Do you have talent?

You've got talent. We see these shows, and hear people tell us this. What does this mean? How have some people who have been rejected become famous due to their talent? Is talent innate or is it something that everyone can attain?

Have you got what it takes to stand out? I know you do. Ask yourself, what comes naturally to you that may be hard for other people? Is this what talent is? Here I can be boring, or balanced as my friend put it, and say both yes and no.

First let's examine what I mean by 'naturally'. I don't believe that you are born great at anything as some people may distinguish a difference between talent and skill, talent being something you are born with and skill is something that is achieved through deliberate practice.

I believe that everything is cultivated, and it begins with your parent's actions to your great parent's actions.

Is talent passed through genetics? Not exactly. How you come into this world does play a role. Let me explain. If you are born with defects and a disadvantage then you will have a tougher time succeeding, as opposed to someone who is born healthy has a leg up right from the start.

Next, your environment and social aspect's have a major influence on who you become.

They will influence you to pick up certain habits, and to work on certain skill sets. I always write about awareness. Some people this may never come to other's it comes very early in life. I am not talking about meditation and sitting in a still position under the Bodhi tree for hours everyday humming until you reach Vipassana.

What I mean is that we are curious beings, and at some point we not only ask questions to render our curiosity, we also are able to step back and observe without passing any judgement. Why am I telling you this? Because when you do this you are able to understand and carve your own path in life.

This doesn't mean that people with constant guidance and persuasion are not talented, they just never took the initiative to discover for themselves what they could enjoy or be good at. I want to stop here for a moment because I feel that I should make something clear.

"People who become really good at certain skills grow to love doing them." Just like talent can be cultivated so can happiness.

Who is your role model? Who do you wish you would most likely want to be like?

When we see someone who we want to become we program in ourselves to practice and acquire those skills that will get us there. Some may call this a calling as Geoff Goin declares.

In his book Talent is Overrated, Geoff Colvin argues talent means nothing and is irrelevant. If it even exists. What talent is, is rigorous training and practice.

Do you think you still have talent? Sure you do. What have you been practicing, that you have become so good at?

I have explained previously there is a distinction between practice and deliberate practice. I will have psychologist Andres Ericsson explain it further.

"Practice must become uncomfortable." The only way to become really good at something, and I mean "So Good That They Can't Ignore You" is by challenging yourself. When you get comfortable you are no longer deliberately practicing.

This is what talent is. A skill set that you are consistently improving at. That you do not enjoy doing because it is a challenge yet you still do it anyways because the result is greater than the pain it takes to get there.

"You are capable of more than you realize and in trying you learn something new as you push past the possibility." Geoff Goin

Practicing wrong means never becoming better. Try harder at this point and it becomes counter productive.

When your rejected it should make you want to do better, practice harder. In most cases this is actually the opposite effect. We fear rejection so we stay mediocre yet, we don't realize we actually fear success more because we worry about "getting our hopes up" as doctor Susan Babbel states in Psychology Today.

Yesterday I was paddle boarding and for most of the time I couldn't stand up on the paddle board. I was frustrated and disappointed. Worst of all I was rejecting the advice that my girlfriend wanted to give me. For both of us this was our first time paddle boarding.

The reasons for me resisting the advice was because of my closed mindedness, because I wanted to prove to myself and to her that I could figure it out on my own, being stubborn, because it was her first time so I didn't find the advice reliable.

Yet, she got up right away. Is she talented at paddle boarding? Maybe, or maybe she is well coordinated, has practiced gymnastics most of her life and does yoga three times a week.

Can talent be inherited or can it be learned? I think you are starting to see a clear picture now.

After numerous failed attempts I decided to welcome her advice. Guess what? I got up. I was ecstatic despite that I got the advice from her. I looked more like an idiot failing than taking on advice.

"People who become really talented, never do it alone."

So now you've got talent. Before the internet having talent meant that you needed to have one person believe in you. That person had to be a gatekeeper, with connections that could reveal your talent to the rest of the world.

The power of the internet, 'social media'. "Hone in on your talent/skill and people will come knocking on your door.". You no longer need that gatekeeper because the reach of the internet is infinite. The internet is your gatekeeper.

With a phone, camera, and the internet you have the power to choose your destiny. You don't even need someone holding the camera or publishing things for you. You can do it all yourself.

Look at Justin Bieber. A talent manager, who is actually the brother of Adam Braun the founder of Pencils of Promise, discovered him through his You Tube home made videos and got him signed onto a label to sell millions of copies of his hit 'Baby' while Justin Timberlake and Usher where having a bidding war to sign Bieber on.

Talent will have people fight over you.

I know you want to finish reading it, so join me here Karasin Group.

If you don't want to put in the work then stop complaining.

"With a precise regiment you can avoid all sorts of health problems by just putting in all the right stuff in you. Just think of how many kids get a piss poor start in life without strong bodies and go through life with problems that they could not avoid on their own".

