Tag Archives: success

Andre Agassi: Navigating the Highs and Lows of Tennis and Life

The journey of Andre Agassi, from the pinnacle of world tennis to a dramatic fall and an inspiring comeback, encapsulates a profound narrative on the nature of success and failure. Agassi’s experience, marked by reaching the zenith of his sport only to feel profoundly disconnected, leading to a startling descent in rankings, offers a raw glimpse into the complexities of high achievement and the oft-overlooked emotional and psychological battles faced by elite athletes.

Agassi’s candid reflection on his fall from the top, a period where external shock was met with his own resigned understanding, peels back the layers of what we perceive as success. It wasn’t the loss of titles or rankings that defined his lowest moments, but rather the disconnection from his purpose and himself. This disconnection, as Agassi articulates, is a stark reminder of the illusions that success and failure can be, shaped by external validations that often fail to align with our internal compass.

The turning point for Agassi, a resurgence from being ranked 140th back to the echelons of tennis, wasn’t just a story of physical training and discipline; it was a journey of introspection and purpose. His decision to “take ownership of my life” and to “find my reasons for playing” underscores a critical lesson in personal and professional development. It’s a testament to the power of self-accountability, the importance of aligning one’s actions with deeply personal motivations, and the transformative potential of setting daily, manageable goals.

Agassi’s disciplined focus on what he could control – his work ethic, discipline, and focus – rather than the outcomes, facilitated a connection with himself that he had never experienced. This internal connection, cultivated through purposeful action and self-reflection, was the true victory, transcending conventional measures of success and failure.

The essence of Agassi’s comeback story serves as a universal beacon for anyone navigating the highs and lows of their endeavors. It reminds us that taking ownership of our journey, finding our intrinsic motivations, and connecting with ourselves are paramount. The process of striving, step by step, with a focus on personal growth and self-improvement, is where the real value lies. It teaches us to make the journey matter, to value progress over outcomes, and to understand that our perceptions of failure and success are, indeed, just illusions.

Agassi’s narrative invites us to reflect on our definitions of success and failure, urging us to find fulfillment in the pursuit of our goals through a connection with our deepest selves. It’s a call to action to take ownership, to find purpose, and to cherish the journey, transforming our approach to challenges and achievements. In doing so, we can uncover a sense of connection and fulfillment that transcends the fleeting nature of external accolades, grounding us in what truly matters.

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    the journey to "making it" is less about the pursuit of perfection and more about the continuous effort, the willingness to experiment, and the resilience to withstand setbacks. It’s a reminder that success is accessible to those who are prepared to commit to the long haul, constantly seeking out new…
    Tags: success, pursuit, journey, reminder, lies, goals, challenges, essence, growth, failure
  • 38
      Spotify integrated with Facebook, Uber works closely with local partners, Moz built a massive community, Dollar Shave Club launched a viral video. The history of growth marketing is riddled with brilliant growth hacks. Yet so many of these growth hacks have a short shelf life. Facebook has changed it’s…
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  • 37
    The trading world's unpredictable nature requires acknowledging the gamble involved in each decision. This perspective is not to deter individuals from trading but to instill a respect for the markets' volatility and the importance of strategic planning, risk management, and emotional control in pursuing trading success.
    Tags: success, nature, mint
  • 35
    Explore Dan Zanger's journey from $11,000 to $18M through strategic trading, market mastery, and his unwavering dedication to analysis.
    Tags: success, journey, mint
  • 34
    One MINT country show us we need to follow them.   Nigeria has "rebased" its gross domestic product (GDP) data, which has pushed it above South Africa as the continent's biggest economy. Nigerian GDP now includes previously uncounted industries like telecoms, information technology, music, online sales, airlines, and film production.…
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The Zanger Phenomenon: Turning $11,000 into $18 Million

Dan Zanger’s ascent to financial stardom in the stock market is not just a tale of wealth accumulation but a beacon of strategic prowess and market acumen. Starting with a modest investment of $11,000, Zanger astonishingly multiplied his stake to $18 million within 18 months. This unprecedented achievement not only etched his name in the annals of trading history but also turned him into a figure of inspiration for traders and investors globally. His story illuminates the rich rewards that can come from astute investing, underscored by a deep understanding of market dynamics and an ability to navigate its complexities with precision.

