Counting the Cost

While we all have dreams and goals we want to achieve, you have to also be willing to understand the cost that needs to be paid in order to get it. It helps to consider what you’re willing to pay in order to get it. If what you’re willing to pay doesn’t equal up to the cost that needs to be paid, you can’t get what you want. In the bible, Jesus refers to this concept as “counting the cost.” He hoped that by asking his potential followers to count the cost of following him, they would be less discouraged as they faced more and more adversity. Counting the cost can be applied anywhere in life not just spiritually. Setting a goal or starting a project without really considering the cost can be the ultimate setup for disappointment and discouragement

A great example of this is being a musician. Just like every field there are levels, goals, and projects possible when it come to musicianship. For the sake of this post, let’s say your goal is to tour as a drummer for a Grammy winning artist. You have to ask yourself what price are you willing to pay and is that price equal or greater than the cost need to achieve that goal. Are willing to devote your afternoons practicing scales and learning music? Are you willing to sacrifice weekends with your friends to go to gigs and rehearsals that may position yourself in the right place to get that opportunity you’ve been waiting for? Are you willing to sacrifice unfruitful relationships for ones that will help grow and mold you into the person you need to become? If you’re not willing to pay that cost, then don’t expect to get what you want.

So what’s the cost you need to achieve your goal? Having goals is great, but setting goals with no real intention of following through them is just a dream. If your goal will take a certain cost to be obtained, be willing to pay up.

Hope this helps,

Nahum

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Time Management Laws to Live By

1. Do the most important thing FIRST
2. Create the following folders in your email
   1. @Reference – things that you need at a later time for a specific future task
   2. @Action – an email related to something you need to get done
   3. Delete everything else
3. Organize your workflow – capture, clarifying, organizing, reflecting, and engage
4. Limit checking your social media and emails to twice a day
5. Evaluate everything you have to do and decide if it benefits you.  If it doesn’t remove it
6. Strive to be 15 minutes early
7. Before working on anything else, knock out the most important thing.  You’ll feel less pressured throughout the day
8. Make a list of the tasks you can do today, determine if you can/should delegate/outsource, do that, and replace it with someone else
9. Buy a journal and dump all your ideas so you don’t have to carry that baggage
10. Commitments to yourself are just as important as commitments to others

 

The Case for Minimalism

Two years ago, I made the decision to adopt a minimalist mindset and it’s one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. The promise of freedom and peace of mind that attracted me to it and I couldn’t ever see myself ever turning down freedom.   So, two years ago I made the decision to try minimalism out for a year.  Two years later I don’t see myself turning back ever.  Here’s why:

Less Room for the Unimportant, More room for what’s Important

Less clutter means more space for the important things in life. Adopting this mindset doesn’t apply only to tangible items, but every area of your life.  As an example, ask yourself, “what are the things I should be removing from my diet?”  For me the answer was cutting out soda and fast food.  By doing that I know have the space to insert drink more water and more home-cooked meals.  (A great move both physically and financially.)

More Freedom

Think of clutter as an anchor tying you down. Anchors are only useful when you need to stop, not when you’re trying to get somewhere.  Dropping unnecessary weight and anchors will give you the freedom to do what you want without having to go through nonessential hurdles.

More Peace of Mind

Out of the three points mentioned, peace of mind is easily my favorite benefit. I can’t name too many things that feel better than the mental clarity you get from dumping your mind of unnecessary clutter. Personally, I tend to get weighed down by goals & projects I want to complete; but instead of writing them down and making a plan I tend to let them wander in my head with no clear direction.  If you’re like me, taking an afternoon to unload your mind will help you achieve a new level of clarity that you really can’t beat.

 

Make 2018 your year to clear out everything temporary and unnecessary.  I promise you won’t regret it.

