What is Smarter Sooner?

Smarter Sooner (“SS”) is a collection of life’s learning, thoughts, epiphanies and general philosophies written by a 40-something year-old guy gathered over the years from direct experience, and, in a lot of cases, from wise elders. The purpose of this blog is to concisely document and share the most important and valuable learning that I have accrued over the years – all of which I wish I knew or thought about earlier in life.   I know there are text books and lots of psychology-related writings on these topics, but this is totally different — it’s a collection of useful principles delivered in a simple, easy to understand format.

Who is the Author and Why should you care?

All of this writing is based on a reflection of the last 25-years of my life from a purely ‘real life’ guy’s standpoint.   I am a normal guy with both undergraduate and graduate business degrees and have operated and been involved with various businesses all my adult life. In the process, I have worked with hundreds of people, traveled all over and been exposed to a lot of life (and listened, learned and compiled a lot of these principles that way).  And, conveniently, I can type fast and use the occasional $0.50 word.  I’m intentionally ‘attempting’ to remain anonymous because I believe that it’s more important to focus objectively on the content rather than being distracted by who the author might be.

Who should read this?

Much of it applies to boys and men, but it’s really universal for anybody interested, including parents. When you are young, you can preemptively apply some or all of my principles and begin creating a strong foundation of advantages for many years to come. You will make fewer mistakes and you will more likely behave, react and exist in a way that somebody ten to thirty years older (and technically, wiser) would.  If you’re slightly older, use this as a reminder or confirmation. And if you’re a parent, use this to help you think about norms for your kids. In any case, poke around in the content and see what you think is interesting. Subscribe to receive email updates when I post new blogs and forward to others that you think might like it.

What’s in it for you?

Simply put, applying or reinforcing my principles can make us all a little smarter sooner.  I’m talking about little and big affects, including maturity, calm, poise and general efficiency in life regardless of whether you’re hearing this for the first time or just being reminded.  And they will make you more well-received by your peers, colleagues and family. Let’s face it… people like being around refined, socially smarter individuals.  They say that ‘youth is wasted on the young’. Well, I argue that this does not have to be the case.

Some of the principles I write about I learned the hard way after tripping and falling. Others, I just learned or observed third party. All are concepts that you should take with a grain of salt and apply (or not) as you see fit. Think about the application in your life and, if it’s useful for you, apply it. If not, don’t worry about it… There is no definitive formula here or rules of any sort. Use and apply the bits and pieces you like, think about others and discard whatever you like. In all cases, I welcome your comments and feedback. And, if you know people that can benefit from this information, please share it with them. This is all positive stuff and only intended to help (as it’s definitely helped me).