The Two Stressful Things about Opening a Business

I love that I study commerce, I have read so many books about opening a new business and running a small business and I find it so fascinating. Recently I have worked in a restaurant that just opened up and in doing so I have had the opportunity to watch them iron out the wrinkles that occur during the opening night and the following few shifts.

What I can tell is that the whole ideal is very stressful, but it is interesting in that most of it is self-induced. The owners of this restaurant were so worried that stuff would go wrong even though there was very little they could do about it (Stuff was always going to go wrong).

So I think the main sources of stress come from 2 sources.

Firstly the money situation causes much pain. These guys didn’t show it too much but living off savings and watching them slowly drain away is a huge nightmare; my response to this is that you need to learn that money means nothing. The only reason money is so highly valued in today’s society is because we believe it to be (Other people’s money is a different matter however). Loads of people live off tiny pay-checks and have no more difficulties than the rest of the world.

Another problem is the social costs, as a business owner you have to ask favours, cold call, network and build business relationships. When a social venture pays off (Like gaining a big contract) it pays off huge, but you have to go through an incredible amount of rejection to get to that success. People hate rejection, so most will take the rejection personally and be tempted to give up. DON’T GIVE UP BECAUSE OF REJECTION.

If a business is going to go belly up the only thing you can do is learn from the experience. Yes it might be an expensive learning experience but hey, all successful business people have to pay the same dues, you are just paying yours so you can join them in their level of expertise.

These two areas, the social risks and the financial risks are what cause the stress and pain in business ventures. Humans are programmed badly, social risks never damage anything permanently (Except your ego) and money is such an unimportant thing. If you stop worrying about these things then you can enjoy your business, and running a successful business is one of the most rewarding things possible.

2012
06/17
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Business
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On Capitalism

Lecturers try so hard to teach us business students ‘critical thinking’ by exposing us to anti-capitalistic ideas. This ‘reveals’ an angle that contrasts our dominant way of thinking (Going against the grain). These days I actually enjoy these theories because weirdly enough they actually do give us clearer picture of the world (as a supporter of capitalism). Anyway here are some conclusions that I have reached.

  1. Capitalism makes money the ‘be all and end all’
  2. It encourages consumerism (because a society of buddhist monks aren’t profitable)
  3. It creates a culture where ‘non-material life affirming qualities’ are unimportant
  4. It discourages everything except a sedentary lifestyle (Especially nomadic lifestyles)

Now these suck, My ideal society takes the opposite position on all of these.

But even with these downfalls capitalism still wins, our quality of life is incredibly high and alternatives will most likely detract from this. I think that the US constitution has embodied the idea of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness well and the result is exactly as we hoped. The problem arises in that giving a human being too much choice is problematic (Plato’s republic shows that liberty is the downfall of capitalism).

Anyway so studying the downfalls of capitalism is great, it gives a competitive edge in life because you become aware of what can screw you over.

There are 2 types of people, those who complain and bitch about the unfairness of it all, and those who say ‘Okay new rules, lets play’. (Can’t remember where this came from, think it was mystery)

In conclusion, people need to stop complaining about how unfair capitalism is and they need to take advantage of its good aspects.

2012
06/16
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Business
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On music

Music is almost a supernatural element that can make us human beings bend to it’s will. It can calm, anger, appease, satisfy and invigorate everyone and that ability alone is almost magical. But why is that?

In nature there is no music, there are the sounds of wildlife and the wind and the ocean etc, but there once was a time in our history when instruments didn’t exist. Yet somehow the artificial noises produced by a guitar or drums sound so natural. Like they have always existed waiting for some skilled musician to reveal them to us.

To put it in a boring scientific way, I feel like music is an abstract form of noise that relates to sounds that once served to warn us, or indicated safety.

Take a constant drumbeat, it sounds exactly like a heartbeat. Heartbeats are a reassuring thing to hear. Therefore a drumbeat will reassure us the same way a heartbeat does (Slow feels calm and resting, fast relates to the fight or flight instinct). Also melodies could relate to bird calls, certain bird calls indicate that nothing dangerous is around and we feel safer.

