You shouldn’t pack every day to its fullest. Put gaps in your schedule. Gaps where you have nothing planned. Don’t feel bad about not doing work during these gaps. 

You need time for nothing. This time should be for thinking. For reflection and gratitude. Just take a break. A step back. Realize how lucky you are. How great your life is. 

We always feel a need to fill our days to the max. Take time to just sit. Walk around. Think back on the day. What went well. What would you have done differently. Don’t beat yourself up about it, just make yourself more aware.

Reflection leads to improvement. 

Take this free time to do nothing. It will be hard at first. Walking around outside helps with this. No music. No podcasts. No phone. Just you and your thoughts. 

You can bring a pen and pad of paper. If you keep thinking about something in particular, write it down. It will make you feel a lot better. Any ideas that come to mind, write down. Don’t force yourself to think of any ideas. If they come, acknowledge them.

You need to work as much on your mind as you do on your work. If your mind is organized, your life will be more organized. 

“Very little is needed to make a happy life; it is all within yourself, in your way of thinking.” -Marcus Aurelius



“We all need people who will give us feedback. That’s how we improve.” -Bill Gates

Always ask for feedback. 

Especially when first starting out. Find the person you want to emulate. Go talk to them if it’s at work. Send an email to them. Cold call them. Ask them a ton of questions, explain your thinking behind whatever you’re starting, and ask them if you’re on the right track.

What helped you the most in the beginning? What was one thing you wish you knew when first starting out? What are some of the best resources for me to study? How has your approach changed from the beginning to where you are now? How much time per week do you spend on perfecting your craft? Who were the most influential people you followed?

Ask as many questions as you can. Ask them for a meeting. At least five minutes. Most people are looking to help others. Your main objective is to learn from these people to try and not replicate some of the early mistakes they made. 

Make sure you don’t just write down what they say and move on. Meditate on it. Read over your notes for a few days in a row a few times a day. Rewrite the most important parts in your opinion. Then implement what they suggested. 

Don’t just try their approach or study what they suggested for one week, really take time to digest the information. You’ll most likely not use everything but there will be some really important principles that stick with you.

Report back to them your results after you’ve had enough time to sufficiently use them. Don’t forget to thank them immensely for helping you. They respect the fact you’re driven enough to ask them for help and that you have enough self awareness to notice where you’re falling short in your career or business. 

Replicate this advice to people who may reach out to you once you’ve become the person you aspire to become. Give back. That’s an equally important step. 

“The key is not to prioritize what’s on your schedule, but to schedule your priorities.”         -Stephen Covey

Keep it to 3 main priorities, that’s it. 

If it’s anything more than that it will be overwhelming. You’ll accomplish 4 or 5 tasks of the 15 priorities that you’ve set for yourself. You’ll think of your day as a failure. 

In reality, you accomplished a lot. You just set the bar way too high and focused on too many things at once. If you continue this pattern you’ll soon be in over your head.

Your list will continue to grow. You’ll soon have 50+ top priorities that need to be done today. You’ll give up before you’ve even begun. Make it easy for yourself to complete your goal for the day. 

Instead, keep it to your 3 most important, need to be done today, objectives. Write them down on a list. Create a separate list with 4-5 additional tasks that need to be done at some point. They’re important tasks but not high priority tasks that need be done now. Make sure you separate the two lists. Once you finish your most important high priority tasks, that’s it. You can move onto your other list from here, but you don’t have to.

Don’t feel obligated to complete anything on the other list. If you finish your 3 most important objectives for the day you don’t have to immediately move on to the other list. You’ve accomplished your goal. Be proud of that. You don’t always have to be doing something to be productive. 

Keep your list short. Make the objectives clear and achievable. If you find yourself merging the two lists take a step back. Go back to only 3 priorities or less for your day. If you complete these top priorities, you’ve won the day.

In this technology driven age we have a tendency to focus more on our phones than the individuals we’re with. Don’t be on your phone when you’re with someone. Live in the moment. 

