Intensity > Extensity

True intensity and rhythm, in harmony with your own internal voice, can go viral and reach a wide audience. It may take a while to reach your true target-audience, but you should never cater your material to the masses. You should aim deep versus wide. Meaning, you should look for a stronger connection with your readers, rather than more readers. The readers who truly connect with your writing, will be more likely to share it with their friends who are similar. There is always a small group of people that will identify with you and your message. That is where your true power is. Those will become true fans of your material, not just “likes” on Facebook that will never take action on your recommendations.

I have a burning desire to publish a book and become a New York Times Bestselling author. I am definitely not saying, “Don’t sell a ton of books”. I think you should absolutely sell a ton of books. But ask yourself how to maintain your intensity and authenticity and still have millions of people read your material. This is a problem a lot of authors have. They have a good book and think it will sell itself. They forget that their writing is a brand. Their voice is their sales-pitch. As soon as they start aiming to widen their appeal, they start losing their authenticity. They start to sound too much like everyone else. Great marketing, especially word-of-mouth marketing, happens when you are authentic to your own true voice. When you are real. When you take your experiences, perspectives, education and apply it with all of your heart to something you are passionate about. If you ever read the articles on Linkedin, (not mine of course) they are almost all garbage. They are all watered-down, blanket-statement-advice from people who may or may not know what the hell they are talking about. I’m sorry but there are never “3 steps to success” or “6 ways to create a marketing plan”. That shit bores me to death. Most the people on Linkedin just read it because they want a break from their actual work. You can totally tell that people are paid to write a certain number of articles per month on topics that they are not necessarily interested in. The writing is dead. There is no voice. They are creating content for business-development purposes only.

It is so obvious that content production is the new sales technique for most organizations. They think they are adding value to the marketplace when they are actually just diluting the pool of good, useful information, with a bunch of garbage. They know that a certain number of article views creates a certain number of website views, which ultimately creates a certain number of sales. I understand this. It’s incredibly inauthentic. There is no passion behind anything. If there was, sales would go through the roof. If they wrote one great article every month, instead of 4 crappy ones, they would establish a much stronger brand.

Isn’t that what they are after? Long-term relationships with people who will continuously buy their products. Isn’t that what every company and individual who does business, is after?  

So what is all this inauthenticity creating? It’s creating a huge opportunity for people with a unique voice, who actually have something valuable to say. It may be harder to get your work out there now, with more than 120 million blogs (I believe) out there. But if you stay true to your voice and create quality content, people will share and recommend it. Just like in face-to-face sales, meetings do not equal dollars. Just like Facebook ‘likes’ do not equal dollars. People who buy your book, equal dollars. People that can’t get enough of your writing, equal dollars. There are a handful of authors that I will gladly pay whatever they charge me for their next book. That’s what you should aim for. If you sacrifice the realness inside of you, you will bore your audience. Even if your audience is the 9-5’ers chained to their desk looking for something to do that isn’t “work”….don’t make them read your “3 steps for writing a crappy blog”.

If you have something to say, say it. You shouldn’t worry about who likes it and who doesn’t. The people that should find your content, will. It may take hundreds of blogs and several books, but the cool thing about content creation, is that if you stay true to your voice, your content is timeless. People who like your content in 3 years, will like your original content. As long as you maintain your authenticity.  

The world needs more authenticity. Stay true to yourself and your beliefs. Don’t change something because you think it might offend a couple of people. Your voice has the power to change the lives of so many people. See the positives. Inspire people to be more and lead by example. Get your message out to the world and be proud of it. 

6 Steps To...Blah, Blah, Blah. Iggy Azalea Rocks!

“I just can’t worry ‘bout no haters, gotta stay on my grind.” – Iggy Azalea

I know we have all (hopefully) heard this song, which is “Fancy”, by Iggy Azalea. If you haven’t, you aren’t living. This is one of those songs that you can catch me shamelessly singing along to on the highway. If you think I am completely off my rocker, you might be right. Don’t worry, that’s a saying, I think.

So when am I going to shift gears and write something relevant to success and entrepreneurship? I am not exactly sure but I am glad you asked.

When Iggy talks about not worrying about “haters” she is basically giving us all the most profound business lesson we could ever have. She is telling us to forget about all the people that don’t like our material – whether we are a musician, artist or salesperson. She is telling us to look past any rejection we may face and hold onto our grandest vision. She is begging us to be authentic. To not succumb to the pressures of society to become like everybody else. She wants us to be unapologetically, ourselves.

