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.

The daily practice to reinvent yourself

by

Something I’m very passionate about, is learning new skills. And getting better at things I enjoy. At first it was rather simple. I had a job to attend. And games to play. That is pretty easy to handle. Just get up and work my hours until I come home to play computer games the rest of the day.

A few years later I realized how out of shape my body was. So I started going to the gym three to four times a week. To build myself a better body. And that worked great! Get up and work a couple of hours. Go to the gym right after I get off. And then get home to play computer games.

Awhile later I wanted to have a girlfriend. So that took some more time. Now my schedule was full and I was happy for some time. But I had that nagging feeling of not making any progress in my life. Our team in the game achieved great wins every day. I made gains in the gym. But my work and relationship had stalled. I wasn’t progressing.

I just thought a promotion would fall in my lap just by working. And that my relationship just suddenly would get better. I didn’t know how to progress it. It took me several years to figure out. I kept dreaming and dreaming of a new job doing something else. Perhaps as a personal trainer. Since I had a good time helping my friends in the gym. But it was just dreaming. Since I didn’t take much action towards my goals. Eventually my relationship ended because I neglected it.

I was stuck. Not making any progress at work. The last two years my girlfriend and I were living together as friends. Having sex once a month. Or less. I had no idea what was I was doing wrong. I was faithful at work and in my relationship. Doing whatever they wanted. Without thinking for myself. On my own needs. Spent money on her. Trying to save for myself. but spent most of it. Living paycheck to paycheck. Wishing to have a million dollars and be able to work less.

 

Why am I telling you this? Because I want to give you a background of what I neglected to take care of.

 

Since then I’ve learned quite a bit. What actions have worked to improve my performance at work. Changed jobs. Now work two jobs. How to have better relationships. Improved my physique. At first I was doing one thing at a time. Putting my full focus on this one thing I wanted to improve. And having that at the top of my mind. It worked great! Until I began to realize that I like several things.

To achieve it I’ve been developing a daily practice that have worked very well for me. In health finding a balance with exercise and other pursuits. I’ve begun my shift towards my dream job. I’ve gone from saving 0% of my take home pay. To 10%. To 20%. to 25%. to 30%. To 40%! I now have an abundance of great relationships and know how to grow more. Going on more adventures and trying new things.

 

My daily practice to reinvent myself

My daily practice to reinvent myself taped to the back of my phone

This is what I try to do everyday to live my best. When I do a little bit of everything I have a more positive attitude towards life. And feel better. I have something to strive for. Goals to accomplish. A meaning to life. And they are attainable steps to take every day. Some days I might not complete all of them. But when I think of them in a calm reassuring way. They mostly get done. When I do these things I move forward in my life. And when I don’t take the time. I stand still. Feel stuck.

It’s taken me a good time figuring out what I want to do in life. But it’s quite simple:

  • Do more of what you enjoy
  • Do less of what you don’t enjoy
  • And try something new every thirty days 

Set big goals in life. Know why you want to achieve them. And then set little daily habits, you can practice every day. To take one step closer to your goal. I’ve always been setting huge goals. But didn’t think much of the steps towards the goal. I knew the steps well. But since I only had the goals written down. They were hard to achieve. With this mind shift of daily practice. I was more likely to continue my habit towards my goal. I reduced my stress.  And became more calm and happier.

These daily practices are built upon things I want to achieve. You might want to change somethings. That’s great! Try to find something small you can do everyday to move you towards your big goals. It makes you have a direction in life few have. Something to get out of bed each morning to accomplish.

 

Sleep 8 hours

This is something I’ve begun recently in the last couple of months. I used to average four or five hours a night. to find time for everything I wanted to do. While working a full time job. It didn’t work. the time was never enough. And my creativity took a huge toll. Two months ago I was about to burn out. I felt it. And others close to me noticed it. I had lost the sparkle in the eye when I helped others.

