Gary Vaynerchuk's blunt style often turns people off to his views, but I think it conveys an interesting message. When trying to motivate yourself to get out of a rut, and overcome adversity or negativity, his answer is simple - what’s the alternative?

Gary Vee fan puts positivity in a unique light - it’s the alternative to negativity.  If you have the power to let one thing affect you and your life, which one will it be? By realizing the pessimism in a negative mindset, it’s laughable to come upon the right conclusion.  And it makes your choice that much easier to make in that light. 

So, choose positivity, because what’s the alternative?

Say "bless you".  Originating in the medieval times, saying bless you when someone sneezes was a way to send positive thoughts and prayers to a person who may have picked up the plague. And while the plague is now long gone, I think the term plays a similar role in today’s society but we don’t often give it that same credit.

Saying bless you when someone sneezes does a few very interesting things. First, it means that you acknowledge someone else’s presence and chose to tell them that you care about their general well being. Imagine if we said that instead after someone sneezes, “I want the best for you”. That’s what you’re doing in a more socially acceptable way, but know that the message received is exactly that, so it generally makes a very positive impression.

But intrinsically, it’s a valuable thing to do to. By being the person who says bless you in different situations, and even for complete strangers, it means you are comfortable enough to put yourself out there to invite interaction. Living a life that encourages engagement and conversation is a fulfilling position to take, and a subtle “bless you” is your first step toward making that a bigger part of your life.

No matter who you are, what you’ve done, or where you’ve been, there is one thing that is consistent among all of us, and that is we have more to learn. Even after years of mastering a craft, innovation will introduce itself and change the landscape, thus, requiring us to adapt and expand our knowledge base. So, having the mentality to always keep learning is an essential step to self-improvement, because it is a requirement of progress.

And we are living in the most exciting time ever when it comes to access to information, so there are no excuses. The resources are endless and available at your fingertips. There are online schools, podcasts, YouTube, Udemy, e-magazines, ebooks, and social media platforms. The list is enormous. But, an important aspect to converting on those resources is to actively pursue them, which is a little more complicated.

To learn something requires your time, effort, and attention, and creating an environment that encourages you to invest in learning will help bring you toward learning activities. The best way to create those environments is through preparation.

For example, during your drive to work, tell yourself that you will listen to a book you have been trying to get through on audible three times a week. This prepared commitment to the task provides the extra kick of motivation to pursue that resource.

Or, if you’re looking to develop a trade skill, then purchase an online course, and set up a plan on how much time you want to dedicate toward developing that skill. I have done this with learning Photoshop, and the progress I have made is observable and extremely rewarding!

So, assume the mentality that values learning and challenging yourself to understand new things. But, don’t stop there. Create a plan to execute on that intention to learn, keep yourself accountable to that plan, and follow through. Something that has changed my life and helped hold me accountable is my goal sheet. My goal sheet is where I give myself points for a job well done and try to hit a target number of points every week across different goals.

The concept in this message is very important to understand, whether it applies to your life or helps you empathize with others’ lives. Fortunately for me, I had a comfortable upbringing and continue to live a comfortable life. But many people have the odds stacked against them and they feel discouraged to dream. That’s exactly how Morgan Freeman felt, until he broke through.

"I was born in Memphis, Tennessee. I had a long haul from where I came from to here, but here we are. Courage is the key to life itself. There are a lot of people who were born in situations where they think they will never get out of this, so they won't. To the people who say, man I could not get out of there, well, the bus runs everyday. If you can think of it you can do it. That is the human condition. If we can imagine it we can do it. I think that the condition of each individual can do it".

It is really interesting how he chose to use the word courage, because the assumption is that with courage there is fear. That fear often overrides our vision for the life we want to live, and causes us to settle into complacency. But one small step at a time, you can overcome your financial, relationship, or professional situation and inch your way toward your dreams. And it requires having the courage to allow yourself to dream!

If you’re listening to this podcast, it means you’re motivated to be better. Whether you want to achieve more, create legacy, or find happiness, you have that drive in you.  Well, pump the breaks a bit, because it’s important to think about the journey to your final destination, while not compromising your well-being.

This message comes from blogging expert Leslie Samuel. Let’s hear a bit from him, as he reflects on a moment when he realized he was pushing himself too far:

"I was trying to do it all. I was running the biology blog, I was running the cover blog, I was doing the P.H.D., I was doing the university professor thing, and everything was suffering. And then, at a certain point, it all came to a tipping point. I realized this is too much. I just had to come to that realization. I messed up many times, in terms of that balance. That work-life balance. That thing that everybody seems to talk about, but not everybody seems to fully reach. How do you avoid a trap? You try your best and constantly evaluate hey, 'what am I doing and is what I am doing getting me towards my ultimate goal?'. And if its not then it is time to re-evaluate".

