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own your willpower

How to Own Your Willpower (Why You Don’t Eat Pizza at 6AM)

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Reading Time: 5 minutes

How to Own Your Willpower (Why You Don’t Eat Pizza at 6AM)

When was the last time you woke up and crushed a cocktail and pizza at 6AM? I’m serious —and here’s why I’m asking you this: because most likely that’s never happened except during freshman year of College.

(Damn, OK…that was just me.)

And here’s the reason I’m sharing this with you:

Willpower is not an unlimited resource, and decision fatigue is a real thing.

This is why hitting the gym, meditating, and doing all of those little habits you and I know are good, like really good for us are much easier first thing in the morning when we’re operating at a full charge.

Because by 8:00PM, we’ve made hundreds, if not thousands of decisions, been bombarded with stimulus and can’t pick between standard marinara sauce at the store and spicy marinara.

(Pro tip: always pick spicy.)

And one of the keys to high performance in your life, business, career, personal life is protecting and leveraging your willpower to ensure you are making your biggest decisions, at the right times, to create exponential results.

Especially during COVID-19 where all of us are now working from home and doing laundry and watching your favorite Netflix show are one click away.

Because guess what? At the end of the day our lives are nothing but a compounding of all our choices and decisions: most small, some medium, and sure —some massive.

In this post, we’re going to dive into owning your willpower and protecting your ability to make decisions from a place of abundance, not scarcity, so you can save your clearest energy for the things that matter.

Let’s dive in.

Step 1: Automate, Automate, Automate

The first step to owning your willpower is to become obsessed with the art and science of automation.

Said simply, automation is creating built-in systems and processes that make repeatable behaviors or decisions automatic.

No matter who you are, there are places in your life where you are making the same unnecessary decisions every day that are draining your most precious resources: willpower, time, energy and attention.

For example:

You dress every day —buy the same outfit, shirt, pants, etc 7 times instead of only having one.

You eat every single day —outsource your lunch meals to a local service and you’ve saved yourself hours.

You workout every day —have your training gear ready to go every single morning without thinking about it.

Sure, you may not be the next GQ model on Instagram, but you’re going to have precious energy for the things that actually matter.

The more you can automate the inconsequential decisions of your life that don’t move the needle —the more you have left over for the things that really matter.

Like, you know, improving your finances, growing your revenue, creating your content, connecting with the people you love and being an all around high performer.

ACTION: Determine at least one recurring decision you’re making that will now be automatic.

Step 2: Protect Your Prime Time

With a fully charged willpower battery, the morning is going to be your prime time to do your hardest, most effective work. Including time to work on your personal growth, hammer our your creative work or do your most strategic thinking.

When I teach and train clients, I have them start with a 90 minute focused block of time (or the equivalent in Pomodoro’s) to generate states of performance and flow, while tackling their most mentally demanding work.

Research done by Steven Kotler at the Flow Genome Project states this is the fastest way to tap into a flow state on a daily basis: a time block of total concentration where distractions are not accessible to you.

As he says, if you’re not willing to close the door to your office and tell people you’re doing focused work, then don’t expect to create high level results.

Everyone who does this reports not only massive performance increases, but getting to the end of their day with deep satisfaction.

ACTION: Start your day off with at least 30, 60, or 90 minutes of undistracted work.

3. Harness the Vegan Principle.

A Vegan walks into a restaurant, scans the menu —and typically knows exactly what he or she wants within a few minutes while everyone else obsesses over which dish they’re going to get.

While others waste precious resources analyzing and living in indecision, the vegan has already moved on to bigger and better things.

They’re not wasting time, energy or precious mental bandwidth.

Why does this matter?

Indecision is a momentum killer —and yet so many people live in this place 24/7, being taken for a joyride by the paradox of choice.

When faced with too many options, we do nothing.

The Vegan is able to make a fast decision because they’re clear about their values and principles —and doesn’t even see or notice 80% of the menu.

When you’re clear about your life and what you stand for, you delete tons of options, make fast decisions and live in a state of constant momentum.

ACTION: Filter all of your decisions based on your North Star vision.

4. Seek compelling environments.

Another way to protect your willpower is to enter environments that are aligned with your targets —and do the heavy lifting for you.

Now, with COVID-19, this has become harder to replicate —but ask yourself a question:

Will you do more focused and creative work in your kitchen, or in a room that you’ve converted into an office that has your goals easily accessible and compels you to do your best work?

Take a moment to reflect on your current environments —and how you can align them with your end goal.

These include where and how you workout, do your best work, engage with your family and core relationships, study and more.

Even small changes like cleaning out your office, pasting your North Star vision in front of your computer, putting up a relic of inspiration that reminds you of what you’re doing —can be enough to shift you in a powerful way.

ACTION: Curate your environments and make one shift to make them more powerful today.

Own Your Willpower, Own Your Life

One of the tragic parts of being in the trenches coaching people to do what they really want, including to start their entrepreneurial dream, launch a platform and pursue their goals is seeing someone engage in the Rollercoaster Effect.

The Rollercoaster Effect goes like this:

One gets inspired by a new goal, target or vision —and declares they’re “all in.”

And they are…for a few weeks. But then adversity hits or the high of starting has faded —and after a couple rough days, they quit the whole thing.

A couple months go by, and they remember what they wanted, so they start again.

And then the cycle repeats itself over and over again.

The lesson here is simple: consistency matters more than intensity.

It is better to workout every day for 15 minutes than to run a half-marathon one Saturday a month.

