DONN FELKER

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That One Person

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That One Person

I follow a simple mantra when giving presentations, talks, writing a blog, creating a video, a podcast or creating anything public for that manner.

Improve the life of ONE person

My belief is that …

If I improve the life of ONE person with my content then my job is complete and I’m happy.

If I help more than one person, then that’s all gravy, baby.

Here’s my thought process on this …

If my blog post about a bug I fixed in some app helps ONE person. I’m beyond satisfied.

This is the same approach I give to public speaking – if I help ONE person then I’m happy.

Unfortunately, so many people these days start off on the wrong foot by only submitting their talks to conferences that have a lot of attendees because that’s where they feel they’ll make the biggest impression.

Yes, big conferences are fun … but IMO it doesn’t matter how many people there.

It’s the lasting effect you leave on people that matters.

I’ve spoken to groups as small as 2 people before at small tech meetups in the midwest.

It didn’t bother me. I’m honest. Not one bit. I loved it.

I was grateful they took the time to drive out to see me, sit there with me and listen to me. Beyond grateful.

Do you know why I really loved it though?

It was because I was able to help them.

They needed something and I was able to help them in their careers and life through what I provided.

That feels good. I know it will come back around in some way or another in the future. How? I’m not sure. Life works in mysterious ways.

Let’s keep going …

If I have a crowd of 500 people that I’m speaking to, and my talk helps ONE person, JUST ONE, I’m happy.

Some might say (myself included sometimes) …

Your goals are too low, you should aim higher to have everyone get something out of it. Go big!

I see your point, but you’re never going to make everyone happy – so don’t try. Here’s the thing that should apply if you have 1 person or 500 people in your crowd – you should aim to pour yourself into your talk and your presentation. If you do this then you know you gave it your all.

If you gave 100%, you’ll know that you didn’t leave anything on the table. Additionally, you’ll know that in your heart that if that ONE person out there gets something out of your talk, you’ll be truly grateful to be a positive influence in someone’s life. Well, that’s the way I see it at least.

Let’s diverge for a second as I’m sure this question is on some of your minds …

Won’t bigger conferences magnify this effect?

Definitely Yes. The more eyes and the more people you can get in front of the more impact you can make.

HOWEVER … don’t be afraid of small meetups and gatherings though. You can find these on Meetup.com and various other places that have associations and such. These are gold mines of opportunity for personal growth and professional growth.

How?

Easy.

The formula for winning here and large arenas is this: Provide Value and help at least ONE person (yet try to help as many as possible)

If you’re doing that, then guess what? You’re doing marketing for your own personal brand and when you compound this over time it will have some insane positive changes for you during your career.

Here’s some real honesty here – the majority of my consulting contracts have come from my blog, my speaking engagements and the content I’ve put out into the public.

When I speak in front of 5 people, or 500, either way – someone out there sees it and hopefully ONE person finds value in it. That ONE person may not need my help now, but eventually, 2-3-6 months or even 2-4 years down the road they have a boss/friend/family member who needs something and they know I can help them.

You never know who’s out there. Someones wife/husband/cousin/brother/etc could be the CEO/CTO of some big company or startup that needs your exact specialty. We’re all connected in ways we’ll never fully know. Never take anything for granted.

In these instances when a friend/family member/etc needs help, the person who saw my talk will say –

“Hey, I know this person who could do exactly what you need. His name is Donn Felker. Let’s get ahold of him.”

BOOM. 💥

This is magical serendipity at work.

You might be wondering … how does this fit into becoming an independent consultant or maybe even going out on my own (something I’ve been talking about more and more)?

Simple.

That one talk turned into a consulting opportunity from that ONE person. Now I just need to seal the deal and turn it into a real contract (and I did).

You wouldn’t believe how many times this has happened in my career. More times than I can count.

Helping that one person in a talk or presentation or blog or article or whatever … that’s what has tipped the scales in my favor and it will yours too.

