The first time I realized that technology has a downside was in 2015. Like almost everybody else, I had a smartphone and thought it was improving my productivity.

By that time, I was already using a smartphone for several years. In the beginning, I only used my device when I needed it—to make calls, send messages, navigate with Google Maps, check the weather forecast, and answer emails when I was on the road.

But gradually, I went from “using my phone when I need it” to “using my phone all the time.”

And that, my friend, is dangerous. Why?

Well, if you don’t watch it, your phone will control you, instead of the other way around. Remember that the purpose of a smartphone, or technology in general, is to SERVE us — not to control our lives.

How do I know technology is using me? And it’s no longer the other way around?

Let me ask you a few questions:

• • Do you grab your phone first thing in the morning?
  • Do you “check” your social media apps multiple times a day?
  • Do you sometimes think, “WHAT? Did I really spend 2 hours on Instagram?” (replace Instagram with your app/site of choice; YouTube, Facebook, Reddit, and so forth)
  • Do you use your phone on the toilet?
  • Do you listen to podcasts all day long?
  • Do you get bored when you’re alone?

If you answered “yes” to any one of those questions, you’re getting used by technology way more than you think. And yes, that does sound disgusting. Nobody wants to be used.

But shouldn’t technology make us more productive?

Yes, it still makes us more productive. Even with its downsides, technology has made the world a better place. I’m not going to argue with that. But like all good things, there is a point of diminishing returns.

The point of diminishing returns is when technology starts to take over our lives. At that point, you’re no longer in control. And that’s when it has a negative impact on your life.

Everybody knows that drinking too much will turn you into an alcoholic. But nobody says the same thing about using technology.

It’s not helpful to check your phone 200 times a day. You’re not being productive when you’re watching random YouTube videos for 3 hours a day. And so forth.

I’m getting tired of being used by technology. How do I stop it?

Increasingly more people are aware of the problems that technology causes. At some point, we all get tired of being connected 24 hours a day. Our brains can’t handle that kind of pressure.

I recently read Digital Minimalism by Cal Newport. I also interviewed him on my podcast about removing digital distractions from our lives. If you want to change your behavior, it’s better to change your whole lifestyle at once. He writes:

“In my experience, gradually changing your habits one at a time doesn’t work well — the engineered attraction of the attention economy, combined with the friction of convenience, will diminish your inertia until you backslide toward where you started. I recommend instead a rapid transformation—something that occurs in a short period of time and is executed with enough conviction that the results are likely to stick. I call the particular rapid process I have in mind the digital declutter.”

I’ve experienced the same. When you make small changes, it’s easy to fall back to your old behavior. In the past, I’ve done something similar to Cal Newport’s digital declutter process.

And after reading his book, I did the same thing again. I got rid of ALL distracting technology and apps. I also stopped consuming content, except for reading books. One of the things that I regularly do is to block distracting sites on my computer when I work.

I use an app called SelfControl for Mac (FocusMe is the Windows alternative). But I only turned the app on when I was doing focused work like writing. But during the digital declutter, I turned on the app the whole day.

Within days, I felt more focused. The goal of the digital declutter process is to rebuild your digital life from scratch. And after three weeks, I felt more in control of my digital behavior again.

Digital declutter makes us more aware

Nobody is saying you should remove technology from your life forever. See this as starting with a clean slate. I regularly ask myself: What technology actually improves my life?

Let’s be honest. You can learn a lot from listening to podcasts. The same is true for many YouTube videos. Plus, having email on your phone makes life a lot easier when you’re traveling since you don’t have to bring a laptop.

That’s why I still use technology—and appreciate that it’s here. The thing is that every time I go to such a digital declutter process, I’m more aware of how I USE technology.

The truth is that we’re all adapting to modern day life. And because everything moves so fast, WE need to move fast as well. But if we don’t take the time to process everything and ask ourselves “What’s the purpose of this piece of technology?” We risk getting lost in a digital world that can eat you up alive.

So before you pop out your phone to move on to the next article, podcast, video, or social network, ask yourself: What’s the use?

Think more about the WHY behind everything. That’s the only way we can live a purposeful life.

Thanks Darius Foroux for your Wisdom

That’s from the Stoic philosopher Epictetus. It couldn’t be more telling about our attention and the things we focus on. We allow other people to control us because we’re pretty much defenseless when the media exploits our weaknesses.

Now, I’m not against all media. But I do think there’s a lot of manipulation going on. Just look at every single social media platform, news website, streaming site, and every app on your smartphone and you’ll notice that you and I are being exploited.

