Amor

Last night I finished the design of the "Amor" word tangle at the request of someone who had been browsing my Etsy storefront. His request was actually for the word "Amore" (notice the "e" at the end), which is Italian. So, I decided to create two versions of this tangle reasoning that the Spanish version (with no "e") would probably also be valuable as a finished tangle. So, I've got two new word tangles... sort of.

My first official S.O.P. project

So, after weighing my options over the weekend, I carefully narrowed down my list of ideas, and have decided that my first S.O.P. (Succeed On Purpose) project ought to be children’s books. Of all my ideas, this seems to be the one that I have the most control over. Control, in this case, translates into a higher probability of success simply because there are fewer outside factors to inhibit me. I’m only dealing with my time, my talent, my motivation. I’ve always enjoyed writing, and illustrating comes naturally to me. I’ve already written several things that will all go into this project.

Happy with my new focus, I told my wife on Friday night about my S.O.P. strategy. She thought it was good too, until she heard which of my ideas I had settled on to start with. She’s never shared my vision for this one, and that’s okay. Don’t get me wrong, she thinks I’m a good writer and artist, but she thinks the particular project I’ve decided on isn’t the most promising. Let me explain.

As a big ‘Rich Dad Poor Dad’ fan, I realized some years ago that there is a virtually un-tapped market out there waiting for someone to dive into. It’s the rich (or soon-to-be rich) kids, the smart kids, and kids with proactive parents and anyone else who just wants to start educating…well, sooner. I believe kids are much smarter and capable than we give them credit for. I think kids now days are brighter, and that their general learning curves are shorter than ever before. I think they’re capable of learning things earlier than we actively teach them. Robert Kiyosaki’s “Rich Dad” started teaching him as a young boy to be financially literate. He started early and on purpose, and he kept things simple at first. The resulting foundation that was built was sturdy and has far exceeded mere endurance.

Accordingly, my idea is to create a series of books based on the principles and concepts that we, sponges of information, don’t typically learn until a little later on. I think many things are not learned earlier simply because they’re not taught any earlier. But kids pick up on much more of what they’re exposed to than just what they’re actually taught. For instance, how many kids sense marital tensions between their parents and figure out there’s a problem? How many parents discover that the “code” they’ve been using (be it Pig-Latin, sign or just spelling things out) to keep their kids in the dark hasn’t worked for months, and all of a sudden, Junior knows there’s no Easter Bunny? My own six-year-old, who hasn’t even started 1st grade yet, is already sending me text messages on my wife’s phone and building a miniature empire in the online world of Webkins for heaven’s sake!

I told "K" that my idea is to create these books to introduce young kids to principles (which they will eventually learn anyway) through rhymes and fables. Will they understand the principles immediately when reading the rhymes and fables? Not likely. Does that even matter? Not at all. How many kids understand the lesson behind “Oh, The places you’ll go” by Dr. Seuss? The POINT is to entertain them, like any other book. If the underlying message is perceived at all, it’ll be merely to introduce them to the principles…perhaps only via osmosis. I’ve always believed that when it comes to children’s books, you sell the words to the parents and you sell the illustrations to the kids. Eventually, though, the words will sink in. Entertain them now with illustrations and clever rhymes and perhaps someday, while in an elementary or middle school class learning about some fundamental principle, they just might look BACK at these childhood stories and say something like, “Oh, hey, this is just like the story of the….” The trick here is to keep things simple, and not to give in to the temptation to over explain or complicate. Teach just the principles.

The types of books "K" would like to see me writing and illustrating are the kind of books that have withstood the test of time and sales. They’re the type that focus more on morals, values, attributes, and personal character. While I can appreciate her perspective as a mother and consumer, and certainly her sense of “what already works and sells”, I also feel like that defeats my whole novel idea; the idea that kids are capable of handling more complex principles. Both of these perspectives are useful, but only one is novel. Anyone can write about the ABC’s or the 123’s. Anyone can write about opposites or colors. Anyone can create characters and wrap them in a cute story that teaches bravery, honesty or helpfulness. But that’s been done…over and over and over again. I want to tackle the challenge of simplifying general priciples for KIDS! Not everyone can do that.

In the end, I think there’s a very good chance that "K" will be right. I think my idea will be a tough sell. But, it’ll either sell or it won’t. Those are the only two outcomes. I’ll never know if I don’t try, and I’ll always regret it if I opt to conform. I like the idea, so I’m going to go for it. This project will be much more interesting to me than writing something that will ultimately become camouflaged in the sea of conventional children’s books.

Succeed on Purpose

For the last few days, I’ve been doing a lot of research on JK Rowling. Internet searches have led me through pod casts (or “Potter Casts” as they’re called in the Harry Potter world), videos, interviews, documentaries, statistics, and images. I’m VERY interested in her, first as a writer of my favorite science fiction book series, and second as a person who has achieved phenomenal success just by doing what she loves. She’s very realistic and humble about her success. Like that.