This was a statement made by someone who just had a newborn.

I got ignited on this subject and decided to leave the post I was writing to write this one.

So let's get into it.

"What goes in must come out" This saying holds true for everything we do.

Put junk into your body, and your body will have a tough time processing that junk. Fill your mind with negative information and guess what you will think negatively about your outcomes. (This is why I would discourage you from reading or watching the news when you wake up or before you go to bed.)

Throw a ball up in the air and it will come down, gravity.

This may sound like a rant, and in some parts it will be.

What I don't agree with is people who complain. Miserable about their results yet, they fail to be miserable about the decisions they make.

You decided to eat chips and ice cream before bed well don't expect to have a flat stomach and no face acne. Okay, maybe some of us are just dealt a shitty hand in life and these things we cannot avoid, looking fat and having acne. It's the genes right? So who is left to blame?

Being conscious about your intake is not only beneficial to you more importantly it becomes beneficial to your offspring's too. So why are you selfish? Why are you polluting your health and worst of all expecting good results from your actions?

"Your actions speak louder than words" We always hear this saying, we hear it because it is true. Sitting on the couch eating junk and going out to smoke cigarettes then talking about going to the gym next week and quitting smoking on the first of January. Your actions speak louder than words.

Watching reality T.V. shows and playing video games while saying how you will own a business and become super successful. Your actions speak louder than words.

So what about those people that take care of themselves and do everything that is "right", will get to that in a minute, that still get sick? I don't have an answer for you. Maybe it was your parents that lived a shitty life or their parents and the genes got passed on to you. I am sorry.

What would our society look like if everyone was conscious about their intake and people were not so concerned about the short term gains?

Unfortunately, we can't have everyone be good and healthy. Was Charles Darwin wrong? "Survival of the form that will leave the most copies of itself in successive generations." We have survived this long, are we at the tipping point now moving backwards, the weak surpassing the strong? Becoming sicker and weaker?

The weak serve a purpose too in society. Besides eating away at the health care, and the government assistant plans, they serve as good labourers when they are not sick at home bed ridden.

Here comes a very controversial statement, maybe Hitler was on to something.

"Just because your right doesn't mean people will care or listen. It takes more than being right to earn attention and actions from others." Seth Godin.

Okay, maybe I went a little far on the efficacy of the above statement. Exterminating all those that are of a different race, color or belief is certainly not the way to make the world a better, stronger, healthier place.

What do I mean doing everything "right"? Or my friend saying to put all the "right" stuff in you?

I would be bias here to tell you that you need to eat your balanced portioned meals, exercise daily, educate and challenge yourself everyday.

That's my belief, what is yours?

Who cares about my belief or your belief, just don't complain about the outcome of your actions.

You think I enjoy eating healthy and exercising everyday? You got that wrong. I hate the process. I hate limiting myself and watching what I should eat, why I shouldn't drink and why I shouldn't indulge.

What I love is the result. The worst part is it takes what seems like forever to see the result. The moment someone says "your looking good these days" it makes it all worth it. No I am not

Ill have to stop here, come read the rest of the post HERE its free!

Percieving the world through a different lens

Aerial Image of Vancouver Downtown City

I was riding my bike with a group of people who were from a different city. I began to notice things that were not there before, or were they always there but I just haven't noticed them?



Of course they were always there. So why haven't I noticed the older building, certain billboards, the art, the shops?



Alva Noe pointed out that "What is out there in the world is content and we have access to that content by the use of various skills." We have a limited capacity to consume all the information in the world. How we choose to consume that information is based on our ability to see, hear, taste, touch and smell.



We see a vary narrow window of the world, as I've pointed out before we tend to notice things that are more familiar to us. Imagine noticing something new everyday and not having any habits. We would be lost.



Habits are what help us move forward and grow. It may sound counter productive as habits are made so we do something well over and over again, yet without habits we cannot learn new things. Imagine having to learn how to brush your teeth every day and how to drink water or walk through a doorway.



In his book Out of Our Heads, Alva Noe does a great job at pointing out that we are not our brains, and that we do not understand consciousness. We understand the hard wiring of the brain and that the brain sends signals to our body to act and then signals are sent back to the brain to feel.



The spin is that our brain doesn’t actually feel and that our brain doesn’t actually direct our body to behave. It is the mind and the soul that does all of that.  



Without getting fully immersed into his explanation to the way the human consciousness works he concludes that we are not our brain. There is something much more to us than a living habitual mass. Each and everyone of us is something that cannot be explained.



Why am I telling you this? I want you to understand that our perception and the way we do things guide us a long a path that could be predetermined or something that is spontaneous. That is something I cannot fully understand myself.



I can decide to eat a meal and then I know I will feel full after that meal. But I cannot predict if I will get food poising after eating that meal.



So that leaves me to say that we can focus on what we can control. That we can notice what is around us by simply observing and becoming aware through deliberate action. For example: telling yourself to notice something you haven’t noticed before.



