Victor Terekhovskyi, Author at Author of Your Own Story

Embrace the Surprise

It is my birthday, or a couple days ago was my birthday, but the weekend is upon us and my wife is surprising me with a lovely weekend away. Now, a couple years ago, probably even a year ago, but probably a couple years ago, I would have spent so much time and energy trying to figure out where we’re going, poking, prodding, asking certain questions of her to get an idea of the climate, the temperature, what kind of activities we would be doing, and I was really good at it. In fact, I could almost always pinpoint exactly where we were going each and every time without actually telling, but what happened was it really drained on her. I was ruining the surprise for her.

I love the idea of figuring something out, and being a sleuth, so to speak, and I thought I was so clever, but what I really didn’t realize was how much energy I spent doing this, and also how much it weighed my wife down. She was doing such lovely things for me and here I am poking and prodding, trying to ruin the surprise and trying to figure out what’s going on.

Well, this year, I just let go, and as I let go, I’ll tell you, I noticed there were control issues popping up in me left and right. I had to know and I wanted to ask questions and yeah, start to try and figure things out. I just kept letting go. I kept reminding myself each and every time that I attempted to learn what was going on, just let go and let it be, and I also laughed and journaled about my triggers on control and having control over what’s happening. I asked myself questions: if I don’t know where we’re going … are we going to be hiking? Do I need protection for my family, some knives, or do I need also, some survival gear, but also do I need binoculars in case there’s wildlife? Do I need my camera? Which camera?

I go through this whole slew of questions. Now, these questions are part of the reason I’ve been so successful many years of my life. They’re a protection mechanism that I’ve developed over the years and probably started off with having my family, my parents separated when I was four or five years old, and going from one house to the other, I wanted to make sure I had everything because gosh, if I was at my dad’s house and I left a toy or something at my mom’s, I couldn’t have it. That was it, so I’ve been like that pretty much my whole life, and I’m always trying to figure out what’s happening so I can prepare for it: really interesting to dig inside of that, myself, but when coming to this, what I found was: here we are. My birthday’s also the end of Q1.

If you’ve been listening to these daily growth acts for any time or you know my story or my journey, I’m the owner or part owner of six companies, so I really take a lot of time to do strategy at the end of the quarters. It’s the end of 90 days, plus I also set the 90-day game, which, if you haven’t done the 90-day game, reach out to me; I’ll make sure you get a copy of that course so you can go through that program, the introduction part of that program. I’m happy to do it for you.

So, at the end of the quarter, I’m just busy. Now I’ve got an infant and he’s not sleeping well, so I was up at 2:30, so my brain is maybe going at 20% capacity, but what I found was: Had I have spent more energy trying to control the situation, figure out what was going on. There was no way I could have had high-level executive meetings, bringing on new clients for one of my businesses while growing the other ones. I wouldn’t have had the capacity, and by letting go, it freed myself up.

Now, I don’t know about you, but what’s true for me is that when I let go of control, it actually frees my energy. The energy flow within me frees up to do more things, and nothing bad is going to happen. While you’re watching this, I’m probably actually on vacation right now. I’m filming this before so you have a daily growth act right in front of you, and just know that by letting go of that control, I’m able to do this. I’m able to provide a thought or insight that I hope gives somebody some value, and that’s what I’m here for. I really believe that I’m here to help people. My strength is education, learning and then teaching and helping people learn, helping people grow and push past their barriers, and had I not let go of this control issue that I have, and I’ll call it an issue, but I noticed that it was coming up in me, wanting to control the situation or at least wanting to know what was going on so I had some form of control.

You boil that down and it really is about control, if I’m being honest, and I always am, so with this, I really found that in my five to thrive, in my mind, I was really trying to control the situation, but I also realized I was trying to control it in my relationships, so two key categories of my five to thrive were coming in with this trip where I was trying to control the situation to make sure I was taking care of everything that I felt needed to be taken care of.

So, what I’m going to do, is I’m going to encourage you: grab your journal, and where are you finding control issues coming up? They’re not going to show up as control issues, right? It’s not going to show up as control, but if you boil that down, why do you want this? Why do you want to know what’s going on? Why do you really have a diet program, maybe? Maybe you’re on a ketogenic diet, or maybe you’re doing intermittent fasting. Is it so you can control something? And that’s okay at times. There’s nothing wrong with control, but there is something wrong with control if it’s sapping your energy like it potentially could be sapping mine, and I’ll tell you what: running on fumes and I’m probably at 15% now while I’m filming this and it’s probably coming through, especially if you’re watching this on video, but I wouldn’t be able to do this had I not let go of control, and so by letting go of control, it filled me up. It allowed me to have great meetings today, and I want that for you. I want that extra space with inside of you, that energetic space, to allow greatness to unfold even more than it probably already has.

I’d love to hear how this works for you. Please, go ahead. You can reach out to me on social media. I’m easy to find. Of course, go over to authorofyourownstory.com and get on that newsletter as well, where you’ll get the latest tips, tricks, and techniques delivered right to your inbox. It’s easy. It’s free, and heck, you can unsubscribe. We all know how to unsubscribe. It’s not a big deal. Just go over and get on there so you don’t miss anything. I want to make sure that I’m here supporting you on your journey to become the author of your own story. I’ll see you tomorrow. Have a great day.

If you like these daily growth hacks, it would mean the world to us if you would take a moment to subscribe and review us on iTunes!

