“We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope.”                                                                                                                                                      -Martin Luther King, Jr.

Amongst all the evil in this world we need hope. We all experience some form of darkness. A form of pain. Sadness. Hatred. Loss. Hopelessness.

Despite whats happened you need hope. The feeling of being hopeful. Believing you will get through the rough periods.  

Hope helps push us through the pain. Helps us realize time will pass. Be hopeful in this moment. Be hopeful of the future. 

Believe that everything will work out. This is temporary. Get through these rough patches. 

Without hope of a better future we have nothing. Believe that it will get better. It will pay off. Every moment is important. It may not feel like it now. This moment is crucial for your future.

How you react matters. You can give up. You can lie down. You can decide enough is enough. You can fight. You can persevere. You can get through this. 

As awful as you may feel in this moment be hopeful things will get better. They will. 

Hope is all you need.

“Omnipotence is not knowing how everything is done; it’s just doing it.” -Alan Watts

You’re starting a project. Presenting a product. Learning a new skill.

You don’t have to know everything about it. You don’t need to know every possible note you can play right off the bat. You don’t have to know every word in a new language. You don’t need to know everything about your product.

You’ll learn along the way. How do you learn best? By doing it. 

It’s intimidating. It’s scary. It’s overwhelming. 

Take it in small steps. Accomplish small goals along the way. It will help you gain confidence. Your first try will be awful. Second time around, really bad, but a little better – slightly better. 

Learn along the way. Fake it. Act super confident, even if it feels like you’re lying to yourself. 

If someone asks you something you don’t know, don’t pretend like you know it, tell them you have no clue. Ask for their help. Don’t worry about looking stupid. 

Ask as many questions as possible. Screw up a bunch. Learn from those mistakes. The more questions you ask the more you learn. It will save you a ton of time along the way. 

Just start doing whatever you’re afraid to start. 

“You must do the things you think you cannot do.” -Eleanor Roosevelt

We all have individuals in our lives that inspire us to become better. To do bigger things. To believe more in ourselves. To work a little harder. Try more often. Focus on our craft. Become great.

We look up to these people. It’s like they can’t do anything wrong. They seem to always make things work. They’re always accomplishing something amazing. We want to be these people. 

Why not you? 

You can inspire. You can help someone push themselves harder and farther than hey ever imagined. Make them a better person. Help them become the best version of themselves. Help them get to where they want to be. Focus on inspiring other individuals. 

Push people to do the impossible. Inspire someone to accomplish a huge goal. Something they once thought they couldn’t do. 

Help as many people as you can reach their goals. You never know, maybe you’ll be inspired or maybe you’ll accomplish your goals too. 

“It is literally true that you can succeed best and quickest by helping others to succeed.”       -Napoleon Hill

“Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”  -Albert Einstein 

Some times you feel like your putting in the work. You’re trying as hard as possible. It feels like you’re sprinting on a treadmill. Running full speed but not moving an inch forward. 

When a project or work doesn’t seem to be going the way you’ve expected, take a step back. Observe what’s working and what’s not. Remove yourself from the situation. Ask others to give you feedback. Contact successful people doing what you want to do.

Don’t keep banging your head against the wall. You’ll lose patience. You’ll develop a poor attitude. You’ll lose your mind. 

Work smarter, not harder. Have people from outside your situation critique you. Tell you what you should change. What you should keep doing. 

Think of the areas you can improve upon that you’ve overlooked because you’re “too busy”. 

Try something different. Switch it up. Do the opposite. 

You never know what works and what doesn’t until you try. 

Get the fun back into your days. Get your energy back. Stay more positive. If you’re unhappy, do something different with your project or move on. 

“Happiness lies in the joy of achievement and the thrill of creative effort.” -Franklin D. Roosevelt

Everyone has some form of creativity. Practice doing something creative daily. 

Whether that be playing an instrument, writing, drawing, singing, puzzles, learning a language or new subject, etc. 

It doesn’t necessarily have to be for anyone. If you wish to publish or post it you can. The process of doing something creative while simultaneously learning new material is liberating. It makes you feel like a kid again. It makes you smile. 

It doesn’t matter if you fail. Do it to have fun. To challenge yourself. To keep your mind sharp. It’s not about impressing anyone. It’s about doing something that you’re excited about. Doing something you care about. 

Enjoy it. Never stop being creative. Never stop learning. Don’t do it for someone else. Do it for you. 