You just have to look at the signs. What do you think I will do when I see a notification from Netflix, saying there’s a new season available for my favorite show? I’m going to pause everything else in my life and watch the WHOLE season in a few days.

And when I’m done, I’ll probably go on to the next thing on Prime Video or maybe watch some clips on YouTube. But I don’t do that because I shut myself off from those things.

I want to control my attention as much as I can. Why? Because If I don’t, millions of people and organizations are eager to control it for me. And what happens when others control your attention? You become a mindless drone.

A few tips to gain more control over what you focus on

First, you need to become aware of how important it is to be mindful of what you focus on. So let’s get back to Epictetus. He explained his point further in A Manual For Living:

“If you yourself don’t choose what thoughts and images you expose yourself to, someone else will, and their motives may not be the highest.”

When I read this for the first time, I started taking this more seriously. I realized that I need to be the one who chooses to expose myself to certain thoughts, images, news, ideas, and messages.

Here are a few things I did to make that happen.

1. Turn off all your non-essential notifications

You can turn off notifications for every single app that’s on your phone. So you don’t have to put your phone in permanent do not disturb mode.

I don’t use do not disturb mode because it turns off ALL notifications. I just go to settings, notifications, and go to every individual app to toggle off notifications.

That way, I have more control over what I see on my phone. For example, I want to get calls and text messages from family, friends, my team, or people I do business with. I also have notifications on my calendar and reminders app.

The point is that you want to use your phone mindfully. Think about whether you need a certain notification or not. Do you need to know about breaking news? Or that someone liked your post? Probably not.

2. Don’t use social media to obtain information

The amount of garbage on social media is unmeasurable. If you want to use social media, use it to connect with people. Not as a replacement for books, articles, or Wikipedia.

I’m not against social media because it’s a tool. The problem is that most people aren’t aware that they’re being used. They think they’re in control, but they’re being influenced all the time.

That’s why you really want to be mindful of how you use social media. It has a lot of limitations but it’s not all bad. Just use it for the good stuff if you really want to. But you won’t miss anything if you’re not on social media. I just use it to connect with readers who message me.

3. Focus on knowledge over information

Information is generally about data, facts, or statements. Knowledge is usually about applying certain information to a specific cause.

What’s an example of information? The fact that the average hedge fund underperformed the market over the past decade. If you use that information to create an investing strategy, you have knowledge.

Most people acquire a lot of information but not a lot of knowledge. That’s because it’s easy to obtain information. But acquiring knowledge takes time.

For example, reading a book or taking a course is a serious time investment that requires an actual decision. You actually think to yourself, “Is this worth my time?” Or at least, that’s something I think everyone needs to ask themselves.

But you don’t ask that when you grab your phone to consume random information. You’re thinking, “It’s just a social media post, a short video, an article,” and so forth. But the problem is that you go down a rabbit hole. And you end up consuming a lot of information. But most of it serves no purpose.

When you acquire knowledge, you do it with intention and a specific focus.

4. Read a few writers online

I read the Wall Street Journal, but I only read everything that Jason Zweig writes. Other than that, I only read WSJ stories that are useful to me. I don’t know the names of the other journalists, and I don’t follow anyone else other than Jason.

When it comes to blogs, I’m the same. I like Ben Thompson’s work when it comes to tech, and that’s about it. I don’t have the time and mental energy to read dozens of people online. And I don’t recommend that to other people either. If that means they don’t follow me and prefer to follow another writer, that’s fine.

Just follow someone who’s work you actually value. You don’t have to agree with that person all the time, but at least you like their style and perspective. Other than that, just consume content that’s relevant to you. And ignore everything else.

Will you miss some important information? Probably. Is it a little bit of confirmation bias? Probably. But as long as you are aware of these things you’ll be fine.

Your thoughts are influenced by what you focus on

It’s important to control your attention because it influences your thoughts and actions. William James, the founder of Pragmatism and pioneer of modern psychology, explained it best:

“Thoughts become perception, perception becomes reality. Alter your thoughts, alter your reality.”

To alter your thoughts, you need two things. First, you need to manage the negative chatter in your mind, which most people do through meditation. Second, you need to manage external negative chatter, which you can do by limiting your exposure to external sources.

It doesn’t mean you have to close yourself off from the world. Just ask yourself, “Is this worth my attention? Will this enrich my life?” If the answer is no, move on.

Thanks for your Wisdom Darius Foroux

We have so little time, so we need to motivate (and inspire) ourselves to keep doing the things that satisfy us—and not waste our time.