How to Create the Perfect Day

I’m a firm believer that everyone desires to be great. I don’t believe that there isn’t one person on this earth that looks at their current state and every fully accepts where they are. While I do believe everyone desires to be great, not everyone will be great. Achieving great and amazing things will take tons of hard work. We’d like to imagine a world where success depends on that one “miracle moment.” However in reality, it’s founded on years of hard work. Day after day of continuous work, that leads up to one moment which opens up the doors to what you see now. If you’re anything like myself, it’s easy to get caught up in the really big moments and projects, and get turned off by the details. But since the little days lead to the big ones, lets focus on create the most amount of “perfect” days you can. Grab a sheet a paper or note taking app, create 4 sections and let’s get to work:

5 MITs (Most Important Tasks)

Start out by listing out the 5 most important tasks you have to do to get you closer to your goal. By having these tasks listed out for you in the morning, you should be ready to attack to them first thing in the morning. You may be surprised to know that having too much on your plate for one day can you make you oddly enough less effective. Setting a small attainable number of tasks figured and planned out will help you clear your mind and better prepare you for your day.

People To contact

For this next section, I want you to make a list of the people you need to text, call, connect, and email for the day. Of course these most likely won’t be the only people you connect with. The purpose of the section is to make sure that you connect with the people you need to that day. Don’t overlook this portion of your day. Working 25 hours a day won’t make a difference if you don’t have the network to elevate you.

Things To-Do

To me personally, there’s a difference between things to do and tasks to do. This varies from person to person. When you split up your life into the several areas it encompasses, there are certain things that you need to do habitually in order to maximize that area. For example, in order to succeed spiritually, you must keep up with your devotional time and studies. In order to succeed physically, you must work out regularly and watch your diet. So what are the things that you have to do today? Do you need to practice drums? Do you need workout? Do you need time to practice a new language? Prioritize it by putting it here.

Appointments

Saving the best for last are appointments. Appointments can be dinner meetings with a business partner, a date with your partner, church, etc. Anything you have to be at, where you’re unable to do other work at, is an appointments. Appointments should set the foundation for your day, so you should be making it a priority to only accept appointments you need to accept.

 

After looking over this list, think about the different things on this list. Now think about tomorrow. How can you make tomorrow more effective? How can you make a tomorrow one of those days future you will thank you for? Start now by making planning your tomorrow, today.

Value Her Differences

Being in a relationship has taught me so much.  I haven’t mastered every lesson there is, and I’m nowhere near being the perfect boyfriend/finance; but I’ve definitely learned enough to speak on it.  One of the hardest lessons I’ve had to learn is: you and her are not and may never be similar, and that’s okay.  A relationship is dependent on two people being able to trust that the other will accept them for who they are.  As much as we dream about the “perfect” woman, the reality is that you need to see your partner as that perfect woman.  Flaws and all.  When you take into consideration that your partner has different experiences, thoughts, and upbringing; you should naturally expect her to be different.  Her views on the world, philosophy, and ideologies may all be different from what you expect and that’s exactly why you need to value her.  As you continue to rise, you need someone to challenge you.  You need someone to tell you, “you can do better”, “that’s not right”, or “maybe you could do this a little differently”.  Hearing it now maybe hard to hear, but applying it now can only better you.  

Financial Guidelines for your 20s

 

 

When you first move out, you want responsibility and the ability to prove that you know what you’re doing.  I was the same way.  One of the biggest responsibilities you’ll have is financially.  Once the paychecks start to roll in, it’s easy to find ways to spend it on things that you don’t really need.  Too easy.  And while there are many lessons to be learned and life, you never want to know what happens when you can’t pay your rent for the month.  So for my guys starting out, here are some guidelines I followed (and am following) to keep myself on track.

Establish a Budget

Forget everything you learned about budgeting and simplify it to a simple science.  Many of us aren’t really good at the whole “make an excel chart with the pie chart with percentages” stuff.  I understand that was me too.  First understand the difference between a want and a need.  It’s really simple actually.  Wants are things that you want but don’t need.  Needs are things that you actually need.  Subtract your needs by the amount you make a month.  And then with the rest of the cash you have left, decide how much you want to spend on whatever.  Taking the time to think about it makes you think a lot more rationally.

Build an Emergency Fund

Most gurus agree that you should have at least 2-3 months of expenses saved up in an emergency fund.  A savings account that you have specifically for emergencies.  Sneakers are not an emergency.  Building an emergency fund will give you the peace of mind that you won’t have to stress about money in case don’t go the way you expected them to.

Focus on Retirement, Now — 401k

Retirement is not something you should be waiting until retirement to think about.  Experts say that you should aim for about 1 million dollars for retirement, however this number really does vary greatly.  What is certain however, is that you need to start saving now.  The power of compound interest deserves a post all in itself and because most regular americans don’t win the lottery or just fall into that much money; it’s a pretty good idea to have time on your side.

