Darcy Curry, Author at Author of Your Own Story

Show Up

Now, today’s topic, Just Show Up, applies to all of your Five to Thrive. I was listening to an interview by Bo Eason; now, he’s a former NFL football player, renowned actor, and playwright. Bo was talking about how he was never the most athletic person, he was never the best of the best. And we’re talking about NFL athletes, you’re talking about the greatest, right? And he played with people like Jerry Rice for example, and Joe Montana. But Bo is saying is, one thing that he always is, he showed up. Not only did he show up, but he always showed up early. He was one of the first guys in the locker room, or so he thought, and I’ll tell you about that in a second. He was also the last to leave.

Now, you’ve heard this before, but Bo drives this point home in what he defines as his rules of success, and he passes this on to his kids. He tells his kids, “Look, you’ve just got to show up, no matter what you want to do. Do you want to play the violin? You show up early, you practice longer, and you stay later. You show up each and every time. What, you’re not the best on your basketball team? Show up. Show up every day, consistently. The coaches will notice, they’ll take more interest in you, and they’ll actually give you more time, more energy.”

And this is the same with school and teachers, right? When you show up to class, if you’re a college student, and if you’re past college or high school you know this to be true. You have a personal connection with that teacher, and they’re going to say, “You know what? Doug showed up before class, Doug showed up to the team meetings, Doug showed up to office hours. So if he’s wavering between an 87, 88, maybe I’ll just give him that A.” That happens a lot.

Just showing up also reinforces what you want to do. I show up for these each and every day, for these Daily Growth Hacks. I show up to give of myself, and hopefully, I’m getting a little better, I’m definitely getting more comfortable. It’s just a matter of showing up and showing up consistently.

Now, Bo talks about him showing up, and this is a story that was recounted to me. My college soccer coach was an NFL lineman, and he told the same story that Bo tells. So, what Bo says is, what happened every time Jerry Rice is playing football, or even at practice I should say, at the warmups, he does a play and then he keeps running to the end zone. Bo’s seen him do this time and time again. Most players, they run a route, catch the ball and they drop it or toss it back, and walk back gingerly. But not Jerry Rice. Jerry Rice catches the ball whether he’s at the 10, the 40, wherever he is on the football field, he runs that play all the way to the end zone. When Bo asked Jerry a question, “Why do you do this?” Jerry said, “Bo when these hands catch a football, they end up in the end zone.”

My soccer coach relayed this story to me back when I was playing soccer, and to our whole team. He said Jerry Rice was the hardest working football player he’s ever met. In fact, when he would run routes oftentimes in practice, he’d run that same route twice. He’d run the route, catch the ball, and then rerun the route again. Again, as everybody else walked back slowly. Jerry would say, “Look, I’m probably not naturally the most athletic. I’m probably not the person that everybody would have picked to be a superstar, but I show up each and every time. I not only show up, but I push the limits. I do that little extra, that and then some. Or that 1% extra difference. That really makes the change in all of our lives.”

Where are you showing up? Where are you not showing up? Both are very important to know. Where are your Five to Thrive, you just need to show up. You just need to check into the gym. I used to say this to my fitness clients, where I would train them remotely. “Look, all I want you to do is six days this week, check into your gym. I don’t care if you work out. Check-in, turn around and leave if you want to. Doesn’t matter to me.” You know why? Because I know if you go and you check into the gym, odds are you’re going to work out. Odds are you’re going to put in some effort. Odds are you’re going to get benefits. Because you’ve already done the hard part. You showed up. Showing up is 90% of the game. You’ve just got to show up.

I use the same with my coaching clients. You have to show up for the calls or I drop them as clients. I don’t care what they’re paying or what their rules are. You have to show up and you have to show up for yourself. If you’re not showing up for yourself, you can’t be the author of your own story. This is really important. Many of us show up for one or two, maybe three categories of our Five to Thrive often. These are the things we show up for, the things we are interested in. They’re the things that we’re good at. What’s more important is that you show up for the things that you’re not good at. You show up for those little things that you don’t really enjoy.

When you start showing up for them, whether it be with your body, or with your mind, if you don’t like reading, you just start reading every day. I know one of you listening to this regularly does this. You show up every day because you know it’s going to change. You know that maybe five, six months from now, you’re going to love reading. Maybe it’s hard for you now. Maybe it takes a long time and you get tired, but every day it gets a little bit easier because you’re showing up and you’re showing up regularly. What I want you to do is grab your journals, write out your Five to Thrive, and write up which areas are you not showing up and where in particular are you not showing up fully. Are you not really putting out? Be honest with yourself. Why aren’t you showing up?

Next, to that, I want to know what can you do to show up? I’ll use the gym again. In the gym, you just have to show up, check in and leave. Make it as simple as that for yourself. Maybe I’m just going to strap on my running shoes at 5:00 in the morning, and I’m going to go outside and jog around my block. If I decide to go further, great if I don’t that’s fine too. I can always come home. Maybe that’s showing up for you. Maybe in your mind, you’re like someone who writes into me regularly and tells me about what they’re doing. They’re reading 20 minutes every day. They hated reading before. They wrote it, I think it was probably two, three months ago, and at this time I’ve seen an email from them two weeks ago, and they’re actually enjoying it. They’re finishing books and it’s driving them forward.

Where in your relationships are you not showing up? Not showing up for your spouse, your significant other. Maybe it’s coworkers or friends. What can you do right now to show up for them? What about your business? Wow. Where are you not showing up in your business? Oftentimes we like one thing. Maybe we love sales, but hate the admin or love the admin and hate the sales. Where are you not showing up? Are you showing up as an effective leader? Where is it for you?

