There is no one that will object to the importance of hardwork. It is fundamental to making progress and turning the dial on things that you want to make happen. Everyone has a different relationship with hard work. In this clip, from Tom Bilyeu’s show Impact Theory, Dean reflects on an experience he had as a child that really opened his eyes to the truth about hard work:

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There is a hint of “work smarter, not harder”, but more importantly there is an appreciation for hard physical labor, and self-awareness about the way that you work, both physically and mentally.

We are all probably well aware of the importance of movement and activity for exercise and physical health, but have you considered the way it impacts your mental health? Someone at the forefront of this is Jim Kwik, and he has an initiative called The Kwik Brain Challenge. One of his tips in this series is specific to finding a moment to move every 30 minutes as a mental freshener.

Jim suggested juggling as a short physical activity, but other things you can do are stretch, shoulder rolls, calf raises,or anything that gets your blood pumping a little bit.

“Don’t let the internet rush you. No one is posting their failures".

We can admit that we only see the best version of a lot of people on social media, yet we set that best version of other people as the expectation we need to live up to on an hourly basis. Not even that, people are intentionally exaggerating their influence or status out of their own insecurities. The internet and the things we see on it pressure us to bend the reality we present, and that is a losing battle.

Most people are not posting their failures. In being self-aware and knowing the truth behind social media, we gain confidence in the way we present ourselves to the public. Then, we can use that confidence as positive feedback that reinforces the timeline we set for our own growth, within our own expectations.

While this implies something larger, and negative, about the culture of social media, understanding the way we fit into the big picture provides us with an opportunity for positive self-reflection.

How many times a day do you have to answer a yes or now question?  It’s either yes, I want to be involved and put energy into it, or no, it’s not a priority for me at this time. In our careers, and specifically with new opportunities, yes no questions have a lot of weight because it dictates the way you spend your time. Ben Bradbury, an improvement and productivity coach gives his take on it.

So, say yes to open many doors, and say no to walk through the right ones.

Let’s talk about money. For some people it’s kind of taboo, for others it’s something they really identify with. My grandma once told me, “money is important when you don’t have it, but not important when you do”. Needless to say, everyone has their own relationship with money which makes it hard to generalize.

Recently, I’ve come across an interesting concept that is more universal. It’s the distinction between making money, and earning money, and to me, the difference is in the intention. Saying that you make money implies that it is a one way transaction. It implies that you are the recipient and there’s nothing else to it. It’s more selfish. But, when you earn money, it suggests that you received money and did so at a fair exchange rate, meaning you added value and were given the compensation you deserved for your effort. In phrasing it that way, you are more respectful of the time you spent working, because knowing you were contributing to something, and that the work you did was appreciated! 

So, it’s a subtle difference, but its significant in the way you approach making a living.

The beautiful thing about life is that we have the freedom to make our own decisions. Things as small as what side of the road we walk on to choosing where to invest our hard earned money. They all impact the flow of our days in their own ways, and the quality of our day is a result of our decisions.

But, there are a handful of decisions you make everyday that are truly disproportionately impactful. They are decisions that influence other downstream opportunities or choices, which are what make up the bulk of our days. In these decisive moments, it is extremely important to make the right decisions consistently.  

This might best be understood in a pair of examples. Let’s start with the first decision of your day. When your alarm goes off, do you get up, or do you snooze? If you get up, then you start your day on schedule, and you can begin going through tasks seamlessly and comfortably.  However, if you snooze, then you immediately put yourself off track and have to play “catch up” for the rest of your day. This might impact the quality of your breakfast, and put you in worse traffic on your way to work, thus, placing you in a more stressful state. See how quickly that compounded? And it all originated from one decision.

Another example is let’s say you need to go to the bank. Either you can plan a time for it and go, making a firm decision without hesitation, or you let it linger in your mind, distracting you from other things, and negatively impacting the rest of your day.

Each day is filled with decisive moments that affect the rest of your day, take control of those moments and experience a whole new level of productivity.

Its important to have a strong morning routine. Mornings set the tone for the rest of your day, and it’s an opportunity to instill productivity into your day.  

One extreme version of this comes from Personal Mastery expert, Robin Sharma. He encourages everyone to do three things at 5 am as part of his 20 20 20 rule:

The reason why he believes in it is because mornings change lives. Good mornings lead to good days which leads to good years and good lives. So, find the right balance in your morning routine to make sure you are preparing yourself in the appropriate ways. If you’ve already got a solid morning routine, then keep it up, you’re on the right track! But, if you’re still looking to perfect your morning routine, test a few things out until you find what you like.