 Enjoying my tea after Sergio and I's debate. So this morning I met with a buddy of mine named Sergio. We met this last Tuesday at a Minnesota Chatbot Meet-Up where the group debated the current and future prospects of bots, IoT, and automation. Sergio and I ended up exchanging contact info the good ol' fashion way, and we made tentative plans to meet at a coffee shop or tea bar that coming Friday at 8:00 AM to network further. Fast forward to Friday (2 hours ago as of this writing), with his steaming Sencha Tea in hand, Sergio started off the conversation with, "So I've done a ton of research on you and your company this last week so I knew what questions to ask you and what I could learn from you." Good start! As Sergio recapped everything he learned about me and Online Growth Systems, I sipped my honey infused black tea. He then proceeded with asking his first question: "why?" Wow. Heavy hitter! Not an easy question to answer (sorry Simon Sinek). As the discussion progressed we dove deeper and deeper into rabbit holes and diverged further and further into tangents. My personal favorite kind of conversations- ones that can't stay on the same subject for long... a rather good indication of a fun dialog! :) Success as a definition.What is your definition of success? I think that everyone's definition is different. It's customized to their goals, their viewpoints, and their perspective. This isn't, or shouldn't be, a dictionary defined term. It's like trying to categorize things that fit the word "cool." Isn't that your personal opinion? Sergio's definition: Doing what makes you happy. Passion. My Definition: How many people's lives have you made a difference in? How deep? Impact. Neither is right or wrong, its just how we prioritize what makes us feel successful. I hope that your's is different too. Success as a metric.How do you measure success? If everyone's definition for success is different, that means everyone's metric for measuring that success is different too. If you're running a marathon, you measure distance. If you're in a hot dog eating contest, you measure # of hotdogs eaten. Sergio's measurement: How happy do you feel? Passion. Emotionally driven. Dick's Measurement: How many lives have you impacted? Impact. Numbers driven. Then comes the debate. Doesn't being successful by your own terms mean you'll be happy? Maybe. I don't know. We dove a lot into psychology, philosophy, and even ethics. It depends what your definition of success is. For Sergio, he wants to do what he feels most passionate about. That is what derives him happiness, and that is what makes him feel successful. For myself, I want to impact people. It's a numbers game for me. Yes, my definition also corresponds with my happiness gauge, but that's irrelevant. It's worth mentioning that I think the most successful Mother in the world might impact only her two children in a positive massive way, compared to a mother who impacts 7 children in an average way. Another example might be a meme. Let's say it impacts 1,000,000+ people if it goes viral on Instagram. Compared to an inspirational video of a military vet coming home to see his kids for the first time in over a year, it reaches 50,000 people. Which is more successful? I think it depends on what you're definition is. If your goal was to get views, the meme is more successful. If your goal was to make people support military vets, the meme impact is worthless and veteran video is more successful. How do you measure success? Case Study: Albert EinsteinSergio and I used a mutual hero of our's, Albert Einstein to compare what we deemed as successful. Einstein was the famous mathematician and physicist who came up with the e=mc2 equation and the father of nuclear energy. Einstein is also know as drafting a letter to President FDR which prompted the development of the world's first atomic bomb. He is also know for his love of the pastry bagels. The comparison is almost humorous! :) I wanted to use the atomic bomb for an example of measuring his success. (THESE NUMBERS ARE FOR DEBATE PURPOSE ONLY, NOT HISTORIC ACCURACY. ETHICS ARE ALSO NOT PART OF THIS DEBATE, JUST MATH.) Let's say that when the USA used the nuclear bomb, it killed one million people. Bad impact, right? But let's say your definition of success was lives saved. A number. I want to think that Einstein's biggest success was the number of lives he saved and impacted. Let's say that if Einstein didn't prompt the development of the atomic bomb and it wasn't used to end WW2, another three million lives would have been lost throughout the remainder of the war. Let's do some math... Einstein wrote letter to build bomb: 1 million lives lost Einstein didn't write letter to build bomb: 3 million lives lost. = Einstein saved 2 million lives by writing the letter to build the first atomic bomb. AGAIN, we are just using this for math purposes, not ethical or historic purposes. It's also worth mentioning that after Einstein learned the Germans wouldn't have developed an atom bomb to use on the Allied Forces (the reason he wrote the letter was to warm the President), he regretted ever writing the letter in the first place. In an interview with Newsweek magazine, he said that "had I known that the Germans would not succeed in developing an atomic bomb, I would have done nothing." Since this didn't provide Einstein happiness, by Sergio's definition, this made Einstein unsuccessful. Sergio argued that he would have been more successful being a professional bagel critic, assuming that would have provided Einstein the most happiness out of any other career path. The Debate: Passion VS ImpactI believe that you should try as many things as possible so that you can find what you're good at. What you're the best at. So you can find what industry you can dominate and impact the most people's lives. Or for Sergio, find what makes you happy. What if Picasso never picked up a paint brush? What if he pursued something he found himself enjoying before he learned to paint? Yes, he would have been happy and by Sergio's definition a success, but he surely would have impacted less people and perhaps we would have never known his name.
What if Michael Jordan never dribbled a basket ball? Few people know that he also played professional baseball in addition to basketball. He is arguably known as the best basketball player of all time, but just an average baseball player. Both made him happy- but only one sport left him in history books. Basketball left a greater impact on more people's lives. Let's say that a career in Baseball would have built up more of a passion and love of the sport for Michael- Sergio would say that would have been the more successful route. I disagree. Where do you stand? Passion or Impact? Thanks for reading. Sincerely, Dick Polipnick PS. I read every comment. Please join the conversation below by leaving your opinion of this blog/argument, and perhaps discuss what you think drives success.