In your soul. Where are you not showing up? Are you not going to your religious ceremonies, are you not meditating? What are you now showing up as? What I want you to do is take action. Every time you have an insight, whatever that insight might be, at that site of the insight, is the time to take action. Maybe it’s a small thing, maybe it’s setting an alarm on your clock. Maybe it’s calling a friend. Maybe it’s something really small. Maybe it’s just driving to your gym right now. Just checking in and walking away and saying, “Look, dad, this was too easy.” I bet you’ll show up in a bigger way each and every time.

Also what I want you to do is build your tribe. I can’t tell you how important this is. I know I tell you every single day, but I’m going to keep on hounding you until you start doing it more often. Share this with three other people and start conversations that matter. Start conversations that are going to fill you up and carry you to a bigger level. Share this with your children. Share this with your loved ones, share this with your coworkers, share this with your friends. It’s just a great way of having communication and energy at such a higher level. It’s going to lift you up. It’s also going to lift them up in ways that you don’t even see now.

Also go over to authorofyourownstory.com if you haven’t already and get the newsletter. Get on the newsletter right now so you can have increased value delivered to your email inbox on a regular basis. We don’t spam you. You can unsubscribe at any time. I guarantee you’re going to get value from these emails. If not, you can write me in and yell at me and that’s fine too. But you definitely do that. And of course, last but not least, make sure you’re going out and you’re being the author of your own story. There’s nothing more important than that. Have a great day.

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What if you were the CEO of your life?

Now, it’s no secret that my private coaching clients are mostly business owners. Now, one thing we commonly talk about is how great their business is. They have key metrics in every area of their business if it’s running well. Now, one thing I often talk to them about is, why aren’t you running the rest of your life as if you were the CEO of your life? And this usually takes them back. They usually wonder, “well, wow, I never thought of it that way.”

Now, this is something I came up with years ago, and it certainly isn’t mine. I’m sure I got it from someone else. But I used to write in my journal, every day, “I am the author of my own story and the CEO of my own life.” And the reason I chose those two topics back then, was because they actually gave me the frame of reference, right? The frame of reference that I could write my own story, write into my future, but I could also be the CEO, right? I ran multiple companies and still do today. So I understand the roles of a CEO, and I’m always learning from CEOs that are much better than I am.

Now, how can I actually run, as the CEO, as if my five to thrive, each category was a different company or a branch of the companies that I work in? Now, if you don’t own your own company, that’s fine. You understand the concepts, right? So, what if you were the CEO of your mind? The CEO of your body. Would you run your body the way you are today? Would you choose to have the nachos, or would you pass on them today, for the future? Knowing what your goals are.

Now, what about your relationships? If you were the CEO of your relationships, what would you give you? Would you fire yourself, or hire yourself? Now, this is a weird question and could be very abstract, but at the same time, what I want you to do is get into that mindset. If I was actually the CEO, if I was in charge of making sure I hit my goals in these areas, would I actually hire me, or would I hire someone else to run this department, this Doug Holt relationship department, or the Doug Holt spiritual department, or the Doug Holt body, or mind, or business department? Whatever it may be.

Now, if the answer is, “I would rather hire someone else,” then what I want you to do is, who else would you hire? Seek them out as mentors. Seek them out as people that you can learn from, so you can actually have control, so you can become the author of your own story.

So what I want you to is really simple. I want you to grab your journal, and write out your five to thrive. And in each of those categories, I want to know, is if you were CEO of that category, you were responsible for millions of people’s businesses, their lives depended upon you, as long as this category was thriving, right? Would you hire, or fire yourself? And just be honest.

Now, again, if you’d hire yourself, kudos to you, you’re running a great job, and just keep going. Now, if you would fire yourself, and I’m guessing many of us would, who would you hire in place? If you don’t know who that is, I want you to find that person. Now, if you do know, a couple names come to mind, let’s say it’s in the body. Maybe it’s someone you look up to at your local gym, or maybe it’s somebody you look up to online, maybe it’s your gym owner, or your fitness professional, your personal trainer, or whoever, and I’ve got a million suggestions if you need one.

Now, write those people down. I want you to have a maximum of five people in each category, no more than five. Who are those top five people you would interview for that position? Now what I want you to do is find out how you can become more like them. And I’m not saying just imitate them, although that’s important, but what are those characteristics in them that will cause you to hire them for that particular position?

So, again, if we’re talking about the body, you write down your five people, your five mentors, so to speak, or the five people that you would consider hiring, and the reasons you’d want to hire them. Now, bonus points are sought these people out as mentors. Seek these people out. Now, mentors, some of them can do it for free, for coffee, some of them are happy to help, and some of them charge you, right? This is what coaching is about, and some of them charge you, not because they even want the money, and this is a news flash to some people, but some charge because they want you to be invested. When you’re invested, you have skin in the game, and that makes you push to a higher level.

So write down your five to thrive, write down people you would, would hire, would you fire yourself? If you would fire yourself, who would you hire? Why would you hire them? And I want you to, bonus points, seek them out as mentors. Remember, you are the author of your own story and the CEO of your own life. Run it great, run it well, and really go after those things. Go after those little things in your life that you really want. You deserve to have it all.

Now, of course, I’m gonna ask you to share this with three people right now. The first three people that come to mind. I want you just to go outside your comfort zones and share it, and start conversations that matter. Start building your tribe. Also, if you haven’t already, right now, go over to author of your own story dot com, and make sure you get on our newsletter. Sign up for our newsletter so you can make sure you’re getting more tips, tricks, and also more insights into becoming the author of your own story, so you can accelerate this path, this journey that you’re on.

