Have you invested your 10,000 hours in your area of excellence? If not, just ramp up the process to see your success come into view.
I trust you have been preparing your entire life for today, and tomorrow. With preparation comes new levels of success and fulfillment - and opportunities for enjoying the rewards.
Join us for the No More Mondays Cruise in February. We’ll cry, laugh, and dream together as we plan for responding to the inevitable changes happening all around us. Let’s decide to make 2010 the best year of your life – so far. We have just a few openings for you to be one of our cruise sponsors - a unique opportunity to highlight your product or service to our eager cruise crowd. Highlight My Business
*************************** “Disturb us, Lord, when we are too well pleased with ourselves, when our dreams have come true because we have dreamed too little, when we arrive safely because we have sailed too close to shore.
Disturb us, Lord, to dare more boldly to venture on wider seas where storms show Your mastery; where losing sight of land we shall find stars. We ask You to push back the horizons of our hopes; we ask You to [lead us into] a future of strength, courage, hope and love.”
” -- Sir Francis Drake, 16th – century English sailor
*************************** Are you ready for a cruise? I've never experienced a better way to relax, learn and prosper - than on a cruise. Join us for the No More Mondays Cruise February 20-25. Just click on the link below to secure the trip of a lifetime....
The second chapter in the new book Outliers is titled The 10,000-Hour Rule. Author Malcolm Gladwell shares his research that shows few people get to the top of their game without putting in at least 10,000 hours of preparation.
”The closer psychologists look at the careers of the gifted, the smaller the role innate talent seems to play and the bigger the role preparation seems to play.”
Whether it’s Bill Gates, Michael Jordan, the Beatles, Yo Yo Ma, Mozart, or Warren Buffet, it appears no one gets to the top without putting in their 10,000 hours. If you put in 40 hours a week, that’s 5 years. If you only find 20 hours a week to work on your area of excellence it will take 10 years. If you’re just squeaking out 5 hours a week – it’s going to take 40 years. Talent will only take you so far; it’s the hours of work that will separate you from the pack.
The problem is that we have become an “instant” society. We have been spoiled with email, cell phones and microwaves – and become impatient with the nanosecond required to load a new web page. College graduates expect the $100,000 job and the $500,000 house instantly. Talented musicians and athletes expect fame and fortune long before investing 10,000 hours in practice. Writers give up after writing their great novel in a weekend and after a month of searching for a publisher. Christians are often confident their idea came from God, thus assuming success will be easy and instantaneous.
So where have you put in your 10,000 hours? If you are in a job that you hate, have you been investing hours in an area of excellence that will give you a new opportunity? Or do you just waste the hours away from work, hoping for something more fulfilling to appear? If you are a writer, a musician, a landscape designer, a web designer or a husband, have you put in your 10,000 hours of concentrated preparation to be great in that area?
I trust this is an encouraging bit of information. You don’t have to regret having average talent, or not having the highest IQ, or being born into the wrong family. Just find your area of excellence and put in 10,000 hours of preparation. You’ll bypass those with more “advantages” and find success that others only dream of.
Dan,
I have purchased your books 48 Days to the Work You Love and No More Mondays They are extremely useful and I am following your steps looking for a new job. I have a question, What do you think of ….Vending? Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks, Kirk
Kirk,
Vending is still one of the biggest millionaire makers in America. It’s estimated that $650 million passes through vending machines each week. That’s over $35 billion a year. Yes, there is potential with vending. Vending has many of the characteristics I look for in a business: broad market, not dependent on your time, makes money while you're on the beach, thousands of product and placement possibilities, etc. However, because it can be so profitable, the vending industry is also full of scams.
The Federal Trade Commission has 18,882 items featured that involve vending scams. Here’s just one item called Project Busted Opportunity. Yes, they really did have a sweep they called “Project Busted Opportunity.” Most involve exaggerated earning potential. Sellers are notorious for using “shills” – people they pay to give glowing reports about their success. Thousands of vendors are misrepresenting that they give a “portion” to charity.
As with any business this huge, you can find a great opportunity if you do your homework in advance. Don’t rely on anyone else to place your machines. Talk to business owners in advance to see if they would be willing to let you put one of your machines there.
Check into just buying the machines (Sam’s Wholesale, Costco, etc.) rather than buying a “business opportunity.” Make sure you read about popular scams so you will be alert as you do your research: Common Small-Business Scams.
The introduction to No More Mondays has my own first introduction to vending – hot cashew machines. Yes, I lost all my money – a common occurrence. But I learned from that and today use an electronic vending system that generates thousands of dollars each month.