Here’s a list of motivational quotes that always get me off my but. I found that it works best to print your favorite quotes and place them somewhere you see them multiple times a day. For example, I have motivational quotes on my monitor, desk, closet, the dashboard of my car, bathroom.

“Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time.”
-Thomas A. Edison

“You must expect great things of yourself before you can do them.”
Michael Jordan

“Only put off until tomorrow what you are willing to die having left undone.”
– Pablo Picasso

“Plans are nothing; planning is everything.”
– Dwight D. Eisenhower

“Learning never exhausts the mind.”
– Leonardo da Vinci

“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life.”
–Steve Jobs

“Whether you think you can or you think you can’t, you’re right.”
–Henry Ford

“Find work you love and you’ll forget you’re working.”
–Sara Ohara

True motivation must come from within. So use these motivational quotes just to get started. Now, keep going with your own motivation.

Thanks for your Wisdom Darius Foroux

Believe me, that thing you’re using to read this article is not your friend.

And even if you’re reading this on your laptop or PC, there’s one thing I want to ask you: How important is your device to you?

I was shocked when I read a weird statistic a while back. An experiment, which was conducted by the universities of Würzburg and Nottingham Trent, revealed that 37.4% of the participants rated their phone as more or equally important in relation to their close friends.

Seriously, what’s wrong with people? 29.4% even said their smartphone was equally important, or more important, to them than their parents.

Look, I’m not joking around. Smartphones are dangerous. Not because they may cause stress, anxiety, and even depression, but because they change your behavior.

It seems like we can’t focus on one thing for more than 5 seconds. Why? Well, we can’t because our smartphone is constantly going off.

Not because people are calling you (it seems like people are afraid of calling these days, but that’s another topic), but because you’re constantly getting notifications about THINGS THAT DON’T MATTER.

Change Your Smartphone Behavior

The same study I mentioned above also found something else:

“Researchers asked participants to perform a concentration test under four different circumstances: with their smartphone in their pocket, at their desk, locked in a drawer and removed from the room completely.”

The results are significant — test results were lowest when the smartphone was on the desk, but with every additional layer of distance between participants and their smartphones, test performance increased. Overall, test results were 26% higher when phones were removed from the room.”

Sure, it’s just a study. And you don’t have to believe everything you read. But this is something I can personally attest. For the past two years, I’ve significantly changed my smartphone behavior. Namely:

• I have turned off ALL my notifications except messages and calls
• I’ve removed myself from all Whatsapp groups except for one with my closest friends
• I’ve removed all news apps (if something important happens, you’ll hear it from the people around you)
• I only consume music, paid journalism, articles from specific authors I follow, podcasts, YouTube videos (mostly to learn, but also for entertainment because I’m not a robot), books, and audiobooks on it
• For the rest, I use my phone to call, text, and to take notes, photos, and videos

Also, I’ve stopped immediately responding to notifications. That doesn’t mean I don’t value other people who try to reach me. It means that I refuse to be a slave to my phone. I control my phone.

For most of us, it’s the other way around. In the past, Facebook, Instagram, Apple, Google, etc, all controlled my mind.

Obviously, they still do because the only way to escape them is to cut yourself off and run to the woods. That’s not realistic.

I like my phone. But I don’t need it.

The results have been great since I started using my smartphone in the above way. During the past two years, I got more things done than ever.

And, I still have time to work out daily, hang out with my friends, have dinner with my family, and spend time with my lady friend. You and I both have the same 24 hours at our disposal.

The difference-maker is how you spend those 1440 minutes each day. To be honest, I think I still have much to improve my effectiveness. No one reaches peak productivity. Nor is it important to be the most productive person in the world.

How you want to spend your time is your business. But please don’t tell me you don’t want to be 26% more productive by just changing one unimportant thing in your life: Your smartphone behavior.

And if you wonder why not more people telling you to get rid of that thing, realize that they are trying to get to your wallet.

Also, social media people who claim that they run their business with their smartphone are doing the exact same thing. They need you to consume their content, on you guessed it, your smartphone.

You probably found my articles on your phone. Thar’s awesome. And, I also read a lot of articles and books on my phone. But you and I use the device to learn something, which is always a good thing.

People who make phones and apps are smarter than us. Their only goal is to get you hooked. I think it’s good to realize that.

That’s why I often try to remind myself not to depend on smartphones too much because my attention matters more than productivity.

It’s time to reclaim your attention. And thereby, reclaim your life. It’s worth it.

Thanks for your Wisdom Darius Foroux

Do you really think you’ll be successful if you simply copy other people’s habits? If that was the case, success would be easy.

I never met a successful person until I was 24. I grew up in a working-class family—I was more around people who were the opposite.

