I’ve been listening to a lot of the late great Jim Rohn recently and I wanted to feature one of his philosophies. Jim is one of the first great voices in personal development but even he’d tell you that a lot of what he came to know wasn’t novel or innovative, it was old, battle-tested, and always understood throughout human history. In this instance he elaborated on something as fundamental as how “Labor produces life.”

There are two ways to think of this that are valuable, which are the literal meaning and the figurative meaning. Literally, human life is only possible when women go into labor. What is known to be one of the most difficult, painful experiences a human can have is a prerequisite to creating life. Life doesn’t just happen upon itself, it is nurtured, developed, and created through a process that most people wouldn’t do voluntarily if it weren’t for the miracle that is life.

This understanding leads us into the figurative meaning, which is that if you want to change your life, you need to put in the work. Just like life beginning is difficult and painful, changing your life is difficult and painful. Your brain and body have grown accustomed to doing things a certain way and once you start to disrupt that your brain will reject the changes you’re trying to make. The brain is evolutionarily designed to do this and keep you safe. So similar to pregnancy and labor, the discomfort is actually an indicator that you’re growing, that life is changing, because it’s evidence that there’s a new process.

Labor produces life - It births life and it changes lives. So don’t be afraid of the hard work. Don’t turn away from the discomfort of growth. Growth occurs when you’re outside of your comfort zone. What discomfort are you feeling that’s keeping you from growing?

If you’re in the US or Canada, text me at 949-799-0788 and I’ll send you daily prompts that help you get to know yourself better and build a more meaningful life every day. 

If you’re looking to grow alongside a community of like-minded improvers, then click here to join the Better Together Community.

One of the most important questions, if not the most important question you’ll ever ask yourself is “What do I want?” Knowing what you want is the North Star you can actually use to make meaningful progress in your life. You must be prepared to be honest with yourself, and hear the truth, no matter how outlandish or impossible it might seem. Dreams aren’t meant to make sense or else they wouldn’t be dreams. And dreams do come true.

There’s one thing that helps turn your dreams into reality unlike anything else, and it’s probably the simplest advice you’ll ever hear.

Ask for it!

If you want something then ask for it! You’ll be amazed by how many people offer to help you. It doesn’t matter how big or small, realistic or unrealistic it is, the best way to get what you want is to ask for it.

Many people hesitate to ask for things because they believe life is scarce. You only have so many favors to call in, you’re inconveniencing people to get involved in helping you. But people won’t do anything that doesn’t in some way serve them. So ask away, invite people to be a part of your story, and understand that you have an unlimited amount of wishes! If you’re uncomfortable asking people for what you want then ask the universe for it, because it will deliver to you the people or circumstances that will make it happen.

Don’t be afraid to ask big, often because it will help you get what you want and need, which empowers you to help other people get what they want and need more often too. So let me finish by planting this seed of a question - What are you afraid to ask for?

If you’re in the US or Canada, text me at 949-799-0788 and I’ll send you daily prompts that help you get to know yourself better and build a more meaningful life every day. 

If you’re looking to grow alongside a community of like-minded improvers, then click here to join the Better Together Community.

A problem I see a lot is people rule things out before they even try. They rationalize why a dream is too big, or a goal too unachievable, that they don’t even pursue it in the first place. It’s really rooted in a belief that they can’t do it - they don’t have the time or means, it's not the right opportunity, the timing isn’t right, and therefore they don’t.

In the case of many of our goals… Someone else is already living it. So instead of viewing ourselves as inferior to them, and seeing all the advantages, opportunities, and lucky breaks they had that helped them to achieve it, see them as evidence that they did and YES YOU CAN!

But talking about what you can and can’t do is superficial because it’s all about the possibilities of what could be. In order to make it happen you need to take action. However, you won’t be inspired to do that until you believe it is attainable. I’m here to tell you that you can turn an idea of anything into reality, countless people have done it, so why not you? You just need to believe it and buy into it.

So whatever this New Year has in store for you - The intentions, resolutions, and priorities you want to reimagine, you 100% can do it. It then becomes a matter of committing to them and having a plan in place that helps you deliver on it. You’ll be amazed by what you can do when you set your mind to it. So let me ask you this question - What do you want to do that you haven’t started yet?

