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Notes on How to Stop Worrying and Start Living

4/30/2012

I read a book by Dale Carnegie when I was growing up, and I enjoyed it, so I decided to see what his writing was like a second time around. As someone who frequently takes things too seriously and is apt to worrying, I figured I might also pick up something useful from How to Stop Worrying and Start Living.

The story is based on the author's experience in leaving his job to be happier and teaching classes on speaking and worrying less. I enjoyed learning more about his background as a "Missourah" farmer ("that old 'Missourah' farmhouse"). The book is a long collection of many anecdotes, so while it's not scientific, it's at least entertaining and interesting. Many of the pieces of advice are somewhat cliched (or perhaps this book created many of these since it was published so long ago), but it was a nice reminder of what's important in life and how to not sweat the small stuff.

Below are my full notes.

Part 1: Fundamental parts of worry

Ch. 1: Live in day tight compartments

Live in day tight compartments (shut out future and past)
Only work on what's clearly at hand now

Ch. 2: Magic formula

Think of the worst possible that can happen
Mentally accept the worst possible
Improve on the worst

Ch. 3: What worry may do to you

Those who can't fight worry die young
Lots of medical problems
Recreation
Religion
Laughter
Music
Smiling

Part 2: Basic techniques in analyzing worry

Ch. 4: How to analyze worry problems

Get facts
Analyze facts
Decide
Act
What are you worrying about
What can you do about it
What are you going to do about it
When can you start

Ch. 5: How to eliminate 50% of my business worries

Have employees write down memo of answers to 4 questions
What is the problem
What is the cause
What are all the possible solutions
What is your recommended solution

Part 3: How to break worry habit

Ch. 6: How to crowd worry out of your mind

Doing work replaces worrying
Busy yourself

Ch. 7: Don't let the little get you down

Forget about little trivialities
Don't make small nags
Little beetles of worry
Can be crushed with your thumb
Life too short to be little

Ch. 8: A law to outlaw your worries

Law of averages
Things we fear unlikely to happen
Let's examine the record

Ch. 9: Cooperate with the inevitable

Be willing to have it so
Accept difficulties quickly
Carry on and smile
Try to bear lightly what needs must be
Accept things I can't change
Change what I can
Wisdom to know difference

Ch. 10: Put a stop loss order on your worries

If someone late by x minutes, move on
Give impatience or worries small leeway then move on
Stop loss on small relationship problems; stop complaining for things after a long time
Just say enough now in fights
Whenever tempted to throw good money after bad
How important is this
Have I already paid more than it Is worth

Ch. 11: Don't saw saw dust

Can't change past events
Just analyze past and forget it
Don't cry over spoiled milk
Forget mistakes you make quickly
Don't cross your bridges until you come to them
Can't saw saw dust because already sawed, just like past
Dont worry about past lost games
Cant wash grain With water that's down the creek
Prisoners write off misfortunes and accept life and enjoy it

Part 4: 7 ways to cultivate mental attitude of peace and attitude

Ch. 12: 8 words that can change your life

What you think about makes you what you are
Man is what he thinks of all day
Biggest task: choosing your task
Marcus Aurelius: Our life is what our thoughts make it
Assume positive attitude
Be concerned but not worried
Calmly take steps to address
Hypnosis of positive or negative attitude changes muscle tests
Tremendous power of thought
Our thoughts about our misfortunes more important than the misfortunes
Regulate our actions which then change our feelings
Act and speak as if feeling happy
Smile, sing, hum no matter what
Act as if everything normal, force yourself
Just for today I will be happy
Just for today I will adjust myself to what is instead of what want
I will take care of my body
Try to strengthen my mind with reading and something that needs thinking and concentration
Exercise my soul: do 2 things I don't want to do, give back
Be agreeable, dress nice, don't improve or criticize others
Live through this day only
Have a program for every hour to not hurry
Have a quiet half hour for myself and relax
Be unafraid and believe in love

Ch. 13: High cost of getting even

Hurt myself more than other person
Resentment leads to hypertension
Refuse to get angry at anything
absorb yourself in cause bigger than self
I have no time for quarrels, regrets, or hate
Keep me from judging man before walking in his shoes for 2 weeks
Love enemies
Don't think about ppl we don't like

Ch. 14: Don't worry about ingratitude

Never expect gratitude
Give for inner joy of giving
Teach gratitude to children

Ch. 15: Will you take $1M for what you have

90% of things are right, only 10% not
Concentrate on the 90%
Would not sell what we have for $1 million
Be happy of what you have instead of think of what lack
Count blessings each morning
Count your blessings not your troubles