Join The Discussion

You Have Two Tasks In Life

Last night I was invited to a men’s group. Well, it happened to be all men. The idea was … The gentlemen who started it wasn’t somebody I knew. I was invited by another attendee that was there. He wanted to start something called the Human Kind Project. Now, his goal was to bring people together who are interested in bettering both their body and their mind and their consciousness. He was kind of put together his manifesto, so to speak. As I sat around this table, everybody had ideas of how he should be doing this, how we should run this group or this movement, as he called it. As they’d gone down, and really, it kind of boiled down to a couple things. We were sitting around this table. Of course, there’s pizza and beer. I was sitting there chuckling to myself because one of the first tenets is health and wellness, but yet here was being served at this group of 12 men was pizza and beer. It was kind of ironic. But, anyways. You can imagine sitting across this group. The conversations were great. Right? The conversations that were being had were really intellectual, and I liked the juxtaposition that was being had and the push-pull, the arguments, and the safe space it created. At one point, I paused and I said, “Look, the Stoics believe there are two things you should focus on, and that’s it. Just two things.”

What the Stoics said is, “You should be a good person, and you should pursue a career path that you love.” Right? Two simple things. Everything else doesn’t matter. What the Stoics were talking about is really, in life, your pursuit should be a good person. Kind of like the Golden Rule. Treat others as you would like to be treated. Now, I love that. I love that tenet, and I think it should be taught more. I think we should all have it on our computers because we’d act differently. Right? But the one that doesn’t get talked about very often is actually pursuing something that you love. Now, I know there’s a lot of success gurus and business coaches out there that really talk about this and say, “No, no, no, no. You just need to grind it out. The whole pursue your passion, pursue your love thing is BS. It’s the secret. It’s woo-woo. Don’t even … That’s all junk.”

I disagree. I think you can do both. Right? I think you can actually pursue your passion and build a great business around it should you choose to. Right? So what I want to know from you is where is your life right now, where at anywhere in your five to thrive are you making things too complicated? Right? Are you actually making this huge list of things that you should be doing and not focusing on something simplistic like the stoics suggest — on two things, right? Be a good person, and pursue a passion or a career path that you’re passionate about. So grab your five to thrive and write this out. I know for me, earlier in this year, in this quarter, now as I plan Q2, my quarter one goals for my body were so multifaceted it was almost impossible. I wanted to increase mobility. I wanted to lose body fat, increase muscle mass, increase stamina and endurance. It was just too many things to focus on. In other words, it’s almost like an oxymoron. I was trying to focus on a lot of things. Meaning, I couldn’t focus on anything.

So I want to know for you, if you find this to be true like I did, are you trying to do too much in one particular category of your five to thrive? Grab your journal and look at that. Write out your goals and what are you trying to achieve in each of those categories. Then I encourage you to pick two things, only two, in each category. All right? Now, I get it. There’s five to thrive. Two is 10. You’re like, “Doug, I can’t really focus on 10 things.” Well, 10 little steps to get you to your goal, you can. I’ve done it, and I’ve seen it done with thousands of people. So I want you to give that shot and then make a plan to just focus on those two and only those two. Right?

So if you’re like me, my goals going into Q2 is really to focus on my mobility but also my nutrition. I had gotten off my nutritional path, and I’m getting back on it. Mobility, I find the looser I am, the better I feel, the more I want to lift weights or I want to go running. But if I focus on mobility and I focus on my nutrition, everything else in the category of the body seems to fall in place. I wonder if that’s true for you, as well.

So what I’d love to do is hear from you. Go over to the AuthorOfYourOwnStory.com. Get on our newsletter. But also get on the community over on Facebook, so you can share what you’re learning. I’d love to hear you. Meet other people that are on the path just like you. You need to step outside of your comfort zone and meet new people, and especially people who are living life at a higher level. Just like a group that I went to last night, what was great is I didn’t agree with everybody, but I liked the fact that these people were consciously trying to improve themselves so that they can improve their families, their communities, and then globally. I really respect that, and I respect you for being here with me today.

That’s it for me today. I will see you tomorrow. Go out and inspire someone simply by being the Author of Your Own Story.

If you like these daily growth hacks, it would mean the world to us if you would take a moment to subscribe and review us on iTunes!

Join The Discussion

You’re A Product of What You Do Regularly

Here we are coming to the end of the month, the end of March and the end of the first fiscal, or first quarter, in 2018. So if you’re watching this while these are released live, this is a perfect time for you to go right now and mark your calendar, mark off time to go back and reflect on this past quarter, these past three months. What have you been doing? Here’s what I would suggest. Now, obviously, if you’re a business owner, this should be a practice that you’re doing in your business to look at three stages. So your net, your gross, and your take-home pay. Those are three numbers that you want to be looking at each and every week when you’re actually doing a review.

Now, we’re looking at this quarterly review. Where are you compared to the goals that you set? Now if you’ve done our 90 Day Game, and if you haven’t go ahead and reach out to me personally, I’ll make sure that somebody gets you a link to the 90 Day Game and gets you an access code for free, and this 90 Day Game is a game that we set up with our coaching clients all over the world, so they can actually achieve results. And oftentimes, what people will say is even after just a few days of the 90 Day Game, they’ve achieved more than they had in years. Now the part of this 90 Day Game is the review. So many of our coaching clients start from scratch the 90 day game on January 1st, the beginning of the year, not because it’s the New Year, but it is that date that we look back at the next 90, the first quarter, because that really ties in with our business.