Helping that ONE person is what will build you an endless pipeline of prospects for you to build your career on. You’ll then be able to slowly go out on your own and start consulting, contracting, freelancing and living a life that YOU want to live.

So the next time you go to speak, write a blog, create a video or put anything out there, don’t second guess yourself. Put your 100% effort into and do it right. Most likely you’ll end up helping someone and you never know when it will come back to help you in the future.

Because …

It’s that one person that you helped and walked them through a tough problem.

It’s that one person you made a good impression on and they forever remember you.

It’s that one person you stayed after to talk to or help walk through something they didn’t understand.

It’s that one person you helped open their eyes to a new concept, tool, methodology or practice that helped change their life (even if it is only small – it doesn’t matter).

It’s that one person who was mega-nervous to talk to you because they’re super introverted but they wanted to say hi and you made them feel comfortable and welcome.

It’s that ONE person.

It’s that ONE person that will remember you.

I’m sure you remember that ONE person who did something for you or said something to you that made a difference in your life.

The next time you create something, a talk, a blog, whatever it is – remember to help …

… that ONE person.

 

Thank you for reading. If you’ve read this far, please comment below and let me know what that ONE person did in your life that made a difference.

Lastly, if you enjoy this content please sign up for my email list. I send this content out 1-2 weeks prior to it being posted on the blog.

 

📷: @whereisfarid

Achieving Your Goals Feels Good

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Achieving Goals Feels Good

Do you know what feels good?

Achieving a goal.

When you work for yourself, all you do is set your own goals. If you don’t achieve your goals in business you’ll fail fast and hard. Getting things done in a self-directed manner is paramount to your success.

Self-discipline = Success.

Even something as simple as striking something off of a list feels good.

I’m not talking about some massive goals (though those are also great to complete) – here I’m talking about any goal.

Small goals. Big goals. Huge goals. Anything.

Getting things done just feels good.

Let me give you an example …

The other day I came back from a trip to Miami. When I got home I knew I needed to bring my bags in, unpack my bags, put things away and get ready for the next day. I also needed to spend some time with my children because I missed them and had been gone for nearly 6 days. I also needed to write 1000 words for a new book I’m working on (as well as reply to some of you who have replied to some of my emails – thank you all by the way).

I got home at 715pm and usually go to bed at 9:30pm-10pm. There’s not much time to do all fo that. So I got after it as soon as the car was parked in the garage …

My first goal was to get our car unpacked.

I parked and immediately brought everything in a couple trips. Goal achieved.

That felt good. 

Next goal: Get the bags upstairs and unpack.

I brought them up, and then immediately got interrupted by the kids’ bedtime routine. For the next hour or so I helped them get ready for bed, showers, talked to them about their week and spent quality time with them. It ended with some much-needed affection between us all.

Spend time with kids: Goal achieved

That felt good.

It was now 8:45 pm and  I’m already getting tired. I still had to unpack my bags.

Ugh. At this point I’m tired, I want to start winding down.

“I can do this tomorrow”.

NO.

I pushed through the desire to relax and unpacked my bags, put everything away and put my luggage away where it belongs. It doesn’t even look like I traveled anymore.

Unpack bags: Goal achieved

That felt pretty good.  So glad that is done. 

In fact, that gave me some energy and inspiration to keep going.

I like this.

I remembered that I needed to schedule some contractors to give us some quotes on having some hardwood floors installed in part of our house.

Since it was a small goal I figured “I’ll just do that tomorrow.”

Then I realized “NO, DUMMY, you can do that right now, online in a few minutes.”

I stopped what I was doing and scheduled a contractor online to come over next week.

Schedule contractor for a quote: Goal achieved

That felt good. Damn, another thing is done. Hell yeah. I’m getting some momentum.

I’m starting to feel REAL GOOD because I’m accomplishing a lot.

After that, I sit down, turn off notifications on my computer and crank out 1000 words for my upcoming book (more on that later) and by then it’s around 10:15 pm. Past my bedtime.

Write 1000 words: Goal achieved

Goddamn, that feels good. 

