Prolific versus perfect

I generally write at the end of my workday. Everyday before I start writing I have a question mark on what I would be able to write today. Everyday I think about what topic would of interest to my readers and where could I add value.Everyday I have this very strong inclination to not write.

But then I don’t want to break the momentum. As Joe Polish says it’s better to be prolific rather than perfect. If you practice something so often you will make lots of mistakes, but the faster you make mistakes, the more you will learn. The more you learn the higher is the chance that you will win eventually.

So my writing is not perfect. I write short notes so that while you are waiting in the line to pick up your coffee, you can read it. Over the years I hope my writing is becoming better.

One thing though is that based on this principle of being prolific rather than perfect, I can get into a flow state faster. Now once I start hitting the keys on my tablet or computer, my brain goes into a flow state and I start typing whatever ideas come into my mind. Being prolific is all about being persistent. As you persist, you also get the confidence to do even more.

Does that mean that I have become a “writer”. Absolutely not. I just pen my thoughts in a free flowing style. As a matter of fact a lot of authors may find my style absolutely rubbish. Can I eventually become a writer. Well maybe, who knows.

Can anyone following this model become a writer – maybe. But if they don’t start practicing writing, they anyway won’t become a writer.

Can this be used in other areas as well.

I know of sales and marketing for sure. Sales is a job which requires you to be hard skinned to face rejection and to qualify prospects better. If you get scared in calling out a prospect, from fear of rejection, you anyway won’t get sales to happen. I have learnt it the hard way. However if you call enough of the “right” prospects, you will eventually figure out ways to sell better. Add a mentor into the recipe and you can actually shorten the learning curve dramatically.

So this brings me to the end of the post for today. I hope your coffee is ready.

Till next time then.

Carpe Diem!!!

Buying confidence with insurance

confidence, Fear, Insurance, Leverage, Risks

FEAR is generally caused by the unknown. What you are not sure off causes you to be uncertain. When you are uncertain you get fearful about the outcome.

Earlier I always used to talk about how investments would lead you to have the confidence to take the risks of life without being fearful .

However I have recently started analysing different kinds of risks that I face – so as we grow older, medical costs is a big issue. Next I have only one house in which I presently live – so there’s always the risk of a catastrophe that can hit.

I actually listed at least 5 or 6 different things which are high risks, that can suddenly wipe out my savings and investments.

Based on the ideas given by Garrett Gunderson, in his book Killing Sacred Cows, I have gone about figuring out if there’s insurance available to me to cover each of those risks.

While I knew about health insurance, I didn’t know about the concept of top-up that can add a quantum leap in your coverage at a very small premium. The caveat is that you should have the base medical insurance in place. Since I identified the risk and put a value to it, I was able to identify a product which would give me coverage to that risk.

Once you can list out all your risks and start putting a monetary value to them, chances are that you may also get a company who will be willing to cover the risk for you at a price. Once you have covered the monetary value of the possible risk, then its no longer a risk.

Insurance is a different kind of leverage, you are covering a large monetary risk by paying a small premium.

Once there is no risk, the fear reduces. Once fear reduces, you get the confidence to look at bigger things and aim for them. Insurance helps you get that confidence.

Till next time then.

Carpe Diem!!!

Keeping Commitments with yourself- Part 2

commitment, confidence, Habits, self esteem

Each time I read The Tiny Habits by B. J. Fogg, I get more insight on how I can improve my self even further in termsof my habits. I keep reading a lot of books to see how I can keep improving myself in various areas. Some of the insights that I gain, I also share with you.

If you see my earlier blogs, they were very erratic. Sometimes every Sunday, sometimes nothing for 6 months.

I reread The Tiny Habits about 6 months back and I also took a training in the Genius Experience with Joe Polish. That’s when I took it upon myself to write a blog post every day. These would be less than 3 minute reads, so you could read them while standing in the line for coffee.

When you keep thinking of writing something dramatic, you enter a writer’s block, and you don’t write anything.

On the other hand if you know you can write even small posts, as long as you write, then over a period of time it will become a habit and you will stop having a writer’s bl9ck

The other thing which helped me was a statement that Joe Polish made during one of the trainings – “it’s better to be prolific than perfect “

Once zi started doing this one day, then the next and so on, it became a habit for me to write about something everyday. By keeping the commitment to myself , to write a small post everyday, today I have reached a stage where I look forward to the time when I will write.

The happiness and increase in my self esteem due to this has been enormous.

When we increase our self esteem and therefore our self confidence eventually, we improve in all areas of our lives.

Till next time then.

Carpe Diem!!!

Keeping commitments with yourself

commitment, confidence, Habits, self esteem

One of the best ways to lose self confidence and therefore self esteem is to not keep a commitment to yourself

Its easy to not keep a commitment to a third party and then try to rationalize the reasons. Sub consciously you lower your esteem there also.

However when you don’t keep a commitment to yourself, inspite of all the rationalizing, in your heart you know you cheated yourself and that hits your self esteem badly and your confidence as well.

You however need to be careful with making commitments both in terms of quantity and the type of commitments. Too many commitments is a recipe for disaster because you don’t have so much will power or motivation in a day.

If you don’t have the capabilities and you still make a commitment, you are bound to fail anyway inspite of your intentions.

I have found the book Tiny Habits by B. J. Fogg to be an amazing handbook to create small interventions which don’t need will power or motivation and slowly become part of your behavior. He has a very succinct formula which he calls the Fogg Behavior Model

B=MAP where B is behavior, M is motivation, A is ability and P is prompts.

As these small interventions start having an impact and you start keeping commitments to yourself, automatically your self confidence goes up and you start aiming for even higher without doing any heroics.

I have multiple posts in which I have recommended this book. If you have not read it, please do. It will have a major impact on your self esteem and self confidence.

Till next time then. Keep commitments to yourself first.

Carpe Diem!!!