If you’re in the US or Canada, text me at 949-799-0788 and I’ll send you daily prompts that help you get to know yourself better and build a more meaningful life every day. 

If you’re looking to grow alongside a community of like-minded improvers, then click here to join the Better Together Community.

It can be really hard making decisions. Weighing the pros and cons, wondering if it’s the right timing, if it’s within your means, and having confidence that you’re making the right choice. How lucky are we that we have the free will to even consider different options? But sometimes there are smaller, decisions you make in the moment that aren’t so much a deep evaluation of what you want and are more a test of your will power. 

It’s that decision to workout when you don’t feel like it. To choose the healthy option off the menu when anything else sounds really good. To get to bed at the right hour, reading a book instead of playing on your phone. We encounter these choices every day. It’s the daily battle we face that places discipline against temptation, and it can take a lot of energy to get it right.

That’s why today I’m challenging you to make one bold decision. Once you’ve determined that something is important to you, you commit to it without making any exceptions. It’s the one decision that will make 99 other decisions for you because it governs your decision making process in certain ways. For example, if you’re trying to limit alcohol consumption you can make the decision to never drink Monday through Thursday. Then every time someone offers you a drink on a weekday, you know your answer. Or you want to workout at 8am every morning. When someone tries to schedule a work call at that time you can say you’re unavailable without having to figure out how to make it all work. 

Making one bold decision creates an infrastructure that helps you live your values and is a piece that you can build the rest of your life around. It's not going to b easy, you need to be committed to enforcing the decision, even when it sucks. But know that if you do you’ll be spending more time doing the things that are most important to you.

If you’re in the US or Canada, text me at 949-799-0788 and I’ll send you daily prompts that help you get to know yourself better and build a more meaningful life every day. 

If you’re looking to grow alongside a community of like-minded improvers, then click here to join the Better Together Community.

Something that people often say to each other in a critical and derogatory sense is “What’s wrong with you?” When someone sees, does, or thinks something different, people judge it and attribute blame or shame to feel better about their own beliefs. At the end of the day, the way people interact and view others externally is simply a projection of their internal state.

What I propose, which was featured in a recent advertising campaign by FitBit, is adding one sound and completely changing the meaning of this critical expression. Ask instead - “What’s strong with you?” Because yes, people will always see things differently, but that doesn’t make it bad. That’s their perspective. People can be nasty, and judgmental, and critical. Their opinions can be hurtful. But just because they tell you how they feel doesn’t make them right. There’s an expression “One man’s trash can be another man’s treasure”, which demonstrates how what others view as weaknesses can also be viewed as a strength.

So that’s the opportunity here. Instead of overvaluing what others think of you, and thinking down on yourself based on what they believe to be the case about you, choose to control your self-talk so that it’s a more empowering narrative. Get curious about the different ways you could relate with the same set of facts, and give a louder voice to the message that best supports the person you believe yourself to be.

“What’s wrong with you?” A lot of things, and that’s the best part, because it actually illuminates where I see things differently, which is my greatest strength. So I choose to say, “What’s strong with you?”

If you’re in the US, text me at 949-799-0788 and I’ll send you daily prompts that help you get to know yourself better and build a more meaningful life every day.

If you’re looking to grow alongside a community of like-minded improvers, then click here to join the Better Together Community.

Conservatism bias is a resistance to changing your opinion on something, even when presented new information. Psychologically this might be in place to protect yourself from thinking less of yourself, or being embarrassed. But we probably agree there are so many things that we don’t know about and anything that compromises our ability to update our belief systems is actually holding us back.

A simple example of conservatism bias can be found in business and investing. You have a reason to believe that a stock will do well, but when the company’s leadership announces issues, you don’t take action as quickly as you should because you’re holding on to the original impression you generated. Conservatism bias is characterized by inaction or not making changes in the face of new evidence.

