Recently, I read a blog post created by a super affiliate Charles Ngo.

The blog post is about creating profitable angles using archetypes, which I won't tell you more about now.

Why?

Because the purpose of the creation of this post is not about that.

"About what, then?"

It's about some words that I found when I read that blog post.

Here are the words:

One of my biggest marketing discoveries is that humans are wired for stories.

Why are TV and Movies such big businesses? Because our brains are programmed for good stories.

If you can tell good stories then you can sell anything.

Therefore, if you want to become a better copywriter, learn how to tell better stories.

And about stories, here's also what I found in one of the articles my favorite email marketer Ben Settle wrote on a website called copyblogger:

Stories are a great way to sell in emails.

I dont care what the product or service is. If you can work in a story, your chances of making the sale go up dramatically.

For one thing, stories are naturally entertaining.

Think back a few thousand years. Stories were the only real entertainment people had. They didnt have TV or radio or the Internet, just stories which are a great form of entertainment.

Its very easy to process information from stories, too.

We are hard wired to learn from and communicate through them.

And, in many cases, its the most persuasive way to get someone to do what you want. Whether its persuading someone to buy your product or persuading a child to be careful of talking to strangers, stories inspire and motivate people to take action.

Many times sales are made just from the story!

Just look at the hit 80's movie Top Gun.

That movie sold thousands of young whippersnappers on joining the Navy, even though it never once pitches anyone on it. (The Navy even put recruiters in movie theaters where it was playing.)

As the old adage says:

The more you tell the more you sell. And this is especially true if you are telling stories.

Bottom line?

Telling stories is such an important skill to have, especially for you if you run an online business that requires you to sell something to make money.

It doesnt matter where you put your stories, whether it is in your emails, sales page, landing page, blog posts, articles, etc.

Because you know¦

Stories are easy to consume, which makes it easy for you to persuade someone to buy something you are selling (and that is, when you combine your stories with your sales pitch).

Alright, I think thats it for today.

I ll see you soon in the next one.

The good news is, I found what I was looking for. The bad news is, work-life balance is a fraud.

If I would make a list of the worst life advice, this would be among my top three. It isn’t just wrong, it’s dangerous. Let me tell you why.

Not all Ideals are Created Equal

According to Wikipedia, work-life balance is the state of equilibrium in which demands of personal life, professional life, and family life are equal.

We grow up believing that the perfect balance between our personal and professional obligations will make us both happy and successful. Both good lovers and good professionals. Envied by both our colleagues at work and the other parents at the playground.

It sounds impossible, right? Like an idealized version of life. Too good to be true, too hard for one person to achieve in one lifetime.

You know what else it sounds like? Bullshit.

Balance implies two things:

The first definition refers to quality, the second one to quantity. And when it comes to work-life balance they’re both wrong.

Here’s a more realistic way of looking at things:

Imagine life is a game in which you are juggling five balls. The balls are called work, family, health, friends, and integrity. And you’re keeping all of them in the air. But one day you finally come to understand that work is a rubber ball. If you drop it, it will bounce back. The other four balls… are made of glass. If you drop one of these, it will be irrevocably scuffed, nicked, perhaps even shattered.

After reading this I remember taking out my decision journal and making a new entry. It was my biggest decision yet. And one I’ve never regretted.

You may not agree with the names of the five balls. Your values may be different. But whatever responsibilities you’re juggling right now, I bet work is one of them. And it’s made of rubber.

Work and Family are not Equally Important

Let’s go back to the definition of balance. What’s the first thing that pops into your mind when you hear that word? For me, it’s a pair of scales with two equal weights.

But here’s the problem: your work life and family life don’t carry equal weight. I’m not here to tell you which one should come first. That would be too easy. What I amtelling you is that they’re not equally important. Take the time, make the effort, and figure out which one weighs more.

This doesn’t mean can’t have both. You can. And you should try to have a nice family and a nice job. But you can only have one top priority in life.

Because sooner or later you will be forced to choose between the two — more than once. And if you don’t know what comes first, there’s a good chance you will wind up miserable.

The sooner you get your priorities in life aligned, the gentler your journey toward happiness will be.

Work and Family are not Equally Distributed

When I was about twelve, we had a riddle we liked to tell the younger kids, so we could prove how smart we were. It went like this: What’s heavier, one kilogram of feathers or one kilogram of lead?Of course, the nine and ten-year-olds would immediately answer, “One kilogram of lead!”. We older kids would laugh and then explain why that’s wrong.

Comparing the distribution of work life and personal life is a lot like comparing feathers and lead. Trying to make up for missing the big game or the school play is a lot like trying to gather enough feathers to outweigh a piece of lead.

The opposite is also true. Putting in an enormous amount of overtime and dedication will hardly compensate for missing that one pivotal board meeting. Even if it was your kid’s birthday. You still missed it.