Now when you look for something new, guess what, you will find it. How? Because you are challenging yourself.



Although I want to go deeper and say that other people's reaction does change the way we perceive things.



When someone praises you on a job you have done you view that job differently than you would have if someone critiqued it.



When someone says this is a beautiful place, you take that information into your mind, not your brain, Sorry to stop the post here, I would love it for you to finish the rest and to find out more about perception HERE

Can distraction be useful or harmful to your productivity?

I must say before I begin this post that without the internet I am very effective at speaking my mind and creating content. How has the internet improved my writing? It has done so by applying various academic research studies and case references to convey a further powerful message.

With this information I am able to gain a better understanding on the subject I write about.

People are persuaded easier when you case reference other authorities work. Third parties are more reliable since there is no bias opinion held in their statements concerning your message.

As this is my third post now without any Wi-Fi, yes, I am counting them and I am still in the air. I think I will apply this strategy now to my daily writing. I seem to get more writing done in a shorter period of time. Distractions are a nuisance when they are irrelevant.

Are all distractions irrelevant? No, it is a general understanding, and research studies have proven that distractions consume your train of thought. Because of that the amount of time it takes you to accomplish something increases.

Inspiration can come through distractions. This is why I disagree that all distractions become destructive.

“When I can identify between what is important and what is interesting I become much more effective with my work.”

Can both important and interesting apply? Which should we focus our attention on? Why?

Yes, both can apply. Usually what you think is important is interesting to you. “Interest creates curiosity”. Not all interesting things are important, and this part is important to understand.

A cat jumping from one roof top to another or a guy using a blender to destroy Iphones may be interesting but is most certainly not important.

Unless of course you are in animal sciences or in the tech field building indestructible phones.

I will say what you already know but you might not apply and that is, focus your attention on the important things. What is important to you? That I cannot answer. What is important to me? Improving my well being, my relationships and my businesses.

As I am writing this I am getting stuck. I am getting stuck because I am not sure where I want to take this post.

I start blaming the music I am listening to so I switch over to something that is familiar and more soothing. Could it also be that this is the third post I am writing and this is unusual in a sense that I write 1-2 posts a day? Creativity is a muscle and when over exercised it becomes exhaustive.

Maybe it is the fact that we are almost landing and the descent of this plane and the constant announcements from the captain make it that much more difficult to concentrate.

Are these just mere excuses or distractions? By writing this down am I pushing to get back into the flow state. Yes.

Writing and powering through these distractions will make things better. How so? This is what Malcolm Gladwell writes in his best selling book Outliers, the 10,000-hour rule.

This was first introduced in 1993 by Anders Ericson a Swedish Psychologist, and then popularized by Malcolm. Through deliberate practice one can achieve mastery. We need to understand what deliberate practice is and what practice is because they are not the same thing.

Someone can work for 20 years and still not become a master at their work. So what do I mean by deliberate practice?

Practicing by challenging yourself enough so you can increase your skill base, but not too much that it becomes too frustrating for you to give up. When it becomes too frustrating it then demotivates you.

Daniel H. Pink in his book Drive explains it best, three factors are involved

Find the rest of the post here

The questions I have for my post going viral on medium

Who there in the medium platform decided to publish one of my many posts? Why this particular post? I will go in circles assuming without clarifying.

As I least expected, okay let’s get real, did not expect at all for this post to be featured on the Medium homepage. Was it satisfying to see this? Absolutely! Am I writing just for this feeling? Absolutely, not.

This feeling cannot be my only drive to write because if it was most chances are you would not be reading this post today. I understand now why people give in and give up. They create with the wrong intentions in mind.

So what are my intentions? My intentions as I have previously stated, still stay true today. The purpose of my writing is to improve my life. How does it improve my life? Through deliberate practice and daily discipline, I have incorporated a habit.

Improving my ability to think creatively helps me surprisingly in my businesses and of course in every aspect of my life. It’s exactly like exercising your body. You exercise so your body stays in shape and you maintain your health. I do this with writing as well.

I want to ask a series of questions to dig deeper into why my post went viral before I steer of topic.

Is it my style of writing? I find I do have a signature style of writing, as does every single person writing or creating. Walking into several art shops it is very easy to distinguish each art piece and to whom it belongs to.

Is it the message? The post was personal, as most of my posts are. It was relevant to todays economy and culture.

Is it the content and value? I write content and bring value however, every post appeals to a different audience. The problem I find with this is that I may seem like a jack of all trades. However, I am simply an observer who loves to write balanced thought provoking posts.

Is it the headline? Well as I thoroughly discussed in my last post, the headline did prove to be effective for this particular post. I didn’t feel it was the strongest and most accurate headline so I am not sure how that sat with most of the readers.

