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!!

Build Some Momentum

In order for a car to go 100 miles an hour, it must first go 20 miles an hour

Before someone can bench press 300 pounds, they must bench 135 pounds

Before you can run a marathon, you must first run a mile.

Before you can be successful, you must build some momentum

Everyone who is successful at anything was once just getting started. The important thing however, is that you DO get started! What is it that you've been putting off? I don't care what it is or how long you've been putting it off. It doesn't even matter why you've been putting it off, because more than likely you will feel much better once you finally take that first step. At the very least get your feet wet. 

I've spent so much of my life simply doing what was required of me. Going to work, going to school, filing my taxes, etc. And during this time I had goals. I had goals that I really really wanted to achieve in my life. But I never took any steps to get there. Now, one of my big goals is to be a motivational speaker. Instead of thinking up ideas and even creating doubts in my mind, I decided to start this blog to build some momentum. Sure, I may not be a motivational speaker yet, but I'm much closer to becoming one than someone who never did anything to reach their goal.

Similarly, I got extremely out of shape during 2016. It wasn't entirely my fault, because I hurt my chest and was unable to workout. And being so out of shape, it was intimidating for me to go back and try some tough workouts. So what did I do? I built momentum! I started by doing a 30 minute workout every single day. There was no pressure to perform, my only goal was to get a single workout in no matter how tired I was. Eventually, I got myself to the point where I could do longer, more intense workouts. And now, I'll be doing my first triathlon this coming Sunday!

You see it's not at all about being great to begin with. Nor is it about going all out on the first try. It's more about building momentum. Momentum is built through persistence. Persistence is built through will power. And that all begins with YOU. Making the decision to act, and work towards your goals.

Video Review: Who Do I Need to Become?

I'll be honest, I was planning on using a different video for Monday Motivational. I initially had an Elliott Hulse video planned, and he'll certainly be featured here soon. But that was before I came across this one, and I feel as though this one is more relevant. I also liked how the first minute of this video had me hooked with the line "who do you want to be tomorrow? The guy who quit? Or the guy that kept going?"

This video features two speakers, Freddy Fri and Chris Ross. I hadn't previously heard of either of these speakers before, but after watching this video I definitely need to listen to more of their speeches. I personally loved the unique insight this video brought. Most motivational videos I've come across have focused mainly on the present moment, and the challenges you'll have to face. This video however, focuses on tomorrow. It's not about waiting until tomorrow to get to work, but more about how you will feel about yourself in the future if you choose to act today.

Every single decision you choose to make will affect your future. You choose to go to the gym this morning? Then you'll be more inclined to do so in the future. You choose to wake up at 5AM today? Then you'll be more productive and better prepared for the future. You choose to go to a networking event? That might land you a great business opportunity in the future. 

You must realize that every opportunity you have is significant to your future. It may seem like no big deal to skip your workout, call in sick for work, or sleep in late one day. But it is a huge deal! While it may not seem that way, the decisions you make today, especially the really difficult ones, will determine who you'll be in the next month, year, and further in the future. 

I want to leave you all with this one thought before you go about your day:

Even if you have the best thoughts and ideas, but don't put them into action, you will achieve nothing. An average thought plus execution, is worth much more than a genius thought that was never put into action. Make the decision to act today. It will make you a better person tomorrow. 

Happy Monday!

How to Give 120% Effort!

A lot of times you'll hear motivational speakers, coaches, or other influential leaders talk about putting 110% or 120% effort into whatever you're working towards. On the surface, this may seem like a good phrase to use when motivating a group of people, but in a factual sense it's only physically possible to give 100% effort, right? When you give 100% effort, you're literally giving all you have, right? 

Wrong

You see, when you give 100% effort, you're actually putting in as much effort as you THINK is possible. The issue that most of us have, is that we put mental limits on our ability to do things. We naturally leave 20% of our ability in "storage" and never truly put in as much effort as possible when we go 100%. The reason for this is biological. It's never evolutionarily helpful to exhaust 100% of your energy or abilities, because you may need that extra 20% later on to survive if you're a hunter-gatherer. 