I had stopped noticing the little things in life. Like listening to conversations and be able to make quick jokes. Sure I could do it. But not quite as good as I used to. So I did some thinking and stopped going to late martial arts practice. I loved it but had to try another approach to get unstuck. Instead I go a bit earlier in the evening. Or go to the gym where I can practice my lifting without relying on a scheduled time.

Since then I’ve had a lot more ideas. Now it’s easier to come up with new ideas then I used to. Before I was stuck and saw no end. But now I’m slowly getting unstuck. I’ve been more creative ever since I started to sleep eight hours most days. Some days I sleep less. But overall much more.

Since I started sleeping more:

  • I have reduced my stress
  • I’m calmer and more focused
  • Get more work done in less time

 

My morning routine

Wake up. Drink half a liter of water. Brew a cup of coffee. Take a shower to wake up. End with at least one minute of cold shower. Enjoy my hot cup of coffee and begin to write on my current project.

 

Reading books and listening to podcasts

Finding mentors that guide me personally  have been hard. At least for me. I’ve meet some really successful people. And they’ve mentored me for awhile. And I’m really grateful for that help. I’ve learned so much from them. But we all have limited time every day. I’ve found the next best thing. Where the mentors are always available for guidance. And answer to many of my questions. And giving new ideas. That is through reading. A book is always available.

August Strindberg

August Strindberg

By reading I’ve learned so much more then I ever could afford or be possible in private tutoring. On so many different subjects. Reading lets you discover new worlds. That someone else created. Books are a window to another time and place. From one book you can read about a war fought a thousand years ago. And in the next it will explore the present. Detailing what’s it like being insane. Or the wonders of seeing Africa’s green mountains. A third book can bring you to a near future of freedom of slavery. Before I open this book, I ask myself, what can I learn? How can this mentor help me, help others?

Don’t worry about learning everything from a book. Read to expand your mind. Have fun with it.  Just sit down and read. Flick through the pages to get a feel for the book. Read some short parts of it while you flick through it. Read the table of contents page. See what chapters look interesting to you. To understand what the chapters are about.

Start at the first page. Or the 100th. Sometimes the book is not for you. But read through some of it. And ask yourself how this book can help you. Maybe it’s to heavy to read right now and you need to read it at a later time. Or you might need to read it just because it’s hard to understand. To stretch your brain. Read some now. And come back to it later. Some of what you read will stick. And plenty will roll of. That’s fine. Just pickup the next book.

By reading some every day. You change the way how you think. Find time. Make time! You will be greatly rewarded when you keep this habit. It has really helped me. Just pick up a book. And read a sentence. Read a paragraph. And now a chapter. After this put it down. Or continue reading if you feel like it.

One thing to generate new ideas is reading one chapter from a couple of books. Before I started writing this I read one chapter of “Bird by Bird” and one of “The Snowball”. Bird by Bird is a warm book to read about writing. You can feel the warm furnace in your cottage. With your family near by. Sitting in your favorite chair and reading quietly. While The Snowball details Warren Buffet’s history and is written in a completely different tone. At first it was a though transition. But I keep on reading. Halfway into the chapter.

I begin to understand why the tone is so different. Anne Lamott writes from her heart about her story. And makes it come alive. Because she has lived it. Alice Schroeder writes of Warren Buffet’s story. In another tone. More of a business story being told to her. Try it. Read a chapter of three different books. On three different topics. See what happens.

 

Why I read one chapter from three different books every day:

  • Learn from great people how they achieved success
  • Generate new ideas and apply it to my own life
  • Every book I read compounds to a deeper knowledge of life

 

Podcasts are like overhearing a conversation at the subway. The difference is that you can choose what topics to listen to. Instead of the latest gossip at work. Or about that guy on Tinder that won’t text her back. You can learn new things. Explore topics you are passionate about more deeply. While taking walks. Working or just laying in your couch. They are much like a blogpost where the host talk about a subject and invite a guest to go deeper on the subject.

