Been thinking about this a lot lately in relation to work. When I do certain things before I go out and work each day I have a much more productive day. I have been coaching a youth hockey team for the last 3 years and I have noticed when players have a certain routine that they do before each game they are much more consistent than ‘non pregame routine’ players. When I was playing hockey competitively I had a few quirks before each game I played. I always put my left skate on first, tied it, then right skate, tied it, then left shin pad, then right, same order with my elbow pads. I did the exact same stretch before every game, I still do the same one when I play now. I used to have a few other things I did and I at one point had to drop them because if I messed up the routine at all I would feel off when the game started. I made it a focus to not have anything superstitious because it was too easy to get disrupted mentally if I messed anything up.

Professional Athlete Routines

So in thinking about this my idea is to do the same thing in relation to work each day. Having a few things to do before each work day to make sure you start the day off right. I used to have a very strict morning regiment.

• 5:00-5:10 Prayer/Meditation
• 5:10-5:40 Read Spiritual Texts
• 5;40-6:00 Shower
• 6:00-6:15 Get dressed- smelling good.
• 6:15-7:00 Reading a self help or business book.
• 7:00-7:30 Read current business periodicals- Mags and such.
• 7:30-8:00 Review plans for the day-Start working

This routine got absolutely destroyed when I met my wife and we were hanging out late every night. I look at it now and it was good, I learned a lot, but it was also so tedious and robotic. I think about keeping something like this with young kids and it would be almost impossible to make it a week with that specific of a routine. This routine did form the habit for me now that I do certain things every morning. Pray, read-spiritual and business, and either get some hockey in or another kind of workout. Getting up early and doing something physical makes a huge difference for me. Having a young son now, I don’t adhere to anything nearly as structured, but I do have those certain things I do every single day.

Professional Athletes Routines

I did a few quick Google searches and found these articles on athletes routines:

• Nadal has a strict routine every time he steps on the court.
• Some athletes have borderline OCD rituals.
• This video of Lebron James is crazy, has like 3-4 different handshake routines before his famous chalk cloud.
• Ten funnier pre game routines.

I am thinking about a new routine/mechanism to make sure I start off each work day with guns blazing. I would love to hear what you do, especially if you have a specific thing you do every day, before any certain event, or if you had/have your own sports related pregame routine.

Trends come and go. Facebook and Twitter are huge trends right now, but in 10 years they could be gone. Social Media on the other hand is bigger than any one brand or product. Social is a principle, meaning it is timeless and will always be relevant. Being social is a principle of business/entrepreneurship. The internet is bringing things closer together. Everyone is connected. People know what is going on. You can ‘keep tabs’ on all your friends. It is remarkable.

How do you leverage the social game?

Being an entrepreneur is all about leverage. You use talents, skills, systems to serve/create value for people. How effectively you use your assets is directly related to your bottom line. Knowing that the social game is not going anywhere, how can you utilize it? How can you use the current social tools to grow your business? Every business is on Facebook and Twitter now, just being found there is not enough.

Identify people who can help you.

Think about all the relationships you have right now, are any of them effective in your opinion with the social game? Ask them for help. Learn as much as you can from people you know using these tools and create your own plan, or improve your social game. The more things you are doing online the more things you can track and experiment with to find out which tool fits you and your objective best.

The social game is here to stay. There is still a lot of innovation in this space. Get engaged and use these tools to improve your bottom line and your life. Let me know if I can help you, feel free to hit me up, aaron(at)aarondommer.com.

Tim Duncan teaches the Game Face Technique.

I remember having a good laugh the first time I saw this video, and then I thought to myself: Dude! That would totally work. I went out and negotiated a few things with the ‘Game Face’ technique, it worked on my gym pass, my first car, and a bunch of other things. It is pretty fun to do. People will do exactly as the car salesman, they will beat themselves up if you don’t show them any emotion. It is a very effective negotiating technique when used properly.

Key to an effective Game Face.

It has to be authentic. You have to mean it. If you are all geeked out then it will be hard to disguise. If you don’t let emotion creep in when negotiating you will be much more effective at getting what you want for the price you want. I am not an advocate of grinding people until they don’t make any money, but all things are negotiable, and I personally think negotiating is very, very fun. I use the Game Face technique all the time when I ask people if I can do something ‘not on the menu’ and let them think and figure out a solution, it is a lot of fun to watch people solve your problems for you. It is also useful on the flip side of the coin when you tell someone the price of something and it is out of their range, let them figure out a way to pay for it.

