What would be better than that?

7. Invest in education. Monday, I’m leaving for Atlanta- it’s Big Seminar time. In 2005, I went to a LOT of seminars. I met a lot of brilliant people, and explored how they thought, and how they ran their businesses. In 2006, I put on some seminars and used what I learned to change and grow my business. Time to fill up the reservoir again. If seminars aren’t your thing, then videos, audios, and ebooks are good sources for new ideas.

These things can be expensive. I’ll drop several thousand dollars going to the Big Seminar. However, I’ve never gone to a seminar that didn’t make me more money than I spent. For example, a chance conversation with one of the speakers at last year’s Big Seminar- we were on a staircase, overlooking the pool, talking about the fact that both of our cars had been stolen. Then we talked about coaching programs. That conversation made me over twenty thousand bucks last year. And that was just thirty minutes out of three days…

Every successful internet marketer I know has a huge library of audios, videos, books, and e-books that they have purchased. Of course, just buying the stuff doesn’t guarantee anything at all. But when it comes time to take action, it’s useful to know the most efficient and effective action to take. That’s why you buy the information. The new UnSeminar2 videos might be a good place for you to start. The information available at the Your Portable Empire University would be another good choice.

8. Invest in tools. This is a corollary to a rule I learned from Kiyosaki. His approach is to buy investments, and let the investments buy your toys. That’s too slow for me, right now, although I have started doing some investing. I’ve foun

Beautiful timing.

Just last night, I was re-reading Dan Kennedy’s “No BS Time Management.” Dan writes about how important discipline is. Apparently, Dan Kennedy is pretty darn disciplined. I know Joe is. I’ve watched him drop 80 pounds, totally change his body, and write 234,332,322.74 books in the last three years.

For better or worse, I’m not that disciplined. I don’t know how I manage to get anything done, given the random, zen-archer, method in which I do business.

Discipline is one of those things, like straight hair and talent at chess, that I admire from a distance. Even when I admire it up close, I’m mystified by it. How on earth could you know what time you’re going to get up in the morning? Some people have their lives totally scripted for months at a time.

Not me.

Last night, I was up till three a.m. working on the University site. Around, 1:00 a.m. I had an idea that was so good I had to get up, go upstairs, walk to the car, and make a detailed note to myself to use the thing I got upstairs, the thing that was in the car, and the book that’s in my office in Austin to make the next obvious product. I went to bed when I got sleepy.

I got up when I was rested.

I didn’t set an alarm, although, for the record, I do own an alarm clock. I managed to wake up anyway. Coffee, sprouted-wheat toast, giggle at the funny people on the TV (Gonzales. Senate hearings. No wonder they keep talking about how hard their jobs are. Anything more complex than reading the funnies must be hard for them, poor things.)

Today, I think I’ll probably end up at the Austin office. I might not. If I let my schedule dictate my performance, then who’s running the show? Some “me” in the past, or “me” now? What gives that “me” in the past the right to dictate what the “me” in the present is going to do? How would it be a sign of strength or intelligence for me to ignore the inspiration of the moment because of “discipline”?

Most of the projects that I take on last more than a day. If I’m inspired, I work on them. Sometimes I can stay inspired for fourteen hours a day, for weeks at a stretch. Other times, I am not inspired at all. I’ve got about forty public domain books online, ready to be marketed, for example. I just haven’t been inspired to market them.

Since I’ve achieved a certain level of success- although nothing like Joe and Dan’s success, yet- I must be doing something right. With your permission, I’d like to modify the assignment. Let’s take the words “every day” out of the equation.

Pat’s top-ten list of things I do to be successful.

1. One Step Forward. This is the important exception to that. Every day, I make sure I do one thing that forwards my online business. It can be anything that materially helps my business- write a blog post, write an article, outline a new product. Reading books doesn’t count. To feel like I’ve properly seized a day, I need to be able to point to one concrete thing I’ve done that will make my business better.

