Accountability Thread

[AAR2972]

I read TMF almost exactly 3 years ago today and like many others, it completely rewired my thinking and overall life philosophy. At the time, I was determined to implement the wisdom in the book and take swift action. I even went as far as to literally follow MJ's footsteps by uprooting my life in a cold, dreary city to move to Scottsdale, AZ. However since then, I have done nothing but procrastinate and engage in worthless mental masturbation. I even began to delude myself into thinking that I could be satisfied with a steady W2 income and humble, normative lifestyle. But now, I've reached a breaking point.

I've made strides in my career, earning 6 figures in a relatively low-stress attorney position and gaining the respect of my colleagues in a niche practice area. As a young guy, I've been told by the senior folks that if I keep it up, I'll likely become shareholder of the firm in the future. I live in a nice (rented) apartment, have quality friends and family, traveled the world to dozens of countries, keep myself in elite physical condition, and overall have a life that most would kill to have. Yet despite all this, I am ashamed to say that I am deeply unhappy and deeply unsatisfied with my life's direction. A large reason for this is that TMF is ingrained in my life philosophy, and my lifestyle is currently completely incongruent with those values, regardless of how "good" it is.

I'm not sure what exactly snapped me out of it, but on July 4 weekend with nothing to do, I told myself I needed to start creating something...anything. Anything at all. This whole time I've been sitting idly in a hole with a shovel in hand. It's time to start digging myself out, even if it's just one microscopic piece of dirt a day. So I started doing what I do best - writing on my topic of legal expertise.

In the past four days, I've been working on an informational/educational website dedicated to a popular law in an industry that is particularly complex. I already teach an entire college class on this topic as an adjunct professor, so I have a deeper understanding of it than most people in the industry. Most importantly, having taught the topic to college kids (rather than professionals), I have the unique ability to distill and explain the complex material in a way that can be easily understood by anyone. The online resources currently out there on the law either 1) have very basic, general explanations that are too broad for any real level of knowledge; or 2) are unorganized and/or written so technically that only professionals in the field could make any practical use out of it; or 3) don't explain anything, but rather try to sell a product or service (e.g. a manual or consulting services) that will help the reader understand and comply with the law. There is simply no comprehensive source (like a wiki) online where someone could go to learn about the law with in-depth, easily understandable and organized explanations for free.

I don't know what will come of this. I don't know if it will ever result in any type of income stream or benefit. Maybe I could monetize the website with advertisements someday or turn the material in to an e-book or college textbook, but I am not focusing on that right now. I just want to start building something. I want to get myself out of a lifestyle that I do not want, so I've picked up the shovel and I've just started digging. And you know what? For the first time in a while, I'm feeling happy.

I hope that I continue to regularly check and contribute to this forum, as I know it will keep me accountable. I would also welcome any thoughts/insights/ideas on this concept of creating an educational website and any experiences you have to share.

 

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[peterb0yd]

Nice, consider this your execution thread to hold you accountable.

I hope that I continue to regularly check and contribute to this forum, as I know it will keep me accountable

- This is backwards in my opinion. You have to hold yourself accountable. Hope is pointless. Discipline is what you're looking for.

 

[AAR2972]

Nice, consider this your execution thread to hold you accountable.



- This is backwards in my opinion. You have to hold yourself accountable. Hope is pointless. Discipline is what you're looking for.

The phrase "I hope to" in the English language is typically synonymous with "I intend to". But I take your point that hope and intention are two very different mindsets. Thanks.

 

[peterb0yd]

The phrase "I hope to" in the English language is typically synonymous with "I intend to". But I take your point that hope and intention are two very different mindsets. Thanks.

Which is more powerful?

1A) I hope I stick to my 30 min per day exercise routine.

1B) I will stick to my 30 min per day exercise routine.


2A) I hope I don't drink at the bar tonight.

2B) I won't drink at the bar tonight.


3A) I hope I wake up when my alarm clock goes off tomorrow.

3B) I will wake up when my alarm clock goes off tomorrow.