I actually have no idea, this is mostly guesswork and I doubt anyone could actually prove whether this is true or not. But it is interesting to think about. Its like interpreting abstract art.

2012
06/15
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philosophy
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Doing things for a higher purpose

Does one simply follow life trying to maximise pleasure? like following hedonism? Or should you dedicate you life to something? will starting down a path of altruistic behaviour actually make the world a better place? or will it just satisfy the desire to be useful.

Are there paths worth following in today’s society? Is it the ‘path to enlightenment’ or the path of the artisan? Or do you simply chase wealth? or knowledge? something

Being the expert at procrastination I have been thinking about this stuff more than preparing for my exams. I guess the answer I came to is it doesn’t really matter. Your life is just a ‘Blank Canvas’ and the work of art you produce doesn’t matter. But even that concept is stupid, it is just how I see it.

I think my health situation and my wealth situation is pretty good (Note: Neither is really true but I feel like it is). So what else is there to life?

The smartest guy in the US is a bartender and spends his time working on his theory of the universe.

Now that graduation is looming I have to decide what direction I want to take.

 

2012
06/14
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philosophy
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Sleeping Patterns

You don’t have Insomnia, you have a messed up sleeping pattern.

I’ve had a pretty messed up sleeping schedule for some time now and last week I tried to fix this. I set an alarm for 6am and then another at 7.15. I would be woken up by the first alarm then I would let myself sleep the extra hour after getting a glass of water. Being awake I reckon was enough to slowly acclimatize myself to one day actually getting up at 6am.

In 4 hour body there is a section completely dedicated to getting a perfects night sleep which I’d read. However I believe it is more simple than that. Just forcing myself up early enough means I was actually tired when I go to sleep, which makes all the difference (Also some stuff on getting sunlight).

This was going great, I actually was feeling good during the day and having no problem sleeping. Then work got the better of me. I got home at 2am one night then the next few I was up until midnight. So I reverted back to my bad ways.

I’m going to start again tonight because waking up early has so many benefits. It feels like the day is wasted when you sleep in and over sleeping makes you drowsy.

This method worked almost instantly, however I don’t really know how to work around the late nights at work.

2012
06/13
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goals
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Difference in Brain Power

A Disturbing Thought

Although this whole video is really interesting, the last part is really what I want to talk about. Human beings are pretty arrogant, I mean we are programmed that way. We have this concept of life being infinitely complex and that sentient robots are an impossibility, but I really think its our own arrogance that promotes this belief.

Computers can replicate simple life forms. I believe I could make a program that behaves like an ant really easily. More advanced scientists could probably program small mammals. Take the driver-less cars that google is making, they have a ‘brain’ that can put a mouse to shame.

Is it really that inconceivable that this progress (Which has been accelerating steadily over the years) won’t keep accelerating until a robot can outsmart a human?

Is the mental processing ability between a mouse and a human really that distant (It is but is it unachievable?).

The standard argument is that it took 50 years for flight to progress from the Wright Brothers plane to Jet Planes. If we assume these driver-less cars to be a metaphorical Kitty Hawk, what the hell will be the Jet Planes we get in 50 years time?

We really aren’t much more special than the other animals on this planet; as robots become smarter we will realise it.

2012
06/12
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Future
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Quantitative stuff

A high school graduation speech where students get told they are not special. The one quote that stood out for me is:

even if you’re one in a million, on a planet of 6.8 billion that means there are nearly 7,000 people just like you

This is a very humbling idea, there is never a time where you should become complacent because somewhere in this world is someone who is equally skilled but has committed themselves to doing better.

It also compares you to the statistical anomalies in the world’s population. Most of the time you just look around at your peers and compare yourself to them. But the truth is that you share the same tiny blue planet as these greats and history will only remember the greats.

Remember that guy that gave up? Neither does anyone else

Guaranteed in this population is someone who was born in the ideal conditions, is superior genetically, is incredibly hard-working, and has seized every opportunity thrown their way. This person is certain to do great things. They will change the world for the better and will go down in history. Da Vinci and Einstein are examples of this.

