I'm a fan of sitting back every once in a while, looking at my life, and asking myself "If I could change one thing that would make a greater positive difference in my life than anything else I could change, what would it be?" But then I was thinking about how often it is easier to see another person's faults rather than our own, so if I really want to find out what I should change maybe I should bring in some support.

I'm also a fan of Spencer's in Salt Lake City. They have the best steak in the United States. Don't just take my word for it, local food snob Ben Smith says so too, and he's had steaks all over the world, including Kansas. Seriously, the steak I had there was the best steak I've had in my life, and yes, I've been to Carvers. Spencer's makes a Carvers steak taste like a large sponge soaked in juices from fetid pig entrails. Perhaps I'm exaggerating things, but I'm telling you, Spencer's has really good steaks.

So here's the deal. I will take three people to lunch at Spencer's, and I'll pick those three people based on who can give me the most valuable advice in three categories.

Here are the rules:

1. I will choose one winner from each of three categories; business, personal, and family.

a. Business - Your advice could be about my current business, my in-the-works business, or it could be something entirely different, like "Just get a real job, will you?"

b. Personal - What could I do, or stop doing, that would add value to my life? Should I get up earlier, read more books, exercise more, do one thing every day that scares me, or live homeless on the streets for a week?

c. Family - What sage advice would you give me to make me a happier family man? Just to give you some background, I'm happily married, no kids, but working on adopting one.

2. The deadline will be soon, so don't hold back. This isn't like bidding on something on eBay. I probably won't let this go on more than a week or two.

3. Post your advice as comments to this post. Emails and any other sort of correspondence will not count.

4. Yes, multiple submissions are ok.

5. If you're not local to SLC or any other Spencer's we'll work something out. Maybe an iPod Shuffle or something.

The advice must be relevant and specific to me. Generic advice of the sort that comes from fortune cookies won't cut it. The more personal it is, the more hard-hitting and life-changing it is, the better. The way I'll judge who wins is by which advice I feel creates the most value for myself. And I'll be much more inclined to favorably judge those suggestions that are harsh. I want suggestions that make me cringe and say "Oooh, that smarts. But man, that's a good suggestion, that would seriously help me if I started doing that..."

Let the constructive criticism begin.

digg it!

Add to del.icio.us

Comments

My advice is relevant to (a), (b), and (c) and it is also advice that I've personally taken, so there's no hypocrisy here: I took the Myers-Briggs Test and now have a coach to help me improve in areas where I am personally weak.

Yes -- and, you know what -- this is the best thing I have done to-date for my personal life and career. I am 32 years old and have done pretty well in life, but recognized some serious weak spots in my business and personal life. I am now taking proactive steps to know myself better and to also improve in specific areas that I care about.

That's my advice.

Here is some business advice that I received a few years back. I'm not the author though, just a beneficiary.

"A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step." We know people who are completely out of shape and suddenly decide to go on a crash diet. For a few weeks they are faithful to the new regimen. Eating less, exercising more, losing weight, etc. However after losing a few pounds, it's not long before they get bored and the old self takes control again.

Similar to crash diets, people are always trying to take a great leap forward, only to be pushed backward again and again. I would recommend taking baby steps instead to reach your goal. Here are two reasons why this is a good idea:

1) Long term success is not measured in how big your stride is. Long term success is measured in the number of steps taken in the right direction over a long period of time.
2) Compund Learning benefits you. Much like compounding interest in an investment, each baby step you take in learning your business will compound over the years. If you haven't strayed from the path too much, in 10-20 years you will have learned/experienced so much that you'll automatically become an authority figure in your area of expertise. In essence, you'll be enjoying the benefit of a magnified accumulation of knowledge and you'll be free to use it to make loads of $$$ and heal the worlds' woes.

Here’s the most important piece of advice I can give you: Don’t take my advice.

Now, its OK to listen to my advice and its OK to consider my advice but I suggest you go with your gut. I suggest you triangulate my advice with the advice of others. Also, remember, people have motives. Beware of the motives of the person your taking advice from.

a) Abandon jobs, engagements, projects, companies, and clients you no longer want to work with. If you can't answer "yes" to "does this excite me?" then ditch it now.

b) Don't freaking work between the hours of 6-until wife goes to bed (but go to bed with her). This pays enormous dividends. Give your work the bird -- contrary to what you think, it can wait till tomorrow.

c) Know that family supersedes your personally ambitions. If you can answer "yes" to "would you be willing to sacrifice what you love doing for the good of your family?" you're on your way.

So, who wins the lunch?

Registered User on November 28, 2007 9:49 PM

This post has been a dismal failure in terms of reader participation. I don't know who these 171 subscribers are that feedburner tells me I have. I think you and Blake are going to win this for giving me the best advice over the long term, plus I still need to give you that other check.

Or maybe people just don't realize how good Spencer's is.

Post a comment