Gonna harp on this one to make a point. Hope for the weather being nice. Don't hope for things you have direct control over.

 

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[AAR2972]

I'm challenging myself to use this thread as my progress journal for purposes of accountability. I'm optimistic about this idea and am excited to get started. I've identified a real need and intend to be the first to deliver it.

There is complex law regulating a particular industry. There is a high demand in the industry for compliance expertise on this law. As such, many universities are now offering undergrad and master's courses in the law for those intending to become compliance professionals. However, there are currently no textbooks or educational material dedicated to teaching it to students. There are many, many resources for compliance professionals already in the field. But there are no resources that have been specifically written for students learning the topic for the first time who have no prior experience in the industry.

I found out about this lack of educational resources for students because I myself teach a course in the law as an adjunct professor at a major US university. The textbook that students are required to purchase for the course is abysmal and there do not appear to be any better alternatives. As such, I end up mostly assigning my own materials or refer students to online material. I then have to distill that information in a way that they can actually understand during my lectures.

These same issues were articulated in an interview with a professor who self-publishes textbooks on zoology: Self-Publishing Textbooks - Professor & Author Dennis Holley He states that books being used in classrooms to teach zoology were "overpriced and full of very technical, terminology-driven information that is way over a beginning student’s head. I often resorted to writing my own teaching material for my courses." This led him to self-publish textbooks that were written for students in classroom learning.

So far in the past week, I've written close to 50 pieces/articles/subsections in Microsoft Word amounting about 10,000 words. I then purchased two domain names, www.[topic]textbook.com and www.master[topic].com and designed the navigation panel of the websites to follow the organization of a textbook (I. Topic, A. Chapter, 1. Sub-Chapter, i. Subsection, etc.). For now, I am using a website as a vehicle to get my writing done and assist in visually organizing the content in a logical manner. I will eventually transfer all of these words into an actual textbook format and then condense the website into marketing funnel for the textbook (and possibly a mobile app).

But for now, the most important thing is to just keep writing. Keep pumping out material consistently and keep disciplined. I want multiple articles/sections written per day. If I can write 1-3 articles per day, I should have all the basic material written in about 3-4 months. Then I can spend about 1-2 months polishing and editing articles. By that time it will be the Spring Semester, which is when I will test-run my (unpublished) textbook for students to use at no cost.

 

[AAR2972]

Which is more powerful?

1A) I hope I stick to my 30 min per day exercise routine.

1B) I will stick to my 30 min per day exercise routine.


2A) I hope I don't drink at the bar tonight.

2B) I won't drink at the bar tonight.


3A) I hope I wake up when my alarm clock goes off tomorrow.

3B) I will wake up when my alarm clock goes off tomorrow.


Gonna harp on this one to make a point. Hope for the weather being nice. Don't hope for things you have direct control over.

Again, in colloquial English, "hope to" is used interchangeably with "I will". In other words, the word "hope" in "hope to" doesn't mean hope at all when used in this manner. It means intention. I realize that I mistakenly wrote "I hope that I will continue to..." instead of "I hope to continue to...", so I understand what prompted your feedback. But since writing and articulating the nuance of choice of words is pretty much what I do for a living, I too am harping on this little issue to make a point. Nonetheless, I agree with what you're saying.

However in the end, all of those phrases are nothing more than mental masturbation, regardless of word choice. Saying you will do anything is worthless, no matter how much you convince yourself. I've been saying I'll start up an entrepreneurial project for years and did nothing. This week, I started it. And I intend (hope) to finish it.

1A) I hope that I will routinely write up my progress and participate in this forum
1B) I will routinely write up my progress and participate in this forum
1C) I wrote up my progress and participated in the forum today

 

[peterb0yd]

Nice, following.

 

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[tonibob]

Hi @AAR2972,

You can always monetise your website at late point. Once you start give value to your readers you are on the right path. You can always create your own wiki and platform for people to join, search and learn. If you need ideas how to accomplish this I would happily give you directions and advice. My background is more than 25 years, but have switched to construction for the past few years. Will happily help and to be clear I am not selling any services, just I love to be around like minded people and like you accountability has been my biggest weakness. I am accountable towards other people, but when it comes to me I am the worst follower of my own advices and promises towards myself.

