I wanted to highlight a new friend of mine whose story I heard this weekend, and the reason I want to share it with you is because he is living proof of what’s possible for you. His name is Omar Elattar and he’s the host of The Passionate Few podcast and YouTube channel. 

Omar was in debt, in a job he didn’t like, and in a toxic relationship. When his girlfriend at the time broke up with him he hit a rock bottom but incredibly, he converted that anger and heartbreak into fuel that catapulted him into the next chapter of his life. He simply made the choice to take risks, create opportunity, and prove to himself and others what he was capable of. Years later he has interviewed and become friends with some of the most successful people in the world, and his mission is to inspire people like you that you can do it too. I say it a little differently but the message is similar - Yes you can!

What’s interesting about the word “passion” is it has unexpected origins. It’s etymology means ‘to suffer’, and when we think about passion we often see it in a more empowering and positive light. But was was clear in Omar’s story is that his passion was inspired by his personal suffering, and I think that’s true for a lot of people. Danette May calls it “turning your mess into your message”.

To be passionate is to be filled with emotion, to care deeply about what you’re experiencing, and I think as a collective it’s something we’re sorely missing. Many people can’t be bothered to care. They’re afraid of what they’ll discover, how they’ll be perceived, and what changes it might bring to their life. Through his work Omar encourages you to take yourself seriously, believe in yourself and what you’re capable of, and to live in a way that fulfills you because you’re giving it your all and not holding back! I know you are one of the passionate few.

To wrap this up let’s tap into this opportunity for you - What’s one things you've major experienced and how has that shaped what you’re most passionate about?

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.

Life is not easy. Inevitably you will encounter times that challenge you. In learning how to navigate situations that aren’t ideal, and managing your emotional state, you’ll be able to live the fulfilling and enthusiastic life you desire. With that in mind I want to illuminate a distinction between stress and overwhelm. While both involve feeling a sense anxiety and apprehension, they actually take subtly different forms.

First, stress is a normal physiological response. It’s our sympathetic nervous system getting activated to protect us. It’s the fight or flight response. Unfortunately that response isn’t activated only when exposed to physical threats, which was the intention, but also psychological, spiritual, and social threats as well. The overactivation of our stress response and having elevated levels of cortisol in our blood is actually responsible for many health issues. So managing stress is incredibly important, and at the end of the day, experiencing stress is natural but it is often out of place.

Overwhelm is an extension of stress. With overwhelm you’re feeling such significant levels of anxiety that it paralyzes you. Overwhelm is characterized by being so occupied with your circumstances, emotions, and realities that you cannot take action. The issue here is it creates a negative psychological loop that makes you more and more concerned, adding on more stress and anxiety, because you’re aware that you aren’t doing anything to relieve the situation. In that way it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy and a negative spiral.

To manage overwhelm you need to do something counterintuitive. Just stop. Breathe slow, calm the sympathetic nervous system, and don’t make yourself do anything. In this case the way out is to wait it out. Give yourself time and space to let the overwhelm not have such a strong hold over you. After recalibrating you will regain the ability to take action in ways that reduce the stress you’re feeling.

It’s not easy but it is doable. To reflect on this and be more self-aware today ask yourself this question - What stresses me out more often than it should?

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.

You’ve probably heard the expression “It’s better to ask for forgiveness than permission” before, but I think the most fundamental element of it isn’t completely understood. Not only that, but I think once we become aware of this underlying principle it can easily translate into many other areas of life.

The idea behind asking for forgiveness is that you’Ve committed to doing something. You’ve decided that it’s important to you, it’s the right decision, and despite the potential for consequences you want to move forward with it. What’s powerful about this is that the conviction and certainty you have about your next steps actually helps for that reality to materialize in your life.

The instant something comes to mind as an idea, or something that could be a part of your future, it becomes a possibility. When you commit to pursuing that possibility it then becomes a probability. By asking for forgiveness not only are you taking action to convert the possibility into a probability, but you’re increasing the likelihood that it will happen because you’re pursuing it without restriction.

With that understanding, where else can this concept apply? It’s saying things like “Thank you in advance” or “When I write my book…” which communicates certainty and an expectancy about the future. Your confidence about what will be in the future literally changes the odds of the present. And with better odds, you’re that much more likely to create the future you’re dreaming of.

With that in mind let’s integrate this into your life today - What are you committed to making happen? Say it to yourself as if there’s no doubt about it.

