5 Rules for Texting Anyone You Do Business With

Walk into any boardroom two minutes before a meeting and you’ll find the same scenario: a table full of executives checking their phones with their heads bowed in the “smartphone prayer.”

Text messaging is the fastest way to communicate in business. Quicker than email and more convenient than a phone call, it’s become commonplace. But it’s not always the best choice.

Choose to text message for simple notifications or reminders like “I’m running five minutes late,” or “Remember to bring the report.” As a general rule, consider texting only appropriate for a maximum of two messages -- one message and one reply.

Here are five rules to avoid a text message business blunder.

1. Keep it positive.

Like email, the tone of a text message can be misinterpreted by the recipient. Quick messages can make you come off as flippant or harsh. Instead of staccato phrases, write complete sentences. Add polite touches like “please” and “thank you.” Re-read every message before pressing send to double-check your tone (bonus: no embarrassing typos).

2. Avoid serious topics.

You wouldn’t break up with your girlfriend over a text message -- to be clear, you should not -- and the same goes for business. Never give negative feedback or fire someone via a text message. Any serious conversation should take place face-to-face. It allows for subtle interaction through facial expressions and will ensure clear communication.

3. Don’t abbreviate every other word.

Abbreviations are common in casual texts, but you should be careful how often you use them. Common abbreviations like “LOL” (laugh out loud) and “np” (no problem) are safe choices. However, if you’re communicating with a new customer or acquaintance, take 30 extra seconds and type out each word.

Avoid informal shortcuts like “u” (you) and less common abbreviations like “SMH” (shaking my head) or “MFW” (my face when). Don’t leave your clients and colleagues confused; your texts should convey messages quickly and clearly.

4. Don’t text a last-minute cancellation.

There are a thousand reasons someone may miss a text message. Don’t depend on a quick note to cancel a meeting or change a lunch venue. For an important or time-sensitive message, pick up the phone.

5. Double-check the autocorrect.

Smart phones can occasionally be a little too smart. Autocorrect and voice-to-text features have a sneaky way of changing your intended message into something entirely different and often embarrassing. When using voice-to-text, ensure you’re in a quiet location. It picks up on background noise and may type a nearby conversation instead of what you’re saying.

From Entrepreneur

20 Reasons to Start Your Own Business

If you’re an entrepreneur you have heard the million reasons not to go into business: It’s too risky, you might go into debt, you’ll probably lose sleep, your social life is kaput, and the list goes on. But even with all these uncertainties, people are still attracted to the startup world. There are just as many, if not more reasons to take the leap and go into business for yourself.  Here are just a few:

1. Spare time. This one can take some time.  Initially you’ll work longer hours for less pay.  But if you do it right, you could start to master your schedule and the freedom that being an entrepreneur provides is awesome. 

2. A story to tell. Whenever I tell someone I run my own business, they always want to know what I do, how I do it and how it’s going. I always am able to provide a tale or two, and the best part is that I get to determine the story's chapters. (When working for a corporation, people most likely have less input.)

3. Tax benefits. For entrepreneurs (freelancers included), they have the opportunity to take advantage of some nice tax perks. Many can write off expenses like travel, food, phone bills, portions of car payments, and the list goes on. Also, certain startups qualify for government incentives. Make sure to ask your accountant about what tax benefits you may be eligible for.

4. Pride. When you build something successful, it’s a great feeling. You had a vision, were able to execute it and not can reap the benefits of saying "I did this." On the other hand, it’s tough to be proud of the zillionth request for proposal you fill out for your employer.

5. Your posterity. If you’re a doctor, plumber or bus driver it’s hard to imagine you passing your career on to your loved ones. But if you own your own business, that’s something you can pass on to the next generation. And be proud of it, because you created it.

6. Job security. Have you ever been laid off, downsized, or fired?  If you have, you get this. With entrepreneurship the security lies in the fact you are your own boss. You run the show and don't have to worry about getting let go.

7. Networking. Entrepreneurs are communal creatures.  We love to meet each other, swap stories, and learn from each other’s experiences. Your circle of friends and acquaintances always grows when you become an entrepreneur, as many founders need others to lean on to survive and talk about the challenges only known to them.

8. Doing good. While this isn’t exclusive to entrepreneurs, it’s definitely a perk. You control where your company profits go and if you choose, you can give allocate your financial gains to others. You can sponsor a charity, a non-profit or just personally give back to the community.  This is quite honestly one of the best parts of being an entrepreneur.

