5 Tips to Live By

Every single person you meet will have some sort of advice for you. Unfortunately, I struggle to believe most of it or find it actionable in my daily life. It is difficult to learn a new trade, to think in the clouds, and generally to run out and change my life. How can I do that in the confines of my busy life while also gaining great value out of each activity? From an economics perspective, the opportunity cost of everything we do is quite high, especially nowadays as people become busier and busier. This is why I give 5 pieces of advice that I feel can drastically change the way you think and live while barely changing anything at all.

1. Give more than you receive. To me, this one is the most important. People that give are happier, more successful, and more fun to be around. If a person asks you for advice with your trade, give it to them over dinner or a drink. No favor will go unpunished and it is more than likely this will lead to them providing you with future opportunities or just a new friend or perspective. Many people argue with me that people should do charity for the sake of helping others and not have a selfish motive. To me, it doesn’t particularly concern me either way. Most people that do charity enjoy helping others but that does not indicate that you should feel guilty getting a benefit from your charity as well.

2. Network. The saying that I have found most true in my life is that it is not what you know but who you know. Networking can be as easy as meeting new people at work or as difficult as asking your job to pay for you to attend a conference or seminar. Networking will not take too much time out of your life and can even be attached to events like going out, work functions, and dinners. Whenever you can, get a business card and a contact. Again, you never know when it will come in handy.

3. Learn the Economy – it is very sad to me how few people understanding anything about the economy. Without this understanding, it will be very easy for people to get ahead of you. I do not care if your only connection to money is the paycheck you receive because that is a direct implication on the economy and the economy will still affect you. See my post about the economic machine in 30 minutes to get a pretty comprehensive understanding. If you have other questions, let me know.

4. Read + Write – this stands by itself but the greatest business minds, scholars, political figures of our time are well read and well written. You should join these ranks. Start a blog or a journal but reading and writing will improve your analytical thinking, your knowledge, and may even get a few more people to notice your skills.

5. Act Now. Do It. There is no better time than now to get started on what you want to do. Tomorrow is far too late.