The first successful person I met was an entrepreneur in his forties.

He had lost his wife, the love of his life, a half-decade before. He told me that he never got over it. Even though he experienced tragedy — he still had a positive outlook on life and did good things. He truly cared about others.

He always said: “I just try to avoid being unsuccessful.” That is the number one thing I learned from him. He said that you should study what makes you unsuccessful, unhappy, broke, fat, stupid. Then, eliminate those things out of your life.

To this day, I still live by that advice. I like his concept of trying not to be unsuccessful. Because what is success? The second best definition that I’ve found comes from Bob Dylan, my favorite musician of all time.

“A man is a success if he gets up in the morning and gets to bed at night, and in between he does what he wants to do.” – Bob Dylan

You’ve probably read articles that discuss the habits of successful people. The problem with this type of article is that it give you conditional promises.

“Eat three eggs with bacon, wash your hair with soybeans, do ten push-ups, and do your daily affirmations, AT THE SAME TIME.”

We have to let go of the “if I do x, I’ll be successful or happy” way of thinking. It does exactly the opposite: You do what other people do. Live the way other people live. I might not know a lot about success, but I’m sure as hell that’s not success.

What follows is a list of things that we shouldn’t do. If you have one of these bad habits, don’t worry, no one’s perfect. If you have two bad habits, you should worry.

Do you have three or more? You might want to change — because one thing is sure: No one wants to be unsuccessful.

1. They Are Always Distracted
Essentialism by Greg McKeown is one of my favorite books. McKeown shares the story of when he met his former classmate, years after graduating.

He told McKeown that he was in between jobs and asked if McKeown could help him. Twenty seconds into the conversation the guy got a text and started looking down to his phone and started responding.

McKeown says: “Ten seconds went by. Then twenty. I simply stood there as he continued to text away furiously.” After 2 minutes he gave up and walked away from the obsessive texter.

Don’t live your life in the future or past, lost in thoughts and worry. If that guy from the example was present, he might have got an awesome job recommendation from Greg McKeown.

2. They Only Talk The Talk
You know what’s better than talking about something? Doing it.

In 2010, Derek Sivers gave a TED talk called Keep your goals to yourself, where he presented scientific evidence that talking about your goals is counterproductive.

We see it all the time in real life and on social media: “I’m training for a marathon.” “I’m starting a business.”

The crazy thing is how people react. They applaud you for announcing something. Let’s pause for a second: Saying you want to run a marathon and actually running a marathon are two different things, right?

In your brain, those things are actually not that far apart. Derek Sivers says:

“When you tell someone your goal and they acknowledge it, psychologists have found that it’s called a “social reality.” The mind is kind of tricked into feeling that it’s already done. And then because you’ve felt that satisfaction, you’re less motivated to do the actual hard work necessary.” Be someone that does things, not someone who talks about things.

3. They Spend Time With Losers
Spend enough time with losers, and you’ll become one. Apply this analogy to any type of person.

Do you want to get fit? Hang out with fit people. People feed off each other’s energy.

4. They Hate Everything
They especially hate people that are doing well. Why can’t you be happy for other people? Don’t worry, you won’t be a Pollyanna. You can still be cool and be positive.

Give people some love, it won’t kill you. They even hate things that just ‘are’. “Ugh, it rained this morning, and my hair got all messed up. I hate rain.” Common, really?

Having a bad day is ok—everyone gets irritable once in a while. But if you always hate everything, you’ll have a bad LIFE.

5. They Don’t Listen To Others
Unsuccessful people love themselves. To be honest, we all love ourselves, but if you’re unsuccessful, you ONLY love yourself.

We listen to others because we care about them. How else can you show you care? Everyone can give a hug, but not everybody calls you just to ask “How are you?” Ask, listen, care, repeat.

6. They Are Lazy

Never feel like doing anything? We’ve all been there: Not feeling like going to dinner with your partner, or not feeling like buying an awesome present for your mother’s birthday. Let’s face it, it’s all because you’re lazy.

Be a sport and get off your couch — participate with your family, friends, partner. The beauty of life lies in new and novel experiences.

When you’re lazy, you don’t even give yourself a chance to experience new things. It’s also not fair to the people in your life.

7. They Are Not Nice
Somehow, people think it’s cool to be a jerk. Honestly, it’s way cooler to be nice. You don’t have to be a Buddhist Monk or anything, just be a nice person.

Try it sometime, you might make a few new friends. And if you have difficulty defining what a ‘nice person’ is, you’re likely a jerk.