2. Let go. I’ve got a special relationship with the universe and my subconscious mind. I learned this from Joe, and it works. If I know that I’ve got to write an article, or a blog post, or a sales letter- I tell my subconscious mind to go to work on it. Then, I go about my day. At some point, well within my deadline period, the assignment will be completed. All I have to do is sit down and transcribe it. Kinda like I’m doing right now.

3. Control your time. This is a big one. My phone and email go to my personal assistant, Hunter. During the day, she forwards the emails that I need, forwards the customer service issues to David, handles what she can handle, and erases the rest. Once a day, I go over the emails that she forwards, and deal with them all at once. That saves hours every day, and I control when I deal with it.

I have a spiffy Samsung blackjack telephone, that about 12 people have the number to. Hunter is one of them. If I get a phone call on the office line that absolutely must be handled by me, she calls me and tells me about it. This rarely happens. The rest of the calls get handled like the emails.

I learned this trick from Dan Kennedy. It probably opens up a couple of hours a day for me to do productive work, write, think, or stare into the middle distance and let my mind wander- which is one of the most productive things I do.

4. The next obvious thing. This is a private game I play, when I’m staring into the middle distance, and letting my mind wander. I look back at the steps I’ve taken to get to where I am, then look forward to where I want to go, and then try to figure out what the next obvious move is. This is amazingly powerful. When you state the problem properly, the solution usually presents itself. It’s obvious. But you’ll never see it unless you frame the problem correctly.

5. Feed your head. What you put into your mind is what will come back out of your mind. If you feed it cop shows, sensationalist news, and gossip, then that’s what it’s going to think about. If you feed your mind good stuff, then that’s what it’s going to have to work with when you want to use it. I’ve got a fairly large library of books that contain “good stuff.”

Here are some of the authors I read, and re-read: Joe Vitale, Dan Kennedy, Steve Seibold, Richard Bandler, Mark Joyner, Malcolm Gladwell, Robert Kiyosaki, Robert Cialdini, Napoleon Hill… and Christopher Moore, Douglas Adams and Kinky Friedman when I’m in the mood for fiction.

Why do I stress reading instead of video or audio, and especially TV? When I read, I control the rate at which information enters my mind. I can go as fast as I want, and if I want to stop, close my eyes, and process what I’ve read, I can. I control the data feed. It works for me.

6. Creative visualization. Years and years ago, I read a book by Shakti Gawain called “creative visualization.” I recommend it highly. Since then, I’ve noticed that I lot of the people I respect know this book, and use this technique to achieve things that, at first glance, look impossible.

For example, at the UnSeminars, Joe will usually ask the audience what their goals and dreams are. Then, he’ll ask, “and what would be better than that?” That question stretches the audience members to dream bigger. Then Joe will ask, “and, what would be even better than that?”

This is a powerful, exercise, and I like to do it on the porch, while smoking a good cigar. No computer. No books. Just me and my mind, playing games. The trick is to realize that this is an infinite universe. Infinite in totality, and infinite in its components. There are no limits to what you can do, have or be, and the trick is to realize that there are no limits, and to not get scared. Sometimes, wealth scares me. Sometimes, success scares me. So, I let my mind wander around, and play with “what would be better than…” For example, I like my Volvo a lot. It’s a great car. But, I can sit on my porch, smoke my cigar, and visualize myself driving a Bentley. Maybe it’s John Lennon’s old Bentley, with the psychedelic painting on the outside, and the deep, luxurious leather on the inside. Nothing to be afraid of. But the exercise acclimates my mind to the feel of the leather, the joy of seeing that day-glo, boat-sized car in the driveway… step by step, I get comfortable with new concepts… it’s a process, but, over time, I’ve managed to get comfortable with some pretty outlandish stuff this way.

What would be better than that?

7. Invest in education. Monday, I’m leaving for Atlanta- it’s Big Seminar time. In 2005, I went to a LOT of seminars. I met a lot of brilliant people, and explored how they thought, and how they ran their businesses. In 2006, I put on some seminars and used what I learned to change and grow my business. Time to fill up the reservoir again. If seminars aren’t your thing, then videos, audios, and ebooks are good sources for new ideas.

