I remember back when my father was teaching me how to hit, I wanted to really really impress him and every time I tried to hit a home run. I did not hit the ball, it was strike, strike, strike and I was on the verge of quitting when he sat down and said “Scott, you’re trying too hard, do this for me, just try to touch the ball with your bat, but don’t swing.”

Sure enough as long as I was just trying to touch the ball, and not trying to hit a home run, I could do it every time. Then next thing he had me do was just take a swing at the ball, and of course, I was encouraged and I tried once again to hit a home run, and of course, swing and a miss. He said to me, “you’re still trying too hard , don’t try to knock it out of the park, just slow down your swing.” So this time he told me he wanted me to just use one hand to hold the bat and hit the ball. Success.

The next thing he said to me changed my game forever, he said, I want you to go about 80% in your hits. So before you were giving it 100% and with one hand it was about 40%, so I want you to go about 80% on everything and never go above it. Success.

Later that year I was selected to go to the all-star game for 2nd base, I was a lock to get on base, though I didn’t hit many home runs, I could always get on base.

Starting A Business is not about hitting home runs, which is what I’ve been trying to do, it’s about taking it down a notch, getting some success, taking it up a notch or two getting more success, and so on.

— Update —

I still like the quote: “Think big because it takes the same energy as thinking small.” But to become the home-run king, you first need to connect with a bat.

It dawned on me after re-reading some fantastic books about business (4 Hour Work Week, Crush It, Meatball Sunday, etc.) that these books are geared for a certain personality archetype. They are geared for people that think in certain ways, and it’s indicative as to why certain types are more successful at strategies outlined in these books than others.

I then had this moment of enlightenment when I realized why some of the things I’ve read and tried to do, just flopped or drained me completely of energy, it’s because they were trying to get me to see and interact with the world in a way that was not natural for me (my personality).

Some books try to make Extroverts out of Introverts… Others try to tell you to see the world differently or counter to your intuitive or judging/perceiving mindset. It’s not the books fault, I mean, hey it works for them and their personality, why can’t it work for everyone? Well it can’t because we all see the world and interact with it differently.

Some Interesting Numbers: Introverts/Extroverts are rather evenly split. But people that rely on their senses outnumber people trusting their intuition 74% to 26%, and feelers outnumber thinkers by a 60% to 40% margin.

What does this mean? I don’t really know, but I think it’s an interesting observation.

Entrepreneurship is about meeting with people, connecting, solving problems by communicating, this is where my energy starts to wane. It’s not a dislike for these kinds of events, I actually enjoy meeting people and talking about stuff, but it saps huge amounts of energy from me.

I am currently at a cross roads in my career as a self-employed consultant/entrepreneur and need to decide how best to combine my cave time with the right amount of extroverted social skills needed to have a successful business.

Night 1 – Gatlinburg, Tennessee

This was an interesting place. I actually had no idea that it was such an active little place, kind of like a cross between Boulder Colorado and Orlando. I would not mind spending a week-end here at some point in the future.

Night 2 – Savannah, Georgia

The drive in was a real POA. From Tennessee to South Carolina on I-40, we encountered a detour because of a rock slide. We did not realize this but thanks to my Verizon Air Card I was able to Google the detour and we managed to take the Dixie Highway down to I26 and onward to South Carolina.

While traveling through this state we now found ourselves outrunning a freak snow storm, yes a snow storm. This was exactly the reason we did not want to drive on Wednesday.

So when we finally made it to Savannah, the hotel was very understaffed and I waited about 30 minutes to check-in. I was in a terrible mood, but we made it to the room in time for the Opening Ceremonies of the 2010 Winter Olympics.

Days 3-5 – Casey Key, Florida

The drive down was great. It was in the 50’s and sunny. I was thinking to myself, wouldn’t it be nice if we had weather like this all the time.

The beach house is nice and the ocean is great. It’s been a little cool, but it’s sunny and not 12+ inches of snow like it is back home in Columbus.

We have just been relaxing and enjoying ourselves.

The one thing that’s often overlooked by the people preaching this non-sense is Pareto’s Law (80-20 Rule). Which states that 80% of the results, comes from 20% of the effort. The numbers are often skued even higher 90-10, 95-5, but the general rule is that in no matter what system you have, the vast majority of the results come from a VITAL FEW.

Maybe the people preaching this are there to make others feel good, or they are selling something, because after-all, 80% of the people that contribute the least to things want to feel important.

Check it out!!!

One simple example is the Prisoner’s Dilemma. Basically this is a game in which you have two players (two suspects in a crime) each of them are interrogated separately and they can not talk. The players can either, stay silent, or betray the other:

I think what I like most about this is that it can also be expressed mathematically, and you can determine / calculate optimal and sub-optimal strategies… Anyways I just find this stuff fascinating…

So if you think you don’t need to play games in life, remember, life’s a game, you just don’t know it.

Castle Opening Christmas Presents in 2008

1. I don’t miss the hurry, hurry rush, rush.
2. I don’t miss the 24/7 Doom & Gloom, I need to stop watching TV all together.
3. I don’t miss office politics, or small group dynamics coupled with egos.
4. I like the “life change” from applying the 80/20 Principle to the little things. I’ve found I have had more time and stress less.
5. I missed my friends and family, but I’ve not seen them much at all. But Castle (my dog) has been a lot of fun.
6. I’ve enjoyed working on some robots at the shop. I’ve really enjoyed working on the new robot for RoboCross and planning my Robot Building DVD.
7. I’ve noticed I am still reading useless Google reader articless out of shear boredom, because I’ve gotten so much else done.