Work Hard/Play Hard: Finding the Balance

Some say in order to get the most out of your life, you need to spend every waking hour working towards your goals. Others say the true meaning of life is found in simple pleasures, and one should have a stress-free life to truly live to the fullest. However both of these extremes are better suited when there's an optimal level of both in your life. Yes, in order to achieve things in your life, you will have to work hard and make sacrifices, but you also need time to have fun and enjoy life. 

Being at either extreme will either make you very lazy or very overworked. If you work too much, you'll burn out and kill your motivation and passion. If you have too much fun, you'll lose your ambition to do anything, and won't accomplish much in life. The goal should be to balance your hard work with your fun. This is why many large companies provide their employees with a work-life balance. They understand that employees will be more motivated, satisfied and productive if they are given vacation time off and weekends to relax and recover. 

Some of us choose to work seven days a week with hardly any breaks. That may be the case when we have extremely high goals, but it can also be defeating. Working too many hours kills your efficiency and can actually inhibit your success. If you were to take at least one day, or one hour of each day, and spend it doing something you enjoy simply for pleasure, you'll be much more refreshed and ready to work hard when the time comes! So work hard today, stay motivated, but make sure to have fun! Taking the time to reward yourself with a break could be the most beneficial thing you can do for yourself.

Elliott Hulse Review: How to not give a F**k

Excuse the language in this one, but here Elliott Hulse provides a great insight on life. You may look at this title, and assume this is the opposite of motivation, but it is in fact the opposite. Essentially what Hulse is implying, is that you need to live your life the way you feel is right, not what others tell you to do. This video really impacted my life in a positive way, as I used to be someone who would literally lose sleep over other people's opinions of me. Now to say I've made a total 360, but I've certainly opened up much more than I have in the past. 

Hulse talks about the importance of remaining detached from the comments and opinions of others. I liked how he talked about his own experience creating his YouTube Videos. He'll often receive positive feedback, where people say "Elliott, you helped me turn my life around!" And Elliott is glad he helped them, but at the same time he doesn't let it get into his head. He understands the importance of detachment, and realizes he's just doing what he enjoys, and is glad that others can benefit from his videos. Other times, Elliott receives hateful, negative comments on his videos. Elliott is sorry they feel that way, but tries to stay detached from them. 

I loved how he went a step further with another, yet hypothetical example of this concept. He uses a great example of the hummingbird. The hummingbird represents you, following your passion or dream in life. Of course this is just a comparison, but Hulse talks about a hummingbird singing in the tree. One person yells that the hummingbird made his whole day! And another person yells that the hummingbird woke him up early, which pissed him off! Either way, the bird doesn't care, so he keeps on singing. That's just what the bird does. You need to realize, that like the bird, you have something or multiple things you want to do in your life. Unlike the bird, you instead choose to do what's comfortable and won't ruffle other people's feathers.

Remember that anyone who's one anything great, has been hated or judged by others. People voted against Abraham Lincoln. People judged Henry Ford. People thought Thomas Edison was an idiot. And still to this day, these people are judged for their success. People will always judge you, and they are likely doing so right now. Think about it. People you may be friends with or work with or even barley know might be judging you at this very moment. So people will judge you regardless of what you do, so you may as well do what you want. You may as well become successful and do what most others are afraid to do!

I want you to really think about this concept. Eat it. Live it. Breathe it. Don't just read this article and pass it by, I urge you to really try and detach yourself from the opinions of others. Only then will you truly be yourself. Only then will you be able to complete your life's work to the best of your ability!

HAPPY MONDAY!!

3 Types of Pain you Must Push Through

Throughout the course of your life you will be exposed to a lot of pain, especially if you're trying to be very successful. A key skill that will help you on your journey to success, is understanding how to deal with different types of pain. Here, I've divided the types of pin you will encounter int three broad catergories. Knowing how to manage each type when you encounter it will make you much less prone to failure or quitting early.

1) Physical Pain

This is most commonly talked-about pain. This is the kind of pain you literally need to "push through" if you want to be successful. This pain occurs when you're doing physical activity. The majority of motivational videos are based upon pushing through pain in the physical sense. Understanding the basis of physical pain is very simple, but it's not necessarily easy. It takes a lot of willpower to increase your physical pain threshold. That's why many Olympians and professional athletes are such a rare breed. Because they're not afraid to push through extreme physical pain. You have to stay focused on the destination and reward for not quitting. If you focus too much on the physical pain, you will not be successful.

2) Mental/Psychological Pain

Have you ever been studying for an exam or reading a book, and felt exhausted after a certain amount of time? Or been sitting in meetings or filing taxes/paperwork for an extended period of time, and felt exhausted? This is mental pain. That's why people who work at a desk all day can come home and feel tired. It's not because they are physically exhausted, but mentally and psychologically exhausted. You must understand that your ability to persist through this type of pain is essential to your success in this day and age. With the advancement of technology, you may have to be at your computer or laptop for hours on end in order to be successful. You have to be willing to persist and push through the pain!

3) Emotional/Spiritual Pain

Whenever you are rejected by others or turned-down for a certain opportunity, you will experience emotional pain. The reason this pain differs so greatly from that of the other two, is that we on't actively seek out this type of pain. This specific type of discomfort occurs when another person rejects or betrays you, which is entirely out of your control. Ever applied for a job and didn't get the job offer? How did it make you feel? Most likely, you were less inclined to apply for a different job from that same company. That's becasue you let the hiring manager break your spirit, and you gave up. The way to push through emotional pin, is simply to be persistent. Here, you'e not just fighting against your own willpower, but your fighting against other people's opinion of you. You have to be strong-willed her. Other people will be against you, but if you persist against the grain, you will be successful.

