Acquire 30 Hours More a Week for Your Key Activities!

Good morning, Live Better than a Billionaire-a-Holics!

Are you feeling motivated this morning? I hope so!

I've decided to update and improve the most popular blog entry I've recorded to date. Here it is:

One of my fun activities last month was teaching a class on small businesses for those who wanted to start their own. It was a great joy to meet with these budding entrepreneurs and to hear about their dreams and plans.

To encourage them, I talked about my business of providing dream concierge services. Last night one student told me that he has been a concierge for eight years at one of Boston's finest hotels and offered to share his experiences.

First, I asked him the question that almost everyone does: "What's the most unusual request you've ever had?" Nothing really stood out.

Then I asked him what he liked about the job. It turns out that it's a high pressure job, and he doesn't enjoy the work very much. With the trends in downsizing in the hospitality industry, he finds himself doing the work that 2 or 3 people did when he started . . . and with lots of pressure from impatient guests.

When a guest wants something, they invariably say, "Just do it!" And they don't want to hear about the details. The hotel, naturally, is reluctant to order $1,000 worth of tickets for a concert unless the guest knows this in advance and has authorized the expenditure in writing. So the frustrated concierge spends more time getting authorizations than actually providing services. And the guests don't like it either.

Next, I asked him what surprised him the most. He found that one easy to answer. Guests are willing to routinely pay $40 to have something done for them that they could do for themselves for $3. Obviously, these people really dislike these tasks!

Since I heard these fascinating comments, I've been thinking about what they mean. First, a lot of people want it fast and they want it easy. Second, people don't want to change in order to get what they want. Third, people assume that the world will bend to their will if they simply throw money at the problem.

As a non-billionaire, the lessons are different. The billionaire probably feels desperate to grasp more time and control over his or her life. Much of that time sensitivity probably relates to all of the time demands created by wealth such as managing the money or business, minimizing taxes, keeping people from stealing, listening to those who want the money for donations and other purposes and dealing with invitations from people who want to connect to the wealth. When does the fun begin?

The non-billionaire, by contrast, has the choice of how much time to spend on all of those and other activities unless she or he decides to maximize their income. The person who wants to live better than a billionaire can opt instead to maximize their life by spending time on what brings them joy and their dreams to life.

I suddenly realized that like I do for my business students, I need to help people free up time for more delightful activities if they are going to be able to embrace the live-better-than-a-billionaire life style.

Here's a good place to start. By the way, if you want to know more about this approach, read Alan Lakein's book, How to Get Control of Your Time and Your Life.

Set your most important goals down. Your most important one is A1. Your next most important one is A2. And so forth.

Then determine what activities you need to do to achieve each of those goals. For instance, if your A1 goal is to earn a college degree on a part-time basis, related activities would be attending classes, preparing assignments and reviewing for tests. The most important activity would then be A1, the next most important activity would be A2 and so forth.

B goals would have B activities and unimportant goals for now would be C goals with C activities.

Write down how you spend every moment, 24 hours a day for 7 days a week for two weeks.

Then analyze how you spent your time. How much was on anything less than A1 activities? How much was on C activities? How can you shift time from B and C activities to A1 activities?

How much time did you spend doing things that you don't like to do? How could you get rid of those activities?

How much time did you spend doing things that aren't important? Many people find that they are devoting over 10 hours a week to watching reruns on television that they don't really care about.

What would you rather be doing with both sets of time?

How can you get more benefit from time you have to spend now, such as commuting to and from work? Can you listen to self-improving CDs related to your dreams in your car that you borrow from the library?

When can you have uninterrupted time to work on your dreams? For many Moms, this is late at night. For many Dads, this is early in the morning. But pick the times that you have available and use them for your high priority purposes in creating your dreams.

Also look at how you could use one activity to serve more than one goal. For example, could the college studies be used to help plan a new business, which is an A2 goal?

Then, take time to plan every day. Most people find that it helps to think about this just before going to sleep at night and just after awakening in the morning.

In addition, spend time building skills. Learn to read faster and with more comprehension. Start with How to Read a Book by Mortimer Adler and Charles Van Doren. Learn to write better. Start with The Classic Guide to Better Writing by Rudolf Flesch. Develop better habits for achieving success. To do so, start with The Success Principles by Jack Canfield. Learn how to create 2,000 percent solutions (geting the same amount done with 1/20 the effort, time and resources or 20 times the results with the same or less effort, time and resources). Start with The 2,000 Percent Solution by Carol Coles, Robert Metz and me and go on to the soon-to-be published The 2,000 Percent Solution Workbook..

Be sure to spend some time reading this blog daily. It will help you to focus on choices you didn't know you had. As you focus on those choices, soon you'll be able to -- well, Just Do It!

Here's another tip: Get a partner for your dream activities. Ideally this will be your spouse or significant other . . . but it may also be a friend, sibling, parent or a cousin. If two of you work on developing a dream, you'll make much faster progress. Each of you can focus on what you like to do best . . . being a dream concierge for one another. A great way to begin is to e-mail this blog to those you want to partner with and suggest that you work together on a dream that you share.

