When you read the success stories of some of the world’s richest or most successful people, you inevitably come across a few commonalities. A lot of the time, these people set lofty goals for themselves and they truly believe that they will be able to achieve them. In this way, if they shoot for the stars and only make it half way, they’re still way up in there in the sky, substantially higher than the people who are only reaching for the low-hanging fruit.

Another common factor among successful people is that while they may be setting some lofty goals for themselves, they are doing what they love. That’s the first priority and not money. They say that if you do what you love, if you follow your passions, the money will follow. If that were the case, wouldn’t every stage actor already be a multi-millionaire? They love to act, so shouldn’t the money already be there?

Success Can Come by Accident

I am a firm believer in the mantra that you should love what you do for a living. If you dread waking up each morning, if you despise your superiors and hate the work that you do, then the paycheque you receive just isn’t worth it. This isn’t to say that you have to be positively blissful every hour of every day at work — that’s an utter rarity — but there needs to be enough there to bring you happiness. After all, you are dedicating the prime hours of the prime years of your life toward this task.

The reason why I got started with blogging and a career in freelance writiing in the first place is because writing is my passion. Assuming that I’d be able to do it under my own terms, I would be writing even if I never made a penny. In fact, that’s exactly what I did for a number of years. Of course, something had to pay the bills, so it only made sense to translate what I was doing already into a little bit of money.

Some may argue that I have not yet found success as a freelance writer. I’m not rich, by any stretch of the imagination, but I have been able to parlay this passion into a full-time income. Has this “success” come by accident?

Even Accidents Need Some Help

Don’t expect success to fall in your lap. Chances are, you will not suddenly come into a substantial sum of money for doing nothing. Two critical elements that you will need to consider are focusing on your strengths and establishing a good work ethic. You need to try. You need to set goals. You need to have some sort of direction.

What Do John Chow and John Oliver Have in Common?

Allow me to illustrate with two very different examples. When John Chow first decided to monetize his personal blog, he wasn’t really sure what to expect. His goal was to see if it was possible to generate a livable full-time income through blogging, so he explored as many avenues as possible. Now that he makes over $30,000 a month from that blog, I’d say that he has easily surpassed his original goal. Was he lucky? Did success find him by accident? Perhaps. He wasn’t the first person to write about making money online and he won’t be the last, but John did focus on his strengths (Internet marketing) and it worked out for him in spades. His work ethic… well, I’ll leave that up to debate.

A more interesting example may be that of John Oliver. Like John Chow, John Oliver never really expected to achieve international fame. The lowly Englishman was happy with any gigs he could get, because he loved comedy. Even so, he worked hard at his craft, at which he happens to be very good. Oliver is my favorite on-screen personality from The Daily Show. Success by accident? Sort of. There are tons of other standup comics out there and Oliver “lucked out” by being “discovered.” That said, if he wasn’t good at what he did, he would have never been “discovered” in the first place.

You should work hard to find success in whatever you choose to do. Sometimes though, just sometimes, success needs to find you. Good luck out there.

When you work for yourself as a freelance writer, professional blogger, or some other kind of entrepreneur, there is always the opportunity to make some more money. The computer is always there beckoning for you, because there is always more work that could be done and this work could translate into more money in your bank account. It’s a very tempting proposition, because you’ll get that much closer to buying that dream car, paying off that mortgage, or otherwise achieving your dreams. It is also through this temptation that you could end up working too much.

Freelancing in Still a Job

Nearly two years ago, John Chow wrote a post on trading hours for dollars. This is the most common way for people to make money. They get a job and trade their time with their employer in exchange for a paycheque. This is also true of freelancers, even though they officially work for themselves. More likely than not, if I’m not working, I’m not making any money. There are exceptions, to be sure, but that’s the general rule.

One of the critical differences between a conventional job and a freelance business, as I’ve mentioned, is that the latter is able to make money at any hour of the day, on any given day. With a regular job, the work ends the moment you clock out on Friday afternoon. In this way, freelancers may feel compelled to work longer and longer hours. This was the case for me when I first started out. I’d put in significant hours on evenings and weekends, either working on actual projects or taking care of related tasks like administration and seeking out additional gigs.

What’s Your Time Worth to You?

Lately, I’ve started to dial down significantly on how much work I do in the evenings and on the weekends. For me, there is greater satisfaction to be enjoyed through some well-deserved leisure time than there is through the extra money that I may be earning during that time instead. My breaks have generally been too short and I’m working (no pun intended) on rectifying that.

Yes, adhering to a more “normal” work schedule may result in a slightly lower income level each month, but my time and my sanity are worth more to me. This past weekend, I didn’t work at all with the exception of putting up a couple of blog posts on Beyond the Rhetoric. Instead, I spent my time enjoying Dot Com Pho, playing Rock Band, and having a pleasant Father’s Day dinner with my dad. Those sure beat sitting in front of the computer.

Are you working too hard? Not hard enough? Do you obsess over your blog income all the way up to the time you go to bed?