Best of luck with you plans!

 

[MJ DeMarco]

Welcome neighbor, how you like AZ?

 

[AAR2972]

Hi @AAR2972,

You can always monetise your website at late point. Once you start give value to your readers you are on the right path. You can always create your own wiki and platform for people to join, search and learn. If you need ideas how to accomplish this I would happily give you directions and advice. My background is more than 25 years, but have switched to construction for the past few years. Will happily help and to be clear I am not selling any services, just I love to be around like minded people and like you accountability has been my biggest weakness. I am accountable towards other people, but when it comes to me I am the worst follower of my own advices and promises towards myself.

Best of luck with you plans!

Thanks, I appreciate it. A wiki is basically what I'm creating now, minus the search functionality and user base. I'm excited for the many directions I can take the project. But for now my focus is just to keep writing content without worrying about what format it's going to be in. What are you working on at the moment?

 

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[AAR2972]

Welcome neighbor, how you like AZ?

I'm loving it out here MJ. Phoenix might not be everyone's cup of tea, but it hits every checkbox for me. Hope that maybe our paths will cross someday!

 

[tonibob]

Thanks, I appreciate it. A wiki is basically what I'm creating now, minus the search functionality and user base. I'm excited for the many directions I can take the project. But for now my focus is just to keep writing content without worrying about what format it's going to be in. What are you working on at the moment?

I am on a cross road to be honest! I have never believed any thing, any hype, any Fastlane either, but I think I am shifting, as a lot of my thoughts have been confirmed to be true reading @MJ DeMarco book. The thing is there were pieces I missed out. I am closed to my FTM, but a lot is at stake. Let's not bore you with shit, I am in construction and trying to implement tech, kind of cloud based services to my company, but dealing with builders is not an easy job . Intelligence is scarce and this wears me down, hence I am looking at really FTM and shift gears! I have been experimenting with some open source wiki's, forums etc. Ideas are plenty, execution 0. This is where I am at, but I am always up for a challenge!

 

[AAR2972]

I am writing today to vent my thoughts because I'm going through motivational ebbs and flows. Yesterday, I finished the formal table of contents for the textbook, which made me realize how daunting and time consuming this project is going to be. Not only will I need to write each out chapter/section/subsection, which will likely amount to 150,000 - 200,000 words, I will need to write about the topics in a style that is different from the other educational materials out there. In the end, it will have to be the best writing I've ever done. I also need to write discussion/quiz questions, design flowcharts and diagrams, and find relevant photos and illustrations. I work a rather mentally exhausting day job; how will I consistently find the energy and discipline to do all this in my free time?

Furthermore, it's a relatively niche topic, but there's still 1000s of lawyers and professionals with expertise in it. There are law professors who have spent decades researching and teaching the topic area. So who am I to come in and aim to be the #1 educational resource on the law? Who the heck am I to write a textbook?

Shut up and keep working. Just keep writing everyday. Even if it's poor quality. As long as you keep chugging and keep producing content, you will make progress. Even if you only managed to write one paragraph, you are still one step closer to a finished product.

And don't forget that there is something that differentiates you from law professors with decades of experience and other professionals in the field. You have the gift of distilling and articulating complex information better than them. You're not an ivory tower academic, you're a stupid kid who needs things explained like you're a stupid kid. Therefore, you know best how to explain things to other "stupid" kids. Not these guys.

Finally, don't forget that you are a respected authority in your niche and have the appropriate connections. You are teaching it as an adjunct professor at major US university after all. You know that there are no good texts on the topic because you yourself struggled to find anything to assign to students. There is legitimacy to what you are doing and there is a chance that all this work will result in a significant return on investment of your time and labor. The very worst thing that could happen is you create an awesome educational resource that you'll use for your own class, significantly reducing your own workload for teaching future semesters.

Shut up and keep writing.

 

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