It is better to work on your business every day for two focused hours than having an 8 hour marathon once every few weeks.

Consistency builds character and trains you to overcome resistance, fear, doubt and overwhelm.

Willpower Resources

Here are some of my favorite resources to help you own your willpower and ensure you bring what matters to you to life.

The 1% Rule —reverse engineer your goals.

RescueTime —free app to track your time online.

2020 Masterclass —this will help you get clear on priorities.

Which of these connected with you? I’d love to hear it!

33 Lessons From 33 Cycles Around The Sun

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Reading Time: 6 minutes

33 Lessons From 33 Cycles Around The Sun (Yearly Birthday Post)

Ahhhh, another ride around this beautiful, crazy, intense path we called life.

Birthdays for me (and likely you too) are deeply reflective.

Instead of crushing tequila, I’d much rather go on a hike and spend time thinking about the past 364 days.

Where I learned.

Where I fell short.

Where I created.

It’s a time to look back and ask some deep questions about where we are in life, what we’ve learned…

…and what truly matters.

Every year, I share some lessons —and here are 33 lessons from my time here.

I share these with you in hopes you will obtain some value, much like the intention I set with the Resist Average Academy podcast.

1. Sometimes the greatest form of knowledge and wisdom is forgetting what you (think) you know.

In other words: what got us here, won’t get us there. Letting go is hard, yet essential to get to the next level of growth and awareness.

2. We are all on a quest back to self love, appreciation and owning every part of ourselves.

This is how simple it all really is, and I’m always reminded of this core human driver.

3. The greatest quest we’ll ever go on is our own Hero’s journey —the jagged, uneven path to center, to return our gifts.

If you know every step of your path, it’s likely been created by someone else. Your path is yours, own it.

4. Life’s greatest moments are often not manufactured, and are more about allowing.

Take a step back and reflect on life’s greatest moments. Did you manufacture them with blueprints and spreadsheets, or did you allow them?

5. There is incredible power in contrast, the storms in our lives allow the beautiful sunset to taste that much sweeter.

The other day I was hiking in Arizona where we get 350+ days of sunshine a year, and there was an intense storm.

I looked up and thought: damn, that’s beautiful.

It was a reminder there is power in the contrast, and no matter what you’re going through —it will pass.

6. Urgency, and our mortality are beautiful motivators to remember the essential and go all in.

I call this the Cemetery Principle: remembering our own mortality is the best way to slice through the noise and make powerful decisions.

Because the truth is: it is a matter of life or death.

Once you get clear, there are countless ways to find time for what matters.

7. Waiting for an external result to feel fulfilled and at peace with ourselves will never, ever work out.

Start with your foundation, developing your inner power —or else you’ll achieve success and with a hollow and empty feeling.

8. The greatest communication skill is radical honesty —it releases the number one killer of relationships: assumptions.

Think about how assumptions have destroyed prior relationships —often, all we needed to do was have a real, transparent conversation.

9. The secret is you already have everything you need, and yet there’s always more to experience and grow from.

This is a beautiful paradox and makes our lives invigorating.

10. You know you’ve found your calling when you can’t not do it.

can’t not do what I do. If I had all the money, I’d still do it. If I had all the time, I’d still do it.

11. Our heads often block the most powerful parts of who we are: our hearts.

So many of the people I coach and consult with are stuck in their heads.

(I’ve been there, too.)

And yet, our heads take us away from what really matters: the deepest part of who we are.

12. Intuition will always trump logic, whiteboards and blueprints. Learn to listen to it.

Always trust the internal voice which always knows what to do.

It’s pure wisdom.

13. Go to the places that inspire you, and bring you to tears. Disconnect from the noise, to reconnect to what really matters.

Start here on your path to personal growth. For me, it’s nature —I literally packed my bags and moved cross country because it inspires me so much.

These days, I’m outside in nature 5-6 times per week and I always receive a gift.

What’s your inspiration?

14. Change something, anything! Don’t place yourself in a rigid box. Think you’re an introvert? Go to improv. Hate dancing? Sign up for Salsa.

I’m not a fan of personality tests. I believe they put you and I in boxes —keeping us stuck and rigid.

15. Every time you leave someone, ask yourself —if this was our last communication, would I be proud of how I showed up?

I use this often when speaking to parents or family.

16. The ego is always in the way of learning, growth, peace, acceptance —learn to dissolve it.

The first rule of all my programs is simple:

Drop the ego.

Without this, transformation is a pipe dream.

17. You are much more powerful than you give yourself credit for. And deep down, you know it. This scares you.

However, you’ve ignored the truth of who you are, we all have.

It’s time to get back into it and allow it back into the world.

18. There’s never a “right” time for anything. Dent the quantum field and create it now —book the trip, ask them out, launch the business and live out loud.

“When the kids are a little older.”

“When life slows down and I’m less busy.”

“When I have the money, I’ll invest in myself.

These are all excuses our minds use to keep us stuck, comfortable and playing small.

19. Distraction is a source of un-faced pain —usually in the form of lacking alignment with our purpose and vision.

The times in my life I was most lost, disconnected from purpose and lacking clarity were the times I was all in on fantasy sports, message boards, random entertainment, etc.

Distraction is a feedback mechanism.

20. Be yourself, and don’t apologize. I can be a very intense guy…for years, I tried to dim it —and then I presented myself.

Just be you. 

I’m intense, why would I fight it?