Statistically there will always be the person that is  1 : 6,700,000,000 and that person will always leave a mark on the world.

Even the person coming 100th will do great things.

When you start comparing yourself to these people you immediately realise you need to lift your game.

2012
06/11
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Future
goals
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High and Low Forms of Pleasure

Just finished reading Ikigai. I found that it is a book with awesome ideas but it was definitely preaching to the choir in my case. Anyway this one part on High and Low forms of pleasure got me (quote from the blog post itself):

I do differentiate personally between “low happinesses” and “high happinesses” – this isn’t ultra-scientific, just how I personally think about it. Low happinesses like contentment, sensory pleasure, etc… I don’t think those are important to pursue.

High happinesses – triumph, camaraderie, epiphany, wisdom – those I think are worth pursuing.

Genius

One of my mates keeps saying that heroin dumps the same hormone you get when you reach orgasm.. except at 100x the dosage. I guess that saying affected me differently to what he meant; I took it that if you care so much on getting laid why not just do drugs instead (Note: I love sex, I think putting heaps of effort into getting it is stupid). This concept in Ikigai perfectly explains why, it is such a low form of pleasure.

I love achieving goals. I love progressing at the gym, both in the mirror and on paper. I love that feeling when you catch an amazing wave. I love solving a difficult problems. I love learning. These are higher forms of pleasure.

And the funniest thing about higher forms of pleasure is that they shape you into an even better person.

<<<<<

2nd Note: Don’t do drugs

 

 

2012
06/10
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books
Future
goals
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bad people

Another good book is Crucial Conversations. The author explained this one interesting point about frames of mind really well. Essentially saying:

“Villainous people do not exist, also you are not a victim. These 2 concepts are simply frames of mind utilized by individuals that make excuses for not achieving.”

Now don’t take that literally; some people in this world are bad, also some people get treated really unfairly. But in a developed society it is more common for people to blame others rather than accept responsibility.

Bad people are rare and a good proportion of these ‘bad’ people are simply regular human beings in bad situations (A product of their environment).

Anyway the idea is that anytime you start blaming someone else for your problems stop and walk in their shoes for a little bit.

2012
06/09
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books
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Fighting Irrationality with Rationality

It would be nice if the world thought rationally but we don’t. Our brain takes shortcuts, makes generalizations and jumps to conclusions. These shortcuts would have been useful back in the stone age but today they just lead to misjudgments and screw ups.

So we as human beings are irrational. Regardless of how bad it is we are stuck with this brain even if it is as obsolete as the commodore 64.

We have to deal with these irrational tendencies in ourselves and in others. But when it comes to other people being irrational there is one thing to keep in mind: You Can’t Reason With Irrationality

It’s futile to even try, reason and logic have no efficacy in the irrational psyche; anytime I see it happen I just cringe.

The area I see it a lot is with smoking. It seems that all non-smokers are out to argue and condemn cigarettes. They can talk about how damaging cigarettes are until their faces are blue. I don’t support smoking, it’s definitely bad for you, but trying to persuade a smoker is pointless. (Actually most already know how bad it is.. they get bombarded non-stop about it). This is because the part of the mind that makes smoking attractive is irrational and immune to being reasoned with.

Reasoning with smokers is stupid, and what is more stupid are the expensive campaigns aimed to ‘educate’ the public about the effects of tobacco. Like seriously, does anybody not know that nicotine is addictive? or that tar in the lungs is bad? They waste an incredible amount of money, achieve nothing, and to make matters worse the genius marketers think that high impact and graphic ads are the way to go…

From now on if someone is doing something irrational and you want to give them an earful stop for one second and think. The time you spend in argument will be wasted and you won’t ever get those precious moments back.

 

>>>>>

Now that I think about it, arguing with stupidity is an irrational act in itself.

I guess that makes this post hypocritical.

2012
06/07
CATEGORY
Uncategorized
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