8 They Are Quitters
I saved the worst for last. If there’s one thing you take away from this article, I hope it’s this:

“Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time.” — Thomas A. Edison

There’s nothing I can add to that. Actually, there is: Never Give Up.

Thanks for your Wisdom Darius Foroux

I get bored easily and ‘Live to Learn’ – it’s really a requirement to be a Web Designer. Sara Ohara

When I met my first mentor I wasn’t impressed by his expensive car, his multi-million dollar business, or even how he managed hundreds of people.

No, I was impressed by how humble he was and how many questions he kept asking ME.

I thought to myself: Here’s a guy who’s rich, established, has everything — and he’s asking my opinion on everything? What the hell do I know?

At first, I thought he was just trying to make me feel important. That’s a common strategy that some people use to influence people.

But after a while, I noticed that he asked everyone for their opinion — and he actually cared. He listened. He even told me that his best ideas came from people who he usually wouldn’t ask.

As we became friends over time, and he became a mentor to me, I always wondered why he always kept asking everyone for their opinion and advice.

So about two years ago, I finally asked him: “Why do you always ask everyone for their opinion and advice? You’re so successful.”

He said: “I don’t know who said it, he must be a smart man, but it goes something like this: The secret of a successful man is that he always sees himself as a student who learns from other people.”

At the time, I had no clue who he was quoting. But a few weeks ago, when I was browsing Goodreads for new quotes to tweet, I noticed this quote: “Do you know the secret of the true scholar? In every man there is something wherein I may learn of him; and in that I am his pupil.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson

It finally clicked. My mentor is successful because he always saw himself as a student. Even after he had “made” it.
For example, some of his best business advice came from his business partner’s wife. And from one of his golf friends, he learned about investing. It’s so random. Or not?

Some people think that, once they achieve a certain level, they should stop talking to people ‘below’ them. Some people don’t even talk to people who are ‘below’ them; let alone asking them for advice.

We’ve all been there. Managers who think they’re above the rest. People with degrees who believe that they’re smarter than people who have no degree.

Some people believe that because they have a title, degree, or more money, they can’t learn from others who are not on their “level.”

Come on. That’s the biggest bullshit that happens on a daily basis. I see it all the time. And not only in work situations but everywhere.

You see it at big companies where upper management never talks to lower-level people. You see it in social classes where people who went to college look differently at people who didn’t.

To me, it’s weird that a lot of people claim that they are life learners, but completely disregard the idea of learning from other people. Just browse Twitter and you see a lot of people who have something with “life-learner” in their bio.
And that’s great. We all should keep learning forever. But why not learn from ALL people?

Have you ever asked for financial advice from someone you would never consider? Maybe a 16-year-old? Just a thought.
Years ago, when my mentor asked me questions about investing, dealing with people, marketing, strategy, and many other things we talked about, he knew damned well that I just got out of college.

Of course, he knew. But he didn’t care. He was genuinely interested in what I had to say. And yes, 99% of the stuff I talked about probably wasn’t relevant at all. But when you want to grow, you grow by 1% at a time.

“But asking people for advice will make me look bad.”

That’s just your ego speaking for you. Trust me; you won’t look stupid if you ask questions. In fact, the opposite is true. Most smart people I know, ONLY ask questions. They never make assumptions.

I’ve copied my mentor’s habit of asking everyone about their opinion and advice. Guess what? People gave me a lot of new ideas for articles, and ideas to implement in my business. Plus, I also became friends with people just by asking them one single question.

So what do you have to lose? Ask the next person you meet about something that’s on your mind. Give it a try but don’t be surprised if you get a great answer. And if you don’t, don’t worry, just ask someone else.

Thanks for your Wisdom Darius Foroux

My favorite way to learn is by studying people who have been on this planet for seven decades or more. One of those people is my grandfather, who’s 87 years old, and still takes care of himself.

I also met several highly successful entrepreneurs through my father, who I’m working with since 2010. I had the opportunity to start a business with my dad, and that automatically put me in the presence of great business people and investors.

Two of those people inspired me a lot. One of them is a Dutch real estate investor who’s now in his seventies. He once told me he never wants to retire. Another one is an American entrepreneur from Florida, who we recently started working with. He’s 82 years old. And late last year, he visited us in The Netherlands by himself. To him, age is not a limitation.

But that’s not what the car rental company thought. They didn’t want to give him a car because of his age! He told us, “These people don’t want to give me a car. I don’t understand it. I feel like I’m 50.”

Curiosity is undervalued

I ask every successful person I know what their “secret” is. What’s the key to a long life? Who’s better to answer that question than someone who can speak from experience?