These things can be expensive. I’ll drop several thousand dollars going to the Big Seminar. However, I’ve never gone to a seminar that didn’t make me more money than I spent. For example, a chance conversation with one of the speakers at last year’s Big Seminar- we were on a staircase, overlooking the pool, talking about the fact that both of our cars had been stolen. Then we talked about coaching programs. That conversation made me over twenty thousand bucks last year. And that was just thirty minutes out of three days…

Every successful internet marketer I know has a huge library of audios, videos, books, and e-books that they have purchased. Of course, just buying the stuff doesn’t guarantee anything at all. But when it comes time to take action, it’s useful to know the most efficient and effective action to take. That’s why you buy the information. The new UnSeminar2 videos might be a good place for you to start. The information available at the Your Portable Empire University would be another good choice.

8. Invest in tools. This is a corollary to a rule I learned from Kiyosaki. His approach is to buy investments, and let the investments buy your toys. That’s too slow for me, right now, although I have started doing some investing. I’ve found

Most of the projects that I take on last more than a day. If I’m inspired, I work on them. Sometimes I can stay inspired for fourteen hours a day, for weeks at a stretch. Other times, I am not inspired at all. I’ve got about forty public domain books online, ready to be marketed, for example. I just haven’t been inspired to market them.

Since I’ve achieved a certain level of success- although nothing like Joe and Dan’s success, yet- I must be doing something right. With your permission, I’d like to modify the assignment. Let’s take the words “every day” out of the equation.

Pat’s top-ten list of things I do to be successful.

1. One Step Forward. This is the important exception to that. Every day, I make sure I do one thing that forwards my online business. It can be anything that materially helps my business- write a blog post, write an article, outline a new product. Reading books doesn’t count. To feel like I’ve properly seized a day, I need to be able to point to one concrete thing I’ve done that will make my business better.

2. Let go. I’ve got a special relationship with the universe and my subconscious mind. I learned this from Joe, and it works. If I know that I’ve got to write an article, or a blog post, or a sales letter- I tell my subconscious mind to go to work on it. Then, I go about my day. At some point, well within my deadline period, the assignment will be completed. All I have to do is sit down and transcribe it. Kinda like I’m doing right now.

3. Control your time. This is a big one. My phone and email go to my personal assistant, Hunter. During the day, she forwards the emails that I need, forwards the customer service issues to David, handles what she can handle, and erases the rest. Once a day, I go over the emails that she forwards, and deal with them all at once. That saves hours every day, and I control when I deal with it.

I have a spiffy Samsung blackjack telephone, that about 12 people have the number to. Hunter is one of them. If I get a phone call on the office line that absolutely must be handled by me, she calls me and tells me about it. This rarely happens. The rest of the calls get handled like the emails.

I learned this trick from Dan Kennedy. It probably opens up a couple of hours a day for me to do productive work, write, think, or stare into the middle distance and let my mind wander- which is one of the most productive things I do.

4. The next obvious thing. This is a private game I play, when I’m staring into the middle distance, and letting my mind wander. I look back at the steps I’ve taken to get to where I am, then look forward to where I want to go, and then try to figure out what the next obvious move is. This is amazingly powerful. When you state the problem properly, the solution usually presents itself. It’s obvious. But you’ll never see it unless you frame the problem correctly.

5. Feed your head. What you put into your mind is what will come back out of your mind. If you feed it cop shows, sensationalist news, and gossip, then that’s what it’s going to think about. If you feed your mind good stuff, then that’s what it’s going to have to work with when you want to use it. I’ve got a fairly large library of books that contain “good stuff.”

Here are some of the authors I read, and re-read: Joe Vitale, Dan Kennedy, Steve Seibold, Richard Bandler, Mark Joyner, Malcolm Gladwell, Robert Kiyosaki, Robert Cialdini, Napoleon Hill… and Christopher Moore, Douglas Adams and Kinky Friedman when I’m in the mood for fiction.

