clips of logic

How often to you buy something or choose a certain business because it’s more convenient for you? Maybe it’s nearer or maybe your friend works there.

Some businesses benefit from being more convenient to their customers. People tend to go for lunch near their office as it saves them time and effort, as long as the food is decent.

The most common factor of convenience is the location. If you open an art supplies store right beside an art school, you give the students more reason to buy from you simply because you’re the nearest one available.

Another way to be more convenient is to provide extra value-added services. I would order from a restaurant with free-delivery even though there’s another one right downstairs assuming both serve equally good food.

I think it’s worthwhile to try to improve your convenience factor of your business to attract more customer. It’s also a great way to beat your competitors by being the more convenient choice.

Given a choice, most of us would choose the shortest route to accomplish something. After all, you get to save time and effort. In fact we probably spend most of our time researching and coming up with technologies that allows us to be lazier.

When you become too obsess with this shortcut mentality and start applying it in everything you do, you’ll start to forget that some things should be done gradually on a firm foundation.

Nothing can replace the first-hand experience you gain doing things from the ground up. You wouldn’t want to build a house without first laying the foundation especially if you plan to live there yourself.

Using a shortcut to get from one place to another is fine. But if your destination is a better career, you’ll need to take a different route. Preferably one that focuses more on building your foundation and have the ability to keep you at finishing line once you get there.

Many people envy those who are self-employed. The reason is that they are working for themselves and not for others.

But that’s not entirely true. Whether you are your own boss or working for someone else, you are still doing it for yourself.

Regardless who you are reporting to, every decision and action you make will first and foremost affect yourself. If you think you are playing it safe and just doing your job, then that’s the path you chose for your career.

If you’re doing it to serve others, ultimately you will get recognition and respect from others. You can’t do something without affecting yourself.

You’ll start to enjoy the things you do as soon as you realize that doing it for yourself. Given a choice, who wouldn’t want the best for themselves?

There are many ways you could make life better for others even for a moment. You could offer your seat to an old lady in the bus or give directions to a tourist on the street. But where do you draw the line?

It’s fine when someone asks for directions or help to move something. But if a stranger asks for cash, the answer is no. It might be mean but the real world isn’t exactly that nice either.

If it’s an emergency where he needed to get something, I’ll rather buy the item than giving cash directly to him. But either way it’s a tough call and I don’t the right answer.

Sometimes your decision to help a stranger can be a matter of life and death, yet more often than not, they are probably just preying on your altruism. Under what circumstances are you willing to help a stranger?

In Ignore Everybody, Hugh MacLeod talked about the Pissed off Gene that cause us to be dissatisfied no matter how well things are going. It’s the urge that motivates us to create, improve and enhance our lives. He argues that we all have it in us. It’s built-in since the caveman days.

The only people who can change the world are people who want to. And not everyone does.

Sadly, not everyone act on this urge and most will happily trade it for cash. If you are annoyed at how some things appear to be broken, use it as the drive to create something new. Apparently, it’s okay to be pissed off sometimes.