Your work and family life are mined with key moments. Moments that can’t be replaced or recovered. Equal effort at work and at home won’t result in equal success in both areas. That’s why the whole idea of balance is wrong.

By definition, balance assumes equal proportions. It also implies a complementary relationship between the two entities. This leads to the false impression that if we can somehow distribute our time and attention evenly, we will find happiness. Just one more toy. Just one more week of overtime. Just one more stack of feathers to balance the scales.

It won’t work. Chasing the mirage of work-life balance will lead to burnout, an unhappy family, and an unfulfilled career.

Broken Things Stay Broken

Now that we both agree that work-life balance isn’t the solution, what is? Before I propose an alternative, let me tell you about someone who really liked to make dents — in the universe, and in his family life.

We’re here to put a dent in the universe. Otherwise why else even be here? ― Steve Jobs

I admire Steve Jobs for a lot of things. After reading his biography I got to understand his drive, his obsessive attention to details, his unflinching quest for quality products. But even his hardcore fans will admit he wasn’t a family man. He was a visionary, a creator, a fabulous speaker. He shaped the world we live in and he did it more than once. Isn’t that enough for one man?

It would be, if that was a conscious and assumed choice. If Steve had sat down and decided that all the things I just mentioned were far more important than his family, that would be a conscious decision. And, considering all he has achieved, we would view him as the pinnacle of success. But if you study his life and read through the lines, you know that’s not the whole story.

I can’t possibly know what went on in Steve’s head. But I do know that he had a troubled relationship with his daughter. That he named a whole PC line after her. That he even created the iconic iPod for her. And that it all didn’t matter. He could never fully undo denying his paternity and not being actively involved in her upbringing. I doubt she ever fully forgave him.

That’s why I will say it again: stop chasing work-life balance. Stop believing they are both equally important. Stop dividing your time and effort equally between the two. Decide which one comes first. It’s a decision you have to make if you want to have a shot at a fulfilled life.

Stacking Instead of Balancing

Work-life balance is a fraud. The two concepts actively repel each other. Trying to combine them is like trying to link two magnets. If they are facing the same pole, you can apply as much pressure as you want. You will never be able to build a stack. But turn one pole around and they will automatically snap into position. Herein lies the solution to our dilemma.

We have to stop trying to balance the two. Instead, try to arrange them in sequence: first one, then the other. Fully focus on the one you’re dealing with now. But accept that one of them always comes first. Then watch them snap into position. Effortlessly, like magic or a miracle. Except it’s neither. It’s magnetism and common sense and the laws of nature.

When things flow effortlessly, that’s when you know you’re in tune with nature. That’s how things are supposed to be.

But which magnet comes first?

This is the million-dollar question. It’s the one that will decide how you will live your life. And it’s one I can’t answer for you. But I can share a few ideas that helped me decide.

Work is Like Rubber. Life is Like Porcelain

Work-life is a lot like rubber. It has elasticity. You can squeeze it, pull on it, bend it, and it tends to get its original shape back. You can bounce back from professional failures. Even if the project you’re working on bombs, you won’t lose the skills or the relationships you’ve gathered. The downside is limited.

But personal life is like porcelain. It has plasticity. It breaks, it cracks, it gets dented. You can try to mend it, but it will never recover its original form. There’s nothing to gain from broken promises, shattered dreams, or tainted integrity. And the downside is limitless. If you fall in the bottomless pit of bad parenting, there’s no ladder long enough to get you out.

That’s why “family first” is one of my core principles in life. It’s part of my identity. Your thought process may be different. But whatever you decide, make sure it’s aligned with your values. Choose wisely and, most of all, choose with intent. Otherwise, someone else will choose for you.

Putting it all Together

Knowledge without action is just intellectual masturbation. So here’s your three-step action plan:

The reason why the world lacks unity, and lies broken and in heaps, is, because man is disunited with himself.

This post was made possible with the help of people like you. If you liked it, please help me keep this project alive by donating here. You decide how much you can contribute. But if you're poor, please don't send me money. Instead, share this article with some friends. It helps just as much. Thanks!

See original post: Work-life balance will make you miserable. Try this instead

Read the Previous Chapter: Annihilate Your Neediness

Here is what happened:

Why would Greg have this attitude?

Below are a few neediness “tells.”

The good news?

What’s the single best way to get started?

Read Previous Chapter: If You Do Not Have A Mission, You Are Like A Man Without Testicles

How did he go from super schlub to super Villain? What was his secret?

What kind of mission should you pursue?

Read Previous Chapter: Becoming The Most Influential Guy In The Room

Read the Next Chapter: Annihilate Your Neediness

Executive order by US to mine the Moon shows how prevailing neoliberal ideas about 'value' trump the collective good

When astronaut Neil Armstrong landed on the Moon in 1969, it was seen as an idealistic leap into the cosmos - a "giant leap for mankind". 

