You may be underprivileged within your own bubble, but beyond your immediate community, there are always people facing even greater challenges.

It’s a default mindset to label ourselves as the underprivileged, and it often provides a convenient excuse to blame others for everything that goes wrong in our lives.

Just because someone is privileged doesn’t mean they don’t face their own set of challenges.

These struggles may manifest differently, but that doesn’t diminish their significance.

It’s important not to let others invalidate your struggles or belittle your pain; we all encounter challenges in different ways.

From the perspective of those who are less privileged, it’s crucial to be open-minded and accept that people who are more privileged also face their own struggles. You are struggling, but it doesn’t mean they don’t.

If our lives are underprivileged, it doesn’t necessarily mean that others have it easy. Our lives might still be less difficult than those who face more significant struggles.

It’s not an excuse to give up on life or stop striving for improvement.

No matter how tough life gets, always keep an open heart and extend a helping hand to those who are less privileged than you. There’s always someone enduring greater hardships.

Everything in life is about perspective.

Once in a while, pause for a moment and try to view from a different point of view.

—

For my dear friend, Sara, whose enduring support and willingness to engage in lively discussions, even when our viewpoints diverge.

Sometimes, working less can actually produce better results.

Consider a small business owner who works nonstop. Working hard won’t help him compete with his corporate competitors. That’s because time is a limited commodity. An entrepreneur could work 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, but his or her competitor can always spend more money, assemble a team and spend a lot more collective man hours on the same project. Then why have small startups accomplished things that some larger corporations couldn’t? Facebook bought Instagram, a company with 13 employees at the time, for one billion dollars. Snapchat, a startup with 30 employees, wasturning down offers from Facebook and Google. Part of each of their successes was based on luck, and some on efficiency.

The key to success is not workinghard. It’sworking smart.

There’s a notable distinction between being busy and being productive. Being busy doesn’t always necessarily mean you’re being productive. Despite what some might believe, being productive is less about time management andmore on managing your energy.It’s the business of life. It’s learning how to spend the least amount of energy to get the most benefits. I personally learned how to reduce my work week from 80 hours to 40 hours, and get a lot more work done in the process. For me, less is more.

Here are seven things I stopped doing to become more productive.

1. Stop working overtime and increase your productivity instead.

Have you ever wondered where the five-day, 40-hour work week came from?In 1926, Henry Ford, American industrialist and founder of Ford Motor Company, conducted an experiment with his own staff:

He decreased their daily hours from 10 to 8, andshortened the work week from 6 days to 5. As a result, he saw his workers’ productivity increase.

The more you work, the less effective and productive you become over both the short and long term, states a 1980 report from The Business Roundtable titled “Scheduled Overtime Effect on Construction Projects.”

“Where a work schedule of 60 or more hours per week is continued longer than about two months, the cumulative effect of decreased productivity will cause adelay in the completion date beyond that which could have been realized with the same crew size on a 40-hour week.”

Source: Calculating Loss of Productivity Due to Overtime Using Published Charts — Fact or Fiction

In an article for AlterNet, editor Sara Robinson referenced research conducted by the US military which revealed that “losing just one hour of sleep per night for a week will cause a level of cognitive degradation equivalent to a .10 blood alcohol level.” You can get fired for coming to work drunk, but it’s acceptable to pull an all-nighter.

Irrespective of how well you were able to get on with your day after that most recent night without sleep, it is unlikely that you felt especially upbeat and joyous about the world. Your more-negative-than-usual perspective will have resulted from a generalized low mood, which is a normal consequence of being overtired.More important than just the mood, this mind-set is often accompanied bydecreases in willingness to think and act proactively, control impulses, feel positive about yourself, empathize with others, and generally use emotionalintelligence.

Source: The Secret World of Sleep: The Surprising Science of the Mind at Rest

It’s important for us not to overwork ourselves and get enough sleep to maintain a high level of productivity. Next time you’re wondering why you may not be working productively, the reason may be simple as you beingdeprived of adequate sleep. (James Maas, a sleep researcher and expert, revealed that at least seven out of every 10 Americans don’t get enough sleep.)

Did you know?

• Leonardo da Vinci took multiple naps a day and slept less at night.
• The French emperor Napoleon was not shy about taking naps. He indulgeddaily.
• Though Thomas Edison was embarrassed about his napping habit, he alsopracticed this ritual on a daily basis.
• Eleanor Roosevelt, the wife of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, used to boost her energy before speaking engagements by napping.
• Gene Autry, “the Singing Cowboy,” routinely took naps in his dressing room between performances.
• President John F. Kennedy ate his lunch in bed and then settled in for a nap—every day!
• Oil industrialist and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller napped every afternoon in his office.
• Winston Churchill’s afternoon nap was a non-negotiable. He believed it helped him get twice as much done each day.
• President Lyndon B. Johnson took a nap every afternoon at 3:30 p.m. in order to break his day up into “two shifts.”
• Though he was criticized for it, President Ronald Reagan famously took naps as well.

Source:5 Reasons Why You Should Take a Nap Every Day — Michael Hyatt

On a personal note, since I started getting at least 7 to 8 hours of sleep each night, I’ve noticed a change: I became a lot more productive and got a lot more work done in comparison to when I worked 16 hours a day. Who knew sleeping was such a great tool for marketers?

2. Don’t say “yes” too often

According to the Pareto principle, 20 percent of the effort produces 80 percentof the results; however, 20 percent of the results consumes 80 percent of the effort.Instead of working harder, we should focus primarily on the efforts that produce the majority of the results and forgo the rest. That way, we have more time to focus on the most important tasks. Stop saying “yes” to tasks that yield little or no result.

“The difference between successful people and very successful people is that very successful people say “no” to almost everything.”

— Warren Buffett

So what should you say “yes” to? And when should you say “no”? If you can’t figure out if something is going to be worth your time, consider running a simple split test. Consider tracking everything you do, and the time it takes to complete each task, and the results. Then go back, assess your list to see what did (or didn’t) prove fruitful, and take your findings into consideration to optimize for future tasks.

Most of us say yes more often than we should, for a variety of reasons, including guilt and overstretching ourselves, but also because it is so much easier than saying no. Nobody wants to be the bad guy.

In a 2012 study published in the Journal of Consumer Research, researchers split 120 students in two groups. One group was trained to use the phrase “I can’t” when discussing the specific choices, while the other was trained to use “I don’t” in framing their decisions.