Background

Before his monumental success catapulted him to fame, Dan Zanger was navigating the turbulent waters of the stock market much like any other trader. However, Zanger distinguished himself through an unwavering commitment to studying chart patterns and market trends, drawing heavily on the influential work of William O’Neil, the progenitor of the CAN SLIM trading strategy and the founder of Investor’s Business Daily. It was this rigorous dedication to mastering the market’s nuances and the strategic application of his insights that set the stage for his extraordinary returns.

Style of Trading

At the heart of Zanger’s trading philosophy is a steadfast reliance on technical analysis, particularly the identification and interpretation of chart patterns to guide his trading decisions. His proficiency in spotting “cup and handle” patterns, indicative of a stock’s potential breakout, has become synonymous with his trading identity. Zanger’s methodical approach involves selecting stocks showcasing robust earnings growth— a cornerstone of the CAN SLIM strategy—while forming these predictive patterns near their peak prices.

Furthermore, Zanger’s trading ethos is deeply embedded in the significance of market context. He champions the momentum strategy, favoring stocks not just for their individual patterns but also for their alignment with broader market uptrends. His trading blueprint is characterized by swift engagements with positions, leveraging quick market movements for profit while employing a disciplined approach to cut losses promptly, thereby safeguarding his capital.

Learning from Dan Zanger’s Journey

For those eager to delve into Dan Zanger’s trading insights and perhaps mirror his success, several resources are invaluable:

  • ChartPattern.com: Direct from Zanger, this platform offers a treasure trove of market analyses, trading ideas, and educational webinars, guiding users through the intricacies of chart pattern trading.
  • “How to Make Money in Stocks” by William O’Neil: This seminal work lays the foundation for the CAN SLIM strategy that heavily influenced Zanger. It is essential reading for understanding the stock selection principles that Zanger applied with great success.
  • “Technical Analysis of the Financial Markets” by John J. Murphy: For a comprehensive exploration of technical analysis, Murphy’s guide is indispensable, covering a wide array of chart patterns and indicators pivotal to traders like Zanger.
  • “Market Wizards” by Jack D. Schwager: Offering a broader perspective, Schwager’s compilation of trader interviews provides valuable insights into the successful mindsets and strategies of the market’s elite, though it doesn’t focus on Zanger specifically.
  • Fortune Magazine’s Feature on Dan Zanger: Providing a narrative account of Zanger’s trading triumphs, this article offers readers a detailed look into the journey that led to his record-setting achievement.
  • “How Legendary Traders Made Millions” by John Boik: This book provides an overview of the strategies used by some of the most successful traders, including Dan Zanger. It’s an excellent resource for understanding the principles that guided Zanger’s trades.

Conclusion

Dan Zanger’s remarkable transformation from an average trader to a stock market legend underscores the efficacy of knowledge, strategic foresight, and discipline. His record-setting journey, while extraordinary, is rooted in principles of technical analysis, pattern recognition, and an emphasis on earnings growth—strategies within reach of diligent investors. By studying Zanger’s approach and the foundational strategies that influenced him, traders and investors can unlock valuable lessons in the art and science of stock trading, potentially paving their way to success in the complex world of the stock market.