Staying on your “grind”, as Iggy puts it, means taking action and focusing on things that are controllable. Focus on activities, not results. You are never going to be able to fully control outcomes and you will only be discouraged if you worry too much about them. Whether you are writing new music and recording mixtapes or practicing your sales presentation. Stay focused on the “grind”. People are going to tell you no. If you are chasing a huge, ambitious goal, you are going to get a LOT of no’s. People are going to reject you as a person. They are going to reject your ideas. You have to keep yourself positive. Focus on the grind. The grind is the ONLY thing in your control.  

Iggy is telling us to take control, by taking action. She is telling us to remain positive and confident in our own abilities. We can read all the self-help books and motivational blogs we want, but we really don’t need ANY other advice to be successful. Remember, self-doubt and confidence cannot exist in the same environment. If you continue to feed one, the other will die.

Which one are you feeding?

I know Iggy is going to stay on her grind and keep pumping out jams! I am going to keep singing along. I hope you do the same. Take her advice straight to the bank. Focus on the things that you can control and forget about everything else. And everyone else. Do the best you can each day to move forward. Relentlessly. And next time you see a really cool dude (me) in a Jeep Wrangler, blasting this song….feel free to sing along.

Dreams = My Reality

Dreams are my reality. I live in the future. In a world I am developing in my mind. It keeps me excited and enables me to focus on the daily activities that I do not particularly enjoy. It tends to create anxiety, which I argue is a good thing. It is like the necessary compression it takes to fire an engine. Humans need a certain level of anxiety, or internal pressure, to drive themselves and their daily actions.

Living in the cloud or dreaming all day is not a bad thing. There is an unlimited number of opportunities in this world and they all belong to the people that believe they can have them. It cracks me up when I hear people tell other people to think more “realistically”. That word is a joke to me. The thought of anything being “realistic” is so limiting. Just because something has never been done, doesn’t mean it’s not possible. Did anyone think electricity was possible a few hundred years ago?

The universe is full of limitless potential. I have read tons of books documenting the powers of the universe and more specifically, the thoughts that we all have. A thought will literally manifest itself in a physical equivalent. That’s why bad things happen to people who expect them to. It’s so fascinating to me to hear of the possibilities in this world if you can just transform the way you think. If you can convince yourself, you will convince the world of your worthiness. This principle is so fascinating. It’s written about in The Secret, Think and Grow Rich, The Prosperity Bible, and countless other books I have read. Everyone should know this. The opportunities in this world are not finite. I will repeat, the opportunities in this world are NOT finite. Too many people have a scarcity mentality instead of an abundance mentality. There is no limit to the number of jobs that could exist. There is no limit to the amount of value each and every one of us can provide to others. This all starts with our beliefs and our dreams. If we can dream it, we can achieve it. We must reconnect with the things we were passionate about as children.

The children who never actually grow up, and still hold onto their dreams are the people that do incredible things in this world. Living in a “dream world” really just means that you are visualizing something that you would like to be a part of. Whether it is being a professional baseball player or an opera singer. Kids have a natural propensity for dreaming that most adults have lost. The sad part is that most kids go through the process of “growing up” and end up having their dreams shot down. People tell them that they can’t be a professional baseball player or can’t be in a Broadway show. Slowly, children lose their confidence and their dreams fade away. Then as they get into their 20s and get a regular job, they wonder why they are not happy. It’s simple, they are out of tune with their inner-frequency. They are not doing what they want.

So why can’t we encourage kids to dream more? I think we don’t because, most adults have already given up on their dreams. They aren’t intentionally trying to shoot down dreams, they just do it subconsciously. They really believe in the limitations of this world. Probably because they “tried” to be a professional baseball player themselves, and didn’t make it. They didn’t understand what it really took to get to that level. They didn’t actually believe that they could do it.

