I used to hate it when people gave me explanations like I’m about to give you. I wanted a magic formula – “Do A plus B, and you’ll skip over the following steps and wind up at Q a wealthy person.” Then I began to realize that people weren’t skipping over steps to keep secrets. It’s those in-between steps that are unique to each of us, that we have to go through ourselves, that help us define what “success” is for ourselves, and how we look at the world in general.

I’m pretty good at sales, but I hate it. Absolutely. I’ve never been able to separate a sales rejection from personal rejection. I began to think about it, and look around at the sales process. In our society, people mostly act on recommendations and (bluntly) snob appeal. If someone recommends an expensive wine, that’s the one we’ll order. It tastes like crap, but we convince ourselves it’s great. We’re looking for a dentist, so we ask our friends. Or a plumber. Or a car mechanic. We ask our friends, and in general we do what they tell us, and we stick with the result unless it’s too painful in some way. “The best salesperson is a satisfied customer.”

So. . . where do I get my ideas? I watch, and I think, and I go through pain of some sort, and I try to figure out how to get the results I want with as little pain as possible. If there’s a formula for me, it’s “Time plus Thought minus Pain = Ideas.” I know that’s not what you were looking for, but I hope you can understand me and where I’m coming from a little better.