Erik’s Blog: Board Shorts and Business Suits

Become A Closer

Starting projects, coming up with great ideas, solving world hunger; all these are great, but if you can’t deliver there’s no point to them. You need to finish, you need to become a closer. Now when working with a team hopefully you have one of these people. You’ll have your great thinkers, your innovators, and your work horses, but if you have one guy (or gal) that can organize and keep the team towards the final goal you’ll “get ‘r done.” They may get a good chunk of the credit from the outside, but these types of people are invaluable.

The reason I am writing of this is because during this past week my direct boss sat me down and had a discussion about this very topic. (I don’t believe he reads this blog so I won’t hold back on any of my comments.) As I mentioned before I work as a biomedical engineer for a research and development company called Tissue Genesis, Inc. The company is 4 years old and 4 years into development of a perfusion system for cell culture in the research and clinical areas. I came in a year ago with the hopes to take what an outside engineering group built and designed and redesign it so it would work and be able to be brought to market. I came in and redesigned the disposable part (there is two disposable parts and two durable) within the first 4 months and one of the durables within 6. It took a lot of work but I learned a heap load in the process. Our goal was within 8 months of my arrival to bring it to market. Way too lofty of a goal considering all the molding and testing that needed to be done. To make a long story short it has now been a year and a half and we still don’t have the product to market.

Many other things were wrong with the product and we have been working feverishly to weed them out as best as possible, but we still don’t have a sale as a company. Now I’m not going to sit back and take all the blame here. I was a new engineer fresh out of college and to expect me to come in a completely redesign a product and deliver it for sale is out of the question. I also don’t think anyone expected that. However I do think I missed an opportunity to do just that, deliver big, and I could have taken better approach to capitalize on it.

With that said my new goal of 2006 is to become a closer. What do I mean by that? Let me steal the analogy my boss used. It’s like in a football game where your workhorses, fullback, tightend, and lineman, have gotten you all the way down to the 2 yard line. They sprained their ankles, gotten bruised and bashed, and smashed their ribs over the middle, but they’re unable to punch it into the end zone. That’s where you bring in your stud running back who knows what the end zone tastes like. He passes the goal line and everyone remembers the score. The thing that rang in my head was closing. I have worked really hard over the past year but have only delivered some decent ideas and an almost saleable product. There’s a good chance TGI will bring in an engineer with a little more experience to close it out and get the product to market.

HELLO OPORTUNITY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If I haven’t woken up to smell the roses now is a good time to do it. I have to close the deal, close the product, and make TGI some money. I have a great opportunity and work with some great people whom can help us make this happen. I just have to realize that,…. realized.

I. Noticing the opportunity

Like I just said, you have to realize the opportunity is there and take it. A lot of people might think this is the most important step to becoming a closer and I sort of agree. There may be many chances to see it but realizing the opportunity is there is not the same. You could be working on a project for well over a year, know that something has to get done, try to take hold of the situation many times and still not realize the opportunity (sound familiar). I was given sort of a second chance to deliver. Literally. My boss took me aside and said, hey, “I don’t have time to be chasing down all the loose ends on this project. We may bring in someone to do just that, another higher-up, but you have a chance to close the deal you might say. You have a chance to be the guy to deliver the product.”

That was too easy, but finding your opportunity could be just as simple. Signs to look for it are:

1. Disgruntled people saying “when will this end”
2. A current leader that is being pulled farther and farther away from a project- here’s where you can kindly say “Let me take some of the burden”
3. Something that gets you excited - not always a winner but at times will coincide with opportunity
4. Listen for the words, “It would be great if…”
5. Things nobody raises their hands for

Opportunities are all over the place. If one passes you by don”t sit a lament over it. There will be more. Jack Welsh wrote about this in his book Winning. He said that if the deal of a lifetime comes along and you pass on it, don’t sit and talk about what could have been, get back out there and look for the next one.

