ACHIEVE WHATEVER YOU DESIRE

Why you urgently need to start a business this year

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Temp work is taking over. Full Time workers are replaced with part time. Everything gets cheaper. The products we buy. The services provided. Salaries are getting cut to keep profits from lower prices.

While living expenses increase. School costs more. Rent goes up more then salaries.

Robots and computers are replacing humans every day. Robots are better at picking orders, manning checkouts (one cashier supervising 10 machines instead of 10 cashiers), placing orders for stores. Picking warehouse orders.

They are purchased once. Can be operated by one human remotely. Work without the need for breaks. No need to pay it over time and can just let it work day and night.

 

Have faith

With internet here, the gatekeepers are gone. Today you don’t need to wait for permission to become your own boss. You pick yourself to be your own boss.

There are abundance of opportunities to take advantage of. Below I’ll share some ideas to get you going. I know they have worked very well for many. But first asses what you would like to do.

What have you done the last 10 years? What have you done less then 10 years? What would you like to do the next 10 years?

How can you combine two or more skills in to a new profession?

 

How to become your own boss in 2016

 

Have f-you money

Save at least 10% of your income to be ready for whatever comes. Then save more if possible.

This is f-you money. Money that you keep only to be able to say no when necessary. Money that will give you a peaceful mind. Money that makes it possible to say yes to jobs you would like to do. And no, to jobs you don’t want.

The f-you money makes it possible to quit your job, or work part time while building other incomes. It’s vital that you begin to accumulate enough cash to feed yourself and your family for at least three months. Preferably six months or more.

To become wealthy you first must keep a part of all you earn. It doesn’t matter how much you earn. If you have $1 million income and spend $1 million you are broke. If you earn $20.000 year and keep 10% that is $2000 richer then the guy with $1 million income.

Look at your income and expenses last three months. How much is left from last month? Three months? Don’t worry if you have nothing right now, it’s about to change! And If you have savings, great!

Look at your last three months expenses, take the three biggest. What are they? Why are you spending that amount? Could you cut the three biggest expenses in half? It’s great that you take control of the situation and figure this out!

Now look at your incomes. How much are they?

How could you provide more to increase your income?

Most people only have one income, their salary. I had only one income the first eight years I worked. I didn’t know that I could start my own business. I didn’t have any ideas. I didn’t know how to do it. It’s was horrible!

The last couple of years I’ve begun to really transform my own life. Now I have three incomes streams. Not quite where I want to be yet, but I’m getting there. Now my focus is on providing you the best possible advice. That I wish I had while growing up.

Do the work and you will succeed.

 

Save 70% in cash. To build a bank of  safety. It’s good to have cash. Don’t worry about inflation. Once you’ve started to create multiple sources of incomes they will grow faster. Worry about sleeping well at night and be able to be completely free to do whatever you wish. When you want. How you want to.

Once you have your expenses saved for the next three months. Keep saving in cash and Invest 30% monthly in low cost global index fund or vanguard. Let it sit there. Keep adding money each month. Cheer when the market goes down since you get stocks at discount.

 

 

Earn more by starting multiple business

Dedicate one hour before or after work to come up with ideas for additional income.

 

First what is value?

As I started this journey for multiple income streams. Everyone keeps talking  about creating value. For a long time I didn’t understand it. I feel really stupid for not understanding it. Sometimes I’m ridiculously slow to catch on. But once I understand how the pieces moves. It gets much easier.

I realized that value is sharing something you have expertise in. It could be anything that you have practiced for at least six months. Once you have done something more then six months you could help other people just starting out.

The majority of people just try a couple of weeks then quit. Help those. They need your expertise.

 

What are your skills? What do you have expertise in?

Example 1) You have been able to save 10% of money each month for one year. Very few are able to do it. The majority of people live pay check to pay check. Just Over Broke.

How did you manage that? How did you persist? What did you spend less on? How did you increase your income? This is an expertise.

Example 2) You’ve been to the gym for two years now. You know what works. You’ve tried several different routines. In the past you’ve practiced indoor floorball, hockey and rock climbing.

You know how the teams practice to become better. You know what it takes to build up your muscle and endurance on the wall while climbing. How can you help people starting out? What equipment do they need to start? How do you schedule to go two or three times a week? What could make you not want to go? This is an expertise.

Example 3) You’ve had a couple of relationships and now you’ve been seeing a girl for a year. You both have a great time. While your friends might be in relationships that have no spark to it. Maybe they are trapped in a relationship that are bad for them and they don’t know how to fix it. They could be afraid to leave it to find a new partner.

How did you find your partner? What are you doing to keep the spark alive? What are they doing that kills the spark? This is an expertise.

Example 4) Maybe you are a crafts person and know how to put together a bookshelf or a table. Many people don’t have a clue how to craft a kitchen table inside their own home. How to fit all their tools.

How to make time while having a full time job and family. Learning the craft while having other responsibilities is an expertise.

 

Ideas to get your mind started

 

A) Start a blog on your hobby

Write how you do it. How you think. How you freed up time to do it every week. Write how you prepare. What is hard. How you persistent and continue practice. Add a email list for your readers to join. Offer then a super helpful guide how to do x.

Give your best advice as a thank you, for them joining your list. Give regular updates on it. Ask a question at the end. What do they want to see more of? What have they trouble with following your advice?

Put together a email course with a detailed plan to follow for $49-149. One or two might take it. Help them. Ask for testimonials. Do this again every three months.

 

B) Write books

Any topic is good. Fiction. Autobiography.  A serie of How to guides. Upload to amazon. Set a price.

When the first book is done, write a new book. Release another one while promoting the first one. And a third. A forth. Often it requires multiple books.

It doesn’t have to be 300 pages. Make it 30 and write a series. Write until you can’t take it. Write some more. Publish more books. Remember. It doesn’t have to be a best seller.

Example: If you write a book and it costs $9.99. You keep 70% of the profit. that’s  $7 dollars! One sale = $7. Sell 10 books = $70 profit. With 2 books and 10 sales each = $140 profit. 10 books and 10 sales per book, each month = $700!