Donald W. Mitchell, Your Dream Concierge

Copyright 2005 Donald W. Mitchell

Plan Your Best Fourth of July!

Good morning, Live Better than a Billionaire-a-Holics!

Are you feeling motivated this morning? I certainly hope so.

If you've procrastinated in planning your Fourth of July Weekend plans, it's not too late to have the best one ever. Here's how:

Think about where you want to be on the Fourth this year. Each location offers special opportunities.

I live in Boston where the festivities tie back into early American history quite well. One of the major historically related events most years is when the U.S.S. Constitution (better known as Old Ironsides) is taken out of her berth in Charlestown and turned around in Boston harbor each Fourth of July. On other days of the year, you can go aboard old Ironsides. Why not plan to do so on either July 3 or 5 to tie in with your celebration of the Fourth? You can see the whole reberthing event quite well from many places in Boston harbor. One of my favorite locations is along the Fort Point Channel in South Boston. If you have a friend who has a boat, you can go out into the harbor and follow along as well. How much does all this cost? It's free!

You may also know that Boston puts on a free extravaganza along the Charles River on the Fourth of July that is nationally televised. The Boston Pops perform along with well-known singers. The concert is followed by fireworks over the river.

While hundreds of thousands of people will camp out to attend this event, baking in the sun for 12 hours or more, you have better choices. Many people don't realize that the same concert is also held on July 3 as a free rehearsal. The crowds are smaller and the event is in many ways more pleasant. But that summer sun can still be brutal. How can you enjoy the concert more? You can get a great seat by taking a canoe, kayak or boat onto the Charles River to right next to the concert area. And you don't have to arrive very early at all. Many will arrive after the sun goes down and still have a great view. In addition, many condos and apartments on Beacon Street back onto the performance area. From one of those, you can watch in air conditioned comfort except when you want to wander out onto the terrace to enjoy the air. You just have to know someone. If you do business with anyone in Boston, ask them to help you secure an invitation. If you don't mind being further away, many office buildings also have good views of the concert and fireworks . . . and companies host clients and potential clients there as well. If none of those options work out, you can always watch from across the Charles in Cambridge along the grassy waterfront. The crowds are much smaller and you can arrive late and still see well. Finally, there are a number of delightful harbor cruises that will let you enjoy the fireworks along with cocktails for a deliciously cool evening while you dance the night away. or revolutionary history in less than a week. Few billionaires have had such a jaunt! With Priceline.com reservations, you can enjoy inexpensive hotels and rental cars to make the trip more pleasant at whatever quality level you want to enjoy.

Boston has many other famous historical sites related to its Revolutionary history. You can walk the Freedom Trail for free (and visit Paul Revere’s house and Old North Church) and visit Lexington, Concord and Bunker Hill to see where skirmishes occurred. You can pursue those events on the Fourth of July or before or after the big day.

You can find an inexpensive hotel room by selecting a five-star hotel in the suburbs on Priceline.com and then offering a low price. A superb room is usually available at that quality level for less than $80 a night. Rather than fight the Boston traffic, plan to park at a commuter lot and travel in and out of town by train. You can buy passes by the day or week that will give you inexpensive rapid transit into downtown that will get you where you want to go faster than a billionaire's limousine.

You could also tie-in your Fourth of July celebration into a week's vacation. By starting in BostonYorktown, Virginia, and visiting Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, Valley Forge, New York and various battlefields in New York and New Jersey, you can come in touch with much U.S.

Where else might you go? Well, I've often been abroad on the Fourth of July, and it has been a special experience to meet with fellow Americans for simple celebrations there. A great location is on the French Riviera. Many people forget that our French allies were essential to winning independence from Great Britain. Every year, there is a 10 day celebration on the Riviera that begins with the Fourth of July and ends with Bastille Day. There are usually many American war ships in port, and many sailors along the shore. It's not hard to find other Americans to visit with and to think back on our shared heritage of devotion to freedom and democracy. Also, people in that part of France usually like Americans. This is, of course, a very expensive area to visit. But if you rent an inexpensive home in the country an hour or so north, you can commute down into the Riviera on the Fourth (or to just see the sights along the shore) whenever you want. You will also find that hotels are usually less expensive along the Italian Riviera and you can drive over into France from there. For a special night, rent or bring dress clothes and go gambling (on a budget you can afford) at the casino in Monte Carlo. You'll feel like James Bond!

Once you've picked your location, talk to people you know who live there to ask them what the best, inexpensive activities are for the Fourth of July and the days before and after. Call your hotel or your landlord and ask the same thing. Read the on-line versions of the local newspapers to find other events. Call the concierge desk at the best hotel in the area and ask for recommendations as well.

Here's the most important part. Find out what each person in your family wants to do after you share the choices with them. The optimal holiday celebration is one that everyone enjoys.

I've also found that dressing the part can add a lot of fun. It's usually hot on the Fourth of July so you'll want to avoid clothes that make you feel hotter. If you do some research on-line, you can probably come up with a cool costume you can wear to put you in the Revolutionary spirit. March by the television cameras with a fife and drum you've rented for the day, and you'll probably meet as many people as you want . . . while being broadcast to millions.