21. On that note, have way more fun. No one gets out of alive. Everyone’s naked anyway 😉

And yes, be yourself but also have a lot of fun along the way.

I’ve been practicing this more often and learning to spend time playing has nourished my spirit and creativity.

22. Fall in love with giving. You can give right now, even if you can’t pay your bills.

I call this the 2-for-1 principle: when you grab a protein bar at the gas station, get two. When you grab water, or drinks, or snacks, grab two. Then hand them out to people in need.

23. Positive psychology is (largely) ineffective. Your “bad” emotions aren’t —they’re a feedback mechanism. Let them be.

You’re human, act like it.

Don’t judge yourself for feeling sad, angry or triggered. Learn to understand your emotions instead of labeling them —and find ways to release them.

24. Clarity is a daily practice, and takes time. Don’t force it, but don’t use it as an excuse to not get started.

Every day, re-affirm your vision for at least 10 minutes.

25. If you wanted it bad enough, you’d find the time, money and energy. Seriously —this has never held a willing person back.

Just saying. A lot of people tell me they don’t have the time and energy. I’ve been broke, with overdrafts on all my accounts.

I still moved forward, because I was willing.

26. When was the last time you looked in the mirror and owned who you are? Do it today.

Tell yourself the truth: you are more powerful than you give yourself credit for.

27. Look up more than you look down. There are no answers in our phones, they all come from the curiosity and willingness to look up.

Be curious! Experience the zest of being alive. Ditch the phone for a weekend, take an adventure…live out loud.

28. Your breakdown can become your greatest breakthrough. Or, it can become your identity that you take to the grave.

Your choice —because playing the victim card leaves us power-less to change. It feels great for a minute, until it doesn’t anymore.

29. Don’t normalize extraordinary. Your heart is a miracle. Your brain is a mystery. This moment has magic.

To quote one of my favorite books, The Peaceful Warrior by Dan Millman: there are no ordinary moments.

30. Don’t settle in relationships. Be patient and wait for someone that lights your world on fire.

I didn’t settle, and yet I was tempted to. Nourish the relationship with yourself, and watch what happens.

31. Fall in love with pain —it is the greatest focuser, and suffering because of it is always optional.

Pain is part of life and becomes a great focuser —suffering is the avoidance of pain.

32. Sprint until you can’t anymore. Smile deeper than you ever have. Cry louder so everyone can hear you. Raise the volume on your life!

Turn it up, turn it up, turn it up!

33. There are no ordinary moments (thanks, Dan Millman.)

As I reflect back on this year…

I want to say thank you to anyone who I’ve come in contact with —who supported me, challenged me and allowed me to be my best self.

Because today, everything changes again.

Thank you for being here, and here’s to the next.

31 Simple Ways To Level Up Your Business And Life, Create More Results…and Have More Fun

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Reading Time: 7 minutes

31 Simple Ways To Level Up Your Business And Life, Create More Results…and Have More Fun

Do you want to level up? Let’s define what that means first: for me, it means to live with more fulfillment and results across all the areas of life.

One of the ways I define success on the Resist Average Academy podcast is simple: creating a life I can’t wait to wake up for.

Does this mean every day is full of puppies and sunshine? Well, sunshine maybe (I do live in Arizona.)

But not always.

It means I’m excited to face both the opportunities and challenges along the way.

All while having an absolute blast through it all, and you can do the same.

1. Start and end your day on Airplane Mode — you don’t need to check Instagram for the 37th time.

This is my number one tip when people ask me the easiest habit with the most benefit.

Starting your day on Airplane Mode will give you insane levels of focus, peace and results.

2. Take 5 minutes every single day to reaffirm your vision and remind yourself of where you’re going.

This is your compass, your North Star. Without tuning in to your vision every single day, other people’s agendas and priorities will get in the way.

3. Clap when you wake up, especially if you’re not a morning person — this will anchor excitement to start your day.

I used to do this every day (my fiancee would kill me right now.)

But why did I?

I wanted to anchor in the habit of being a morning person —and while it took time, it worked.

4. Spend 20 minutes in the morning doing something you love and that increases a skill with focused work.

Without turning your phone on or checking email —spend time on the most important project of your business and life.

5. Have some type of routine…there’s a hundred options — pick one and stick with it.

The masters have routines, allowing them to save precious bandwidth and energy on the stuff that truly matters.

6. Say a simple “thank you” and remember over 100,000 die every day.

You woke up today, you’re playing with house money.

Remember —we’re on a spinning rock circling another big fiery rock, rotating around a massive cluster of rocks.

You’re here: embrace the miracle.

7. Do one new thing every single day. Take a different route home, send the message when you normally wouldn’t — break a pattern.

While routines and habits are powerful —Jesse  —, entrepreneur and New York Times Bestseller also taught me they can get us in a rut.

Once in a while, break the pattern and do something you’ve never done.

8. Everytime you look in the mirror, hold space. Tell yourself how powerful you are and condition yourself for self appreciation.

When you look in the mirror, what do you see?

If it’s anything except someone who has greatness inside of them —you’ve got work to do.

(I call this the Cool Runnings effect, because I love that part in the movie.)

9. Change your work environment from time to time, we all need need scenery — go to a completely different part of town, or outside.

Don’t tell me you can’t. For my freelancers, solopreneurs and entrepreneurs: change your environment, and try something new.

This will spark your creativity, inspiration and perspective.

10. Spend several time blocks during your day with your phone off and unavailable. You’ll start to cultivate a rare and powerful focus.

