It's my Birthday week! A lot on my plate as usual but so far, so good.
No blog or podcast this week. I decided to take a little time for myself. But I couldn't just leave you all completely hanging so I'll leave you with something powerful to think about. This was shared during a meeting I recently attended. I apologize to the person I'm quoting because I didn't get their name. But if you're anything like me, you'll find this profound. This is paraphrased, but here it is: "Normal is: Waking up to put on work clothes and getting into a car you're paying for, to go to a job that also pays for the house you leave empty because you're at that job." Are you working your life away for someone else to pay for things you can't even enjoy? I've said it many times before, but the greatest thing a Hustler wants is their freedom! Freedom of their time and the freedom to do what they want; "Moving and shaking" through life how they choose. Tune in next week for a brand new, "Ask A Hustler" podcast. We'll be discovering the fundamentals of changing your Value system so that it stops hurting you and helps you instead. See you then...
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You know, this last week has been crazy! I’ve written, coached and worked extremely hard. I’ve also been making connections and I have a couple of difficult decisions to make. I’m not the least bit stressed, although I do need to catch up on some sleep. The demands I have in front of me are the demands I’ve chosen. And I accept them and I’m prepared to carry the weight of them. This is what a Player does. Overall it’s been a great summer so far, I can’t complain. But enough about me, I’m sure you came here for some Game. Due to time constraints I have to keep this one short but I think it will powerful none-the-less. I was up in Chattanooga this past July 4th to get a change of environment and catch a fireworks show. I watched the families and people around me and I contemplated for a moment. It’s funny how everyone is searching for moments of happiness. Many people look for happiness and contentment outside of themselves. Those are fleeting and become nothing other than memories. As no surprise to many of you, true happiness should come from within. But that’s easier said than done. But why? Consider this for a moment. We spend a lot of time “in our head”. In fact, the average person has around 40 thoughts per minute. That equals out to anywhere between 50,000 to 70,000 thoughts per day. That’s a lot of thinking! Out of all those thought, how many are actually beneficial? How many of those thoughts uplift you, inspire you and keep you motivated? How many of those thoughts are of fears, doubts and worries? The golden question is: If over half of your daily thoughts are negative, dis-empowering, fearful, doubtful and limiting, then what happens over the course of a month to a person? Or even a year? You can think positive and repeat positive affirmations all you want, but if only 10,000 of your thoughts are “good” and the other 40,000 to 60,000 are “bad", which one wins? Where is the majority of your energy going? Which type of thinking is dominant? Here’s something to consider… The dominant force always wins. If I was in an empty room and that room is freezing cold, even if I make a small fire in the middle, the entire room will warm up slightly, but overall the cold is still dominant. I would literally need to make a huge raging fire to fully heat up that ice-cold room. You could take solid rock and have a continuous stream of water run over it. Eventually, over time, that rock would slowly wear down. The water is dominant because there is a constant source of it. The dominant force always wins. So what is the dominate force in the way you think? In the Game we talk a lot about dominant and submissive forces. And real Game can be applied both inside of yourself and outside of yourself. So when we deal with what’s inside us, we need understand that just like in nature, the dominant force always wins. This takes us back to a very old saying, “If the mind believes it can’t, then it can’t. If the mind believes it can, then it can.” How does this work? Through training your mind in such a way that you control what becomes dominant within it. Sorry, affirmations and positive thinking are fleeting. They’re not permanent and the mind itself usually fights against them. But these processes do teach us something. They show us that there is a power in repetition. Some say that repetition is a means to put things into your sub-conscious mind. And this is where the real magic happens. I agree with the power of the sub-conscious mind, but there are much more effective ways to place things in there. Just like in nature, one of the tricks is that the dominant force always wins. If the majority of your thoughts are negative repeatedly, that’s what seeps into the sub-conscious. And 30-minutes of repeating affirmations and visualizing goals for yourself will not outweigh the dominance of your overall state of mind. The continuous stream of negative (water), will wear down the positive (rock). Think about it. Until next time… Curious about the Game? Subscribe to the Uncommon Sense Adviser – Higher level Game to help take YOUR Game to the next level. Also receive news, discounts on future books and products along with early access. Join now by clicking [HERE].
Curious about the Game? Subscribe to the Uncommon Sense Adviser – Higher level Game to help take YOUR Game to the next level. Also receive news, discounts on future books and products along with early access. Join now by clicking [HERE].