Try it out and let me know how it goes.

Doing vs. Talking

This may seem weird but watching Obama get that fly has made me spend some time thinking about what he has done.

I have recently been reading the Tapstack (free mini books that are apps on the iPhone) titled: “Why did I marry you anyway?” by Barbara Bartlein, RN, MSW, The title may seem kind of weird, but it is a great book with a great message, very pro marriage and staying married. In it there is a page speaking on action that I found very powerful, quoting her:

‘You don’t get a degree because you intended to go to school. Or a paycheck because you thought about showing up for work. Intentions don’t count. I get so tired of hearing “I should’ve,”"I would’ve,” and “I could’ve.” Enough already! The should’ves, would’ves and could’ves of broken promises and commitments are not impressive. When evaluating human behavior, I always look at what people actually do, not what they say.” -Barbara Bartlein

Why Obama is more effective.

Obama has been a good leader, not from what he has said but by what he has done. Although I disagree with many of his policies and agendas, he has quickly and decisively led America (to where? is a big question, but where headed there in a hurry). He is very effective at passing legislation. The recent bailout was incredible, I can’t say I was tuned into the news everyday as it went down (as it is going down) but it was done with alarming speed. I think Americans felt like something needed to be done about our financial situation immediately and allowed for the government to throw around money like it is going out of style. Effective. Not effective in the sense of principled solutions to problems, but effective in the sense of just getting stuff done.

Credentials.

On the news and through Facebook I hear a lot of Obama detractors and it makes me laugh. I could quote all their opinions about him and it would just take up a bunch of time. It comes down to this: Sitting on a computer somewhere posting videos or ideas online about Obama is simply not effective.  By posting a video on your Facebook page or website about Obama being evil or doing an awful job you aren’t really doing anything. Look at his resume: Bachelor at Columbia, Harvard Law School graduate, teacher at U of Chicago Law, Attorney, U.S. Senator, U.S. President, and lately Nobel Peace Prize winner. He has some serious credentials. Not that credentials mean everything but compare them to his haters? It makes you think.

My Point.

It’s simple. He hasn’t gotten to the White House by accident, he has done it with very deliberate intention. He is highly effective, his campaign of ‘Change’ was no joke. He is changing things. I have a lot of respect for him. He is a great example of the American Dream. In America we can be whatever we want to be. If you disagree with Obama, just be aware of what your up against. He has done some monumental things, and those that oppose him think they can post some quotes, or disagree with him online and make a difference? You have to be more clever than he is to be more effective than he has been. Watch him get this fly, can you do that?

Where the Wild Things Are

Max’s character makes you think.

As a young child I read the book and thought it was a story with a happy ending. Young boy chooses to leave his family, goes to a far away land, lives out his fantasy and then heads back home.

Caught up in the excitement of the new movie, I went to the bookstore and read the book again. This time the story had a totally different meaning to me. When I finished reading it, I thought: “Huh, I kind of remembered this book having a happy ending?”

Being somewhat older since my last reading of the book, and maybe somewhat wiser, I saw 2 different perspectives on the book.

The Prodigal

Referring to parable found in the bible:

The young man finally comes to his senses, remembering his father. In humility, he recognizes his foolishness, decides to return to his father and ask for forgiveness and mercy. The father who had been watching and waiting, receives his son back with open arms of compassion. He is overjoyed by the return of his lost son!

The Entrepreneur

I shall quote Timothy Ferriss to explain this perspective:

“The New Rich (NR) are those who abandon the deferred-life plan and create luxury lifestyles in the present using the currency of the New Rich: time and mobility. This is an art and a science we will refer to as Lifestyle Design (LD).

I’ve spent the last three years traveling among those who live in worlds currently beyond your imagination. Rather than hating reality, I’ll show you how to bend it to your will. It’s easier than it sounds. My journey from grossly overworked and severely underpaid office worker to member of the NR is at once stranger than fiction and — now that I’ve deciphered the code — simple to duplicate. There is a recipe.

Life doesn’t have to be so damn hard. It really doesn’t. Most people, my past self included, have spent too much time convincing themselves that life has to be hard, a resignation to 9-to-5 drudgery in exchange for (sometimes) relaxing weekends and the occasional keep-it-short-or-get-fired vacation.