Focus, focus, focus. There is no shortage of dreamers out there, but in a world of endless noise —focus becomes your competitive advantage.

11. There’s some stuff in your business or life you simply hate doing. Delegate cleaning your place, scheduling appointments or anything that crushes your energy.

Just because you can do it, doesn’t mean you should. Delegate the non-essential, and protect your most valuable resource liike your life depends on it.

Because it does.

12. Affirmations are largely ineffective — if you want to believe something, write it down 500 times.

I do this exercise at least once a week. If you follow me on social media, there is no doubt you have seen this.

13. Be honest with yourself — and don’t believe your excuses. Give yourself permission to tell yourself what you really want out of this life.

Do you buy your own bullshit? I don’t, and it’s why I not only surround myself with real friends (not enablers) but practice radical honesty with myself.

I encourage you to do the same.

14. Don’t buy anyone’s version of success — or else you’ll chase something that you never wanted, which is a sinking feeling.

Spend time defining and re-fining your definition of success —and ensure it’s based on what you really want.

For example, cars do absolutely nothing for me. I will never own a fleet of sports cars, because they don’t move the needle for me.

15. Add playing your favorite song to your morning routine. Rock out for a moment, and bonus points for air guitar.

Have more fun —be willing to look dumb, and feel alive while doing so.

16. Read ten pages every single morning. If you don’t touch a book the rest of the day, you’ve got 18 books read for the year and are in the 2%.

Ten pages. You have the time, and you know it.

This simple trick can lead you to read 15-20 books a year —enough to start to become an expert and thought leader in your field, or on your path to personal mastery.

17. Question everything and allow space for a new perspective, but don’t be a cynic. Cynics don’t allow space, they’ve already decided to see the worst…don’t be this person.

There’s a razor’s edge between these two —but you can feel a cynics energy from a mile away.

Be willing to question everything, but for the right reasons.

18. Listen to the hits of wisdom you get every single day — the trip, the business idea, the book…and execute like your hair’s on fire or else you’ll forget.

Your intuition is one of the most powerful sources of wisdom you’ll ever find. Learn to trust it, honor it and listen to it —even if it doesn’t make sense.

Especially if it doesn’t make sense.

19. Spend time learning something you’re terrible at every week. Guitar, salsa dancing, boxing, sharing a message on video…embrace being a beginner.

I love this one. I love being new. Why? Because it’s fun, and teaches you and I countless lessons.

20. Find creative ways to tell the person you love how much you appreciate them. A little effort, goes a long way.

Post it notes, flowers, random gifts —these go a long way to creating a lifetime of connection.

21. You already know the answer. Stop searching for the answer in other people’s content…create 80% of the time, and consume 20% of the time.

I get it —you’re consuming my content. But the truth is, I’m here to help you share the wisdom you have, too.

22. It’s never the right time to hire a coach to help unleash the most powerful version of who you are and set you on a powerful track. Instead of the vacation, invest in making your real life so awesome, it feels like one.

I believe there is no faster, more efficient and powerful way to transform our lives than to hire a coach.

We all have blind spots, including this guy.

Often, people are afraid to invest in themselves for the wrong reasons.

23. It’s never too late, but in life we have windows. Recognize your window, and take the leap that’s been calling you. What’s the worst that could happen?

You and I have windows of opportunity that come and go —and once the door closes, it’s gone forever.

What’s the worst that could happen?

Ask him or her out —okay, you feel the burn of a little rejection, but at least you know.

Quit the job and start the business —okay, you failed and then found a brand new opportunity.

Click recored and ship your message —okay, no one showed up, but you overcame resistance.

BONUS #1: There’s always another dead end job, stop being so grateful for the thing that’s sucking your spirit.

24. Don’t make daily passion a precursor to create. Understand creating and executing creates those feelings.

It’s time to break this cycle once and for all.

Want clarity? Execute.

Want motivation? Execute.

Want energy? Execute.

25. Consistency is everything and more important than intensity. Do something 7 days a week for 15 minutes, instead of 3 days a week for one hour.

Every single day, I write at least 500 words. When I’m in book writing mode, the bar is set at 2,000 words.

When I say every day —it includes Sundays, holidays, vacations and Tuesdays.

26. Book the trip. Ask him or her out. Talk to that stranger. Launch your business now. Regret fucking sucks.

Come on!

We all need a wake up call.

What are you waiting for?

BONUS #2: Fall in love with rejection…and understand for every ‘no’, there’s an incredible yes waiting.

27. Environment matters 10X more than most people believe. Ultimately, it’ll determine the rate of your growth.

If you want to transform your life with the least amount of friction —shift your environment.

28. Smile, it looks good on you.

Seriously, right now: smiling creates positive energy all around.

29. It’s too late to create space when you’re burned out. Bulletproof yourself by creating space every single day.

White space is essential, no matter who you are.

Create it in advance, or it will be created for you.

(Here’s a snapshot of mine, and no one can schedule anything here without approval.)

30. Make your daily, human interactions less robotic — they’re transactions, but they don’t have to be transactional. Be remembered.

Be that person who makes someone’s day. Tell the grocery store clerk how awesome she is at what she does, and you will be remembered.

BONUS #3: Be the leader in any interaction, people are waiting for someone to give them permission.

31. You can have a down hour, a down day, a down week. But don’t ever give up on yourself.

Please, don’t give up.

We all have moments where we want to give in, but allow yourself some grace and keep going.

Which of these resonated?

Pick a few, and commit to them for the next 30 days, and watch what happens.