II. Seize the moment

When the moment comes along and you realize it you have to go for it. Jump in and go, go, go. Don’t sit back and wait for the people around you to help you become the leader, the closer. Just do it (thanks Nike.) Don’t, however, leave those people by the side, they’re who will be helping you close. This is the point where you have to get excited. Jump right into everything the opportunity has to offer. You will need to begin writing list, figuring out who will do what, or what block of time you need to devote to which portion of the project.

Organize. You need to organize everything, the only way you are going to get anything done is by organizing. Microsoft project is a great way to get the organization going and engineers use it a lot for product development. We at TGI have used it off and on and may go back to it. It allows you to show which items are critical to the end result and who will need to do what. You don’t necessarily need MS Project, but it helps. You could instead just write lists of what people are doing on a week to week basis and make sure your team is getting them done.

Most importantly you need to stay enthusiastic about what you are doing. If you’re excited you get other people excited, and you get more done. That’s the best way to seize the opportunity, stay on track and get to the prize.

III. Close it out

Now I myself am learning how to close. If I knew and was good at it I wouldn’t have had a “discussion” with my boss. So I’m not going to sit here writing a lot about how to close. I can say this though, closing is all about keeping that enthusiasm straight through to the end. This blog is basically about all those things I’ve started and tried to become good at in the past and just fizzled my enthusiasm for before I got to the end.

You have to be able to see that the end is right around the corner and don’t put off the little things that could make the close happen. One more phone call to a manufacturer, one last control document, one last run, a few more forehands. Whatever it is just keep at it. If you’ve gotten close there’s a good chance you’ve done way harder or more creative work to get there than you would ever need to finish. You just need to take the plunge and do it.

In closing just remember to always be on the lookout for and opportunity, organize and be inspiring, and keep your enthusiasm to the end. Don’t stop short (a classic Mr. Costanza move). See it through to the end, whatever it takes, remember you’ve probably taken harder steps before that last little bit.

Since I have made some of my goals public through this blog comments have shot in. Comments about how ridiculous some of the goals may be, comments about the paths I may be taking, along with comments of encouragement. One of these which I have thought about a bit is now the topic of this post. Not only should I be discussing my ultimate goals but I should also discuss and make public my goals along the way. I did this at first with my getting 1 new link a day for 3 weeks goal, but haven’t done so since.

I hadn’t stopped to realize the impact each small step towards the main goal could be. Becoming accountable for all the steps along the way is just as important as the end result.

Example of intermediate goals

Take for instance running the four minute mile. The end result seems so outrageous that most responses to this goal are, “shouldn’t you start with something a little more attainable?” Thanks for the encouragement by the way. Breaking this goal down, the individual steps seem a lot easier and can summarized like this.

Training Goals

Build a base - Within 6 months increase my weekly mileage to 50+ miles a week
Increase intensity - Within 1 year increase the pace of my regular runs to an average of 6 minute pace
Begin track workouts - Within 1.5 years build to track workouts 3-4 times a week
Full Intensity training - Within 2 years be over 50 miles a week in training with all miles run at better than 5:30/mile pace

Race Goals

First mile - Run my first timed mile in under 6 minutes within the first 5 months
5 minutes - run under 5 minutes within 9 months
4:30 - under 4:30 within 1 year
4:15 - 2 years 3 months
4:00 - 3-4 years

This example is intended to show you the progression your goals could take. I am going to tweak these a little bit over the first few months of training but this is the basic idea.

SET ATTAINABLE MILESTONES

Even though your end goal may seem a bit out of reach at first once you complete a few milestones the end won’t seem so far away. Let’s look at my first goal. 5 years ago I used to run 11 mile runs in under 6 minute pace. Knowing that makes a 6 minute mile seem pretty attainable. Since then I have had cancer, stopped running, and gained 25 pounds (not muscle). But still, this goal should be easy to reach within the time period I have allotted.