Is there an algorithm? We are led to believe there is a tactic or some sort of system as to how everything works. If you do xyz you will get your result. Algorithms are an interesting topic and to go into detail here would take away from my intended message. To simply say yes would be a disservice to the functionality of the algorithm.

In some instances, the algorithms couldn’t be any more specific, such as Snapchat or Reddit were people follow you or decide to up vote and place you on the top ranks. In other instances, they are so complex I don’t even believe the creators or the best hackers fathom their understanding, such as Twitter and Instagram.

Okay, I may be cheating a bit using social media as examples. On a side note, if you are reading this and you do not have any social media I would love to connect with you via email or phone conversation to find out why.

Popular authors go viral because they “double down on what works.” Because they already have a massive following. Once the post gets momentum it continues to climb the ranks of the platform.

Is there a ninja turtle sitting behind a desk eating Doritos and randomly swatting at a keyboard hitting the publish button on random posts? This may seem silly, but the purpose for this is to paint a picture, and to see if your paying attention.

Why hasn’t it happened since? FINISH THE POST HERE

Image copyright by giphy.com

Effective headlines are so important to capture the reader’s attention. Ps. I hate the “Hack”

This is the first post I am writing without any use of the internet. It feels a little awkward since I don’t have something to reference or draw upon. Who knows, this could be a refreshing experience.

Stepping outside of my usual routine of manifesting creativity.

Maybe outside the distraction of the internet can prove further effectiveness. Until I am done I wont know for sure.

I am writing this above the clouds in an altitude of 36,000 feet. Yes, I am on a plane travelling back home from a relaxing/business oriented trip.

Enough about my personal life, let’s get into the topic of “The reasons I hate the hack”. “Follow these 7 steps and it will change your life”. Sound familiar?

This sounds personal, all of my posts are. This may seem like a rant, and in some instances it will be. Not sure if I will keep this sentence in here by the time I am finished with this post.

By the time you have found this post, I am almost positive that you have stumbled across a headline that features a number of ways or steps or books that will change your “life”.

So I ask myself when I read these headlines, are they there to capture attention and stand out from all the noise? Do the authors actually believe that people’s lives will change after reading the content they have to share? Are the readers so naïve to believe that reading the steps will change their lives?

“Seek and you shall find.”

Where am I going with this post? To find out what the intentions of the authors are? To find out what make effective headlines? Why the readers find these headlines so captivating?

I think you are looking for an answer here as I am searching to give you one I will tackle what I can with my knowledge, beliefs and experience.

We can start here, what is the one thing that readers enjoy? Hacks. A proven working method that will simplify their lives. That will guide them and avoid any pain along the way. A step by step process that is easily digestible and actionable. The weird thing is that most times no one takes any action.

Yes, there are great novel ways to do new things that you haven’t thought of, and people write about ways that have improved their lives. So if it has worked for them why wouldn’t it work for you?

Because they are “doing”, not “going to do”.

Don’t get me wrong it can work for you. Ask yourself, have you applied the steps or methods in exactly the same circumstance that the author was in? The identical way the author implemented these step, with the same intention, emotion and talent?

I found that the hardest thing is not to give you content and value in my posts, it is actually getting your attention to come read my posts. The actionable content is there.

The only way to get you to pay attention to me rather than the noise is to make a headline that will stand out. That will create stickiness. People like myself spend countless hours on getting it just right.

Okay I don’t spend as much time on the headlines as I should because I know I have value to offer and I focus on that first and foremost, not on how to lure you to come read it.

I have been told countless of times how my headlines are just not good to put t nicely, truthfully they suck. They suck so bad that no one gives my content a chance.

I am writing a follow up post as I am writing this one on how 1, yes, 1 of my posts went viral on

Medium, “How can we avoid the noise?” to show you that headlines do matter.

Let’s give you examples of some really crappy headlines that I have written:

Find the rest of the article by clicking here

A creative way to take risks

Risk is talked about a lot but I feel we do not fully justify what it actually represents.

Why do companies who have dominated their industries mitigate risk? And why do disruptive companies welcome risk?

"If you cannot disrupt your self, your idea, or your project, someone else will disrupt you."

Through disruption comes a new idea. Let me rephrase that, old ideas bring out new ideas, the combination of ideas bring out new ideas, rarely do new ideas emerge out of thin air.

Creativity is a curse, we can either welcome it or resist it. When we resist it we do a disservice to ourselves and everyone else who gains from our creativity. So why resist? Because it is the safe thing to do.

Being safe means staying comfortable.

CEO's of large corporations would rather make sure that they do not risk losing their current positions by doing the things that are safe and that look after the stake holders. Even though, if they make risky decisions they may make the company better, stronger and faster. Meaning the stake holders will be better off as well.

"If they do, they may" words that are not very promising. There is that chance that they could make the company worse, lose money for the sake holders and worst of all lose their jobs.

Would you take the risk if you knew that you had a 50/50 chance of either winning and disrupting or losing everything you worked so hard to attain?