I’d love to hear what connected in the comments, and if you have anything else to add.

The #1 Dream Killer (Why Distraction Is Crushing You)

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Reading Time: 3 minutes

The #1 Dream Killer (Why Distraction Is Crushing You)

You’re being robbed of your greatness.
You’re being ripped off from your creativity.
You’re being engulfed with lack of clarity.

(And so am I, at least on the days I don’t win.)

And all of these happen for one reason and one reason only:

Distraction.

I know, you’ve heard this before (dude we’re on a blog right now and my notifications are going wild) —I get it.

But the constant noise and desire for interruption and stimulus is the single greatest cost of bringing your dreams to life.

And it’s a slippery slope and battle that has to be managed, because it can’t be won.

(Unless you give up Western life and move to an ashram in the Himalayas —I’ve considered doing that.)

So, how do you do it?

Years ago I found myself in a perpetually distracted state, and I noticed there were key triggers that led me to seek those distractions.

The problem is: it’s now become our status quo, and Goldfish were found to have a greater attention span than us.

So, what to do?

Here’s how I’ve been able to re-wire the game, find peace, clarity, and insane levels of performance (all while running an online business, how ironic…)

And most importantly, how you can do the same.

I. SET YOUR COMPASS FOR THE DAY

Distraction, at its core —comes from an avoidance mechanism from our lack of purpose.

With this in mind, it’s easy to catch ourselves looking for the soothing benefit of being distracted: we can temporarily forget about our problems.

For 95% of people, their lack of clarity leads to endless distraction: if you don’t know what’s important, you’ll fill your day with the non-important.

This is why, every single morning—set your compass and refresh your vision, even if it’s for 5 minutes.

Take yourself to one year from today and what you want to be experiencing —the people, places, feelings and energy.

II. AIRPLANE MODE

Your ego thinks you’re that important, but you’re not: you don’t need to start the day on Twitter.

Starting the day on Airplane Mode has completely shifted my life, and the lives of thousands of clients and followers.

The benefits are endless:

Peace, clarity, some much needed you time, space to think, etc.

If you’re new to this, start with your first 30 minutes of the day without technology, and make yourself completely unavailable.

III. BUILD THE NEW ADDICTION

Years ago, I took a solo trip to Costa Rica for 9 days. On the way to the airport, my heart sunk:

I’d left my phone at home.

Frantic, I asked the driver to take us back.

(I was living in New York, and I knew I would never make it.)

So I took the trip without the phone and spent hours reading, daydreaming and connecting with the local community.

After a few painful days, I realized I didn’t want to touch my phone ever again. I had started to shift the addiction away from noise —to peace and presence.

If you catch yourself checking Instagram every three minutes —take it off your phone.

Turn off all notifications, pings, noises and sounds. You will start to build a new and powerful addiction.

IV. SET BOUNDARIES

“But…what if they need me?”

They don’t. What needs you is energy vampires, endless distractions, requests and other people’s agendas.

Make it work for you, but set boundaries and communicate with people who you know will reach out about what you’re doing and why.

When I owned my fitness business, I rented office space a mile away. My employees thought I was crazy —we had a 6500 square foot space after all.

They didn’t get “it” —I needed a place to work on the business, not in.

I don’t know about you, but thumping speakers playing Kanye West and barbells smashing on the ground isn’t the best environment for long term planning.

Start Today and Watch What Happens

I’m often asked for the one hack, the one tip to transform your life and business:

This is it.

Robin Sharma, leadership expert —sums it up perfectly:

“Addiction to distraction is the death of creative production.”

We’re not lacking dreamers, and those with big and bold ambitions in 2018.

What we’re lacking is a deep level of focus, and every day it gets a little harder to manage.

I’d love to hear about your relationship to noise, and how you manage it every single day in the comments.

24 Reasons Why You Haven’t Launched Your Platform

By | Advice, Entrepreneurship, Lists, Routines | No Comments
Reading Time: 7 minutes

What’s taking so long?

Often, I find myself in conversations with people who want to launch a platform, and yet aren’t doing anything. Or, they start and get excited —only for everything to fade after a few weeks.

(I call this the rollercoaster syndrome, where nothing lasts and you wind up with a bag over your head.)

Here’s what I know to be true:

If you’re reading this, you have a message. And in 2018, if you have a message, you must launch your platform.

Every minute you put it off, is a minute someone out there misses out on your magic.

The intention of this post is to give you the much needed motivation and inspiration to start, and also to get rid of all your excuses.

(I’ve been there, and mine sound great on paper. But paper doesn’t do anything.)

Here are 24 reasons why you haven’t launched your platform, and how to use them as leverage to launch now:

1. Waiting for the “right time” to start. Every day you wait is a selfish decision —because people are waiting.

Next month. Next season. Next year.

Notice a common theme here?

Here’s the truth: your life (likely) won’t get less busy, the kids won’t get easier and a bundle of cash won’t fall from the heavens.

The best time to start was yesterday. And the second best time? Right here, right now.

2. You believe clarity is a destination —instead of an evolution and daily process.

Clarity is overrated. There, I said it (life coaches are going to start coming after me in 3.7 seconds.)

While clarity can be important, too often people wait to take action under the guise of clarity.

Want to create clarity?

Ship 100 episodes, posts or pieces of content with your platform.

3. You’re doing it for the wrong reasons and haven’t developed an unshakeable why.

Oddly enough, if you start your platform with only the intention (and pressure) to monetize, you’re likely to give up long before the results pour in.