“It is one of the blessings of old friends that you can afford to be stupid with them.”            -Ralph Waldo Emerson

Original friends are the people who truly understand you. They have been with you throughout your life. The good. The bad. The average. The crazy.

They don’t judge you. They respect your life choices. You feel yourself around them. You act weird. You do dumb shit. Your inner child comes out. 

It’s when you’re the most comfortable. Don’t take your friends for granted. Don’t take the moments you’ve had for granted. All moments. They shape who we are. 

Live in these moments. Before you know it, you’ll be old. Be grateful for the time you’ve had with these friends and every moment you will have. 

Time goes by faster the older you get. Appreciate it. You never know when it could be your last. 

Tell your friends how much they mean to you. It’s important. Not for us but for them. 

Whenever you’re starting something new – starting a business, learning a new skill, playing an instrument, etc. – the first few weeks are exciting. 

It’s like the honey moon phase of a relationship. Everything is so new. It’s fun. It’s challenging. 

But just like the honey moon phase, it eventually wears off. Your motivation flounders. You’re stuck at a certain point. It feels more like work now. Eventually you stop working on your project as consistently and it’s gone as quickly as it came. 

Once you hit a barrier you’re done. You give up. Instead of pushing forward or trying a different approach you quit. Then you pick it up occasionally, wondering why you’re still mediocre. 

Try multiple approaches and techniques instead of trying one approach and getting bored easily.

When learning a language, you need to use multiple approaches. Use Duolingo for vocabulary. Listen to French music for pronunciation. Watch American shows in French. Movies in French. Use flash cards for memorization. Check out bennylewis.com. 
It helps keep you challenged but continues to be fun and exciting. It’s not the same old thing. It motivates you to learn more. 

If you’re struggling to learn some subject new don’t use one source to learn. Try many. 

“It doesn’t matter how far you might rise. At some point, you are bound to stumble…. If you’re constantly pushing yourself higher…the law of averages, not to mention the Myth of Icarus, predicts that you will at some point fall. And when you do, I want you to know this, remember this: There is no such thing as failure. Failure is just life trying to move us in another direction.” -Oprah Winfrey

Push yourself just a little bit further. More than you’re comfortable with. Get outside of your comfort zone. That’s when you make your biggest improvements. 

If you set a goal for a workout, push to that goal. Once you hit they goal, add on more miles, more reps, more weight, or more time. Push beyond what you think you’re capable of. 

If your goal is to do 30 push-ups straight, do 31. If you’re trying to run 3 miles without stopping, run 3.1. If you tell yourself you want to work on a project for one hour, work for 10 minutes more. 

You’ll start to realize that the goals you’re setting for yourself are too easy. You’re going to blow past them. Once you break past your own barriers and begin to create new goals, the momentum will carry you on. You’ll feel unstoppable. 

You’ll be reaching goals you’ve never dreamed of. Pushing yourself harder than you’ve ever imagined. 

Don’t sell yourself short. You can achieve all your wildest goals and dreams. Push yourself further and further every day. Add on to one activity. One goal. One dream. Take that first step to making your goals realities. 

If you don’t believe in yourself, no one will. Push just a little bit harder. 

“Sometimes one creates a dynamic impression by saying something, and sometimes one creates as significant an impression by remaining silent.” -Dalai Lama

We all come across new people each day. Whether that be a janitor, someone in the grocery store, a new coworker, a friend’s friend, etc. You can never redo a first impression. 

Your first impression is how you’ll forever remember someone. It’s how we quickly determine whether or not we trust someone. Keep that in mind when introducing yourself.

No matter who you meet, treat everyone the same way. Respectfully. Try to make that persons day with your first impression. Give them a compliment. Smile at them. Repeat their name back to them. Shake their hand if you can. Don’t force it. Be genuine.

Don’t fake it. Be relaxed whenever meeting someone. Ask them a strange question. Something they’ve never been asked before. Stand out from the crowd. 

Ask as many questions as you can. Let them do all the talking. People appreciate it when you listen. 

Always remain genuine throughout the conversation. If you don’t agree with them on a subject that’s fine. The main thing is to tell the truth. Don’t lie about it. Kindly disagree. We’re all not going to agree on every topic. 

Try to smile or say hi or wave at one new person each day. If you want to take it a step further, introduce yourself to one new person a day. 

Be yourself. Be curious. Smile. Laugh when something’s funny. Have fun. You only get one chance at a first impression. Make it a great one.