I just want to completely abolish this mentality. Having the right mental attitude regarding possibility and your own personal capabilities is so much more important than your education. You can literally think your way to success, but very few people understand this. They go through the day-to-day motions of struggling financially, not really enjoying their job, treating the weekends as the escape from their reality, hating Mondays, loving Fridays and just existing. That is my biggest fear in the entire world. Giving in to this illusion – The American Dream. It’s not for me. There is way more to life than spending one week per year on vacation. Why can’t you go for 3 months? For most people, it’s financially related. But financially most people don’t ever think outside of the “job” box in terms of making money. That is the only solution most people can come up with to make money. There are tons of other ways to make money outside of a traditional job. Money is purely a medium for people to exchange value. The only way to really get rich in this world, and stay rich, is to add value to a lot of people’s life. That’s where money comes from. Think about something that you know, that other people would enjoy knowing, then think outside the box and find a way to deliver it. You might find yourself with an additional income source and a lot more freedom to do the things that you really love.

Keep dreaming my friends. There is nothing out there that you cannot have. It all starts in your mind. Believe it and it's yours. 

Yes, you can.

Yoga is for Girls

From Warrior 2, helicopter your arms to Chataranga. Inhale into Upward Dog. Now a strong exhale through to Downward Dog.

If you have ever taken a yoga class you may have (more than likely) completed a sequence very similar to this. Yoga is a true obsession of mine. Originally it was just an hour dedicated to stretching out my sore muscles and joints. That’s it. It still has an incredible ability to keep me stretched out and thus keeps me from getting injured with all of the other taxing activities I do to my body, such as: playing racquetball, competing in triathlons, half marathons, strength training, etc. I hate stretching and hardly ever do it. Ever. Yoga does stretch your body out. Let’s be clear about that. The true rewards of consistently doing yoga are much deeper though. They are mental and spiritual. When I first started doing yoga I hated the breathing exercises and all the (weird) other stuff associate with yogi’s (people who do yoga). My practice has begun to expand into a whole different realm. I want everyone to experience this.

The entire purpose of yoga is to focus on your breath and loosen your body up for the grand finale of most yoga classes – the final Shavasana (I have no idea how to spell anything related to yoga). By focusing on your breath you are letting go of the things that are stressing you out. It is an extremely challenging thing to do for 60 minutes and I can honestly say that I have never successfully made it through a yoga class without my mind wandering. It happens. It’s going to continue to happen. Probably forever. The reason yoga is called a “practice” is because it is constantly evolving. Your body is a dynamic system that never feels exactly the same for 2 consecutive days. Same with your life. Some days you are really relaxed and other days you are totally uptight. Sometimes you are thinking about a promotion or a new job and others you are just stressed out about your financial situation. Some days your body feels great. Other times it feels awful. The practice of yoga is in accepting these challenges when you show up on your mat. Yoga teaches you to accept things that you cannot control and still keep moving forward. The word “practice” implies forward motion. You don’t “practice” something that you do not intend to get better at. Otherwise you just wouldn’t practice. Sometimes, for people like me, the challenge of yoga is to not to push myself to the absolute limits, physically. I have no trouble doing that outside of yoga. It’s definitely ok and encouraged to use yoga as a tool to balance yourself out. Certain people need certain things from yoga. Yoga helps me relax my body and my mind and truly creates a lot of clarity in my mind. It really allows me to forget the things that aren’t that important in my life. It helps me focus on being productive outside of the yoga room – not just busy. That is a big challenge for a lot of people. People think that if they aren’t insanely busy, they aren’t being productive. I think it’s quite the opposite. If you are thinking clearly you realize what the absolute most important 1 or 2 things that you need to be doing that day are. You learn to let go of things that are causing stress and not adding value to your life.

Yoga leaves you with a deep connection to who you are. It helps you reconnect with your ultimate purpose in life. And no, it’s not that really “important” email that has to go out by 4pm today. It’s easy for us to get lost in a sea of email, Facebook and other unimportant activities. Yoga is an investment of your time. Everyone has the capability to be phenomenal at something. Imagine spending 1 hour of everyday connecting yourself with that purpose. Figuring out one thing you can do each day that will help you take a step in the direction of that dream. Whatever it may be. For me, it’s owning several low-maintenance, high-value businesses and having the free-time to travel and write a New York Times bestselling book about my experiences. Yoga is the number one reason I have begun writing. It has led me to the realization that it is something I have to be doing and it is something I absolutely love. It really helps me ignore things that distract me from doing it too. That is a really important skill to develop. I think of it as intelligent ignorance. It is really challenging to think like a minimalist in a world that is so busy. Busy and productive are not synonyms. Busy and happy are also, not synonyms. Less is more my friends. Use yoga to clarify all the complexity in the world and reconnect with who you are. I know I do. It’s the best stress-relief I know.

To your success – Namaste!