So, even if you’re not a business owner, here’s what I would like you to do. Grab your journal, and then what I want you to do on the top of each page this time is write the categories, so mind, body, soul, relationships, and yes, business. And the top of each page … At the bottom what I want you to do is journal what were the past 90 days like? What are your wins, your successes? Did you hit your goals and your outcomes that you wanted? When you go to my Facebook page, my private page over there, you’ll actually see some people on there, there’s a gentleman named Eric, and he’s not only hit his quarterly goals, but he said he already hit his goals for 2019. Amazing Eric, great job. And so what I wanted to know, is have you? And there’s no judgment around that, and maybe you set just such astronomical goals that they’d be impossible to reach, but it’s the journey that gets you there. There’s different philosophies on how to do that. That’s not my style, my style is reaching goals. Goals that are almost impossible, but not quite. They’re doable if you really put forth the effort. That pulls you into it and pushes you a little bit more as well.

So what I want you to do again, is now you’ve got these five categories across there. Now you can add a sixth one, and the sixth one that I do is either fun or wealth. So where am I in my financial wealth, that’s the one I utilize, in my last 90 days? How much money did I make? As a business owner, and I run multiple businesses, I’m looking at my gross, my net, and then also my take home pay for my family. Is that increasing? Is it decreasing? Where is that stabilizing? And that way I’m making sure that I’m reaching the goals that I have set for myself. And then fun. Fun’s an area I always like to look back. It’s easy for me as somebody that’s running multiple businesses, has a family, to make sure that I’m having fun. I mean, that’s what I’m here for. It’s one of the things I’m here for. And so listing all the fun things that I’ve done.

Now, when I go through these five categories, I like to share them. I’m going to be sharing them with my family, so in particular, my wife because my son’s too young to understand, but sharing all the things that we’ve done. And I just recently had a birthday and my wife lovingly put a book together of pictures from the past year. And even going through those pictures, even though it’s only been a year, I was like so many memories that I had forgotten, and looking through that book it just brought back a flood of memories. And that’s what I want to do for you with each of these five categories, or six if you choose to go for fun and wealth. Fun or wealth.

So again, you’re going to start writing. So the area of mind. What did you learn? What are the big lessons from the past quarter? What books did you read? What videos did you do? What podcasts or shows did you watch? Did you actually watch these Daily Growth Hacks each and every day? If you did, I applaud you and I know your life is unrecognizable if you did the work, from your former self. So fantastic, you’re on the way. If you haven’t, maybe that’s something you can go back to do and set a goal for the next quarter. Go back and listen to some of the other Daily Growth Hacks. We’re almost at our goal of 365, which was my personal commitment for the Daily Growth Hacks. That’s coming up in just a couple months, it’s amazing.

So what else did you learn? Now, what were those lessons? What are the lessons you can take away to help you grow, become the author of your own story? What are the things that are really the nuggets that you could take home for yourself and those around you, that you got? And, I list a few shortcomings maybe, if there were any. But don’t list a lot of them. Limit yourself to five shortcomings or things that you just didn’t hit. But I want you to really emphasize the wins. This is going to train your mind. Just like we do anything else or hear that song, when you emphasize the wins, you’re going to recognize the wins in your life more often, and you’re going to start winning more often. It’s often said that it’s easy for winners. Winners are winners. And the reason is it’s because they’ve gotten used to winning, it’s just become a habit. And I want that habit to be there for you.

In all of your categories, remember we chose the Five to Thrive because way back when I was seeking mentors and coaches, way back in the early 2000s, I seemed to only find somebody who was focused on one or two of these categories, and so I realized my life wasn’t personally fulfilled unless I had all five of these working really well. At least an eight or above on a scale of one to 10, 10 being the best. At least an eight. So that’s what I want for you. So list that.

At the end I want you to rate the quarter for you in each category. So in your mind, body, soul, relationships, and business, what would you give yourself on a scale of one to 10? What would you give yourself looking back at all these wins in the quarter, versus where you want to be? Now, if you notice that you’re below a six or something like that, reach out. Reach out to myself, someone on our team, or the Author of Your Own Story community on Facebook, and we’d be happy to work with you and try to help you out there. Remember, I started the Author of Your Own Story experience, this project was a passion project of mine, because I was traveling around the world, running my businesses, and people kept reaching out to me on social media, on my phone, old friends telling me, “Oh, I wish I could do what you’re doing Doug. I wish I could have that lifestyle.” And I’m here to tell you, you can, and I want that for you. And that’s why I do this, I’m just giving back. People have given me so much in my life, and I want to give to back to you. I want to impact over a million people in a positive way. I think that’s how we make our world a better place and I want that for you.

So let me know how this review goes for you. I highly encourage you to set aside at least 90 minutes for this review. It’s 90 days, 90 minutes. I just happened to pick that correlation, but that’s what I do. I set myself a couple of hours and I actually go some place where I can be inspired and just journal and really write down all those memories. I’ll look back at pictures on social media and see some of the things that I’ve done, or I’ll look at this beautiful book my wife gave me and look back at those memories.