Before you reach that first milestone you should set your next one. Make it a little more difficult, but still not all the way. It might seem a bit out of reach at first but don’t worry. Finishing your first goal will give you momentum into your second and so on and so fourth. Each goal will build on the last and you see your progress in realizable bits rather than one big quantum leap.

DON’T SWEAT THE SET-BACKS

Setting attainable milestones is probably the best way to get to your final goal. However, if you are unable to complete one in the time period you set for yourself this can be very discouraging. You can get so wrapped up in the discouragement that you forget about your real goal. Don’t worry. Think of it as a minor set-back, adjust the goal if you have to an move on. Learn from it. If you let it eat at you you’ll never remember why you set the goal in the first place. To help you along your path.

STAY THE COURSE

Finally, when setting intermediate goals you need to stay the course. Just like getting too discouraged if you miss a milestone, thinking its good enough can be just as devastating. If you’ve already thought it’s good enough then you’re probably ready to be done. Don’t be. Stay the course. This is why setting the next milestone before you finish the current one is so important. You need to know that it is just a step towards the end goal. If you become accountable for the next milestone then you won’t want to stop. People will know you’re next goal and ask you about how you’re doing.

The three techniques I just mentioned should make accomplishing your tough goals a little easier. It has helped me work through some of mine, especially finishing cancer treatment in a summer, then finishing my degree on time. Just remember to keep your eyes toward the final step and learn from any bumps in the road.

“I’m good enough, strong enough, and dog gonnit, people like me.” - Stuart Smalley

I don’t know how many times I used to crack up watching Stuart Smalley of SNL. That skit was one that my family would never flip away from. The femmee “Affirmation Guy” as I have heard him called was quite amusing and kept us laughing. But what really are affirmations? Are they just for people with low self esteem who’ve dropped off the deep end? Do they work?

Affirmations are basically sayings or thoughts that reinforce positive thoughts to accomplish goals. It’s kind of like the power of intention-manifestation that Steve Pavlina talks about and is employing in his Million Dollar Experiment. The idea that your mind is used as a powerful tool and can essentially will your body and thus your actions to do whatever it is you set out to do. If you want to become a millionaire, then do it. Keep telling yourself daily that you will make the money and eventually you will see opportunities that you never knew existed. You WILL make the opportunities happen. Steve currently has over 440 people who have made more than $60,000 in his million dollar experiment, and it’s only been a month!

Sure we can all be skeptical and think affirmations are what your parents use to get them through their mid-life crises. But if it can get them through menopause and buying every electronic toy ever made then why can’t it work for you. I am not saying go around and begin to wear sweater vest’s speaking into every mirror you see. Instead think it to yourself when you wake up. Say it to yourself when you shower, and then on your drive to work. Tell yourself when you’re sitting at your desk or stocking the shelves. Whatever your goals are you should always have them in your mind, repeating the positives of accomplishment. Soon your mind will take over and see the solutions it previously couldn’t.

A great example I can think of which is an action most people wouldn’t be quick to relate to affirmations is seeing yourself running a race, or throwing a pass, etc etc. Athletes use different types of intention-manifestation, or affirmations, all the time. When I competed regularly and be I would think about the big game or event coming up. I would envision myself in a clutch situation and what I would do to successfully complete it. Pro athletes are just the same. In countless interviews they discuss how they prepare themselves mentally for a game. Usually it’s relaxing and placing themselves in the positions they think they’d be in when game time arrives. These thoughts are really manifesting how they would react to each situation. They positively manifest themselves to catch the ball or tackle the opposition. Some you may think overindulge in the power of god to help them, but maybe it was the power of something greater working through their positive thoughts.

In en effort to accomplish some of the lofty goals I have set I need to remind myself daily that they are all possible as long as I work hard. Recently I was directed to a site which has given me some idea’s and I hope to continue to use while I am working towards becoming good at the things I try. The site is called bmindful.com. It provides ton’s of affirmations for you to use. You can submit your own, or just stop by to look at others. There are many categories and you can quickly navigate through them to find one that fits your specific needs. The site has grown considerably since it first was launched not too long ago. Could it be that through affirmations and intention-manifestation the author is willing himself to gain more traffic? Who knows, but whatever it is it’s working.

