Can't Stop. Won't Stop.

What are you chasing? What makes you excited? Whatever it is you can’t give up on it. Ever. You have to keep pushing yourself in that direction. The simple fact that you want it, is proof that you have the capability to accomplish it. Allow yourself to.

Don’t build things up in your head as being difficult, challenging, or impossible. Nothing is. Don’t allow your mind to convince you otherwise. Replace these words with easy, exciting, and revolutionary. Changing your perspective opens up a world of endless possibilities. The only barriers in this world are mental barriers. They are man-made. We all have greatness inside of us that is dying to be released. Release it.

If you are scared that your goal seems a little bit too big – GREAT! You are starting to release your mental barriers. There is no such thing as a goal that is too big. Only people that think too small to accomplish it. Everything at one point in time was impossible. Until somebody went out and did it. It used to be “impossible” to send invisible messages from one side of the country to the other, instantaneously. Enter text messages.

You can’t stop developing yourself. You can’t stop dreaming. You can’t stop being who you are and chasing the things that matter most to you. If you don’t do it, nobody else will for you. There has to be a sense of urgency and desperation. At this moment, you have all the tools you need to be the greatest person ever at whatever you want. Think about that. Don’t give up on yourself. Challenge yourself to release your inner-greatness! It’s there and it’s just waiting for you to say, “I am. I will. I can.”

The Enemy Within

What is the enemy within? To me it is the fear, doubt and insecurities that we all have. It is the moment in life when you feel helpless or unsure of yourself and your abilities. You wonder if you have what it takes. You start thinking of all the challenges that you might (or probably will) face. You start to build up an idea in your head of all the obstacles that could get in your way. You start focusing on the challenges, not the successes and accomplishments to be achieved. We have all done this at one point or another. Once we get into this type of thought-pattern, our minds take over. It is like trying to stop a locomotive. We start coming up with excuses and reasons for why we can’t do something. It doesn’t matter what it is: writing a book, losing weight or starting a business. We must create an environment in our own minds that allows us to see past the pain and past the little failures that we will inevitably incur.

Our mind is powerful beyond measure. It is our mind that controls our day-to-day actions. We must be incredibly strict about what we feed it. We must fixate ourselves on the positive outcomes of our goal. We can’t continue to think about how hard or difficult something might be or else we might quit. We have to do as many writing sessions, workouts or sales calls as it takes, respectively. The single reason that we all don’t achieve greatness is because we don’t all believe it is possible. Thoughts always manifest themselves in reality. Have you ever met a person who was always talking about the bad things that happen to them? They have something bad happen and then they start expecting bad things to happen. They are now opening the flood-gates for negativity. As they continue to expect negativity, it continues to happen. It’s a vicious circle. Luckily, this same principle can be leveraged to achieve massive success.

A positive thought, especially one relative to your goals, will create a burning desire to help you overcome the inertia of procrastination and self-doubt. If we don’t consciously work to control our thoughts, they will be developed through other sources, like the news, other people, television, etc. If we allow these other sources to infiltrate our mind we soon begin to see the world through a limited and fearful lens. If we are constantly watching the news, we begin to see all of the disasters and crimes as reality; that begins to create a feeling of helplessness. We start to see a world of limitation, not opportunity. We start thinking of all the bad things that have happened in the world which causes us to become fearful and timid. The news is absolutely irrelevant to the pursuit of our own dreams. There is really nothing to gain from knowing about every petty larceny charge and traffic jam in our neighborhood. It is only negativity. Same with negative people. Don’t allow their negativity to rent space in your mind. Your mind is a fertile abode of positivity. This doesn’t mean you have to be rude to people but work to fill your mind exclusively with positive influences. Get lost in good books, watch motivational YouTube videos, talk to an inspiring friend or work on your goals. These little decisions, compounded over several years will separate you from the pack. They will irreversibly turn you into a better, more positive and inspiring person.  

Yes, you can. 

I Will Not Lose

Failing is not losing. Losing is giving up. Failing is an important step towards success. The more failures the better. Failures are our best teacher. Fail often. Fail more.Fail faster. With failure comes education and personal growth. 