That’s it for me today, have a great day, remember, go out and be the author of your own story.

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Revisit: Case of the Mondays

Today I’m going to talk a little bit about your soul, and kind of in an abstract point of view. Now, if you’ve ever seen Office Space, you know when the woman talks about it. She says, “Oh, you’ve got a case of the Mondays.” Or something along those lines. Now I love the movie, and I haven’t seen it in awhile, but it always plays in my head when I heard somebody complain about the work week coming up.

Now a typical work week, Monday through Friday, and I know a lot of you listening are already living the author of your own story lifestyle, and have created a lifestyle outside of that typical work week. But I also see on social media, as well as talking to friends, that they talk about, “Ah man, the weekends over. Yeah.” They’re so bummed, and they’re bummed because they’re going back to work, and they’re actually depressed. To think about it, they actually only get two days of happiness, two days to look forward to out of a seven day week. That means five of those days, the majority of their week is something that they actually aren’t looking forward to. This is science, this is a problem.

If you find yourself waking up on Monday having a case of the Mondays, and yeah, of course, we all have them from time to time. It might not be Monday, it could be Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday even. But if you wake up in the morning and you’re regularly having a case of the Mondays, this is something that you need to look into. This is a sign. this is a breadcrumb on the road to life if you ask me. this is a sign that you need to take a 90-degree pivot and go a different direction. this is a sign that you need to step up and truly be the author of your own story. If you’re having a case of the Mondays, I can tell you right now, you aren’t being the author of your own story.

Now I’m not here to put you down. What I’m here to do is just put a mirror in front of you as a reflection and let you know, “Hey look. If you’re not doing what you love, you should be doing something different.” A perfect example is Billy who edits these videos for us. An amazing man. He took a 90-degree pivot. He wasn’t happy at his job and really wanted to do video editing. He does a fantastic job at it. We’re so lucky to have him on our team. Just like you, I’m going to ask you, where in your five to thrive are you having a case of the Mondays? Is it in your mind? Do you not want to learn that language, or do you not want to read that book? Maybe that book or that language isn’t really calling to you, and why do you want to do it?

Or is it your body? Do you wake up on a regular basis just hating working out? Maybe you should pick a different form of exercise, or maybe you just absolutely hate your diet. Well, change it up. There are a million ways to get to your end goal. Your soul, I know so many people that I talk to in my coaching life or just even other coaches that I just have conversations with that hate meditation. Then why are you doing it? There’s a lot of ways to calm, relax the body. What is the outcome you’re looking for? If you’re using meditation in this example, just relax. There are things like box breathing, going for a walk, there are all kinds of alternatives that are out there.

Maybe it’s relationships, maybe you have a case of the Mondays so to speak because of it actually … Your case of the Mondays happens on Saturday ’cause you’re home with a significant other that you don’t love anymore. What are you doing to spark that relationship? What are you doing to step forward? What could possibly be missing? Maybe it is time to cut ties, who knows? Or your business. Maybe you’re a business owner and you have a case of the Mondays because it’s too much work, or your employees aren’t doing enough. Are they really not? Very rarely is it employee’s fault. Usually, falls into the hands of the business owner, or you’ve lost that passion. That passion for what you do.

Hey, there’s sometimes when you just need to put the work in, and that’s okay. But knowing the difference between a case of the Mondays, and actually just having to step up. What I want you to do right now. Pull out your journal, write down your five to thrive. Your mind, your body, your soul, your relationships, and your business. Write down any place you’re having a case of the Mondays. Now I want you to do, right now in this moment, is take action and change it. Do one small thing to make that 90-degree turn, and make that change.

If it’s your body, reach out to somebody else. Maybe you don’t like working out in the way you’re doing it, do yoga, do Pilates, try something else. Run, get together with friends, play sports. Whatever it is for you. Maybe it’s your job. Maybe you just hate the place you work. Well, then what I want you to do is find five reasons you’re grateful for that place. Find five things you love about it, and focus on those five. During that time, look for a pivot. Look for a different alternative for yourself. Maybe it’s your paradigm, or maybe it is the place you work. I don’t know. Write down those five to thrive. That’s where it all starts.

That’s it for me today. I really hope you don’t have a case of the Mondays. If you do, go over to TheAuthorofYourOwnStory.com community. There are plenty of people just like you here to cheer you up, and also give you a little kick in the butt. Come join the tribe.

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Revisit: Balance

Today’s topic is balance.

Throughout my life, my balance has been up, down, or all around, as it is for almost all of us. It’s a topic that is talked about in both personal development, self-help, business, and even religious courses. Balance is just critically important to human nature. We all know it, but often times we’re just out of balance. I certainly have been. There have been times in my life when I’ve been so focused on relationships that my business or personal goals have gone to the sidelines. Or I’ve been so focused on my health and fitness, that actually my relationships have suffered. Or perhaps my spirituality or my mental development. I know for me, as an athlete growing up, physical fitness was always extremely important. Now, this ended up helping my relationships but my spirituality actually suffered. That’s where I put on the wayside. So I was really out of balance and not really feeling fulfilled.

So something we talked about a lot in Author of Your Own Story is called the “Wheel of Balance.” And, so what I want you to do, and we talked about this a lot more in depth, if you’d like to go over to www.authorofyourownstory.com and check that out. It’s available in our free 7-day course on how to become the author of your own story. But real quick, I want to talk about just laying out that wheel about balance.