Why do I stress reading instead of video or audio, and especially TV? When I read, I control the rate at which information enters my mind. I can go as fast as I want, and if I want to stop, close my eyes, and process what I’ve read, I can. I control the data feed. It works for me.

6. Creative visualization. Years and years ago, I read a book by Shakti Gawain called “creative visualization.” I recommend it highly. Since then, I’ve noticed that I lot of the people I respect know this book, and use this technique to achieve things that, at first glance, look impossible.

For example, at the UnSeminars, Joe will usually ask the audience what their goals and dreams are. Then, he’ll ask, “and what would be better than that?” That question stretches the audience members to dream bigger. Then Joe will ask, “and, what would be even better than that?”

This is a powerful, exercise, and I like to do it on the porch, while smoking a good cigar. No computer. No books. Just me and my mind, playing games. The trick is to realize that this is an infinite universe. Infinite in totality, and infinite in its components. There are no limits to what you can do, have or be, and the trick is to realize that there are no limits, and to not get scared. Sometimes, wealth scares me. Sometimes, success scares me. So, I let my mind wander around, and play with “what would be better than…” For example, I like my Volvo a lot. It’s a great car. But, I can sit on my porch, smoke my cigar, and visualize myself driving a Bentley. Maybe it’s John Lennon’s old Bentley, with the psychedelic painting on the outside, and the deep, luxurious leather on the inside. Nothing to be afraid of. But the exercise acclimates my mind to the feel of the leather, the joy of seeing that day-glo, boat-sized car in the driveway… step by step, I get comfortable with new concepts… it’s a process, but, over time, I’ve managed to get comfortable with some pretty outlandish stuff this way.

What would be better than that?

7. Invest in education. Monday, I’m leaving for Atlanta- it’s Big Seminar time. In 2005, I went to a LOT of seminars. I met a lot of brilliant people, and explored how they thought, and how they ran their businesses. In 2006, I put on some seminars and used what I learned to change and grow my business. Time to fill up the reservoir again. If seminars aren’t your thing, then videos, audios, and ebooks are good sources for new ideas.

These things can be expensive. I’ll drop several thousand dollars going to the Big Seminar. However, I’ve never gone to a seminar that didn’t make me more money than I spent. For example, a chance conversation with one of the speakers at last year’s Big Seminar- we were on a staircase, overlooking the pool, talking about the fact that both of our cars had been stolen. Then we talked about coaching programs. That conversation made me over twenty thousand bucks last year. And that was just thirty minutes out of three days…

Every successful internet marketer I know has a huge library of audios, videos, books, and e-books that they have purchased. Of course, just buying the stuff doesn’t guarantee anything at all. But when it comes time to take action, it’s useful to know the most efficient and effective action to take. That’s why you buy the information. The new UnSeminar2 videos might be a good place for you to start. The information available at the Your Portable Empire University would be another good choice.

8. Invest in tools. This is a corollary to a rule I learned from Kiyosaki. His approach is to buy investments, and let the investments buy your toys. That’s too slow for me, right now, although I have started doing some investing. I’ve foun

I have a spiffy Samsung blackjack telephone, that about 12 people have the number to. Hunter is one of them. If I get a phone call on the office line that absolutely must be handled by me, she calls me and tells me about it. This rarely happens. The rest of the calls get handled like the emails.

I learned this trick from Dan Kennedy. It probably opens up a couple of hours a day for me to do productive work, write, think, or stare into the middle distance and let my mind wander- which is one of the most productive things I do.

4. The next obvious thing. This is a private game I play, when I’m staring into the middle distance, and letting my mind wander. I look back at the steps I’ve taken to get to where I am, then look forward to where I want to go, and then try to figure out what the next obvious move is. This is amazingly powerful. When you state the problem properly, the solution usually presents itself. It’s obvious. But you’ll never see it unless you frame the problem correctly.