What is your why? At the Academy, we believe one message, on one day, can change one life.

4. You only create when “you feel like it” and wait for motivation to strike.

The amateur sits around waiting for a bolt of inspirational lightning to fall from the heavens, and then they start. The professional understands emotional states are fleeting: like the tides, they come and go.

Instead, learn to slice through this by taking consistent action in the face of doubt, and insecurities. This will build an unshakable level of confidence few have.

PRO TIP: Learn to love leaning in when you don’t feel like it. 

 

5. You believe the market is saturated and everything has been said way too many times.

“Tommy, the market seems to be so saturated, and it’s too late.”

Here’s the truth: unless you’re building rocket ships to Mars, almost any market will be saturated. There’s nearly 5 billion people connected online —deal with it.

However, if you take the mindset of mastering your craft and playing the long game —you’ll notice the market isn’t saturated.

6. You aren’t willing to invest and bet on yourself over and over again.

Launching your platform and building your dream business is not about taking one leap.

It’s about having the courage and audacity to make bold decisions over and over in the face of fear, and executing anyway.

7. You’re making it about you instead of living in the hearts and minds of the people you’re looking to serve.

Your platform isn’t about you.

It’s about people out .there who are waiting to hear your message and be impacted through your craft.

Everytime you feel resistance, think about those who are struggling and could use a moment of clarity from your brand, product, service or content.

PRO TIP: Dig deep into the hearts and minds of your core audience when you’re stuck.

 

8. Your expectations are higher than your commitments —and you feel entitled to results.

I wrote about this in The 1% Rule, but often we have sky high expectations:

We quit our corporate gig, and expect to double our income in three months.

We launch our platform, and expect to have a five figure sponsor in 8 weeks.

We start a new physical training program, and expect to be beach ready in a month.

And yet —our commitments don’t match these expectations. In this case, we can either lower our expectations or raise our commitments.

9. You want the lifestyle of an entrepreneur or thought leader —but you don’t want the hard work.

Freedom. Flexibility. Travel. Spruced up Instagram pictures.

Often, people want the lifestyle of an entrepreneur or thought leader, but don’t want to put in the work behind the scenes.

Become the linchpin by pursuing mastery of your craft in a world looking only to get noticed.

10. You haven’t become your number one raving fan —so how could you expect others to?

Often, I have my clients read their work and re-watch their videos or podcasts.

And it’s painful, but I have them do this because if they’re not their own number one fan, it’s impossible to expect others to be.

11. You’re trying too hard to be like someone else. The reason your message is unique is because it’s you.

Don’t be intense because Gary Vaynerchuk is.

Don’t be energetic because Tony Robbins is.

Don’t be a total nerd because Tim Ferris is.

While modeling others has value, you can often create a persona that isn’t truly who you are.

Instead, find what makes you, you…this is why people will connect with you.

12. You haven’t identified a “must have” skill — and there’s no proof you’re working on it daily.

In a world telling us to bet on our passion, skill acquisition can be forgotten. And yet, what really makes you and I valuable in the marketplace is the acquisition of skills.

What’s yours? For me, I have an umbrella of communication which is broken down into: writing, copywriting and video/speaking.

I work on these daily, and this is what separates you and I in a crowded marketplace.

13. You haven’t picked ONE place where people can find you — the pillar of your content.

I was coaching a new client who was ready to explode online, and they told me they’d set up 7 accounts.

I told them to delete six of them, and be ruthless about their focus on it.

Why?

Because there’s value in picking one platform to build your base around. For me, it was the podcast: I’m a deep, intense person and I know if someone listens to a few episodes and sticks with me —they’re my people.

PRO TIP: Your pillar platform is the one you love the most and where your audience is.

 

14. You’re trying to everywhere at once way too early —and then wondering why there’s no traction.

This is related to the prior one, but let’s face it: we all have limited bandwidth every day. People will see Gary Vee, or Lewis Howes and take on the pressure of being everywhere at once.

But if you’re everywhere too early, you’re nowhere.

15. You’re not taking at least three hours a week to take inventory of your business and course correct.

Hustle, grind, hustle grind.

What’s missing from this equation? Reflection, slowing down and creating space to think about problems and find creative solutions.

White space is your friend. Sometimes, too much action without purpose will leave you and I burning out and ready to quit.

16. You’re not obsessed. Interested won’t get you there —and you’ll fold quickly.

Obsessed. This is what it takes. Most people are interested, and when you’re interested —you fold when adversity strikes.

17. You have no systems, structure, processes around anything…”winging it” only lasts so long.

Winging it. This is where most entrepreneurs or solopreneurs earning less than $200K a year operate at. They usually do it all, and even bringing up the words systems and processes leaves them flustered.

In your business, find ways to automate, delegate and systemize the things you find yourself doing over and over.

There’s amazing software, freelancers, virtual assistants and much more help available to help you clear things off your plate.

18. You’re trying too hard to be someone else. There are 7 billion, unique people here. They want to hear from you — be yourself.

What makes you, you? For me, I’m an intense guy by nature.

I’m deep…sometimes too deep. I’m passionate. I love alternative rock. I’m awkward when I’m too dressed up.

Case in point: allow your uniqueness to shine, both in what you perceive as powerful, and the stuff that makes you unique.

19. You’re not willing to launch and fail countless times.

I’d pushed a webinar for three weeks, and two people showed up.

One was my grandmother.