The students who told themselves “I can’t eat X” chose to eat the chocolate candy bar 61% of the time. Meanwhile, the students who told themselves “I don’t eat X” chose to eat the chocolate candy bars only 36% of the time.This simple change in terminology significantly improved the odds that each person would make a more healthy food choice.

Next time you need to avoid saying yes, use “I don’t” in your refusal, toreinforce the helpful behavior of saying no to things that aren’t worth it.

Another great trick is to avoid activities that don’t add enough value to your life is the 20-second rule: For activities you shouldn’t be engaging in, or negative habits you want to break, add an element of difficulty, adding on a20-second roadblock, so to speak, to you starting that activity. For example, ifyou’re trying to use lessen your use of social media, delete the tempting apps from your phone, so that it takes you another 20 seconds to find your laptop to access them. By adding in an inconvenience, you’ll be less likely to engage with that draining activity or habit.

Lower the activation energy for habits you want to adopt and raise it for habits you want to avoid. The more we can lower or even eliminate the activation energy for our desired actions, the more we enhance our ability to jump-start positive change.

Source: The Happiness Advantage: The Seven Principles of Positive Psychology That Fuel Success and Performance at Work

3. Stop doing everything yourself and start letting people help you

At some point in my career, I was managing a very large community and couldn’t handle it all myself. I burnt out, and the community ended up taking over and managing itself. Surprisingly, members did a better job than I couldhave ever done on my own. I learned the power of community and why brands need user-generated content.

Consumers understand what they want and how they want it better than any marketer does. Did you know that, according to Octoly, user-generated videos are viewed 10 times more than brand-generated videos on YouTube? When seeking information about a particular brand, over half (51 percent) of Americans trust user-generated content more than what’s on the brand’s official website (16 percent) or media coverage on the brand (14 percent). It’s important for marketers to open up and seek help from the brand’s community itself.

Being a great content marketer is not about creating the best content, but building a great community that will generate high-quality content for you.

It’s important for us to realize we can seek help when we need it. Sometimes it’s impossible to do everything ourselves. It‘s better to let someone, or a team, share the work, giving you more time to focus on the most important tasks.Instead of wasting time and energy overloading yourself or trying to do it alone, let others share the burden and help.

Often times, even if your friends or coworkers can’t help you, simply having them around can help you become more productive.

Just having friends nearby can push you toward productivity. “There’s a concept in ADHD treatment called the ‘body double,’ ” says David Nowell, Ph.D., a clinical neuropsychologist from Worcester, Massachusetts. “Distractable people get more done when there is someone else there, even if he isn’t coaching or assisting them.”If you’re facing a task that is dull or difficult, such as cleaning out your closets or pulling together your receipts for tax time, get a friend to be your body double.

Source: Friendfluence: The Surprising Ways Friends Make Us Who We Are

4. Stop being a perfectionist

“We found that perfectionism trips up professors on the way to research productivity. The more perfectionistic the professor, the less productive they are,” Dr. Simon Sherry, a psychology professor at Dalhousie University who conducted a study on perfectionism and productivity, told University Affairs.Dr. Sherry found a robust correlation between increased perfectionism and decreased productivity.

Here are some problems associated with being a perfectionist:

• They spend more time than required on a task.
• They procrastinate and wait for the perfect moment. In business, if it is the perfect moment, you are too late.
• They miss the big picture while focusing too much on the small things.

Marketers often wait for the perfect moment. In doing so, they end up missing it.

The perfect moment is NOW.

5. Stop doing repetitive tasks and start automating.

According to a research study conducted by Tethys Solutions, a team of five people who spent 3 percent, 20 percent, 25 percent, 30 percent and 70 percent of their time on repetitive tasks, respectively, reduced their time spent to 3 percent, 10 percent, 15 percent, 15 percent and 10 percent after two months of working to enhance their productivity.

A week ago, I spent 15 minutes writing a basic Python program. The idea was to generate content from the data, which I pulled from Twitter API using a Ruby bot, and then using Hootsuite to bulk schedule the content. While this task used to take me an entire day to accomplish, it now takes me less than five minutes thanks to automation. Nowadays, whenever I find that I’ve done something more than five times, I ask myself if I can find a program to automate it for me.

You don’t have to be able to code to automate your repetitive tasks. It’s nice to have the skills or the resources, but it’s not a requirement. If you cannot build it, buy it.

People often forget that time is money. People usually do things manually because it’s easy and requires almost no research. It’s manageable tomoderate 30 images on Instagram for your user-generated campaign. But if you have to manage 30,000 photos and videos from five different platforms, you need a good digital asset management software. At Filemobile, we help people solve that problem and generate even more user-generated content. Just like managing rich media, you can easily purchase a software to solve almost all of your problems on the internet.

If you still can’t find a solution, you can hire an expert to help you. Keep in mind that you need to spend money to make money and that time is your most valuable commodity.

Tips for marketers: check out GitHub or Google Apps Script library. Oftentimes, you’ll find free, ready-to-use open source code that requires very little programming knowledge.

6. Stop guessing and start backing up your decisions with data

If you can optimize websites for search engines, you can optimize your life to grow and reach your maximum potential.

There are countless research studies that can offer insight on optimizing yourproductivity. For instance, did you know that most people are more easilydistracted between noon to 4 p.m.? This was the conclusion that came from research shared by Robert Matchock, an associate professor of psychology at Pennsylvania State University. But even if you can’t find data on a particular question you might have, it doesn’t take a lot of time to run a simple split test and examine your own results.

7. Stop working, and take some time to do nothing at all.

Most people don’t realize that when we are too focused on something, we’re essentially locking ourselves in a box which can end up being counterproductive to our work or the results we’re chasing. It’s important to walk away from work once in a while and have some alone time, which isgood for the brain and spirit, according to “The Power of Lonely,” from The Boston Globe.

One ongoing Harvard study indicates that people form more lasting and accurate memories if they believe they’re experiencing something alone. Another indicates that a certain amount of solitude can make a person more capable of empathy towards others. And while no one would dispute that too much isolation early in life can be unhealthy, a certain amount of solitude has been shown to help teenagers improve their moods and earn good grades in school.

Source: The Power of Lonely

It‘s important to take time for reflection. We often find the solutions we’re looking for when we’re not actively searching for them.

It’s also important to understand that we don’t become more productive overnight. Like everything in life, it requires effort and practice. Change doesn’t happen just by sitting around and waiting for it. Instead, take the time to learn more about your body and find actionable ways to optimize your energy and time for a more successful and happier life.

Disclosure: Filemobile (acquired by NewZulu) is a former client of my agency, ThinkRenegade.

I have a confession to make.
I cannot hide it anymore.
I have committed a lot of crimes.
This is the reality.