That’s it for me today. I encourage you to reach out and go over to the Author of Your Own Story community on Facebook and introduce yourself. That’s where you’re going to find other like minded people on their journey, just like you. They’ll be supporting and encouraging you along the way. And of course, go over to AuthorOfYourOwnStory.com and make sure you get on that email newsletter list. That’s the way you find out about these events and courses and free giveaways that we’re doing, like the 90 Day Game or the Bridge the Gap course, that we’re constantly giving away to our listeners and subscribers for free. Just one other way that we’re giving back to allow you to get a little closer to your own journey.

All right, that’s it. I will see you tomorrow. Go out and inspire someone simply by being the author of your own story.

If you like these daily growth hacks, it would mean the world to us if you would take a moment to subscribe and review us on iTunes!

Join The Discussion

Take Care of Yourself

If you don’t take care of yourself, who does? You’ve got to fill your tank, and, as you can hear, my son definitely agrees. Here we are on a Wednesday out for a beautiful hike and, of course, there’s nobody around. Everybody’s following the nine-to-five, get a job, clock in and clock out at 5:00 and then go to happy hour, maybe the gym, who knows, but you’re different. You’re here listening to these daily growth hacks, and I want to make sure you’re taking care of yourself first because by taking care of yourself first, you can actually take care of all the people around you.

You don’t have to go to the extremes. It’s really making a conscious decision and actually making the jump to the digital nomad lifestyle, but definitely the author of your own story lifestyle, so what I want you to do is grab your journal, write out your Five to Thrive, and wherein those areas of your Five to Thrive are you leaking? Are you not taking care of yourself? Are you not doing the best for you?

Once you’ve identified one of those areas, I want you to look at all of them because chances are, when we’re not taking care of ourself in one area, we’re not taking care of ourself in multiple areas. I know it’s true for me. Maybe it’s true for you as well, so make sure you’re looking at those, and then take massive action.

Take action now, and then what I want you to do is go over to the Author of Your Own Story community and write down and let everybody else know what you’re doing right now to take care of yourself. Are you on a beautiful hike with your family out in the middle of the woods, or are you doing something different? Are you meditating? Are you watching a movie? Whatever it is, take care of yourself and, that way, you can take care of others.

That’s it for me today. I will see you tomorrow. Have a great day. Remember, be the author of your own story.

If you like these daily growth hacks, it would mean the world to us if you would take a moment to subscribe and review us on iTunes!

Join The Discussion

Revisit: Rising Up to the Occasion

Today I had a conversation with the team members of one of my businesses. This was the leadership team for one of my marketing agencies. We meet each and every week, and one of the things that I told them, and I was upset. I was laying into them because I thought we were playing small. I thought us as a whole entire team weren’t living up to our potential, and I was actually really upset.

And what I told them was I’m not upset at you. I’m not upset at your lack of intelligence. No, it’s actually the opposite. You guys on my team are extremely intelligent. They’re the best of the best at what they do. One of the persons I was talking to is one of the best SEOs in the world. The other person is one of the best at operations. But what I was trying to explain to them is their level is up here, yet they’re playing down here. And I was, too.

The truth is, I was playing at a lower level and not holding my own standards up as high within that particular business at the moment. Now, what I started to think about is where are my five to thrive? Am I also playing small? And when I looked at it, I found several little areas where I wasn’t playing up to my potential, and that’s what angered me. You see, even in sports, I never got really upset if I lost to someone who was better than me. I always got upset when I lost to someone who was worse, and I know in business, especially in this particular business, we’re so much better than most of our competition. I don’t say that to be braggadocious at all. It’s just the worst part is we’re not living up to those expectations internally.

Now in the past, we absolutely were. But over the last couple weeks, we haven’t been, and that’s where I got upset, because I recognized that. We had the chance to step up and we didn’t take it at that time. Now, of course, it’s only been a short, short time when that happened. But at any lull, it’s easy. It’s just like that one hamburger or two hamburgers when you’re on a diet, in a week, and then it becomes three, then four. And that becomes your new norm, thus lowering your standards. And I won’t put up with that. I won’t put up with that within myself and I certainly won’t put up with that in my team.

I’m going to ask you today, like us, where are you in your five to thrive? Lowering your standards or not stepping up to where you should be. Now, once you’ve identified that … so get your five to thrive, write them out. Mind, body, soul, relationships, and business, and where are you not stepping up? Now is there an area in your mind? Are you at your full capacity? Are you playing as high as you can? If not, where are you lagging?

What about your body? Where are you not stepping up? Are you cheating on your diet? Are you not working out hard when you go to the gym? What it is you’re doing or not doing up to that level? What about your soul? Are you just skipping your meditations or your daily Bible readings or whatever it is for you. We’re all different. Where is it that you’re lagging? Where is it that you’re stopping? Is it not going out in nature as much as you should?

Where are your relationships? Are you busting your butt at work and then you get home and you see your spouse or your kids, and you’re just tired. You’re having a cocktail and you’re ah, I’m just going to watch TV and you check out. Or with friends. Are you just not stepping up to the plate and bringing energy to relationships or sharing, being vulnerable to allow that space for people around you to also share and be vulnerable. Where is it in your business? What I found with my agency team over here, where they were actually not stepping up to the plate. They weren’t stepping up to their potential. Yeah, they were doing really well. Really well, actually. But not great. Not to the level that I know that they can play at. And that’s where me as a leader, it’s up to me to keep them accountable.

