Author: J Cleveland Payne

Do you remember ‘Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon?’

Some movie buffs determined that in the 1990’s, actor Kevin Bacon was the true center of the cinematic universe. Any recognizable name in film or television could be linked within under six degrees separated (and in most cases no more than four) to working with Kevin Bacon.

This was the key. Kevin Bacon could not have possibly worked with every actor, living or dead. He just worked with so many people that they were very likely to have worked with another actor within the time frame of a few generations.

What does that have to do with anything?

You may not have the enigmatic pull of connection like Kevin Bacon (or Arnold Schwarzenegger, who you could find many connections in the cinematic universe as well). But you do have a greater sense of available connections than you may see past your first level connections on LinkedIn.

Do not underestimate the power of knowing a guy who knows a guy. It really is who you know that knows other prominent people that can help you get ahead.

Do you know a guy who knows a few other guys? Email me at jclevelandpayne@gmail.com, and we can see if we know the same guy.

According to Wordcounter.net:
– 1 page is 500 words single spaced, 250 words double spaced, and
– 80 pages is 40,000 words single spaced; 20,000 words double spaced.

So, in order to write a good-sized book, you just have to write 500 a day for 80 days.

You do not have to write 500 good words either. There are plenty of horrible books with many more pages than 80.

But if you have a desire to write a book, the first step is to write enough pages.

It’s not as challenging or time-consuming as you think.

By the way, this is only 100 words.

Do you want to write a book? Are you writing 500 words as day? Email me at jclevelandpayne@gmail.com, and we can discuss. 

Someone may ask you, “What do you like to do to make yourself happy?”

Or they ask the same question as, “When you picture yourself happy, what do you picture yourself doing?”

I say both questions are worthless.

Regardless of what activities you are doing, are not doing, choose to do, or choose not to do, your happiness is mostly determined by your want to be happy or not.

Yes, you can be in a terrible situation that I meant to make you miserable. But you can also see the joy in just about anything around you to negate that supposed misery.

Life itself is something to behold. And if you are not being tortured or force to do horrible acts against your will, you get to live your own life. You make the choices, and you can always choose happiness over any other emotion on the spectrum.

Agree? Disagree? Email me at jclevelandpayne@gmail.com, and we can discuss further.

Chadwick Boseman is back in our consciousness.

Boseman would have had a birthday this past weekend, and a network airing of the movie Black Panther cut a special open to celebrate the day.

But I want to talk about what actor/comedian Lamorne Morris said about the solemn words he spoke that helped him become a better actor.

You should take the two minutes to watch the clip on YouTube, but the basic story goes like this:

-Morris was auditioning for a role that Boseman was helping him run lines for
-Morris was joking around, trying to crack his friend up
-Boseman was having none of that, reminding Morris other guys were working ten times harder than he was at that moment to try to land that same spot
-Morris got serious with his work, didn’t get that part, but thinks about the wisdom every time he gets a new script to read.

My question for you today is: do you recognize greatness in people in real-time?

Morris went on to say just how hardworking and dedicated to the craft of acting his friend was and that he hoped that there was something that he did that benefited the work and legacy of Chadwick Boseman. He doubted it, but he did have hope for it.

Are there people around you that make life that much better? Make a workflow move that much smoother? Refuse to let you slack off a project or phone in effort on your dream because they know you regret it later?

Do you know someone like that? Do you want to make the bold claim you are someone like that? Email me at jclevelandpayne@gmail.com.

In business, it’s usually not a great thing to ‘leave money on the table.’

This may be the best route to keep your business going as a way to allow all sides to save face.

This is good in business practice and in the general ‘business’ of walking through life.

Sometimes you see early within your negotiations that there is a skewed view of the value of a deal or relationship. One side may not see the value of the other on the same level, and it could lead to problems if you do shake hands and agree to move forward.

You have the right to walk away from any deal or any person who does not value you. 

Always know you worth.

Do you know your worth? Have you walked away from a possible monster deal because you thought the other side undervalued you? Email me at jclevelandpayne@gmail.com, and we can discuss.