I have set my goals high and look for inspiration everywhere I can to accomplish them. If others can do it I always figure I can too. Why should the guy one cubicle over get the raise and what can I do to get one too? Turn those questions into positive statements and watch the transformations happen in your life.

Teaching to learn

I am a strong believer in the thought that if you teach something to someone you yourself will learn it better. This isn’t to say that you should go around teaching everything you think you know. This will only annoy people when they figure out you read the back of a cereal box to get your knowledge.

No, when you teach something you should want to relay information that you have tried out, researched, or discovered is the truth. Or maybe it is just something that works well for you. Teaching those things to someone else makes you accountable for part of their knowledge. It is that accountability I talked about in the first chapter which makes you better. Most people will not want to let down their peers. Therefore you will in turn learn more to teach better, more people will come to you to so you will teach more, learn more, teach more…. It will compound and grow from there.

Teach your new swing techniques, or running workouts. Teach what you learned programming html. Teach what you just learned about making a million dollars. Just get out there and show someone else how to better accomplish their tasks. Do this and you will become better at the things you try to do.

Here are two key points that will expand on the above and help you start becoming a better teacher.

Know What You Teach

I am not advocating teaching everything you have ever tried to learn just to get better at it. It won’t work. You should want to help others by sharing your knowledge. Having this passion will allow you to enjoy teaching others. Once you enjoy it, it becomes easier and you actually get more out of the teaching.

You should have a strong grasp on the subject no matter what it is. You don’t have to be an expert. You just have to have enough knowledge to thoughtfully approach the questions your student will come at you with. You may not know the answer to his/her questions but now there are two minds to think the problem through. Two minds that will be able to feed off each other allowing you both to learn and grow.

Teach What You Know

Don’t read an article and claim to be an expert. Too many people I run into, and I am guilty of this myself sometimes, read something and feel they are experts. You find this a lot in the political arena. Too many opinions seek in and become fact. I try to stay away from these conversations but often get myself into heated arguments. Over time I have learned how to avoid them, mostly through cracking a joke. I realize I need to find out more about world happenings to have any meaningful input. Sure I can blab my opinions but who needs another opinion? That’s what we have news for these days.

Now it may seem odd to “say teach what you know” and also “teach to get better.” But you must remember the correlation that I have been trying to get across. It is the feeling of accountability that will come with teaching which will then make you better. The more you learn the better you will be able to teach it to someone else, the better you will become, and so on and so forth. This compounding of knowledge will only allow you to grow as a person and become better at the things you do.

If you liked this article and want to learn more try these:

Becoming Accountable
An Introduction at Becoming a Millionaire
Taking on a Business Partner

I am currently just under 3 and a half years out since my last chemo treatment. On May 9th, 2002 I was diagnosed with testicular cancer.

I had just finished with my 2nd year of college and my first semester at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. I was running regularly to keep in shape for the following years cross country and track season. The next week I was set to begin training for a nursing assistant position to help me gain experience for my planned application to medical school. I went in to the doctor on the Friday after I returned home from school to get a pain I was having in my abdomen checked out.

See, during the second half of sophomore year I began to feel a pain in my abdomen when I worked out. After 3 weeks I finally went to the student med center to get it checked out. “Hernia,” said the doctor. “Great, so can I still workout?” I was just coming off a cross country season where I was running 50-70 miles a week, not working out would have been a crazy thought. “I wouldn’t recommend it, you should get in to the surgeon over spring break to get this taken care.” Excellent I thought to myself. While all my friends were on some beach in Mexico I would be get sliced open and hanging out with my parents back in Wisconsin.

So, I did what was best and went home over break. However, when I had my check up with the surgeon just 2 days before I was scheduled to have laparoscopic hernia surgery I found out it wasn’t a hernia at all. So what was it? After another appointment with my family physician I come to find out it is more than likely an inflammation of the seal around the testicle. Antibiotics will do the trick, 3 weeks.