Build Credit History

One of my old mentors called credit “a necessary evil.”  I can’t stress enough how true that is.  Credit is necessary because regardless of what you’ve heard from people, you won’t be able to buy everything that you need out of pocket; especially when you’re starting out.  Education, Mortgages, Businesses, and cars are all examples of things that we need credit in order to obtain.  Which is why I listed this; building your credit history has tremendous benefits.

Pay That Debt

I talked about the necessary evil that is credit a couple bullets ago.  But I think that debt is so important I had to make sure I threw this in there. The bible says that the borrower is a slave to the lender; there is no other way to look at. As long as you stay in debt, you will continue to work for the person you’re in debt to.  So as much as it might hurt, just start paying it all back now.  It will be beyond worth it in the future.

Drop The Script

When it comes to building relationships, the most important thing is the person.   Leave your ulterior motives at the door.  People are generally good at figuring out if you’re genuine or not, and once they realize you’re all about the business then your relationship (if there is one) will be strictly business. People don’t desire to talk to people that only want to help themselves, but sometimes they just want to talk.  Drop the script, and just talk.

Top 10 Quotes: Miles Monroe

“The greatest tragedy in life is not death, but a life without a purpose.”

 

 

“The wealthiest places in the world are not gold mines, oil fields, diamond mines or banks. The wealthiest place is the cemetery. There lies companies that were never started, masterpieces that were never painted… In the cemetery there is buried the greatest treasure of untapped potential. There is a treasure within you that must come out. Don’t go to the grave with your treasure still within YOU.”

 

 

“People generally fall into one of three groups: the few who make things happen, the many who watch things happen, and the overwhelming majority who have no notion of what happens. Every person is either a creator of fact or a creature of circumstance. He either puts color into his environment, or, like a chameleon, takes color from his environment.”

 

 

“Leaders don’t seek followers. Followers are attracted to leaders.”

 

 

“Humility is simply believing and accepting what God says about us, and God says that we are anything but worthless.”

 

 

“Poor people talk about money all the time, rich people talk about things, wealthy people talk about ideas.”

 

 

“The greatness of a man is measured by the way he treats the little man. Compassion for the weak is a sign of greatness.”

 

 

“Your job is your skill that they can fire you from at any time. But your work is your gift. No one can take that from you”

 

 

“The picture that we have of ourselves — our self-concept — will always determine how we respond to life.”

 

 

“We should not persue money. We should persue vision, we should persue purpose; for ourselves, for our country, and for our communities.”

 

 

Did I miss one?  Was there a quote that impacted you in particular? Leave a comment and let’s talk about it.

 

What Playing An Instrument Has Taught Me About Creativity

I think one of the most misunderstood concepts in today’s business world is creativity.  Not all to say people aren’t creative, I honestly think that we’re living in one of the most creative times in history; but I don’t think people understand it well.  Playing an instrument has taught me so much about what creativity is and what it isn’t.  I’ve been able to take what I learned from the playing the piano and been able use to become more creative in other areas of my life. Here are some of the most important lessons playing my instrument has taught me about Creativity:

There is no such thing as a “miracle moment”

I think one of the biggest things that people don’t understand about creativity is that there is no such thing as the big “aha” moment.  There will never be a day when you magically wake up and have the cure to cancer.  Creativity comes through a mix of multiple ideas and experiences unique to you.

Become an Expert.

The best way to come up with creative ideas is to first understanding everything you can about a subject first.  I’d like to look at it like finishing a puzzle.  Imagine your creative idea is like placing the last puzzle piece in a 1000 piece puzzle.  Would it be easier to put the puzzle together with 200 pieces already put together? Or 800?

Imagine the impossible and make it possible.

When making musical arrangements, many musicians start making their arrangements by making up musical ideas in their heads with no limit or restrictions.  Even though the music will eventually be edited, added to or subtracted from (yes there can be too much); by putting all your cards up front you set yourself up for a creative breakthrough.

Thoroughly understand the problem.

A lot of times we want to be creative for the sake of being of the creativity.  Creativity without purpose isn’t creative, it’s useless.  Before attempting to solve any problems with the use of creative tools, make sure you take 5 minutes to make sure you fully understand the problem and direction on how you want to go about tackling the problem.