Here’s what all these guys told me: You’ve got to stay curious. Keep learning new things, keep innovating. Don’t “retire” and call it quits. You’re toast the moment you do that.

Staying an eternal student is without a doubt one of the most important things in life.

Too much of our lives are dedicated to meaningless activities that keep us busy. But a life of curiosity doesn’t mean a life of busyness.

Busyness is the enemy of curiosity

I recently received a message from a guy I used to work out with. I no longer call him a friend, but at the time, we were close. He asked me how I’m doing. We exchanged some messages and I thought it was great he reached out.

I asked if I could give him a call so we could catch up properly. “I’m busy right now, I’ll get back to you.” I haven’t heard from him since.

If I’m too busy for a phone call, I see that as a sign that I’m not in control of my life. I learned this from the same guys I mentioned above. When you call them, they pick up. When you email them, they get back to you.

No matter how many responsibilities they have, and how many people they employ, they always make time. That’s my measure in life. If I can’t take off a day, I need to rethink my life and career.

If you can’t call someone for 10 minutes because you’re busy, life is in control of you. Other people are in the driver seat of your life. This has happened to me too. And I can’t imagine that people want to live like that. It’s this feeling that you’re being lived by something else.

Here’s the thing: When you’re busy, you can’t be curious anymore. After all, you’re too busy for that, right? Big mistake.

Curiosity keeps life novel

That’s the biggest lesson I’ve learned from spending time with people who should’ve retired but are still active. Everything is noise except for doing the things that you’re curious about. That will keep your life full of activity and joy. And when you stay active, life becomes long.

Thanks for your Wisdom Darius Foroux

The Coronavirus has required many to work from home, maybe for the 1st time. Perhaps you’re liking it and want to continue? Here are some great tips to be get started from someone I greatly admire, Darius Foroux. 

I’ve been making a living from my online business and blog since 2016. One of my readers, who’s concerned about the current state of the economy, asked me the following about working from home:

“I’d like to transition into building a career online. There’s so much on my mind and things are not getting easier. Can you share your tips for starting an online business/career?”

As I’m writing this, there are thousands of people over the world who are forced into quarantine because of the novel Coronavirus. On the Spanish island Tenerife, 1000 people are not allowed to leave their rooms. That’s tough.

There are only so many movies, tv shows, and books one can consume. At some point, you want to work. It’s in our nature to make ourselves useful. And working from home is a great way to do that. Plus, it gives you a lot of freedom.

Before I get to the steps I took to build an online career, I’d like to share a few quick thoughts:

• It’s never too late. Sure, it was better if you started on Instagram in 2013. It was better if you started on Twitter in 2008. And so forth. These are all excuses and bullshit reasons to not take action. The best day to start is today!
• Get rich quick doesn’t happen often. If you look hard enough, you’ll probably find a few people who built an app in 24 hours and became rich. But I wouldn’t count on that. But you already knew that. So adjust your expectations.
• There are certainly no “schemes.” If there were secret blueprints to making millions, they would remain secret. If I had a secret way to make a lot of money, I would keep it secret. That’s the truth.
• What works for me, might not work for you. And vice versa. So don’t just listen to a single person. Instead, take in the information and think about how you can apply it to yourself.
• You only need a laptop. Maybe you’ll need a camera and microphone if you want to create videos, but that’s not even necessary. Everything I share in this article works if you want to make money from home or any other place.
• This is not a “50 freelance online jobs that will make you rich” type of article. Those articles are useless. Instead of finding jobs, build a career. I’ll talk about that in Step 1.

That’s it. You certainly can build an online career. If the thought ever came up, it means you probably have it in you. Let’s get started.

Step 1: Identify your key skills

If you keep chasing jobs and gigs, you will become a person who’s hired based on completing a task. That’s the definition of a job. Someone hires you to do something they tell you to do.

Instead, build a career. The difference is that you’re no longer compensated to complete a task (or multiple tasks), but you’re compensated based on the value you provide.

This is the #1 business lesson I’ve learned from one of the most-respect business thinkers of all time, Peter Drucker. I’ve spent 6 years getting two business degrees.

Not once during that time did I learn the following. You build a career based on your skills—things you’re good at. And before you say, I’m not good at anything: You can acquire skills.

Need some inspiration? Here are a few skills that I’m constantly working on (in alphabetical order):

• Communication: We think we’re all master communicators. But the truth is that we suck. Communication is both art and science. And our ability to work with others depends on it.
• Graphic Design: A basic knowledge of design can help you to do your own design work. It doesn’t have to be perfect, it has to be genuine.
• Negotiation: You negotiate all the time. With your spouse, kids, parents, teachers, friends, co-workers, managers, etc. Learn to get the best deal for all parties.
• Personal Effectiveness: Learn how to maximize the results you can get during the 16–18 hours you’re awake. Get more done — effectively.
• Persuasion: Learn how to get what you want in an ethical way. It’s true that you can’t make people do anything, but you can be more persuasive in your messaging.
• Writing: We communicate more in the written word. Especially if you work from home.