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  • 60
    Bonds have never been an attractive type of Investment. People consider them boring, conservative, with the least potentiality and the maximum uncertainty of the risk of losing money. Bill Gross, the co-founder of PIMCO (Pacific Investment Management Co.) managed to win the fear of the Bond market. He took his…
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  • 60
    Warren Buffett has been incredibly successful, and he's extremely wealthy. Warren Buffett's wealth jumped by around $12.7 billion in 2013 alone. But how much is $12.7 billion anyway? And how good an investor is Warren Buffett really? We've put together some facts that really put him in perspective. Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/mindblowing-facts-warren-buffett-2014-8?op=1#ixzz3BZbB6BSz
    Tags: $, trading, success
  • 57
      Have you ever wondered what the secret to Warren Buffett's success is? It turns out Charlie Munger -- Buffett's right-hand man at Berkshire Hathaway  -- is happy to share.   he remarkable success Much has been said from outsiders -- like myself -- about Buffett and the various things…
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  • 56
    One second of trading on Dec. 5 provides a stark example of how frenetic trading can be in today’s high-octane computer-fueled stock market. Earnings for the Bolingbrook, Ill., company were due to be released after the closing bell at 4 p.m. Eastern. At about 3:48 p.m., the trader issued an…
    Tags: stock, trading, $, market

girighet är dåligt för vanliga aktieägare.

Girighet, av individer eller av företag, är aldrig, någonsin bra för aktieägarna. Det kan erbjuda vissa kortsiktiga vinster i aktiekurserna men det kommer oundvikligen att hamna i katastrof.

Här är ett enkelt tips: de flesta företag har idag ett visst uppdrag som förklarar vad de står för.

Om det talar om spetskompetens, om att ge samhällets fördelar och en kultur som stöder personal, kan företaget vara värt att undersöka ytterligare. Om det bara talar om ekonomiska mål och maximerar aktieägarens värde fokusera på ett annat bolag.

När vi tittar på våra verkligt framgångsrika affärsmän i vår tid, personer som har skapat verkligt aktieägarvärde och berikat sig själva och deras följare i förvånande grad, finner vi en extraordinär sak. De allra flesta av dessa människor är inte särskilt intresserade av pengar och deras företag är i allmänhet inte dedikerade till någon fokus om aktieägares värdemaximering. T.ex Amazon, Berkshirehathaway

Girigheten är inte en kvalitet som verkar driva världens största skapare av aktieägarvärde och att skapa aktieägarvärde är inte målet för de företag som är bäst på det.

Företags girighet är dåligt för vanliga aktieägare.

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  • 61
    Virtu Financial, a US electronic market maker, is poised for a stock marketlisting this month in a move that will test investors' attitude to the controversialpractice of high-frequency trading. Its success or otherwise will help decide if some asset managers and long-terminvestors - who are often cited as the victims…
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Branson :: Talking Ahead of Myself

When I was writing my first autobiography, Losing My Virginity, I originally thought of calling it Talking Ahead of Myself. This was because one of my most enduring (and hopefully endearing!) habits is talking about plans that are yet to come to fruition. Whenever I come up with an exciting new idea or hear a thrilling new proposal, I want to tell the world about it straight away.

Far from being a problem, talking ahead of yourself can actually be very useful. By setting yourself future goals that many people deem unrealistic, you actually bring them closer to reality. As I am fortunate enough to have talented teams working on these ideas, talking about them publicly sometimes gives them an extra incentive to reach their goals even faster. It can also bring to the table potential investors and in the case of international expansion – local partners.

I find it hard to stop my brain from churning through all the possibilities facing me at any given time. If you are the same, harness this restless energy into positive action. Give your team real encouragement to break down barriers and achieve what others perceive as impossible. As the great actress Audrey Hepburn said: “Nothing is impossible, the word itself says ‘I’m possible’!”

We have found a lot of the best examples of this come from the most unlikely of sources – April Fool’s. We have really embraced the annual tradition of elaborate pranks at Virgin. If your company doesn’t join the fun they are missing out. April Fool’s showcase the human side of businesses, highlight the spirit of innovation and – most importantly – put a smile on people’s faces. In the past we have convinced people we bought Pluto, launched Virgin Volcanic to explore the world’s most active volcanoes and even flew a UFO over London.

One of my favourites was the time we introduced new Virgin Atlantic glass-bottom planes to fly over Scotland. The concept caught the world’s imagination and there was overwhelming support to make it happen. So we immediately set to work trying to turn it from fiction to fact. While glass-bottom planes don’t look practical due to the luggage below, installing giant windows in the roof of the plane for stargazing at night and beautiful vistas in the day does look plausible. Since we will be taking people to see the Earth from space with Virgin Galactic, who is to say something similar couldn’t be done on planes as lighter glass technology develops? We discussed the possibilities for the future with manufacturers and will keep you posted! Regardless, it is an excellent example of taking a seemingly unreachable dream and trying to make it real.