9. Novelty. We, as humans, love new experiences but rarely can you experience a host of new things from inside your cubicle. This all changes when you are running the show. Starting your own business will ensure you’ll always be facing new challenge and experiencing something new.

10. Mentorship. Having had mentors and getting to be a mentor have been some of the best experiences of my life.  Learning from the masters and getting to help those less experienced than you gives you such a sense of satisfaction. From my experience (and other's stories) the entrepreneurial community is very willing to give back and lend a helping hand.

11. Becoming an expert. This point goes along with mentorship.  Regardless of what you do as an entrepreneur, if you stick with it, you’ll probably become very good at it. And this gives you a sort of soapbox, so use it. You'll have the chance to be interviewed for your expertise, write about it and get to spread your message.

12. Skills. People ask me how I learned about SEO, social media, pay-per-click, PR and all the other marketing techniques I utilize. I tell them that I was forced to learn them, otherwise I wouldn't survive.  The same way I was forced to learn how to build a spreadsheet, how to balance a budget, how to negotiate leases and countless other skills I picked up because I was the only resource I had. While developing new skills can be tough and takes times, it can pay off in spades.  These skills will be invaluable throughout your life.

13. Determination. Everything I’ve done as an entrepreneur has affected me in my personal life.  I used to be poor at committing to changes. But having been an entrepreneur for over a decade has forced me to become dedicated and determined to causes. (Now I can stick to an exercise plan much easier.)  I’m also better at being a father and husband because of that determination I learned.

14. Recognition. There are literally thousands of local, regional and national awards that recognize entrepreneurs in every field and industry. This shouldn’t be your only reason to start your business, but it certainly is a great feeling when you receive this recognition.

15. Financial independence. Let’s be honest, this is probably the biggest reason people get into business for themselves.  And that’s a good thing!  You should want financial independence.  However you define financial independence – retirement stockpile, unlimited cash potential or having the money to buy what you want --  entrepreneurship can allow you to achieve it. Trust me, money doesn’t buy happiness, but it does make finding happiness much easier.

16. Reinvention. I’ve started and sold several companies over my career.  And every time I sell a company, I’m presented with an opportunity to reinvent myself all over again. On the flip side, if I had received my law degree, I’d be a lawyer (not a lot of room to recreate myself). But as an entrepreneur, I get to be whatever I want to be.

17. Change the world. Everyone jokes that every entrepreneur says they’re going to change the world. It’s difficult to imagine how a cell phone accessory kiosk in the mall is going to change the world.  But there are those that do succeed.  Take a look at Elon Musk, Bill Gates, Sergey Brin, and the countless other entrepreneurs who really have changed the world in some small (or major) way.

18. Create jobs. There’s nothing like the satisfaction of knowing you’re responsible for the success of your employees.  Your ideas provided them the opportunity to earn a living, provide for their family and fulfill their own dreams.

19. Your brand. Being known for something is awfully enjoyable.  People may start referring to you as the marketing guy, or the retail maven or the software guru.  Whatever it is you’re recognized as, it’s fun to build that brand and earn that recognition.

20. Your reason. I’ve given you a list of why I think you should get into business.  But all that really matters is your reason to start your own business.  So, what is it?  Tweet out this story and add your reason.  Comment below and share with us why you did it.  I know it will be a good one. 

From Entrepreneur

Jennifer Riria: The entrepreneur who empowered Kenyan women

Jennifer Riria is an entrepreneur with a mission. Her career has been focused on transforming the lives of women – and with them, their families – in her nativeKenya.

Today, she is group chief executive of Kenya Women Holding, a microfinance, banking and insurance group that works with 900,000 women, employs 2,800 people and since inception has disbursed $1.3bn of loans, each one averaging less than $600.

She is also chairwoman of Women’s World Banking, the Association of Microfinance Institutions, and an initiative focused on strengthening democratic processes in Kenya.

Her story starts in a village where she was born the fourth child and the fourth daughter in a family of 10 children. “I say this with a lot of pain in my heart, but I was not a wanted child,” she says. “My father expected a boy.” Her father “worked and lived off the garden”. But although poor, “there were other family members who were even poorer than us, living with us”.

She walked 4km to school every day in bare feet and washed her one school dress every night, sleeping with goats and chickens under her bed. When she came home from school, she “did what other little girls did. I fetched water, looked after the cows, chopped firewood, helped to cook and looked after the babies. That was my life.”