When we hear or feel a vibration we immediately check our phone. We’re incredibly reactive in that way. Be more proactive. Focus on not answering your phone every time it makes a noise. 

Focus on the conversation your having. Actually listen to what the other person is saying. Genuinely care. You don’t have to answer your messages immediately. Set up a specific time in the day when you check messages. 

Whenever you have a meeting with someone in person, turn your phone off. Give them your full attention. It’s important to step away from your virtual world for a minute. Worry about the other person during the meeting, that’s it. 

No distractions. No phones. No computers or tablets. Just two people having a productive conversation. Let the other person know your intentions before hand. It will help everyone be on the same page. It will make your meetings more efficient and effective. 

If you’re getting lunch with someone or even going on a walk avoid bringing your phone. It’s good to get away. It’s healthy to have actually human connection and a real focus towards the other person. It will make your relationships stronger and your conversations will become deeper. 

Step away from the online world and live in the real world. You’ll greatly appreciate every conversation. 

“Most humans are never fully present in the now, because unconsciously they believe that the next moment must be more important than this one. But then you miss your whole life, which is never not now.” -Eckhart Tolle

“The secret of success is learning how to use pain and pleasure instead of having pain and pleasure use you. If you do that, you’re in control of your life. If you don’t, life controls you.” -Tony Robbins

Make a conscious effort to have more control over your day. Don’t let your customers, co-workers, or meetings take control. Make sure you have a plan for the day. 

Break your day up into small, digestible chunks. If you don’t have a plan for your day someone else will create one. 

Don’t worry what other people are doing. Don’t constantly compare yourself to others. Don’t worry about your competitors all the time. Don’t worry about the faults your product has. Don’t worry about being fired. Don’t focus on gossip. Focus on what you can control.

The amount of effort you put it on a daily basis. The amount of help and feedback you ask for. Your attitude on a daily basis. The focus you put toward accomplishing your goals. The focus on your consistency toward your work. The dedication to becoming better. To constantly learning. To continuous improvement. To avoiding negative gossipers. 

That’s what you need to control. It’s starts with the plan you put in place for yourself every day. Create a framework for yourself. Follow that framework as close as you possibly can everyday. Edit it as you feel a need. 

Time is our most valuable asset. Guard your time. Focus on what you can control and dominate those areas of your life. The key is continuous improvement. 

If you focus more on how you can control your day and take the necessary steps to plan your day out, you’re already ahead of your competition. Most people let the day control them. You have the ability to control your day. Take advantage of that. 

“If it’s your job to eat a frog, it’s best to do it first thing in the morning. And If it’s your job to eat two frogs, it’s best to eat the biggest one first.” -Mark Twain

Track the work that you’re actually doing. Figure out what you spend the most time on. Focus on improving the work you do. Focus on being more effective throughout your day.

You may think you’re being productive and working hard when in reality you’re busy. Being busy isn’t being productive. 

When you’re busy it seems like you’ve accomplished a lot in the day. You’re moving from one thing to the next. Constantly on the go. Killing it.

At the end of the day you look at your to-do list or you look back on what you’ve accomplished in the day. You realize you practically did nothing. That’s the effect of being busy. You feel beat at the end of the day but you actually accomplish very little.

Focus on being effective. Track your time. Time how long you work on specific things. Time your distractions. Time breaks. You may realize you waste a lot of your day on unproductive tasks. You may also realize you’re incredibly productive during certain times of the day. Gather this information after a week of tracking your days. Implement your new schedule after you calculate the results. 

Create a to-do list. Only put the three most important tasks of the day. Complete the task you’re dreading the most first. Eat the frog. 

You’ll be surprised how much time is actually wasted on unimportant areas. If you really want to change, track your hours outside of work. Focus on doing things consistently that will align with your goals. Reading an hour a day. Exercising five days a week. Working on a passion project an hour a day. Whatever it may be, you’ll realize areas you can reduce to help you get closer to your goals.