 

C) create video courses on udemy

What have you done more then six months? With six months practice you have expertise skills compared to most people. Especially beginners that have no idea. Look at other coaches how they present themself. How can you be better or different?

Can you combine multiple skills that no one have? Write how you would learn this skill. Make chapters for each step you have taken. Write a set of to do items for each chapter. Take out your phone and set aside one hour every day. To practice filming yourself.

Do it every day until you have gained an aura of confidence. That brings out the best in you. It might take some practice. Then upload and set a price. Offer the first 1000 that sign up for free and ask them for a review.

 

Create funny (or serious) videos on YouTube

Upload twice a week. When you have a thousand subscribers activate adds. Think of a product you use daily or one you could market to your fans. Sell it directly or with affiliate program.

By creating content every week your time and persistence will lead you to success. Every time you upload a video, your previous videos will gain attention. Keep creating more videos until one day, you’ve attained a critical mass of readers and they promote your work.

Then the speed picks up greatly.

 

E) Craft a product

Knit a handbag. Setup a webbshop.  Make five different products. Take amazing pictures and write great description (copy) of your products. Promote it by joining forums and give super helpful advice for people that ask. Have a signature to your store with a brief description of it.

Don’t try to sell them anything. Just be super helpful and offer advice how you did it. Some will go to your webshop. A few will try it. A couple will promote your webshop on the forum. And the snowball have started. It started with your first super helpful advice.

And gets bigger every time you write another answer while adding more items in your shop. Keep about 5-10 to not get overwhelmed at first.

 

 

F) market a product

Setup a website with affiliate marketing or direct sales with products you know. Write great descriptions (copy).  Setup a PayPal account. Connect it to your affiliate marketing account.

Figure out how to improve your writing. Figure out how you can drive more traffic to your site. Once you begin to understand how it works, it’s easy to create another site. Or improve your current.

 

G) Freelance

using websites specific to freelance. Offer your services and skills. It might require to start working for low pay. But as you get good and understand how it works. You can soon demand more for your work.

 

H) Learn a trade

Like carpeting, electrician or plumbing. Pretty short education. Cheap and hard to outsource. Register your own company.

Start to call local businesses and work for free. Ask for referrals. Charge your next customers with your referrals for previous work.

 

I) Learn a programing language

Many good sites like udemy, pluralsights, offer excellent courses on how to learn and create awesome stuff. Also search youtube for courses, example thenewboston.

Before you begin. Figure out what you would like to program. It’s a monumental task to learn a complete language! Instead think of one solution to solve or app you want  make.  And go from there.

Then you have a understanding of what you want to do. What action you need to program. How it should operate. How it should look. Then it’s easier to know what language to learn and how to program it.

 

J) Start a consultant business

Delivering a product that helps the customer do X.  X where you have experience. If it doesn’t sell, change it to a service.

Example: if you have learned how to eat healthy. Tell how they can achieve it. Explain what was hard, and how you overcame it. Provide a plan with breakfast, lunch, dinner menu. Collaborate with online or local business.

Give your customers a lower price if they get food from them using your program. While you get a cut from the restaurant.

Offer a product that comes with the menu.

 

 

Is any of this going to be easy?

It’s simple but not easy. Do the work and it’s simple.

Consider what are your options when you don’t do the work.

 

 

Remember it’s like any new habit.

Give it one hour every day.

Given enough time, you will be amazed by the results.

NEW YEAR – REFLECTION AND DIRECTION FOR 2016

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The last couple of years I’ve taken the last day of the year to reflect. What have I done this year? What did I achieve? What people are important to me? Who should I spend less or more time with? What have I done the last week? The last month? How much money do I have left from last month, last year?

A good indicator of my next 365 days, is how I spend the average week today. If I’m constantly out of time to write and improve my work. Completely drained of energy after work. Missing brazilian jiu-jitsu practice. Not enough time to read interesting biographies of great people. There is a high probability that I will stay, tired and out of time for the whole next year.

 

What is really awesome, is that it’s rather simple to change. Not easy, but simple.

 

Just by taking 15 minutes to write some, read some, research some, Is VERY IMPORTANT. It’s a statement to yourself. That you will change! You are taking the necessary steps to achieve your dream. Let’s say I write for 15 minutes on Monday, 6 minutes on Tuesday, 22 minutes on Wednesday, 45 minutes on Thursday, 5 minutes on Friday, 90 minutes on Saturday and 120 minutes on Sunday. It adds up to 303 minutes! That’s five hours work. 20 hours in a month.

It might sound negligible. But it’s the catalyst for greatness. It’s a snowball that starts as a tiny ball. Just a handful of snowflakes, barely filling the palm. But given time, day after day, week after week, month after month, 365 days later. That’s 263 hours you’ve worked towards your dream.

 

 

Make every minute count. Because it could be your last.

Today I had lunch with my best friend. The one person that made me who I am today. He’s had an hell of an year. He’s lost two people really close to him. And a third he found out, after he was about to deliver the news of his own loss. I’m so sorry for him. One of them I was really close with and had helped me a lot in the gym. Make every minute you are alive, count. Do what you are passionate about as often as you can!

 

Every attempt we make, or situation we end up in. Will make us stronger or weaker.

 

By taking time to reflect. It helps us see what underlying behavior made us end up here. How we came to be where we are right now. The reason I’ve been stuck in the past, not going anywhere. Is because I didn’t have goals. Or I had goals but didn’t write them down. I didn’t have a clear action plan of what habit I should follow to achieve this goal. I just expected to get results from mindless repetition of the same action. It could work in some cases. But I had not thought it through and reflect on why I am doing this.

 

Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

-Albert Einstein

 

 

This week I went to the library to lend “Think and Grow Rich”. This book has so many great things in it. I haven’t reread it fully yet, but what I would like to share are some questions you may want to ask yourself of the past year.

Picture of the book Think and Grow Rich

 

  • Have I attained the goal which I established as my objective for this year?