The key is to acquire multiple skills. Scott Adams has this theory that combining skills you’re decent at results in an exceptional career. You want to figure out your own unique skill stack.

The beauty of this career strategy is that you can do a lot of different types of work. You’re not limited to do one job, you can do multiple things to earn a living—as long as you’re providing value.

Step 2: Demonstrate your work

To build an online career, you need to find a way to provide value. That’s why you want to know what you’re good at. The better you are at something, the more value you can provide.

Until this point, I haven’t talked about specific careers. Why? The list is endless. In today’s world, we have coaches who help people to tidy up their homes. We have people who sell their art on web-shops. The opportunities to work from home are endless.

I don’t want to list 50 careers because that’s too limiting. Maybe you’re thinking about doing something new. And you shouldn’t allow another person to tell you to pick your future career from a list.

Now, let’s say you’re good at writing and persuasion. And you want to find a way to earn money with your words, you could become a copywriter.

No matter what career you pick, the next step is to demonstrate your skills and work. This is the #1 reason I couldn’t get any work in the beginning. Like almost everyone else, I only talked about my work, I didn’t show it.

Now, I’m not talking about building a resume and asking for testimonials or endorsements. I’m talking about doing your actual work for people to see.

For example, I’ve published hundreds of free articles. That’s how I demonstrate my skills and provide value. If you do client work, you want to provide value before people hire you. People think it’s the other way around.

I used to think that someone should hire you first, and then, you do the work. That’s what everyone else does. Want to stand out? Give your audience or prospective clients a free sample. There’s nothing new about this.

If you’re old enough, you remember those folks who sold vacuum cleaners door-to-door. They came by and showed you how the product worked. They didn’t ask for your money. They just tried to be helpful. Now, times have changed. But the basic idea behind earning a living is the same.

Demonstrate. Don’t tell.

Step 3: Take yourself out of the equation

At some point, you acquire skills, you get clients, sell products, services, or do something to provide value, working from home.

Now, it’s time to think about the long-term sustainability of your career. Think about it. You want to keep providing value over the long-term. The last thing you want is to burn yourself out. And trust me, there’s a big risk that will happen.

Working from home can be lonely. And without some kind of system, you can’t keep it up. You want to avoid exchanging your time for money. Look at it this way: What happens if you stop working for a week?

Do you still have income streams? Or is your income tied to your hours? You want to avoid the latter. You can do that in two ways:

• Hire someone who works remotely. If you’re generating consistent income, it’s okay to hire someone. Ideally, you want to hire someone who can take over important tasks. I’m not talking about hiring a personal assistant that schedules meetings or books plane tickets. Hire someone who can actually do some of your work. When I hired someone for my blog, I looked for someone who could fully take over customer support. That’s an essential part of my business that needs to keep going no matter what.
• Create products. This is what everyone loves to do. But most people do it for the wrong reasons. I’ve met a lot of people who tried to rush creating a product. As a result, no one bought it. I do recommend everyone to create something that’s scalable. But don’t see it as some kind of magical thing. I have a bunch of products and it still requires work. People make you believe in the “passive income lifestyle.” But that’s nonsense. Passive income streams are hardly ever passive. Most entrepreneurs create products and multiple income streams to diversify. It simply means less risk if you have multiple ways to generate value.

There are a lot of misconceptions about building a career—online or offline. The number one reason there’s so much bullshit advice on the internet is that we’re impatient.

I’m no different. I’d love to come up with an idea today, work on it tomorrow, and launch it the day after. Also, it would be great if a million people were excited about whatever I launched.

That doesn’t happen. But it’s fine. If you play it right, you can have a long career. Let’s say you’re 40 and you’re committed to working as long as you can, which is one of the best things you can do in life. You might have another 40 years of work in you! FORTY. Just do the math based on how old you are.

So take your time my friend. Over 40 years, taking 4-5 years to build a foundation of skills is nothing. Here’s one thing that’s sure: You’ll profit from those skills for the rest of your life. Because that’s the only thing people can never take away from you.

Thanks for your Wisdom Darius Foroux 

Simplicity is one of the most powerful concepts in writing. That’s because most people want to impress their audience with complex words. But that’s not an effective strategy because people don’t use complex words when they talk.