At the end of her primary education she scored well and was offered a place at the prestigious Precious Blood High School in Nairobi. “This was 700km or so away from home,” she says, but in spite of parental opposition, she decided nothing would stop her attending that school. Her sister was at Kenyatta University. “I took a bus,” she says, “carrying my clean underwear and clean handkerchief” on to the campus.

At the end of high school however, Ms Riria found herself pregnant and a mother. Her father – “a staunch Presbyterian” – objected strongly, so she took her child “to University of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania, got a scholarship and then went to University of Leeds in the UK”, to study for her master’s degree.

She returned to Nairobi to work on her PhD thesis on women, education and development. It was the first thesis on women in Kenya and initially she could find no professor willing to supervise her.

When Ms Riria left Kenyatta University, doctorate in hand, she took a sabbatical and “that was another really neat break”, she says. Working on policies to contribute towards child survival among communities in central Kenya, she “began realising that there is no way you can improve child survival without connecting it to the welfare of the mother. The mother didn’t need education just to learn how to read and write but also how to make a livelihood. Women need to have access to credit finance, to be able to change their lives,” she adds.

It was then that Ms Riria was appointed to rescue the ailing Kenya Women Finance Trust, the precursor to Kenya Women Holding. “When I joined, I was young, bold and fearless, on the edge of stupidity,” she says. Ms Riria describes the institution then as “failing, indebted, and lacking support. It needed structural reform and governance structures. It was set up by women who volunteered their time, not professionals.”

Undaunted by her own lack of financial training, Ms Riria started educating herself and seeking help and advice. “I was the loan officer; I was the accountant; I was the auditor; I was everything. But I knew what poverty means; I knew what hunger means; I knew these women,” she says.

It began lending very small amounts – 200 Kenyan shillings (just over $2). “Banks at the time did not want to lend to women. They told me: ‘You are giving women dizzy heads.’ When women have money in their hands, they are able to say ‘no’, to their husbands, to hold up their heads within the family,” she says.

Ms Riria established a formal board and separate management committee for KWFT. Then, in 2009, a similar institution was taken over overnight by the government. She called a board meeting the same day and created an ownership structure that safeguarded the non-financial objectives of the organisation, “to ensure there was no mission drift”, she says.

Kenya Women Holding was born with the delivery of “the double bottom line that it must meet social and financial goals” as its guiding principle.

Talking about the continuing dearth of women entrepreneurs who win competitions such as the EY Entrepreneur of the Year Award, Ms Riria says: “I think one of the things that women suffer from is talking about themselves.

“We grow up to serve and never to think about ourselves. Women are the last to admit their accomplishments.”

From Financial Times

5 Unusual Ways to Start Working Smarter, Not Harder

One of the things I love about the culture at Buffer is the emphasis on working smarter, not harder. Our team is all about getting plenty of sleep, exercise and recreation time so that our time spent working is as productive as it can be.

Working harder can be an easy habit to slip into, though. Sometimes it’s hard to switch off at the end of the day, or to take time out on the weekend and stop thinking about work. With a startup of my own to run, I find this even harder to manage lately. Whenever I’m not working on Buffer, I’m working on Exist, and it’s easy to fall into a pattern of “always working,” rather than working smart and fitting in time to look after myself as well.

If this happens to you, too, here are five methods to try that’ll help get you working smarter, not harder.

1. Take more breaks: Respecting our natural attention spans

In one of my favorite books, Stephen Covey tells a story about a woodcutter whose saw gets more blunt as time passes and he continues cutting down trees. If the woodcutter were to stop sawing, sharpen his saw and go back to cutting the tree with a sharp blade, he’d actually save time and effort in the long run.

The analogy is an easy one to remember, but harder to put into practice. Here’s what Covey says about sharpening the saw in our lives:

Sharpen the Saw means preserving and enhancing the greatest asset you have-you. It means having a balanced program for self-renewal in the four areas of your life: physical, social/emotional, mental, and spiritual.

Sharpening the saw is a great habit to get into in all areas of our lives, but I think it can be especially beneficial when it comes to work and helping us to avoid burnout.

On average, our brains are only able to focus for 90 minutes and need at least 20 minutes rest thereafter, if we consider our natural ultradian rhythms:

Just getting away from work and having a rest can be a good start.Taking breaks throughout the day* can help you to refresh your mind and reset your attention span.