So, what I’d like you to do, if you have the time right now, is draw a large circle on a piece of paper, so make it about, you know, about six inches in diameter. Now, once you have that circle, I want you to divide it up into five equal pie pieces. So, you’re going to go ahead and make a line and divide it up into five equal parts, and then starting at the center of that circle, put a zero, and then make a hash mark on each line going from one to ten. So, the first hash mark going out of the center of the circle would be a number one, the second hash mark would be number 2, 3, etc. And that’s the final end of the circle where you actually drawn the circle. That last line, make that the number 10. Now, as you can imagine this wheel here so to speak is going to be like a wheel on a car. Now, imagine if that wheel’s rolling around and it’s full, and everything is great. You’re going to have a smooth ride through life and this is what we want for you.

But often times, this isn’t the case. So, what I want you to do in each of those five wedges that you have, I want you to write down a different word. So, the first one I want you to write the word “mind,” then the second wedge, go ahead, and put “body” then the third, put “soul,” for the fourth, we’re going to put “relationships,” and for the fifth you’re going to put “business.”

Now, if you’re not involved in business or don’t have one, go ahead and put goal to something in your life that’s really driving you or you’re striving towards. I should say now that in each of those areas, I want you to think about it so in the area of mind, “How are you progressing right now how balanced are you with your mind with that what does that mean to you? Are you reading every day? Are you developing your mind? Are you strengthening your skills?” For a lot of people, let’s say that’s maybe it’s a six. Maybe you’ve kind of neglected it since school. You haven’t really done your own educational program. Maybe, the daily grow hack is bringing you up, so maybe it’s a seven or eight. Go ahead and make a line right on that hashtag from seven and connect it to the other seven. So, again, if you have a wedge coming through there, that seven is going to connect.

If you’re listening to this on audio, again, just go over to www,authorofyourownstory.com and you can find that wheel balance on there. You can see exactly what I’m talking about. Again, you’re going to do this for the next one. So, go ahead and do this for “body.” Now, the body is obviously health. Are you working out? Are you having a green smoothie every morning like I recommended? Are you drinking a glass of water when you wake up? Are you taking care of your health and fitness? Maybe it’s a 10 and that’s fantastic. Maybe it’s a 2. Maybe you’re just starting this journey. I don’t know, whatever it is for you, that’s okay. But go ahead and connect those lines connect those hashtags.

Now, we’re going to move on to the soul. Where are you with your spirituality? Whatever that means to you, maybe it’s meditation, maybe it’s going to church or maybe synagogue. whatever it is to you, go ahead and rate yourself on a scale of one to ten on where you are with that.

Then, of course, relationships now. This could be relationships with a significant other, a partner, friends, family. We’re going to take relationships as a whole. Again, we’re going to rate that from a scale one to ten. Go ahead and connect those hash marks.

And then, we’re going to go on lastly for number five, which is going to be your business. Again, if you’re maybe a student, your business is being a student. So, how are you going towards the goal or achieving that goal that you really set yourself for? If you’re not a student and you’re not in business, maybe it’s something else that you want. If you want to buy a house, whatever it is, for you pick that major goal, and mark there. How balanced are you? Are you actually working towards that? Is your business thriving? Are you getting A’s in school? What is your focus there? Go ahead and connect that dot as well.

So, now you should have this big circle with the five wedges that almost look like pizza wedges and then lines connecting the wedges together. They’re all going to be all over the place. of course right? So, the three connects to the other three or etc. If that’s in there, now I want you to shade those in. Now, go ahead and shade that in for each of the wedge all the way down to the zero, and what you’re going to notice is unless you have all tens or all fives or all the same number across all five of your key areas, your wheels going to be out of balance. If you put that wheel on your car, for most of us, it’s going to be a bumpy ride, and this is not what we’re looking for. So, now that you have this goal here. How can you up level in each of these areas where you can actually have solid balance? So, for example, if your business is a 10 but your relationships are 3, and every other area may be is an 8, You obviously know which area you need to get more balanced in. That’s going to be relationships, in this example, and this is going to be critical.

We’ll talk about this a little bit more in future episodes but start with this wheel of balance. What I’d like you to do is go over to the Author of Your Own Story community and let us know what your numbers are. There’s no judgment here. We’re all here to help each other grow. I’d like to know where you are in your mind, your body, your soul, relationships, and business. Simply, just give us the number. So, mine are three body, six whatever they are. For you and that way we can chat about it and get you more balance in your life. I know this exercise has helped me tremendously, and it’s something that I do regularly. I hope it helps you. That’s it for today.

Just as a reminder go over to authorofyourownstory.com where you’re going to find tips, tricks, as well as deeper dives, and an opportunity to take some of our courses. Also, get our daily teachings get them delivered right to your mailbox every day.

Have a great day. I’ll see you tomorrow.

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Revisit: The 90 Minute Hour

Today’s topic is the 90-minute hour.

We’re going to revisit one of our most popular daily growth hacks, so grab your notebooks and remember, the key to success is doing the work. Let’s get started. This is your daily growth hack, where each day we give you a tip, trick, or insight so you can uplevel your life in what we call the five to thrive: mind, body, soul, relationships, and business.

So what is a 90-minute hour?

I mean that’s an oxymoron, isn’t it?