 

  • Have I done as best as I could, or could I have done even better?

 

  • Have I done as much as humanly possible?

 

  • Has the spirit of my conduct been harmonious, and cooperative at all times?

 

  • Have I allowed myself to procrastinate to my disadvantage and if so, to what extent?

 

  • Have I developed my personality and if so, how?

 

  • Have I used my time wisely by budgeting it, my costs, my income, and have I been conservative in these budgets?

 

  • How much time have I spent on unprofitable endeavors, that I could have done better things?

 

  • How may I use my time more wisely and be more effective the coming year?

 

  • Have I been guilty of any conduct which was not approved by my conscience?

 

 

These are 10 of 28 questions and many more worthwhile thoughts. It’s made a big impact on me. Especially the part of autosuggestion where you re-affirm your plan morning and night. In short:

Tell yourself what you want to achieve. What you are going to offer in turn. That you will practice what you know now. Until a plan realizes before you, showing how to achieve it. Then act upon it! Knowing that you will achieve your goal. With a calm and relaxed mind, there is no other way that you will achieve your goal. Write it down. Read it every morning and evening. Believe it.

 

Let this past year be a reminder

Whenever you feel the urge to procrastinate. Squash the thought and DO what you REALLY want. You are here reading this. You know what you want. You know what you need to do. You have my permission to do it. If you don’t find immediate success, just try again. Try it until you become a little better. Have faith and persistence.

When you are persistent, the magic starts to happen. When I first started my martial arts practiced. For the first 60 days. I just wanted to quit. It was so hard. Everyone was so good. I couldn’t do anything. Every day I wanted to give up. To quit. I gave up hundreds of times to the people I practiced with.

 

But I had faith and persistence

Knew this is something I had to do. So I showed up. Every week. Two or three times. Up to five times when possible. And I reaped the rewards. Now it’s 600 days later and I’ve overcome the urgency to quit. It’s much easier now then 599 days ago.

That urge to quit is still there, but now more like a fly that is easily squashed. When it used to be a huge lion roaring in my face making me tremble.

Picture of christmas tree

Take this last day of the year for self reflection. Find what went well. Practice what you need to achieve your desires. One small step every day.

 

PS. Remember,

Life is a fun game, and then we die.

How the daily practice could help you as it has helped me

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I love how calm I am in the morning these days. I wake up, get out of my bed and turn of the alarm. Drink a big glass of water to wake my body. Go out to the kitchen and fill my water boiler with fresh cold water. Set it to 90c degrees. Wash my face in the bathroom.

By now I feel refreshed and awake. Just two minutes after waking. Some tiredness lingering but that will soon be gone. Pre heat my cup with water. Pour the water out and add instant coffee. Fill up with hot water. Love to see the crema that forms on the surface and take a moment to smell it. Then I know it will taste great.

Take a hot shower to warm my body, stretch my neck to get some blood flowing. Finish with at least one minute on full cold. Dry up and put on some clothes to enjoy myself a warm cup of amazing coffee. Sit down at my table and start my computer, to begin writing on my current thoughts. All the while I’ve done this in a calm and relaxed way. With no pressure of time on me.

Picture of a full moon

The daily practice on an early morning

 

When the time comes. I put on my shoes, grab my backpack and put on my jacket to walk down towards the train. Get on the train and make some small talk with one other person or read a book. It’s rather pleasant to have a conversation on the train in the morning.

Sometimes I meet a friend. Other times I’ve made new friends. Recently I’ve talked with a woman that’s been intrigued by my books and notepad I’ve always got with me. She asked about it one day.

I told her of my habit of reading some, and writing some every day. She really liked that idea. Two days after when we met again, she said that she had started writing. Mostly work related. I said “that’s great!” We talked some more about it, and I told her of what else I like to write about.

  • Write one thing you’ve done the last 24 hours that made you happy.
  • Write three things you are grateful of.
  • Journal what you did today.

She liked the idea. She talked about wanting to find a new job, that some changes at work have made it stressfull. I asked her if she regularly saves some money for herself. I shared my habit of always trying to save at least 10% of what I earn. How much safer it makes me feel.

To have the possibility of following my dream when I find it. To keep this money to myself. Instead of working because I have to. To working because I want to. To be able to have one less worry in my life.

When she talked about her ideas about finding a new job, I asked her what she would like to do. She didn’t know. I shared my habit of writing down ten ideas. How it has helped me coming up with new ideas I’ve never thought of before. How it could help her to begin imagining ten jobs she could see herself working with.

How I made a list of ten books I could write yesterday. After my fifth book I came up with “10 highly effective cleaning habits” and loved the idea. Then wrote ten chapters on it. Funny how writing works. Never thought I would make a book of highly effective cleaning habits. I wonder if she liked any of the ideas and tried them.

Arrive to work in an easy stride up the stairs. Get a glass and brew my second cup of coffee. Put on my shirt and bring my book and notepad with me. To sit down twenty minutes before work starts. To read or write if I don’t talk with my colleagues.

 

A couple of months ago it looked nothing like this. It was stressful getting to work.

I used to rush out of bed to shower and felt drained afterwards. Then get on the bike while I was sweaty from the shower although I had finished cold. Now I have 30 minutes to get to work and change. Racing against the clock in a stressful way, obsessing over where I am in segment time.

I need to go faster this segment. Oh now I can slow down a bit. Going down first and keeping a steady pace. Pass a sharp turn where I crashed two years ago and turned my wheels to nachos.

Bike down the small hills. Ride up against the beautiful sea. Sometimes it’s so clear you can see all the little lights across the other side. And sometimes there’s a thick heavy fog clouding just a few feet in over the sea. I’m cold now and the sweat is sticky against my body. I still need five more minutes to get warm. Pass the two marinas on the way. Come up against the railroads and give some more power to the pedals.

Now 15 minutes have passed feeling some warmth in my body. Need to pedal harder to gain time. Rush through a residential area up a small hill climb. 18 minutes passed. Just a bit further and it’s downhill from here. Now I’ve began to work up a sweat.