Inspiration for blog posts can come from all sorts of places. Maybe You heard about something on television or you had an interesting conversation with a friend. One of the best places to get blog post ideas is from the rest of the blogosphere. This is especially true when you get called out by your fellow blogger. (Don’t worry, Nick, I haven’t forgotten about your headline.)

I recently got tagged by Damien Riley to write about someone that I admire. It has been difficult to narrow it down to just one person. Along the way, I considered authors like Bill Watterson and Michael Crichton. I thought about entertainers like Jay Leno and Robin Williams. And then it hit me that one of the most influential people in my life is someone with whom I went to high school: Joseph Planta.

Who is Joseph Planta?

Most of the readers of Beyond the Rhetoric may not be terribly familiar with Joseph, but I did post an interview with him in this space some time back. Joseph Planta is the Founding Editor of The Commentary, a site that is mostly focused on entertainment and politics.

Most of the attention on The Commentary is currently being paid to the On The Line interview segment. Among the guests that Joseph has had in the past are Rafe Mair, Grant Fuhr, Rachel Marsden, and Jerry Wasserman. There is also a column on the site where Joseph expounds his opinion on a wide variety of topics, most recently discussing Frank Sinatra.

Why is Joseph Planta Important?

If it weren’t for Joseph, I’m not sure if I would have ever gotten into journalism, blogging, and freelance writing in the first place. Let me explain.

The Commentary didn’t always have a website. It got its humble beginnings as an email newsletter back in our high school days. Inspired by Joseph’s column, I decided to start an email newsletter of my own called Now That’s Entertainment. That eventually matured into a Geocities site, which in turn became Beyond the Rhetoric years later. If I were not inspired by the original email version of The Commentary, I would have never started Now That’s Entertainment. NTE is my precursor to blogging.

In like accord, it was through The Commentary that I got my start with covering community events and trade shows. I attended a pet expo, a car show, a skateboard competition, and more under the banner of The Commentary. If it wasn’t for this experience, I would not have been as well equipped to cover larger trade shows like CES in Las Vegas and COMPUTEX in Taipei.

Considering these two elements today, it is perfectly fathomable that I would have never started blogging or launched a freelance writing career if it were not for Joseph Planta and The Commentary. Even though the latter is not nearly as monetized as it could be, Joseph remains motivated to keep the site updated. It is his passion, and for that, I admire him.

Who Inspires or Influences You the Most?

Is there someone in your life from whom you draw inspiration? It could be a family member, a close friend, or even a celebrity who you know through proxy. I encourage you to participate in the Amazing Visions writing contest being hosted by Damien Riley. There are free backlinks and great prizes to be won.

Life can get pretty complicated. Remember when you were a kid and your only real concern was whether your parents were going to buy you the latest toy? You didn’t have to worry about paying the bills and maintaining a mortgage. You didn’t have to concern yourself with relationship problems or political issues. Everything just seemed easier. Maybe it was because you didn’t know any better at the time.

I’m not exactly promoting ignorance with today’s post, but there is something to be said about keeping things as simple as possible. Why have a balanced view when you can understand the world through a single perspective? Why seek out the most complicated solution to a problem when a simpler one will do? That is the essence of Occam’s razor.

A theory developed by logician William of Ockham in the 14th century, Occam’s razor essentially states that all else being equal, the simplest solution is best. It is from this theory that we extrapolate the slightly better known idiom K.I.S.S., or “keep it simple, stupid.”

There’s something to be said about the appeal of simplicity. Even though our mobile phones are becoming virtual Swiss Army knives these days, we still want a user interface that is simple and intuitive. That’s part of the reason why the Apple iPhone has been such a resounding success. For better or for worse, the attractive user interface on the iPhone just works. Contrast this to the relative complexity of Windows Mobile, for example.

Consider all aspects of your life and how making things simpler can reduce your stress level. You may discover that you indeed have enough hours in the day if you simply eliminate redundant and unproductive tasks. I used to keep track of every article that I had posted on the web, noting all the URLs, titles, and publishing dates. This was a time-consuming task that really didn’t offer any sort of reward. Record-keeping is important, sure, but don’t keep records just for the sake of keeping records. Ensure that they provide enough value to warrant the time that they require.

Take a page out of Winnie the Pooh. It doesn’t hurt to be a little simple-minded sometimes, because the simplest solution is oftentimes the best one.

It’s very important that you always strive to improve in all areas of your life. You want to be happier, healthier and more successful today than you were yesterday. If you’re not satisfied with how you are doing at work, then the onus is on you to land that promotion, get that raise, or grow your business. If you are not happy with your level of physical fitness, then it is up to you to get to the gym, watch what you eat, and maintain a healthier lifestyle. There is always something that you can improve in your life.

A Better Sense of Direction

The motivation here, you see, is not to reach some unreachable finish line. It’s about the journey and without some sort of goal in mind, it’s hard to have a sense of direction. The fascinating thing is that with this constant striving for personal betterment, the majority of us look at our weaknesses and how we can bring them at least up to the par with the mass populace. Ironically, this may not be the best strategy.