Instead, ask yourself “What am I trying to say?”. Then, say it in the least amount of words.

Less is always better. Think before you write. That forces you to always use the minimum amount of words to make a point.

For example, the word “that” is often overused. You can delete “that” in 80% of all cases.

Practice this by sending short emails. If possible, don’t use more than 2 sentences per paragraph. And 3 paragraphs max.

Thanks for your Wisdom Darius Foroux

Please answer me this: Why do we work 8–9 hours a day so that we can earn free time, while we endlessly waste that hard-earned free time?

Have you ever looked at it this way? It’s an absurd way of living. And yet, everyone with a traditional job lives that way.

I remember the moment I realized that vividly. It was about three years ago. At the time, I worked at an IT Research firm in London while working on my own business in the evenings and weekends.

I was sitting on the train to home after a day at the office. And I was reading On The Shortness Of Life by Seneca . That book is famous for causing a shift in thinking for a lot of people.

I’ve met (and read about) many people who say that Seneca had an impact on the way they live. I don’t know why, but the simplicity and directness of Seneca’s writing hit you hard.

So I was just sitting there on the train like the millions of other folks who commute daily in London. It sounds like I’m setting the scene of a cheesy drama movie about an alcoholic who decides to better their life.

Believe me, my situation wasn’t that dramatic. It was just an ordinary day. A day that you forget you ever had because it’s similar to the day before… And the day before that. Do you know that feeling? Sometimes life feels like an endless deja vu.

But this specific section from On The Shortness Of Life made me think:

It is not that we have a short time to live, but that we waste a lot of it. Life is long enough, and a sufficiently generous amount has been given to us for the highest achievements if it were all well invested.

I thought about how I invested my time: About two and a half hours on the train each day, working a job I wasn’t passionate about and spending my free time drinking in the pub with co-workers, watching TV shows or gossiping at work.

We all work hard to earn two things: Money and free time that we can spend on leisure activities. Sounds pretty normal, right? But the shitty part is that we end up wasting that time on bullshit activities. Seneca continues to talk about time:

But when it is wasted in heedless luxury and spent on no good activity, we are forced at last by death’s final constraint to realize that it has passed away before we knew it was passing. So it is: we are not given a short life but we make it short, and we are not ill-supplied but wasteful of it… Life is long if you know how to use it.

At some point, you have to stop and say, “No more.”

• No more working to live.
• No more wasting the free time you earn.

Only when you say no, you can start using your time. Because like Seneca says, life is really long. Let’s say you’re currently 35 years old. And let’s assume you stay healthy until you’re 70 years old.

That’s another 35 years of time you can spend on anything you like! Well, not anything. You probably won’t go skydiving at 67 years old. Or maybe you would. Why not?! It’s your life.

Anyway, if you keep wasting your time for 35 years, it’s no good.

The problem is not time, the problem is the way you invest it.

We work hard to earn free time — but we can’t do anything with it because we’re too tired.

That’s how I felt. When you have a life that only drains energy, there’s not much left in your tank during the evenings and weekends.

That’s the one thing you want to avoid at all cost. It is simply not worth it to give all your energy to earn money and time if you can’t use it.

“But I need my job. I can’t just quit!”

That’s true. You’ve got to stay practical. But please, don’t tell me that it’s not possible to live a life that gives you energy. Also, don’t tell that to yourself. Without believing in something, you will never achieve it. Just keep both feet on the ground.

When I finally quit my job, I moved back to my hometown, started living cheaply, and focused on growing my business and later on, my blog. I didn’t go out, spend money, and didn’t engage in any activity that only gives pleasure.

“Yeah, but I don’t want to give up the fun things.”

Now we’re getting somewhere! You want the good life, but you don’t want to sacrifice anything for it.

I don’t have to tell you that’s impossible. You already know it. You know that you can’t party all the time and at the same time learn new skills. That’s not how real life works.

To achieve anything that’s worth it in life, you need two things:

1. Focus — What are you trying to get out of life? What’s on your bucket list? And why?
2. Perseverance — Now that you’re focused on what you want to do, don’t stop until you’ve made it happen. And once you’ve made it happen, make something else happen.

Sure, you might need other things too — it depends on what you want to do. But Focus and Perseverance are the two essential things everyone needs.

No one in the history of mankind did anything noteworthy without those two things.

Realize that you have one life. I don’t mean that in an idiotic YOLO way. That’s only an excuse to chase pleasure.

No, find something that’s worth achieving. Something you desire deeply.

And then: Go after it!

Thanks for your Wisdom Darius Foroux