dr. de Woot, a leading U.S. expert in time management, 50% of executives (several of whom had never received training in time management) spend 50% of their time on tasks that their secretary can do!
That’s hardly profitable for the company that is paying them!
And it’s hardly fair to the secretaries either!
It’s not surprising that most executives are overwhelmed!
The important thing for a lazy millionaire is to only agree to do the work that truly reflects his skill level…
as well as clarity, discipline, and maybe a little pride, or at least an idea of your true value, which we must never allow others to diminish. This includes friends, family, and colleagues, all of whom are quite adept at this particular sport…
Do you strive to only work at your true skill level 80% or 90% of the time?
Do you do something that another person could do instead of you, and do even better?
Or are you somewhat masochistic, and because you don’t believe in yourself, you act like the most unfair of all bosses, forcing yourself to do the work somebody else could do faster or at a cheaper rate?
It’s important to ask yourself these questions.
Really.
If you don’t, then you aren’t managing your time like a lazy millionaire.
Because you should keep in mind that you don’t live forever: you must make the best possible use of every day, every hour.
There will be obstacles, of course.
And in fact, the main one is… YOU!
Because it is quite probable that, at least at the beginning, until you are well acquainted with the principles of the lazy millionaire, you may not feel comfortable working exclusively at your skill level…
You may feel like an acrobat working without a safety net…
Yes, without a net, the old comfortable net, made of all the small tasks that are supposedly so “important” —and not very profitable in fact. The old net made of all the little interruptions that you had been living with for years, which take up your time and keep you from working on the real tasks!
Rockefeller often told his employees:
“Instead of working, loosen your tie, put your feet up on your desk, and ask yourself what you could do to earn more money for your company!”
Write that in you agenda.
Yes, regularly take the time to reflect, to fine-tune your methods, to come up with ideas… that are more profitable!
One per week.
Or at least once per month.
One afternoon, or one morning.
I do it. I call it —the profitable afternoon! T.P.A!
Write it in your agenda exactly like that: T.P.A.
It will become a habit, this time a good one! And you’ll look forward to it (especially if the rest of the week has been frustrating), just as you look forward to a weekend that is still days away, or to your coveted two weeks of
annual vacation, because you haven’t yet learned to always be on vacation, and to liberate yourself from the tyranny of work.
Let me warn you —at the beginning, you’ll have a sceptical smile on your face…
But when you succeed in earning $10,000, $50,000, or even $1,000,000 (yes, 7 figures —that’s $1 million!!) more per year because of these T.P.A., you will smile again, but this time with confidence and satisfaction!
You will smile, because you will see that THE PROFITABLE AFTERNOON is not just a series of words that I picked out of the air but a rewarding practice.
When I’m at a conference, I often ask:
“How many people in this room spent an afternoon, or even an hour last month asking themselves, with pencil in hand, how they could make more money?”
In general, not very many people raise their hands —sometimes only one, and then only to ask me to… please repeat the question!
But I am convinced that millionaires, lazy or otherwise, manage their time the same way: by spending a lot of it (and not just one afternoon here or there) doing exactly that. Asking themselves how they could earn more money, more easily, and faster; and how to save on operations, how to improve one of their products (or one of their competitors’ products so they can sell it themselves!) and how to provide their clients with better and more effective service…
Yes, millionaires do this most of the time, while those who are not as successful, hardly ever do it.
Essentially, this is the true indicator of wealth.
Not the one defined by the I.R.S (Internal revenue service) in order to track down the tax evaders by trying to determine how many cars you have, how much they cost, how much your house is worth, and whether the salary you are declaring is “logical” considering your lifestyle…
No, in my opinion, the true indicator of a person’s (future) wealth (along with his good debts, of course) is the time he spends trying to come up with profitable ideas… That is, until he is wealthy enough to not have to ask financial questions ever again.