I mean 90 minutes is 90 minutes in an hour is 60 minutes. The 90-minute hour is actually a book I read back in high school. I went to the library and for some reason, I was just thirsty for personal growth and I wanted to be successful. The library, I knew, was one place I could start. I found this book called the 90-minute hour. Now, I didn’t realize it back then, but this was the author that ended up writing all these guerilla marketing books that became famous. You can pick up the 90-minute hour, I just checked on amazon, for as little as nineteen cents. I mean, it’s an older book but this book had a significant impact on me as a young man and it does today as well.

The premise of the 90-minute hour is very simple. It’s how can you leverage each hour of the day to get the most out of it? And a lot of this is multitasking so it flies in the face of most mindfulness teachings that are out there right now or the mindfulness movement. So I will give you that fair warning, but I still find this to be extremely helpful for the way that I live my life and being an entrepreneur as well as someone who is location independent.

It allows me to get more done in a day than most people get done in a week. so what is it? Now, the 90-minute hour is cramming things into places where you don’t normally have time to do stuff. So, part of this could be, for me anyway is, automobile university. So automobile university is simply having a book in your car at all times. So when i’m driving in my car, driving to the gym, for example, something that I would do every day is have an audio book or a podcast ready that I can listen to in that time.

So, during that 15-minute commute one way, so it’s 30 minutes every day , I get 30 minutes in of audio in during that time. As Tony Robbins calls it, he calls it NET time “No Extra Time” in the day.

So now, just by driving to the gym and listening to an audiobook, I’m getting in 30 minutes a day. Or if you think about it, if I’m going six days a week, I’m getting in three hours every week of an audiobook or podcast to feed my mind. Now, I happen to listen to audiobooks at 2x speed so two-times speed. I’m used to it, and it works for me. In fact, when I listen to an audio at one time speed, is just too slow and that’s probably why I talk so fast.

So what I’m doing is that at two times speed, now during that commute which I would normally… or most people would normally… listen to the radio or the news or talk or what have you. Now, I’m getting in six hours of a book in one week just by driving my commute and doing nothing else.

Of course I’m a fanatic, a little bit of a freak, so I take that further. What I do is I’ll batch my tasks. So, helping out around the house , doing the dishes, doing the laundry, I take out the trash, I try to schedule those so I can do them all at once. I put on my headphones, get my podcast for my audiobooks cued up and I go about my business. So while I’m doing my daily tasks to help out my family around the house, I’m also feeding my brain and coming up with new ideas.

It allows me to digest a marketing book, a philosophy book and maybe some health podcasts all in one week. It gives me new thoughts and new ideas at all times. This is how you do a 90 minute hour.

How else can it be done?

Well, sometimes when I’m on conference calls, or if I’m on a webinar, I’ll also be working out. I happen to have a row machine in this huge office that I have right here. We call it the better human lab, because it’s got tons of fitness equipment, testing equipment, personal development library, you name it it’s here. So, often times, because I’m location independent I’ll be working with clients, whether it be coaching clients or be business clients all over the world remotely and sometimes that involves me being in a meeting and just listening and not really participating as actively.

So then, I can be on my rowing machine and I could be doing exercises while i’m actually on that call. It doesn’t affect my performance on the call, in fact I feel it helps me to actually really be in that zone. It uses my whole body. So during this time when I typically be sitting in a desk, I’m actually able to get two things done at once. That’s the concept behind the 90-minute hour.

You can apply this in all areas of your life, the only one that I don’t apply it in is actually spirituality. I find that spirituality has to be a little closer, but I will apply this in relationships. Maybe I shouldn’t be telling people this, but I do apply it in relationships and that might be by getting people that I want to spend time with but doing something that’s active at the same time. It’s something I’m passionate about and most of the people that I’m close to are also passionate about it.

It also allows me a chance to stretch my legs or get a quick workout in. So these are all just basic concepts on how I apply the 90-minute hour to my daily life. I could go on and on with examples.

My challenge to you or your call to action is go ahead and list those times those NET times (no extra time). So, those times in your day where you’re really just sitting there or not doing things as effectively or not using your brain, is what I would say. So anything that requires just rode action, taking out the trash, maybe its data entry, maybe it’s surfing the net, shopping, maybe it’s going for a walk, going to the store, or going to the grocery store.

Can you put headphones in? Can you listen to a book? Where can you up-level your life?

That’s where I fit in those extra 30 minutes, or actually extra hours, in my week. Where can you do it in yours? Start by journaling down every time you’re doing things throughout the day and really track your time. How far is your commute? Do you go for walks? What do you do for your lunch breaks? Are these times that you can actually throw in headphones or do something else to better yourself? Apply the 90 minute our principle to your life and let me how it goes!

Join me in the community on Facebook. Of course to get the show notes just go to authorofyourownstory.com, also make sure you sign up for our daily newsletter where you get additional teachings delivered to your email inbox for free every day.

That’s it for me today have a great day and I’ll see you tomorrow remember –

Be the Author of Your Own Story

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Prep The Coffee

Now this morning, I got up after a rough night. Our newborn just wasn’t sleeping well so my wife and I were up and down throughout the evening. And when I finally got up to start my day, I went downstairs and noticed that the coffee hasn’t been prepped. Now, I thought about it the night before, I thought about it before going to bed, “You know what, Doug? You should just prep the coffee. Grind the beans, get the water ready. Get it all ready, so all you have to do is hit a button when you come down.”

Now, something simple and easy. But in the morning, it seemed like such a hard task. You know, I hadn’t gotten much sleep over the last few days, and here I was, faced with the dilemma, the … really a big dilemma, right? Just getting the coffee ready. But what it did remind me, right away was, how often in other areas of my life am I not prepping the coffee? See, I enjoy my mornings much more when I’m able to sit with my wife, my son, and my wife and I enjoy a cup of coffee together, and all I have to do is walk downstairs, hit the button, and I’m able to go about my morning and come back and grab a fresh brewed pot of coffee.