Almost there, just five more minutes. Pass a guy going in the wrong direction with no lights on. Third day in a row he does this. Some day he is gonna get hit. And it’s not gonna be pretty. Slight downhill now and flat road coming up. Just keeping steady cadence.

Look over my left shoulder, it’s clear to cross the road. I get of mid stride and hoist my bike on the shoulder. Taking short and fast steps down the stairs to pass under the train tracks. Maybe 7 minutes until I begin. I’ve made good time to day. Get on my bike and ride the last short distance. Reach for my pass card and hold it against the door. Pull the door open and roll my bike inside through a short right, left, right maneuver.

Fast steps up the stairs, grab a glass. Walk over to the coffee machine, press double espresso and immediately head off to my locker and change clothes. Rush out to gulp my espresso down with one foot of the ground and my mind down the stairs. Fast steps down the stairs and as I reach the clock I notice I’m late by two minutes. Fuck.

 

Getting unstuck

By writing and coming up with ten ideas every day. I’m slowly getting unstuck. I’m beginning to notice all kind of different ways to create value for others. It’s starting to manifest itself in my mind. That it’s possible. While I keep saving money for myself I have an assurance that I could do others things if I want to.

Picture of my laptop and candlelights in the early morning

The daily practice of getting up early to write

The practice of talking with new people every day helps me learn how to build connections. To learn what drives them. What they are passionate about. Every person I meet, I can learn from. If I listen. When I take the time to listen, they share things that they haven’t thought about sharing.

My habit of writing ideas have started to change how I make conversations. When a person might share a problem, I now begin to make a list in my head of different ways to solve it. If they are good I share them, and they use them to form their own plan.

 

Meeting new interesting people

It’s quite simple to walk up to a new person and begin talking with them. What stopped me in the past. Was constantly being in my own thoughts. Obsessively thinking about games, or what other thought about me. Since I began to shift away from games, and being more interested in other things. It made it much easier.

15 years ago I said to myself I wasn’t interested in meeting others. Instead I shut myself in to the safety of my room and my computer. Even while playing I felt unsafe. I was scared of trading items in the game because I  didn’t know the value they had. I was afraid of rejection. So I rarely did it unless I knew for certain the value of it.

I shut myself in because I hadn’t learned the ways to grow. Didn’t understand how and why I should reach out and talk with people. Didn’t see the point of it.

 

Learning new things

Today I understand it much better. It still isn’t easy. But I know why it’s good for me. And I’ve learned systems how to build connections and create fun experiences. To be bold and do new things. To be bold and continue with things I’ve started. It’s “easy” to try a new experience like taking a Salsa class. Go three times and I feel quite good about it since I’m just a beginner and made some progress.

But continue after that to ten classes. Twenty classes. Or more. Is scary, because then I’ve some experience and can’t be quite called a beginner any longer. Then to ask a girl to dance with me. Face ridicule and rejection. But I did it. And it was really fun once I got over that fear and just did it.

If it went bad, I laughed. Like one time this summer. I have a habit of asking at least three girls to dance to practice what we learned earlier. The first two girls were really sweet and had a great time and was able to lead well. The third girl I ask, immediately had a different attitude. She didn’t want to greet by name. And made it awkward leading her, and I lost the rhythm. I tried two times more to get it going but danced really bad. She laughed at my face for it.

I just grinned at her and said “thanks for the dance” while chuckling to myself how I miserably failed that dance. And when it went great, I laughed even more.

 

Persistence and faith

Having persistence and finishing things you once started, is a great quality. It has helped me so much in my own life. I’ve started so many things that was uncomfortable to me. Like going to the gym. I hated it for a long time. I tried it a couple of times. But it was hard to commit myself to the practice.

It took me two years to begin again. And two months to build a habit of me going regularly. Today I know it’s best for my well being to go at least two times a week. Preferably more, but at minimum two times.

 

Getting better memory

I used to feel my memory was really bad. I didn’t remember what I had done yesterday, or last week. The days blended in together as one. I felt bad when I read. Because nothing would stick and would take so long to read. So I gave up on reading.

What I’ve realized today. Is that my memory wasn’t bad. It was my way of living. I ate bad foods every day. I never got any rest since I was in front of the computer most of my waking hours. Didn’t exercise. My days blended together because I never did anything new.

Today I read more. Journal of my day. Write any interesting thought that comes up that is worth keeping. Exercise some every day. Make it a habit of coming up with at least one new thing to experience this week, or this month. Take myself out on new experiences. Invite someone to a place I’ve never been to, and go together.

I’ve committed myself to do these practices. At first it was hard. Many times I’ve just wanted to throw them away. Some days I did some of them. Other days, I didn’t do them. But I had them in my mind every day I didn’t do them. I prepared in other ways, like reading or planning them out when I could make time to do them.

Until one day I had enough of myself! And just did it. It was awkward but I did it. And again. And once more. Just doing it once made me feel great! Doing it again the next day even greater! I’ve just accomplished my practice of writing, going to the gym, talking with a interesting girl. The next day maybe I did them all, or one. But still in my mind every day. Preparing for it.

 

I have in my mind, that with persistence and faith. This practice is worth it. I now do most of them in a calm relaxed way. When I’ve practiced it enough to be relaxed, magical things happen. Suddenly I begin to see possibilities all around me that once were none. Act on that urge, and things just seem to happen.

 

What destroys my faith is disbelief

Disbelief in myself and my practice. Why do I even do this? Why not just stop right now. This is uncomfortable. Why am I sharing this with you? I’m used to playing video games and like it. I’ve worked many hours today and I would just like to relax after work. It sure would be nice with a soda right now. Or something stronger, to help me relax more. It’s been awhile since I had some chips, I should get some. Just this once. That’s okay. Just once. Maybe I should splurge and buy a nice laptop. Think of all the cool games I could play. It would be fun to play all the great games I haven’t played this year.