Ch. 16: Find yourself and be yourself

Don't combine a bunch of stuff from others
Write your own book, voice
Be the best of whatever you are
Don't imitate others

Ch. 17: If you have a lemon, make lemonade

Best things are the most difficult
Infirmities can end up helping
Don't capitalize on gains, profit from losses

Ch. 18: How to cure depression in 14 days

Think every day on how can please someone
Do a good deed everyday
By giving happiness we receive
Think of workers as human beings, make personal comments and compliments
Take interest in others
Lose yourself in service to others

Part 5: Perfect way to conquer worry

Ch. 19: How my parents conquered worry

Farmer parents, difficult life
Nothing but debts in the end
Parents religious
Interested in religion like body and electricity, useful even If not understood
Turn over worries to divine to take care of
Prayer requires putting problem in words which is useful

Part 6: How to keep from worrying about criticism

Ch. 20: No one beats a dead dog

Ppl get satisfaction from kicking something good
Ppl just jealous

Ch. 21: Do this and criticism can't hurt you

Ppl way more concerned about themselves than others
Ignore only unjust criticism
Just do best you can

Ch. 22: Few things I've done

Review week
Franklin reviewed daily
Battled one fault per week for 2 years
Companies poll employees for feedback
Ask for unbiased helpful criticism

Part 7: 6 ways to prevent fatigue

Ch. 23: How to add one hour per day waking

Take frequent rests
Short map in afternoon
Rest before you get tired

Ch. 24: What makes you tired and what you can do about it

Mental attitude makes fatigue
Relax while you're doing your work
Body relaxed like a limp sock or cat

Ch. 25: Avoid fatigue and stay young

FInd someone to discuss problems with
Keep a notebook of inspirational quotes and photos
Don't dwell on shortcomings of others
Get interested in ppl
Make schedule for next day at night
Relax
Lie flat on floor, tense muscles then let them relax let go of neck
Breathe deep down

Ch. 26: Four working habits to prevent fatigue

Clear desk of all except current problem
Order is heaven's first law
Do things in order of importance
If face a problem, decide then and there
Organize, deputize, supervise

Ch. 27: How to banish the boredom that produces fatigue

Fatigue from boredom, not work
Do things you enjoy
Do your work as if you enjoy it
Acting will make your interest real
Daily pep talks to yourself

Ch. 28: How to keep from worrying about insomnia

Let go
Pray
Talk to your body and tell it to relax
Put pillow under legs and arms
If we get tired enough, will sleep
If can't sleep get up and work

Part 8: How I conquered worry

Don't stew over events that haven't happened or out of control
Patience and time resolve troubles
Live with enthusiasm
Read an interesting book
Play games, physically active
Relax while you work
See troubles from long term perspective

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NOLABound Days 3-4 Notes and Final Takeaways

4/28/2012

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It's been a month since my March travels, and I've been super busy since I got home. I wanted to take a few minutes and wrap up my notes and thoughts about New Orleans start-up culture and the NOLABound experience.

Below are the rest of my notes for Days 3-4 of the trip as well as my larger takeaways at the bottom. Sorry for the length of the post! "I wish I had the time to write a shorter letter."

Launchpad accelerator visit

Met Chris Schultz
Launchpad coworking space and accelerator 3 yrs old
Chris
After Katrina wanted to create tech hub and one physical space
Developer bought building and made it into hub
Always welcome to drop in, no day rate
Demo Day during Jazz Fest
Now have several more such hubs in New Orleans
Grassroots effort
No government support
Community came together
Overnight success takes 5-10 years
Moving to a place with a lot of interesting jobs
Density of startups and cool ecosystem
Low cost of living
Accessible airport
Ppl get started here who are based elsewhere
Easy to get in and out
Launchpad is coworking space
Launchpad Ignition is accelerator program
The more bankruptcies the better, means more ppl are trying
Speed dating/hiring events
13 startups created 502 jobs
Community running Rails class
GE will put in $10M into higher ed for tech
Several ppl from SF moved here for quality of life
Lots to do, nice ppl, can own great home cheap
Walkable city, all major events free
Cutting edge of wave of development and excitement
Issue is not starting businesses but about scaling, exiting

Big Idea event

B-plan competition
Entrepreneurship is about networks
Companies that won had the biggest networks

NOLABound camera crew notes (nice guys!)