Another way to implement breaks--especially when you’re busy--is towork in small bursts. The Pomodoro Technique is perfect for this. Just set a timer for 25 minutes, and when it goes off, take a short break. Stretch your legs, grab a drink, check your email, or just sit back and relax.

Or, if you’re really strapped for time, try switching to a different kind of task to give your mind a rest. If you’ve ever tried the 7-minute workout, you’ll understand how this works. As you exercise your arms, your legs get a break. Then exercising your legs gives your arms a break.

When you have lots to do, you can use small, easy tasks like replying to emails or following up a phone call to give your brain a rest from the hard work that takes up the rest of your day.

2. Take naps: One of the most efficient ways to boost your brain function

Research has shown that naps lead to improvement in cognitive function, creative thinking and memory performance. In particular, napping benefits the learning process, helping us take in and retain information better.

The improved learning process comes from naps actually helping our brain to solidify memories:

Research indicates that when memory is first recorded in the brain--in the hippocampus, to be specific--it’s still “fragile” and easily forgotten, especially if the brain is asked to memorize more things. Napping, it seems, pushes memories to the neocortex, the brain’s “more permanent storage,” preventing them from being “overwritten.”

One study into memory found that participants did remarkably better on a test following a nap than those who didn’t sleep at all:

Not only are naps beneficial for consolidating memories and helping us to remember new information (handy if your job includes a lot of research during the day!), they’re also useful in helping us to avoid burnout:

Burnout is a signal that says you can’t take in more information in this part of your brain until you’ve had a chance to sleep.

So when should you be taking a nap? Well, if you pay attention to your body’s natural circadian rhythm, you’ll probably find that you have a dip in energy levels in the early afternoon. This is because we’re actuallydesigned to have two sleeps per day, according to Loughborough University Professor, Jim Horne.

Our bodies are made to sleep for a long period overnight and a shorter stint during the day, which is why our energy levels drop and we felt sluggish or sleepy in the afternoon. Even if you don’t have a nap, this is a good time to listen to your body and have a rest.

3. Spend time in nature

Daniel Goleman, author of Focus: The Hidden Power of Excellence, suggests spending time in nature to help us reset our attention span and relax our minds.

One experiment he mentions in his book tested how relaxed people were when taking a walk down a city street versus in a quiet park. The study found that the level of attention needed to navigate a busy city street is high enough that the walk doesn’t let the brain relax enough to reset our focus levels:

Unlike natural environments, urban environments are filled with stimulation that captures attention dramatically and additionally requires directed attention (e.g., to avoid beinghit by a car), making them less restorative.

Spending time in nature, however, lets our minds fully relax and unwind, helping us to focus for longer when we return to work. Plus, other research has found that for students, motivation to learn is higher when they do so surrounded by nature instead of being inside a classroom. I think I’d probably feel the same if I were allowed to take high school lessons outside.

4. Move around and work in blocks

I read a blog post by Joel Runyon recently about a method he called “workstation popcorn,” which is pretty much what Buffer’s back-end developer Colin has been doing for quite a while.

The idea is that you set up at various cafés, workspaces (or even pubs, in Colin’s case) to get chunks of work done throughout the day. Workstation popcorn starts with a clear, thought-out to-do list. At each venue, you need to know what you’re going to work on before you get set up, so that you can jump into it immediately.

Joel breaks up his to-do list into sections--one per café that he plans to visit--and each section into three clear tasks. Once he gets through the group of tasks he has set, he moves on to the next café on his list.

Of course, you can sort out your task list however suits you best, but the important part to note is having a clear finishing point based on your task list, rather than the time, when you will move on to a new location. And when you move, cycling or walking is a good way to go, according to Joel:

Use this time to practice your zen, take a break from your screen, and get some movement into your day. Keep your phone in your pocket, and move. Take a break away from work for at least 30 minutes.

I know Colin often finds this break time helpful for thinking through what he’s working on or what’s up next. Joel also noted in his post that he’s been more productive, more active during the day and is working fewer hours since he started this process.

Whenever I’ve tried this in the past, I’ve always found that setting milestones in advance is really helpful. If you’re like me, and you usually have just one or two big projects to work through each day, you might find this useful as well.

If I’m working on a blog post, I’ll often break it into small chunks of work, such as brainstorming the outline, researching and then writing each section, and adding an introduction and conclusion. These smaller tasks help me choose a stopping point for each location I work at, before I get up and move.

Even if you’re staying in the one place, breaking your work into chunks and setting milestones as stopping points can be a good way to work lots of breaks into your day.