Think about this for a moment. Some of the best athletes in the world would make terrible nuclear physicists, just as the world’s most renowned nuclear physicists probably wouldn’t make it in professional sports. To be truly successful and satisfied with their lives, these people focused on their strengths rather than their weaknesses. Michael Jordan is arguably the best basketball player that ever lived. The basketball court is his arena, his area of expertise. When he tried to work on a weaker area (baseball), he fell flat on his face.

The Difference Between Mediocrity and Excellence

Typically, when you focus on your weakest areas, the best you can hope for is to become average. And you’ll have to work really hard to just be average. If you are terrible at math, there’s very little chance that you will be successful with a career teaching university-level mathematics.

On the other hand, when you focus on your strengths, you can go from being good at something to being absolutely exceptional at it. It could be something for which you already have a natural gift, so it just needs a little coaxing and a little coaching to be pushed to the next level. For the same amount of work that it would take you to go from poor to mediocre in one of your weakest areas, you can go from good to great in one of your stronger areas.

Myself, I not only enjoy writing, but I like to believe that I do a decent job at it too. Through practice and hard work, I’ve managed to hone this set of skills to the level where I can make a decent living from it. Some other people may not be the best writers, but they are more savvy in the area of Internet marketing. It’s unlikely that I would be able to achieve the same level of expertise in the area of Internet marketing as some of these gurus, and at the same time, it’s unlikely that they would be able to become fantastic writers as well. Different skill sets for different people.

Jack of All Trades, But…

You cannot be all things to all people. Furthermore, it is impossible to be an expert in everything. It is far more lucrative (and satisfying) to be exceptionally good in a couple of select areas, because you will come to be known for that. You never hear about the people who are “kind of good” at a number of different things, but you do hear about people who are exceptionally excellent in one or two areas. We remember Wayne Gretzky for hockey and Albert Einstein for physics. We don’t remember John Doe for his myriad of mediocre skills.

As cliche as it may sound, being a jack of all trades only means that you will inevitably be a master of none. By focusing on your strengths instead of your weaknesses, you will not only be happier and healthier; you might even become masterful.

Many self-help gurus and personal coaches will tell you that happiness can best be achieved through balance. You need find a healthy balance between life and work. You need to find balance in your spirituality and in your relationships with loved ones. It’s all about balance, right? As it turns out, you may be better off being absolutely one-sided in everything you do. Be biased. See things only one way.

Balanced Views Breed Indecision

Have you ever had the experience where you walked into a store, saw something that you really liked, but ultimately could not decide whether you should buy it or not? This purchase can be as small as deciding on a sandwich at the local deli or as big as buying an expensive new computer.

If you are a particularly balanced individual who can always see both sides of the equation, you’ll likely weigh the pros and cons involved with making that purchase. You’ll consider the opportunity cost that may be involved. Can you justify spending $300 on a Nintendo Wii when you know that you may lose interest in the motion-sensing video game machine in a few short weeks? Can you justify buying the Wii when you could spend that $300 elsewhere on something else that might ultimately make you a happier camper?

By seeing both sides of the equation, by balancing the various pros and cons involved, you may ultimately be left with a serious case of indecision. By contrast, if you walk into a store with the specific goal in mind of buying a Nintendo Wii, handing over that credit card to the store clerk is a no-brainer. You were biased and you had a very direct focus. The decision was easy, because you already made it before you paid a visit to Best Buy.

Balanced Views Bring Mental Anguish

Woulda, coulda, shoulda. The notion that narrow-mindedness can bring about more happiness than having a balanced perspective on things especially expands into areas in your life beyond making purchases. Religion and politics are two areas where a single focus can help you live your life better.

If you are a devout Catholic, for example, adhering to the teachings of the bible in the strictest of ways, it doesn’t really matter to you if another world religion questions some of the views of your church. You have a very specific world view and holding to that view can help you with the decision-making process. If you are an agnostic, on the other hand, you may suffer through all sorts of mental anguish trying to reconcile the differences in opinion between the world’s religions. Some of these viewpoints clash (violently) and by having a balanced view, giving both perspectives equal weight, you are stuck somewhere in the middle.

As you can probably imagine, narrow-mindedness can help you in debates with colleagues, friends, and rivals as well. Politicians who flip-flop on their platforms ultimately fail, because their supporters can never be certain which person is going to show up to the debate. A politician who sticks to his guns, holding firm on his opinion on a particular issue, is more likely to succeed in a debate. It’s much easier to argue a single point than to try and justify multiple points. You may or may not agree with his particular viewpoint, but you can respect his opinion for what it is.

Ignorance is Bliss

Much of what I’m saying in this post has been somewhat tongue in cheek, but there is something to be said about the value of being narrow-minded. Although you may not always make the right decision, you can save yourself from a lot of mental anguish and regret if you have a one-track mind. Even so, people who are too narrow-minded rob themselves of the opportunity to see the world through new eyes. They say that ignorance is bliss; narrow-mindedness is much the same. And I don’t want to be ignorant.