I went back to Ann Arbor and took my pills everyday fully expecting the pain to subside. Four weeks later, no such luck. At this point I began to get worried and jokingly threw around the statement, “Oh, it’s probably just cancer.” That didn’t win me any sympathy, just slaps on the shoulder from my girlfriend who didn’t think it was very funny. “3 more weeks of antibiotics might do the trick, then we can take a look at you when you get home in another month,” said my family doctor. I contacted him rather than going back to the student med center. I was not about to return to the place where this whack job doc saw me for 2 minutes and said, “Hernia, get surgery.”

The pain came and went but was nothing unbearable. I lifted weights 5 days a week, ran, and played pickup basketball games. I didn’t think too much about it, just a coming and going here and there. I finished out my sophomore year and made it back home. I went in right away to see the doctor who said, “Maybe we should get you in for an ultrasound.” Being in biomedical engineering I realized that some nice nurse was going to be rubbing jelly on my privates and then placing a magic wand on it. Interesting, I guess.

I arrived at the hospital Monday the 6th of May and went through the pre-appointment routine of filling out papers, showing insurance and the waiting. Finally it was my turn. I am on the more open side when it comes to my sexuality so it wasn’t that weird. I even struck up a conversation with the nurse asking her about the ultrasound equipment and the pictures that were appearing on the screen. She said “It looks healthy and normal,” and I said “Great, but I think the one in question is the right one not the left.” So I got to spend a few extra minutes with her. Once on the correct side the images looked quite a bit different. The painful testicle had a lot more red lines shooting up on the screen as compared with the right. I asked, “What are all those red lines in that lump attached to my testicle?” “Hmm. Well the red lines are where blood flow is and there just happens to be more blood flow in this region than in the others, that’s all. You’ll find out more when the doctor takes a look at the results.” Nice political response.

I didn’t think too much about it those last words we spoke together but that’s not to say it wasn’t on my mind. I just chose to focus on other things.

Tuesday went by like any other Tuesday for someone who hadn’t started work yet, just relax. Wednesday came and I was expecting the results from my test. since I hadn’t heard from anyone on Tuesday I figured I was in the clear, they would’ve called right away if something was wrong. So I awoke and was planning to cut the grass early so I could get to the driving range before the end of work rush. I was at the kitchen counter eating breakfast when the phone rang. I can still remember my heart speeding up a little bit. “Hello?” On the other end was my mother, half in tears, “Erik, Dr. — called and said you have testicular cancer.” She could barely get the words out. “BS,” I retorted swiftly, “Gotta be a mistake.” I spent the next two minutes trying to convince my mother it was the wrong results until I couldn’t stand her in tears anymore, and hung up the phone. Besides I had grass to cut.

Outside to mow the lawn I went. Within twenty minutes, my father arrived home from work followed shortly by my mother. I kept cutting. Finally my Dad came out and stopped me from cutting saying, “Erik, we really have to go see the doctor.” I parked the mower, went inside and tried to console my mother the only way I new how, cracking some jokes.

We went to the doctor and didn’t have to wait. Apparently when you have a life threatening disease the waiting rooms really don’t apply to you. We went to his office to find a doctor who was beside himself. A genuinely great guy I think he was beating himself up inside for not catching it the first time I was in his office, back during spring break. “You are going to have to meet with the oncologist Erik. I have an appointment for you right away. You know they have come a long way with treatment and testicular cancer is one of the most treatable cancers in the world.” This all fell on deaf ears as I was in need of a different answer. How about “April Fools, or, Got ya this time didn’t I.” No, I was meeting with the Oncologist in 1 hour to discuss my options…

“I have to get what, removed when.”

My orchiectomy, or in other words testicle removal, was scheduled for the following morning at 8:00 am. We needed to get the tumor out ASAP to see what kind it was. Not even a going away party for the little guy. Gone, just like that.