All cams on 5dmkii
L zoom lens 24-70 f2.8
Boom mics

Talk by Alan Domesqieu (architect)

Architect
Design studio of 50
Grew up around here and through Katrina
Tricentennial in 2018

Katrina was a man made disaster
Only mid-level storm
All city levy systems failed
Engineering failure
No respect for FEMA
Engineering core not trusted
Cities around world evaluating their levy systems now
Sacramento has highest risk for levy failures now
Lots of brick and mortars
40% of American watershed comes across French quarter
How will NOLA port compete with Panama Canal widening?
Probably will be behind Houston, Mobile

History

NOLA established in 1718 by white Europeans
Have had Native Americans there for centuries before though

Tricentennial comes with 3 obligations

Marking history
Celebration of recovery
Charting a course

Katrina work

Build infrastructure for continued business growth
Celebrate authenticity
Way of life, not lifestyle
How are we rearming our community as we strengthen the levies?
Flooding spread 22mi x 15mi
Population decline
White flight
Segregation
African American middle class
Population went from 627k down to 455k before Katrina then to 20k with Katrina
Forecasts population recovering to 400k by 2020
Population determines federal revenue sharing
Ppl who left on buses were given one way ticket
Buses were not coordinated by government and families got split who didn't know where buses went; took years to reunite
Had no formal evacuation plan
Biggest problem is figuring out how to get ppl back in to a damaged city
Tourism not sustainable, lowers in economic downturns
Brick and mortar infrastructure will be real foundation
$2.2B medical complex being built by gov't
Will employ 25k ppl
Largest medical complex being built outside Kuwait

Crawfish Boil

Fun outdoors
Played some cornhole
Benjy Davis Song: I Love New Orleans
"Put your hand in a crack and you might find a treasure": Counselor lost her engagement ring on Frenchman Street pub crawl and then found it the next day because another NOLABounder saw it in a crack on the street! True miracle.
Build community through regular city events and festivals every 2 weeks that everyone goes to

Various impressions of city from touring it on my own the last day

Rivers of Los Angeles = freeways (but also have sweet ocean)
Canal St and French Quarter shops
Ate at Stanley's: "po boy" with sweet potato fries
Took ferry to Algiers and ate a cookie at Tout Sweet (awesome name)
Threw down $20 and doubled my money on blackjack at Harrah's (I only play 1 hand)
Watched Hurricane in the Bayou IMAX film
Spoke French with Haitian taxi driver
"Biggest small town"
People stay for the culture
GE Capital coming to NOLA with 500 jobs
More diversity

New Orleans News and Stats

Based on jobs and output, The Brookings Institution has named Greater New Orleans one of the "20 Strongest Performing Metros" in the nation for Q4 2011. More info here.
Sports Illustrated magazine is running in-depth feature on the story of the New Orleans Hornets, who it calls one of the most "promising and inspiring" teams in the NBA. In particular, the article highlights the effort to keep the Hornets in New Orleans, including meeting a challenging attendance threshold, and then selling more season tickets, per capita, than any market in the USA. You can read the article online here.
Business Facilities magazine has named Greater New Orleans, Inc. as one of the top three in the USA in its new award for overall "Economic Development Excellence." GNO, Inc. finished tied #2 with Greater Oklahoma City; the top place went to Greater Austin. "2011 was a remarkable year for Greater New Orleans," wrote Editor-in-Chief Jack Rogers, going on to call the region "a shining model of diverse, growth-oriented success." The award article is online here.

Big takeaways

Tax incentives and gov't cooperation are huge
Community through frequent cultural events
Close bonds and love of city (Fleur de lis everywhere); 2 degrees of separation
Exciting tech community
Problems with crime and education are being dealt with
Poor perception management and marketing out of state are being addressed
Amazingly talented people working in NOLA who love the city
Amazing group of NOLABounders who rallied and bonded
Warm weather all day and evening though a bit humid
Awesome food though less on healthy options
Amazing trip!

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Lessons Learned from Week 9 of Brand Management (Final)

4/22/2012

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How Disruption Brought Order

Culture
Company culture is everything
History of TBWA, Chiat/Day, BDDP
Creative is not a Department
Values
Transparency (Accounting, ethics)
Audacity
Open-mindedness
Skills
Organization: Matrix decision making between global and local
Integration
Action plans
New business activity: Nothing left to chance
Internal communication: Weekly employee memos
Principles
First convictions
Accumulate experiences
Counterprinciples

