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.

Last Second Negative Thoughts

Have you ever wanted to do something so badly, that you prepared night and day for it? You stayed up all night preparing for that moment, and we're excited about it for the past few weeks. You've read several books and watched videos on the subject matter. But once it's time to perform, you start to feel doubtful about yourself. You don't want to do it anymore, and you start freaking out.

What you're experiencing is your body's last line of defense against your imminent success. It happens when you're giving a big speech, starting a new business or even asking out that special someone on a date. You've already done everything you need to to prepare for this moment, but your body's not physically ready to jump out of your comfort zone. It almost feels as though your body is trying to make everything you're doing seem logical. This is not the case at all, and the best thing you can do is ignore all of your negative thinking, especially in those 30 minutes right before the event.

If you really want to be successful, you have to be able to perform under pressure, and the best way to do that is to stay confident and calm. When you're confident, you know in your Hard that you can achieve whatever you set out to do. When you're calm, you don't worry about failure and let it get in your head. The point is, that if you've prepared enough for something, then you are able to perform. Don't let your body stop you at the goal line, and push through the fear of failure!

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