It’s important to be more aware of where we spend the majority of our time. Focus on what you can improve daily. Your daily actions will become habits. Once continuous action of a skill become a daily habit, focus on improving another area or adding another skill. 

Have deliberate action and focus on improvement. Focus on your time. It will bring you closer to your goals.

Be grateful for being recognized. No matter what it is. No matter how small or large. Be honored. 

You need to stop and appreciate the moment. No matter the outcome. Being nominated for an award is meaningful. You’re in a select group of people. 

Most of us have a hard time pausing. Appreciating how special this moment is. Be grateful for the events that have brought you here. 

For the people around you. The support from others throughout this process. It’s usually one or two people being recognized. We don’t realize the amount of people and support that are behind the scenes. Without them, none of this would be possible. 

It’s important to acknowledge these individuals. You’re paths have crossed for a specific reason. Anyone you meet can teach you a valuable lesson. Learn from everyone. 

Being appreciative and grateful can go a long way. It helps you realize how great you have it. How incredible your life truly is. How great of an impact you’ve made. Not only in your life but other people’s. 

Be thankful for those around you. Be grateful for the small moments in life. These moments and individuals are all that matter. 

“The roots of all goodness lie in the soil of appreciation for goodness.” -Dalai Lama

“The only use of an obstacle is to be overcome. All that an obstacle does with brave men is, not to frighten them, but to challenge them.” -Woodrow Wilson

Enjoy the process. Enjoy the pain. The hardship. Enjoy the ups and the downs. It will make the journey easier.

If you can get to a point where you enjoy the hard parts of starting and continuously doing something new, there will be nothing else stopping you. You’ll be able to accomplish anything. 

It may not be an enjoyment but more of an appreciation for the hard work. You should appreciate the work. It’s part of the process. It needs to be done. You can’t learn something new without taking specific steps. 

Enjoy the hard parts. Enjoy the hours of work. Live in this moment of pain. Of suffering. Lack of sleep. Lack of a social life. It will be gone before you know it. 

Try to make it as enjoyable as possible. Don’t do the same thing day after day. That’s boring. Switch it up. Try something new. A new strategy for learning. A new technique. 

If you’re bored. You’re tired. You’re wanting to give up. Try something else. Most of all don’t give up. Push through the shit. It may be difficult but it’s like when you stub your toe, it sucks in this moment. You need to think long-term. 

Think about what comes from this hard work. From these hours of reading. Hours of studying. Think if the end result. That’s how you begin enjoying the hard work. 

Enjoy the challenges. Live for the challenging parts of learning something new.

If you want to get better at your career, sell more in your business, or more effectively learn a new skill you need to do more.

You can’t just keep your head down and work. Go to conferences of peers doing the same thing.

Call others who are doing what you want to do and ask for advice. Create a group that focuses on improvement and holding others in the group accountable.

Read blogs of peers. Read books of people who have accomplished what you want to accomplish. Make sure you’re doing these extra things. 

Working by yourself truly won’t cut it. Get it there and socialize productively. Make sure it’s not to go get drinks which leads to getting drunk, being hungover, and having accomplished nothing.

Don’t get me wrong, every now and then that’s needed. When you meet with people for coffee have questions ready. Be prepared with an agenda. Make sure you let the other person know what you look to gain out of the meeting and what they should expect to take away. 

Make it fun. Let it be a conversation. Connect initially when reaching out. Learn from them. Have them learn from you. 

Get out of your comfort zone. Reach out to successful people even if you think they won’t get back to you. The worst thing that happens is they don’t answer. There’s also the possible of them returning your email. 

Be bold. Be confident. Put yourself out there. You never know what’s possible until you try. 

“Empathy is a tool for building people into groups, for allowing us to function as more than self-obsessed individuals.” -Neil Gaiman



Not everyone is willing to do something different. It’s strange. It’s something new. It doesn’t feel normal. 

Not everyone can do it. Not everyone is willing to sacrifice other things for it. Whether that’s starting your novel, learning a skill, starting a business, or learning an instrument. Not everyone will do it. 