Depends on your character. Not everyone who takes risks disrupts. Let me repeat that, not everyone who takes risks disrupts.

Psychologist Aptor makes claim that it is better for one person taking the risk and going first rather than the whole group taking the risk. This dates back to our ancestors when a tribe would enter a new territory they would assess the risk by having one person drink the water and try the fruit to see if it is safe for the rest of the group.

Risk is not a sure bet however, some disrupters understand, sorry all disrupters understand that risk is not only a necessary element but is regarded as the life line of the disruptor. Without risk you cannot disrupt because the status quo will keep you locked up in a cage.

To disrupt it is necessary to break free from the cage and to think outside the box.

People are not geniuses, their not born geniuses and they do not become geniuses. They are regular people just like you and I. The difference is that they work hard, they have a purpose (destination), and they attain knowledge along the way.

So why do we classify people who are disrupters as geniuses? They are simple man who had a vision, who clearly saw a path of least resistance and who decided to take the risk to go first. The appropriate word for these people is leaders.

We have established that all disruptors are risk takers so are all risk takers disruptors? No.

Is it because some risk takers fail? No.

I will have to stop here, I know you enjoyed reading it this far but there is so much more to this post, and of course an actionable take away at the end, so why don't you continue with the rest OVER HERE. If you don't find it useful let me know and I promise I will make it up to you.

The tragedy of having nice things.

Yes, it sucks when you lose something that is expensive. We value it so much more because we worked so hard to attain it, even though we all know that our happiness with material wealth is a short life.

"I would rather excel in the knowledge of what is excellent than in the extent of my power and possessions." Plutarch

This is not what this post is about.

When someone else recognizes what you have, they cannot afford it and they understand the value of it, what do you do? Do you dismiss it and be modest, pretend like its no big deal? Or do you praise what you have, be realistic, and iterate the amount of the hard work that it took to get it?

I was having a conversation with my girlfriend, and this is how most of my topics are ignited, through controversial conversations. This conversation was about her bike and how one of her friend's commented on it.

She played it off like it's "just a bike". Yes, of course it is just a bike but, to her friend it is much more then that. It is something that is unattainable, it is something that seems more precious than gold.

People will value possessions differently. I cannot afford a Lamborghini yet, so when I see someone else driving a brand new Centenario it will make my head turn, my mind wonder, and my ego sink.

Why is that? Is it because I cannot afford it? Is it because I want to afford it? Will that bring me peace and happiness once obtained?

"Do not overrate what you have received, nor envy others. He who envies others does not obtain a peace of mind." Buddha

Freedom comes from within. Having more stuff will do nothing for you except enslave to the system we call society. By thinking that having the next big thing so that you can impress others or be "happy" is just that, your "thinking" of it.

You are probably saying well Lev if it makes me happy than what's wrong with that? Okay so it makes you happy now, how about 3 months from now? How about a year from now? How about 5 years from now?

Will you still remain happy with your expensive material possession? If not, then why not?

Is it because it's half-life is at it's end? Is it because there are now newer models and shinier things to go after? Is it your status your so concerned with?

Not everyone can think the way you think, obviously, and people who cannot afford nice things, if they do not have a peace of mind, will envy you.

Then we should ask ourselves, is envy bad or is it a good thing? I believe it is neither good or bad. How so?

Read the rest of the article HERE, I will give you some actionable items, my thoughts, and I will relate it to business for anyone who cares.

Which moral principles do you follow?

Would you do something that is morally wrong? First we need to ask ourselves what are morals? According to the dictionary morals are a standard of beliefs concerning what is and what is not acceptable for someone to do.

Okay so basically they are our principles that guide us into doing either good or bad. I think you know what I am about to ask next, who defines what is morally right or wrong? Is it society? The status-quo? Or do you decide for yourself?

If everyone jumped of a roof top of a building and this was accepted as morally the right thing to do by society when you are sad, would you do so?

If you have certain moral principles and someone else has a different view on it are they wrong? Even if they make a strong argument supporting their claims?

So we all know about cults and their leaders. Most famous the Charles Manson cult. How he has imposed certain moral principles on his followers of which completely ignore the humanistic values that the majority of people follow.

No I will not take this post into this direction, however, I want to point out that not only do we have outcomes that are out of our control which the results are based on the decisions we make. As well other people have a strong influence over those decisions, as I discussed in my last post.

So why am I telling you this? I need you to understand that we are also guided by our pre conceived beliefs and notions which are based on our past experiences. What we experience and what we see other's do, especially those who we aspire to be like.

We emulate their personas, we value their morals and teach ourselves to be like the people we aspire to whether it is a conscious or an unconscious choice that we make.

It becomes our destiny, a rule guide that we follow and is seldom revised.

"Associate with people who are likely to improve you." Seneca

Let me tell you a story about my friend, her brother, and her brother's girlfriend. The background story is that my friend's brother got involved with a girl and she became pregnant. He has known this girl for about a year and a half and now she is almost in labour.