5. Check your email first thing in the morning

This one is really counterintuitive, especially if you have read anything online about productivity in the past couple of years. Pretty much everyone says not to do this, but I do it every day and find it really useful. Here are some ways it helps me to be more productive during the day.

If you work in a remote team like we do at Buffer, or a international team, you’ll know what it’s like to have half of your team (or more) working while you’re asleep. Especially if you need to work closely with others, it’s important to check in before you start your workday and make sure you’re on the same page as everyone else.

Since I’ve started working at Buffer, I’ve woken up to emails saying I had typos to fix, I had a new blog post published, and even that Bufferhad been hacked. Getting onto those first thing in the morning helps me make quick decisions about whether my day needs to be adjusted to fit in with what everyone else is doing or if I can go ahead with the tasks I already had planned.

Even in my own startup, which is just a two-person operation, checking email first thing in the morning can be useful. My co-founder tends to find his flow late at night when I’m going to bed, so I often wake up to emails about what’s changed in the product overnight, as well as feedback from customers in different time zones to us.

Of course, I could just wait until I get to my desk to check my email. I could even do it while I’m grabbing a coffee before I start my day. I don’t, though. I often check my email before I even get out of bed. Shock horror, I know! But hear me out--I don’t have email notifications on my phone. I don’t have them on my computer, either. And because that means I have to choose when to check my inbox, I don’t like working with my email app open, since I tend to look at it too often.

So when I sit down at my desk to start my day, I’ve not only checked my emails and replied to anything urgent, I sit down at a computer with no inbox open to distract me from whatever work I want to get started on. I can relax, knowing that I haven’t missed anything important and get on with my day, leaving my inbox processing to be done later.

This won’t work for everyone, but I think it’s worth trying if you’re in a similar situation.

What tips do you have for working smarter? Let us know in the comments.

From Entrepreneur

5 Controversial Things Entrepreneurs Can Do To Find Time For Their Brilliant Ideas

“it’s a lie”, “get out of here” and “are you really a full time engineer?”

These are some of the many reactions I get anytime I tell someone that I am not a full time blogger, or speaker, or author and that I actually work a job as a design/project engineer as well as run okadabooks.com and do script writing for WUA (latest addition). The next question that typically follows next is “How?”

To be honest I did not feel that what I was doing was special, but time and time and again people have asked me the same question “how do you find time?” So then I realized that maybe it is special … hmmm

But I honestly don’t know the full answer to that question, because time is not an item that can be found or created … it is fixed. No matter who we are or where we are, we wake up with the same amount of time everyday. But much like money, what makes you a master of time is not the amount of time you are given but rather the amount of time you are able keep to yourself.

At the end of the day we all have great ideas inside of us, ideas that could change the world. It could be as simple as writing a book or as complex as a website system to rate Nigerian Lecturers so that the truly horrible ones are slapped exposed. But these ideas rarely come out, because of that nagging thing calledtime not being available. Conventional wisdom says that if you want to pursue your life changing ideas you should quit your job and focus on them, but the issue is never really the job but rather other things you should quit which I will cover in this article titled 5 Controversial* Things Entrepreneurs Can Do To Find Time For Their Brilliant Ideas.

*WARNING: Some ideas are controversial. You have been warned.

#1 Quit Going To So Many Weddings

Don’t get me wrong, I love weddings. I love the free Jollof rice and Goat meat.

But weddings to me are extremely time consuming especially if you are involved in the wedding. From the planning stage to the sewing of the cloth to the rehearsal to the parties, everything about weddings are time consuming. When you hit 26-34 years of age you will realize that a wedding is happening almost every weekend in your life. If you commit to every wedding you are invited to … guess what, you will not have time to develop your ideas, unless you are working on a wedding planning app, in which case carry on.

But if you, like me, are working on books and other ideas, then listen to me … avoid getting engulfed in weddings. My Saturdays are very sacred, that is the first full day in the weekend I get off from work. I want to use that day to write articles, work on business ideas and add that additional chapter to that book I am always working on. So if I have a wedding I really need to go to, I schedule 3-4 hours for it. I attend the Church wedding and then go to the reception and leave early to get some work done.

Now note that not all weddings are created equal. Some weddings would require a great deal of your attention you can’t escape, but not all weddings should. For those weddings, get in, get out and work on your ideas.