It’s hard. If it were easy, everyone would do it. Everyone would be rich. Everyone would be in shape. We would all drive Lamborghinis. 

Remember that when you’re doing your work. You’re in a limited group of individuals. People willing to go against the grain. Make something. Bring something new into the world. Do something different.

Be proud of that. Let that fact drive you. Then become one of the select few who accomplish what they’ve started. Once you do it once, you’ll inspire confidence in yourself. You can accomplish anything.

Don’t worry about what other people are doing. Focus on what you can do today. What you can do right now. Don’t let others doubt creep in. 

People will judge you for trying something different. You’re not going to please everyone. Focus on doing your best work. The rest will fall into place. 

 “If you’re trying to achieve, there will be roadblocks. I’ve had them; everybody has had them. But obstacles don’t have to stop you. If you run into a wall, don’t turn around and give up. Figure out how to climb it, go through it, or work around it.” -Michael Jordan

“Money won’t create success, the freedom to make it will.” -Nelson Mandela

Money is important. We can all agree on that. That being said, a lot of money should not be your ultimate goal. 

Money can motivate you but it won’t bring you pure happiness. Dig deeper. Why do you want to have a lot of money? What are you looking to do with that money?

Are you looking for freedom? Having more control of your time? 

Let’s say it’s to control your time. Why do you want to have more control over your time? To do what I want. Why do you want to do what you want? To be my own boss, to set my own hours and live my life now not when I retire. 

There it is. Focus on that instead of the money. If you focus just on the money, you’ll forget about your true goal. You’ll just go after the opportunity with the most money instead of trying to gain freedom. 

Focus on the freedom. Focus on breaking your “goals” down to their route cause. You’ll feel more accomplished once you get there. You can make a lot of money and be miserable. 

Do work that may not be as glamorous but brings you closer to starting your own business, opening up a coffee shop, freelance writing, starting a charity, starting a club, etc. 

The money will come at some point. Remember that. Focus on your time. 

Your end goal of freedom doesn’t necessarily have to be predetermined. There are many different routes you can take to get to your goal of freedom. If one doesn’t work don’t give up. Try something different. 

Dig deeper. Don’t focus on the money. Focus on what truly drives you. 

I’m sure everyone saw the patriots vs. falcons Super Bowl yesterday. If not, what a wild game. 

The patriots were down 25 points and came back to win. That’s insane. The craziest thing about that game is that the patriots are so good that even though they were down by 25 points, everyone was worried they’d somehow come back. 

That’s what seperates the great teams from the good. They’re never out of it. 

Resilience and determination. Dedication. Adaptability. Hope. Consistency. That’s why you never give up.

That team will go down in history as one of the greatest ever. You could see it on their faces when the second half started. They were hungry. They were ready. You could feel the tables start to turn. 

Once they got their confidence back, you knew it was over. It only took one positive moment. 

Great individuals and teams are stubborn. When everyone says lay down, they keep going. When everyone says stop, they push harder. When people think it’s over they know it’s just begun. 

You could see once they got back to the basics, the way they had one all season, things started to mesh. It was one of the most amazing comebacks I’ve ever seen. 

We should all learn from the patriots. People hate them. People label them as cheaters. Frauds. Fakes. Jerks. Arrogant.

They’re winners. True, pure winners. They’re confident. Consistently work hard. They believe in their process. Believe they can always win. They never give up. 

If someone tells you you’re not good enough. You can’t do something. You’ll never accomplish anything. Prove them wrong.

Try harder. Work smarter. Focus your efforts on what truly matters. Winners don’t listen to the hate. Focus on your true fans. Have confidence in yourself. 

Anything is possible, you just have to go make it happen. 

It won’t get you anywhere. It doesn’t help anyone. It’s not productive. It won’t get you closer to your goals. Instead of complaining do something about it.

You have more control of your life than you think. If you don’t like how certain things are being done change it. If it’s outside of your control, get over it. 

