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Apple

Chapter 14 of the One Life Manifesto: Work.

Let’s talk about work and work ethic. We have talked about relentlessness before, which is essentially a higher level of work ethic. At the very heart I think it’s important to have a solid work ethic if you want to achieve anything, great or small. Reading a lot about successful people, I have learned that successful people have a greater level of work ethic over anyone else. Essentially there is a greater level of being relentless and pursuing what they want. But essentially it is work ethic that they have. It is important to achieve what you are looking for by using some level of work ethic to show that you are hungry. To show that you are more willing to accomplish something.

I always had that work ethic in order to get ahead in life. I would put in the time and just work. I don’t know what it is with the young generation today, but they don’t seem to want it bad enough. They don’t want to put in the time or put in that work ethic. They just sort of passively tackle the 9-to-5 like it’s no big deal. They passively work on projects as if they are not putting their time in. It’s important to look at your work ethic and find something you are interested in so that you can really put in your time effectively. Put in the drive and determination to accomplish tasks. Don’t worry too much about climbing the ladder. That final reward at the end of the tunnel will make you get carried away. I know that you can just get there, but it does take hard work. There is no substitute.

Think about how you are putting in the time. How you are putting in your work. All of the celebrities, millionaires, and billionaires you see didn’t get there from just sitting around. There are exceptions to the rule. You will see people with inheritances, luck, and lotteries. Even then, those people had to work hard to secure any of the money that they received. Even if you win a lottery, you have to put in the effort to go and cash in your ticket. So, there is some level of work involved in everything. The people who put in a small amount of work are typically not commanding wealth. Those lottery winners and inheritance people, those are the exceptions. Even then, it’s no way to really live your life by depending on something. Just hoping to one day receive that break. Just sitting there waiting for that break. You don’t want to be waiting.

You want to be working. Continually working towards meaningful goals. To be in that upper echelon you need to put in the work. The work to train. The work to learn. The work to really get there. If you are not sweating enough, if you are not exhausted enough and if you are not tired enough, you won’t get there. If you are feeling lazy and you haven’t achieved much, you are right. You haven’t achieved much. You are not exhausted because you haven’t put the time in and you haven’t channeled that determination and focus towards something. There is no substitute for hard work.

I feel like our modern generations are happily spoiled too much to understand the concept of labour. They are able to work and sit behind a computer screen and passively just type away. They don’t understand the real concept of labour. The sweat, blood, and tears that can go into building things. We have lost touch with the idea of building physical objects. Myself included. I am fairly detached from building physical objects. Broken items are replaced with brand new items. We have no desire to build because we can just replace. That is how our modern society has evolved. It’s cheaper to replace rather than fix, build or tinker with.

But there is work, there is labour involved in those activities. Unless we are doing the work, we are not exposed enough to labour and putting in that time. It’s interesting when I see people who want to work on some businesses. They want to start something. They want to build an empire. But they don’t want to put the work in. They don’t want to really put that time in to build it. As a result, they always remain that small business owner. There is nothing wrong with that, but they are always going to be in a dream state and never in an action state. The action state of doing and working on their project or their venture then lives inside their head. A dream unrealized is disappointing to see.

For hard work, you can get there at any stage in your life. Achieving entrepreneurial status, whether it’s growth and scale, is possible. Small business owners can get away from living inside of a box. It is okay if they choose to do so, but many want more. They want more for themselves, yet they do not want to put in that time to make that happen. They continue to talk about what-if’s. What if this would happen. Those who do not have the work ethic talk a lot. They talk more frequently about what they ought to do. Whereas those who work are quiet because they are determined, they are driven. They are an entirely different person. They are on a different level, different mindset.

I was exposed to my parent’s generation where hard work was common. Then hard work became less common as work-life balance popped up. My dad was still putting in 12 hours a day, working to make sure that family had food on the table. He put in that time. The harder he worked, the more freedom his family could have. You put in that time, there is a greater likelihood of output.

There is never a guarantee, as work should be given and handed out without expectation. You should work harder and not expect anything. Nobody owes you anything. That’s the feeling that our generation feels like we are entitled. We are so spoiled that we just expect everything to be handed to us in a silver platter. It’s not how the world works. You put the time in to really make something for yourself.

We have more tools today to facilitate work ethic than ever before. I mean productivity hacks and what-not. Perhaps it’s a lot of noise. If you are to just focus on one or two things and make those the priority, not worrying so much about an app to tell you to get working, you will produce even more. If you just find a couple of things you’re passionate about, your work ethic will be on a whole other level. You won’t need people telling you to get to work. You will just naturally get there.

But we don’t do enough introspection on ourselves to understand what work we would want to do. Spend time on yourself to figure out what you would enjoy. What you would like to do. Work on them in your life and go after it until success is attained. Until you have accomplished your goal. You must work until you cannot work anymore. Than you have to work again. It’s a repeated cycle. It’s a process. Work ethic is a process.

Apple

Chapter 13 of the One Life Manifesto: Empire.

I am in the process of building an empire. It’s what I want to do with the remainder of my life. I want to build an empire under my own brand name. When somebody says: hey! I want to build an empire, you might look at them and think they are crazy. Because it is a crazy endeavour. However, when you think about it, this book is all about your one life. What would you build otherwise? Would you build for somebody else? Would you build their empire? Is there any satisfaction in that? Perhaps, if you enjoy following the herd.

If you want to take the lead and really build something under your name, having an empire is quite powerful. Your name will stand as a legacy and people will look back on you and remember your last name. They remember Henry Ford, they remember Thomas Edison.

