The Truest Form of Productivity and Why You Need to Master It
PRODUCTIVITY HABIT #6: PAY YOUR SUCCESS TAX Have you paid your success tax? Wow, I sure know I have! And I would bet you have too in many ways—you just haven’t looked at it this way. Okay, I know you’re probably thinking to yourself, “Dean, what the heck is success tax?” Well, before I give you my definition, let me tell you a quick story. As many of you know from reading this book, watching me on social media, and simply following me for years through Weekly Wisdoms and other things, you know that growing up, I wasn’t the smartest kid in school. I wasn’t born into a wealthy family. I barely graduated high school, and college was never even a question. But luckily, at a young age I knew I was going to push, scratch, and claw my way to success. I knew that if I worked hard, never gave up, and always dreamed big, I would accom- plish more than any teacher ever thought I would. It’s why I sold bubble gum in middle school. It’s why I sold firewood in my early high school years. And it’s why when all my friends were going off to college, I was working with my dad at his collision shop in Marlboro, New York. In fact, I was working so hard that my dad renamed the shop Paul & Dean Auto Body. Wow! I guess I officially made it right? I wasn’t even out of high school yet and I already had my name plastered on a business right downtown! Some friends were off to college, some were joining the military, and others were do- ing construction, but I had my name on a successful business. In my mind I was crushing it. But then it all changed. Shortly after I graduated high school my dad went through a divorce that really hit him hard. So hard in fact that he mentally “checked out” of the business and kind of checked out of life. I remember getting a call from him, and he said, “Dean, I’m sorry, but I’m getting rid of it all. I’m closing the shop. I’m letting the bank take our house. Do yourself a favor and go see if you can find a job up at the Triple
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