Carpe Diem Dude!

I've come to the conclusion that I must be either extremely lazy or retarded.  I don't know how it happened.  But upon some reflection lately, I'm pretty sure I'm not accomplishing enough during the course of my day and by default during the course of my life.  I'm holding myself to some pretty high standards here but it was always my philosophy to surround myself with people who are smarter, faster, richer, or better than myself.  It's my belief that by associating with great people, we become better ourselves.

There must be 100 new things I'd love to explore and learn.  My To-Do list is pages long, but I find that while I THINK I'm filling my day and producing a considerable amount ...  improvement can be made.

I look around at those who inspire me and I swear they must not sleep.  My friend, Eric Karjaluoto at ideasonideas.com and Eric Karjaluoto (the blog) is a madman!  He recently wrote an article about the death of Twitter and in it he describes all the networking he does.  The man runs a successful design firm, has a family, 2 excellent blogs, produces several personal projects such as Make Five and Design Can Change and somehow he is still able to Twitter, Flicker, LinkIn and play around with Facebook.  Thank God he wrote a recent post entitled I can't Keep Up.  I was beginning to wonder!

Eric is not alone.  I have client who keeps a fabulous apartment in NYC and a home in Connecticut.  He runs FIVE BUSINESSES.  He is not only a artist showing at several NY galleries but he is also an extremely successful scientist who has invented molecules (or biosomethingoranothers) that have never before existed in the universe.  The man runs FIVE BUSINESSES!  He invented the Brown & Serve bag and still has time to paint, sculpt, travel and run four other businesses!  For heaven's sakes.  Another client of mine, Balam Soto, is also an artist but in the 12 years he has lived in the US (he moved here from Guatemala) he learned English, computer programming, got married, had children, developed a successful artistic career and is now exploring technology in art.  This is amazing considering that 12 years ago the man had never seen a computer, held a paintbrush in his hand or even taken a cab ride.

What is it that propels these people to excel?  When do they find the time to explore all these dreams and all these interests and make them real?  Is there a formula for the stuff we have to do and the stuff we want to do and our ability to successfully do it?

Comments

[kyler]

all it takes are two things: a failure to fear failure and fortunate circumstance.

the perfect martini.

[kyler]

two ingredients: a failure to fear failing and fortunate circumstance.

[Mark Randall Kilburn]

Lisa,

I think if you dig a little deeper into their daily activities you may find some surprises. I have had friends that did homework as they walked between college classes and were the best time managers I ever met. Fortune favors the prepared.

[Eric Karjaluoto]

Hi Lisa,

Wow! Thanks for the kind words! We do like to keep busy around here, and we have a lot of fun. :-)

That being said, it has largely come at the expense of our weekends. Most of the time we just scramble to try to keep on top of things. (I keep wishing that we'd be more efficient in what we do!)

Cheers!

Eric

[The Dan Ward]

Hey Lisa!

I probably fall into that "over achiever" category too, and one of my tricks is that I neither watch football on tv nor do I play golf. I'm amazed that people find the time to do either of those things (although I actually do watch a lot of tv, come to think of it).

Anyway, a while back I came across a book titled The Luck Factor: The Scientific Study of the Lucky Mind. The author (named Dr. Wiseman - can you believe it?) observes that "luck" is related to personality factors such as optimism, extroversion, openness, and low levels of anxiety. I think those probably apply to achievement too.

Wiseman’s research showed that while people who describe themselves as lucky are not more likely to win the lottery, they are more likely to experience positive outcomes
in other, less random activities. For example, a person’s extroversion creates a large social network, which can lead to “fortuitous” connections with people and resources. Openness to new experiences (including openness to failure, as previously noted) combined with low levels of anxiety leads to action. The eventual probability of success increases as you make more attempts.

I'm sure there's more to it than that, but I think it's a part of it...

[Mark Randall Kilburn]

"Opportunity knocks everyday" Awareness is as important as readiness.

[Lisa]

I think a part of what we are talking about here is people who are possessive of time. Mark, I think you hit the nail on the head with the term "Time Managers" and like my son says "you can always make more money, but you can't make more time."

As for myself, I do get quite a bit done in the course of my day and I'm pretty proud of what accomplished thus far in my life. Having said that, however, I strive for more :)

Thanks everyone for your feedback.

[Mark Randall Kilburn]

Good for you Lisa,

I am a classic Southern California Underacheiver...think "The Big Lebowski"
meets 19th Century Captain of Industry.

It is a duality that is painful at times.
but people tell me I can weld in my sleep so it works for me!

[Chrisy]

Yes...there are people out there who hardly ever sleep and just go go go....but hey...do you want to be like that...well maybe just a little....