Always Eat Left Handed: 15 Surprisingly Simple Secrets of Success

Prologue

“Whatever happens, I can’t let them see the inside of my book.”

This wasn’t what I expected to be thinking as I was getting ready for the kickoff interview to launch my first book.  It was May of 2008, just days before
Personality Not Included
would go on bookstore shelves and already my months of planning were being pushed off track. 

The day before, my publisher McGraw-Hill had sent me the dust jacket cover of the book in advance of the start of my planned book tour, with a short apology that the
actual
book wasn’t quite ready yet.  I had a cover, no book, and my first big interview planned in less than 12 hours.

I was starting to panic. Should I cancel? Try to reschedule? Do the interview without the book?

Finally I had an idea. I started combing through my bookshelf to see if I had another book that was about the same size and dimensions as the dust jacket.  Soon, I found one and slid the dust jacket the publisher had sent me over the book.

It fit perfectly. 

Almost immediately, my mind filled with all the worst case scenarios. What if I had to open the book during the interview? What if I had to read something from it? I was already imagining that moment when my entire charade would be exposed for the online world to see. 

Still, I decided to go ahead and do the interview anyway. 

So the next day I showed up to the interview and proudly held up my book cover, wrapped carefully on top of a worn copy of
Made To Stick
.  I made it through the interview that day without my secret being exposed.  All it took was a little luck and the ability to find a small solution to a small problem.   It turns out these kinds of “micro-solutions” to small problems are all around us.

Club Soda and Micro-Solutions

Club Soda may be the ultimate micro-solution to annoyingly common problem.  Most of us know that it is useful for immediately getting stains out of clothing … but that’s not what it was originally created to do.  Someone had to discover that use, and then start sharing it.  Over time, it has become one of those lessons that many of us learn at some point during our journey towards adulthood.   

Will club soda change your life? Probably not.

Still, knowing this one little useful detail can make a difference in dozens of small moments over the course of your life.  It may not change your destiny, but it certainly might change your day.  Or someone else you may have the change to help with their own spill or mishap someday.

Micro-solutions are like that.  They are tiny lessons, fixes or “life hacks” that change small parts of your daily routine or help you overcome challenges.  Any one of them alone may only have a small effect on your life.  But together, learning these lessons can prepare you for success.  They can make the difference between winning and losing. 

Micro-solutions can change everything.  

The aim of this book is to offer you 15 ideas like that.   It is a compilation of some of the hidden, counterintuitive and sometimes baffling secrets that can help inspire success.  They are each shared through real stories, minimal buzzwords and are told as briefly as I could make them.

Some of these ideas may offer interesting reminders of a principle that you have seen at work in your own life.  Others may reinforce a deeper truth that changes the way you interact with others or prepare yourself for success.

Here’s a quick summary of all the lessons – without the context or stories behind them.  I’ll admit I’m using a writer’s trick here to invite you to read more about the principles and why each one might have some value for you in your own life.  

So if my shameless attempt to pique your interest works – take the journey with me and read on!   

1. Play the Cello.
   
2. Overlap Your Legos.
   
3. Wear Jeans.
   
4. Avoid Cauliflower.
   
5. Build A Bookshelf.
   
6. Take The Window Seat.
   
7. Use A Sharpie.
   
8. Keep It Emotional.
   
9. Interrupt Often.
   
10. Ignore Job Descriptions.
    
11. Be Forgetful.
    
12. Never Serve Burnt Toast.
    
13. Lose Your Watch.
    
14. Let Ideas Travel.
    
15. Walk In High Heels.
    

Table Of Contents

• Introduction
  
• Please Review!
  
• Chapter 1 - Play The Cello
  
• Chapter 2 - Overlap Your Legos
  
• Chapter 3 - Wear Jeans
  
• Chapter 4 - Avoid Cauliflower
  
• Chapter 5 - Build A Bookshelf
  
• Chapter 6 - Take The Window Seat
  
• Chapter 7 - Use A Sharpie
  
• Chapter 8 - Keep It Emotional
  
• Chapter 9 - Interrupt Often
  
• Chapter 10 - Ignore Job Descriptions
  
• Chapter 11 - Be Forgetful
  
• Chapter 12 - Never Serve Burnt Toast
  
• Chapter 13 - Lose Your Watch
  
• Chapter 14 - Let Ideas Travel
  
• Chapter 15 - Walk In High Heels
  
• Conclusion
  
• Note to International Readers
  
• About The Author
  

Introduction

I used to wish I was left handed. 

Actually, it’s more accurate to say I wish I was left
footed
– so I could more easily play on the left side during the many soccer games I played growing up.  I was reminded of that childhood wish at a networking event several years ago.  It was an upscale affair – with waiters to pass around food along with plenty of wine and cocktails. 

In my worried haste that afternoon, I realized quickly that I had skipped lunch.  At that time, I would often avoid having food at networking events because it could get messy, and it is always hard to juggle a plate and a drink
and
eat while also greeting people. 

That day, I was too hungry.

So I loaded my plate of food held it in my hands.  I quickly realized that shaking hands would be a messy effort if I started eating with my right hand … so I switched.  As I ate with my left, I realized it made it much easier to shake hands with my right.  But that one simple switch changed more than my ability to shake hands. 

