THEQuagraine

I have now left the East Coast and am staying in New Orleans, to see the sights, and hear the awesome live music! One thing that I have time to do on this road trip is think. I’m alone in the car, and that gives me plenty of time to think about stuff, plan ahead, and try and figure out how to be successful at what I do. Here’s just a random post about some of the stuff I have been thinking about on the drive.

I find it curious that the majority of the focus in our education system is about learning facts, and working alone. If you collaborate, it’s called cheating. When you get into the real world, try doing that. Try working alone, and not collaborating or communicating with others. You will get nowhere.

I find it curious that the majority of the focus in our education system is about learning facts, and working alone. If you collaborate, it’s called cheating. When you get into the real world, try doing that. Try working alone, and not collaborating or communicating with others. You will get nowhere. Yes, you can work in a warehouse, or be a cleaner, great. But try doing something more advanced. You won’t get anywhere. The real world is the opposite to school. It is all about communication and collaboration. You don’t solve problems alone, you find people who know the solution and they do it for you, and you solve the ones you know, or can figure out easier than finding someone to do it for you. Collaboration is the name of the game, and you can only do that if you can communicate well.

I will be the first to tell you, that I am not great with people, but I think my strength is that I am very honest, and direct. Some people get it, some people don’t, but the people who do, can see that I am someone that can be trusted, and someone who means what he says, so they disregard the negative personality traits that put others off. Thankfully. That’s what I think anyway.

In the real world, it’s actually irrelevant to a point what you know. Let’s say two people design an RC Car. One is really good, due to the fact that the person who did it has a lot of experience and knowledge, the other is average as the person is just starting out. The really good cars designer is completely unable to communicate and collaborate with people, while the average car’s designer is really good with people, and becomes friends with everyone.

Which car gets produced?

Looking back I now understand my own difficulty with finding someone to work with before I started my own company. I honestly am happy I didn’t, as having my own company is a lot better than working for someone, but at the time, all I wanted was to work for someone. The reason it didn’t happen wasn’t that I didn’t have the knowledge, or the passion, and it even turns out that in many cases I was actually right! So it’s not even about being right. How can I be right, and still not get anywhere? Lack of emotional intelligence, that’s how, lack of people skills. It’s not enough to be right, you need to be able to communicate that in the right way. Let me give you an example.

After 7 years of constant work and stress, with some moments of success mixed in, but far more hardships and setbacks, I am still here. I have a brand, and products on the market. I then heavily discount, or even give a free (I PAY) car to someone. If they come to me after a week and complain about a number of minor problems, making a big deal out of them, and they say something like “I can’t get it to work for me”, or “It doesn’t suit my style”, you know my initial reaction, the emotion inside me, the voice in my head telling me what to do? It’s telling me to get in my car, or hop on a plane, go over to this persons home, locate said car, and proceed to insert it into his rectum. I would then attempt to kick his dog, if he had one. That’s what I feel inside.

It’s telling me to get in my car, or hop on a plane, go over to this persons home, locate said car, and proceed to insert it into his rectum. I would then attempt to kick his dog, if he had one. That’s what I feel inside.

So the fact that I am able to function normally and not do any of that says something about my humanity. Having said that, it’s not that this driver was wrong, but his delivery just didn’t work. I am not an idiot, I know what’s good and also what problems we have. If someone builds a car, it is 99.9% sure I already know everything they will say about it. The way to do it is not to complain, but to offer solutions and ideas, in a positive way. Work together, be in the same boat.

The way to do it is not to complain, but to offer solutions and ideas, in a positive way. Work together, be in the same boat.

So rewind to when I was trying to work with someone. The fact that I wasn’t able to communicate my ideas and goals, (which turned out to be right), in a way that resonated with whoever I was speaking with, but instead probably just pissed them off, meant that nothing worked out.

The people who are successful in this world are intelligent enough in their field of choice, but they don’t have to be the best. What they have to be is good at communicating and collaborating. They need to attract and motivate the right people to do great work, and all those people together will make epic shit happen. That’s how the world works, and I learned nothing about that in school.