My friend and her brother have never really had a father figure. Her brother never had a long lasting relationship, and he is constantly head butting with his girlfriend. I don't think age is a factor here so I will not bore you with the details of that.

During this time of the girlfriend being in labour my friend has bonded with her especially during the times of her brother's absence. Due to ongoing clashing with his girlfriend.

This pregnancy seems more important for my friend rather than her brother. I get this feeling because of the conversations I have with all three parties.

Is it the void that my friend is filling? Not having a partner or any children herself. Is it because she feels guilty that her brother is being himself and neglecting his girlfriend when she needs him the most? Is it because my friend is a girl, and so she has commonalities with her brother's pregnant girlfriend? Is it because her brother is not ready to be a father?

The other day I got into a discussion that inspired me to write this post.

My friend's intention is for the girlfriend to get pregnant one more time so she has two children with the same father. Even though her brother may not be the best suited father in the children's lives. My friend feels that she will fill the void, and also that the children will be taken care of financially, if the girlfriend didn't decide to have another child with someone else.

With this information, what would you say is the right or wrong thing to do for the girlfriend who is pregnant? Which path should she take?

Enjoyed this post? Finish reading it here Karasin Group!

Are we in control or is it an illusion?

We think we are in control of our decisions when in fact we are susceptible to other people's influence.

How do we know what is the right or wrong thing to do? Who decides what is right and what is wrong? Are we selfish or selfless?

In this next two-part series, I will examine how influence affects our decision making. I will give you personal examples and two different scenarios. Are you ready?

Is it wrong to guilt people into donating?

Everyone has a choice, no one forces you to do anything even if you think you are obliged, "it is your thinking that makes it so". However, the flip side to this is the power of influence that people have over you when you just can't say no.

If you haven't already read this powerful book with practical strategies about how to influence people using the power of persuasion, I suggest you buy it as soon as you are ready for it.

Influence by Robert Caildini expresses the use of the everyday practice that people use against your own will, without you clearly understanding how. He is a master observer and sometimes regarded as the "godfather of influence."

This book was a validation to my observation of the human behaviour.

"Understanding persuasion means understanding how we make decisions."

Many great writers and successful entrepreneurs are able to observe what is happening without passing judgement. When this happens you are able to distinguish first what is logical, second what is reality/truth, and lastly how things work.

Epictetus in his work The Art of Living describes it as such:

"Anytime you approach a situation step back for a moment and analyze...Determine what happens first and see what that leads to."

What he is saying is pay attention to what is important, and what is important is your control over the situation. Do what you feel will be the most beneficial to your well-being.

So is it wrong then to guilt people into donating to a worthy cause? Well, one would have to ask what is a worthy cause? And who decides it is worthy? What I may consider worthy, you may have the opposite belief about it based on your previous experiences, and if you do, would you still donate?

Your first reaction will be to say no. Although, I find it interesting that we go against what we say we wouldn't do.

There are powerful forces at work here. No, this is not divine and intervention, this is using a practical approach to understanding people.

Continue reading HERE.

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What is the latest gossip?

We love to gossip about people we know, why do we do this? You are not the only one, 7 billion of us are guilty of this too.

Let's first start identifying what the definition of gossip is. What I think about it, and what the experts have to say about it. In my best intention I will give you the most insight possible in the least amount of time, let's dive in.

Gossip is the information about the behaviour and personal lives of other people according to Meriam Webster Dictionary.

My belief is that we gossip because we want to build an instant connection with the person we gossip with. We identify the commonalities of which we share, and strengthen our relationship while doing this.

How can this be? Shouldn't our relationship be more questionable now because we seem to be talking about someone else without their knowledge of it? Wouldn't we now be more on guard because if we do this to someone else what's stopping us from doing the same thing to each other?

Well the last question poses two different views. One you can say that no, you are building a bond amongst each other and by sharing vital information about someone else who you both know you are gaining each other's trust, let's stop here for a moment.

Gossiping about someone you don't know will not strengthen your relationship, in fact it will do more harm, because now you are coming off as this arrogant person who loves to talk about other people. Your trust to the person who is listening to your gossip will now be questionable.

Two, when you are gossiping about someone you know there can be opposing views. The other person can react instead of .... Finish reading this post HERE.

Turning a bold idea and putting it into action

Recently I had the pleasure of meeting a potential client who is working on a project in the food sector. Distributing food equipment to restaurants and other vendors.

He had a great idea for a side project. This entails him to become a landlord of which he would be renting a space for chefs and caterers. They would use his equipment and location to prep their meals for their clients.

Fantastic idea however, does he believe in his idea?

I want to examine what it takes for someone to believe in their idea. How do you leverage your resources to better fund this idea? How do you know there is a demand for this market? How do you know who your competition is?

An idea without action is just an idea.