When we least want to do something is when we most need to. Motivation is a strange thing. It comes in waves. It comes and goes. You’ll never be 100% motivated to do work. Even if it’s fulfilling. 

You’ll have days where you would rather stay in bed. Action cures lack of motivation. You’ll get motivated once you start. Take that first step. 

People will set clothes and shoes next to their bed in the morning. As soon as they wake up, they put them on. They force themselves to get motivated. They’re not originally motivated but the act of putting on clothes and shoes triggers motivation. Erase the thought that you’ll always be motivated. If you think that, the second you’re not motivated you’ll give up. 

Your lack of motivation should not deter you from trying or working. Everyone, at some point, is unmotivated. Remember that. You’re not alone. We all have very similar problems we deal with. 

Force motivation through action. 

It’s crucial whenever starting something new. Start small. Crazy small. Do one rep. Make one call. Write one email. 

Make it so easy it’s laughable. Can you make one call? Do one rep? Start up one conversation?

Add on to that small step each day. Do two calls tomorrow. Start small. Maybe do one call again. Just do something. 

The important part of starting small is not just the process of starting but also being consistent. Do it every day. No matter how small. 

Some form of work on a consistent basis will produce positive results. Believe in the process. Start small and continue being consistent. It has to pay off. 

“Great things are done by a series of small things brought together.” -Vincent Van Gogh

Have people around to hold you accountable. To keep pushing you to be better. To make you try harder. To do more. More than you thinks possible. To force you to show up. 

It’s easy to give up on something if you’re by yourself. You’ll only disappoint yourself. You can pretty easily get over that. It hurts to disappoint other people. People who have been with you throughout the process. No one likes to disappoint. Especially someone close.

We need a supporting cast. It’s vitally important. They’re counting on us. We’re counting on them. As much as they think they need us we need them twice as much. If you don’t feel like showing up, they’ll be there. If you’re not feeling it, doesn’t matter. 

When we have people coming together with the same mission and goal in mind it becomes an unstoppable force. We rely on each other. We need both parts working together in tandem to accomplish our mission. We need momentum.

Momentum drives projects. Drives improvement. Drives change. 

Without momentum we die. We get momentum from our supporters and through our support of others. Don’t do this alone. 

It makes us happy. It makes us sad. It gets us excited. Our listening habits have a greater correlation to our well being than we may think.  Be more self aware when listening to music. 

Pay attention to the lyrics. The beat. The instrumentals. The layers. Think about the amount of time it took the musicians to create the music. The amount of time it took to create one song. The amount of practice it took to be ok. Then to be good and in some cases great. They didn’t just pick up an instrument and create incredible music. It’s taken hundreds and thousands of hours. It’s taken sacrifice. Dedication. Triumph. 

It’s been years of fucking up day after day. Most give up. Some make it for a few years. An even smaller amount become great and well known. The activity of successfully creating something that didn’t exist before you is rewarding. 

It all started with one simple action. One step. One movement forward. Then those actions compounding to create one song. No matter what people think that’s incredible. 

Songs are miracles being created before your eyes. 

Next time you listen to music think about their process. Appreciate the music for what it is: greatness. 

It’s ok. Things won’t go your way. No reason to get pissed off. People make mistakes. Shit happens. 

Focus on why you’re upset. It’s probably not about what that person did. Maybe you had a rough day at work. Maybe you’re tired. Maybe you’re hungry. Maybe someone’s death just sank in. Don’t take your anger out on others.

Be more constructive about it. Go run. Go rock climbing or boxing or lifting. Go walk in the woods. Walk away from the situation. 

Next time you get angry, question yourself. Why am I so upset? What am I really upset about? It’s good to feel angry sometimes. Don’t suppress that feeling. Get to the route cause of the issue.

Fuck around. Dance. Be weird. Do dumb shit. 

Be yourself around people more often – your weird self. Laugh when you think something’s funny. Cry when something’s sad. Scream when you’re scared. 

We try to be this other person. The person we think we should be. The person everyone else wants us to be. It’s like we have two people living inside us. 

Let the inner you shine. Get over the fact some people won’t like you. Some people might even hate you. Sucks for them. They’re missing out on all the fun you’re having. 

Do something weird. You weirdo. You depend on it. 

“I used to think that anyone doing anything weird was weird. I suddenly realized that anyone doing anything weird wasn’t weird at all and it was the people saying they were weird that were weird.” -Paul McCartney