If it’s raining and cloudy tell yourself and others what a beautiful day it is. 

If someone comes up to you complaining, give them a solution to their issue. Whether that’s the benefits of your job, the quality of the leads, the deadline set in front of you, etc. if someone says the deadline cannot be reached let them know nothing’s impossible. It can be done. Change their frame of mind.

If you’re adamant about not complaining, people won’t come up to you with complaints. Keep giving them solutions. If you know they’re going to complain about something, talk to them on how you’re excited about it. Even if you’re not it will help you stay away from the complaints. 

If want to reach your goals complaining is not the route. Don’t make excuses. That’s what complaints are. Excuses why you can’t accomplish something. Believe in the impossible. 

You won’t reach your goals if you complain and give up at every road block. Give up complaining. Be grateful for the opportunities presented to you. 

“It always seems impossible until it’s done.” -Nelson Mandela

“Successful people maintain a positive focus in life no matter what is going on around them. They stay focused on their past successes rather than their past failures, and on the next action steps they need to take to get them closer to the fulfillment of their goals rather than all the other distractions that life presents to them.” -Jack Canfield

If you want something bad enough you’ll get it. You’ll accomplish it. 

You need focus. Focus on what you want to accomplish. Shut everything else out. Stop bad habits. Build great habits into your day. It’s, of course, easier said then done.

You will lose contact with some of your groups. Mostly social groups. You’ll probably lose contact with some people. That’s okay. 

You can go out with this group every now and then. It can’t be an every day or weekend thing. Unfortunately, social groups or outings, for the most part, do not help you accomplish your goals. If this group is going through the same process as you and dealing with the same struggles it will be very beneficial. Social outings can be a way to brainstorm strategies. Talk about what’s worked and what hasn’t. But mostly, they aren’t. 

You need to focus on the areas or activities in your life that are helping and hindering your goals. Eliminate the bad habits. Double down on the good.

For example, if you’re drinking, going out, and spending money/time not on your goals, you may want to evaluate that area of your life. Maybe limit these activities. Try to only do it once a month. 

On the other hand, you’re trying to learn a new language. You’re reading books and watching shows in that given language. You’re listening to music and studying flash cards. Instead of going out, spend more time learning. Double down. 

You’ll lose touch with some friends. You’ll possibly lose friends. That’s life. If they enjoy hanging out besides partying, they’ll stay in your life. 

Really make a conscious effort to focus on your goals. See if your life and goals overlap. They should. If not, evaluate areas where you need to change/improve to help accomplish goals. 

It really comes down to how badly do you want it. Focus on today. Keep in mind the future. 

Focus on what you can do now to help you accomplish your goals. Eliminate the unnecessary areas of your life. 

“In life, you can blame a lot of people and you can wallow in self-pity, or you can pick yourself up and say, ‘Listen, I have to be responsible for myself.” -Howard Schultz

Don’t lie about it. Don’t blame someone else. Admit you’re wrong. Admit you made a mistake. You overlooked the problem. It was your fault.

Don’t try to beat around the bush. You screwed up. That’s ok. People make mistakes. It’s very common. It’s the way we learn. 

Don’t lose sleep over it. Move on from the mistake. Make sure you prevent it from happening again.

If you lie about it, the mistakes will keep happening. You won’t learn at all. You’ll keep making mistakes, blaming others or other forces, and not feel bad when it happens.

What will come of that are a few bad things. You’ll get caught at least once in a lie. Now you’re known as a liar. No one trusts you plus you’ll probably get fired. 

The other outcome is you’ll probably get someone else in trouble or possibly fired. You’ll regret that. Most likely spill your beans that you fucked up and again get fired. 

It’s not good to get in the habit of lying. It leads you down a bad path. You may succeed for it in the short term. The long term is another whole can of worms. You’ll never succeed long term blaming other people and/or lying about being wrong. 

You messed up. You’re not perfect. Take the blame for the problem. Solve the problem. Move on.