My existing deep interest in JKR has been super-heightened over the past few days after a conversation I had with my mom and wife while the former was in town visiting this last weekend. I was discussing with them both how much I enjoyed the HP books (I’ve been listening to Jim Dale’s audio reading of ‘The Deathly Hallows” at work), and how much talent she has when, all of a sudden, my wife blurted out how creative I am. I was a bit taken back. She mentioned to my mom about a book idea I had described to her years ago. This particular idea has always been severely underdeveloped, but she (evidently) thought the idea had real potential even back when I had first mentioned it to her. Until this conversation, though, I’d never known her enthusiasm for the concept. I was flattered, to say the least. She's always been supportive of my aspirations, but never this openly interested about any of them, besides maybe LittleLDS.

Anyway, after discarding my humility about the idea, I finally consented to explain the little detail I did have formulated for the book idea. My mom seemed to think it was an interesting idea too. Both of them suggested that day that I ought to explore, even if only for fun, the option of actually fully developing and writing a book. I laughed but admittedly began working it out in my head.

I’ve been toying with the logistics writing a book for the last week or so. This is why my interest in JKR has intensified so much. I’ve been hypothesizing, fantasizing, and even daydreaming of the idea ever since. I’ve fleshed out a few solid ideas, but haven’t committed myself to the idea fully. Like always.

Like always… Hhhh…

This morning, this really started eating at me. The fact that, “like always” I’ve not fully committed myself to the idea. If I’m truthful with myself, I’ve never really fully committed myself to ANY idea. I’ve played with ideas before, and even made seemingly good strides in the development of some of my ideas. But, where my ideas are concerned, LittleLDS, I think, has been my single greatest achievement. Writing it out even now, though, seems almost pathetic. Nothing substantial has ever come of that idea. Granted, as ideas go, it’s gotten much farther than any other. It’s gone from concept to actual sellable product. That’s something, right? I mean, it’s given me a small taste of what it’s like to actually DO it. But even with all the tradeshows, marketing ploys, and commercial networking attempts, it’s still gone nowhere. Very few people even know it exists. It’s generated a negative net value overall and hasn’t got any foreseeable future without serious effort. I’m not above effort…Even I know that’s just due process, but I am a realist. It’s probably not ever going to go much further than this.

After watching dozens of videos on my favorite entrepreneurs and role models, I’ve been given a renewed perspective that I can appreciate. If there’s one thing I’ve learned from any successful person I’ve ever really admired, it is that they didn’t give up. They had an idea and WENT for it. They saw it through to completion. The scale of their success may have been unforeseen, but their disire to accomplish their goals were pre-determined and absolute.

Now, because I don’t know any of these successful giants personally, I don’t know how really focused there were during their respective journeys toward success. For all I know, they were all as scattered as I feel with my many ambitious ideas. I doubt it, but it’s possible. As I’ve reflected on this point today, however, I’ve realized that I really need to add purpose and focus to my effort. I need to CHOOSE just ONE thing I believe in and go for it. I’ve done that once – with LittleLDS – and though it wasn’t the raving success I envisioned, I am VERY proud of having done it. It feels good to have one under my belt. I still feel very satisfied whenever the planets align just right and I actually do get that one single sale each year. What really matters is that my idea…this ONE concept, was nothing more than a thought before I did something with it. LittleLDS exists because I pulled it out of my head and did something.

So here’s my NEW resolution: to succeed on purpose. This means to DECIDE in advance what I want to achieve, PLAN how I want to work it out, and then DOING what I’ve set out to do. To this end, I’ll do three things each day. First, I’ll review my goal and recharge my motivational drive, then I’ll take action toward achieving that goal with a reachable milestone for that day, and finally, I’ll document my progress and then begin again. If I step forward every day, even if each of my steps are miniscule, tomorrow will always find me closer to my successes than yesterday did.

Because I have so many ideas, the most important thing for ME will probably be to prioritize first. I need to look at all my ideas, and decide which ones are realistically achievable, and which ones are more likely just pipe dreams.

Then I need to decide which of my achievable goals I can do without the assistance of others. I know this probably doesn’t sound smart, but it seems like every time I try to achieve a goal that depends on the time, talents or motivation of someone else I fail. So, for me, I need to narrow down my ideas to just ones that can be worked out alone. I alone can control my time. I alone will motivate my actions, and I alone have full access to my talents. Therefore, I need to focus on an idea that involves only me.

Next, I need to decide which of these few ideas, have the greatest potential when finished. Which have the greatest chance to catch someone’s eye, open someone’s wallet, or ultimately close the deal? Which one has the greatest leverage with respect to my invested time & talent vs. a profit margin?

Finally, I need to decide HOW I want to bring the idea to completion. I need to create a completion schedule with waypoints, dates, and contingencies plans.

I begin today.