And yet, I pushed and delivered 90 minutes of training because I was willing to celebrate the win of putting myself out there instead of the (perceived) failure of no one showing up.

20. You (still) believe having a website and a business card mean anything.

I know, you’re reading this on a website. But here’s the truth: I’ve spent $50,000 on websites and never made a return on them.

At some point, having a home base is important. But no one is going to show up simply because you have one.

If you’re going to have a business card, make it unique.

21. You’re waiting to be “discovered” instead of being so damn good they can’t ignore you.

Oprah isn’t ringing your cell phone.

Dr. Oz won’t be dropping you an email.

Lewis Howes won’t DM you to be on the show.

While these can happen, they only happen when you commit to mastery and instead of wanting to be “discovered”…you discover yourself. 

Instead of waiting to be discovered, discover yourself.

22. You haven’t become accountable to the person in the mirror. In other words, you’re a shitty boss.

Ouch. I know, it hurts. But it’s often true: we have bosses, co-workers and people to report to because they ensure we follow through.

For the newly minted entrepreneur, they realize they’re not great at self accountability.

PRO TIP: Raise your personal standards and become impeccable with your word.

 

23. You’re constantly shipping-stopping-shipping — and you never harness momentum.

The rollercoaster syndrome is extremely common, and it goes like this:

Get hyped on motivational caffeine, and go guns blazing for two weeks. You’re posting everywhere and relentless with how you ship your message.

And then, it stops —nothing. Weeks go by, and you repeat the cycle. This is a surefire way to never gain momentum and always feel stuck.

24. You minimize your expertise, because it’s yours — yet people all over the world are amazed by it.

JJ Virgin was an expert in nutrition, but she was such an expert —she’d forgotten what was familiar to her was life changing to someone else.

Often, what we’re skilled and known for becomes boring to us, and we forget the level of value we’re able to provide others.

Where are you holding back?

Here’s the truth: I wanted to start my podcast 6 months before I did, and I got lost in the technical component which was a mask for fear.

Resistance will always be there, and that’s a great thing.

Which one of these connected with you, and what are you committed to doing about it?

If you’re looking for clarity in every part of your life and business, grab the free Academy Action guide with 12 pages of in depth material designed to get you radically clear…and eradicate excuses.

The Morning Routine For Badasses

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I  love mornings.Plain and simple, it’s the time of day that excites and inspires me more than anything else.

I started to think of why, and here’s what I came up with:

Limitless possibility.

It’s a fresh slate, a new day, I understand who I was yesterday does not define who I am today and that anything can truly happen.

Over the years, I’ve truly found that there are two types of people in the world and I boil them down to two types:

Inspired vs. Non-Inspired.

It may seem simple and broad to categorize people into these two realms, but it comes down to mindset (you can also use Growth Mindset vs. Fixed Mindset from the brilliant book “Mindset” by Carol Dweck).

It’s those who are purposely forcefully choosing to grow and those who are staying the same or allowing their environment to control them.

In this post, I‘m going to go through a morning routine to make you a badass — no matter what you do or where you want to go.

These habits and rituals have been tested time and time again and each has a purpose.

This is my routine and it doesn’t mean it’s the one for you. I encourage you to find a routine customized to you, of course, but this can be a launching off point.

As always, start simple and don’t be like Joe.

Meet Joe

Joe hears the alarm, and at first, prays it’s just a dream.

After a minute or so, he realizes it’s his alarm and moves around in bed and eventually slams the snooze button, wishing for more time in bed.

This process lasts about 30 minutes, until he finally gets up.

“Damn, he tells himself. “I have to wake up”.

He grabs his phone and starts seeing messages from the night before, quickly checks email and lets out a sign of frustration at all the things he now has to respond to.

He’s rushing, slams his foot against his night table, yells out an intense sigh and rushes to the shower in distress as another email from a boss comes back with a passive aggressive tone.

Now, this is a fictional, but typical story but there’s a lot to watch out for here.

In this simple example, Joe…

  1. Wants to stay in bed
  2. Has negative self-talk over waking up
  3. Checks his phone and allows other people to impact his emotional balance to start the day
  4. Is rushing, out of time, in a scarcity mindset, with no plan
  5. Starts his day off on other people’s terms and with no structure or planning

From reading the above, does this sound like a way to start your day on fire?

I don’t think so.

I’ll be honest: there was a time in my life where I thought the idea of the morning ritual was awesome, but I wasn’t really doing it.

I would preach the importance of it, and then half ass the entire process.

The morning routine is a decision you make and it’s a simple one:

You put the most important person in your life (you) first, before anyone else.

Selfish? No, not really…rather, acknowledging how you create your experience directly impacts those around you.

Below I am going to detail 7 daily habits and rituals to incorporate into your daily routine that I’m currently using.


#1: Clear Your Headspace

The first step of the morning routine is to clear your mental headspace, or to simply meditate.

A lot of people have negative associations with meditation, so I simply call it “creating space”.

By creating space in the morning, you set the tone for the rest of the day and you show the world that you are in the driver’s seat of life.

Things are going to happen today.

You will get cut off.

You will bump into a stranger in a rush.

You will get into an argument with someone.

You may have a major life event happen.

Simply, you will be tested.

The power of meditation in the morning is you’re able to slow things down, start from a place of power, and decide how you choose to react.

Most people react on automatic pilot instead of choosing it.

How To Do It: Don’t complicate this. A lot of people don’t meditate because they say they don’t how. There’s no right or wrong. If you’re new, set a 5 minute alarm and just focus on breathing in and out. Do this for 30 days and then we’ll add some layers to it.

