We have two outlooks of life: positive and negative. Or if you’d rather, the glass’s half-empty or half-full. We can be one of the other. We can’t possess them simultaneously. The outlook we have in life is infectious, not only for ourselves but to others. More than likely, you are who we thought you were. Humans are social creatures. The worst thing we can do is isolate ourselves from others. We tend to want to associate and spend time with like minded people: The Law of Attraction. We are the average of the five people with whom you spend most …
The sun is still waking up, but I’m up. I start to write my second blog post of the day before we’re able to play a game of catch outside. Waking up early has a habit of extremely productivity, for those who practice it. They say that morning birds are the productive people of society. They’re not wrong. Waking up early means starting our days when it’s calm, void of distractions, and as a way to jump starts our productivity. Above all, it adds time to our days. Waking up early – hours before sunrise – means we have extra …
We’ll have success once we want success as much as our next breath.
I’m not really one for sharing YouTube videos, mainly because most people are horrible [citation needed] at choosing which videos to shares. This video is not one.
The first time I watched that video, which I believe Entrepreneur.com featured in an article, I reflected on “as much as your next breath”. Few phrases resonate as much.
We’ve all had the experience that we must do one thing right now! that is more important than anything else. Our next breath when we’re underwater, finding a bathroom when we gotta go, or a gulp of water when we took a bite to eat too hot (okay, that’s flippant, but the point remains).
The same comes with success. Success – however you want to define it – does not come easy. To become really, really successful becomes even more difficult. We can’t show up at the door of success, knock on it, and expect to be let in — we have to break it open!
We have to plan, we have to execute, we have to spend more time away from family and friends to achieve what we want. It gets lonely. It becomes frustrating. It becomes isolating. It becomes a mental grind of everyday consistency when not everything goes right. To want success we have to really want success. We can’t sort of want success; we really have to want it. It has to permeate your soul.
We all know people who kind of want success. They wonder why they aren’t successful. Success does not come on a silver platter. Success, instead, comes on the top of climbing mountains, crossing rivers, and diving down trenches. We just can’t want success, we have to eat, breath, and sleep success.
Watch profiles about billionaires starting their companies, about how they made their fortunes. Their success was their next breath. When asked, how many say that if they had to do it over again they wouldn’t? That should tell you something about the level of dedication it takes to reach the top. To want success, we have to want it more than the next breath.
How do some people get so much done? They must have extra time in their lives! No, actually, no one days. Everyone has the same exact numbers of hours each day. Although, some people have much better time management execution than others. Knowing how to use our time wisely takes skill, practice, and execution. I have a friend, Chad, who says he never has “time to kill” because he always finds a way to productively use his time. If we think about that, that makes sense. A hour “to kill” per day becomes seven hours per week. A few minutes …
For all of my life, once I have a definiteness of purpose, it’s easy. Once I have made a decision to do something, I find that I’m already halfway done with the battle. I have only left to execute. One of Napoleon Hill’s principles is the concept of definiteness of purpose. With it comes the “burning desire” to accomplish what you want. He talks most specifically about careers, as his magnum opus is Think and Grow Rich, but the principle applies to our lives in general. Back when I wanted to backpacked, I read that the hardest part is deciding …
Do you have a lot on your plate? Do you feel overwhelmed to get started? Do you want to change your approach? Instead of tackling four or five things at a time, think of what’s the one thing that will help you more than anything else. It’ll get the most important task out of the way, and get the ball rolling for more productivity. This inspiration of productivity came from the fairly-new book The One Thing by Gary Keller. It’s magnificent. I’m not getting paid to promote it, but it’s an amazing book and if there’s one book to read …
How often are you stumped about what to do next? How often do you really wonder what you should be doing next? Instead, how often are you rationalizing putting something off? My guess is you probably know, but just don’t want to do it. So, are you really stumped, or do you just not want to do it? Maybe you are nervous about contacting your boss, contacting someone you’ve been referred to yet have never met, or maybe you just don’t really want to do it at all. I can honestly say there aren’t too many times I literally don’t …
Creating a new blog website is case in point #1 of building consistency. I had no consistency for my last website. It made no sense. I kind of put random things everywhere. It was unorganized. It looked like some kid from the ’90s slapped it together. I want a way to start blogging efficientl. I want to be able to write and put it online. I want consistency. How do you get to Carnegie Hall? Practice (graphic link). You get good from practice. Through practice you improve and become better. The easier it is to do something, the more likely …
This will be the last personal site that I create for myself (unless I can get a hold of lautenschleger.com). No more catchy, branding names, just my real name. My business brand? My personal brand? How about my brand? Acting different around different people? How about acting like me around other people? I created a website moniker of Achieving Millennial. I thought it’d be an online persona about someone who’s a millennial (great branding for my generation, by the way), and wants to achieve things. Intuitive enough. Catchy, but kind of embarrassing because it’s not about me, but what I …