Everything is a matter of perspective. In life there are tons of things that will happen to you. You really do not have any control of a lot of things. You always have control of how you react. That is the difference between people who are ultra-successful and people who are not. Successful people see every bad thing that happens as an opportunity to win or to prove themselves. Losing out on a job that they deserved gives them an opportunity to find a better one. Having a business fail teaches them a ton of things that did not work. This is valuable education that enables their next business to be more successful.

We have all had things that have happened that didn’t seem fair. Myself included. Having an opportunistic mindset entirely changes the world you live in. You quit seeing problems and start seeing solutions – to everything. You start seeing the world as a limitless set of opportunities. You start thinking outside of the box. You start coming up with creative ways to solve problems. There is always a premium paid to people who are problem-solvers. Be that person.

If you dwell on the negative things that happen to you, you are missing the opportunities right in front of your face. There is no reason to dwell on something that you have no control of. You had no control over it! Focus on things you can control. Results will follow. Always take the attitude that absolutely nothing can defeat you. Any kind of failure is only temporary. The pain will subside and with the right attitude, a new opportunity will surface. A better one. Don’t ever allow anything or anyone to permanently defeat you. If you get knocked down, get back up. Be a winner in this world and tell everybody that no matter what, "I will not lose." 

No Maybe. No Might. No Try.

Commitment. This is the most important word in my vocabulary. When I make a commitment, it means that I will absolutely, without a doubt, accomplish what I promised to. Commitment is an absolute. The words maybe, might and try do not belong anywhere near the word commitment.

I spent the first 3-1/2 years of my professional life in a sales organization - a very intense sales organization. We stood in front of a room of our peers every single Monday morning at 7:00am and made a COMMITMENT that we were to accomplish for the upcoming week. If anybody heard you use the word “try”, they would challenge you. “Are you going to actually hit your commitment this week or are you going to ‘try’”, was a very common response. We eliminated the word “try” from our vocabularies. “Trying” is a pre-meditated excuse. It leaves you an out. Don’t leave yourself an out. When you make a commitment, you do absolutely everything in your power to honor it.

If I showed up to a sales meeting having missed my prior week’s commitment (which happened on occasion), the questions started. “Why did you stand up here last week and say you were going to do [something] and NOT do it?” How is that for accountability? It didn’t matter if there was a good reason for missing your commitment, there was always something more that you could have done to accomplish it. I remember being a college intern and one of my sales managers asking the group what type of person we wanted to be. He asked us if we wanted to be one who said we would do something and actually did it, or if we wanted to be a person who constantly made promises that we didn’t honor. That was an extremely powerful question. It really made me think. I made a decision in my first couple weeks that I didn’t just want to be a person whose word meant something. I wanted to be a person whose word was absolute gold. I have a vision statement that I read aloud every morning and one of the most important affirmations on that sheet is the following, taken directly from my vision statement: “I am a commitment-oriented person and the second I say I will do something, it gets done. My word is gold. I never make promises that I cannot keep and people admire the power of my words”.

Two things happen when your mind shifts to commitment-mode, as I call it. First, you start really thinking of how you answer requests for your time and energy. If someone asks you if you can get something done by tomorrow, and you can’t, you speak up. Instead of just agreeing, you give a realistic timeframe and set an expectation for the requester. This puts you in a very professional light. The second thing that happens, is you give yourself and everyone else a realistic timeframe and/or measurable goal or expectation for an accomplishment. It’s really easy to confidently say something like this: “John, I am not going to be able to get that proposal to you tomorrow, but, I will have it on your desk at noon on Wednesday.” You just defended your own schedule and your own time, suggested an alternative, and gave a reasonable deadline to be expected of yourself and all parties involved are aware of it. It’s a win-win for everybody. The more you do this, the more people will begin to respect your word. ***BONUS IDEA*** If you really want to impress somebody, do everything you can to get the aforementioned “proposal” to “John [made-up]” prior to the expectation you set! Boom! That’s much better than promising Tuesday and being a day late.