As soon as I started eating left handed, I no longer avoided conversation while I was eating.  I didn’t have that awkward moment of having to clean off my hands, or be forced in moments of high flu season to be a “hand sanitizer guy” who followed some sort of weird cleansing ritual after every interaction. 

Eating left handed made me more approachable.  It changed the way I thought about networking events and how I might enjoy them.  After that, I started focusing on making deeper connections with fewer people at every event instead of collecting business cards.  Those connections started introducing me to
their
colleagues and I started making connections events in a way I never had before. 

Always eating left handed changes everything. 

Why Mistakes Are Overrated

If there were a step by step guide on how to write a book about being successful, one of the requirements would probably be to have at least a chapter on the power of making mistakes.  Successful people love to romanticize mistakes and the lessons they offer about life. 

This isn’t a book about making mistakes.  In fact, you
could
describe it as a book about AVOIDING mistakes.

But wait a minute – isn’t making mistakes an important part of learning?  The most successful people in the world often say so.  In fact, if you read a recap from some of the most memorable commencement speeches ever delivered to graduating seniors from high school or college every year, you’ll see four pieces of advice that are shared over and over again:

1. Take risks
   
2. Never give up
   
3. Do what you love
   
4. Make mistakes
   

Despite their overuse, what I like about the first three pieces of advice is that they are very positive. They encourage you to dream bigger.  But encouraging someone to make mistakes seems like the opposite kind of advice.  It’s like admitting failure.  What kind of person
wants
to make mistakes? 

All Mistakes Aren’t Created Equal

The thing about mistakes is … we all tend remember the big ones we make in our lives and where they lead us. Those are the ones we learn life’s biggest lesson from, and the ones that we based our advice on.  The truth is, no one writes a book about those stupid microscopic tiny mistakes we make that impact our lives every day.  Those are the ones we scratch our heads after and wonder how we could have been so stupid.

There are mistakes that change our lives, and then there are mistakes we wish we never made.

The interesting thing about those mistakes we regret is that most of us quickly find ways to train ourselves out of making them by solving micro-problems with micro-solutions.  Not only do we all do this every day, but we rely on our ability to get better and better at doing it to deal with the challenges of our daily lives.

The Cut And Paste Principle

One of the earliest jobs in my career was to be a project manager.  My responsibility was to help lead a team of designers and programmers to build large websites.  Each project would last for about 3 or 4 months, after which I would move onto a new project. 

In that job, I quickly learned there are two words that project managers need to use all the time: deadlines and dependencies.  Everyone knows about deadlines, but dependencies are actually what controlled your timeline.  Every task on a project usually had other tasks which had to be completed first.  You couldn’t build a homepage, for example, until the design was done and approved.  If the design was delayed, the homepage would be delayed.  That was a dependency. 

Now imagine that you had a project with 500 different tasks, each with dependencies to other tasks.  It got pretty complicated quickly.  And because projects would finish in a few months, the process of creating this complex roadmap happened over and over again.   Worried about the amount of work involved in doing this, I decided to ask one of the Senior Project Managers for some tips. 

That’s where the “cut and paste principle” came in.  No project manager created an entirely new timeline for every project, she told me.  Instead, you would start with one of your previous timelines – and then add or subtract tasks to customize it for your latest project.  The template, though, was already there. 

How To Read This Book

My point in sharing that little story about deadlines and dependencies is that we all face these types of challenges in our careers and personal lives all the time.  Situations that happen over and over again, which will often require us to come up with our own methods of cutting and pasting to save time and relate to new situations without being overwhelmed. 

The one important part I didn’t share about my story of project management was that the Senior Producer I asked for help actually gave me more than just advice.  She shared her own template and method for managing projects and helped me to create my own.  She gave me a model to follow and it made all the difference for how I was able to succeed in that job. 

That’s what this book aims to offer for you – a series of ideas as templates.

The 15 tips you will read in the book are based on real experiences and stories.  They offer lessons that can help with some of those “micro-problems” … or even with the bigger challenges you may face on a daily basis.  Most of all, they are meant to be highly practical and non-obvious. 

As you’ll see throughout this book – my aim is to deliver the lessons through storytelling, and to avoid writing longer when shorter passages get the point across.  This book should be a quick read – but hopefully one that offers you some useful insights in exchange for the time you’ve chosen to spend reading it. 

Let’s get started!  

Please Review!

Every review earns $10 for DonorsChoose.org ...

This book shares a collection of life lessons to help anyone become more successful.  One group of people who help share these types of lessons every day are teachers - and they deserve all of our support and recognition.  

If you enjoy this book - please take a moment to review it on Amazon. Not only will it make a big difference for other potential readers, but
I am honored to donate $10 for every Amazon review
to help fund a collection of teacher requested projects on DonorsChoose.org.  

Thank you!

- Rohit

Chapter 1 - Play The Cello

Lesson - Acquire "Useless" Knowledge

Some time ago I was in the audience of a production of Shakespeare’s
12
^th
Night
produced by the Folger Shakespeare Theater, one of the most famous Shakespearean theaters in the world.  The play is a love story gone wrong – the tale of a young shipwrecked woman named Viola who must pretend to be a man to get work as a servant and then accidentally falls in love with the man she serves, a music loving Duke named Orsino.