If you’ve truly escaped the Dilbert Cube – and not merely created a new one for yourself – then Monday really IS the new Friday.
Every day where you get to wake up and do what YOU decide is important to you is Friday. Even a cloudy, rainy Monday in March.
Dirty little secret: I did not become an entrepreneur so I could “Spend more time with my family.”
It’s sort of like when Fortune 500 CEO’s step down to “Spend more time with my family,” it’s usually code for “I got sacked cuz I wasn’t hitting my numbers.”
My 8 year old just came in right now while I was typing and sat down next to me. I love my kids to pieces. But that’s not why I work from my home.
I work from home so the trip from the shower (where ideas germinate) to my keyboard (where I take action on those ideas) is only 20 steps away.
I work from home so my office can be a Birthplace of Inspiration, a Writing Cocoon, Man Cave, Library, Musicquarium, International Training Center, Acoustics Lab and World Headquarters.
I created a business to pursue and fund my passions. I knew if I was locked in the Dilbert Cube Penitentiary for the rest of my life, Monday would forever just be… Monday.
I started a business to make sure the work that I do for the rest of my life would be MEANINGFUL work.
The clock ticks. My friend Jayme McGhan put it like this:
Staring at the microwave timer ticking down. Blatantly aware for the first time of each moment that is being shaved off of this mortal coil. And then the timer dings and I’m like, “Yay! Popcorn!”
Whether it’s 2 1/2 minutes on your Microwave, 2 1/2 decades on or your last job, you only live those minutes or years once.
What do you believe about life? What do you believe about Mondays? Do you believe you’re going to toil by the sweat of your brow and fight everyone and everything until your frustrations win out and you lose heart and return to dust?
Or do you believe you will do something passionate and meaningful and alter the course of the world?
Are you enjoying the ride? Are you pursuing your dream with passion and vision?
Or are you just attempting to make your monthly nut?
If you only aspire to make your monthly nut, you’ll probably struggle to accomplish even that.
If you do something great, paying your bills will be a natural byproduct. The least of your concerns. Your brain won’t even have room for trivial things like the price of gasoline or your electric bill.
What re-invention of your business will make you BOUNCE out of your bed tomorrow morning, hungry to tear into the challenge?
Perry Marshall
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About the Author
Perry Marshall has launched two revolutions in sales and marketing. In Pay-Per-Click advertising, he pioneered best practices and wrote the world's best selling book on Google advertising. And he's driven the 80/20 Principle deeper than any other author, creating a new movement in business.
He is referenced across the Internet and by Harvard Business Review, The New York Times, INC and Forbes Magazine.
10 Comments on “Monday Is The New Friday”
Hi Perry,
Just a little note to tell you that I appreciate your work very much.
I stumbled on your coffee house theology site researching a subject. Nice site. I followed your link to cosmic fingerprints and signed up, because I’m keenly interested in physics and cosmology. I was not expecting to find much new, let alone to have my mind blown. Your talk on DNA and information blew my mind.
Now I’ve found this site, too, and I feel that I should thank you. I know that you have not gone through all this effort seeking praise, but brother, you do good work.
Praise God, and Happy Easter. The Lord is risen indeed!
Dan
Thank you Dan! That means a lot to me.
Thank you Gemma, and you also
Hi Perry,
I took your 80/20 forced multiplier course and
I’ve gotten a few life changing alters in my mind.
It continues to evolve and grow. I know exactly what
you mean about the Dilbert Cube even though most
of my life I’ve tried to get out of jobs.
I realize now that even as an entrepreneur I can still be in that Dilbert Cube but it’s more dangerous because unless someone awakens you to the fact that you can change it you’ll continue to hustle. With the conviction that this is what business and life is really all about.
I’m in the junk and clutter removal business and my
DNA score is 5736. You mentioned that I should pursue
grandiose ideas that move the masses. You also said
that my score is one in a million and someone should
follow me around with a tape recorded to record the
stuff I come up with off the top of my head to capture the ideas. It amazing how accurately scaring this is.
I’ve been getting your email newsletter for over 5 years I believe and I’ve received your written ones also of and on when my money is right. You are dead on in this post about pursuing your passion and not just trying to meet monthly expenses which I’ve been doing all my life.
I know that I have a greater story to tell and a larger meaning in life. I just thank you for the constant reminder.
I won’t get into it all here but I thank you from the bottom of my heart because most of what you talk about hits home with me.
I just have a lot of inner head trash (clutter ) that I’m working on getting rid of. I love to write and have a manuscript for a book finished and started working on my next book. I’ve never been trained in any copy writing structure. But, I just love to share my ideas, experiences and how I feel about life and business from my
prospective.
I’ve written about 4- 5 reports on the subjects of business, marketing all linked with clutter. I’ve written over 30 articles but they all sit in my computer waiting for the right time and person to help get it out to the world. When I get enough money
I plan to attend one of you four man intensive programs because I know it will help me to be exposed around your mastermind groups.
I also love the Lord and I know that I have a calling on my life so thank you for all you do and I hope to see you in one of your
sessions one day soon.
Jeff Turner
631-455-6091
Great having you on board. Thanks for the note.
Your welcome
Jeff – “I’m in the junk and clutter removal business and my DNA score is 5736.” It sounds as if you’ve landed in the right business. I can see it now – you open a garage door and there’s a piece of junk half buried. Your eyes gleam.
“What is it” I ask
“Oh, it’s an miniature elephant groomer”
“Huh?”
“Sure, there’s a guy down in Alabama who collects them! I’ll ask if he wants it, I don’t know if he’s got this model”
The eccentric mind is capable of dealing with anything! Only when you have ideas, they tend to be scattergun … some are good and some aren’t. Keep a careful note of them and see which turn out useful and which turn out not to be. Because this is the hard bit – only you will know the difference. Learning the difference won’t change you, but it will make you an Alchemist. And that’s where the power lies.
Thanks Gemma- I’ve learned a lot over the years about myself. But, sometimes it takes a while to get it from your head to your heart. Being in the junk and clutter removal business has taught me a lot about me and others around me.
We’ve come across so many things in this business. One thing that I started to realize is that most people have way to much stuff and do way to many things. This actually started my awareness of me being all over the place with my ideas.
Since I hired my first coach I have been implementing at a steady pace. I will eventually catch up with the ideas I had from years ago just sitting dormant waiting for the right season.
Most of the time my idea sits dormant and reemerges years later. This is because I haven’t found the right person who can harness them, organize them and make it look like it makes sense when you show it to someone. But, this has been my road of awareness.
Thanks for the advice. Another seed planted in fertile ground that will eventually emerge in the time of harvest.
Jeff, you say “This is because I haven’t found the right person who can harness them” – that person is you ;-)
If my experience is anything to go by, you aren’t wasting your time. Be patient with yourself. Give yourself the time to appreciate everything you do, and the time when your head and heart sing together will arrive.
Good luck and God’s Patience and Blessings be with you.
So you mean I’m not the only one who has invention ideas, and paragraphs of sales copy, and new business models, and insights to suggest at the next parent-teacher conference … all emerge from my head while I am in the middle of shampooing?
Thanks, Perry. Just those 7 words: “…the shower (where ideas germinate)” … made me grin this morning.