Why would I read books when I have this awesome game telling me great stories. Books are boring. There are so many and I don’t know where to start. Coming up with ten ideas every day. What does that help me in the future? How does it help me now? And writing this. Why don’t I just be done with it and go to sleep. It’s Sunday morning and the sun hasn’t risen yet. I have a girl in my warm bed waiting for me.

 

I was so tired when I awoke today. Something stirred me to wake fifteen minutes before my alarm was set. It’s 5.15 am on a sunday morning. I felt that urge to just go to sleep again. My head hurts. My eyes are dried and tired. It’s cold.

Why would I do this to myself? Because I have faith in my practice. This is the direction I want to go in. I want something greater out of life then I’ve had! I want to experience new things. Have more freedom for myself.

 

“If you want something you’ve never had, you have to do things you’ve never done.”

 

How do you even find what you want to do in life?

Listen to your gut. This is the single most important thing and I will say it again. Listen to your gut. It’s scary. When I’ve listened to my gut my brain usually tells me “this is unsafe, you really shouldn’t do this Johan”, “this is uncomfortable, just go back to playing your video game”, “what would I do without my video games? I don’t know anything else.”

“How could I achieve wealth? I’m too stupid”, “I don’t have any savings, and never will have”, “I have to many bills to pay and to little income”, “I don’t have any great ideas”, “how could I run a company? I’m not trained in that. I haven’t even finished school!”

 

So many thoughts get in the way, stopping me from listening to my gut. I’m so used to hearing them. They are so subtle in their ways. Over the years I muted the voice of my gut. Ignored it for so long. That it could hardly speak up.

When it did speak up, I doubted it. Because I haven’t listened to it for so long. “What is this gut feeling telling me?” “That I should resist the urge of watching a gameplay stream on twitch.tv?” “Why would I resist instant gratification when I can have fun right now?”

 

Resisting the urge for instant gratification gives me power

Building the muscle to resist my urge for instant gratification. Have been a long journey. Still is. Every day it’s tempting to just give it up. Be done with it. Cave in to my wants right now. Two hours ago I was so tired. My head was in pain. My body screamed to me: “Go to bed Johan, you can write this later.”

I listened to my gut. I have the faith that this work needs to be done in the morning. Because later in the day, I’ve been taking in so many expressions and experiences, that I would be tired. To tired to think straight. To tired to write.

By resisting my wants for instant gratification, gives me power. Power over myself. That I can achieve what I want in life. I’ve talked much about myself now. But that is to show that you might have thought, similar thoughts. Or not. Apply it if it resonates with you. Maybe it’s scary. Try to do it anyway.

The power gives me energy. If I would have gone to bed again, I’m certain I wouldn’t have written this. It would have colored my whole day, that I failed what I set out to do. I would talk down to myself. That I’m no great person. I always fail getting up early to write. Last weekend I didn’t do it. And this whole week I’ve just gotten fifteen minutes of writing done at most. That is hardly an achievement.

But that’s wrong. This whole week I’ve set my alarm earlier and have written some words. This weekend I’ve written more then I dreamed of. The small victories every day, amounts to huge achievements in the near future. If I wouldn’t have written five minutes here, and ten minutes there, every day this week. Do you think I would have the faith in myself to get up today?

 

Will power! What nonsense!

Will power is but the unflinching purpose to carry the task you set for yourself to fullfillment.

If I commit myself to carry out a task, no matter how small, I shall see it to fulfillment.

How else could I have trust in myself to do other more important things?

-The Richest Man in Babylon

 

I set out on my own self improvement journey more then a decade ago, with a single goal. The goal to change my life and experience new things. I had no idea where to start. But I knew in my gut, that I wanted something more out of life.

Along the way, I’ve done so many scary things. Things I really didn’t want to do at first. Things I didn’t know how to do. Questioned where would this action would take me. Questioned myself, many times while taking the necessary steps. Still do.

Sun over ocean

But I did take that step today. And a new day begins, with the sun rising. And that fear of not being enough? It’s severely reduced, while my gut feeling is showing the way.

On forming new habits

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Picture of statue

“If you want something you’ve never had, you have to do things you’ve never done.”

 

We are creature of habits.

Every day most of our daily decisions, are not decisions. They are habits we have developed probably for several years. At most we might decide what’s for dinner. But that, is just a choice between three or four dishes we love.

I love my habits. They are comfy and makes my life easy. Knowing just how the day will progress. Who I’m going to spend my time with. However. To long with this, I begin to feel restless. That comfy feeling of knowing how this day will be. And the next. And the one after. With no change the days blur together and form as one. When Friday comes around you might say to yourself, “wow it’s already Friday! What happened with the whole week?”

Sometimes you might dream of another life. Other directions you wish to go in. Adventures you want to experience. Things you haven’t tried yet. I know I do. It’s easy to follow your daily habit. Maybe you love your whole day. That’s fine. Go ahead and enjoy it!

But when you begin to doubt your daily life. Asking yourself “Is this it? I’m not ready to die yet! I have so much more to explore!” It gets though. It’s hard to change your routine. But if you truly want change. You will do it. Even if it’s just a tiny change every day. It will be a big progress forward.

Once you’ve made up your mind begin to look at your daily routine. What do you do every day? Is it taking you further towards your goal? What can you change to get to your goal? What habit do you need to reach your goal?

Picture of a cup of awesome coffee and writing pad.

Drinking an awesome cup of coffee while writing.

I want to become an entrepreneur and writer. I train my idea muscle by writing down ten ideas. I Write 2000 words every day. It’s been really hard. Some days I’ve done it, many others I’ve completely failed. And it sucks. But I write some every day, and come up with some ideas every day. And I know by writing and coming up with ideas every day. I will someday have the success I desire.

 

It’s just a matter of time, and patience.

 

What is success to you? It’s changed a lot for me the last couple of years. It used to be about having a lot of money. Having a nice car. Buying a house and living the dream. Today it’s completely. I use my bike to get around town. I’m happy with renting my apartment. Every day I think of how can I help one person today? I rarely use money to buy things to consume.