So asking you the tough question a sales manager asked me in the first month of my professional life: What type of person do you want to be? If you’re not where you would like to be – work at it. This is a skill that can be learned by anybody. I was fortunate in being in an environment where this was the most prevalent theme. It still takes practice – like anything worth learning in life. I think deep down, everybody wants to be the person that people say, “WOW! When he/she says something, or makes a promise, it ABSOLUTELY, gets done. You can totally count on him/her!” Challenge yourself to get better at this. It is a skill that will set you apart from your peers and build a heck of a reputation for yourself. Better yet, set a COMMITMENT, to get better at committing. I know you knew that was coming ;) 

Unapologetically, you

It always seems like the messages in yoga resonate with me more than any other forum. I don’t know if it is a heightened sense of attentiveness that yoga creates or just being in a more relaxed and focused state of mind. Whatever the reason, yoga leaves me feeling inspired very frequently. Last Saturday was no different. It started out as a normal yoga class until the teacher challenged us all. She said, “I want you to be unapologetically, you in this class.” As soon as she said that it made me start thinking of the meaning of that. In the context of yoga, she meant to not be afraid to do something different than the rest of the class. If you wanted to take a pose a little deeper than everybody, she encouraged you to do it. If you needed a break, she encouraged you to take one. She went on to elaborate on the concept of being “unapologetically, you” in a much deeper context. She talked about taking this concept out of the yoga room and into our daily lives. She mentioned it probably 30 times throughout the class. Each time it took on a deeper meaning to me. I immediately wrote down the words, “unapologetically, you” after class in my car. It is a very thought-provoking concept. What does that mean to you? How can you be more of yourself each and every day? How do you become more of yourself with no inhibitions or apologies to anyone?   

There are a lot of societal pressures for people to fit into a certain mold. To be a certain person. If you are being unapologetically, you - you don’t care what other people think. You know what makes you happy and are therefore pursuing it. It implies decisiveness. You have decided what you want and you are taking steps towards it. That is the ultimate success in life. Whether you want to be a professional violinist, a UFC fighter, or an entrepreneur who builds businesses and sells them. Why should you have to apologize for doing what you want? I admire anyone who relentlessly chases down something that excites them. It takes a lot of courage and often times, a lot of failures. Each failure is an opportunity to dust yourself off and try again. Success always lies in trying just one more time. At anything. The only person you should ever have to apologize to is yourself. And only if you are not being true to the person that you are meant to be. Don’t put yourself in that situation.

                

Give yourself permission to be unapologetically, you. Not just today but every day. Don’t apologize for pursuing a career that doesn’t align with your college major. Don’t apologize for risking everything you have to start a mobile recruiting app. Don’t apologize for giving up your career as a teacher to travel the world helping underprivileged children. If it makes you happy, then do it. Period. If it excites you. Do it. Don’t be scared of the possibility of failure. You have the inner resources to recover. We will always regret the things we were too afraid to try more than the things we have failed at. Make a decision today. Decide to be yourself, unapologetically. To do that one thing that scares you. Go speak in front of a large group. Go skydiving. Face your fears head on. They are never as bad as we build them up in our heads. Be proud to be – you.  

Why Gambling and Blasting 50-Cent Will Always Be Cool

This might be hard for a lot of you to believe or maybe I’m kidding myself. In high school I used to have big, fake, cubic zirconia earrings. That's plural. As in more than one. I thought I was real cool. I had a 1200 watt amplifier in my 1999 Jeep Wrangler. My subs were always blasting 50 Cent or some other G-unit rap music. People knew when I was in the neighborhood. My trunk rattled like Best Buy’s speaker center. It’s not that I thought I was a G….or maybe I did, who knows. I was 16 and all that mattered was being cool. Although it sounded ridiculous (and I’m sure I looked ridiculous), that type of music always fired me up and motivated me to work hard. It still does. In case you’re still wondering, I didn’t actually grow up in the streets. Unless you count the mean streets of Westminster, Colorado, as “streets”. I am your typical suburban white boy. For as much of a bad rap (pun intended) as rap gets, there are some incredible business lessons I have learned from rap in general and specifically the all-time greatest rapper, 50 cent (argue if you want – I’ll nod and smile and completely disagree with you).