That to me is an accomplishment. So, this book is a precursor to what I would like to build. As I am working on many content pieces, I intend to wrap all of them into one. Under one name. Under my name. I want to build this empire so that I can help others and improve the lives of others. For me it is critical that I improve the lives of others and that I touch somebody. I want to make an impact on someone, either directly or indirectly through my material. That is a good feeling to have, knowing that my name makes a positive impact on someone.

It is hard work when you want to build the foundation. Then you will want to build the remaining tower. That is your empire. It is no easy feat, that is for sure. It will require great effort from you, many hours. It’s a journey that I am about to take. I am going to document how to get to this goal, to this incredible empire that I would like to build for myself. I think an ambitious goal is important.

I look at top leaders and learned that you must remain humble if you would like to build an empire. You must be helpful to others. I would say that being helpful and humble is critical to your success. Humility and helpfulness – that is how you stand out amongst the crowd. When the crowd looks to always get, you give. You give tremendously. You have that opportunity. Most people will not put in that time to build an empire. But I think it’s critical to have an ambitious goal. To say: yes! That is what I like.

As for me, I would like my last name Carss to stand for something. To be a brand that people look at and say: that’s a powerful brand. Then I can look back with satisfaction and say: that is exactly how I wanted to live my life. That is exactly how I wanted to accomplish life. That is a legacy that will stand the test of time. Consider building your empire with anything that you do, whichever work that you are in. Ideally that work is so meaningful that it stands the test of time. That is important. What are you building?

Apple

Chapter 12 of the One Life Manifesto: Learn.

Let’s talk about learning. The top people in the world read voraciously. They read a book a week and they are humble in their knowledge. They are always looking to learn more from others. They never claim to know the answers. How many books do you read per month? Per year? How many educational videos do you watch? How much do you learn from others?

While I talked about how education stops for many once they graduate, they should never stop learning. They shouldn’t be consuming useless news or content. Content that doesn’t help further their mind. There is one big question. The question is: what is it that you are learning? What is it that you are absorbing to help you grow? If you don’t learn, you become stagnant. Then if you become stagnant, you are actually regressing. Because everyone else is learning in front of you. They are getting ahead of you. The next generation is forming. They get older and they learn. You fall into the darkness. You become irrelevant. You disappear as you become irrelevant if you do not learn.

Learning is always evolving. The world is always changing. You need to stay on top of it to be at the top of your game. You need to never say that you are the “Expert”. Someone else will come along and know more than you. They will know something you do not. Let me say you can never be the expert, even if you feel entitled to think you know everything. You feel entitled like you are some special person. No, you are a learner. You must learn daily. It helps to be a student – a lifelong student and have mentors, friends, and coaches who can help guide you, whether it be face-to-face or online. You have a core group of people who you turn to, to help and guide you. Having that group of people to propel your success forward will keep you accountable. It’s very powerful to have.

You will make mistakes in your life. Your willingness to learn from your mistakes will help you grow greater than anything else. For one, you had the courage to make mistakes. You have the courage to fail and to accept failures. You have the willingness to learn from those mistakes and failures. That is going to help you grow beyond anything else. The practical real-life experience you have put yourself through is irreplaceable.

In schools, students lack real-life experiences. Years of classroom study and listening, but never applying anything in the real world. That’s how most college and university students are when they graduate. They have learned nothing of the practical world. I suppose you can call it the impractical because it’s impractical. In university they choose not to learn around what they cannot control.

In the real world you will experience obstacles outside of your control. It will be your job to learn and overcome obstacles when you make mistakes. You must be fully willing to apologize and learn and say you will be better. It is your job, no one else’s. You cannot change others. You must change yourself. You must improve yourself. And by continually learning you will. Acceptance that you are human, acceptance that you can make mistakes, acceptance that you are willing to make mistakes, is important.

For if you continue with these mistakes, you are not learning. You are just accepting your mediocrity. You must learn. You must move past your mediocrity. Otherwise you will never grow. You will never be able to provide more value than you currently do if you do not learn. The more you learn, the more experiences you experience. The more you can teach others. The more you can help others. The more you can really guide others and coach others. That brings value.

Your degree, your diploma, is a symbol of your educational prowess. Your ability to provide knowledge and value at the surface. It is your job to put that knowledge to use, to learn. The next step is up to you. Whether you say I do not enjoy university, I do not enjoy learning or I enjoyed it, you must continuously learn. Learn the topics you really care about and excel in that field. It’s up to you. I encourage you to learn.

Today you can now learn with audio, with imagery, with YouTube videos, with words and long posts on blogs. You have more information at your fingertips to learn the way that you learn best, as everyone learns different. I learn best with video.

When I have the ability to put my entire attention towards something, video will give me the most and quickest learning value. That is just myself. Everyone is different. You may enjoy words. You may connect with them. Your brain might connect well with words. Therefore you should be reading. Learning some kind of educational material is critical to your growth, to your improvement. Don’t waste your evenings and your mornings not learning. Those are your opportune moments to absorb material and become more knowledgeable. Switch your unproductive activities to learning activities to really excel and get ahead. Learning will solve your problems. Learning will solve your inadequacies.

If you don’t know how to be healthy, learn about diet and nutrition. Learn about exercise. Don’t know how to be in a relationship? Learn how to be a better boyfriend or girlfriend. Learn how to date. The resources out there are endless. Don’t know how to drive a car? Take lessons, learn. Don’t know what project to do? Do anything. Work on it, learn. Grab some wood. Chisel away.

Figure out what you would like to learn and do it as you now have the ability to. Take an online course and learn anything. Training programs, seminars, webinars, you name it. You could become a brilliant person in your pyjamas and never leave your house. Learning is your key to success. There is no shortcut. Continually work hard at learning. Educate yourself. Continuously improve. Learn.