I lied. I cheated. I stole. And I killed.

You must be asking why I have committed such horrible crimes.

All my life, I have seen countless smart, and hardworking who are unsuccessful. I cannot count how many unsuccessful people who are chasing their passions.

I asked myself what are the real keys to success?
And I realize they are to lie, cheat, steal and kill

Life is just like riding a bicycle, if you stop moving you will fail.
If you don’t ride a bicycle, you are less likely to get an accident.
But if you do.
If you go out there and face your fear.
If you get on that scary bicycle.
If you are willing to fall and hurt yourself, one day you will get to the finish line before everyone who chose to walk.

In life, if you don’t put yourself in danger, you will never have a chance to experience all the wonderful opportunities out there.

That is why I chose to lie.

LIE

I have never been an expert in anything.
I started a nonprofit organization before I knew how to write a proposal, get funding or promote a campaign.
I became a marketer, before I knew what marketing was.
I started a business, before I knew how to sell.

Not being an expert makes me a better person. I put myself in dangerous situations where I must move forward.

Because I knew nothing, I didn’t follow the rules.
Because I knew nothing, there weren’t any best practices.
There was no limitation, I could see the situation from a different angle.
Because I knew nothing, I thought like there was no box.

As long as you still accept the existence of a box.
It doesn’t matter if you are inside or outside, the box is still there.
You are still influenced by the box.

Crush the box and think like there is no box

Lie to get the opportunity that you couldn’t get.

The best opportunities are always the ones you are not ready for. Don’t wait for the perfect opportunity, you will get all the leftovers.

Lie to yourself and create your opportunities.

Tell everyone who you want to be not who you are today.

But lying wasn’t enough. I realized I have to cheat

CHEAT

I cheated on society.
I cheated on my friends.
I cheated on my family.
And most important of all, I cheated on myself.

If someone tells you that you can become successful without cheating on people.
They are lying.

Every decision we make in life will have positive impacts on some people and negative impacts on others. For every action, there is a reaction.

We cannot have it all. People tell you it to sell books. Someone needs to change self help books to feel good books.

Having it all is a dream that everyone wants to have.

In life you have the energy to focus on one thing and be very good at it.You cannot work on 10 different things and hope one of them will work out. You need to work harder and smarter than everyone. You need to figure out how to be better than everyone. That comes with a price.

Cheating means you need to stick with your vision and spend most of your time turning it into reality.
Cheating means you will do what is good for you instead of what you want to do.
Cheating means you learn to say no to others.
Cheating means being selfish.

I chose myself, I chose my dream, and decided to cheat on everyone including myself.

Many of you will tell me you cannot do it.

Here is the truth, if you cannot do it, you didn’t want it badly enough in the first place

Cheat on everyone and yourself to make it happen.

I have lied and cheated… but it wasn’t enough.

STEAL

If you steal an object, it will last until it is used up.
If you steal money, it will last until you spend it all.
If you steal power, one day you will lose it.
If you steal fame, one day it will fade.
If you steal people, they will last until someone else steals their hearts.
BUT …If you steal knowledge, it will be with you until your last breath.

There is a sea of knowledge out there, but why isn’t everyone successful?
Because people don’t appreciate things that they get for free.

People always go after things that they cannot have.
We are too busy trying to steal things that we cannot keep, and forgetting about knowledge.
Instead of trying to steal someone’s success, learn how they built it.
Steal their knowledge and build your own.
If you didn’t build something, it will never be yours.

The minute you try to stop learning, you start dying.

To be successful you need the right knowledge.
At any price, get them.

Steal knowledge

At this point I don’t have much left. I decided to kill.

KILL

I always ask myself why most people with passions never become successful.
The answer is simple, because they love something too much, they cannot see life clearly.
They don’t know when is the right time to kill their idea. They don’t know when to give up.

There is no bad or good idea. Every idea can be good if it is at the right time, right place and be executed by the right people. Every idea can be bad if at one of those three is missing.

Nothing is more dangerous is holding on something that is no longer relevant.

Time is your best friend, but it is also your worst enemy.
If you keep holding on to the past, you will miss the future.

We need to get over our fear and learn to kill our own ideas.
We have 2 ears for a reason. One to learn and the other is to unlearn.

Kill an idea.
Kill a concept.
Get rid of old knowledge.

You have to kill the old, to accept the new.

If you want to be successful, learn, unlearn and relearn.

Many years ago, a startup developed a podcasting platform and nobody was signing up.

They cheated on that project by having a side project. They stole different concepts and build a platform on top of them. That project showed a tiny bit of traction.They decided to betray all the supporters of the main project by killing it and focus on the side project. The CEO made an offer to all their investors. If anyone wanted their money back, he would personally buy their investment back at cost. 100% of the investors asked for their money back.

The startup lied to themselves the side project will become a success and worked very hard to make that happen even when nobody believed in them including some of the best investors in Silicon Valley

That side project was Twitter.

Their lies became reality and made them billionaires.

We wouldn’t have Twitter today if they didn’t lie, cheat, steal and kill.

Everything in life has 2 sides. Good and bad
You can decide which side you want to look at.
Every word is neutral.
We are the artist who can give it meaning.
You can look at Lie, Cheat, Steal and Kill and say they are bad words.
Or you can take action and show the positive sides of those words. It is your choice.

Success is not about chasing wealth.
Success is not about chasing power.
Success is not about chasing fame.
Success is about chasing what will make you happy.
Nobody knows exactly what is it except you.

Why are you letting society define who you are now and who you are going to be?
Why are you letting everyone to tell you how to live your life.

Don’t let your ideas die slowly in the back of your closet because you want to fit in.
If you want to fit in with the 99%. You will never become be the 1%

You live in a box.
You drive in a box.
You work in a box.
One day you will be buried in a box.
Don’t live your life in a box.

Think and live your life like there is no box

Lie. Cheat. Steal. Kill. Crush that box.

That is the difference between him and me.
He wants to give her the best, I want to prepare her for the worst. It scares me that he will give her too much. It made me think about how I am going to raise my children.

1. How To Survive

It is easy to learn how to spend money; It is harder to learn how to keep money. But it is even harder to learn how to survive.

My children won’t need me to teach them how to have expensive tastes, they can learn themselves.

I want to throw them into the most difficult situations, I want to crush them into pieces.  Because I want to make sure nothing can crush them again in the future.

Damaged people are dangerous. They know they can survive.

– Josephine Hart

My children need to know how to feed themselves when they are penniless. My children need to know how to be flexible and get themselves out of difficult situations. Life is like the wind, it doesn’t just go one direction. Power changes hands all the time.