Now, with that being said, I reminded me of other clients I have. One of my clients, for example, just keeps missing their workouts. One thing I tell them to do is, prep the night before. The night before, set your workout clothes out. Set your shoes by the door. That way it limits your excuses throughout the day. Well, what other areas in my life, and maybe in yours, in our quest to be the authors of our own story, are we not prepping the coffee? Are we not prepping ourselves for success? Another area that became readily available to me, or I should say reticent to my mind, was actually really is making sure that my Kindle is charged.

See, I read a chapter a day in a book, and sometimes I read it through my Kindle, and my Kindle’s just not charged, and then I got to charge it, and I gotta wait, and then it throws me off. Now, it’s a simple practice, now when I’m in my rhythm, I’m prepping the coffee at night, I’m putting my workout clothes out for the next day, and I’ve also charged my Kindle. That way, by charging my Kindle, I can actually read. There’s no excuses. I’m limiting the barriers to success in my life. Now what other areas can you do this in? What areas in your life are you not prepping the coffee? Doing the simple things that really make your life successful. Making the bed, other little things throughout the day.

Maybe it’s showering first thing in the morning so you feel fresh, relief, you’re ready to start your day and you’re not just coming down in a robe and working, if you work from home, and I know a lot of you do. Just the little things that set you up for success and allow you that little one percent increment step towards being the author of your own story. So here’s what I want you to do. Grab your journal, write out your five to thrive. Where in each of those categories is your prep the coffee type moment? Where in your mind are you not prepping the coffee?

So again, for me, it’s charging my Kindle. By charging my Kindle I always have my book ready, and that’s just allowing me to get to my monthly goals. In my body, for me, it’s prepping my clothes the night before, but what is it for you? What is it that’s the prep the coffee for you the night before to set yourself up for your goals, for your success? Now, for many of you, it could be meal prep. Are you prepping tomorrows meals to allow you to get to your goals, whether it be gaining more muscle, losing body fat, or just feeling better. Now, where in your soul are you setting yourself up time in your schedule for meditation? Are you setting aside your book? Is it the Bible, the Koran, the Torah, whatever it may be, is that ready for you for your next day to help you get a little bit better towards your goal? Or maybe it’s just going outside? Are you prepped? Do you have your warm clothes set out, if fall and winter are coming around the corner?

And then where in your relationships? Where in your relationships can you prep the coffee? Maybe that’s setting out a letter to write to a friend, or getting the mailing addresses ready, or getting stamps. It really depends on what your goals are. Business, now if you’re a business owner, you should be prepping the coffee all the time. Setting yourself up for success at your work station, so when you come back tomorrow, you know the two or three things that you really need to be focusing on. Remember that 90, 91 rule. And if you don’t recall that, go back to a previous episode where we talk about it. But make sure you’re cleaning your work station and prepping exactly what you need for the next day to be successful.

So, also above and beyond that, of course, share this with three people. Build your tribe. Having a tribe to community around you, having conversations that really matters, as well as people that keep you accountable, allows you to become the author of your own story, and actually experience success at a much faster rate. That’s it for me today, remember, go out and be the author of your own story.

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You Gotta Make Time To Play

Now, as many of you know, I’ve spent over two decades in the fitness industry, and during that time, I’ve literally worked with thousands of people. One thing that I’ve noticed over time. and I talk about it a lot. is you get two men together, they form a bond, they form a trust, they form a friendship and guess what, they turn to 14-year old buys. It’s inevitably going to happen. I’ve never seen it not happen.

Now, maybe it only happens for moments, and what happens is a trigger will go off and they go, “Oh, I look foolish, so I can’t do this.” But in their essence, they’ll go back to that playtime. So why don’t we do this often more often in a day-to-day life? That’s a great question. Especially as businessmen, entrepreneurs or businesswomen, and entrepreneurs, this is an area that can go away from us, right? We get to our day-to-day lives. We get up early. We work on ourselves, becoming the author of our own story. We go to work. We go on task. We grind it out, right? We grind it out as entrepreneurs harder than anybody then we come home to our families. A lot of times, we’re missing that playtime, right? Not to say you don’t play with your families but how often are you playing in work and in your day-to-day lives.

My guess is if you look back to the last time that you went out and played, not that you went out and just happy hour or something, when’d you go out and play. When was the last time you were child-like? Chances are, for most of us, it’s been a long time, and this is sad. I was definitely that entrepreneur, business person that I would grind it out. If I found somebody else was working 15 hours and I was only working 14, well gosh, I’d work 16 hours, and not only 16 hours a day, but I would do that continuously, and I would just burn myself out. I almost forgot how to play.

It was like one of those things … I remember a distinct time coming up to the river crossing and looking around, and looking at my now wife, and going, “Oh, my gosh, there’s water everywhere. What are we gonna do?” She’s just like, “You can walk through it. What are you talking about.” It just hit me. I remember it just … An obvious thing to probably you listening, but as soon as I stepped in that water, and I had water shoes on. As soon as I stepped in that water a childlike emotion came through. Stress, and everything, just I didn’t even know existed. It just peeled off of me like a warm wet blanket was on me and I didn’t even know, and it just ripped off. I was just glowing after that.