Today however, this evolutionary trait screws us over, because we naturally don't put in that extra 20% effort unless we can tap into it. So by saying you'll give 120%, you're mentally going above and beyond what YOU THINK your true abilities are. People who put in 100% effort say "I'm going to try my absolute hardest to win this game". Those who put in 120% effort say "I will win this game, no matter the cost!"

Think about it as if you're running away from a school shooter, dangerous animal, etc. I don't care how tired you are, you WILL not stop running from this threat until you reach safety. I know this is an extreme example, but when your life is in danger, that's one of the only times where we naturally can break that 100% mental barrier. You need to have that same mindset with whatever you're doing. Pretend your life is at stake.

In the past, most of us (myself included) have been putting in 70-100% effort, thinking we're doing all we can. Today, I want you to trump that 100% barrier. Put in 120% effort into whatever you set out to do today! Don't simply try your hardest, but find a way to make your goals and dreams a reality. 

No mater the cost!

Off Days

Ever have one of those days where you feel awful? And know matter how important something may be to you, you're still not motivated to do it? That was me yesterday. 

I set my alarm to get up early, as usual. Except this time, I didn't wake up right away. This time, I decided to press the snooze button a few times, and wake up only when I absolutely needed to. I didn't do my Monday Motivational video as usual. To finish up, I didn't get my workout done, I took a mid-day nap, and before I knew it I had wasted the entire day away!

We've all been there. We've all had those lazy days where we can't find the motivation to get anything done. But what can we do about it? How can we recover from such a day, or even a week in some cases?

Of course the best thing to do would be to use your willpower to push through the pain of the day. By doing so, you'll end up doing much more than you initially planned, and you'll feel good about yourself afterwards! The problem is, this won't always be the case. Some days you will fail. Some days you will disappoint yourself. And the worst thing about these days, is they get into your head. When you take a full day and waste it doing hardly anything productive, that can mess with your head and reduce your motivation going into the future! So the best thing to do after an off day, is to follow it up with a Rebound Day!

By the time 8:00 or so rolls around and you've done nothing productive, it's time to call the day off, and start preparing for your rebound day. Rebound days are meant for you to catch up on everything you skipped the day before, and essentially get as much done as you can in your life. Make today your rebound day! Step outside your comfort zone. Get a tough workout in. Wake up at 5AM. Be super energetic and friendly all day. Don't be afraid to do anything on your rebound day! Today is my rebound day, and I will make the most of today. 

How about you?

Ways to Deal with Stress

Stress is what that occurs when we are exposed to uncomfortable situations in life. All of us have stress in our lives, but how do we deal with it? Some people choose to live stress-free by abandoning hard work, and having no real ambition in life. Others may use drugs and alcohol to reduce stress. But is there a healthy way to eliminate stress in my life? If you want to be very successful in life and have big goals, you will have to deal with a lot of stress regardless. However, there are ways to significantly reduce this stress to prevent the negative impact on our bodies.

1) Smile more often

Very simple, and extremely effective. Studies show that when you smile, you release endorphins that make you feel more optimistic and happy about life in general. Yet, so often you'll see people walking around every day with a depressed, angry or neutral look on their face. They're only creating their own stress, and you can make your day 10x better my remembering to smile often. And when you're enjoying your day, then you're bound to be less stressed and more productive.

2) Increase your social/speaking skills

Ironically, when I started focusing on my ability to communicate more effectively, I felt much less stressed. The reason this works is because when you are confident in your ability to communicate, you worry less about everything you're saying. And less worrying means less stress. It does take time to develop these skills if it's not your strong suit, but it will diminish your stress levels, and will make you more effective in reaching your goals. So this one is a win-win scenario. 

3) Have fun regularly

This goes along with smiling, but you need to have fun every so often. Whether it's going to a sporting event, watching a good movie, or having a fun conversation, you need to have fun if you want to reduce stress. So many of us are focused on the negative in life, that we forget to enjoy what we're doing. This is the case, because we live in such a negative society. Angry clients, demanding bosses, and upset customers that we constantly deal with create this negative environment for us. Having fun regularly can and will counteract this feeling, and make you feel more positive about life, making you less stressed. 

Remember, you're a human being with feelings, emotions and needs, and you need to treat yourself as such if you want to stay in good health and be productive.

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.