What’s more, these daring attempts to create something new remind people of a company’s adventurous spirit and commitment to disrupting stale industries. When we partnered with Google to launch Virgle – a business dedicated to creating a human settlement on Mars – some sceptics guessed it was an April Fool. However others including some news agencies wanted to broadcast the news and many in the Las Vegas audience where we unveiled it were queuing up to join the first flight.  A few years later when we announced Virgin Galactic lots ofpeople thought that was a prank too. On the contrary, we are on the way to making commercial space flights a reality.

….

 

( https://www.virgin.com/richard-branson/talking-ahead-yourself )

Why billionaire Richard Branson talks about his goals before he has any idea how to accomplish them

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  • 38
    I’m looking forward to sharing posts from time to time about things I’ve learned in my career at Microsoft and the Gates Foundation. (I also post frequently on my blog.) Last month, I went to Omaha for the annual Berkshire Hathaway shareholders meeting. It’s always a lot of fun, and…
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10 Entertaining Business Documentaries Entrepreneurs Can Learn From

( Source : https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/336555 )

A good documentary is informative and educational without skimping on the entertainment value.

The best filmmakers entice the viewer so they want to dive into the subject. If you can tug at their heartstrings so they feel real emotion and passion for the subject, then you’ve succeeded in getting your message across.

Whether you’re looking to relax and decompress, or you want to boost your motivation and enrich your business knowledge, these are the top 10 most entertaining business documentaries that you’ll actually learn something from.

1. Becoming Warren Buffett (2017)

With a net worth of over $60 billion, Warren Buffett is truly a one-of-a-kind billionaire. An enormous amount of invaluable knowledge is offered up in Becoming Warren Buffett, from which we can extract important life lessons from the humble billionaire, his family and his peers.

The legendary investor still lives in a modest home in Omaha and drives himself to the office every morning to manage Berkshire Hathaway. This documentary chronicles Buffett’s evolution into one of the wealthiest and most respected men in the world. The film takes us on a journey in which we see how the legendary investor started out as an ambitious, numbers-obsessed boy from Nebraska and ended up becoming one of the richest and most respected men in the world.

Related: Warren Buffett and Bill Gates’s Top Secret to Success

2. Generation Startup (2016)

Follow 6 recent college graduates who are would-be entrepreneurs over 17 months. We watch how they put everything on the line as they try to launch startups in Detroit. Generation Startup puts a human face on the Millennial startup culture by showcasing these young entrepreneurs’ successes and failures, how they wrestle with self-doubt and uncertain rewards.

The film takes us to the front lines of entrepreneurship in America. It celebrates risk-taking and urban revitalization, and gives an honest and in-the-trenches look at what it really takes to launch a startup. The film received rave reviews from successful entrepreneurs like Arianna Huffington and Daymond John.

3. Burt’s Buzz (2013)

This humorous, authentic and compelling documentary tells the story of Burt Shavitz, a reclusive beekeeper who reluctantly became one of the world’s most recognizable brand identities. Burt’s Buzz pays tribute to Shavitz, the man behind Burt’s Bees.

He is a quiet curmudgeon who dislikes middle-class comforts, enjoys solitude and forgoes nearly all technology. Viewers also learn about Shavitz’s complicated relationship with co-founder Roxanne Quimby, who eventually bought Shavitz out of the business. Quimby later sold the business to the Clorox company for a staggering $177 million.

Related: Burt Shavitz, the Bearded Hippie Co-Founder and Face of Burt’s Bees, Dies at 80

4. Betting on Zero (2017)

Dive into the complex world of Herbalife, the international nutritional products company accused of being a huge pyramid scheme. Betting on Zero follows billionaire hedge fund titan Bill Ackman and several former Herbalife distributors after Ackman takes a short investment in Herbalife, which is basically a billion-dollar bet that the company will soon collapse.