Sometimes when people ask me to be a part of a wedding I politely decline, because I know the work that goes into it. Not saying I won’t come to the wedding but instead that I would be in the background. That helps me add about 10 extra hours to my week.

#2 Don’t Sleep In Church

Before someone accuses me of being Satan, wait and read.

I am not saying do not going to Church, what I am saying is do not sleep in the church. And when I say sleep I am not talking about falling asleep with saliva dripping down the side of your mouth as you snore loudly. No… I am talking about the other type of sleeping. The Nigerian sleep.

In Nigeria we have the tendency to go to Church at 7:00 am in the morning and return at 7:00 pm at Night. Haba…is it Christmas? You cannot sleep in church and expect to find time to work on your business idea… unless you want to become a pastor in which case, carry on.

But if you are like me, I go to church at 11:00 am and finish at 1:00 pm … 2 hours maximum. If they are still doing thanksgiving and prayer request after 1:00 pm that is their business. I move in and move out. Too many people are praying instead of doing, sleeping instead of acting. Here me when I say this … it is not a sin to leave church early, we have been primed into believing that if a church service lasts for over 5 hours and we leave that we are doing something wrong or sinning. Mba for me.

I have found that I am able to get an additional 4-6 hours a week by moving in and out of Church.

All in all Sundays should be used to serve God but they should also be used to work on your life changing ideas.

#3 Don’t Get Married

No wait… don’t leave the blog yet. Hear me out.

My point here is this… try and get as much as you can, done before you get married. Play around with that brilliant idea of yours… try and start it up. Because the moment you get married and the children start popping up and pooping all around, your time reduces… unless you want to become a housewife or house husband in which case carry on.

I am able to get away with a lot of things I do, because I don’t have the pressures of managing a family…yet (inserted for political reasons and to avoid trouble). I understand this advantage I have and I utilize it greatly.

Now this does not mean that if you get married you cannot find time to get things done, all I am saying is that it will be much harder. So get your ideas going before the wedding planning begins.

NOTE: Please I will not be responsible for any divorces that occur from reading this article.

#4 Ignore Family and Friends

You are not obligated to family. I say it again, you are not obligated to family.

Lot’s of people especially in the Nigeria culture don’t believe this, so they get caught up in the small stuff

“o did you hear what aunty this said to this”

and before you know it they are spending hours on end trying to settle petty ish. My principle is this…

You cannot please everybody. You will offend people whether you like it or not. And if you do offend people …. apologize sincerely. If they reject your apology, then apologize again. If they still ignore your apology then STOP APOLOGIZING AND MOVE ON WITH YOUR LIFE.

People are so caught up in trying to solve problems for their entire family or trying to settle all sorts of beef or worried about what this Aunty or Uncle thinks about them…unless you want to become a family counselor, in that case carry on.

As for me, while that is happening … me I am caught up working on my business ideas. I don’t get roped into petty stuff … life is too short and there is really no time for that.

So time and time and again I will ignore phone calls from people that will just pile me with unnecessary issues and nagging. Again these tips are not conventional if you can’t do it don’t abeg … I don’t want people saying ofilispeaks said my Husband should ignore my Mother In-law. Hain I have spoken.

#5 Learn How To Eat Lunch Fast

If there is something I have done every day since I was born… it is to eat. So when the company says you have a one hour lunch and you are spending one hour eating that lunch, something is wrong with you. Leverage your lunch time, eat lunch within 5 minutes and if you don’t have 5 minutes, then skip lunch all together because lunch time is a great time to launch your ideas.

Don’t believe me? This entire article was written during my lunch break and took me only 40 minutes!

Which brings me to the most important point of all, which is something I have talked about over and over again. Do what you do consistently regardless of what people say and soon you will wake up being able to write an article that ordinarily takes your 2 hours in 40 minutes or less and do activities in shorter times. And when you are able to do activities faster, and have the time to actually do them, then you get into the multiplier effect mode. Where to the outside world it seems like you are doing a lot of shit, when in actuality you are simply executing stuff faster while others are chopping wedding cake.

From 360nobs

These Are The Real Reasons You Hate Your Job

Look around as you board the subway tomorrow morning and you'll notice that very few people look excited for the workday ahead. If you strike up a conversation with a fellow commuter you'll likely hear them complain about how much they hate their job; their boss; and their long hours. 

Why are so many people dissatisfied with their professional lives?

Quora users offered explanations in a recent thread, "Why do so many people hate their jobs?" 