You cannot be the change you want to see in the world… unless you can survive.

If one day they need to bribe someone to save their sibling’s life, they need to be able to do it. My children need to know how to pick themselves up off the floor.

2. Invest In People

Most people want to bring their kids to the best places, I want to bring them to the poorest and most complicated area. I want them to see the real world outside their bubbles; they need to understand their responsibilities.

Two thousand years ago, during the Warring States Period, China was divided into 7 states: Qin, Chu, Qi, Yan, Han, Wei, Zhao.

One day Lü Buwei, a wealthy merchant saw a rare investment opportunity. He came home and asked his father,

“Father, What is the profit on investment that one can expect from plowing fields?”

“Ten times the original investment,” his father replied.

“And the return on investment in pearls and jades is how much?”

“A hundred times.”

“What about investing in a person?”

His father replied with a smile, “That will be beyond an estimate.”

Lu Buwei had a vision, he was willing to bet his wealth, career, family and life on a long-term investment. Because he recognized the value of investing in a person, he became the most powerful person in China. He raised Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor of China who unified the country for the first time and changed China’s history.

Money, power and fame all fade, only kindness will last. I want them to always treat people the way they want to be treated. Invest in people. If one out of all the people they help, remembers and helps them when they struggle, it is a good investment.

3. Learn. Unlearn. Relearn.

Never believe everything they see, hear and read. They need to learn to make their own judgements. Don’t bother learning unless they can unlearn.

The illiterate of the 21st Century are not those who cannot read and write but those who cannot learn, unlearn and relearn.”

– Alvin Toffle

It is more dangerous knowing the wrong information than knowing nothing.

My children need to earn everything they will have and know how to survive. It is hard to build a legacy, but it is harder to keep it. Only tough people can survive.

Money can buy a lot of things, but often it cannot buy what you want the most. Love, attention and time are often wanted more. Not everyone realizes that.

I stare into the screen and wait for a rare free moment in his 15 hour work day. Deep down I know I am forgotten…today.

After all, tomorrow is another day.

Don’t be a victim. Don’t make excuses. People don’t care about your problems.

A three-time millionaire who came up from nothing, dropped out of college with average IQ, said:

“The real inequality is the level of personal drive and intelligence.”

I framed the quote and have it on my desk to remind myself everyday.

You are poor. You are an immigrant. You live in a small town. You didn’t have rich parents. You are Asian. You are Black. You are a woman. You are homeless. You don’t have a college degree.

So did these billionaires:

• Starbucks’ Howard Schultz grew up in a housing complex for the poor. – Net worth: 2.5 billion USD (2015)
• John Paul DeJoria, the man behind a hair-care empire and Patron Tequila, once lived in a foster home and his car. – Net worth: 2.8 billion USD (2015)
• Born into poverty, Oprah Winfrey became the first African American TV correspondent in Nashville. – Net worth: 3 billion USD (2015)
• Luxury goods mogul Francois Pinault quit high school in 1974 after being bullied for being poor. – Net worth: 4.7 billion USD (2015)
• At one time, businessman Shahid Khan washed dishes for $1.20 an hour. – Net worth: 5.1 billion USD (2015)
• Forever 21 founder Do Won Chang worked as a janitor, gas station attendant, and in a coffee shop when he first moved to America. – Net worth: 6 billion USD (2015)
• Ralph Lauren was once a clerk at Brooks Brothers dreaming of men’s ties. – Net worth: 7.2 billion USD (2015)
• Leonardo Del Vecchio grew up in an orphanage and later worked in a factory where he lost part of his finger. – Net worth: 21 billion USD (2015)
• Legendary trader George Soros survived the Nazi occupation of Hungary. He arrived in London as an impoverished college student. – Net worth: 24.2 billion USD (2015)
• After his father died, business magnate Li Ka-shing had to quit school to help support his family. – Net worth: 33.5 billion USD (2015)
• Oracle’s Larry Ellison dropped out of college after his adoptive mother died and held odd jobs for eight years. Net worth: 54.1 billion USD (2015)

Sources: Business Insider + Forbes

Life is hard. It doesn’t matter who you are, there are always things you cannot control. You can accept it and let it stop you from getting what you want. Or you can stop making an excuse for why you can’t fulfill your potential.

Unsuccessful people focus on what they cannot control and blame their failures on others.

Successful people focus on what they can control and blame their failures on themselves.

If you let things you cannot control define your success, you will lose before you even start.

The only person who can stop you is you.

Be a fighter, never take “NO” for an answer.

Because you are also the one person who can start.

This is part of my free ebook “35 Things I Wish I Knew When I Started My Business,” sign up here to be one of the first people to read it. 

If failure equals experience, there would be more successful people.

Failure + Learning + Application = Experience

You fail. You learn from it. You apply what you have learned. If you don’t failure reshape your action, it will be a wasted experience. You suffered for nothing.

BUT

There’s a way for learning lessons without suffering failure.

If you learn from other people’s struggles, you can often just skip that step. Often it takes longer fix things than do it slow but right from the start.

Do your research.

Talk to people who have it before and ask for advice.

Measure and test everything.

Avoid failure at all cost.

I love a girl who swears. It helps her feel less pain. Swearing is cheaper than any short-term pain relief. Did you know that, swearing helps with cold-pressor pain tolerance, pain perception and heart rate too? (Keele’s School of Psychology)

I love a girl who swears. Swearing is the emotional language. She is more likely to be emotionally expressive than people who don’t. (British Psychological Society)

I love a girl who swears. She is easy to bond with. “Swearing is important for creating close relationships, friendship, or intimacy,” said the “swear” researcher. (University of Sydney)

I love a girl who swears. She is honest to herself. The biggest lies in the world are the ones we tell ourselves.

I love a girl who swears. She will be honest to you too. She won’t bullsh*t you. Beating around the bush isn’t her style.

I love a girl who swears, because she is always herself. She isn’t worried about making a certain kind of impression. Life is not a TV show where everything is an act.

I love a girl who swears because she is a rule breaker. She learned more than just an ordinary education.

I love a girl who swears because she feels in control. She is not afraid to tell people NO.

I love a girl who swears because she has confidence. She doesn’t let people tell her who she is. She will tell them who she is and who she is going to be.

I love a girl who swears. She fights for her beliefs and follows her vision. She finds her own way and when people want her to do it their way she kindly lets them know what she thinks of that.

I love a girl who swears because she won’t let people push her around. If Helen Mirren was your mother, she would teach you to say F*CK OFF.