The film also chronicles Ackman’s feuds with Herbalife CEO Michael O. Johnson and investor Carl Icahn, and the resulting controversy over both the short and Herbalife’s business practices.

Multilevel marketing (MLM) firms like Herbalife have long been the subject of alternating popularity and concern. By focusing on Herbalife, we get a bird’s-eye view of the power of messaging and how it can whip supporters into a frenzy, even if the company leaves a bevy of unsatisfied former employees in its wake.

Related: Activist Investor Ackman Makes His Biggest Bet Ever

5. Tony Robbins: I Am Not Your Guru (2016)

Get an insider look behind the scenes at Tony Robbins as he prepares for his annual Date with Destiny seminar, attended by over 4,500 people in Boca Raton, Florida. Tony Robbins: I Am Not Your Guru captures both the immense effort of producing this live seminar as well as the life-changing transformations of the participants as they happen in real time.

This documentary film aims to pull back the curtain on Tony Robbins, an internationally renowned life coach/motivational speaker/practical psychologist/business strategist and whatever else you want to call him. The film shows the intensive planning and detailed postmortems that accompany each daily session during his annual seminar.

6. Freakonomics (2010)

Adapted from the bestselling book by Stephen Levitt and Stephen Dubner, the documentary film Freakonomics explores how science and economics help explain our everyday behavior. The film blends a thoughtful analysis with frequent doses of lighthearted humor. The film is made up of four distinct chapters, each helmed by a different filmmaker.

Morgan Spurlock applies his comically satirical style to a segment about the ramifications of baby names. Alex Gibney investigates rampant corruption in the world of sumo wrestling. Eugene Jarecki explores the possible reasons for the dramatic drop in crime rates in the 1990s and offers a surprising and controversial explanation. And Rachel Grady and Heidi Ewing explore the idea of offering financial incentives to students to improve their grades.

7. Steve Jobs: One Last Thing (2011)

The PBS documentary Steve Jobs: One Last Thing is a tribute to the visionary entrepreneur who was the co-founder and CEO of Apple. Jobs died in 2011. During his time at the helm of Apple he managed to change much of how we work, interact and communicate with one another.

The documentary examines how his talent, style and imagination have shaped all of our lives and looks at the influences that molded the man himself. The film takes viewers through Jobs’ career trajectory and the development of his memorable product presentations. It’s a moving look at the life of a man who pursued his passions and changed the world.

Related: Steve Jobs and the Seven Rules of Success

8. Food, Inc. (2008)

Oscar-nominated documentary Food, Inc. exposes a system rife with corrupt, secretive and abusive practices, and whose products contribute to the rising epidemic of obesity and the resulting increase in deadly diseases. This film lifts the veil on our nation’s food industry, exposing the highly mechanized underbelly that’s been hidden from the American consumer with the consent of our government’s regulatory agencies.

The film is based on the premise that virtually everything we eat comes from corporations that value their own profit over consumer and environmental health. It raises questions about what companies should do when their financial interests conflict with their customers’ well-being.

9. Jiro Dreams of Sushi (2011)

Jiro Ono is the owner of a humble 10-seat, sushi-only restaurant located in a Tokyo subway station. But Jiro, who at the time of the film’s release was 85 years old, has made it his life’s work to become the world’s greatest sushi chef, and by many accounts, he succeeded. His tiny restaurant is a three-star Michelin recipient and his customers are willing to spend $300 a plate.

Jiro Dreams of Sushi shows how the most successful business owners are the ones who are passionate to the point of obsession. This is evident in the intensity and devotion that Jiro has for his work and how he continues to strive for perfection daily.

10. Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room (2005)

This documentary tells the incredible story of Enron and the executives that ran the company. Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room is the inside story of the spectacular rise and fall of one of the most scandal-ridden corporations in American history.