Jumpstart: A Look into my Morning Routine

The number one way to have a great day, is to start off with a great morning.  Everything we do comes from some kind of foundation; whether that foundation be a great one or a bad one.  When you read up on the habits of the most successful, it’s almost impossible to name even one that didn’t contribute their success to a daily morning routine.  A morning routine is vital to your day, in my opinion, because you touch so many areas of life in that one period of time.  With all of our busy schedules, it can be hard to touch base on some of the important things in life.  Not all of us have the time to spend a good amount of time in the gym, find the time to really devote solely to our spiritual lives, and even making sure that we’re up to date with everything that’s going on in our lives.  Instead of searching for little moments in our day to fit these, we can prioritize them in the morning keeping us at ease.  They also provide what I believe to the most important reason for having a morning routine: mental clearness.  Have you ever felt like you just had too much on your plate?  You didn’t know what you had to do next?  Like you had an insurmountable amount of things to do?   Man, oh man do I have some good news for you.  I think to really get the point across I want to go into detail about my own morning routine and how that generally goes (nobody’s perfect).  If you want anymore ideas about how you can go about creating your own morning routine, check out mymorningroutine.com.  It’s an awesome website that interviews many successful people and goes into to depth.  Because you get perspectives from different people from different places in life, you can get a better idea of what you need for yourself.

To start, I’ll generally get up around 7 AM on the dot, and shake off the sleep cobwebs.

Once that’s taken care I start with:

Prayer/Devotion

As a man of God first I wholeheartedly believe everything I am able to do and accomplish is a direct result of the blessings the Lord continues to give me everyday.  As I strive to build a stronger relationship with him, setting aside sometime to spend with the Lord in prayer becomes more and more necessary everyday.  Sometimes it’s as deep as praying all the way the 30 minutes, and sometimes it’s as easy as reading some scripture and saying thanks for waking up.

 

Once that’s finished, I get dressed cause it’s time to…

Workout

Luckily for me, I have a basic gym setup easily accessible for me with the basics that I need to keep myself in decent shape.  One hour = 15-20 minutes of cardio, 40-45 minutes of lifting and exercise.  If I’m feeling up to it, I’ll always have the option to workout later in the day.   But by getting the absolute basics in, at least I can be at ease knowing I’m going forward.

 

Get Connected

At this stage, it’s time to see what’s going on in the world.  I’m not responding to any messages or e-mails yet, I’m strictly taking the time to catch up on the important highlights that I need to know going forward.  I personally have a subscription to the Wall Street Journal (wsj.com) that I just skim for the stories that stick out for me, read up on my sport stories, browse the financials and then that’s about it.  No need to be to through here.

 

Plan The Day

Eliminate all the unnecessary thinking here!!!  This is honestly my favorite part of my morning routine because it puts me at ease mentally and spiritually.  This portion of my routine is very simple yet, yet extremely crucial.  Simply make two lists:  Things to Do  & People to Contact.  Once it’s listed, THAT’S IT.  If you can’t think of it at that time, it can’t be that important.  This process helps me personally so much because now instead of wondering “what do I have to do next?”, the question to be asked is now “what else do I have to do to be done for the day?”.

 

Contacts

People that talk to me on the regular know this all too well.  I generally don’t even touch my messenger app until after 9:30.  The only person reaching me before then is my girl, and even she has to keep me in line occasionally because she loves her early morning Good Morning Texts.  At this point in the day, I’m spending about 30 focused minutes responding to all my text messages, emails, requests, setting appointments, booking services, reaching out to people, saying happy birthday, and anything else that requires me to reach out to other.  Yes.  I do have the whole day to take of this.  No.  Ain’t nobody got the time to do that all day.

 

Eat The First Frog

A.k.a. get to work.  I take a stab at the biggest task on my list and I look to go ahead and get it taken care of before I head out to work. This step is CRUCIAL because it builds the momentum I need to attack the day at full force.  If I can tackle the most difficult task on my list, what’s stopping me from knocking out everything else?  You gotta love the way the mind works.

 

I hope this insight into my own personal world helped you start to think about creating your own morning routine.  Don’t forget again you can also checkout mymorningroutine.com for more awesome ideas.