I love a girl who swears. Because we are all human. She is just like you and me.

I love a girl who swears. “Well–behaved women seldom make history.”

For all the girls who swear.

From a girl who doesn’t really swear.

Then stop at the 5 minute mark.

And start turning that negative energy into actions.

Some days, we are sad.

Another day, we get mad.

Other days, we feel jealous.

Then there are times we miss someone.

There are moments when we want to hurt people. We feel so much hate.

Other times, we feel depressed and think the world is over.

These are common feelings that can show up daily or when we least expect them. They create negative energy in our lives.

People often say we need to eliminate the negative energy. There are entire schools of thought about negativity and how best to release it from our lives.

But the truth is, without pain there is no happiness. Everything will feel the same. Nobody will be able to feel anything.

Real life is not a self-help book that tells what you want to hear for the sake of driving book sales.  

Sometimes, life sucks. It just does.

You don’t have to think positive. Positive thinking often distracts you from dealing with your pain.

If you don’t deal with your negative energy, you will still carry it around everywhere.

Be selfish. Deal with your feelings in an unconventional way.

Convert feelings into actions.

Embrace the negative.

• If you are sad, start sharing. Tell people what’s making you feel sad. Maybe your feelings and stories will show other people that they are not alone. And you’ll find out you’re not alone either.
• If you miss someone, start writing about how he inspires you. Maybe it will become the next trending article.
• If you hate someone, pick up his favorite book. Maybe it will help you understand him better.
• If you are jealous or angry, learn a skill that your competitor is better at than you. Maybe one day you will surpass him.
• If you want to kill yourself, do a random act of kindness. You will realize that many people still need you.

Let your negative energy inspire you into doing something you enjoy.

Don’t think, just do it.  Just convert all your pain into a new form.

Write a book. Paint a painting. Compose a song. Read a book. Cook some food. Go to the gym. Climb a mountain. Build a startup. Create some magic.

Do something you like. Don’t think about it, just do it.

When you are focusing on doing something, pain will convert from one form to another.  

If Therese Malfatti von Rohrenbach zu Dezza didn’t reject Beethoven’s proposal and marry someone else, we wouldn’t have Für Elise.

You may not be Beethoven, but that doesn’t mean your pain can’t help you create something wonderful.

Someone’s pain can be another person’s treasure.

Don’t think. Just do something.

Don’t date a man who reads. He is fine spending time on his own. He can entertain himself for hours with or without you. A Brief History of Time might be your worst enemy. You might wonder if he is having an affair with Emma or Jane Eyre. You will always have to share his time with books. And, when you work late, he won’t get upset; books will keep him company.

Don’t date a man who reads. He is hard to please. Ideas and imagination are the fuel to his brain. You will chase the knowledge and become a better version of yourself. He might want to teach you How To Win Friends And Influence People.

Don’t date a man who reads. He is intelligent. Smart people know to invest in themselves. You will have to keep up and be more than just a pretty face. Beauty fades. Intelligence will show you the road From Here to Eternity. He will turn you from Good to Great.

Don’t date a man who reads. He will listen to your thoughts and dreams. He won’t let you sit still; he will make you chase them. It cannot be harder than The Journey To The West. He will tell you that your only limit is you.

Don’t date a man who reads. He will Think And Grow Rich. He knows reading is always a bargain. He will borrow thousands of people’s brains to turn his vision into reality. The Richest Man In Babylon will be put to shame.

Don’t date a man who reads. He is a critical thinker. He has seen different opinions through thousands of pages. Reading teaches him great analytical skills. Every little challenge will have a strategy session from The Art Of War. If you have a tough decision, he might have the solution. And you will have to learn to accept help from others.

Don’t date a man who reads. He has a sense of perspective. He knows his problems will never be harder than the people in The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas.

Don’t date a man who reads. He will always want to try new things. He will always try to get more out of life. For him, life is like an adventure like Around The World In Eighty Days. He will teach you how to Choose Yourself.

Don’t date a man who reads. His inner child is more alive. The Age of Innocence will never come to an end. His curiosity and creativity will survive through school. And he won’t stop asking questions to find The Art Of Happiness.

Don’t date a man who reads. He can be empathetic. He is used to putting himself in every character’s shoes. He will be there to pick you up when you fall. He knows Attitudes of Gratitude: How to Give and Receive Joy Everyday of Your Life.

Don’t date a man who reads. He will like to challenge you like A Call To The Wild. He will give you book suggestions that will drive you crazy. He will push you hard to grow, and to share the journey with him. Nothing will be nice and smooth like a bed of roses. But the more you open your mind, the more things you will discover. And the more you read, the more you will realize you know nothing. And you won’t be able to stop chasing new ideas.

Don’t date a man who reads. You will have a hard time reading him. The key to his heart lies below thousands of books. You will have to read things you don’t like. You will read things that will make you cry. You will read things that make you comfortable. That is part of every relationship. It will take real effort to meet his Great Expectations.

Don’t date a man who reads. Because he is a storyteller. Everything through his eyes will look magical. One day he might tell your children The Greatest Story Never Told.

Never date a man who reads. He is dangerous. Even if he looks like The Hunchback of Notre Dame, you will always find him sexy.

You might never leave him. Because every moment is like a new story in A Thousand And One Nights.

He will be smart enough to see your value. He will treat you like A Little Princess. One day he might tell you that your Love Story was Right From The Beginning.

For a man who reads.

Who taught me sometime I need to read what I hate to find the thing I want. Nothing worth having comes easy.

Your first 100 podcasts will mostly suck too.

Your first 100 talks will not be perfect.

Your first 100 videos will be nightmares.

Nobody can pick up a ball and become a pro basketball player overnight.

Nobody can pick up a pen, then write and win a Pulitzer Prize right away.

Nobody is interesting on their first interview.

Nobody will walk on the stage without saying a few things wrong.

Nobody learns how to walk after the first step.

We all suck in the beginning.

But…

Children can do what most adults fail to do.

We always think children are clueless. They need our guidance to figure out life. But they know things that most of us have forgotten.

We don’t become better by giving up. We keep trying.

Do babies stop trying to learn to walk after falling the first time? No, they keep trying

That is why everything seems to be possible when you were a child. There was no ego. You only see a finish line and you want to cross it.

I didn’t get a million views on my first blog post. My family said I am so bad at writing, they still don’t read anything I write to this day. But I still write. Because the worst case is the world will hate it.

If I don’t try, I will never find out what they think.

Because I cannot write, I read every top post about a topic before I write an article. Because I suck, I do things other people don’t.