 

When I first started with my weight lifting I talked a lot of my plans of how I would “go xx days to the gym every week”. It’s easy to talk. Harder to do.

It took me quite awhile for me to go regularly, and when I went to the gym I rarely talked about it, other then trying to bring my friends with me. And then I heard them say what I’ve said. “I’m tired today”, “I’ve had a long day at work I’ll come next time” “my body is sore so I’ll rest”. Just like I had said to myself. Giving excuses.

Because I was afraid to challenge myself. Changing myself is taking a stand. It means a lot of things. Like my life before this has been wrong. I was a failure who did not exercise. And now I want to change and have to face my demons from several years of habit. It’s though. But it’s worth it!

I Started going to the gym four times a week. Every week. It was my only goal after work. With no breaks unless I was sick. However I felt, when it was time, I went. The way to success is a determination to follow your passion. And make your habit so simple. That you will reach your dream with habit and time. And you will succeed.

I wanted become fit. When I stopped talking about it, and went to the gym four times a week. Stopped eating crap. I achieved my dream within two months. It’s that simple.

 

Changing is simple. But not easy.

It takes some effort to change your daily routine. Once you’ve built a new habit, it’s easy to maintain. And will follow your for the rest of your life.

Building new habits is easier when you take some time to look on your whole day and see what you do each hour. Take some time now to write down your entire day how it went by or how want it to be. This is important, do it.

 

Next, think on what you would like to do or learn. How much time would you like or need to commit for you to be satisfied with your progress. Write it down.

The day has 24 hours. And you need eight hours of sleep. What are you doing with the rest? Map your entire day out and look at what you need to cut out and replace with your new habit.

 

Remember you do this to live your dreams. If you do not follow this step, you will sooner or later resent yourself.

 

By doing your daily habit and being persistent. Every day with faith that you will make it. You are already successful. Keep doing your habit and you are soon living it.

I watched a bond movie a two years ago. And I saw him on a boat sailing The Caribbean in crystal clear water with a cloudless sky. Thinking “I want to do that”. Filled with passion I left the movie theatre and realized it’s winter outside and ice on the sea.

I didn’t say, “wow it’s so cold and snow everywhere. Maybe I will do it in the summer.” No. I said:

“Ok, that’s fine. As soon as possible I will book a weekend class to learn how to sail.” And I did. Remember, if something truly stops you right now. Set a definite date when you will begin your journey. Set it within 90 days. Any longer and your dream will begin to fade. It’s fine if it fade’s. But be prepared of the consequences. Regret of unfulfilled dreams.

 

The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago. The next best time is today.

 

Begin to prepare now. Visualize your dream.

What is it? What will you do?

Describe in detail an ideal day.

Write it down.

Feel it.

 

What are you doing?

 

Now do this everyday. Starting now.

Take the necessary steps to live your dream.

If you want something you’ve never had, you have to do things you’ve never done.

Ten life decisions I’ve made

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I’ve been thinking of ten ideas for two weeks now thanks to James Altucher
How To Become An Idea Machine. It’s not been easy. But it gets easier. And some days ago I challenged a coworker to list ten of his life changing decisions. Of course I had to make my own.

A) Move your body

I used to be fat and sit inside playing computer games. Wishing I had an more exciting life and a girl to fuck. I  did that for a long time. A new friend found me and helped me just by taking walks with me once a week. Just once. It wasn’t certain I would go out with him and his dog. But he showed up for me. And I got out for a walk. Later he would take me to the gym. I went a couple of times. But didn’t stick to it. I wasn’t ready for the change. Years later I’ve had a enough of myself. I said “I will go to the gym at least three times every week and run every day off.” And I did. It only took me two months of doing this while stop eating proccesed food and snacks to lose a lot of weight. I said to myself “this is what I’m going to do however I feel.” Just do this every day and every week. The results came without thinking about them. Though it wasn’t easy. Some days I had headache. Or I was tired. Or crying. I still went and followed my plan. Just by showing up every day.

Try it yourself if you aren’t already. You will feel proud of your body. Others will see it. Feel it. Try lots of different things to find something you like. And go do it every week.

B) Downloading others brains, to your brain

I rarely read growing up. I enjoyed other things. Somewhere I heard about fantasy. Maybe from my cousin.  I enjoyed the tales of a man being powerful out on adventure. So I began reading that. I loved the idea of being powerful. Being bold and charismatic. I read that for several years before I started reading other things. About three years ago I began to understand how powerful reading is. This is thoughts another man have written down. And share his whole life experience into this single work. He might have built his passion for ten years or longer. Writing all his knowledge in to something you can read in a week (or day). You know that scene from “The Matrix” where Neo downloads martial arts to his brain? Reading books is downloading others brains, to your brain. And practicing your reading skills will let you download it faster and retain more. I felt bad about my reading for a long time. Said to myself I was reading to slow. And put off reading things because it took to much time. To much effort. I didn’t know I could read faster. But I started searching about it. It turned out to be a simple problem to fix. I was slow because I was reading the words out loud in my head. Once I started to pace myself with my hand I got less distracted. More focused. And began to read faster.

>> The basics of speed reading.

  • Use your hand as a pacer over the words.
  • Focus softly with your eyes above your fingers.
  • Move it a bit faster then your usual reading rate.
  • Move at a constant rate without stopping or backtracking.
  • Don’t pronounce the words in your head.
  • Practice it always.

 

C) Write your thoughts

It helps you remember more. You learn more by taking notes. It feels good. Everyone I’ve met says they would like to write more. I tell them just do it. If you have “writers block”, write that you have it. Write it again, and again. Write it until you get bored and write about how bored you are. Continue writing every thought you have, whatever it is. If you feel stressed or happy. Write it. Even if you feel like it’s useless drivel. Write it. The more you write, the more you learn. When I started out journaling it was making boring lists of my day. I still wrote it. After awhile I began to see how boring it was. And how dull it was writing it. Then I began to write more in story form. To make it more fun for me to read it. And I began to develop story telling. And that helped me becoming a better story teller talking with friends. Because I had a better understanding now of what is something exciting to read. And I just realized this is rather boring to read. But that’s fine. I’ll make it better next time.
If you are running a loop in your head about something. Write it down. Whenever I have a thought that keeps coming back. I write it down. Often it goes away like magic. Or you begin to form an idea how to solve it. You should try it.