I never did get to the driving range, or finish the lawn. Instead I went to the bookstore and bought Lance Armstrong’s, It’s Not About The Bike book. Kind of ironic since I spent most of my sophomore year with it in my trunk. A fellow runner of mine had lent it to me and said it’s a great inspirational story for any athlete. I returned it to him after not reading it. This time I had reason to.

Go onto the first surgery

Lesson 1 - Accountability

How to become Accountable. Becoming accountable is the first step I have found you must take if you want to succeed at something. Making sure that you realize you are responsible for your actions will make you inherently want to better them. Take for instance working on a project at school or at work. When things are going right everyone wants to have a piece of the action. If your school project is on the right track you’ll tend to hear “Remember when I…” a lot. However if its headed in the dumper you’ll tend to hear “Remember when [insert name other than person saying this]…” The reason for this is no big secret and you can probably figure it out on your own.

We were born to succeed because if we didn’t we would die. At least this was true before civilizations came around. However the point remains the same. Most people want to be good at something eventhough a large majority won’t stick their necks out on the line to do it.

At work I tend to be a bit overkill in this arena and will take responsibility for others actions, even if I had only the tiny tiniest part in whatever happened. The reason for this is that I don’t think sitting around waiting for blame to be dealt is a good use of time. Realize what went wrong then figure out a solution. (Now I don’t mean to say that if anything goes wrong I am first to step up, even I know you must choose your battles wisely.)

How this applies to goal setting and accomplishment - If you become accountable for your goals it means someone else knows about them. I read a very good book about marketing and a huge portion was on letting people know your ideas and know your goals. The author says you should shout your goals and ideas from the rooftops, let everyone know. Most of the time people will over look what you say and carry on with what they are doing, but getting those few people to realize what your ideas are or what your goals are can be all the motivation you need to succeed. He mentions championing your ideas to succeed in business, I say champion whatever it is you are doing, and people will help you succeed in life.

The book I am referring to actually comes as two and both refer to this method. They are called Free Prize Inside and Purple Cow. Although they aren’t really goal setting oriented books, if you are at all interested in starting a business or marketing your ideas to higher ups at work, get these books. They will become invaluable as you start your career.

Now accountability can take on many forms. I am stating my goals and making myself accountable for completing them on this website. You may say the only thing I stand to inccur by not completing these goals is humiliation. This couldn’t be closer to the truth. However, I feel that this can be all the motivation someone needs if used correctly and hope to show you why. First thing is one must realize that you can become good at becoming accountable. If you just throw out goals and build yourself up only to laugh off when you don’t follow through, people may find you amusing. But it is in no way aiding you to accomplish anything. You must be sincere when becoming accountable.

By saying you are doing something and being sincere about it, others will pick up on it and try and help you reach your goals. Take for example my goal of running the 4 minute mile. I have become acustomed over the last year to starting to run for about 3 days within a weeks span. Only to not run for the next 3 to 4 weeks. Rinse. Repeat. The reasons for this are vast and probably to numerous to mention. But keeping with the theme of the example, sometimes it is because rather than going running I will stay out too late with friends, or consume too much fun juice and be too wiped out to do anything the next day. However, if I were to tell these friends over and over my goals, they would want me to get up the next morning to run, or not stay out as late so I can run. They will become part of the goal themselves and feel success when you accomplish it.

Why do you think there are sports fans?

This category of postings will hopefully guide you through my learning process at becoming good at whatever you try to. I am going to first give background on why I am starting this web log, but then I will begin the process of learning. Learning how to follow through and succeed at the goals that I set for myself. I hope you will join me as I try to accomplish all the things I have started at one point or another, or have wanted to.