Based on the best-selling book of the same name, this film takes a look at the collapse of the once seventh-largest company in the United States, where executives misappropriated billions of dollars, leaving investors scrambling and ruining the life savings of thousands of employees. However, while they may have committed terrible crimes and gotten away with them for close to a decade, you can’t ignore the fact that these guys were actually brilliant men and brilliant leaders.

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    Often, the only way to get ahead is to have a great plan. Which is exactly what makes the companies below so special. It's not just that they're making the big bucks (and they are doing that). This small group of companies from the Inc. 5000 class of 2014 are notable for their…
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Jack Dorsey Interview

Intressting Jack Dorsey Interview.

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If you want something new, you have to stop doing something old

“If you want something new, you have to stop doing something old”
Peter F. Drucker

A strategy is a plan of action to achieve a major aim and future result. It requires commitment because making change is difficult. To describe what’s involved, Peter Drucker said:

“Strategic planning is the continuous process of making present entrepreneurial (risk-taking) decisions systematically and with the greatest knowledge of their futurity; organizing systematically the efforts needed to carry out these decisions; and measuring the results of these decisions against the expectations through organized, systematic feedback.”

So it’s not hard to see how businesses get off course, often unaware, and the commitment of a continuous process becomes a collection of words periodically reinforced.

To know if this is happening to your business, here at 11 signs when you don’t have a strategy

  1. STRATEGY IS A COLLECTION OF TACTICS: Often, we use the terms strategy and tactics interchangeably. They are interdependent but different. You need both. Sun Tzu, the Chinese general, philosopher and author of the Art of War said: The difference between strategy and tactics: strategy is done above the shoulder, tactics are done below the shoulders.
  2. STRATEGY IS MERELY AN OBJECTIVE: Increase awareness. Acquire new customers. Grow average order size. Inspire advocacy. These are not strategies. While they may explain the what of a strategy, they don’t explain the how, when, where and why where the heavy lifting is required.
  3. NO CONSISTENT EXPRESSION OF SUCCESS: A strategy is a plan of action designed to achieve a major future result. If your company isn’t clear what success looks like, you’re lacking the key ingredient of the strategy.
  4. NO CONSISTENT MESSAGE: Your brochure, website and sales collateral have inconsistencies. The content is even unclear to people in the company. When people within a company can’t understand it, neither can anyone else.
  5. IDEAL CUSTOMER ISN’T DEFINED: A buyer persona is a semi-fictional representation of your ideal customer based on market research and real data about your existing customers. It’s not uncommon to mention them in a strategy. Every business should know who they are.
  6. EVERYTHING IS A PRIORITY: When everything is a priority, nothing is a priority. A strategy focuses on a singular major future achievement.
  7. IGNORING COMPETITION: A strategy reinforces a competitive advantage. But the competition is not static and is not only direct competitors but innovations that could make your product or service obsolete. A good strategy takes the competition into account and maintains flexibility.
  8. NOT EVALUATING  POLICY FOR OPPORTUNITIES: A reason to have a strategy is to guide new opportunities. When a business is not using its strategy for this purpose, your not taking advantage of one of its major benefits.
  9. DON’T DO MARKET RESEARCH OR SOLICIT CUSTOMER FEEDBACK: A strategy has to be grounded in reality and the achievable. A sound strategy has been researched with quantitative data about the market and qualitative data from customers and prospects.
  10. NO KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS (KPIs): KPIs are the metrics that matter most to the achievement of the business objective. They are generally in the range of 6 to 8 metrics carefully chosen to keep a strategy on track. They are the actionable scorecard to help guide the desired result of a strategy.
  11. NO RAVING FANS: No business can survive without enthusiasts. If a strategy isn’t created around them, then your strategy isn’t going to work.

Do these signs help you determine if your business has a strategy?

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    Graduation speeches are the last opportunity for a high school or college to educate its students. It's unsurprising, then, that these institutions often pull in some of the world's most powerful people to leave an equally powerful impression on their students. Here are the best of those speeches and some…
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6 LESSONS FROM ELON MUSK THAT CHANGED MY LIFE [EXERCISES INCLUDED]

How does Elon Musk think?

