Fourteen Life Hacks for a Moderately Successful Life: How I Became a Moderately Successful Writer

By John Zakour

We want this book to help tilt your life in a better, more moderately productive way; to get you to think and react to the world around you more positively. Being positive is generally a positive experience. This book is NOT the bible or a manual to life. (It would cost way more if it were the latter.) But, it still has some useful advice that will help you.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Oct 30, 2019
• ISBN: 9780359961986

Book preview

Fourteen Life Hacks for a Moderately Successful Life: How I Became a Moderately Successful Writer

Fourteen Life Hacks for a Moderately Successful Life

How I Became a Moderately Successful Writer

By John Zakour

Copyright @ John Zakour 2019

ISBN 978-0-359-96198-6

About me

What makes ME a moderately successful person / writer.

Well, I guess that depends on how you define moderately successful. First off, I’m quite happy, so I figure so what? That makes me successful. You may counter, I know a lot of morons who are happy because they aren’t bright enough to understand they shouldn’t be happy? Or you may counter, My dog is happy, but that doesn’t make him even a little successful. Plus, he eats his own barf. I might argue that the most important thing in life is to be happy. But then again this book isn’t titled How to Be Happy. Therefore, I will back up my claim of being moderately successful.

Second off, I make a living as a writer. It’s not a gargling with champagne and using dollar bills as toilet paper living. (BTW, that last one would be very unhygienic.)  I know when you watch TV they often show writers as making big bucks and living in huge mansions. Some writers, like those who write Harry Potter and Game of Thrones do make oodles of money. But most writers, even fairly successful ones, don’t make that kind of bank. In fact I know a lot of well published writers who have day jobs. I’m pleased that this is my day and night job. It is a living that gives me a lot of flexibility. I don’t really think of it as a job because I enjoy it so much. Plus, I make a lot of people laugh everyday (some of this I even do on purpose) which makes my work a real pleasure. A lot of this is because of Life Hack 14, which just goes to illustrate how useful this book can be.

Thirdly, if you are one of those people who need something quantitative to gauge moderately successful I write a daily comic that has well over 1000 readers. ☺ I’ve sold (and I’m not making this up) thousands of gags to other comic strips and standup comedians. My words have been spoken on National TV by Joan Rivers. I sold gags to the Tonight show. I’ve written jokes for national politicians. I’ve written Rugrats, Simpsons, Fairly Odd Parents, and many other comics. I’ve written for dozens of games. I’ve created a family game. I’ve written gags for pretty much every magazine that buys gags, except for the darn New Yorker. I’ve had movies optioned and TV shows go to pilot. Oh, I also publish, like, a book a month. Google me if you wish. (Or just read my bio at the end.) I like to think that, yeah, I am at least moderately successful. I’m betting you will learn something from reading this. They say you learn something new every day!

There is a more official bio at the end of the book if you really need to learn more. It’s mostly put in to prop up my ego a bit.

BTW, if you are listening to the audio book, this book is not being read by me. Being moderately successful, I have some grasp of my strong points and weak points (another life hack) and reading out loud falls under the latter. I tend to skip words and I have a voice that while memorable and identifiable, isn’t one you’d want to listen to for the length of the book. Hence the reason I write comedy and don’t do stand up. So, we hired a professional for the audio book. You’re welcome.

The purpose of this book

Idealist reason: To help people achieve their reasonably achievable goals. Greedy reason: To make some money. Helpful note: the second reason is pretty much the reason why anybody writes books and does things. Okay, maybe, just maybe, super rich and eccentric folks like Elon Musk and Bill Gates MAY do things out of pure kindness of their hearts, but even then I doubt it. Truthfully, I would not be shocked if  Elon Musk or Bill Gates turns out to be a Doctor Who type villain. Just kidding... I hope. It’ll probably be google; after all, their motto is no longer: Don’t Be Evil.

Seriously though, just because the publisher, audio.com, and I do hope to make money from this book, it’s not the only purpose. We do hope you find the book useful and informative. Will your life change because of this book? Well, your life will change no matter what, because quite , the world and you are constantly changing. Change is the one constant in the world. We want this book to help tilt your life in a better, more moderately productive way; to get you to think and react to the world around you in a more positive way. Being positive is generally a positive experience. This book is NOT the bible or a manual to life. (It would cost way more if it were the latter.) But, it still has some useful advice that will help you.

Oh and when we say life hacks we mostly mean mental / mind hacks that you can do on your own. No special tools, mechanical, or surgical skills are needed for this book. That said, this book does give you ideas and courses of action that will, if adapted to your own circumstances, should very much help you out. You don’t need to be, or have to want to be a writer for the hints in this to help you achieve moderate success. But, if you are a writer, you should find some things of use in the special hints section.

Remember though: Life isn’t a math equation (well, if it is, it’s a super complicated one that none of us can figure out). There is no black and white or true or false answer. There is no one solution fits all. There is no easy button. Sadly there is no undo button. Man, I could so use one of those.

Oh, I chose the rather odd number of 14 life hacks because 14 is twice 7, which means it is doubly lucky. It’s also twice as many as other books who promise 7 techniques... or whatever. It’s even 4 more than those that promise 10. Doing more math… it’s 2 more than those that offer a dozen. I believe 14 is just enough without being too much! (Plus there is bonus material. You don’t become moderately successful without giving a little extra.)

Life Hack 1:

Choose a career that you have a passion for or that you’re good at

You’ve probably heard that old silly saying, If you love what you do it’s not work! Or If you love what you do you never work a day in your life? Or something like that. You get the gist. It’s corny, but in many ways it is correct. Let’s not beat around the word bush, work is work. No matter how much you love it,