Welcome to 48 Days radio where each week I look through the submitted questions and then blast through as many as possible right here to give you the unique tools for your own success.
I want to give you a gift. If you are a regular listener of this podcast, would you please take 3 minutes to complete a survey that will help us know the make-up of the podcast crowd. Podcast Listener Survey -- Thanks
I begin by addressing a reader who is upset that we are promoting a cruise when times are so tough. So – it appears misery really does love company?
You have got to be kidding me. Please tell me you are kidding so that I can cling to my perception of the credibility in your organization. I can literally, barely afford basic staples like bread and you are pitching a cruise to me? (I know I'm not the only one, either.)
I dislike where I work so much that I find it difficult to get to work on time and I only live 2 miles from my office. It is affecting me personally and affecting my marriage. I have decided to quit but want to know how this will affect my ability to find a new job and how to fill out the ‘reason for leaving’ part of an application. What do you say in an interview?
Over the last year I've come up with the idea of creating a non-profit sustainable Christian community for people at all stages of life. My question is, how do you go about getting funding to launch non-profit ventures? I can't take this to potential investors the way that I could with a big money-making idea.
My husband is a real estate manager in a metropolitan area. We are mountain folk- going on 10 yrs. here and desperately want to escape. He teaches social media classes on his own, manages agents, & conducts training at the company he works for. How can he structure a fulltime career from teaching classes or speaking? Our goal is to structure his business so we can move wherever we want to raise our children.
Recently I’ve felt compelled to write a book. I’ve always wanted to but never really decided to sit down and do it until now. My question is how should I go about trying to get it published? When I do internet searches I find a bunch of publishing houses asking me to pay them to publish the book. This just doesn’t seem right to me. Any suggestions on ways to go about it or places to go for information?
I have been reviewing forms of internet business like affiliate marketing or selling my own e-products. Many of the "systems" being sold seem to be an internet version of "buy my system to make money stuffing envelopes by selling systems stuffing envelopes". What are your thoughts on internet business and the "systems" that are being hocked?
*************************** If you have a question, just email me at askdan@48Days.com and you can ask about starting your own business, getting a better job, or finding your purpose in life.
And you can click the link below to listen to this week’s broadcast immediately – no downloading – no wait.
Coaching with Dan
Many of you ask if I still coach people individually. Yes, I do. Feel like you've taken too much time to get to the success you want? Is fear holding you back? These are common issues with the hundreds of people that contact us each month looking for a new start. Give us some brief information and I'll recommend one of my coaching packages or recommend one of the other coaches in our 48 Days network to launch you into the next successful season of your life: Coaching with Dan
*************************** Odds & Ends
Last year Lincoln County, Oregon, spent $80,000 on a new school bus so kids wouldn’t have to walk to school. This year the county is spending another $200,000 on a new gymnasium so kids can get some exercise. -- John Steen
Clans of long ago that wanted to get rid of their unwanted people without killing them used to burn their house down – hence the expression, “to get fired.”
Dom Perignon, the man commonly recognized for perfecting the process of both making and bottling champagne, was a Benedictine monk.
When a friend asked W.C. Fields for a loan, Fields replied: “I’ll see what my lawyer says, and if he says ‘yes,’ then I’ll get another lawyer.”
*************************** 48Days.net
At 48Days.net you’ll see over 4000 other excited people who have ideas – and plans to make 2010 their best year ever. If you want your life to be different in 2010, get involved with people who are on the same path. There is no cost – just lots of people who are committed to helping each other succeed.
**************************** Where should you invest your 10,000 hours?
Don't put your time in an area that doesn't even "fit" you.
The most popular resource we have continues to be the 48 Days Career Profile. With your unique strengths, what kind of work should you be doing?" You can find out here.
I love to read and am awed by how we can tap the greatest minds of all ages through reading. Do you know that if you read only 10 minutes a day, you will read about 1 book a month? Do you think you could transform your success if you read 12 books this year? Keep in mind, we are told the average college graduate in America reads less than 1 book per year. Set yourself on a different path.
"Miss a meal if you have to, but don't miss a book." -- Jim Rohn
"Read something positive every night and listen to something helpful every morning." -- Tom Hopkins
"What you hear, see and read will determine your destiny. You're the same person today that you'll be five years from now, except for the people you meet and the books you read."
"I find television very educating. Every time somebody turns on the set, I go into the other room and read a book." -- Groucho Marx
"Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at 20 or 80. Anyone who keeps learning stays young." -- Henry Ford (1863 - 1947)
And my personal favorite: "A room without books is like a body without a soul." -- Cicero
Don't put your time in an area that doesn't even "fit" you.