Earlier this month, the real estate developer who improbably became US President legally declared that he sees the Moon in far less elevated terms. He signed an executive order authorising private, commercial uses of the Moon and other "off-Earth" "resources" like Mars and meteors.

Heavenly bodies are now seen as underleveraged assets meant to generate profits.

Invoking competitive threats from Russia and China, US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross has called on the government to support budding space businesses by rolling back regulations and coordinating government aid. He highlighted the gee-whiz possibilities of space tourism (a Trump Tower Moon, perhaps?) and the idea of converting solid ice on the dark side of the Moon into hydrogen and oxygen that could be used as a propellant for rockets bound for Mars.

It would amount to "turning the Moon into a kind of gas station for outer space", Ross said.

The Trump administration is also exploring the feasibility of "the large-scale economic development of space", including "private lunar landers staking out de facto 'property rights' for Americans on the Moon, by 2020", as well as the right to mine asteroids for precious metals.

If it all sounds like the film 2001: A Space Odyssey, said Ross with evident self-congratulation, well, that vision "is coming closer to reality sooner than you may have ever thought possible".

Since Donald Trump's career has been built on claims of "truthful hyperbole", sceptics might reasonably see this space fantasy as the empty bravado of the Huckster-in-Chief. Still, we need to ask a fundamental question: Who owns the Moon, anyway?

Economists and politicians are accustomed to referring to space, the oceans, the atmosphere, genetic knowledge and other planetary systems as "global commons". The ostensible point is to suggest that these things belong to everyone and should be managed for collective benefit. And in fact, nations have crafted a handful of treaties that purport to create cooperative governance to preserve and protect various natural systems.

Believing that Antarctica should remain unowned and non-militarised, seven countries with plausible territorial claims to the continent ratified a treaty in 1959 to establish a scientific research commons there.

Similarly, as space became a new frontier, more than 100 nations, including the US, ratified the Outer Space Treaty in 1967, to ensure that space exploration would be for the benefit of humanity. A 1979 Moon Agreement (which the US has not signed but is regarded as international law) declared that the surface, subsurface and resources of the Moon shall not be treated as private property. In other words: no ownership, no resource extraction, no militarisation, no colonisation.

Imperialistic habits die hard, however. As Trump's executive order shows, in defiance of treaties, nation-states in practice rarely treat "global commons" as commons - that is, as participatory social systems for stewarding shared wealth in fair, inclusive, long-term ways.

More often, at the behest of industry, national governments see "global commons" as free-for-alls for grabbing everything that they can. The needs of ecosystems, other people and future generations are secondary, if not trivial concerns.

A series of treaties to protect the oceans as the "common heritage of mankind" started in the 1970s with the ambition of preventing over-exploitation of deep-sea minerals, fisheries and other marine resources. But over time the mindset of nation-states has shifted to "let's just make sure that our nation can do what it wants and gets its 'fair share' of profits".

In short, the language of "global commons" has been corrupted. Nation-states and industry have no serious aspirations to act as conscientious stewards of our common wealth. Their priorities are return on investment and national aggrandisement.

This habit has taken a dark turn during the COVID-19 pandemic as private pharmaceutical research firms race to produce a vaccine and other treatments. Even though their work is built on our shared inheritance of medical knowledge, often funded by taxpayers - and even though solutions come faster through collaboration and knowledge sharing - humanity is now held hostage by proprietary, competitive models that pit nation against nation and rich against poor.

Treating medical R&D and treatment discoveries as a genuine commons could produce affordable, widely accessible treatments much more rapidly, as partnerships like the World Health Organization and the Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative have shown. We should remember the history of eradicating polio. In the 1950s, when a reporter asked medical researcher Jonas Salk who owned the patent on the new polio vaccine, he replied, "Well, the people, I would say. There is no patent. Could you patent the sun?"

Times have changed, and now everything from seeds to groundwater, colours and smells, common words and two-second samples of music, are locked up as private property.

The Trump administration's goal of mining on the Moon is simply the logical extension of this ethic.

It stems from neoliberal capitalist beliefs about "value" - that which can be encased in private property rights and exchanged for money in the marketplace has value. Anything used for collective, non-market, or conservationist purposes, with no cash changing hands, is by definition worthless. Price = value. Open source sharing may be generative, but it does not contribute to GDP.

The point of talking about the commons is precisely to name those types of value that have no price tag. Things that are essential to our planetary survival, that are sacred and core to our identities, and that are critical to the flourishing of everyone and future generations - these must be regarded inalienable.

They are not for sale.

We may have drifted a long way from this ethic, but it is not too late to insist that the Moon - and so many other gifts of the universe - belong to all of us.

Read the Next Chapter: If you do not have a mission, you are like A Man Without Testicles