1 Comment
 Search engines like Google don’t allow signals from social media to directly affect ranking, but social media gives marketing professionals many ways to put their businesses in front of search engine result pages.
Consider these three ways to impact SEO, or search engine optimization, using social media, 1. Social Sharing drives traffic Posting links to quality content can gain shares, likes and comments. It encourages users to check official business websites too. The more people click your link the more traffic you will get! 2. Social media profiles to rank If anyone types the name of the business in a search engine, its social media profiles have the potential to appear beneath the business information. Be sure to have your business listed along with all of its social media accounts. 3. Capturing external links is easier with social media The authority of the websites doing linking to achieve higher linking. You can use social media platforms to share and promote content. This increases the likelihood of the other website referring and linking back at it. Use these tips to rank higher in google and other search engines, and don’t forget to watch the video to learn more about SEO.  Without a proper strategy on YouTube, your videos are not going to reach the full potential of viewers. Whether you are a small business owner, entrepreneur, YouTuber, content creator or social media marketing strategist, you have been searching for ways to get your targeted views on YouTube. But how can you crack the goal in your competitive sector?
YouTube Marketing is a tool among the most-talked subjects in social media and entrepreneur circles right now. One of the main questions we get most is how to get started on YouTube. But let’s get real!  ✎Why You Really Need Artificial Intelligence in Marketing? This year, we have seen many brands use Artificial intelligence to build an instant connection with customers all over the world. Chatbots are solving their issues with customer interaction.
 ‘The best marketing doesn’t feel like marketing’ -Tom Fishburne. Businesses complete their operation by surrendering their products to the customer/consumer. On a number of occasions, the customer would not take or buy the product until they have been convinced or asked to buy. They won't buy something they don’t know. This is where marketing comes in. Marketing is a tool in business that helps convince a customer to buy products or services.Through marketing, businesses and firms create value for a customer while building strong customer relationship so as to capture value from them in return. Marketing can, therefore, be viewed as a tool through which firms and organization can earn a return through a sale of their products. As a tool for business success, marketing evolved over the years. If well utilized and used in a logical and procedural manner, marketing is the bedrock of a business growth. Marketing uses time and funds; however, we live in a very dynamic world. In the process of marketing, a business can be faced with a block of a tight budget that hinders effective and efficient marketing processes. In such a case of inadequate marketing funds, businesses and firms can still achieve marketing success by applying certain tactics. Below are techniques businesses can employ to succeed on a tight budget. If you're like me, then you are absolutely pissed that Littlefinger is not sitting on the Iron Throne by now... SPOILER ALERT!!! Lets be real. He is easily the best character on Game of Thrones and he is obviously the most clever. So why was Littlefinger killed at the season 7 finale? Here are the Top 3 Mistakes that Lord Baelish made that put him off his game and caused him to lose the Game of Thrones. Chaos isn’t a pit. Chaos is a ladder. Many who try to climb it fail and never get to try again. The fall breaks them. And some are given a chance to climb, they cling to the realm or the gods or love. Only the ladder is real. The climb is all there is. #1 He Lost his Focus In Littlefinger's most iconic quote, he mentions that chaos is a ladder. He talks about how power can be attained by climbing higher on the ladder, but some get distracted from climbing or worse, get distracted and fall off the ladder, by simple things like the realm, gods, or love. Lord Baelish fell prey to one of these distractions, and lost his focus off of his climb. He invested too much trust into Sansa Stark, revealing to her his true ambitions and his intentions of seizing the throne. He even revealed to Sansa how he got to where he is and told her the manipulative things he had to do to get there. Out of all the people in Westeros (or Essos for that matter) he never once told information like that to anyone. Let alone ALL of his big secrets to ONE individual. This was the beginning of his downfall. He gave into the wants and desires of the flesh and heart by exploiting his position to someone he shouldn't have.... out of love. #2 He Didn't Follow His Own Rules"There are so many opportunities... I don't know how anyone can sleep!" |
 | Trick #1Isolate Yourself to a Few Minutes of Thinking Time Each Day |
I have come up with some of my best ideas this way. This can be done in a variety of ways. Some of my personal favorites are committing myself to writing in my journal every evening, spending 20 minutes in the morning praying and meditating, or going for a walk without headphones in.
The reason this is so effective is because we live in a society where there is constant action. Constant noise. Constant distractions. No wonder silence seems foreign to us! You would be surprised how many great people attribute their success to this one trick. As Tim Ferriss says, "99% of the successful people I know habitually spend at least 20 minutes a day to some form of quite time or meditation."
If you find it hard to carve out a specific time each day, use a figurative time instead of a "clock" time. Although "7PM Meditation" is the better approach, "After Dinner Meditation" works too. Don't skip this step if you have issues with time commitments. Find a way!
The reason this is so effective is because we live in a society where there is constant action. Constant noise. Constant distractions. No wonder silence seems foreign to us! You would be surprised how many great people attribute their success to this one trick. As Tim Ferriss says, "99% of the successful people I know habitually spend at least 20 minutes a day to some form of quite time or meditation."
If you find it hard to carve out a specific time each day, use a figurative time instead of a "clock" time. Although "7PM Meditation" is the better approach, "After Dinner Meditation" works too. Don't skip this step if you have issues with time commitments. Find a way!
Trick #2 |
Dick Polipnick
Serial Entrepreneur
Host of the Online Growth Systems Show
Speaker, Investor, and Author
Categories
All
Animated Book Summary
Blockchain & Bitcoin
E-Commerce
Email Marketing
Entertaining Education
Entrepreneurship
Get More Sales
Grow My Business
Investing
Millionaire Mindset
Podcasting
Social Media
Tricks & Hacks
Video Show Notes
RSS Feed