5. Feed your head. What you put into your mind is what will come back out of your mind. If you feed it cop shows, sensationalist news, and gossip, then that’s what it’s going to think about. If you feed your mind good stuff, then that’s what it’s going to have to work with when you want to use it. I’ve got a fairly large library of books that contain “good stuff.”

Here are some of the authors I read, and re-read: Joe Vitale, Dan Kennedy, Steve Seibold, Richard Bandler, Mark Joyner, Malcolm Gladwell, Robert Kiyosaki, Robert Cialdini, Napoleon Hill… and Christopher Moore, Douglas Adams and Kinky Friedman when I’m in the mood for fiction.

Why do I stress reading instead of video or audio, and especially TV? When I read, I control the rate at which information enters my mind. I can go as fast as I want, and if I want to stop, close my eyes, and process what I’ve read, I can. I control the data feed. It works for me.

6. Creative visualization. Years and years ago, I read a book by Shakti Gawain called “creative visualization.” I recommend it highly. Since then, I’ve noticed that I lot of the people I respect know this book, and use this technique to achieve things that, at first glance, look impossible.

For example, at the UnSeminars, Joe will usually ask the audience what their goals and dreams are. Then, he’ll ask, “and what would be better than that?” That question stretches the audience members to dream bigger. Then Joe will ask, “and, what would be even better than that?”

This is a powerful, exercise, and I like to do it on the porch, while smoking a good cigar. No computer. No books. Just me and my mind, playing games. The trick is to realize that this is an infinite universe. Infinite in totality, and infinite in its components. There are no limits to what you can do, have or be, and the trick is to realize that there are no limits, and to not get scared. Sometimes, wealth scares me. Sometimes, success scares me. So, I let my mind wander around, and play with “what would be better than…” For example, I like my Volvo a lot. It’s a great car. But, I can sit on my porch, smoke my cigar, and visualize myself driving a Bentley. Maybe it’s John Lennon’s old Bentley, with the psychedelic painting on the outside, and the deep, luxurious leather on the inside. Nothing to be afraid of. But the exercise acclimates my mind to the feel of the leather, the joy of seeing that day-glo, boat-sized car in the driveway… step by step, I get comfortable with new concepts… it’s a process, but, over time, I’ve managed to get comfortable with some pretty outlandish stuff this way.

What would be better than that?

7. Invest in education. Monday, I’m leaving for Atlanta- it’s Big Seminar time. In 2005, I went to a LOT of seminars. I met a lot of brilliant people, and explored how they thought, and how they ran their businesses. In 2006, I put on some seminars and used what I learned to change and grow my business. Time to fill up the reservoir again. If seminars aren’t your thing, then videos, audios, and ebooks are good sources for new ideas.

These things can be expensive. I’ll drop several thousand dollars going to the Big Seminar. However, I’ve never gone to a seminar that didn’t make me more money than I spent. For example, a chance conversation with one of the speakers at last year’s Big Seminar- we were on a staircase, overlooking the pool, talking about the fact that both of our cars had been stolen. Then we talked about coaching programs. That conversation made me over twenty thousand bucks last year. And that was just thirty minutes out of three days…

Every successful internet marketer I know has a huge library of audios, videos, books, and e-books that they have purchased. Of course, just buying the stuff doesn’t guarantee anything at all. But when it comes time to take action, it’s useful to know the most efficient and effective action to take. That’s why you buy the information. The new UnSeminar2 videos might be a good place for you to start. The information available at the Your Portable Empire University would be another good choice.

8. Invest in tools. This is a corollary to a rule I learned from Kiyosaki. His approach is to buy investments, and let the investments buy your toys. That’s too slow for me, right now, although I have started doing some investing. I’ve foun

Why do I stress reading instead of video or audio, and especially TV? When I read, I control the rate at which information enters my mind. I can go as fast as I want, and if I want to stop, close my eyes, and process what I’ve read, I can. I control the data feed. It works for me.