That’s what I aimed to discover while researching the habits behind his unbelievable success. For those who aren’t aware, Elon Musk is arguably the most impressive living human being on earth. Here’s his track record: 

lessons_from_elon_musk_01.png

Oh yeah … and he’s one of only two people to found three billion dollar companies. Not bad.

The crazy part is he doesn’t care that he’s worth billions. In fact, he’s annoyed with journalists asking about him. He wants them to ask about the bigger, worldly problems he’s trying to solve. He’s not focused on his existence, he’s focused on the existence of humanity — sustainable energy, clean transportation, and interplanetary space travel. 

So yes, again, he’s one of the most impressive people on earth. And because of this, I wanted to get inside his brain.

How does he think? What are his mental frameworks? What makes him tick? I scoured through dozens of interviews to unravel his six most compelling lessons … and turned them into actionable exercises. 

As a result, I created “worksheets” that ask questions derived from following lessons from Elon Musk. And quite frankly, these lessons (and accompanying exercises) have changed my life.

Complete the following exercises, based off the psychology of Elon Musk, and they might change your life, too.

http://www.getsidekick.com/blog/lessons-from-elon-musk

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The lesser-known member of Facebook’s original team is ready for the spotlight

One of the original five Harvard students who helped build the largest social network in the world walks into a gastropub just a few blocks away from the dorm room where it all began. The handful of students and staff who have returned to campus on this bitterly cold January day show no signs of recognizing him. The host seats him without a second glance. The waitress breaks his heart by announcing they don’t serve root beer.

“I have a really complicated relationship with Harvard,” Andrew McCollum says after finishing his meal. McCollum, 31, who still has the look of a college student with jeans, a casual half-zip sweater and some light scruff, has moved away from Harvard multiple times over the years. Somehow, though, he always seems to end up back in this place. After all, this is the school that changed his life. “I definitely got some amazing things out of Harvard. I met Mark and Dustin and the other Facebook guys.”

McCollum became friends with Mark Zuckerberg through the many computer science classes they took together in Harvard and was one of the first people Zuckerberg told about his idea for The Facebook before it launched on Feb. 4, 2004. For more than a year after that, McCollum worked as part of the small founding team in Boston and later Palo Alto, California. Like Zuckerberg and cofounder Dustin Moskovitz, McCollum left Harvard to work full-time on the startup.

Then, in 2005, just as it was becoming clear that Facebook was taking off, McCollum did what now sounds unthinkable: He left Facebook and went back to school.

For the better part of the next decade, McCollum kept a low profile on and off campus. He got a bachelor’s degree in computer science and a master’s degree in education, traveled to 40 countries in a year, invested in and worked with startups behind the scenes. Humble by nature, according to friends and colleagues, McCollum stayed away from press and was effectively a footnote in the official Facebook story. He’s mentioned a handful of times in media articles and in The Facebook Effect, the authorized history of the company, mostly as a guy in the background. The other four original Harvard students are listed as cofounders on Facebook, but not Andrew McCollum. And no, you won’t hear his name mentioned in The Social Network movie.

At the end of last year, McCollum decided to tiptoe into the spotlight. He agreed to take over as the CEO of Philo, a 4-year old live TV streaming service for college campuses, backed by nearly $9 million in funding and based a couple blocks from the Harvard campus. Philo had already enjoyed comparisons to Facebook: it was founded by two Harvard students who have since taken a page from the social network’s playbook of spreading first across college campuses.

By bringing on a CEO who was present during Facebook’s earliest days, Philo now gains an even greater claim to being the heir apparent. It may also get first-hand insights into the product strategy that drove Facebook’s success. On the other hand, it’s putting someone in the top spot who has never served as a CEO of a startup. If Philo succeeds in reshaping the TV experience for a broad swath of viewers, McCollum may get the kind of public credit for helping to build up the “next Facebook” that he shied away from after working on the original one. If it doesn’t work out, he may simply be known as the guy who left.