There are tons of great ideas, the execution of those ideas matters more than the idea itself. So how do you know when someone believes in their idea? In short they make every move possible to bring that idea into life. How?

Executing an idea means you are willing to invest time, money, and this is the most important, other people's time. Why is the latter more important you may ask? Because when you make that INITIAL leap and sacrifice other people's time it becomes psychologically demanding on you.

You either emotionally or logically understand that by deciding to leverage someone else's time first, you believe it is time worth spending.

How is this so? Isn't easier spending other peoples time than investing your own time into the project? Initially no. After the idea is launched, it than becomes a decision for you to spend your own time doing it or wasting someone else's.

See the thing with our time is we find it invaluable. Most times it is hard to put a price on your own time. Do you compare it to the time you sit and watch T.V. or read a book or the time you earn a salary during work?

So our time becomes priceless, however using someone else's time there is a price on it. That investment in them than becomes a choice. The money you will spend on someone else's time is now putting a price on your time. Because you had to initially work to earn the money your going to spend.

This may seem confusing so let me simplify it, your time no longer is measured by how long you watch T.V. but, instead it is measured in the value you earn at your work.

"When the individual's values and desired outcome of the goals are aligned we become totally COMMITED, we pay more attention, are more resilient, and are way more productive as a result." Locke and Latham.

Becoming committed to executing the idea requires an alignment with what we believe and what our goals are for the outcome.

How do you leverage your resources? Well if you believe in what you are set out to execute will work, and you see the bigger picture, there is a way to do it without spending your own money on the project. Although, my belief is if you truly believe in your idea you will invest your own capital and time into the idea.

One way to do this is to partner up with someone or with an Angel Investor who believes in you. This can be both good and bad.

Let me know what you think of the rest of this post HERE.

Strategy, Technology, and Teaching?

The game of chess is a strategic two-person board game. A game in which you maneuver against your opponent by cornering them into a position in which they ultimately have to surrender.

If you are looking to understand how to better play chess, or where it was originated then I suggest you go to google. The purpose of this post is to show you a new perspective about teaching. Now you are probably wondering what does chess have to do with teaching?

Let's try this, I suppose chess can be used metaphorically to describe teaching. The person who wins lays out a foundation for the person who loses to learn and understand how to play the game better. Okay that was a weak attempt, now let's dive into the post.

My Grandfather was an avid chess player. He would play everyday without fail against his neighbour.

"When you do something repeatedly everyday it doesn't make you better. Doing something everyday that's challenging you does."

I want to stop here and examine this fact. Playing against someone of the same level as you will not make you any better. Playing against someone weaker than you will make you worse, and playing against someone better than you will make you better.

Studies have proven this and I will write a new post about the level of which you want to be competing against.

Let's continue, playing chess against my grandfather was something I did not look forward to, and that's strange because naturally I love competing.  I don't see the point in any game unless there can be a loser or a winner. Fuck the playing for fun crap.

I was young, it was in my childhood days, and from what I remember I did not like the game itself. Not because it was challenging, okay maybe a little bit because of this, but also because I had no patience in sitting and playing the game.

Some children amazingly have the patience to sit there and play. Beating your opponent in anything is a rush on it's own. Tactically mastering your way to defeating the other person, who wouldn't like it? It makes you feel smarter and you accomplish it all by yourself.

Moving on, my grandfather was a great chess player, and I sucked at it. When I would make a move he would give me this funny look. It was a look of confusion followed by disgust. He would always beat me. I would get so frustrated but, worse of all I felt I was not learning how to play better each time.

My moves as he would call them were "irresponsible" he would tell me what I did wrong and sometimes he would correct me and tell me what I should do. But, I never excelled, or at least that's what I thought.

Was my grandfather a good teacher or a bad teacher or somewhere in between? How do you define what a good teacher is? Does everyone have there own definition of what a good teacher is? Could a teacher be considered good to one student and not good to another?

If you enjoyed the first part of this post I gurantee you will enjoy the rest
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Would your behaviour change being in front of the public?

Would you act differently? Say things you wouldn't normally say? Would you be more or less reserved?

I know I have been doing a lot of business-related post so today we're going to change it up, we will examine human behavior. I suppose it is interrelated to business isn't it? If you don't know the answer by now let me answer that for you, of course it is.

I find human behavior fascinating especially when you start to really understand it better.

Being curious about how things work and dissecting them into removable parts brings out creativity, at least it does with me. To be curious all you have to do is deploy a set of questions to see how things can be different than they already are.

Why are things the way they are?

How can things be better? 

What would it look like if it was the opposite?

Today's topic is "would we act differently in the public eye? In front of the camera or on radio? At a party?" The answer to the series of questions in my opinion for the 99% of us is yes.

There is a minority of people whose personalities do not change on or off camera. However, we are very much like chameleons and we tend to rub off even when we don't realize it, on other people and vise versa.

