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How To Do Everything Right

I actually found this on boingboing.net. I shouldn't even post their name since they're one of the few big aggregating sites that has never run one of my articles. But hey, when they've got a good article, they've got a good article.

They posted This MP3 about how to always do the right thing. It's brilliant. I've actually been wanting to write a post to that effect, but the speaker, Dan Gilbert, did a much better job than I would have.

The essence of the speech is that EV is king. EV is expected value, a term used commonly in the gambling world. I would explain what it is, but if you listen to the lecture you will have a better understanding and then I won't have to type as much.

Maximizing Your Opportunity Window

In my last post i talked about what NOW is the right time for. The implication, of course, is that there are certain periods of time where you can actually take advantage of opportunities that come your way. Let's call that your Opportunity Window. In the Standard American Lifestyle, that window is narrow. Really narrow. It probably starts somewhere at the end of senior year in college and ends a few months afterwards.

There are small blips of opportunity afterwards, too. Getting fired creates a window. Some sort of windfall income might create a window.

That sucks. Someone with a Standard American Life probably has no more than a year of Opportunity Window in their lifetime. It's only during those times that they can start a new business, leave their lives behind and try something new and exciting, or just make a drastic change.