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.

I am a very regimented and organized person (if you couldn't already tell). I keep a tight schedule and I log / track my activity everyday. As part of that process I have very predictable morning and evening routines. To get into a good rhythm for the day it’s important that I incorporate my "bookends" to make sure I complete my routines. 

The reason this is top of mind is because last week I had a flight that was at 5:25 in the morning. Between ordering a Lyft, get to the airport, get through security, and make it to the gate on time I had a 3:15am wake up call. My routines are important but they’re not 3:30am important, at least they weren’t in this case. As disciplined as I am I’m not perfect! But what I did do is I made plans to complete my morning routine at the airport during my layover. So if you saw someone at Denver airport dancing to music in his ears, rolling around on the ground doing stretches, and making odd postures with his eyes closed as part of a meditation, that was me! While it didn’t look like it normally does, I got it done because it’s a priority for me.

I share this all for two reasons: 1) You are exponentially more likely to do something if you have allocated the time to do it. 9 times out of 10 the first hour of my day is reserved exclusively for my morning routine. I plan when I wake up and what else I’m doing for the day around the time I’ve set aside for my morning routine. You can be way more consistent with the things that are important to you if you decide in advance what you’re doing and when you’re doing it.

2) Life can be unpredictable and you’re going to need to figure things out on the fly. If you know what your priorities are then they can stay top of mind so that when opportunities arise, you can get it done. For example I didn’t plan to do the stretching. But then I had some extra time during the layover so I added it! And I’m really glad I did.

Enough about me, let’s make this about you - What’s the one thing you must do every day that you know is best for your health and sanity?

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.

Do you believe that all hours are the same? When it’s all said and done,  every human only has 24 hours in the day right? Well as I’ll explain, all hours are not equal and it’s our job to make the most of them.

It’s clear that some people get more done than others in the same amount of time, and it reminds me of something we’ve all learned at some point, “It’s not about the quantity, it’s the quality”. So if we want to be, do, and have more, without finding a supernatural way to bend time and create more hours in a day, we need to improve the quality of the way we’re spending our time.

That’s what personal development is! It’s investing in your personal abilities to have more quality in the things you do, more often. It increases your productivity, your efficiency, and if you think about it this way, your income. Take keynote speaking for example. Two different people could both give a one hour speech, but one person gets paid $1000 and the other gets paid $10,000. What’s the difference? The quality.

That’s why you’re told to invest in yourself. When you take the time to build skills, become self-aware, optimize your energy, whatever it is, you increase the quality of your output. You become in-demand because you can do something well that others need. You become more creative because you have perspective. You can focus better because you’re feeling better. Quality is something that needs to develop, and there are many indirect things you should be doing to pack more value into your hour. Steven Covey in “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People” calls this P vs PC: Production vs Production Capability. You must invest in your ability to produce, and I think a lot of people fail to see it through this lens.

To wrap this up let me ask you this - What areas of your life do you need to start investing in?

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.

There’s something I don’t quite understand about the world, and I don’t know that I ever will. There are many people throughout history who have been wealthy beyond measure, protected and safe from threat, in touch with the most influential people - They have everything. Yet they desire to continue imposing their will on others. And it comes at the expense of the well-being of so many people - They start wars, destroy villages, and cripple economies to acquire more power than they already have. For what reason? Again I will never understand, but all I know is it’s unfortunate.

While it may seem impossible to defeat these figures, there is one force that when harnessed can conquer even the most domineering of people. The legendary guitarist Jimi Hendrix put it best - “When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace.”

There is something about love that is so human, so visceral, that makes it the most influential force in the world. People are willing to put aside their own dreams and desires, and even sacrifice their own lives for someone they love or an ideal that they believe in. Love is the greatest expression of our spirit and when we allow ourselves to love unconditionally it becomes transformational in our lives and the lives of the people we care most about.

So if you want to be a part of this force, the army of love that can heal wounds and champion positive change, you need to embody love. And that starts within yourself, you can only love others as much as you love yourself. Because love is a spark that needs to first light inside you and then be spread in everything you touch.

It’s only through the power of love can we overcome the love of power, and make the world a better place. That’s what I want, and if you want to join me, then get self-aware and ask yourself this question - What is keeping you from loving more?

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.