Leslie goes on to talk about how after he realized and corrected his ways, he found more time to be with his son, and to do some of the things he really enjoyed but was neglecting. We all have something that we want to give more attention, maybe today is the day we start doing it!

If you want light to come into your life, do something interesting. It relates positivity to light, suggesting that positivity is similar to light in that it is ever present and easily accessible. Having that belief that you are surrounded by positivity helps attract it toward you. And it sets the stage for the second half, almost asking a question for you to begin thinking about.

Second, you need to stand where it’s shining. It demonstrates the decision in the statement, and the deliberate intent of choosing positivity. And it loops back around on the presence of positivity as light, stating that it’s shining and ready to be found if only you start looking for it.  

So, if you want light to come into your life, then you need to stand where it’s shining. Or loosely translated, if you want to find positivity in your life, then you need to choose to accept it.

I figured I’d share a lesson that my mom taught me. She taught me to respect others, to give more than you take, and to go through hell and back to let people know that you love and care about them. I can’t imagine the number of times she’s driven all day to be at an event to support me.

As you could expect, she taught me this through her actions, and how she consistently goes above and beyond for others in her life. She does it so often that it has become second nature to her, and it is contagious!

But let’s focus on one part that serves as the root for everything else, and that is love. She makes everyone feel supported and cared for, and is so good at creating moments for others to feel that love.

So, send love. It is so easy to do yet so under-delivered. Sending a text that you are thinking about someone, going out of your way to do something small for someone else, or leaving a note for someone to see are all small ways you can share love. And in each of those cases, the gesture makes the other person’s day, and is extremely appreciated.

So, be sure to send love to someone important today. Although I should send love every day to my mom, I want to send a little extra today.

Have you ever heard the expression, "there’s no such thing as a bad question"? Well, what do you think, does the same thing apply for ideas? I mean, there are some outright, bad ideas right? Although that may be true, bad ideas should be encouraged.

I was at a conference, and I had the pleasure to listen to a few amazing speakers. One of my favorite speakers at the conference was Travis Chambers, the founder of his own digital marketing agency Chambers Media, who shared a really interesting finding. Chambers stated that 70% of good ideas come directly after a bad idea.

Although I didn’t get the opportunity to learn more about his source on that statistic, he is an extremely credible thought leader and I believe him entirely. So, let’s think about what that stat means.

For one, it means that good ideas take time and iteration to be come upon. So, be patient and let the creative process work its course. Two, if following a linear thought pattern means that certain components of bad ideas are actually used in good ideas. So, they may be bad ideas as a whole, but they hold value fundamentally. Three, it means that when workshopping and exploring ideas, instead of limiting your imagination you should let it run wild!

A great way to practice coming up with creative, and inevitably “bad” ideas is to do some topic mixing. Take two random and completely unconnected words, and find a way to make the similar. For example, Water park toaster.

you’re right, it’s a bad idea. But good! Because that means a good one is coming next!

The graphic, which was shared by Simpluris Inc founder Troy Hoffman, is a pyramid divided into four layers, with the bottom layer being is the biggest and broadest, and the size decreasing as you near the top. These 4 levels correspond to the 4 stages of learning, which are unconcsious incompontent, conscious incompetent, conscious competent, and unconscious competent. Those might sound like complex thoughts, but think of each one individually.

So, the bottom of the pyramid is unconscious incompetent. This is an awareness issue where, “you don’t know what you don’t know”. The unconscious part means it doesn’t come to mind, and the incompetent part means you aren’t capable. And since most things in life fit into this category, it is the biggest on the pyramid.  

The next step up is conscious incompetent. This is where you know that it exists, and might even believe it is important to know or master, but you haven’t. It’s that you realize that you don’t know something, but could begin to learn it if you want.

Then, it’s conscious competent, where you have learned and are capable of doing something, but it requires effort and focus. Of our skills, this is most common because we have to be really deliberate about engaging with the skill.

And last, at the top of the pyramid, is unconscious competent, where you can perform without thinking of it. This isn’t necessarily flow state, but it’s the point where you can execute at a high level without even thinking about it.

The reason I ran through these different stages is because having self-awareness about your skill level is essential. Being honest with yourself, and performing the tasks that you are best at and best suited for, will help you be a better contributor for your team and make better use of your time.