If you have ever read his book, The 50^th Law, which he wrote alongside another one of my favorite authors, Robert Greene, you cannot deny how much of a genius 50 cent is regarding marketing, sales, business, etc. He had a hard life growing up. He definitely got into trouble. His story is absolutely remarkable though. He is absolutely one of my favorite business people. 50 Cent is 100% genius and 100% entrepreneur. His message is always the same. He tells people to bet on themselves. Have the confidence in yourself to risk everything for what you really want in life. Quit your job. Start a business. Do everything that you are afraid to do. If you are doing what you love, you will rise to the occasion.

One of my favorite quotes in the entire books is: "You must always be prepared to place a bet on yourself, on your future, by heading in a direction that others seem to fear. This means you believe that if you fail, you have the inner resources to recover. This belief acts as a kind of mental safety net. When you move ahead on some new venture or direction, your mind will snap to attention; your energy will be focused and intense. By making yourself feel the necessity to be creative, your mind will rise to the occasion."

As tough as it is, we all need to look in the mirror and ask ourselves some tough questions. Myself included. I challenge every one of you to do just that. You might be surprised with your answers. Take some real time to assess your situation and figure out what would truly excite you in life.

What do you really want your life to look like in 5 years?

What would make you excited every morning to wake up?

3        What is stopping you from doing it?

4        What is 1 small thing that you can do this week, to start making that dream a reality?

Don’t let anyone else make these decisions for you. You have everything you need today to be what you want. Don’t be afraid to bet on yourself and remember, in the poetic words of 50 Cent “If I can’t, do it, homey it can’t be done.” 

What is an Entrepreneur?

A true entrepreneur is not just somebody who doesn’t like to work for others. It is somebody who has a burning desire to create new systems and build upon existing ones. An entrepreneur is always thinking of ways to improve everything they come in contact with. Successful entrepreneurs have a part of them that is extremely lazy. This laziness is what causes them to relentlessly think of new ways to make things easier on everybody. They are obsessive problem-solvers; they see every challenge as an opportunity to show people a better way of doing something.

The typical office environment drives entrepreneurs up a wall. As does the traditional 9-to-5 routine. They don’t do well being micro-managed. They were the kids in school who didn’t listen to the teacher before starting their assignments. They would rather do something quickly, fail, and then learn a better way to do it. Entrepreneurs like to fail fast and fail often, because they know this is the best way to learn. You can’t learn anything by doing things you already know how to do.

Entrepreneurs do not struggle with rejection because they are very forward-thinking. They live in the future; in a world that they are creating in their mind. A world of endless possibilities, opportunities and freedom. Entrepreneurs create things. They have a bigger vision than they can even put into words. They see tons of ways of improving the lives of others and are willing to endure incredible pain, uncertainty and stress for the sake of helping others. They truly see the impacts of their creative thoughts in the future and that is what keeps them motivated.

To them, risk is not the possibility of losing money in a business venture. True risk is settling into a job or career that limits their capabilities. They are extremely fearful of wasting precious years of their life not chasing their dreams. Entrepreneurs always one-up themselves. They have a great idea and then they trump their original idea with something better. They get excited about new ideas and often abandon good ideas for better ones. A lot of their projects remain unfinished in the pursuit of newer and more exciting ones. The thought of creating the next Apple or Google keeps their brain running at high RPM’s and is the reason they can so easily let go of good ideas. They are never worried about running out of ideas. Their anxiety comes from running out of time to pursue the good ideas that constantly come pouring out of them.

Above all, they see the world differently. They are optimistic yet very hard on themselves. Everything can be improved upon. They are often trouble-makers. They hate seeing things continuously done the same way. There is always a way to improve. Entrepreneurs are people that have the confidence in themselves and their ideas – enough so to bet and risk it all. Then when it fails, they get right back up and do it again. They know that with enough failures, success is a certainty.