TBWA Office Visit

Philosophy: disruption
Challenging status quo
Creating brand behavior for the modern world
Start with brand belief (ideal)
Human insight
Brand behavior: way brand behaves to honor belief
Gatorade: Win from within
Change from hydration to helping before, during, and after
Insight: athlete looks for edge at all 3 phases
Pacific Standard Time art exhibit
Pop culture meets art culture
Insight: culturally curious ppl untapped
Grammy's: Using technology to uncover raw emotion of music
Insight: more than what hear, what feel
Artists as unified with their music
Integration between TV spots, interactive website, print, outdoor, wild postings, phone app
Create artist out of the music
Twitter concert on street (sing your tweets)
Immerse themselves in client's problems
Assessing new clients
Clients need to understand that marketing is not necessary evil but hugely important in making diff in brand
Do they have the power to see the ppl who can say yes
Needs access to everything
Need to be able to manage them profitably
Ask clients who they admire, who want to be like
Office
Mix of private high-density seating and open spaces
Unlocking playfulness
700 ppl office is village with different neighborhoods
A building helps u manage your ppl
Architectural mgmt
Create an environment where creativity more likely
Cool office with eclectic architecture
Colors
All open space
Tons of dogs
Sitting areas
Everyone has MacBook and iMac

Change by Design

The new social contract: we’re all in this together
Every product is already a service
HMW: how might we improve the airport security checkpoint experience?
Not just buyers and sellers; participants in 2 way process (Wikipedia, Android)

Steve Jobs

Not a computer scientist
Reinvented industries
Refused focus groups

Grow: Keep it going: evolving the ideal for comparative advantage

Motorola Solution made posters of its ideal, video
HP Ideal: human progress

Class summary

Finding and activating your ideal
Pyramid of influence model (Nike)
Athletes at top 5%
Weekend warriors who play regularly 15%
Mass market 80%
If sell shoes to the athletes, weekend warriors will want and then mass market will want
Nike started by first selling to athletes, then others got interested when those athletes won
Everything is media
Apple Stores (stores as media)
Delivering an ideal-based brand experience
Measurement

Stengel Top 10 habits

Reveal your inspirational brand ideal and operationalize it
Be clear what you stand for and be visible inside and out
Design your organization for what you need to win: core work, capabilities, and career path
Begin with a rough audit of work ... how close is your organization to the right design
Get your team right.
Champion innovation, especially disruptive innovation.
Set your standards very high.
The most powerful comment from a leader: “You are capable of so much more than this.”
Train all the time.
Do a few symbolic things (i.e., Brand Health Checks).
Think like a winner, act like a winner.
Live your desired legacy.

P&G

Purpose inspired growth strategy
Different relative importance of products for people’s lives
Developing leaders
Most promotion from within
30% come from acquisitions
Do not use headhunters
Very difficult to be good leader
How many ppl consider you a role model?
What impact are you making?
You have responsibility if you are someone’s role model
3 categories of ppl: people who let things happen, who make things happen, who wonder what’s happening
As a human, you’re in all 3
You as a brand
Are there stories about you?
There are always stories; question is what are the stories?
Do you care about the stories?
What does a brand have?
A target who (they want to go after): first decide who you want to sell to
A positioning (they want to own)
Want consistency in people’s response of 1-word equity behind brand
Volvo = safety #1 around the world
An image (they get as a result of the above)
Technology/social media affects it
Ask your friends: what is my 1-word equity?
What is a brand?
Product
Service
Experience
Person
Institution
Place
Promise
Emotion
Commitment
Responsibility
Team
You as a brand
Coke: $70B, Nokia: $30B
How much are you worth?
Who is your target?
What is your positioning?
What is your image?
2 concepts
Strategies: when you’re making a clear choice w/ consequences
Lose weight (goal) => join gym (strategy) => plan
Choice that is really a choice
it has clear consequences
it comes before plans
Strengths: before, focused on improving weaknesses (huge self-improvement industry in US)
Now, focus on your strengths
Must match strengths to job
What are you really good at
What you leverage most of the time
What you keep working on
Moroccan women spend 6 hours per day today washing stuff
Tip #1: (try to) be clear about what matters to you the most
Tip #2: change is the only constant. Embrace change. Learn how to thrive under change.
Tip #3: treat everybody with respect, be straight and tell them the truth. Have a point of view.
Tip #4: be yourself and leverage your strengths. We all make a lousy somebody else. Don’t imitate role models.
Tip #5: have dreams, aspirations and ambitions. But focus your energy on the job you are doing, not the next one.
Tip #6: you are only as good as other ppl think you are
Annual 360 degree reviews of strengths & opportunities (give list of ppl to boss and boss subtracts and adds)
Tip #7: always provide constructive criticism
Tip #8: your personal leadership matters
Tip #9: have fun
Tip #10: always help others and feel comfortable to ask for help
The best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago. The second best time is today. –Chinese Proverb

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