We pulled 17 of the most interesting responses:

You picked a conservative career when you were young and never switched jobs. As a recent college graduate, you probably had no idea what you wanted to do with your life. You probably also had a narrow view of the career options available to you, a strong desire to make money, and an attraction to credentials and pre-defined milestones. As a result, it was easy for you to get stuck in a climb-the-ladder type of career.

After several years of working, you'll probably feel locked in, or that your job options are limited. Especially if you feel like you are doing well financially, you'll also perceive high risk in switching careers, and it is likely you can end up doing the same thing for the rest of your life. — Marc Bodnick

You are influenced by extrinsic motivation. Psychological research shows that the fact you are getting paid makes you more likely to dislike your job. It's called cognitive dissonance: people will evaluate the pleasure they receive from an activity as lower when they are rewarded with material goods like money because it makes the activity seem unpleasant. In other words, the presence of a salary creates a negative motivation, which makes people like the work less than if they were to do it for free. — Bob Hooker

You feel like you are working for the wrong reasons. One of the most common reasons is following money. For example, you might force yourself to go against your nature and attend law school if you really want to be a sculptor. However, the idea is similar to living with someone you dislike: it may be tolerable for a few months, but not for your whole life. — Sergiy Mi

You are not living up to your potential. You feel like you settled for mediocrity and that you are failing yourself, because you know you could do a lot better if you worked in a different profession or pursued your dream job. You also might feel like you are not improving or learning as much as you could from your job. —Hannah Yang

You feel like your job lacks meaning. It goes against our basic human nature to do something for eight hours just to get money. You feel like what you're doing doesn't matter to you, your coworkers, or to your company. Instead, your efforts feel like busy work just to fill time. You don't have real motivation to do much, and find yourself quickly losing interest in your job. It is difficult to throw an immense amount of time into a pursuit you don't care about.  — Rod Graham

You feel obligated to work. People hate anything you're forced to do day after day, month after month, year after year. If someone forced you to do even your most loved hobby for a consistent period of time, you would probably grow to hate it, too. Most people don't hate their jobs, but rather the fact that they are forced to work — the obligation takes the fun away. — Mihika Kulkarni and Edouard Leurent.

You don't feel in control.  Job satisfaction comes from a sense of autonomy. If you feel disempowered, it probably sucks the energy out of you, even if you are well-paid and educated. Also, when you feel like your work is being judged by how closely it meets someone's expectations and that you are constantly taking orders, you'll feel subordinate and grow increasingly frustrated.— Kamal Subhani

You work too much. This type of lifestyle is especially apparent in bankers, lawyers, doctors, and other rigorous professions. The problem isn't always the work or the clients — rather, it's overwhelming to be on call 24/7 and to work 6-7 days a week. Everything ends up feeling like high drama. It's too much for people who want more out of life than just money. — Jason M. Lemkin

You procrastinate on the important things. When you have a big task hanging over your head, you will be uncomfortable until it gets done. If you don't tackle the worst tasks first, it will be difficult to move on to the more enjoyable aspects of your job. — Lisa Martin

Your job lacks stability. Instead of knowing for sure that years of excellent work will automatically give you a promotion, you have no idea what the future holds. Since your job brings you a constant state of uncertainty, you begin to associate it with negative feelings. It's very hard for you to work well with the fear of dismissal hanging over your head and without any rules to follow to stop it from happening. — Marcus Geduld

You place a heavy emphasis on work. If work is the only thing your life revolves around, then everything related to work will impact you deeply, whether it's conflict with your colleagues or lack of a decent salary. Make sure you distinguish between working to live and living to work. — Kiran Farooque

You live too far or too close to your job. If your daily commute is longer than an hour, you'll spend roughly ⅙ or ⅛ of your day traveling to and from your job. It's almost as if your commute is a mini job of its own. If you live too close to your job, then it feels like you never leave. — Jon Mixon

You don't like your boss. A great boss can make you feel great about doing anything, because he/she has your back, looks out for you, and makes the work all worthwhile. But a bad boss easily ruins it. They can make you feel worthless, regardless of your salary, title, and office size. It seems that the US business system is great at creating managers who can look at challenges and come up with solutions. However, it is terrible at creating leaders, or people with strong social skills who can inspire others to do outstanding work. — Drew Henderson

You don't use your non-work hours effectively. If you don't have balance in cultivating your personal interests or spending time with family outside of work, you might start to feel extremely unhappy. You should not let your employment define you or what you love, so you should pursue interests outside of the office to remember there is so much more to life.  — Lisa Martin