#2: Gratitude

The first thought I’ve forced myself to have every morning is simple:

Thank you.

I’m truly excited to experience another day, because nothing is guaranteed.

Expressing gratitude after meditation is a perfect chance to align yourself and remind yourself how special life is.

This can take a couple minutes and can be done even during meditation if you’d like to combine both.

Think about who or what you’re grateful for.

  • Who’s supported you during both great and tough times?
  • What events that seemed terrible at the time actually helped you tremendously?
  • Look around at your life right now. What do you truly appreciate?

When there’s gratitude, there’s a feeling that doesn’t allow room for negativity, judgement or creating false stories and excuses.

How To Do It: Make a list of 5–20 things you are thankful for and think broad (the Sun, the fact we’re still spinning around it, your legs) to the specific.

#3: Read A Higher Level Text

My 3rd ritual is to consume material that I consider “higher-level”.

This may be something in the spiritual realm, but doesn’t have to be.

The reason I do this is because I’m coming off meditation and gratitude, and I’m in a place of power and accepting these types of messages.

The entire goal is to consume information that allows you to think bigger than yourself … a reminder that the world is bigger than us.

This can be reading 5 pages of a book, listening to a podcast and other simple things.

I’m partial to books such as The Art Of Living by Epictetus or Meditations by Marcus Aurelius because the chapters are short but have a lot of depth.

You can grab any book off your bookshelf and focus on it intensely until you’ve got a real, actionable lesson you can apply today.

How To Do It: Keep this simple. 5 pages in a book can reveal a massive lesson for your day. There are plenty of books that have short chapters in which you can easily extract mindsets, values and action steps from.

#4: Intentional Breathing

Once I’ve done the above, I transition to a breathing exercise. I never have a set plan for this, but I do follow a couple protocols.

One is “box breathing” by Mark Divine & SEALFIT. To learn about box breathing, check this out.

Another is “priming” by Tony Robbins which is deep, fast breaths to bring tons of oxygen into the system — a wake me up of sorts after going through some slow work above….check out Tony’s priming guide here.

Breathing is one of the most powerful exercises we can master and is highly, highly, underrated.

How To Do It: There are a few ways which I’ve listed above. To make things simple, you can breath in and out 30 times (deep breath in, and exhale forcefully). This will oxygenate the body and get you primed and ready for the day.

#5: Physical Activity / Training

The next step is to get going physically.

I recommend most people train in the morning, but if you’re not, then crank out something physical and fast after breathing.

I like doing a few sets of max push-ups to get my entire body going and it only takes a couple minutes.

For those headed to the gym or for a sprint/hike, just get going and block out the time for it.

I love a combination of intense, focused strength work and high intensity conditioning to set the tone for my day and I always include portions of my workout that truly challenge me mentally and physically.

This way, I know once I’ve left the gym, that I’ve conquered my own mind and body.

Training in the morning has a host of benefits I’ve covered in the past but it usually best for people in terms of timing themselves with their work/life schedule and circadian rhythm.

When you train late in the day, there’s just a higher chance that something will come up and get in the way.

In his brilliant book, Spark: The Revolutionary New Science Of Exercise, John Ratey concludes that exercise is the most powerful cognitive behavior we can ever use.

How To Do It: Just get going, get moving, do something. If it’s your off day, maybe go for a simple walk outside.

#6: Encouragement Messages

Everyone needs a push some days.

Even the most successful people who are always on fire sometimes need a push.

At this point during my morning, I’ll pick 2–4 people and send them a quick message that entails any of the following:

  • Encouraging them
  • Thanking them
  • Pushing them to take action, or hold them accountable for something they said

Sometimes I’ll simply scroll through my phone and pick people at random, or someone will come up during the routine above.

I even challenge myself to choose people who will never expect it.

The key with this is to expect nothing in return and do it from a truly authentic place.

How To Do It: Find 2–4 people who may need a push or some encouragement. You truly never know who needs it, so don’t over-think it. Just ship it.

#7: Tackle Highest Priorities

At this point, I’ve truly taken care of myself and I am coming from a place of power.

Now it’s time to tackle the highest priorities of the day…I truly think that there are about 3–4 priorities you can truly focus on in one day.

I’m not talking about small errands or emails…it’s 3 massive action steps that get you closer to your ultimate goals.

So, there you have it. That constitutes most of my morning routine. I’ll also usually study business, marketing or something related to my current project and / or goals.

I urge you to come up with your own routine. Maybe you want to add things relevant to you or take them away.

That’s fine…just find something that works.

5 Essentials For Your Own Routine

1. Airplane Mode. I sleep with my phone in Airplane Mode and only turn it on when I’ve accomplished something and I’m ready to check it.

2. Don’t check e-mail. I urge people not to check email before 9:00AM for many, many reasons.

3. Have a plan. Having a plan with the way you’re going to start your mornings is crucial.

4. Auto-pilot. The above will be really, really hard at first. After two weeks, less so. Give it 60 days and you’ll do the above without even thinking about it.

5. You can do it. Most people want a morning routine but use the excuse of “not having enough time” and “not being a morning person”. You can do it if you want it bad enough.

Famous Last Words

As the brilliant author Stephen Pressfield states:

Most of us have two lives: the life we live, and the unlived life within us.

This passage has rocked my world and is precisely why the morning routine was created — to never, ever look back and think I missed out on my potential.