D) Sell your TV and video games.

I used to be a huge game addict (still is). Mostly because I didn’t know how to be social. And I didn’t have much support system at home to develop it. At seventeen something I really began to loathe my situation. And years later I began to get my health in order by quitting games. Started working out and eating better.  Quitting my computer games have made a huge difference in my life. It challenged myself to be bored. To free time for my other passions in life.  I wouldn’t have all these awesome mentors in my life, from the books I read or blogs I follow. I wouldn’t have this blog.
I have to watch myself. When I feel overwhelmed, tired or uncertain. My brain tells me “ah Johan just sit down and play for awhile. It will be fun.” No it won’t be. And jokes on you brain, I’ve sold my console and only got a laptop now!
Before I sold my games I had to struggle not playing games. It was a struggle. I began to sell off my games that I didn’t use. Then I sold my favorites and kept the party games for friends. Eventually I sold everything. The minute I left the store I had felt a huge weight lift from my shoulders. Now the struggle was gone. It felt great and scary. Because now I didn’t have the comfort of coming home after work, to kill a few hours with video games.
It challenges you to be bored. We are rarely bored today. Actually we are constantly bored and pick up our phone whenever we are. Trying to excite our brain with the latest Facebook feed, likes and cat pictures. Try this. Stop yourself whenever you feel like picking up your phone. Just take a deep breath.
See what happens if you sell your TV and video games. Let yourself be bored for awhile. Listen to your brain after it’s done complaining. You will be rewarded by new thoughts and new experiences.

E) Eating consciously.

We all want to be nice to animals. They should have a fair life. So lets treat them fair by letting them live a decent life, then slaughter them. How fair is life being in a farm or factory waiting to die?
And we describe in detail what kind of meat we like and what parts of it is tasty. How to cook it. What parts to throw away. I’ve done it.
I became vegan to improve the environment. Example, raise a pig and you eat it, you have food for 50 days. That’s sounds like a lot you might say. But if you instead eat the food yourself. You now have food for 500 days. Think on it. At first I was okay that we have animals in factory’s. But two months later I began to doubt it. Now I’m disgusted by it. Because you can live a great life with lots of great vegetable foods.

F) A part of all you earn, is yours to keep.

Two years ago I was lost and didn’t know what to do and hated my job. Today I have the savings to quit my job if I want to. That is such a huge difference to being stuck in a job with no exit. Seven years ago I read “The road to wealth: First $100.000 in seven years” (Vägen till ekonomisk frihet: Första miljonen om sju år). At the time I struggled to save while working a job and having a girlfriend. I failed. Two years ago I had no savings after eight years of working. Last year I was into building my stock portfolio earning 8% a year. But realized how limited that is. That it would take me over 20 years to reach financial independence at my current savings rate. At a dull job.
This year my focus is creating value for others. In multiple ways. To be able to free my time. Spend it how I want to spend it. Not be bound by a single income and workplace.

How did I manage to save more now then before? Broke up and moved out from my girlfriend. Live by myself to find my values again. Sold my TV. Watching less commercial. On TV they have awesome shows with action, big cars, million of dollars, young babes. During the commercial they show various things to buy. That creates a need in your body. That is unconscious but very real. Recently I’ve had this feeling of less worth if I see a big star. Or a nice car. It’s stupid, but there it is.
Sell your TV and see what happens.

G) Quit watching porn every day.

I used to feel girls owed me sex. While being in bad relationship. That wasn’t so healthy.
It’s just like playing video games. Ask yourself why you watch/play. Then figure out if this is what you truly want. Probably you want more out of life. But don’t know how to achieve it. Or you begin to understand what you want. But it’s scary doing new things you’ve never done before. “If you want something you’ve never had. You have to do things you’ve never done.”  When I was 18 I was living at home. Playing computer games and watching other guys fuck girls on my tiny screens. I was so sick of this but kept on playing because I didn’t know how to be that guy. I knew I had to do something but was so stuck in my routine. My room. It was really hard to get out of. But not changing was worse, I had to do it. I found why I needed to change. And knew what I wanted to do instead. I began a habit I could do every day that brought me one step closer. I wrote it down and keep it with me when it gets rough. And just repeat my habit everyday.

Now I’m out of the bad relationship and rarely watch porn. It’s though getting out of it but worth it. It will give you more energy in everything you do. You will be surprised how much passion you will regain. You begin to stand taller. You begin to seek eye contact with others. You begin to see all the options you have or about to have. You begin to notice girls when your out. Many of them are just waiting for a confident guy like yourself. Waiting to be asked out on coffee right now. Try it.

H) Give something back.

I love helping others. I love improving others life. It makes me feel like I’ve made a difference. It could be anything from cooking a nice dinner for friends. Coming up with new ideas together. Helping them with projects they have. Helping them connect with others.
Start with helping your family or friends with your passion. Help your neighbors or join a group. If your passion doesn’t have a group, start it. Create a blog or YouTube channel. Write and film what you want to share. It will make you feel great helping others. And you will improve your own life by getting a deeper understanding of your passion.

I) Sleep

For the past fifteen years I’ve averaged about five hours of sleep. Why? Because I’ve neglected it. Now I’ve changed my evening habits. Exercise after work. Dinner at six. Write and read after dinner. Close my computer at least 30 minutes before eight. By putting my sleep first I’ve noticed what a difference it is to get four or eight hours of sleep. Even six hours is low now. It’s easier to come up with new ideas when you are well rested.

J) End bad relationships

I was in a really bad relationship for years. It started out great. With lots of sex and time for my passions. But somewhere I lost my self and began to give to much off myself. Giving up my passions. Doing stuff for her expecting things in return. We became friends who lived together. Would cuddle in bed but nothing more. It was really bad. Since we broke up I’ve done more things for my own enjoyment. And I feel much better.