6. Creative visualization. Years and years ago, I read a book by Shakti Gawain called “creative visualization.” I recommend it highly. Since then, I’ve noticed that I lot of the people I respect know this book, and use this technique to achieve things that, at first glance, look impossible.

For example, at the UnSeminars, Joe will usually ask the audience what their goals and dreams are. Then, he’ll ask, “and what would be better than that?” That question stretches the audience members to dream bigger. Then Joe will ask, “and, what would be even better than that?”

This is a powerful, exercise, and I like to do it on the porch, while smoking a good cigar. No computer. No books. Just me and my mind, playing games. The trick is to realize that this is an infinite universe. Infinite in totality, and infinite in its components. There are no limits to what you can do, have or be, and the trick is to realize that there are no limits, and to not get scared. Sometimes, wealth scares me. Sometimes, success scares me. So, I let my mind wander around, and play with “what would be better than…” For example, I like my Volvo a lot. It’s a great car. But, I can sit on my porch, smoke my cigar, and visualize myself driving a Bentley. Maybe it’s John Lennon’s old Bentley, with the psychedelic painting on the outside, and the deep, luxurious leather on the inside. Nothing to be afraid of. But the exercise acclimates my mind to the feel of the leather, the joy of seeing that day-glo, boat-sized car in the driveway… step by step, I get comfortable with new concepts… it’s a process, but, over time, I’ve managed to get comfortable with some pretty outlandish stuff this way.

What would be better than that?

7. Invest in education. Monday, I’m leaving for Atlanta- it’s Big Seminar time. In 2005, I went to a LOT of seminars. I met a lot of brilliant people, and explored how they thought, and how they ran their businesses. In 2006, I put on some seminars and used what I learned to change and grow my business. Time to fill up the reservoir again. If seminars aren’t your thing, then videos, audios, and ebooks are good sources for new ideas.

These things can be expensive. I’ll drop several thousand dollars going to the Big Seminar. However, I’ve never gone to a seminar that didn’t make me more money than I spent. For example, a chance conversation with one of the speakers at last year’s Big Seminar- we were on a staircase, overlooking the pool, talking about the fact that both of our cars had been stolen. Then we talked about coaching programs. That conversation made me over twenty thousand bucks last year. And that was just thirty minutes out of three days…

Every successful internet marketer I know has a huge library of audios, videos, books, and e-books that they have purchased. Of course, just buying the stuff doesn’t guarantee anything at all. But when it comes time to take action, it’s useful to know the most efficient and effective action to take. That’s why you buy the information. The new UnSeminar2 videos might be a good place for you to start. The information available at the Your Portable Empire University would be another good choice.

8. Invest in tools. This is a corollary to a rule I learned from Kiyosaki. His approach is to buy investments, and let the investments buy your toys. That’s too slow for me, right now, although I have started doing some investing. I’ve foun

What would be better than that?

7. Invest in education. Monday, I’m leaving for Atlanta- it’s Big Seminar time. In 2005, I went to a LOT of seminars. I met a lot of brilliant people, and explored how they thought, and how they ran their businesses. In 2006, I put on some seminars and used what I learned to change and grow my business. Time to fill up the reservoir again. If seminars aren’t your thing, then videos, audios, and ebooks are good sources for new ideas.

These things can be expensive. I’ll drop several thousand dollars going to the Big Seminar. However, I’ve never gone to a seminar that didn’t make me more money than I spent. For example, a chance conversation with one of the speakers at last year’s Big Seminar- we were on a staircase, overlooking the pool, talking about the fact that both of our cars had been stolen. Then we talked about coaching programs. That conversation made me over twenty thousand bucks last year. And that was just thirty minutes out of three days…

Every successful internet marketer I know has a huge library of audios, videos, books, and e-books that they have purchased. Of course, just buying the stuff doesn’t guarantee anything at all. But when it comes time to take action, it’s useful to know the most efficient and effective action to take. That’s why you buy the information. The new UnSeminar2 videos might be a good place for you to start. The information available at the Your Portable Empire University would be another good choice.