And it’s up to you. You’re the leader in your life. Where are you in each of those five to thrive and where do you need to keep yourself accountable? And now that you’ve found those, I want you to take action right now. Right now in this moment. Do one thing to step up the bar. Raise it up for yourself and raise your standards. You can do so much more than you think you’re capable of. Yet, if you’re not reaching to the level you are capable of, then you’re playing even smaller. And I won’t let that happen to me, and I certainly won’t let that happen to you.

That’s it for me today. As always, go to authorofyourownstory.com where you can get more tips, tricks, and techniques delivered right to your inbox. Here we are on episode 201, and I’m super excited about the future, so I want you to be in the know. Also, please go out and make the world a better place by just inspiring other people, by being the author of your own story.

If you like these daily growth hacks, it would mean the world to us if you would take a moment to subscribe and review us on iTunes!

Join The Discussion

To Laugh or To Cry?

Just a couple days ago I was doing a therapy session, and it was actually with a trainer. He said, “This is experimental, Doug. I’m just letting you know. We’re actually going to put a cement block” … almost like a foam roller if you can picture it. It was actually PVC piping. I think it was about eight inches in diameter filled with cement, so it was heavy. I think it was about 75 pounds. … “and I’m going to put it on your back and put pressure and roll it back and forth.”

And as he was doing that, I started laughing and smiling. And he thought well, this obviously doesn’t hurt. I would think it would. “Doug, we’re looking for a pain scale of no more than seven. What is this?” I was like, “Oh, it hurts, it hurts.” He’s like, “Well, yeah, usually when I’m at this point, Doug, that people are screaming. They’re yelling at me. They’re telling me to stop.” And I said, “Look, I don’t know why and this has been for me for a long time is when pain comes or a bad situation for me, and I know I’m safe, I laugh. I just choose to laugh.”

I did this in sports and it reminded me as soon as he said that because I didn’t even realize that I was smiling about it. And it reminded me of playing soccer, soccer in college or just competitive sports. And in soccer, you’re going down the field as fast as you can, and at least for me, and you’re about to hit another man, right? Full speed. Someone’s going to get hurt a little bit here. And so what my teammates told me one time … this is my sophomore year in college and they said, “You know, it’s kind of weird. It’s a little scary because every time you go in for a tackle, you start smiling and laughing, or every time you’re going to go against somebody, really it’s going to be hard I think, we see you just start laughing and smiling like 10 feet ahead of time, especially with a slide tackle.”

And I thought about it for a little bit but I also knew some way, shape, and form I was safe. I also knew I was going to win. I was going to win the ball or whatever it was, and I liked that. I like that contact and I like that human, that feeling. But I have also had other adversities in my life. One time I had a friend as a joke push me from behind at a pool. I flipped over and cracked my head open and literally thought I was going to die. I was being rushed to the hospital. They were going to fly me, helicopter me out to another hospital. So what I choose to do … they thought, hey, this guy’s going to die. In the emergency room, they were kind of talking about it. Got to drill into my skull to release pressure. It was a whole episode.

What I thought to myself, I was like, “You know what? If I’m going out, I’m going out making people laugh, and I started telling jokes.” When I started telling jokes, the emergency room physicians looked at me and said, “First of all, are you crazy?” And they kind of assessed me and maybe I am a little crazy, but they let me go and they said, “You know what? We don’t have to fly you out. I’m going to trust you because you’re so coherent and you’re making such light of this situation, we feel that you’re safe.” And I was actually able to stay in the hospital and I ended up being safe. It was a long recovery for me, but this just goes over and over and over again. Right? It’s a choice.

You can lament on the bad things that happen to you, right? Somebody says something bad about you. They talk behind your back. You lose a job. You lose a client. You get injured. Somebody literally cracks your skull open, right? You’re playing sports or you’re getting a therapy session, which I’m so grateful for, that’s extremely painful, but I know what’s coming out the other side. I know I’m doing this and it’s funny. To me, it’s like I’m laying down and this guy’s, a big dude, rolling a cement tube down my back, and it hurts, right? He’s relieving pressure in the muscle tissue, the fascia, but it hurts, and it’s kind of funny.

That was my choice. My choice is I could cry, I could scream, or I could just laugh about this and find the good, and that’s what I’m going to encourage you to do. I think you should all express your emotions. I’m not saying you shouldn’t cry, you shouldn’t get upset. I don’t say that at all. But what I am saying is when the choice comes to be a victim or feel bad about yourself or to cry about something, or the choice is to laugh about it and feel good and smile and bring brightness to the world, I hope you choose that each and every time.

That’s it for me today. As always, share this with at least three people that you know just so you’re having better conversations that matter. It’s simple whether it be a sibling, simpler it be a family member, a spouse or co-worker, they’re going to appreciate you for that. And of course, if you haven’t already, go over to authorofyourownstory.com where you can get on our email list. If you get on the email list, you’re going to get a lot of freebies, like our 90-day game, the free Seven-Day Quick Start to Being the Author of Your Own Story, as well as the Bridging the Gap course. You have accessibility to all of these things, but only if you’re a subscriber. So, I want to make sure you have that option and the availability to do that. Of course, you can unsubscribe at any time. We all know how to do that. It’s easy. So, I hope it brings you value and I hope it gets something from you and I’d love to hear from you. Reach out to me directly via social media or otherwise, let me know that you’re a Daily Growth Hack listener, and let me know what you want to hear. All right. That’s it for me today. Go out and inspire someone simply by being the Author of Your Own Story. I’ll see you tomorrow.