The truth, at least the truth I live and will share in this book, is quite different. From leveraging currency differences to outsourcing your life and disappearing, I’ll show you how a small underground uses economic sleight-of-hand to do what most consider impossible.” – Timothy Ferriss, Introduction to ‘The 4-hour Workweek‘.

Perception determines Action.

The story although extremely short, maybe one entire paragraph, is powerful. Who was Max? A wreckless youth, a waster? Or a genius, a creator? You choose, more importantly than what we think of Max, we get to choose what we are. People’s perceptions of us matter very little, It’s all about what we think, and then what we do with our thoughts. Max is an example to us good or bad. The story has a happy or sad ending depending on how you look at it. He is either the returning prodigal or the quitting entrepreneur. Either way, “Let the wild rompus begin.”

Very sad to see the passing of the legend Michael Jackson. I think he was amazing artist and performer. I believe that there are people in the world who hate to see people succeed. Especially extraordinary success like the kind that Michael created. There are also people, media, and influences in the world that seek to destroy successful people, and I mean this in a very literal sense. So is it possible that MJ was portrayed wrongly or poorly in the media? Yes. Could the media have been right on? Yes.

My point is this: What is the truth? Will we ever know? Are there tremendous stresses and issues when you are super successful? I can only imagine that there are. I can only imagine the people who seek to consume from those who are successful, who lie, cheat, steal, and manipulate to get money from those who have earned it. I can only imagine that once you are labeled something accurately or inaccurately that it sticks with unquestioning masses. There is so much to learn from MJ.

That is my objective. What can I learn from the King of Pop? What did he do to influence millions? What was his mission in life? Regardless of whether he achieved that vision or not. What can I do to protect myself from harmful accusations and the dangers that come from success? There is a lot to gain from MJ. God bless his family and especially his children at this difficult time. Thank you Micheal for the great music that shaped so much of life as we know it.

I love his book ‘The 4-Hour Workweek’ and really enjoyed this keynote.

I love when people start a sentence off with, “Well, they say…”, followed with some axiom or quip. When I was younger I always assumed the ‘they’ that people were quoting were very distinguished professionals who had created the axioms or quips. I thought maybe groups got together to create these catchy sayings to make it easy for the rest of us to understand complex issues. I was real young when I thought this way, obviously very naive and deep down I think I hoped that what ‘they’ said was true, because as soon as I heard that ‘they’ had spoken I listened.

Who are ‘they’?

Not sure if it was one day or over the course of many days when I began to realize that people who qouted ‘they’ had no clue who ‘they’ were. Who is this elusive, catch phrase starting, ‘truth’ dropping group? I started to look at the people who qouted ‘them’ and looking at the results in their lives. Many people who quoted ‘they’ lived lives that did not inspire me. I started to question ‘them’, the people always referred to as ‘they’, and I quickly realized that ‘they’ were never known individually, and that ‘they’ had clever sayings but very limited ideas on many things. The sayings were in many times much cleverer than the actual advice.

I don’t know who ‘they’ are, and they definitely don’t know me.

When I started my first business, I consulted with anyone who I knew that had their own business, and asked them their thoughts about partnerships. Almost everyone one of them shared what ‘they’ had to say about partnerships, but none of them had any personal experiences to share. In fact, almost every person that I spoke to on the subject refused to have a business partner of their own becasue ‘they’ had spoken out so harshly against it. Luckily by this time I had overcome my earlier naivete and I was quick to see through the clever sayings. I did start my business with a partner and it was, to this day, the best decision I have ever made in my professional career. It turned out to have the exact opposite effect that ‘they’ warned me of.

How to handle the elusive ‘they’.

• Just question what ‘they’ have said.
• Ask yourself who ‘they’ are, each time ‘they’ are quoted.
• Look at the person who is quoting ‘them’, what results are they getting?
• Do your own due diligence. Next time you hear on these quips, research the facts.

Steve D’Anunzio has an incredible book called ‘Prosperity Paradigm’ and in that book he has a line that says- “Merely thinking differently is not enough- you must think the opposite.” I love this line and think it is a great thing to try when one of the messengers for ‘they’ have spoken. Common sense is commonly wrong.

Please leave your comments on this post, I would love to hear your thoughts on this topic. Thank you.

The word Static has many different meanings. I am using the following meaning: informal, angry, or critical talk or behavior.