I have hosted a minimum 500 chats before I had my first trending chat. There were nights where nobody showed up and I still asked the questions. I stayed in every Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday to work while everyone else was out. People didn’t notice that. Before I created trends, I was a follower. I showed up until I figured it out. And I still show up to this day.

The smartest people are usually not the most successful people. They have big ego and always believe they deserve better.

The truth is no matter how smart you are.

WE ALL SUCK IN THE BEGINNING.

Most people give up right away.

A few people stick around until they get it right.

We suck and it is fine.

Because it is just the beginning.

Society always emphasizes on the need to help people. I do it too.

They tell you that you should help people unconditionally and when they least expect it. None of that is, of course, wrong. Random acts of kindness can change a person’s life in many instances. However, there is a flip side to every coin. And it is essential not to mask the other half of the impact of any such gesture.

Not everything is bad. Same as, not everything is good. There is the good in bad. And there is the bad in good. It’s not necessarily the worst idea to help people. But it’s also neither a great one. And here are the reasons why I personally stopped helping people and recommend that you should too:

1. Stop Helping People Who Don’t Deserve Your Help

It’s not always an easy thing to do. We were taught helping people is the right thing to do. You need to unlearn this popular belief.

“As you grow older, you will discover that you have two hands, one for helping yourself, the other for helping others.” ~ Sam Levenson

Start-up founders often ask to pick my brain. I realize how difficult it is to run a start-up, I run one myself. However, I have stopped offering my knowledge for free.

In the past, quite a lot of times people would invite me out for coffee just to “pick my brain.” If you have a few million dollars in the bank from VCs, rummaging through my brain for free is not acceptable, especially if you didn’t even bother paying for my tea.

They don’t understand that I have a family to feed, mortgages to pay, deadlines to meet. They don’t realize that in order to make time for coffee, I would have to compensate for that lost time and stay up until 2 in the morning just to work.

If they don’t think my time is worth any value, then I don’t have time for them!

If people don’t care about you, you shouldn’t help them. They don’t deserve your help.

Now I simply tell people my hourly rate and take out my Square. Yes, it’s harsh, but it makes my life easier and I am happier for it. People take me more seriously. If someone cannot afford my advice, I usually give them another way to compensate for it.

Rule 1: Never offer anything for free.

Rule 2: Never forget Rule 1.

Next time if someone asks you to speak at their conference for free, don’t agree before you negotiate for the best deal. If they cannot afford you, ask for a free booth, time to promote your business or maybe free tickets to the conference. It will show whether they are serious about having you be present at their conference.

People will always try to exploit you if you allow them to. You don’t have the time to help everyone, only help people who deserve your help.

Remember, the first person you need to help is YOURSELF.

If helping people makes you unhappy, don’t do it. Simple.

Sometimes you have to be selfish and put yourself before anyone else. Ignore what society is urging you to do.

2.  Stop Helping People Who Don’t Appreciate Your Help

My biggest weakness is that I like to help people.

I help people, regardless of the fact that they asked for it or not. But you never know when that sort of philosophy could hurt you.

A former client of mine wasn’t doing well. My team spent a few days analyzing all the data and trends to figure out what the problems were. That wasn’t part of our retainer and I didn’t bill them. We did it because we cared about the client’s success. My team found some serious problems with the client’s business model and strategy. We showed the client our findings, and they fired us on the spot.

We did something out of compassion for our client. We told the client what they didn’t want to hear. We lost an account because we tried to help. And in the end, we made someone hate us for giving our professional opinion.

The easiest way to turn your friend into an enemy is offering them advice they don’t want to hear.

When I offer someone my help, I actually want to help. But a lot of the time, people are not ready to accept my help. It is normal. Everything takes time to change and most people don’t want it.

You shouldn’t offer advice when people are not prepared to entertain it, or they could one day come back and blame you when it doesn’t work out for them.

I stopped helping people who don’t want my help. Less drama, more time for myself.

3. Stop Helping People If You Can’t Put 100% Into It

This is the most critical one. Offering someone help when you are not ready to help is a big no-no. I have done this so many times, and until today I still regret doing it.

A few years ago, my parents were out of the country and asked me to look after their house. I don’t know how to water the plants at all. Some of them I poured too much water and some I gave very little. A month later when my parents came back, all the plants had died. If I didn’t offer to help, someone who knows how to take care of plants would have done it, and my father’s precious plants would be alive today. They never let me touch a plant again.

Helping people when you don’t have the skills or time will do more harm than good.

Offering help when you can’t do a good job will do more harm than good. It’s like being blind and teaching someone else how to paint. You make people miss the opportunities to find better help. Your kindness can hurt people too, in some instances. One of the easiest ways to destroy a relationship is by offering help that you can’t deliver.

At the end of the day, everything can be good or bad. We all need to strive to find the right balance between the two.

Always think it through carefully, before you offer to help someone else. If you don’t, it has the potential to cost you your time, your money and the relationships you hold dear to yourself (personal or professional).

A random act of kindness can change someone’s life, but it can also destroy one too.

Photo credits: Yin Yang ,Mimi & Eunice Comics by Nina Paley

What happened next changed the way she looked at things.

A mother and her young child walked into the room. The mother was trying to explain the abstract artwork to her child.  He looked frustrated.

“This is art? I could do that!”

The mother replied.

“But you didn’t.”

This is one of my favorite stories from Michelle Lara Lin’s blog.

We spend too much time criticizing other people.

Because it makes us feel better for actions we did not take.

At least they tried, you didn’t.

Because it gives us excuses for our failures.

If success is food, criticizing is sugar.

It makes you feel good.

Saying is easier than doing.

What are the benefits of criticizing?

I don’t know.

But I do it.

Every day and all the time.

We can always make more money, but none of us can earn more time.

Anytime you criticize others, you will have less time to turn your dream into reality.

To conquer the world, we need to conquer ourselves first.

We need to kill bad habits in order to chase success.

I wrote the first line on my new year goals to success list.

Stop criticizing.

Photo Credit: Naotake Murayama

I thought about confessing. I got scared.

But I cannot hide this anymore.

Today, I have to tell you the truth.

Nothing, I do is original.

I am a fraud.

I steal ideas. I steal knowledge, and I make them mine.

People give me credit, and I do nothing to change their minds.

I am a fraud, and I am proud of it.

___________

iPod wasn’t the first MP3 player, it is the best.

YouTube wasn’t the first video sharing site, it is the biggest.

Facebook wasn’t the first social network, it is the most popular one.