If you like these daily growth hacks, it would mean the world to us if you would take a moment to subscribe and review us on iTunes!

Join The Discussion

Two Ways To Be Wealthy

Earlier today, I was working at a coffee shop, just journaling some ideas down, when a friend of mine sent me a text message. And it was a text message, he said, “This is where I see you.” As I looked down at my phone, I saw a link and a picture to a beautiful ranch, over 300 acres, on a private lake. And around the lake, there are guest cabins. This sat next to National Forest, with beautiful snow-topped tree mountains all around it, absolutely an amazing piece of property. And why he sent this to me is, my dream is to have this land, where I can bring my clients, they can stay in a guest house, and I can do intensive retreats on my own property. And other coaches and mentors from around the world can bring their clients, and do retreats.

It’s just something I love, helping people, and being outdoors are two of my passions. I could see raising my family there. Immediately, I just got excited, and started calculating, okay, well, this property’s $15 million dollars, what do I need to raise an additional $15 million dollars? And I started calculating the number of coaching clients. You know, the number of clients I need for my agency. And I don’t know about you, but for me, I just immediately started doing the numbers, and I actually started to feel a little down. It felt a little daunting, the numbers just seemed really high, and not that they’re out of reach, but they are an extreme. A $15 million dollar property, you know, that’s a big purchase. The down payment alone, you’re looking at something around $3 million dollars cash, just to put down. And I don’t personally have that.

So I felt a little down, and I started noticing that a little bit, as I’m driving home to tell my wife about it. And I started to feel a little bit like, hey, I should be able to do this. How wealthy do I need to be? What do I need to do? I can work a few extra hours, I can take on some more clients. I found myself going down this path, this path of wanting what I didn’t have. And as I turned the corner, into the neighborhood where we live currently, beautiful trees everywhere, just a lovely neighborhood, right by the river. And I turned in, I realized, wow, how lucky am I to live here?

I live right at the base of Mount Bachelor, which is a mountain in central Oregon, the fifth largest ski resort in the United States. And here it is, I can get up and going snowboarding, skiing, cross-country skiing, snowshoeing, hiking, backpacking, within 15 minutes. I can be at a crystal clear alpine lake, before I even listen to a typical podcast, right? And that’s when I started to realize how lucky I am, and how grateful I am.

And that I’m already wealthy. And I remember something that somebody told me, they said, Doug, there are two ways you can get wealthy. One, you get up early, you grind. There’s no other way to do it. Nobody gets lucky, not truly lucky. You have to work for it. If you want that money, for example, these extra $15 million dollars, right? I don’t want the bank to own the property, I want to own the property. So that’s $15 million dollars, I’ve got to make. So what do I have to do? I have to grind it out. I have to hustle, I have to work a little harder. Now of course, I believe you can do that with ease and flow, but you still have to put the time in.

And the other way to be wealthy, the way that’s talked about very much, is to be appreciative of what you have, right? In Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, there’s not much that we need. And if you’re listening or watching me right now, you have everything you need. You are wealthy. In fact, you’re one of the wealthiest people in the world, just the simple fact that I know that you have the means to actually obtain this information. Whatever electronic device that you’re using right now, you make more than the average person in the world. You are wealthy. So that’s something we want to think about.

And so what I’m going to encourage you to do, is what I did, is grab your journal, and start writing the things that you’re grateful for. And if you’re in kind of a rut right now, start something simple, like, hey, I can breathe without a respirator, maybe. Or maybe I have legs, there are people that come back from war or combat or a tragedy, and they lose their legs and they can’t do other things they want to do in life. Start off with the simple things and work your way up. I have family that loves me. I have a great job. I have a great career. And for me, I write down, I’m able to help people each and every day, get closer to their dreams.

I’m also able to see people, right? See them, that I’ve been working with for a while, push through the perceived barriers. My clients, when they start off, they have these high goals, and they pass them so quickly. And now, all of a sudden, they’re soaring to mountain tops they never even imagined. And I am so grateful. I really truly feel like I’m one of the wealthiest people in the world. I’m just very lucky. Now financially, I’m not there. I’m not even close to most of my clients, not even close. But internally, with what I have, my friends, my family, I feel like one of the luckiest people. And one of the wealthiest people.

And so I encourage you to do that today. Look at your journal, and look at where your wealth is. Are you striving for material things just because you don’t have them? They’re out of reach? And is that getting you down like it got me? Make sure you’re snapping out of it. I want you to snap out of it before I did. And look at the wealth around you.

That’s it for me today. Make sure you go over to authorofyourownstory.com. Sign up for the newsletters so you get the latest tips, tricks and techniques. And when you sign up for that newsletter, I want you to respond to that first email, because I want to hear from you. I’ve established so many great relationships with so many of you through those emails. And I love hearing from you. You can also find me on social media, I’m easy to find. And of course, I want you to share this with at least three people, that way you’re in conversations that matter. It’s going to help you grow exponentially. And last, but not least, go out, live your Author of Your Own Story lifestyle, and you’re going to inspire people that you’ve never even met. I will see you tomorrow. Have a great day.

If you like these daily growth hacks, it would mean the world to us if you would take a moment to subscribe and review us on iTunes!

Join The Discussion

When Is A Good Time To Go After Your Dreams?