Since then I have been on a mission to be more childlike. In fact, today I got a text message from my business partner, one of my business partners, and it was a picture of a tetherball court. All that he said was, “Just to let you know you’re challenged.” What he is saying is he happens to be in the town that I’m in right now as he’s traveling, as well, and we’re gonna play a game of tetherball. Now, we have a scheduled meeting, a meeting where we’re gonna do a deep dive into strategy for our business, but you know what we’re gonna do before, we’re gonna play three games of tetherball, and that three games of tetherball is gonna determine who pays for lunch. What a fun way to go out there and play, a fun way to bond, a fun way to get outside, a fun way just to enjoy the day. Yeah, we’re gonna get serious work done, but I can guarantee you that the endorphins, and everything else that’s going to be release, is gonna open us up to new levels of creativity.

I’m asking you this, “Where in your five to thrive do you need more play? When is the last time you played. I want you to write that down. Now, also what I want you to do is, what can you do right now, in this moment, to play. Maybe it’s send a text message to and old friend. Maybe it’s starting a game like Words with Friends. I don’t know what it is for you. Maybe it’s tetherball, and if it is I’d love to meet you on the court. I haven’t played in years but hopefully this will be fun. Whatever it is for you, write that down. We all can use more play in life. We forget that life is about having life. On the road to your Author of Your Own Story is a better journey when you’re having fun.

Now, of course, it’s also a better journey when you have other people with you, so that’s my reminder to you right now. Hit share. Hit share and share this with three people right in this moment, right now, in this moment of clarity and expand your network, as well. That’s it for me today. Remember, go out and be the author of your own story, and make sure to play.

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Do It For The Photo

Do it for the photo. Whatever it takes. Right now there’s somebody outside hiking. There’s somebody outside swimming with sharks. Why? Because they’re doing it for the Instagram photo.

Social media’s pushed us in ways that we never thought possible. There are people out there doing crazy things. They’re becoming the authors of their own story just so they could rub it in other peoples’ faces or just so they could show people how great their lives are. I think that’s fantastic. Whatever it is for you. Maybe it’s just doing it for the photo. Maybe that’s something you get to do today. Maybe that’s something you get to decide. What would be photo-worthy for you? What would be something that if you posted on your Instagram, your Facebook, or your LinkedIn page that would be so epic that everybody around you will be proud?

More importantly, what’s that image that would make you proud? One way you can look it is looking at your younger self. So you could say, “Hey, would the 15 year old version of me actually be proud that I achieved this, be excited? Am I excited to achieve this?” Maybe that’s climbing to the top of mountain. Maybe it’s going skydiving. Maybe it’s painting. Maybe it’s actually going to a foreign country. Whatever it is for you. What is photo-worthy for you? What I want you do is grab your journal. It’s simple. Write that down. What’s something you can think of right now that’s photo-worthy?

If you can’t think of something, that’s fine. Go through Instagram and Facebook and look at some ideas. Look up the most adventurous travel places to go. Get a magazine like the Robb Report or National Geographic Explorer. Give yourself some ideas. That’s nothing wrong with that. On the path to becoming the author of your own story sometimes it’s really good to read somebody else’s. What I mean by that is actually not only reading autobiographies, but reading into other peoples’ lives and getting inspiration. There’s nothing wrong with inspiration. What I want you to do is list at least a few objects, in your mind, body, soul, relationships and business, a few things that you think would be photo-worthy. Now your opportunity is go out and do it. Make sure you tag AYS so we can follow you and make sure you’re going out and being the author of your own story.

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The Skater, the Entrepreneur and The Author of Your Own Story

Last night someone asked me, they said, “Doug, how do I know when I see somebody that’s actually living The Author of Your Own Story lifestyle? Give me two examples, just something that I can look at in other areas of life that I can really see.” And I said, “Easy, that’s really easy for me to do.” And they looked at me in astonishment. “Well, why was it easy?” Well one, the skater. The skater is the perfect analogy, right? You see a skateboarder and what are they doing? They’re trying tricks and they’re eating it hard. If you watch, there’s tons of YouTube videos as well as Instagram channels dedicated to this phenomenon.

So a skateboarder might be skating and trying a really complicated trick and they might cut their head, they might cut their hand, they might cut their leg, but they try and try and try again. And maybe after the tenth attempt, not only are they in pain, but they are just determined to get that trick accomplished and get it on film. Their tenth attempt, they try the trick and boom, they land it. And you can just see the euphoria, everybody goes nuts, everybody goes crazy. But the point is is despite the pain, despite the setbacks, despite the failures, they are trying and trying again. They are determined, they are passionate and they are dedicated to what they’re trying to accomplish.

The same can be said for the entrepreneur, right? I’ve never met an entrepreneur where every day or everything they’ve done has just been easy. It’s not at all. It’s the day to day grind. And I say grind lightly, right, cause grind can still be flow and I use that term very loosely, but it’s the day to day in the business, the focused attempts at making things work. Cause they’re failing more often than not, failing all the time. But failing forward. Conscientiously failing forward and making sure they’re following a path that works for them. An entrepreneur is somebody who gets up … An analogy I love to use is, an entrepreneur is somebody who is willing to work 15 hours a day so they don’t have to work for somebody else for eight hours a day. Totally get it. I also caveat don’t think everybody should be an entrepreneur, but they are by definition, somebody who is going to keep going over and over again, despite failure. They’re gonna make calculated risks, but their passion is gonna take them forward. The passion for what they really want to do.