Google wasn’t the first search engine. Now googling is a verb.

All the biggest innovations were built on top of other ideas.

Nothing is original. They are all improved versions.

___________

Why do we tell everyone to be original, and kill their creativity?

Children learn by copying. They don’t try to be original.

That is how children learn how to crawl, walk, run and talk.

They copied others, and they are more creative than any of us.

As we grow older, everyone tells us to be original. That is the right thing to do. Copying is bad. In school, you get punished for copying.

We lock ourselves in the “be original” box. We forget how to think like children.

We try to be original. We fail and give up. We stay being the broken copied versions.

___________

Nobody told us, it is okay to copy, because everyone try to be original.

But nothing is original.

We need to revert time, and think like when we were children. We need to be so good at copying ideas and grow out of them. At the end, we will find a way to make them even better.

Don’t try to be an original, be the improved copied version.

I was born an original, and I want to die being a copy…an improved copy.

I am a fraud, and I am proud of it.

P.S. If you know anyone who is an original, let me know. I want to meet him.

On a random afternoon, a sick and twisted little girl decided that she didn’t have enough men hating her yet, so she tried an experiment on Tinder—inspired by a Medium post by Blake Jamieson. Seventeen hours later, she got over 2,015 Tinder matches. That sick and twisted little girl was me, now the most-hated woman in Toronto.

One of the biggest reasons why I am good at what I do is my lack of experience. I don’t know the rules, therefore I think there is no box, and push things beyond their limits. I do crazy things on various social networks all the time, to find loopholes and tricks. Some people call it “gaming the system,” I call it experimenting.

It was love at first sight when I came across Blake’s blog post. I sent him a message, and Blake encouraged me to run a Tinder hack myself.

I realize many men are going to get very upset when they read this article, and I am preparing to become the most hated girl in Toronto. If I don’t do crazy things, this blog wouldn’t exist. I told people to marry money, lie on a resume, don’t go to college, steal to be successful, and stop helping people. It’s not the first time I’ve written a blog post that is going to upset a lot of people.

Feel free to hate me for leading people on and exploiting the platform for my social experiment. Keep in mind, if you hate me, you will have to carry me everywhere. Thank you for the attention, love.

Life is just too short to pretend to be someone else and bury my thoughts.

If nobody hates me, I am doing something wrong.

That is how I started my new social experiment, the Tinder-hack.

Step 1 Create a profile

Instead of using an existing Tinder account—like Blake used for his experiment—I created a brand new Tinder account. It’s just easier for me to get a better understanding. The new profile was very similar to my real profile. With the help of my fabulous gay best friend, Mathew Hanley, we added a “Hot Match of the Day” graphic to my profile picture.

Why?

1. Social proof – Most people like to fit in. They want to feel as if they belong to a group. If they think a large group of people already liked my photo, they are more likely to do it even if they don’t find me attractive. It’s easier to follow in other people’s footsteps.

2. Urgency – It looks like a new feature. If they don’t take an action now, the profile may be gone forever.

When I created the fake Facebook account for the Tinder experiment, I liked all the popular pages from the suggested list. It increased my chance of having a “shared interest” with other people.

Step 2 Fill out Tinder Bio

If Tinder gives you real estate for a bio, use it. Never waste any space. I had a short bio, link to my blog, and the tagline, “Searching for my Tinderfella.”

Step 3 Swipe right on everyone

On Tinder, swiping right is how you “like” people. Because I marketed myself as “Hot Match of the Day,” I swiped right on everyone. This is the only way to find out how many people swiped right. Cruel? Yes, but don’t forget a Tinder like is not a proposal. Most people will forget about it the next day.

The Result

1 hour – 100 matches

2 hours – 250 matches

When I started out, I just wanted to know how long it would take me to hit Blake’s number. I stopped the experiment when I got 800 matches.

3.5 hours – 800 matches (stopped liking new profiles)

After 5.5 hours, I got Blake’s current number of matches.

5.5 hours – 1,250 matches

I woke up the next day, and there were almost 2,000 matches in my Tinder box. I got 700 new matches over night.

17 hours – 2,015 matches

What did I learn?

• Tinder put people who swiped right in front of the deck. After the first hour, everyone I swiped right was a match.

• 25-30% of the people will message first. I received over 400 messages when I had 1,250 matches. I couldn’t count how many when I had over 2,000 matches. Compared to Blake’s experiment, my messaging rate was a lot higher. I guess most women expect men to start the conversation first. Men are more likely to send the first message. Most importantly, most Tinder matches go nowhere because nobody sends the first message.

• People noticed the banner. 3% of people mentioned “hot match of the day” in their messages.

• Another 3% mentioned “Tinderfella.” I didn’t expect people would love my ” Searching for my Tinderfella” line at all. A lot of guys seemed to think it was funny.

• 3% Read my blog. Many of the men read a few of my blog posts and liked them. To be honest, I didn’t expect anyone to check it out at all. Lesson learned: Tinder users care beyond photos. They take their time and put in extra efforts to get to know you. Those guys stood out. I responded to all of the gentlemen who mentioned my blog.

• Less than 1% are women. For the experiment, I had my account listed as both interested in women and men. Surprisingly, I rarely got a match with a lovely lady. The number of female matches I had was less than 1%. From my experience, Tinder is not very LGBT-friendly.

• After 12 hours, if you don’t respond, people start blocking you. I had over 1,500 notifications and at least 500 unread messages when I wrote this post. I notice that I lose an average of 50 matches each day.

• Tinder security bug. If you logout and log back in with different Facebook account, you might still have access to all the matches from the old account. When I logged in with my old account to compare, I got access to all the messages from the Tinder-hack account. I can message all the guys. Until this bug is fixed, it’s a bad idea to borrow someone’s phone to check Tinder.

Is it possible to run a Tinder Marketing campaign? Yes.

Is it cruel? Yes.

Would I suggest it? Yes and no.

You will need to design a very creative campaign that is not “in your face.” It should be more content marketing, and less advertising. Tinder users know about spam ads on the platform and they hate them. A lot of responders asked me if I was fishing for blog traffic. I had some great conversation with Tinders about this topic. If you want to leverage Tinder for a marketing campaign, you’ll need to find a sophisticated way to connect with Tinders and add value to their lives. Straight-up spamming will hurt your client.

If you must be a spammer, be a good one. Be crazy, be creative, be entertaining. Be so good that people cannot tell you are a spammer.