Often times, at the end of these daily growth hacks, I ask you to do a couple of simple things, a couple of calls to action to help you grow. One of those is to sign up for our newsletter. Now, if you have signed up for our newsletter, you know you get a series of emails from me directly. One of the things I do is I ask you a couple of questions. When people respond, and they do often, I take a lot of time to read those, reflect on them, and respond back.

A question I commonly get from people is,” When do I go after my dreams?” Now, it’s not always worded that way. I get that, but that’s really what people are asking. You see, often times, I don’t know about you, but it’s been true for me in my past is you look at something and you go, “Well, I want to go after that, but I need a little security. Maybe I need to make a little bit more money. Maybe it’s a little bit more time. Maybe it’s getting in a relationship, getting out of a relationship. Maybe it’s getting the right job. Then, I can go do something.” Whatever it is, there’s always that, “Then, I can.”

The questions come up, and it comes up often to me is, “When do I actually go after this dream I have? When do I go after the dream of being a filmmaker?”, or “When do I go after the dream of traveling the world?”, or “When do I go after my dream of trying something different?”, trying a career, being an artist, whatever it may be for you. The answer is today. Now. Now, is when you do it.

Now, all of us have different responsibilities. I have a family. I have a child. There are certain things to do. For me, I look at my base needs. What base needs do I have to make? Do I sell my camera? Do I sell the computer? Do I sell the microphone? Do I sell my car to allow me to go after my dreams? I certainly would if that was me in that position. I would make sure my family was taken care of. Now, if I was single, I was a bachelor, very low responsibilities, I can sleep on a friend’s couch, I would go after it right away.

Sometimes, you do it as a side, and build it up to it, but now is the time because, ironically, and sorry to say, but I also had a friend. An old friend texted me and asking about a problem that they had. Unfortunately, this particular friend lost their spouse, their partner suddenly, suddenly from an illness. It was in a matter of a week; their partner was gone.

Now, how many times have they dreamt of doing something together in the past? I hate to use them as an example, but I want to use them as a real-life example to drive this home to you. We don’t know what’s going on tomorrow, the next day, or next week. We’re not guaranteed anything but this moment, this moment and time together.

When do you go after your dreams? I say you do it now. I say you do it now, whether you have to get new skills, get an internship, work for free for a while. There’s so many people that undervalue the idea of getting experience. Sometimes, you have to hustle. Sometimes, that hustle is not getting paid. You work for free as an apprentice, as an intern, as somebody. You find a mentor. You just say, “Hey, how can I work with you? What can I do for you?” I’ve done it in the past where my early 20s where I couldn’t afford certain coaches, but I found ways to bring just massive value to them. In return, they just started to spend time with me, and I just was able to soak up all their wisdom.

That might be something you can do. If you want to be an aspiring artist, maybe it’s a painter, maybe that’s something you just want to do as part of your story that you want to live into. Well, why couldn’t you find somebody else that is a painter or grab your paintings and bring them to an art gallery, or a frame shop, and say, “Hey, look. People need frames. These are great displays.” Start off wherever you can.

Maybe you want to be a filmmaker, maybe a photographer, and you just don’t know where to start. Well, I can tell you most business owners need photographers and videographers, but it’s a mutual trade off. You need that experience. Work with them. Work for them for free or a very low dollar amount. There are tons of stories. Gary Vaynerchuk has DRock. A lot of other people do. They’ll say, “Hey, look.” In that scenario, that videographer took years to develop themselves working for free, sleeping on couches just to get secured in that position. Now, they’re living their dream.

If you start today, you’ll be able to live into it and live the Author of Your Own Story lifestyle. I hope this is helpful for you. As I said, I love the emails that are coming in. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, that’s because you’re not on the Author of Your Own Story newsletter. Go there right now and subscribe. It’s just one more thing to up level you and just to keep you in that conversation. I’m going to ask you to do something else. Share this with three people that you enjoy having conversations that matter with. Just three. Very simple and do that right now as well. The third and last thing I’m going to ask you to do is go inspire someone simply by living your dreams and living the Author of Your Own Story lifestyle. I’ll see you tomorrow.

If you like these daily growth hacks, it would mean the world to us if you would take a moment to subscribe and review us on iTunes!

Join The Discussion

Revisit: How to Learn Fast?

So this is a tip I got from Jim Quick. Now, Jim Quick is thought of as the memory guy. So, you can find him over at his website, but he also has a fantastic podcast I recommend checking out. So Jim uses the acronym FAST, how to learn anything and how to learn it faster, right?

So FAST, what does F stand for? F stands for forgetting what you already know, and really focusing on the task at hand. So forgetting your limitations, forgetting the subject matter at hand. So if you’re studying business, or you’re studying a language, forgetting those rules you already know and going in with a child-like mind, and really going in with an open mind. Because really, you can’t fill a cup that’s already full, so you have to empty your cup to be able to refill it with new information.

A, what’s the A stand? The A stands for being active. Now, you have to be an active participant in your learning, and one good way of doing it is joining a community, right? Joining a community of other people that area learning the same subject. This could be just like the Author of Your Own Story community, or if you wanna take it up to another level, the Author of Your Own Story University, where you have a community of people playing at just a higher level. So the A is being active, being active in your learning and actually participating. There is some work involved in learning, and it’s not as hard as you probably think, but you do have to be active in this.