So same thing with the skater, attempts, attempts, attempts. They’re gonna get hurt, they’re gonna lose money, lose employees. All kinds of things happen in business on a regular basis and if you’re an entrepreneur, I’m just talking to the choir here, but if you’re not, you don’t see what’s behind the scenes of these business owners and so it can be very stressful. And oftentimes, they’re falling, they’re failing, they’re falling forward, they’re falling flat on their face and they’re dusting themselves off. But this is all behind the scenes, right? What you see on camera aren’t these aspects. Just like a skater, typically you see the great landing skating tricks, although there are again a few dedicated channels that show you those fails. But both of these categories, both of these types of people, I would say, are really dedicated to their craft and despite being hurt, despite all these things going against them, they get up, dust themselves off and keep trying.

And I would say the same thing is to do with you. Someone who’s out there trying to live The Author of Your Own Story lifestyle. Somebody who is riding life on their own terms, who is living life. They’ve kind of unplugged from the matrix so to speak, and actually your eyes are open and you’re going after your goals. Now it might not be easy at first. Especially if you haven’t built your tribe right? Especially if you haven’t built those people around you, people having conversations like this one, like the one you and I are having right now. If you haven’t built that, it makes it tougher because the people around you just naturally want to pull you down a little bit. And it’s not their fault, it’s just natural human instincts. A lot of people don’t like change.

But as The Author of Your Own Story, right, as The Author of Your Own Story individual, person living that lifestyle, it’s up to you, is every time you fall is to dust yourself off and carry on. Not only for yourself, although that should be your main focus cause this is your own story, but also the people around you. You’re gonna have so many silent observers of the way that you’re living your life. The things that you’re doing, the things that are coming out. They’re gonna be watching from the stands. And some are gonna be naysayers, they’re gonna be hoping that you fall so it makes excuses for themselves to not be the authors of their own story. But most people are gonna be watching to see how it’s done. To see if it’s really possible. Can you really live this lifestyle? Can you really live life on your own terms like Doug keeps talking about? The answer’s absolutely yes. And if you’re listening to this or if you’ve been listening to this and actually putting these work practices in, on a day to day basis, you’ve experienced this as well.

And I’m stumbling here a little bit because I do these off the cuff, right? I do these without any plan, but that’s okay. I fail but I don’t let the fact that I don’t have a teleprompter, the lighting’s not good, I don’t let any of that stop me from just going out and doing it. Going out and trying. Going out and experimenting. Cause the truth is as soon as I hit stop on this, I’m going out with my family. We’re going down to the river, we’re gonna spend a beautiful day by the river all day today. And it’s gonna be amazing. So I’m okay with failing forward and failing forward right here in this particular instance.

So here’s what I’m gonna ask you to do. Where in your life are you not failing forward where you know you should be? Where are you not being the skater that gets hurt and then dusts themselves off and tries the trick again despite the knowing that they’re probably gonna get hurt? Or the entrepreneur who’s going out there, risking it all, putting their self on the line for humiliation, their money, everything, their family, their work, everything on the line to be successful. Where are you not doing that in your life? In your five to thrive, your mind, your body, your soul, your relationships, and your business. All five categories, where are you playing small? And then I want you to rip that off. I want you to tear that layer off of yourself and go out there. Take the risk. Get injured but dust yourself off because just like the skater, you’re gonna nail that trick in your life and that is what’s gonna push you forward.

That’s it for me today. As always, remember go out and be the author of your own story

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That’s Right

That’s right. The story goes that inside a courtroom there was a really intense battle between the defendant and the plaintiff. The plaintiff told their story to the judge, and at the end, the judge said, “Wow, that’s right.” Then the defendant went up, and the defendant told their heartwarming story, as well, and the judge said, “Wow, that’s right.” Then all of a sudden the clerk looked at the judge and said, “Your Honor, they both can’t be right.” The Honor looked at the clerk and said, “Well, that’s right.”

The point of the story is is whatever you’re focused on, whatever you’re focused on in the moment is right. If you’re going down a path, you’re going down a path of disillusionment. You’re going down a path that’s empowering you. Maybe you’re depressed. Maybe you’re sad. Maybe you’re seeing things that just aren’t working right. This could be with an employee, a coworker, a friend, a family member, and a loved one. You could be seeing something in your relationships, in your body. Don’t a lot of us have this body dysmorphia, where we look at ourselves and you see yourself in the mirror, and all you see is what’s wrong. You don’t really focus on what’s right. What’s going on, what looks good.

Whatever you’re focusing on is right, and so choose to focus on those items in your day, in your day-to-day moment, in your now, that actually serves you to your higher purpose. That allows you to become the author of your own story. Choose your right. Now this is going to be in your body, in your mind. What are those things that are going in your mind, in your soul, your relationships.

Really, I can’t think of a better place to really focus on this subject matter than in your relationships, but also your business. As business owners, how often do we actually focus on what’s going wrong in our business rather than looking at what’s going on right or looking at the whole picture. When we just focus on what’s wrong, we actually put blinders on and we actually separate the whole reality of what’s possible from us.

Today, what I want you to do is grab your journal and write out what’s true for you. What’s right for you in this moment, and not what’s wrong. Then of course, what I want you to do is share this with three people. Share this with three people so you can grow your tribe and have conversations that matter.

That’s it for me today. Remember, go out and be the author of your own story.

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What if you were the CEO of your life?

Revisit: Case of the Mondays

Revisit: Balance

Today’s topic is balance.

Revisit: The 90 Minute Hour

Today’s topic is the 90-minute hour.

Prep The Coffee

You Gotta Make Time To Play

Do It For The Photo

The Skater, the Entrepreneur and The Author of Your Own Story

That’s Right

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