{"id":198,"date":"2017-05-31T09:16:40","date_gmt":"2017-05-31T09:16:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/demo.sneeit.com\/amachow\/?p=198"},"modified":"2017-05-31T09:17:07","modified_gmt":"2017-05-31T09:17:07","slug":"the-unusual-relationship-between-ardour-and-success","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/demo.sneeit.com\/amachow\/the-unusual-relationship-between-ardour-and-success\/","title":{"rendered":"The Unusual Relationship Between Ardour and Success"},"content":{"rendered":"

Some of the best business advice can come from the most unexpected of sources. We expect to hear great advice from business magnates like Warren Buffett, but what about a guy who draws funny pictures for a living? I suppose I shouldn\u2019t be all that surprised that cartoonist Scott Adams has some great insights, seeing just how astronomically successful the Dilbert brand has become over the years. It\u2019s more than just a simple comic.<\/p>\n

Winning at Failure<\/h2>\n

I\u2019ve been reading his book, How to Fail Everything and Still Win Big<\/a>, and he discusses some of the many failures he has experienced over the years. He tried developing a computer game on more than one occasion. He tried to patent a manila folder that would have an extra pocket on the front of it for floppy disks. None of these worked out for him, but Dilbert did.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

In one of the very early chapters in the book, he turns conventional wisdom and advice on its head. You know how everyone keeps telling you that you should follow your passion? How everyone keeps telling you to do what you love and don\u2019t worry about the money? Scott Adams says that\u2019s a load of crap.<\/p>\n

The Money Won\u2019t Follow<\/h2>\n

Passion is certainly useful and important, but it\u2019s insufficient<\/a>. If you love eating sandwiches, it\u2019s unlikely you\u2019re going to get really rich doing nothing more than eating sandwiches. You\u2019re probably just going to get fat. If you love watching YouTube videos, it\u2019s unlikely you\u2019re going to get really rich doing nothing more than watching stupid cat videos. You\u2019re probably just going to get fat doing that too.<\/p>\n

You need to take that passion and translate it into something marketable. You need to turn it into something that someone else would be willing to pay for. And even then, that\u2019s not enough. In fact, the Dilbert cartoonist goes much further. He says that it\u2019s not passion that will lead you to success, but rather that success will lead you to passion.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn hindsight, it looks as if the projects I was most passionate about were also the ones that worked. But objectively, my passion level moved with my success. Success caused passion more than passion caused success.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The Cart Before the Horse<\/h2>\n

When you start solely from a position of passion, logic gets thrown out the window. Common sense gets discarded. You continue chasing a dream that isn\u2019t bearing any fruit until you\u2019re beaten, bent, and a heck of a lot worse for wear. You dump resources into something that just isn\u2019t working.<\/p>\n

Sometimes that works out. Sometimes ignoring the critics and naysayers is exactly what you need to do to succeed. But sometimes, oftentimes, a failure is still a failure no matter how you try to dress it up. That\u2019s a real downer and an energy drainer. It becomes harder and harder to keep fighting the good fight.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Now, try flipping that script around. Instead of starting from a position of passion, start from a position of success. You shouldn\u2019t give up on things right away, but you should work on building momentum where there is momentum to be built. Follow the positive trends on the projects that are seeing success. Follow the money, so to speak.<\/p>\n

Ride Your Winning Pony<\/h2>\n

Let\u2019s say that you\u2019re trying your hand at several ways to make money online. You\u2019ve got a blog. You\u2019ve got a podcast. You\u2019ve got a YouTube channel. You\u2019ve got landing pages for affiliate marketing. But all you\u2019ve done, especially if you\u2019re early on in your career, is that you\u2019ve stretched yourself too thin.<\/p>\n

When you\u2019ve got these multiple prospects and projects on the go, you need to sit down with the numbers. Where are you seeing the most success? Where are you experiencing the greatest growth? Where are you getting the best ROI on your time investment<\/a>? Once you\u2019ve got that figured out, zero in on the hot lead and let the other stuff fall to the wayside. You\u2019ve found a golden key worth pursuing.<\/p>\n

Failure is hardly a bad thing. Failure is how you learn and it\u2019s how you grow. And while failure can put a damper on your passion, it can\u2019t slow your energy if you know that you\u2019re working toward something bigger. And when you find your success (and continue to grow it), you\u2019ll find that you get pretty passionate about whatever it is that is generating your success.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Some of the best business advice can come from the most unexpected of sources. We expect to hear great advice from business magnates like Warren Buffett, but what about a guy who draws funny pictures for a living? I suppose I shouldn\u2019t be all that surprised that cartoonist Scott Adams has some great insights, seeing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[52],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-198","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dot-com-lifestyle"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.sneeit.com\/amachow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/198","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.sneeit.com\/amachow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.sneeit.com\/amachow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.sneeit.com\/amachow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.sneeit.com\/amachow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=198"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/demo.sneeit.com\/amachow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/198\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":202,"href":"https:\/\/demo.sneeit.com\/amachow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/198\/revisions\/202"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.sneeit.com\/amachow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=198"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.sneeit.com\/amachow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=198"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.sneeit.com\/amachow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=198"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}