The S, what does the S stand for? The S stands for your state. What emotional state are you in? Now, of course, we can always control our state, and a thing that’s really important to remember is, you know, information combined with emotion helps you retain long-term learning. And that’s one of the reasons I try to bring energy every time I do these Daily Growth Hacks, and it really uplevels my energy, but hopefully, it actually adds something to what you’re learning. And that’s also why you can probably remember some of the best times and worst times in your life because they have heavy emotions attached to them.

And the same goes with learning. So really bring your state up, really lift your energy, really bring your all to your learning activity, it’s really up to you. You and I can control our own state, and, you know, even if you’re tired, or you’re low, or you’re run down, you always have more energy to go through. The analogy I constantly use is, you know if you’re tired and I told you, “You just won the lottery,” all of a sudden you would erupt with joy, you’d be jumping around, you’re being really excited. So you have that energy inside of you now. So S is for your state.

And T is for teach, right? So teach it. So when you teach something you’re not only learning it once, but you’re learning it twice. And that happens with me when I do these Daily Growth Hacks, you know, I’m actually reteaching this in my own terms and my own language. And yeah, is it perfect? Probably not, but it helps me, right? So it helps me to relearn the material.

And when I’m coaching a client, whether it’d be an executive, or just a student, somebody that’s just trying to learn, when I’m teaching them the subject material it really ingrains that material in my own mind, because I’m using my own analogies, I’m using my own sentence structure, and I’m using my own emotion to convey that thought process over. So remember, if you wanna learn anything, you use the acronym FAST. F is for forget, A is active, S is state, and T is teach.

That’s it for me today, I hope this helps you out. And whatever subject you’re learning, or trying to grow in in your Five to Thrive, try to apply this FAST acronym to that subject matter. I would really love to hear about it. And remember, teach, get into a community, be active, share this with at least three people, right here, right now, so you can grow your tribe, and so they can learn faster and you can grow faster. That’s it for me today, go out and be the author of your own story.

If you like these daily growth hacks, it would mean the world to us if you would take a moment to subscribe and review us on iTunes!

Join The Discussion

The Outside World Can’t Control You

When I say the outside world can’t control you, what do I mean? Well, how often do you hear someone complaining about something outside? You know, “My work is stressful, it’s overwhelming me.” Or “My husband or my wife frustrates me.” Or “My business partner drives me nuts.” I hear this all the time as a coach, but also just as a friend of so many people who reach out to me.

You know, if my friends are talking to me and they’re going into complaining mode, I just listen. But when a coaching client does it I nip it right in the bud. And what I do is I talk to them. Look, the outside world can’t control you, it’s the way that you view the outside world.

So I don’t know about you, but I know it’s true for me, that oftentimes when I’m feeling frustrated about something going on, it’s really something inside, I’m allowing it to control me. And now when I’m at my highest level, I don’t allow other people or outside resources to change my state, I’m centered within who I am, and what I’m about, and what I’m doing.

So work doesn’t stress me out, my wife, my child, my friends, my family don’t stress me out or frustrate me, because that’s all my internal, right? Those are external things that I’m allowing into me, and I’m translating them through a lens that I’ve produced.

So, this is true for me and it’s been a true experience for me in the journey that I’ve experienced, that when I’m actually centered within myself, I’m confident in who I am, the outside world seems to almost disappear. It doesn’t affect me the way that it seems to affect other people. Jobs, things happening don’t stress me out. If my car was to break down, I don’t get angry because the car broke down because really you’re not getting angry the car, the car doesn’t care. My work doesn’t care that it’s overwhelming me, that’s outside stuff. It’s all fake, and things that I put onto myself.

It’s me, my expectations, my unmet expectations regarding the car, or my spouse, or frustrations with work that are really the issue here. So what I invite you to do today is grab your journal and write out your five to thrive. In what area are you feeling frustrated, overwhelm, or allowing external sources to actually dictate how you are feeling and seeing the world?

I want you to write that down, and you’ve discovered that I’m wondering hmm, where else? So what happens in one area of our five to thrive tends to bleed into other areas. Once you’ve identified that, it’s now time to take action and realize that’s an external force, that you’re allowing to create a different world, probably a different world than you want to live in. And so now you get to change, it’s as simple as that, quick pivot. Once you recognize and get clarity, you can make a change, and you can make change quickly.

That’s it from me today, as always go to authorofyourownstory.com, where you get the latest tips, tricks, and techniques delivered right to your inbox. If you haven’t signed up for the waiting list for the Author of Your Own Story University, I highly recommend doing that right now. It’s an intensive program that’s specifically designed to allow you to take your life from where it is today, to a whole nother level with deep dives and subjects, each and every month.

I won’t get into all the details, you can go over there and read about that, and see if that’s a good fit for you, I’m sure it is. Go out and inspire someone by living an epic life, and living the Author of Your Own Story way, because that is just so unusual unfortunately these days, and I want you to have it all. I’ll see you tomorrow, take care.

If you like these daily growth hacks, it would mean the world to us if you would take a moment to subscribe and review us on iTunes!

Join The Discussion

« Older Entries

Next Entries »

Embrace the Surprise

You Have Two Tasks In Life

You’re A Product of What You Do Regularly

Take Care of Yourself

Revisit: Rising Up to the Occasion

To Laugh or To Cry?

Two Ways To Be Wealthy

When Is A Good Time To Go After Your Dreams?

Revisit: How to Learn Fast?

The Outside World Can’t Control You

Recent Posts

Categories

What If You Could Transform Your Life For The Better In Just 90 Days?