Welcome back for some more Real Game! I have to be careful with how I present this topic because when you just take it for face-value it can seem manipulative. Truth be told, this concept can be used and is used in that manner. But it’s unnecessary. Another reason I wanted to introduce this concept is because when people are using this against you, you will be able to recognize it and “move and shake” around it without missing a beat. You can’t run Game on someone with Game. You can see them coming miles away. Before I begin let me share the foundation of this concept by using an excerpt from my book, Unlocking the Small Business Game. It goes as follows: “Let’s say I placed you in the Nevada desert, and took away your Identification cards, cell phone, all your jewelry, all your cash, credit cards and debit cards – meaning I left you there with nothing except the clothes on your back and the shoes on your feet. I then told you that you had to make it to New York City and you had three days to do it. How does this scenario make you feel? A little stressed or perhaps gives you a slight sense of hopelessness? How about your thoughts? Where does your mind immediately go? One of your first thoughts would be on how you could replace what was lost. Or in this scenario, what was taken from you. A few of your next thoughts would naturally cycle through everything that you cannot do because of your lack of resources. Your mind would attempt to find a solution to the problem by first going over what is not possible. This is called negation and it is human psychology at its most basic.” Now let’s begin to break this down by looking at how this concept of having limited resources leads to limited options and therefore, limited opportunities. The symbol of a box is used because if you’re inside a literal box, there’s little you can do – you’re limited. When you’re “boxing-in” someone (also called “building a fence” or “fencing-in”) you're leaving them with few options. Someone left with few options is a person psychologically throw-off balance. It’s a mental matter because of the way the mind naturally works. The mind dwells on what it can no longer do versus what it can do. The mind focuses on what’s lost (or missing) first. For example: When you go to a fast food restaurant, you cannot order anything that’s outside of their menu. Try ordering a T-Bone steak from McDonalds and see what reaction you get. Now, ordering from a fast food menu has no psychological effect on you because you have been “programmed” to accept that a fast food restaurant has a limited menu and you’re forced to choose from that menu. But let’s broaden this idea. What if you go to an amusement park? You look at all the rides, food places and other activities before you, but you’re told that all you can do is sit on a bench in the middle of the park. You can never leave that bench until the amusement park closes. You can’t eat, go to the restroom, ride any rides, play any games, have a bottled water, speak to anyone, move to another bench, find shade or move to cover if it rains, etc. All you can do is sit on that bench. What’s you first natural reaction? You think of everything you can’t do. You could watch everyone enjoying themselves and riding those rides but you can’t do a damn thing. And then you’ll probably feel a little hopeless and/or angry. I mean keep it real, this situation is terrible! Why would you even agree to something so limiting and potentially dangerous? You could dehydrate or starve, am I right? If you were in this situation you would be “boxed-in”. Your options have been limited and this means you can’t take advantage of the opportunities around you. But here’s the kicker… Every limiting belief you hold in your own mind limits your life options! Many of us have become masters of “boxing-in” ourselves. Every time you think you can’t do something for any reason, you have limited yourself and stifled your potential. It’s one thing for someone to tell you that something isn’t possible. Telling ourselves something isn’t possible (or accepting what we were told) is something else entirely. Your limiting beliefs come from a number of sources – Parents, teachers, movies, televisions, friends, family, books, music and the list goes on. At its core, the Game is about self-empowerment. Why do we need to empower ourselves? Because generally speaking, we were taught that there are limits on what’s possible. And because of the way the conscious mind is built, we focus on what we can’t have more than what we can have. And what are the effects of this type of thinking over the years of our lives? Missed and ignored opportunities. We choose comfort and familiarity over Growth and Advancement. I’ve said this before but it’s relevant here so I’ll repeat it... What is stopping you, right now, this moment, from running out into the street and playing in traffic? This sounds ridiculous. And I want it to sound that way. There is nothing and no one preventing you from making that stupid decision (and yes that decision would be stupid). Only you can prevent yourself from making this decision. You could get up right now and go do it. Please don’t do it because in reality it’s dangerous. But my point is valid. You have a tremendous power already at your finger-tips called making decisions; or making choices. But when you think something isn’t possible, you’ll decide that it isn’t possible. And you will lose from lack of not even trying. The Game is over before it has even begun. You’ve successfully “boxed-in” yourself. You’ve limited your options and also your opportunities. On a much bigger scale, we all have been “boxed-in” to some degree through the cultures we’ve grown up in. We have a long list in our heads of what we can’t or shouldn’t do. And a short list of what we can do. You’ve been placed, unknowingly, into someone else’s Game. And they know all the rules and hold all the cards, so to speak. But when just dealing with the little world that each of us lives in, we have placed