I went out and hung out with my wife for a few minutes and then went to bed.

What’s the point in telling you all of this?

Because setting goals, even if small, and getting them done feels good. 

Remember that time you created a todo list and you started to strike those items off of them throughout the day? How did you feel? I’d wager that you felt pretty damn good when you were done.

I feel this way about getting things done around the house, scheduling calls, writing code, writing words or copy, anything.

Big goals or small goals. Inconsequential goals. Any of them feel good to get done. Even changing the cat litter, I’m happy when it’s done.

When you set goals, even small, and continue to execute and get them done over and over, your confidence and discipline compounds. Your confidence and discipline get stronger, and well, you get better as a person. You become a better version of who you really are.

Whatever goals you have right now, be it big or small. Start on them.

Maybe you’re feeling unproductive. Take something small, and do it. Just start it. Do something.

Take out the trash. DONE. That felt good. 

Maybe you need to do a long intensive task on the computer and you really don’t want to do it. Do it for 5 minutes, that’s all. Most likely it will compound into 15-20mins (or more). This happens to me all the time.

The goal is to set goals and get them done. Pun intended.

Why?

Achieving goals feels good and builds tremendous momentum when done over and over again.

Ride the wave of confidence into the next set of goals you have and let it propel you. 

Now I’m off to finish my next goal – hitting publish on this post.

 

Photo: Glenn Carstens-Peters

Being Absent While Being Present (don’t do this)

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I have a confession to make.

I’ve been absent, and well, I haven’t written here, consistently, for a long time and that’s not what I intended.

I’ve been “here”, aka present … but … I’ve been absent while being present. Not good.

That’s about to change, but first, let me ask you a question …

Have you ever looked back on your life and wondered … man, what happened to the last few years? Where did they go?

Yeah, me too.

In fact, that just happened to me, and to be honest it was rather depressing. Super depressing.

You see, I just wrapped up a three-day conference in Miami (where I was when I wrote this this) and this conference helped me realize I was not hitting my full potential.

Not even close.

Like, I’m a total loser slacker right now. It’s like someone smacked me in the face with a hammer. That kind of wake up call.

It wasn’t always like that …

I remember years when I accomplished so much – writing a best selling book, kicking off my consulting career, having another child, moving, blogging multiple times a week and writing apps for multiple clients. I’ve done all of those within a year before. The past three years though … I haven’t even come close to that capacity. I’ve been slacking.

How do I know?

I’ve been wanting to write a couple of books for a few years now.

Guess what?

They’re not written.

But … how do I know I’m slacking? Books take a long time to write, right?

I know I’m slacking because I wrote my first book, which was a best seller according to Neilsen Bookscan, in under 3 weeks. That’s no joke. I worked 16-18 hours a day. 6-8 hours of sleep each day and did nothing but work at my client and write a book. I finished it in 3 weeks.

So yeah, I know I am capable of massive action.

This last few years though …. Not so much … I haven’t done shit in comparison to what I can do.

Ok, sure … some things have happened … I’ve helped our podcast (Fragmented Podcast – An Android Developer Podcast) grow to over 2.2 million listens, I’ve re-launched Caster.IO (an online platform for teaching mobile development to all walks of life) and I’ve expanded my knowledge of leadership, sales, marketing and more.

Some might think “work that’s a lot that you’ve got done”. You kicked ass man!

I don’t think so. Not at all.

I know I can do more.

A lot more.

You see, I could have done all of that in a matter of months, not over three years … but I didn’t push myself.

How is that possible? Why didn’t bigger things happen, Donn?

It’s because I was absent while being present.

Yes, I was in the chair.
Yes, I was doing the work.
Yes, I was showing up.

But …

No … I was not giving it 150%. I was there, but I was mentally absent.

I was giving it 25% while my mind was aimlessly wandering around. Social media, books, distractions, shiny objects. Drinking a few beers “to relax”, watching Game of Thrones. You name it.