First some history…

During my 24 years on earth I have had the need to become great at everything I try but haven’t succeeded as much as I would have liked. I tend to get really excited about new things that come into my life. For instance, I have wanted to be a great soccer player, football player, runner, basketball player, scientist, medical doctor, businessman, leader, golfer, romantic, kickball player, writer, reader, surfer, fly fisherman, kiwi farmer, conservationist, climber, lifter, audio tech,… the list goes on and on. Whatever it was I was in to or am currently in to, I wanted to be the best, or at least be really good at it. Only problem was, something else would come along that I wanted to be good at also. This would usually lead me to slowly phase out the previous obsession only to repeat the process. Or was I really just looking for something to replace the previous obsession due to a fear of failure?, or was it because I was actually failing?, or was it lack of support by a particular peer?

Whatever it may have been or is currently wouldn’t matter. Fact is I would just get excited about something new and over indulge at first only to slowly move to the next phase.

With that said just to give you a little more background on myself, when I get into something I really get into it. Some more recent adventures of mine have been surfing and golfing. Living in Hawaii I can do both of these pretty much all year long. Surfing started when my girlfriend and I first moved to the isalnds and I spent a whole weekend looking for a board and didn’t stop until I found one. Even though there are about a million on island it of course had to be perfect, for I was going to become the best surfer in waikiki. I mean how hard could it be? Well since that first board I’ve bought and sold about 15 boards but have slowed down a bit on my surfing excursions.
Next was golfing. Some people at work had been egging me on for a while and finally I decided to take the clubs out. Being fairly competative and knowing that a lot of people I know to be good at golf I could clober them in other sports, I decided to jump right in. Well its been 3 months since I decided that and I now have a completely new set of golf clubs, minus the putter, and continue to play and work on my swing. I also bought a rather expensive book that was supposed to be the end all fix to an inconsitent swing.

There is also my never ending quest to become a millionaire, to become rich, to live the life?. For some strange reason I decided when I was in high school that I needed a goal to become a millionaire by the time I was 30. For some even stranger reason when I was in college I decided to change that goal to 27. I guess I thought with an Engineering degree from The University of Michigan it would be easier (oh what a nieve little boy I was).

I have had many businesses over the last 15 years. From selling candy on the bus in 4th grade, to having sports card trading and selling days, to selling blowdarts at school (5th grade, I didn’t really think much until I was a junior in high school), to growing and selling Kiwi fruit, to a landscaping company I started, not much in college, then on to buying and selling surfboards here in Hawaii. Now although all of these businesses were fun and some I learned more from than others, I have never really had a planned route to becoming a millionaire, to becoming rich. I am not saying that I neccesarily need a plan, but with each new opportunity realizing how it could help or begin future opportunities is something that I need to pay more attention to.

Enter a one of my co-workers at the start-up biotech company I work for. The past couple of weeks I had been discussing with my girlfriend Kimberly about starting a website or two to try and earn money. I had done this before but that lasted all of 3 weeks. This time I was waffeling when my co-worker sent me a website, www.stevepavlina.com. It’s a very interesting site about some things this guy is trying out. It also talks about making money which was one of our common interests. Well, my co-worker started was so inspired that he started a website over lunch!

You can go to his website at www.byintention.com. He discusses his goal to get to one million dollars by the time he is 28 and gives some interesting tidbits about how to get there. He is a super intelligent guy who knows a lot about website devlopment and promotion. We both made our million dollar goals while in college (didn’t know each other) and met up at work and now discuss our common interests.

That was all the inspiration I needed. I went home that night, signed up for a hosting service, and started in on it. First thing was something to write about. Well, I have always wanted to write about goals and keep myself accountable for all that I say I am going to get done. There, a website. I decided that rather than just started many numerous things in my life only to get just good enough and then move on to the next thing I would really try and focus on becoming good at everything I try to do.

These are questions I hope to answer with the content of my weblog. Maybe I’ll come up with a formula for succeeding at whatever it is you want to do (if this is the case look out Anthony Robbins), or maybe I’ll inspire others to search for how they can be good at whatever he or she wants to. In any case I will continue to post progress towards my goals, no matter how outrageous others think they may be.