8. Invest in tools. This is a corollary to a rule I learned from Kiyosaki. His approach is to buy investments, and let the investments buy your toys. That’s too slow for me, right now, although I have started doing some investing. I’ve found that if you invest in tools, and add labor (which can be purchased cheaply), you can maximize your investment.

One of the first investments I made, a couple of years ago, was an eight-bay CD duplicator. Back then, I was selling CDs. Initially, I duped them one-at-a-time with my computer. The duplicator really sped up the process. I could make and package hundreds of CDs a day. Then I hired a teenager to run the duplicator, which freed me up to make more products. That machine paid for itself the first day we used it, and then went on to generate profit for a year more- until we hired a fulfillment house to handle all that. It’s still here in the office, though, in case I decide to do a short run of CDs.

Now, I’ve got a couple of pro video cameras, a top of the line video editing rig (Mac tower with 6 gigs of RAM, final cut pro software, big flat-screen monitor, studio audio monitors), a pro Nikon camera, photoshop, another Mac with pro-tools for audio recording, and so on and so on. I like good tools, but more importantly, each one of these tools has paid for itself many times over with the application of labor (rarely mine!).

9. Outsource EVERYTHING. In my business, the money comes from ideas. If I’m writing, or recording an audio, or filming a video, I’m creating a physical manifestation of an idea- but nothing happens without the idea. So, I outsource everything that someone else can do, and keep for myself those things that only I can do.

Think about it. A well written ebook, properly marketed, can bring in tens of thousands of dollars pretty quickly. When you divide the income by the hours it takes to write it, the hourly wage is astonishing. If I’m ditzing about with customer service, or wading through spam, or mowing the lawn, I’m stealing money from myself. The same is true for you.

10. Nothing. I saved this one for last, because I’m coming to realize that it’s the most important. Craig Perrine was riffing about the entrepreneur mindset at dinner last week, and what he said really rang true for me. Some people are happy operating at a consistent, but low, percentage of their capacity every day. These are the ones that are satisfied to clock into the job at eight in the morning, put in a days work, and go home at five. Get up the next morning and do it again. Get up the next morning and do it again. That’s fine for the people its fine for, but it would drive an entrepreneur to distraction.

Entrepreneurs work in spurts. Long periods of time at, say, 10% capacity. This is the “staring into the middle distance with a blank look on my face” time for me. The “curl up with the new Christopher Moore book” time. The “sit on the front porch, smoke a cigar, and watch the deer” time.

Then, when inspiration hits, the entrepreneur ratchets up to 110% until the job’s done. Some people can extend this extreme productivity for weeks. When I do that, I get exhausted, frustrated, and ineffective. I’ve learned that there are times when “nothing” is exactly the right thing to do.

11. (This one goes to eleven!) Get healthy. The Internet Marketing lifestyle is sedentary. I know that I can get up in the morning, plop into my “gravity chair,” pull up my little roll-away desk with the laptop on it, and sit there until it’s time for bed. I’ve done that for weeks on end. I’ve found that a bottle of red wine and a pile of random carbohydrates makes the work go faster.

Not any more. A recent visit to the doc finished that phase of my life for good.

Several times a week, I’ll pass Bill Hibbler, stylishly jogging around the neighborhood. Joe Vitale has a world-class gym, swimming pool, hot tub, and the body to go with ‘em. We all have our supplements, vitamins, and the attention of good health advice. I’ve cut back my work hours, and have dedicated a couple of days a week to getting out of the office, and out into the world.

I’ve walked around Luckenbach, Texas. Walked through the botanical gardens in Austin. Walked around the mall for three friggin’ hours while David shopped for cell phones. Whatever. My knees won’t take jogging, and I get bored in a gym. It’s walking for me.

Soon it will be warm enough to hit the pool.

You don’t see any hearses with luggage racks. Take care of yourself.