For the past week, I wore my headphones while I worked. Oddly enough though, I didn’t listen to a single song in that time. Instead, those hours were filled with a ton of Tony Robbins and Gary Vaynerchuk videos. These two are each a titan of health, wealth, and happiness, who’s mission is to help others achieve all three. Here are some of the tidbits that most reached me over the past week…
Productivity
The first thing I realized is how much motivational speakers can help you stay productive. Even when listening somewhat passively, I got way more done in a given time-frame than I do on average.
Having a coach in your ear to enhance your mental state can do wonders in pushing your limits. However, with these two guys you’re not just getting an ineffective “rah-rah-rah” cheer guru either. What both understand is the importance of honesty with oneself. Sometimes that requires acknowledgment of harsh truths, in order to change for the better.
One great example, was a highlight Robbins discussed about the ladies of the View. When they came to him about doing his program, he said he’d be happy to have them. His one condition though, was they not do it together. Remaining politely straight-forward with them, he suggested their lack of maintenance of a healthy weight could result in one holding the other back at different points.
Now his bluntly calling them out did make me chuckle at first. What I started to realize though, was I probably have as many or more internal things holding me back than those ladies. It’s been great to recognize those areas and find ways to actively improve upon them.
Social Media the Right Way
A great lesson from Gary Vaynerchuk is a social media strategy costing only $1.80 per day. The ironic part? It also doesn’t cost anything…
How? Well, the strategy is actually to use the top social media hashtags to find the top users and most-interacted content. Once you find the top 90 or so, all you need to do is give your 2 cents on each. So yea, 90 x .02 = 1.80 = FREE… You know, math. 😉
The key to this concept is building and fostering community around the things you love. This is how you craft a lifestyle and yourself as a player within that lifestyle, rather than simply self-promoting all the time. Be proud of your voice and speak your mind!
Personally, I haven’t added this extent of commenting to my social media regimen yet because end-of-the-year stuff has been crazy. However, I have been commenting and sharing my thoughts more when they pop up, rather than just clicking the like button. Once I get through my current mountain of tasks, implementing a $1.80 system of my own is going to be a top priority!
Happiness
There is no one better suited to help you find meaning in life than Tony MF’n Robbins. Two of the biggest things he stresses are maintaining a peak state of energy through motion, and the importance of gratitude. There are so many lessons he gives stemming off these, but here are two big examples I took away.
- Stand up. Reach your right pointer finger out in front of you. Turn your body as far as you can to the right, rotating your body around but keeping your feet in place. Note how far you turned based on where you ended up pointing. Now, return to the original position, but this time, close your eyes. In your mind, envision yourself going even further. Actually, envision yourself going further than you even think you physically could. Really push the limits as you get the picture in your head. Once you do, try the exercise again and see how much further you go. You went much further this time, didn’t you? This is a demonstration in the power of our belief. How much could we achieve if we always set our goals further than we thought possible?
- A study was done where a sample of people were asked to hold a cup of coffee for someone. Half the people were handed a hot cup of coffee, the other half were given a cold cup. After holding the cup, the good samaritan would be asked to read a short story. Upon reading the story, they would then be asked if they considered the main character’s actions to be kind and warm, or cold and mean. Turns out, 80% of the people given the warm cup answered the former, while 81% given the cold cup answered the latter. Another amazing example of how the mind can be influenced!
Exercises
So knowing there are stimuli which can influence the mind, here are a few things I’ve been putting into practice, which have been effective for mental state:
- Affirmations – there is no long-term joy in reaching a destination, so enjoying the ride too is ideal. One way to aid this is to affirm every day that you have already reached the destination. See Jim Carrey’s $10 million check.
- Morning motion – whether this is working out or literally jumping out of bed, get the day started right with activity. It will get you ready to kick ass and is good for you health-wise.
- Breathing – another thing I found from Robbins is fourth breaths in, four breaths out. If you try it a few times, you should really feel an automatic relaxation. Especially for a dog owner, this one is great to do on a walk!
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Obviously, if you couldn’t tell from this long post, I highly recommend following these guys. I’ve hardly scratched the surface with all the valuable lessons you can take from them so know there is much more which could provide you with the spark you need. Both are true inspirations and have positively impacted my life in a big way.
Thanks for reading and hope you’re enjoying the Civilands series. Let me know your thoughts in the comments below, feel free to subscribe for more blog updates, and click here for free book giveaways, including best-sellers!