Read more here :: http://mashable.com/2015/02/04/andrew-mccollum-facebook/

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Good and Bad Reasons to Become an Entrepreneur

Source : https://medium.com/i-m-h-o/good-and-bad-reasons-to-become-an-entrepreneur-decf0766de8d

Recently we hosted a Q&A at Asana that I participated in with Ben Horowitz, Matt Cohler, and Justin Rosenstein. Marcus Wohlsen from Wired attended and wrote an article that discussed our views on the culture of entrepreneurship in Silicon Valley. This is an important topic, so I want to take some time to clarify what we meant in this blog post. Before I do, I’d like to emphasize that we were talking exclusively about Silicon Valley culture and not the more general ‘small business entrepreneur.’ So for our audience at the time, entrepreneur meant “Silicon Valley startup technology entrepreneur.”

Even given that context, it is notable that we all said you “probably” shouldn’t be an entrepreneur, not that you definitely shouldn’t. This is explicitly a directional position; we believe there are too many startups and entrepreneurs in the SV ecosystem, but that is very different from saying there shouldn’t be any. Many people think there should be more, and we are counterbalancing that view. Whenever you counterbalance an extreme view, you tend to also come off extremely, and certainly do in the media (which is related to the point I made about integration in my last post).

The reason we like best for becoming an entrepreneur is that you are extremely passionate about an idea and believe that starting a new company is the best way to bring it into the world. The passion is important because entrepreneurship is hard and you’ll need it to endure the struggle, as well as to convince other people to help you. Believing that starting a new company is the best way to bring it into the world is important to ensure that resources—including most importantly your own time — are being put to the best possible use. If the idea is best brought into the world by an existing team, then it is tautologically optimal for the world for it to happen that way. Of course, not everyone is actually trying to optimize their impact, but many entrepreneurs are, by their own admission, and it is important for those people to consider this angle.

If you’re not trying to maximize impact, then it seems like a reasonable assumption that you are instead optimizing around personal lifestyle preferences of some kind. You want total freedom to choose how you make your living, regardless of if it necessarily provide large amounts of value to other people or perhaps is even redundant with something that already exists. Or you want extreme flexibility in your schedule, maybe including the ability to stop working altogether for long periods of time at short notice. Or you want to work on a certain kind of problem or with certain kinds of people. For many kinds of preference, you likely can actually find a company able to give them to you, but certainly starting your own is a great shortcut and I personally think that’s totally reasonable. I like people who are seeking to have big impact on the world, but it is not the only path worth taking, and I have no reason to denigrate this type of entrepreneur.

So with all that in mind, here are some of the bad reasons to become an entrepreneur that we were actually trying to speak to:

“People have this vision of being the CEO of a company they started and being on top of the pyramid. Some people are motivated by that, but that’s not at all what it’s like.

What it’s really like: everyone else is your boss – all of your employees, customers, partners, users, media are your boss. I’ve never had more bosses and needed to account for more people today.

The life of most CEOs is reporting to everyone else, at least that’s what it feels like to me and most CEOs I know. If you want to exercise power and authority over people, join the military or go into politics. Don’t be an entrepreneur.”

  • You think it’s glamorous. The media does a great job idolizing various entrepreneurs, crowning Kings and designating Godfathers of various mafias, but this is all colorful narrative. The reality is years of hard work, throughout which you usually have no idea if you’re even moving in the right direction.
  • You believe you’re extremely talented and that this is the way to maximize your financial return on that talent. Why wouldn’t you want more of the cap table? This is flawed logic, since the 100th engineer at Facebook made far more money than 99% of Silicon Valley entrepreneurs. Small slices of gigantic pies are still themselves gigantic. If you’re extremely talented, you can easily identify a company with high growth potential and relatively low risk and get an aggressive compensation package from them. If you turn out to be wrong after a few years, you can try again. Within 2 or 3 tries, and likely on the first one, you’ll have a great outcome and can be confident you contributed serious lasting value to the world. If you instead try to immediately start “the next Google or Facebook”, there is a very high likelihood that you will fail completely, or be forced to settle for a much smaller outcome. It will take a long time to reach success or failure, so you won’t have many tries.

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