All in all, you need to be persistent in your pursuit of your goals. If you choose to push through the massive amounts of pain that will be throw your way, you'll eventually succeed. It won't be easy, and it won't happen overnight. You need to stay motivated over the long-term, and set our goals high.

Les Brown Review: Invest in Yourself

I try to post these early in the morning, but I was up late studying for my test last night. Today we'll be focusing on Les Brown, another fantastic motivational speaker. Les Brown is a great speaker and also a former politician and radio host. While he was in school, he was labeled "educable mentally retarded". 

It wasn't until later on, when he had a teacher call on him during class. Brown said he couldn't answer, because he was "educable mentally retarded". The teacher told him to never use those words ever again. From that point on, Les Brown took control of his life and began to put 110% effort into everything he did. 

In this video Brown focuses on how our inability to invest in ourselves, prevents us from reaching our full potential. The whole idea is to follow your personal dreams in life, despite the fear of failure and disappointments you'll encounter along the way. Life should be an adventure, not something you just wake up and go through the motions of. The more time and effort you invest in yourself, the more satisfied you'l be with your life. I hope you all enjoy, and happy Monday!

You Know The Right Decision

Every single day of your life, it doesn't matter who you are, you have to make several decisions. When you wake up in the morning, you make the decision to either press the snooze button, or turn your alarm off and get the day started. For breakfast, you make the decision to cook, get fast food, or even skip breakfast. You decide what to eat later on, which route to take to work, what time to leave for work, what you should do afterwards, etc. As a fully functional adult, you make decisions about literally everything you do in life. At first a lot of these decisions seem really difficult to make. But here's the crazy thing.

You already know the right answer.

You know exactly which of the two decisions will be the most beneficial. Obviously there are some decisions, like buying a house or car, that do require a lot of thought, but I'm talking about small decisions that can have a big impact on your life. Typically, one decision will feel pleasure now, and the other one will be more beneficial long-term. Almost every day, I have to decide between eating fast food, or eating something healthy. A lot of times it feels like a tough decision, but deep down, I know the right decision is to get the healthy food. 

I'll often try to justify that the fast food will be cheaper, taste better and probably have more calories in it. But I already know the right answer is to get the healthy meal. 

You already know it's better to workout rather than sleep in. You already know it's better to not buy the new iPhone the day it comes out. The problem is, your making decisions based on your own biological desires, rather than what you know is best for you. That's why it's so easy to say you'll do something tomorrow, because you're trying to satisfy your biological desires, before your life's desires.

Next time you're forced to make a decision, remember to make the one that's best for you in the long-term. Your body may tell you to get the tasty cheeseburger, but your mind always has the willpower to make the right decision. 

You just have to execute.

Workout Multiplayer Card Game

We all have goals in our lives, and one of the most popular is to get in better shape. While very few people are able to commit to this, making it into a game seems to make hard work a lot more entertaining. We've all heard of the deck of cards workout (from my video from a few weeks back), but here's a sample game you can play with a group of friends. We're always more motivated when around other people, so this is a great competitive game which involves a lot of positive feedback and pressure. Give it a try!

- Pick a workout move (push ups, sit ups, squats, etc)

- First Player picks a card from the shuffled deck of 52

- That player may choose to either do the number of reps on that card or draw again

- If the player draws a higher card, the person to the left has to do the number of reps on the second card

- If the player draws a lower card, they have to do all the reps on the lower card PLUS the number of reps on the originally drawn card

- If the same number Card is drawn, BOTH PLAYERS have to do the total number of reps on BOTH CARDS
- All face cards are worth 10 reps, Aces are 25 reps, and each Joker is 50!

- The next player draws, and the process continues until the whole deck is finished

- Shuffle them again and pick a new workout move

- Continue this cycle until you're fully exhausted 

Having vs Earning

Bill Gates' first-born daughter, Jennifer, has $20 million to her name. She is only 20 years old and hasn't even finished college yet. You could say she has a lot of money, and that would be an understatement! At age 20, she has more wealth to her name than most of us will in our entire lives.

Meanwhile, John Fischer, the Founder and CEO of Stickergiant.com, owns a company with a net worth of $10.2 million, only half of what Jennifer Gates has. As crazy as this may seem, who do you think appreciates their wealth more? 

Is it the one who has more to her name?

Is it the one who had to go out on his own and build his wealth?

You can probably see where I'm going with this. While Gates has more economic spending power, Fischer likely appreciates his money since he had to work for it. Nothing against Gates (I'm sure she was raised right by her high-achieving father), but simply having something will not motivate you to action. When you're accustomed to receiving things for no reason, you begin to feel entitled, rather than appreciative. When you have to work hard to get something, it creates a mindset inside you where you tend to achieve success, rather than simply beg for the prize at the end. 

Tony Robbins covers this concept in one of his website articles. By rewarding yourself only for accomplishments, you'll end up rewiring your brain to relate positive emotions to personal success. This is why Alcoholics Anonymous rewards members with chips for being sober. It's also why individual teams or companies give trophies or medals to their own members. A lot of times, the best way to do this is to create external stressors that will force you to act.

Food for thought:

What if you rewarded yourself for your hard work, rather than treating yourself for something insignificant?

What are some things you're looking to achieve in the near future?

How can you use incentives and reward yourself for milestone accomplishments?