You have higher standards. These days, the way we evaluate jobs has significantly shifted. People hate their jobs because now, more than ever, there's the possibility to love their jobs — and you don't. When you expect your work to be fulfilling or as a source of happiness, then it's much easier for it to be unsatisfactory. Even the media portrays people loving their jobs everywhere around you, and it makes it seem like people who don't enjoy their jobs are failures. — John Jeffrey Mardlin

You have the wrong mindset. According to Cal Newport, you should try to adopt the craftsman mindset, which asks you to leave behind selfish  concerns about whether your job is ideal for you, and instead work at getting really good at one thing. No one owes you a great career — you need to earn it, and the process won't be easy. If you want to love what you do, abandon the question of, "what can the world offer you?" and instead think, "what can you offer the world?" — RJ Yates

You don't have perspective. In third world countries, people work extremely hard in physically taxing labor to make minimal wages. Having a relatively easy and cushy job for a middle class income isn't so hard in comparison. A demanding boss or small office space is nothing compared to the systemic oppression others experience. Perhaps you don't yet know the value of what you have. — Lisa Martin

From Business Insider

12 Surprising Downsides Of Getting Rich

Luxury items, mansions, and cool cars are glorified in the media, but there's a darker side to wealth.

In a recent Quora thread, “Is getting rich worth it?,” users shared the surprising downsides of being rich.

We picked out some of the most compelling ideas for why getting rich may not be nearly as great as you might imagine, and share them below:

1. You sacrificed a lot. During your years of hard work to earn money, you might have given up key relationships, cut off future opportunities, missed out on life experiences, or sold out on your true passions and dreams. If wealth simply compensates for the things you can’t do, then the benefits are a trade-off that might not be worth it. —Ben Towne and Stan Hayward

2. You could be perceived as greedy, ruthless, or a workaholic. If you buy nice things, people may perceive you as materialistic or as a show-off. Furthermore, "Your success is someone else's loss, and the cause of their resentment." —Alex Coppen

3. Being wealthy can cut you off from larger society. Either out of fear or the belief that you are somehow better than others, you start to find it harder to relate to most other people. Few people can empathize with you, so you might feel a certain sense of isolation. —Paul Buchheit

4. Friends and family may treat you differently. They might be more likely to ask you for a loan or have unrealistic standards for the Christmas or birthday presents you bring home, and if you don’t pick up the bill during a meal, you may seem stingy. Since many people think that being rich is the secret to all happiness, they may have lower tolerance if you vent about your frustrations. It can be difficult to meet the high expectations people hold you to. —Alex Coppen

5. The money might cause you to lose perspective. Ask yourself: “Do you own your money, or does it own you?” It can be easy for money to gain control over your life, whether as the subject of frequent family arguments or the constant worry of losing your wealth. —Christopher Lochhead

6. Your money becomes a means to attract attention. You can become addicted to buying status symbols, such as nice cars or homes, just to show people you are wealthy. But if you try to attract people through trappings such as amazing parties, you’ll quickly find yourself with low self esteem. —Christopher Angus

7. Your children might not learn the value of money. They might feel like they don’t have to work for or worry about money, because they grew up in such a comfortable environment. Although they will have the ambition to know they “should be” working hard, they might not develop the qualities needed to succeed like you did. —Michael O. Church

8. People want something out of you. It can be harder to figure out whether someone is being nice to you because they like you or your money. Especially if you aren’t married, it is difficult to figure out whether your significant other is into you or your wealth. —Alex Coppen

9. The things you want to buy become less appealing. Most of the things you imagine buying are only worthwhile to you because you can’t afford them, or because you have to work hard to acquire them. Once you can easily afford a high-end item, it doesn’t mean as much to you anymore. —Christopher Angus

10. You become more conscious of those who are richer than you. There’s always someone richer, and you never seem to have enough. When you earn $20M, you might meet a guy worth $3BN. Once you are at such a high level, it’s easier for you to compare yourself with others. —Alex Coppen

11. You don’t know what to do next. Most people use money as their motivation to work hard. Once they reach that goal, they are at a loss for what else to do. —Christopher Angus

12. You learn that money doesn’t change your internal mindset. Money can buy comfort, but comfort doesn’t always lead to satisfaction. "Happy people are often still happy when they become millionaires. Unhappy people are often still unhappy when they become millionaires."  —Cameron Purdy 

From Business Insider