How to Optimize Tinder to Find Your Real Love

 1. Create a profile

• From my experience, adding “Hot Match of the Day” to my display picture increased my chances of being matched with someone. Why? Peer pressure. Most people don’t realize it was a hack and they want to follow the masses. Even if someone can tell, the photo stands out and he gets a good laugh. I had some great chats with people about the hack, and those guys loved it. Only one person thought it was tacky. One out of 2,000 is 0.05%—that’s not too bad.

• Tinder allows you to add up to six photos, use all of them. I couldn’t add the last photo because of a bug. If Tinder gives you real estate for your photos, use it. I would put the best photos in front of the album, because lazy people won’t check all of them. Having your best photos in front will increase your chances of being matched.

• Take good photos. They say image is everything—this is so true! Tinder is all about first impressions. If you want more matches, take good photos. Your smartphone camera is probably good enough. Ask a friend to take a few photos of you, or buy a mobile tripod and use a camera timer app.

• Avoid group photos at all costs. If I can’t tell who you are, I won’t swipe right. Plus, you don’t want to be the person with the cute friend. I have to admit, I swiped right once because I liked a guy’s friend. I thought maybe I could find out who the friend is when I talked to him.

• Please stop posting all the Machu Pichu, cuddling with Tiger, snowboarding, Halloween costume, partying with friends, and other photos like them. Be different. Try to stand out with your photos. You want a good first impression.

2. Fill out your bio

• Tinders are not as shallow as I thought. They invested their time and energy to read my bio and check out my blog. Not everyone will read your bio, but have one for the serious people. You may lose matches because you were too lazy to fill out the bio.

• Have a hook. On Twitter I have “Will work for shoes.” On Tinder, people loved “Searching for my Tinderfella.” Have a tag line to help people remember you.

• Don’t be shy, include a link to your website or social media profiles. The best conversations I had were with people who checked out my blog. We had a lot more topics to talk about. Believe me, just because one of my profile photos focused on my shoes, I didn’t want to chat about my shoe collection with every guy on Tinder.

3. Send the first message

• From my and Blake’s experiments, we know only 8% women and 25% men will send the first message. Almost 70% of matches won’t go anywhere because nobody wants to send the first message. What a shame! Don’t be shy, just send a message.

4. Pick your first 3-5 words of your message carefully

• Dating is just like public relations and marketing. You need to optimize everything for a higher conversion rate. I didn’t realize how important the first few words of a message are until I had over 500 message in my inbox. The first few words are the first impression—choose wisely. You want them to be different and give a good impression.

• From my experience, most messages I received were either “Hi,” “How are you,” a cheesy pickup line, or about the weather. To be honest, when I have 500+ messages, I ignored those. I only responded to the messages into which I can tell people invested time and effort. Spend time, read their bio, and write a personal message to all your matches. It can make a big difference. A tailored message will increase your response rate.

5. Be active and patient

• Every day, I lose around 2% of all matches. Maybe people swiped right by accident and blocked me. I know some people blocked me because I didn’t respond to their messages. I had a lot of messages—it takes time for me to go through them. Most people don’t know and don’t care about that. Just like any social network, to increase your popularity, you should be active. If you want to find the love of your life on Tinder, make sure you reply messages in less than 12 hours.

• If someone doesn’t reply to your message right away, don’t block them. Maybe they’re busy, sick, out of the country, or inundated with messages. Just like in real life, if you stick around long enough, most likely you will get the reward, because everyone else is gone. Dating is a marathon, not a sprint.

6. Use lists

• One of my matches was an attractive young gentleman with a black and white photo with an adorable baby. I told myself I would message him the next day. The next morning, I woke up and found an additional 700 matches. I never found him again. I am always so good at losing attractive men. Don’t repeat my mistake. If you find an interesting person, add them to a list. It is the best way to organize all your matches, especially if you are popular on Tinder.

What happened to my Tinder-hack account?

Before this experiment, I already knew Tinder wasn’t for me. Maybe if one day Tinder and Quora collaborate, I will come back. I am too busy finding someone who will take over the world with me. Tinder is not the best way for me to invest my most valuable asset—time. It is a great place to meet fun and interesting people, but it wasn’t my thing.

I deleted the account.

Sorry Tinder, it’s not you, it’s me.

Which social hack should I do next? I think Quora is calling my name. :)

]]> https://www.cammipham.com/tinder-hack/feed/ 4 12531 https://www.cammipham.com/invest/ https://www.cammipham.com/invest/#respond Sat, 28 Dec 2013 16:05:08 +0000 http://www.cammipham.com/?p=12455

When a gentleman wants to establish himself, he also helps others to establish themselves. When he wants to be successful himself, he also helps others to succeed. He judges others by what he knows of himself.

– Confucius

Have you ever wondered why my motto is “Investing in people”?

It all started from a story my mother told me when I was a little child. The story is about the most remarkable entrepreneur in Chinese history.

Two thousands years ago, during the  Warring States Period, China was divided into 7 states: Qin, Chu, Qi, Yan, Han, Wei, Zhao.

One day Lü Buwei, a wealthy merchant  saw  a rare investment opportunity. He came home and asked his father,
“Father, What is the profit on investment that one can expect from plowing fields?”

“Ten times the original investment,” his father replied.

“And the return on investment in pearls and jades is how much?”

“A hundred times.”

“What about investing in a person?”

His father replied with a smile, “That will be beyond an estimate.”

Lu Buwei took the opportunity and his return on investment was not only money, but also fame, power and authority.  What was the rare investment opportunity?

In 267 BCE, King Zhaoxiang of Qin crowned the Lord of Anguo prince when his first son passed away. On a business trip in Handan, the capital of Zhao, Lu Buwei met Zichu, one of Anguo’s sons who was being held hostage to prevent wars between Qin and Zhao. Zichu had no hope becoming the King of Qin because he was illegitimate. His father did not care about him, Zhao treated him like a prisoner. With his wealth, strategies and connections, Lu Buwei managed for Zichu to return home and seized the throne of Qin in 250 B.C. Lu Buwei became the Chancellor of Qin.

During the time in Zhao, Lu Buwei arranged for the prince to meet and fall in love with his lovely wife, Zhao Ji. Rumor said that Zhao Ji was already pregnant before became the prince’s concubine. Her son, Zheng later became  Qin Shi Huang, the first  emperor of China who unified the country for the first time .

Lu Buwei had a vision and was willing to bet his wealth, career, family and life on a long-term investment, because he  recognized the value of investing in a person, he became the most powerful person in China.

Most of us will never be the second Lu Buwei. He was one in a billion, however we can take away the lesson from his story.

Your life depends on other people’s lives. Helping others become successful is helping yourself.

Start investing in people.