 

Come up with 10 ideas and write them

Write 10 businesses you can start from home. 10 ways to improve your current work. 10 ideas for new places to visit. 10 opening lines to begin a conversation with that cute girl. 10 ideas to help your friend. This is to train your idea muscle. Just like the gym  it needs exercise. I’ve been doing it for awhile now and so far it’s worked great. I’ve made ideas for myself. To improve my exercise routine. Topics I could write about on my blog. Things I would like to do the next thirty days. Ideas for others. Sharing this exercise with others. Helping them try it.

Try to expand on how you can execute them. It’s easy to make a list of “I want to do this, this and this.” But without how to execute it. It isn’t worth much. Write it and research it if you don’t know how to execute it. At first it will be hard and plenty of bad ideas. But when you continue you will some day have an awesome idea. On the way there you will have small good ones.

Practice your idea muscle. Have persistence. And it will change your life. You will notice it in conversations with others. That you can on the spot generate several good ideas. While the others will be amazed of your quick thinking. If you feel stuck. Ask one person about a problem they have. Recently I didn’t know what to come up with next. So I asked my girl of her school work. She had a problem of coming up with ideas for disaster action plans. So I made a list of 10 ideas and shared it with her. It became really fun because I let myself explore crazy ideas. We both laughed at my ideas and she kept one of them. It helped her a lot.

Other times I’ve made lists for other people. And they’ve been so thankful of it and thought it was amazing. While others had left one paragraph of text. I left at least ten. And how they could execute it. This also helps me later if I would like to do something similar.

 

Help one person today

It could be about anything. Yesterday I stood in line to pay for my groceries and the woman behind me put up a lot of party stuff. Like beer cups and paper plates. I said “wow you are organizing a big party. You got everything?” Yeah she got everything and we talked a bit more about what they were having to drink. Corona and wine she answered. But she was unsure of there was any need for the beer cups because don’t you drink Corona out of the bottle? Yeah I said. She reasoned some more and came to the conclusion to drop the beer cups and just go with small glasses she also was buying.

She was truly grateful and was so happy that I helped her make a decision that she was unsure of. That she would think of me later in evening when she was serving the drinks out of the bottles and glasses. What did I do? Just listened and nudged here where she wanted to go. And was really grateful for it.

Truly listen to their problem. It might be big. Or small. Just by listening to another persons story. lets you get out of your own head and get a cool puzzle to solve. Most of the time you shouldn’t even solve it. Just listen. And get a new perspective.

 

Helping one person today leads to:

  • More happiness in the world
  • You will feel genuine happiness for yourself of your action
  • It creates a butterfly effect for every person you help, will share that moment with others

 

How to be more social

I used to be very introverted. Didn’t speak to anyone I didn’t know. I never thought of asking for help. Or directions if I were going some place. If I went out to buy something I looked everything up before I headed out and knew exactly where to go. And while out I just went on with my day, head down and minding my own business. To scared to look up and meet others eye’s.

Later I realized that it’s really fun meeting new people. To make a new friend or get a date later in the week. And there are loads of people that want the same thing! They are just begging for some cool dude or gal to chat them up. It took me a while to figure out. But now I see a lot of possibilities. Of people that want to meet me and you. Being assertive and outgoing is like any other skill. The more you practice, the easier it get’s.

What really worked for me is making small talk with at least five people every day. Talk about anything. Ask for the time. Compliment someone’s hair. They have a cool bag with a sticker on it? Say that it looks cool and ask about it. Just this week on the subway I saw a dude with a fridge box with a picture of a famous bodybuilder.

I knew instantly I wanted to talk with him while we were on the train. He was out of town and had just finished his personal training license. That he got as a birthday present. Now he was going to continue his strength training and build himself a online presence while taking a job as a personal trainer and see where that will lead him. Funny how he also was a huge gamer. And now using his dedication he had for gaming. Into building his own body and using it to earn money.