far too many restrictions on ourselves. The question to ask yourself is, “Why?” For those that know, Peep Game. Until next time… Curious about the Game? Subscribe to the Uncommon Sense Adviser – Higher level Game to help take YOUR Game to the next level. Also receive news, discounts on future books and products along with early access. Join now by clicking [HERE]. Many people are making the transition toward thinking and behaving more positive. That’s a beautiful thing. A positive mental state really helps you focus your energy in more productive ways. Just thinking positive however isn’t enough. The word positive means to be sure or certain. So if you’re not sure or certain in what you’re thinking... you’re actually not thinking positive. You can look the word up in a dictionary if you doubt me. I speak with a lot of people. And I find common denominators with those that move (get in motion) toward their goals and those that don’t. The people who have a hard time staying focused on their goals have an attribute called, interest. They’re just interested in their goals. It sounds good to talk about them and think about them, but they usually find reasons to never move forward. They come up with a long list of reason too. I’ve heard them all. They feel they lack the skills, the money, the knowledge, the connections, the time, the energy, the motivation, the drive, the “natural talent”, and the list goes on. Not only is this not “thinking positive” (being sure and certain), these people fail to realize the natural power they have within themselves. Those excuses I listed above are all things that can be obtained. Piece by piece; bit by bit. On the opposite side of the coin, those who muster up the courage to move toward their goals have another attribute called, commitment. Instead of excuses, they look for ways to make things happen. They seek out information, people and other essentials that will be of benefit to them. Committed people may not completely be positive either (feeling sure and certain in themselves). But the difference is they move forward regardless. They test the waters and when they finally get tired with that, they just jump in the pool. At that point, it’s sink or swim. Will they make mistakes? Of course they will. No one is immune to making mistakes. But instead of that being a deterrent, they learn from them and grow. They accept the losses as they come and cherish every victory. I remember one of my last jobs. I was working as a security guard in a high rise building off Peachtree Street; in the heart of Atlanta. The company I worked for was losing the contract and a rival security company was slowly inching their way in. My own supervisor was working indirectly with this rival company and was pulling some of my co-workers into positions for this new company. But he never made me (or my close friend who worked there too) an offer to come over with them. I would see my co-workers come to the high-rise building on their off days and go into secret meetings with my supervisor. I knew they were being trained in the policies and procedures of the rival company and they were essentially guaranteed jobs when this company took over. The Game can be cold. At first I was upset that I wasn’t considered “good enough” to be offered a position with the rival company. How could I be overlooked? Wasn’t I an outstanding stellar employee? I came to grips with reality. I was going to lose my job and there was no use in sitting on my butt and complaining about it. And although the security company I worked for offered positions in other buildings, I declined their offer and decided to use my limited knowledge to start my own business. I was single with no children. I took my last paycheck and started my second business with two close friends. I jumped belly first into the pool, it was sink or swim! And I sunk. I failed. But I didn’t let that stop me. I stay focused and a few years later I ran into the person I needed that would help me get my courage back. I took what I learned by observing and listening to him and jumped into the pool again. Yes, I know, I’m hard-headed. But you know what? This time I succeeded. It was a long hard road, but I made it. Once I started swimming, I never had to punch someone else’s time-clock. I had the freedom to decide what was best for me to do. And it felt fantastic! The greatest thing any Hustler wants is their freedom. And I earned that for myself. Despite tripping and falling a few times, I stayed committed. I held a goal in my mind for nearly 10 years. Since the age of 15 when I had my first job, I knew I wanted a business of my own. At first it was just a strong interest. And like many, I was full of excuses. And after failing (twice, by the way) I should have had more excuses than anyone. But I pushed past interest and got committed. When I stopped looking for “ways out” and started looking for “ways in”; when I started improving on my weak areas instead of ignoring them; when I started getting past my doubts and fears and moved forward anyway; everything changed. If you find you have a difficult time staying focused on your goals, remember this: When you change inside, what’s outside of you is obtainable. And when you improve inside, your goals are within your grasp, outside. You must move from just being interested into being committed. That necessary “tunnel vision” every successful person develops to different degrees. Success in not a straight line! You must accept every turn, every valley and every peak. Interest alone won’t do it. You have to commit. And it's through commitment you'll find all the focus you'll ever need. If you have something you want, then get in motion. Keep it moving! Until next time… Curious about the Game? Subscribe to the Uncommon Sense Adviser – Higher level Game to help take YOUR Game to the next level. Also receive news, discounts on future books and products along with early access. Join now by clicking [HERE]. |
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