The only thing I was crushing it at was my consulting career. I can do that with my hands behind my back and to be perfectly honest with myself, I could have done that 3x better. So… let’s scrub that too, I didn’t crush that at all. I should have though.

Frankly, I’m rather disgusted that I haven’t done more. I have much to offer everyone and I’ve kept it to my self, and well, … thats just plain selfish.

Why am I telling you all of this?

Because I’m changing things.

It’s a simple concept to grasp – If you want changes to occur the #1 thing you have to do is CHANGE.

Do you want to work for yourself?
Then CHANGE what you’re doing.

Do you want to get more speaking opportunities?
Then CHANGE what you’re doing.

Do you want to be a leader in your field?
Then CHANGE what you’re doing.

Do you want to have a bigger social following?
Then CHANGE what you’re doing.

You can’t get better doing the same thing you’re doing.

You need to CHANGE and then you need to be disciplined to perform the life-changing tactics over and over again over long periods of time.

Change + Discipline + Long Periods of Time = Life altering results

That’s why I’m writing today. I’m changing. I’m going to be much more active in your inbox.

What am I going to be sharing with you?

I’m going to start sharing more information about how you can start working for yourself.

That’s right.

Be your own boss.

No more full-time job for “the man”.
No more commute (or less of one).
No more saying “Yes” when you really mean “No”.
No more saying “I wish I took that one change”.

We’ll start off with consulting and work our way into some products that you can create over some time.

Stay tuned because some more stuff will be coming your way soon.

If you’ve read this far. Hit the comments section and let me know.

Thanks for reading.

I’ll be sending these articles to my email list a week or two in advance. If you’d like to jump on that list, you can do so here.

Photo by Fortyozsteak on Unsplash

Light Therapy

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A new edition to my morning & afternoon routine – light therapy. I’ve never been one to suffer from seasonal mood disorders, however this year I felt like I was in a funk during the winter months. I kept longing for spring/summer and wished the days were longer. Hell, my favorite day of the year is Winter solstice because the days start to get “longer” (more sunlight) until the summer solstice.

I remember Tim Ferriss had mentioned light therapy at one point in the late 2000’s in one of his blog posts so I decided to give it a shot. So I bought this Verilux Happy Light VT20 (non-affiliate) about a month ago to test out light therapy. Typically, I’m sort of bearish on all the woo-woo hand wavy “it will make you feel better” stuff, but I figured it was a small investment and it was not some Pharma that was being pushed.

I’ve been using it for about a month now and I’ve experimented by doing it for a week or so, and then not doing it. I’ve found that when I do use it, I do feel more energized, awake and positive about everything. When I don’t use it, I feel like I’m in a funk. This could be all placebo, who knows, but I do know that when I do use it I don’t feel the “funk” anymore.

Here’s how I use it:
After about 30 minutes of being awake (tea, meditation, etc) I fire it up for about 30 minutes. I then turn it off, and put it on a shelf. This is usually around 5-6am~ish. I then do it again when I get home from the office (usually around 4-pm5:30pm and then use it again for another 30 minutes). (The instructions on the box said to start with 10 minutes, then work up to 15-30 minute sessions, twice a day – so that’s what I’m doing.)

An important note – ease into this. I started with 10 minutes the first few days and I felt very different, almost kind light headed at first. Then once I got used to it I bumped it up to 15 minutes and progressed from there up to 30.

I place it to the left of my keyboard (as shown above) and keep it about 12 inches from my face. Yes, it’s bright AF, but you sort of get used to it if you’re doing a task on the computer.

Overall, I think it helps. I’ll continue to use it until daylight time > night time and then I’ll box it up until next season.

You can buy the same model I have here (affiliate link), (non-affiliate).

VSCode New File Shortcut Stops Working

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VS Code started reporting this error recently any time I pressed CMD+N (New File):

command '-workbench.action.files.newUntitledFile' not found

The root cause of this issue was that the Dart language plugin needed to be reloaded. I assume this might also be the case for any other language plugin that is installed. If shortcut keys stop working, try checking your plugins and reloading them.