I’m sharing a productivity mindset that will help you maximize your effort when done the right way. The core opportunity here is that we spend so much time doing things that are beyond the scope of what is absolutely fundamental to a task or project. It’s one thing to go above and beyond, and overdeliver, and it’s another thing to occupy yourself with doing extra things that are ‘nice to have’.

The lens I want you to try applying to the different deadlines you have in your life, and the question I want you to ask yourself is, “How can I cut the time in half?” When you do this a few really amazing things happen.

First, under the 'cut it in half' time constraints you’re imposing (that makes the task feel like more of a challenge to complete), you need to distill the task into its core responsibilities and deliverables. You don’t have time for the fluff or to delay, you need to take action immediately on the things that are most fundamental to your goal. To meet the task you’ll need to narrow your focus to only what is necessary, and in that way you gain great clarity on what’s essential and what’s not. This all takes place because of something called “Parkinson’s Law”, which is that your work will fill the time you’ve allotted to doing it.

What also happens is you’ll feel a sense of urgency to get your work done in less time, which makes you pick up your baseline pace overall. This faster pace will ripple into other areas of your life, and your heightened productivity will lift your efforts across the board.

So if you intentionally cut the time in half from what you are planning, you’ll find that you execute on the most fundamental pieces quickly. I understand that this isn’t always possible, so consider this mindset something you can use to improve the way you approach tasks rather than stretching yourself to meet even tighter deadlines. It will serve you in that it’ll make you think and act with more focus and intentionality.

So let’s apply it! What project, deadline, or goal do you have where you want to think about cutting the time in half?

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.

I feel like we’ve kind of got it backwards. Many people wait to feel a certain way to do a certain thing. You go and get a workout in when you feel energized. You make the difficult phone call, or string of sales calls when you feel confident. When you feel inspired you put yourself out there because there’s nothing that matters more than realizing your mission. It makes sense but let’s be honest here — How often do you naturally feel motivated or energized or inspired? Probably not as often as you’d like.

Like I said, we’ve got this backwards so let me flip this for you.

How often do you feel motivated when you’re working on something that you care about? How often do you feel energized when you’re in the middle of your workout? How often do you feel inspired after you have that light bulb moment? Just about every time!

You see, in all of those last examples what happened first is you took action and that influenced the way you felt. This is the more common and predictable order of operations — Mood follows action.

That means, when you don’t feel like doing something, starting to do it will make you feel like doing it. Your behavior works as a trigger to put you in the headspace you need to be in to execute the task. But if you wait to feel a certain way to take action, well it might not happen at all. And when that happens it leads to disappointment, self-judgment, and feelings of being stalled because you don’t do the things you want to do. You just can’t bring yourself to doing them.

This is something I’m really passionate about, and if you feel like this has affected you, I’d like to support you with it. I’ve created a program called the Better Habits Playbook that is designed to help you consistently take action on the things that are most important to you, even when you don’t feel like it.

Consistency is key and I’ve laid out a step by step plan so that you can be more consistent, disciplined, and ultimately set new limits for yourself and what you thought was possible. If this sounds like something you could benefit from, don’t hesitate. Fortune favors the bold!

Take your baseline habits to the next level at https://grow.selfimprovementdailytips.com/the-better-habits-playbook

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We’re all doing our best to pursue what we find meaningful. While it’s different from person to person we all have the same core process with the end goal of living life to the fullest. You’ve heard it before, "life is a journey, not a destination", but we all know that there are some more pleasurable destinations than others and we’d prefer to be there sooner than later. So naturally we try to accelerate the process and we want to find shortcuts in the path so that we can achieve and experience everything we desire.

With that in mind, there is a shortcut to life. There is a way to go about making progress on things that will get you to your destination faster than any other method. And that way is doing the work. The shortest distance between any two points is a straight line, and doing the work is your straight line. It is the optimized way, the key to quick success, the shortcut. 

There is nothing you can do that is more effective than taking focused action, that’s the truth, but there are two problems that hold people back and force them to take the long way: 1) Many people don’t know what they should be doing, and 2) Many people don’t want to do the work.

People think of shortcuts as being easy. I disagree, and I think something that is easy to do and might look like the shortcut is actually taking you somewhere else. Don’t fall for it and understand what truly is the fastest path to a better future. Apply yourself, step up, and do the work.

Let me take a step back and ask you this philosophically - Do you believe in shortcuts?

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