What do I mean? Do you ever notice when you are watching a lot of T.V. or spend the day with someone you tend to use some of the lingo of which you normally do not find yourself using?

The question should probably be "how would we act differently if we were in the public eye?".

Why do we act differently? Do we worry about who we actually are? Do we have to hide our flaws? Why not embrace them?

"What makes us vulnerable is what makes us human."

People can relate to vulnerability of course. Your flaws provide a connectivity to people who share similar flaws as you. Does this mean we cannot relate to Artificial Intelligence? Will save this topic for another time, let's keep going.

Do you have nothing to be proud of? Do you feel ashamed and self-conscious because you are not as good as the person whose doing similar things to you? Well sure, this is what makes you human.

Recognizing that you have flaws and so does everyone else around you will raise your self-esteem. Did I say this was going to be easy work? Certainly easier said than done.

You should be proud that you made it to this day, and to this very moment. Give yourself credit for the talent or skill that you have cultivated, if it's beating someone over a game on your Xbox (master strategist), or writing an SAT exam and graduating from high school (academic achiever).

You have accomplished milestones even if you do not think so. Self-awareness I believe is key to conquering your self doubts.

It is great to challenge yourself and always look towards achieving something greater. What I am asking is for you to honor all the small wins along the way. because those will create a momentum for you to keep achieving.

"The first step toward change is awareness. The second step is acceptance." Nathaniel Branden

Momentum is important especially to keep yourself out of a potential and deadly rut. No, life is not all peaches, and there will be some depressing moments.

If you want to read the end of this post and get some actionable takeaways go to Karasingroup.com

How does scarcity create more value?

I had an epiphany today. I was jogging, it was a weird day. Sunny and hot yet, the rain was coming down. It was refreshing. While I jog I listen to audiobooks. It helps to distract me from the actual jog.

Why do I need a distraction from jogging? Because it isn't something I look forward to doing, same with exercise. As good as it is for you, it is hard work and the results are not immediate. So consistency becomes necessary, and because the results are not immediate it is that much harder to get motivated to do.

This isn't what the epiphany was about although, it will tie in at the end of this post. I was listening to Decisive by Chip and Dan Heath and something clicked that I wanted to share with you. I feel when you nail this piece of information you will understand how to produce results.

I have written about understanding people, their behaviours and actions, and that people are emotional rather than logical buyers.

Well the puzzle came together for me after I have written my last post and during my jog listening to Decisive the following day.

Running a business is hard work especially when you are just starting out. You have a product or service you want to sell but no one is buying it. So you start dropping the value of what it is worth so it sells, and you start listening to people who want to see you succeed yet they have no clue what it takes to make your business profitable.

Helpful Advice is only given to you when you ask for it, unless it is unsolicited advice of which almost every time you have no use for. Try A and you will get B or do it this way because it works for me.

This advice seldom works. Understanding that your clients are people is the first thing you need to do.

They are human just like you and I. Next understand that these same people buy on impulse. When you get them excited about something they want to buy it that much more. Their logical self however, will stop them form making the purchase.

So how do you remove them from their logical self? By applying the scarcity principle. Why does the scarcity principle work? Because it doesn't allow people to distance themselves from making the decision based on their emotion.

"You want people to buy with emotion because emotion sells."

How do you apply the scarcity principle? First by getting the person excited about the purchase. Validating what they may be contemplating. Without the first part this second part will not work.

Next let the person know that there is limited time left on the purchase since someone else is interested in buying it and there will not be any left of that same product if they don't buy NOW. In terms of service apply a limited time promotion that must be purchased NOW.

When people hear that there is no time left and they need to make the purchase now you figure out who is serious about making the purchase and secondly when people do buy it creates a social acceptance for the next person.

"This is the last person that bought this, and here is what they said about it." When people hear this it makes them more comfortable that someone else went first. This further increases your chances to make the sale.

You find out if what your selling is something that people want, if that something is of any value to the person buying it. The problem is that most times people buy things that are of no value to them at the time.

Your approach to the sale is the most important. Anyone can sell anything, its how you do it that will increase your chances of making the sale happen.

I have learned this before but clearly it went straight in one ear and out the other. Now that I am teaching you this I feel it will stick with me from now on.

The best way to learn is by teaching.

So there you have it. Understanding that people buy based on their emotions. Another thing I should mention, and I learned this in Dan and Chip's book. What happens throughout the day will affect people's buying mood.

If the person had a shitty day it will be much harder to convince them to buy whatever it is your selling.

The best advice I can offer you is to get to know the person who is shopping for your product or service. Understand their needs and create value for them by doing what you think is best for them. "Always put the customer first."

Right now I am enjoying a quick relaxing getaway in the beautiful wine country of B.C. Even though I am not a drinker it is still a beautiful sight with beautiful people. You to deserve a break, so take a little time to relax but not to long because the hustle will be waiting for you.

Thank you for reading this post. To be continued....

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