4 Reasons Hard Work Supersedes ‘Relationships’

Lately, I have been hearing a ton of very common platitudes about the nature of relationships, and how they supersede hard work.  It’s all too frequently that I someone will mutter a variation of, “It’s not what you know, it’s who you know”.  This is usually in response to some sort of rejection, refusal or disappointment.  Almost uniformly career related.

However, I can cite example after example after example of why this isn’t true.  4 of them to be exact.

1.  Mark Zuckerberg

All smiles.

Mark’s mother was a psychiatrist and his father was a dentist.  This isn’t a common recipe for billionaire offspring.  And nowhere in Mark’s family tree is there any royal linkage.  No, Mark worked his ass off.  He programmed games and wrote code and studied relentlessly to attain his elite level of success.  Mark worked for his billions.

2.   Warren Buffett

Lifelong worker.

Same thing here.  Warren was the son of a congressman and a housewife.  When he was a kid he took an interest in business and sold chewing gum door to door.  From there he worked his way up.  He owned pinball machines.  He sold Coca Cola.  He studied and bought stock.  He wasn’t the recipient of a scholarship.  He wasn’t awarded any grants.  He never had a trust fund.  You see, Warren worked for his billions.  He’s worth 39 of them.

3.  Steven Spielberg

It all came from... His head.

Same thing here.  Steven Spielberg was born on Ohio (certainly not the birthplace of the economic elite) to an engineer father and a mother who owned a restaurant.  He loved movies and started making them when he was a kid.  He knew he would have to work for a career, and that’s all he did since the time he was 13 years old.  For the next 40 years he made some of the most influential and seminal films of all times.  He’s worth 3 billion, and no one gave him a dime.

4.  Tony Robbins

Worth every penny.

Tony Robbins is a polarizing figure.  Some people like him, some hate him.  The haters are the kinds of people that mutter those phrases I wrote about at the top of the entry.  Tony Robbins lived in a single apartment in LA and wanted to live in a castle.  He now lives in a castle.  He used to pick pennies up off of the pavement (still does by the way) and now he’s worth a billion dollars.  Tony Robbins never had a thing handed to him.  He worked for it all.  Every penny.  Even the ones he found.

So there you have it.  It’s not who you know, but what you know.  And how hard you’re willing to work to implement it.  So get to it.  Have a vision.  And go after it.

It’s time to go to work.

My 4 Favorite Apps

Thanks for the request, Brian.  I appreciate you writing in.  I don’t know what your beef is about my Ohio entry (you must be from there) but I would be more than happy to discuss all things Ohio with you off line or on.  I’m well versed.

But that’s beside the point you requested I write about: my four favorite apps.  So without further ado… Here they are.

1.  The Pokerist

It’s really not that a great of a poker app.  It’s slow, it takes a long time to load (sometimes it doesn’t load at all) and it’s pretty elementary in it’s layout.  But boy are there some bad poker players using it.  When you win an average of 46% of the time, you tend to love any game of chance.  And that’s (kind of) what poker is.  Plus, they give you tons of free chips, so unless you go “all in” on a dozen straight 2, 3’s off suited… You’re going to be more than alive with this app.  You’ll thrive.

2.  Netflix for iPad 

This is especially kick ass when I am in an airport.  If I connect to the local wi-fi (which I am finding is free more often than ever now in airports — also cool) then I can finish the movies I started, catch a TV show before my flight, or watch content centered around where I am going.  The days of airport boredom are over.

3.   iBooks

I read a lot.  I like to use my iPad as much as possible.  With iBooks, I can read any book, magazine, article, pamphlet, leaflet or document I download at any time and not have any environmental impact.  This saves not only on resources, but money.  I don’t waste one sheet of paper.  I don’t use one drop of ink.  I don’t waste a second of time.  This may be the greatest app ever invented for iPad (at least for me anyway).  Just goes to show you that simple is usually best.

4.  Word Mole

This is a GREAT game.  It not only challenges you to improve your vocabulary, but does so under a ticking clock scenario.  Sure the premise is a little hoaky, and it actually doesn’t recognize some pretty basic words.  But who hasn’t dreamt of being a ground rodent?  And in this game… Your dreams come true!  You’re a mole (hence the title), digging for letters, vegetables and water to grow a garden full of words.  But unlike vegetables — this app is addictive.  The bigger the word, the more the points.  And if you load it up with vegetables, time and water — BONUS!  Fun fun fun!

So there you are, Brian.  My 4 favorite apps.  Let me know if you agree or disagree.

Wait… is there an app for that?

4 Reasons Ohio Blows

I just now realized that I actually had someone write in and offer a topic a few weeks back and I hadn’t yet addressed it.  My apologies to Larry B. from Ohio for taking so long to answer his query.

Well, Larry, you asked me what my opinion was of Ohio… And I am afraid this entry will be a tad anticlimactic.  The title says it all.  Now, I know you think Ohio is the greatest place on Earth — and maybe for you it is.

But this isn’t ‘4 Reasons… By Larry B.’ it’s my blog and you wanted my opinion… So here goes.

1.  Cleveland

Cleveland may be one of the saddest places on the planet.  It’s bleak, dreary, bitter cold in August and seemingly designed by men who were fans of the shoebox.  It’s not surprising that the (former) people of Cleveland are abandoning the place like rats on a sinking ship.  It’s a pit.

2.  The Cuisine

I’ve never had a good meal in Ohio that didn’t come with fries.  And I hate fast food.  So that is to say that unless you’re at a McDonald’s or Wendy’s or JITB, you’re outta luck.  The state beverage is canned and processed tomato juice.  Need I say more?  If so, look no further than the watery gruel called Skyline chili they ladle onto overcooked pasta and call it a meal.  Turkish prisoners eat better.

3.  The Ohio State University

Okay, Larry, TOSU is a fine institution.  Kudos to you for being employed there.  But let’s talk about the arrogance, belligerence and total ignorance of the school’s “leaders” like E. Gordon Gee and to a lesser extent Gene Smith.  Not only did they have full awareness that the football program was cheating, but they broomed it under the rug just so they could win a football game — the Sugar Bowl versus Arkansas (from the hated SEC).  With the cooperation of Jim Delaney, they proclaimed their program ‘clean’.  What a joke.  I guess the denizens of Ohio don’t mind… Who else are they going to root for — The Akron Zips?

4.  Booger said it best…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yR-D9oSMLBw

So there you have it Larry B.  I hope I didn’t burn any bridges with you.  If so, I will be glad to offer you safe passage to Michigan, California or Texas… Or any of the other 49 states people from Ohio are fleeing too.

But then again you live in the greatest place on Earth.  Best of luck.