K) Take action every day towards your passions

I write every day. Some days I write a lot. Other days I make a list and journal some of my day. But every day something. I know by experience that whenever I do some small thing every day. I feel better. Just one thing everyday helps building my habit. I make it my priority to do this one thing. And then I’m free to do other things. And by making it small It’s easy to get it done. And if I feel like it, I will continue doing it.
Sometimes I get overwhelmed by the things I have to learn. For example when I really just wanted to get a good body. A girl. Earn money while I sleep. It sounds simple (or very hard). But usually it follows with ten other little small things that needs to learned and maintained. Have faith that it will get easier. Every little thing you learn compounds to a grander knowledge. Learning how to prepare healthy meals follows you for the rest of your life. With it you can cook for your family, friends. Open a business. With it brings dedication. That you will accomplish your goal every day.

Try to Challenge yourself and do what is uncomfortable to reach your goal  everyday.
Some day you will realize that you now live your dream.

What are your ten life changing decisions?

Challenge yourself and do what is uncomfortable to reach your goal

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Many of us have different fears in our lifes

We keep putting things off that would benefit us greatly

Somethings are quite easy, and others harder

 

It doesn’t matter really if it’s easy or hard, we still put them off for something easy like watching the next tv show or playing video games. While thinking “I’ll just play for another fifteen minutes or reach that next area, then I’m going to work on my goal”. It sounds very reasonable thing to have fun for a bit, then go to work. But most of us keep adding another five or fifteen minutes after our time is up. Then we realize that we have used up our free time with leisure and that it’s time to sleep or have to leave for work, and missed our opportunity to grow and feel bad about it.

Hard rain

 

Begin to challenge yourself by working on your goal for one hour fully dedicated to your goal, every day

 

When you start to take action your life will transform and you will begin to feel awesome

You will gain more confidence and feel more at peace with yourself because you are moving forward with your life

The effort you put in to work on your goal after work, is something very few do

You are a part of a small group of people that work to better themselves and have a goal in your life

Others will see your progress and be amazed of your dedication while you think “this is just my daily routine” and nothing special, but it is

Keep your goal in your mind as often as you can during your day and keep working hard at it

 

Remember that you do this for yourself. Read about other people that have achieved similar goals as yours. Read for inspiration and see how they achieved their journey and remember to not compare yourself with them. Enjoy your journey and where you are in life right now. If you feel like you have a long way to go,

 

be thankful that you’ve found your goal now instead of going aimless in life wondering what to do.

 

When you begin to doubt yourself, don’t listen to your thoughts. Ask yourself “The thoughts I have now, is that something I would say to a friend?”, if not squash it immediately and replace it with a new positive thought of what you are doing to achieve your goal.

 

Everything starts with an idea, once you affirm it with action it becomes real

 

About fifteen years ago, I had an burning desire for a great body. Just like the guys in the porn movies and a girl to fuck. I was very out of shape and my eating habit was really bad. I had severe social anxiety and couldn’t stand being around others. If I just had that great body and a girl, my life would be great.

That was the first spark for my need to transform. I didn’t know how to achieve it, had no friends to guide me. But I really wished to have that body. Later by luck I meet a guy that was fit and we started meeting for walks. He even brought me to the gym a couple of times and I was eager to learn. But I wasn’t ready for the change yet. It took me several years before I actually began to regularly work out.

Remember to cut yourself some slack if you fail with your challenge the first couple of times. Just keep challenge yourself again and again. Often when you challenge yourself with a goal, you have so many more things you need to learn to even comprehend and reach your end goal.

Example if you want a great body. You need to exercise regularly, eat healthy most of the time, cut out soda and replace it with drinking more water, begin to cook your meals instead of microwave it, frozen dinners are out, be consistent with your workouts, be able to socialize to some degree, have the will to leave your safe routine of watching movies and playing games, gain knowledge how to make a gym routine, have proper form, and the list goes on.

A simple thing of beginning to exercise more, is many different small habits and knowledge of a variety of skills that maybe you have some of, and others know little of.

Thank yourself that you have begun to change and understand that you might have to learn all kinds of skills to achieve your goal. Be glad of this because it will make your life so much better, and you will develop many different skills that are useful for the rest of your life. By learning so many other things you start to develop a different mindset towards life. You begin to see things that you never noticed before.

To continue with my own personal development and fitness journey. Fifteen years ago I was very out of shape. But with my first idea to have a great body and not giving up, even thought It took me five years from that first thought to actually going regularly, and another two years to achieve it. There are so many things that I’ve learned and can now give all the help I’ve received over the years to anyone who wants it and ready to work on themselves.

Five years from that first thought to execution and I’m very happy that I didn’t wait longer

I know what it’s like to have irregular sleep. Being up late and one hour before work suddenly feel dead tired and just want to go bed. Eating and drinking unhealthy. Not feeling like going to work.

 

Every time you challenge yourself with something new, you know from experience of your last challenge how you accomplished it, what was hard, what motivated you to keep going, how much work it required and how awesome it was to accomplish your goal!

You learn to build your new habit faster, and know where you can cut down time. If it took you two years to start your habit, your new goal with now be much easier to start with the knowledge from your last challenge. Because you’ve already learned a ton of skills that you can leverage now and begin your new goal much faster. For example say that you want to learn to dance. With your habit of getting in shape, you can use your habits like: going regularly, you have better body coordination, know how to move your limbs better and position yourself, you are more social, you are more assertive, you have more confidence from your previous success overcoming so many challenges that helps you with your new skills you want to learn.

With each new skill you learn, you have an easier time learning it because you have a better sense of what you need to do and how you can accomplish it. You begin to see patterns and how you can apply your set of learning pattern to a guide you follow someone else made.

Challenge yourself to do something uncomfortable every day. Just one small thing. After that it gets easier to do another small thing, and another until you have done three things instead of being stuck thinking about that first and you will feel great.