Life is FULL of static!

Life is full of static. I repeat, Life is full of static. It is so prevalent in the world yet it seems to go unnoticed until you try to go against the norm. I like the term to go ‘Rogue’. When others see you in this ‘Rogue’ status they tend to be very critical of you and their behavior towards you changes. They no longer give you the benefit of the doubt, sometimes they wait to watch you fail. Sometimes well-intentioned friends and family can cause more static in our lives than our household dryers (like when you forget fabric softener). Really though, they think they are helpful by’clinging’ to you, warning you, criticizing you, they don’t realize how unhelpful they really are.

So how do we find meaning in all the static?

Static will never cease in your life. In fact it may possibly get worse. But you have control over what it means in your life. For myself, when the static gets stronger than I take it as a sign that I am headed in the right direction and a breakthrough is nigh. I like to give people the benefit of the doubt and say: “This person probably wants what is best for me, but only I know what is best for me.” Hate the static, not the staticky one. Actualy I say think a great meaning behind static is that the universe is telling you that you are on the right track. The static can wear us down and make our goals look impossible, it is up to us to create the meaning for static in our own lives.

Static is static.

I believe that static has no power in and of itself. It is just noise, thoughts, and worries of other people passed on as advice. Let each of us see the static in our lives, attach our own meeting to it, and accept the universe’s compliment to us as we journey to our potential, destiny, and rewards.

I was reading an article out of the Star Tribune based out of Minneapolis, Minnesota and I read this part of the article and I had to re-read it like 5 times. Now I’m not a financial planner, or the most savvy economist but read this and tell me if I’m missing something:
“Its combined funds for active and retired employees rose at an annual rate of 9.7 percent over the past 20 years, exceeding inflation by an average of 6.6 percentage points a year. The funds are expected to exceed inflation by 3 to 5 percentage points annually.”
So the funds are ‘expected’ to ‘exceed’ inflation by 3-5 points annually?

(click here for the full article)

Fuzzy Math.

My buddy Coby Tippetts calls this type of thing Fuzzy Math. See we are sold by people in the finance industry that our mutual funds are increasing annually an average of 9.7% but that doesn’t mean that every year your investment capital is raising an additional 9.7%. It is an average. If it is only outperforming inflation by 3-5%, then aren’t we only making 3-5% on our money? This is an example of a sacred cow. But there is another flaw in the ‘average’ retirement plan, read on…

Killing Sacred Cows.

This is the title of my friend Garrett Gunderson’s book and in it he has an example about this ‘average’ return that most people fail to realize. When you do the math on the returns it uncovers a basic assumption. In the book on page 70 Garrett gives this example:

“Suppose I have $1,000 to invest in a mutual fund.I invest it in a fund that has an estimated 10 percent return and enjoy a 100 percent positive rate of return the first year. Now I have $2,000. In year two the market actually drops 50 percent, leaving me with half of my $2,000, or $1,000. Year three results in yet another 100 percent positive rate of return, so again I have $2,000. Unfortunately, year four brings 50 percent negative yet again, so I’m back to my original amount of $1,000.

“The mutual fund company is pleased to announce a 25 percent rate of return on its prospectus for the last four years, but what does that mean for me? (Of course, this is an extreme example to prove a point. Mutual fund companies are much more subtle than this, because they would show the fund over a longer period of time so as not to highlight the wild variations in such a short period of time.)

“My actual return, as concerns he fund alone is $0 and 0 percent- or so it would appear. The situation is actually worse when we take into account inflation (which, generally speaking, is grossly underrated by most media), the capital gains taxes I paid in years one and three, fund expenses (because the mutual fund gets paid even for bad performance), and lost opportunity costs.”

He goes on in more detail of the actual math on ‘average rate of return’. I love his example and if you thought this was good you should read the entire book, it is available at your major bookstores and can be ordered online here at: killingsacredcows.com

I realized reading the book that I had many ‘Sacred Cows’ that I needed to murder in order to prosper.

Garrett titled his book ‘Killing Sacred Cows‘ and the subtitle is ‘Overcoming the Financial Myths that are Destroying your Prosperity.’ I have read the book a couple times and I think it is one of the best books on personal finance and the abundance mindset I have ever read. Anyone could read it and find it to be very valuable for their personal prosperity and financial education. Check it out and leave a comment here, I’d love to hear how much you like it.