Food is another way to celebrate the Fourth in true Revolutionary fashion. Rather than simply gorging on the traditional favorites, why not enjoy an authentic Colonial meal? You could even stop by Plimouth Plantation or Old Sturbridge Village to eat your picnic in more authentic surroundings.

For those of a more historical bent, a fun thing to do is to stage a family play about the founding fathers on July 4th.

Whatever you like, whether it's music, dancing, socializing or counting your blessings, connect the activity to what our Revolutionary forefathers did and you'll find yourself having a much better time.

If you have experiences you want to share from other fourths of July, please add comments to this blog to help others plan their special day. The best ideas may appear in my new book.

Donald W. Mitchell, Your Dream Concierge

Copyright 2005 Donald W. Mitchell

Save the World Better than Billionaires Larry Ellison and Bill Gates on Five Dollars Extra a Day

Good morning, Live Better than a Billionaire-a-Holics!

Are you feeling motivated this morning? I certainly hope so.

Yesterday's Wall Street Journal reported that billionaire Larry Ellison, CEO of Oracle Corporation, is in the process of giving $115 million to the Harvard School of Public Health to establish an institute that will have five professors in it. These professors will "monitor the return on investment in different medical programs" to improve global health. "Mr. Ellison said the program would publish a journal and employ statisticians to monitor public, private and philanthropic investments."

Ironically, one of the areas that will be measured will be the billions being spent by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which has been funded by one of the founders of Microsoft Corporation, a key software rival of Oracle Corporation.

I have read extensively on this subject and Mr. Ellison certainly has a point. Much of the money spent on health care improvement doesn't yield much in the way of results. Some spending, in fact, is counterproductive . . . causing health care to decline. An example in some countries has been the sometimes ill-advised effort to provide "free" powdered infant formula to mothers who do not have access to clean water. Many of the infants sicken and die on the tainted combination while they would have remained healthy on breast milk.

I have also read about efforts to clean up the water . . . which have failed when no one was trained to maintain the equipment that cleans the water. All of the money was wasted after the equipment stopped working.

Even where there is clean water, many people don't know about germs. They don't wash their hands with soap, feeling that rinsing in water is enough. Major outbreaks of illness follow.

Where they do wash with soap, the soap often pollutes the only available water supply because they don't understand about pollution and how it affects their health.

The solution to the water supply pollution differs from one area to the next. In a desert area, you have to keep the water and reuse it . . . but there's no source of energy to make that possible. Simple solar concentrators that cost pennies to make can solve the problem. In a rainy, wet area, you have to keep from contaminating the wetlands which means that sanitary facilities can only be located in certain areas. And so on.

Working on health without working on education and how to select and maintain the right local solutions is largely a waste of time.

And if the local government is corrupt, the "health" solutions will simply be siphoned off into the black market or for bribes.

If the people cannot earn a living, they won't obtain the food they need to have the nutritional foundation for good health.

Without a good living, they won't have the shelter they need to stave off many sources of disease such as the mosquitoes that bring malaria.

Without an understanding of how AIDS is transmitted, a whole population may be destroyed by a single disease through simply following established cultural habits of promiscuity.

And I could go on.

Interestingly, solutions designed by poor people in underdeveloped to solve these problems work much better than those designed in and supplied from the "advanced" countries. You can read about some of these solutions in C.K. Prahalad's recent book, The Fortune at the Bottom of the Pyramid. One of my favorite examples comes from India where cataract surgery is performed at a cost of less than $50 which would cost thousands in an "advanced" country . . . yet the Indian solution compares favorably in terms of the rate of complications and the resulting visual acuity.

So let's think about this. In terms of low-cost innovation, a dollar in the hands of a poor health innovator in an underdeveloped country is probably worth a million dollars spent to work on the same problem in an "advanced" country. In fact, that dollar might create value that's as great as ten million dollars because the low-cost solution will be delivered by people who will work for extremely low wages.

So, if you provide $300 for health care innovation in the next year to the right person in an underdeveloped country, your gift can do more good than Larry Ellison's. Think about that!

The Live Better than a Billionaire on Five Dollars Extra a Day might look like this:

Spend $150 a year to establish a Web site that publishes articles about low-cost, effective solutions to health care issues that have been developed by poor people in underdeveloped countries.

Set up a nonprofit organization to receive tax-deductible gifts to fund more research by such health care innovators. Ask attorneys and accountants to volunteer their services to create and maintain this organization.

Solicit funds on the Web site to finance research and development of the best ideas proposed by poor people in underdeveloped countries. Give grants to the best ideas proposed on the Web site.

Publish the results of these programs on the Web site. Seek publicity in underdeveloped countries for these results by sending press releases by e-mail to the leading print and television media in underdeveloped countries.

If you did all of this, the effect of your efforts and modest spending would probably exceed what all the billionaires in the world accomplish in the next ten years . . . unless of course they stop acting like billionaires and learn to live better than a billionaire on five dollars extra a day.

I welcome your improvements to this line of reasoning.

Donald W. Mitchell, Your Dream Concierge

Copyright 2005 Donald W. Mitchell