It takes a brave, strong, and confident person to admit when they were wrong. No one is going to have all the right answers, and everyone benefits from being more receptive to new information that comes in. Their willingness to put their ego aside if their competencies are being threatened is a great indicator for success. This is someone who isn’t overly influenced by conservatism bias and therefore, they can more quickly receive feedback and implement positive changes.

So to wrap this up and make it more tangible for you today, I want to ask you this question - What information or key insight might you be refusing to accept right now? Conservatism bias likely is playing a part in it, and you just might experience a major improvement in your life upon acknowledging and accepting it.

If you’re in the US, text me at 949-799-0788 and I’ll send you daily prompts that help you get to know yourself better and build a more meaningful life every day. 

If you’re looking to grow alongside a community of like-minded improvers, then click here to join the Better Together Community.

We live in a polarizing world but the consequences of it are actually greater than you might think. Not only do people disagree on things and it affects relationships, but it pushes people to the far ends which isn’t really where they want to be. I think a main factor in this is the way the media has sensationalized everything to make the headline more captivating, and the link that much more clickable.

I’m here to tell you today that we often get exposed to the far-extremes of things, but what’s right for you is somewhere in between. The obvious example here is politics. You’re probably not completely left, right, up or down. You believe something in between. Same thing goes for your personal habits - You’re not the most irresponsible person in the world, nor are you the most disciplined. Your authentic you is somewhere in between.

It might feel off because being in between means you’re different from what you see, which could seem vulnerable and isolating. But that difference should be celebrated as uniqueness because we all operate in our own way, and have our own slice of goodness to offer the world.

The reality of a spectrum is that there’s always going to be more of this or less of that, and the very nature of that evaluation makes you draw comparisons, which often lead to judgment. But how can people judge what’s best for you if they don’t know who you are? They can’t, and similarly you can’t place much value in your judgment of them.

What’s important though, and the takeaway here, is you can make the effort to better know where you authentically stand on things: Instead of wondering if you’re lazy for sleeping in, or thinking you’re not healthy because you don’t work out as often as someone else, or labeling yourself in the context of those who make more or less money than you, I challenge you to authentically explore your needs, what you want, and where you land on these life spectrums. I can promise you this, I bet you fall somewhere in between, and that’s right where you should be!

If you’re in the US, text me at 949-799-0788 and I’ll send you daily prompts that help you get to know yourself better and build a more meaningful life every day. 

If you’re looking to grow alongside a community of like-minded improvers, then click here to join the Better Together Community.

If you’re feeling the momentum, inspiration, and possibility of significant positive change, then let’s leverage it and run with it. It’s time to take a bet on yourself!

When you place a bet on yourself it means that you’re invested in your success. It becomes what you’re rooting for and building toward, because you want to deliver on it. Whether it feels authentic or not, placing bets on yourself is like setting an intention. It plants desire in your subconscious and psychologically you start making adjustments to bring that intention into reality.

You’ve heard it before, but there is no better place to invest than in yourself. You are the safest investment you’ll ever make because despite all market fluctuations and changes around you, the relationship you have with yourself is a constant. There’s no more important relationship. So place that bet and be the empowering voice that cheers yourself on and believes the best will transpire for you.

What does it actually look like to take a bet on yourself? Well it’s about giving that quiet but empowering voice in your head reason to be a little louder. It’s taking action in ways that prove your worthiness, and expecting the best to come of it. For example, maybe you're hesitant to invest in a gym membership, or business coaching, because you don’t know that it’ll be worth it. Place the bet on yourself and prove yourself right. Yes, you can grow in areas you’ve had difficulty in the past! It’s about auditing your life and seeing the areas that aren’t where you want them to be, at work, in a relationship, or otherwise, and speaking your truth so that you can get what you want.

Your soul is calling for you to do certain things that you’ve repressed and shoved down for years, alongside your confidence. Placing a bet on yourself is your statement that you want things to change, and you believe they will, or else you wouldn't be investing in it. Trust me when I say this, things will flow into place and you will respond in incredible ways when you place a bet on yourself!

If you’re in the US, text me at 949-799-0788 and I’ll send you daily prompts that help you get to know yourself better and build a more meaningful life every day.

If you’re looking to grow alongside a community of like-minded improvers, then click here to join the Better Together Community.