At first it might feel awkward. But push through and just do it. Keep doing it every day. Until one day you have reinvented yourself and are now this confident person that talks with interesting people. If you see a interesting girl. Approach her and tell what’s interesting about her and why. Follow up with a deeper question of what she just said. If she is interested in you she will stay. Or be polite and continue walking.

Being more outgoing helps in every area of your life. To meeting new interesting people. With better social skills I can form my thoughts easier to others. Making business deals. People in power will want to learn more about you. It’s so rare to meet a confident guy or girl that strikes up conversations and have ideas to improve another’s one’s business. That you will stand out a lot against others.

It helps getting better with women. I’m an introvert. I like to have quite surroundings. But to meet girls I’ve had to practice my comfort and be more outgoing. Their needs, help me practice being social. Whenever I’m in a relationship I’m calmer. And have an easier sense of being. I work better. So I need to practice my social skills to have them in my life.

Something I’ve noticed is my social skills are like going to the gym. When I go to the gym I grow stronger. When I don’t, my muscles atrophy. So I continue making small talk with people every day if they look interesting. Or just need a kind word to be noticed in this crazy world. Now I’m able to strike a conversation with anyone and make them laugh in a sentence. Or not. But I can do it with continued practice.

 

Ways to practice your social skills:

  • Make five compliments to people you don’t know yet
  • Ask someone you see on the commute every day what they read
  • ask one person in the gym or at work to meet up for coffee another day

 

Exercise

When I exercise regularly I’m much calmer. If possible I’ll do it every day. A great exercise is walking in nature. It’s so simple that this is something I can do multiple times a day.  When I’ve been at home on a day off for a couple of hours. Just getting my jacket on and taking a fifteen or thirty minute walk helps a lot. It makes me take a break from what I’m currently doing. And often it makes me focus on what I wanted to do today.

Walking in nature and sat down for awhile on this amazing place

Walking in nature and sat down for awhile on this amazing place

Walking to reduce stress. Example I want to begin a new blog post. I begin to write and write. A while later I need to check something. That turns in to multiple things. And here I am distracted because I have to research this before I can continue writing. This is a great time to take a short break and go for a walk. Because my head needs some rest to organize my work. After fifteen minutes of walking my minds begin to calm down and starts to find solutions to my current work. I get revitalized and gain new spirit to continue my work. A 30 minute walk helped me regain my focus today.

Building my booty

Building my booty

Another excellent exercise is lifting weights. It was challenging at first. But the more I went. The more I loved it. It makes your whole body feel great. Building my body has helped me in so many ways. Confidence in myself that I can do something hard and continue doing it. The more I went to the gym, the more confident I became. Others see that I take care of my body and that leads to respect. That this guy here, is dedicated enough to take care of his health. He is probably dedicated in others area’s of his life as well.

Later on I picked up Brazilian jiu-jitsu. It was really hard the first two months. I questioned myself every day. All I did was lose. But I went to practice. And a bit later it became really fun. I still struggle every day at the mat. But I have gained new confidence. Other things that seemed hard in life. Got easier. Struggling for your survival is something really important. It takes my focus off other problems I might have. It’s hard. But it builds persistence. Persistence I can use in other area’s of my life.

Riding my bike is a great way to improve my health and well being. Good for getting around quickly and just taking it easy after a day of work. It gives me freedom to travel further then just taking walks. What really helped my endurance is riding my bike. I don’t have to pedal that hard to have great benefits from it. And I don’t get involved in the stress of public commuting. While getting out in nature.

Try to do at least two of these every day:

  • Take a walk before and after work
  • Go to the gym and use weights or other resistance training
  • Practice a sport at least once a week. If possible compete against others

 

A part of all you earn is yours to keep

Savings have been so important. When I save some money every month I help myself. My savings gives me the possibility to handle unexpected surprises. What ever comes up I can pay in cash. My bike breaks or get stolen? No problem. Unexpected sickness? I have cash to last several months. Somethings happen at the job? I can now say no and find another with my buffer of money. It will help you be more at ease. It has helped me.

I Know that I’m prepared if life gets difficult for awhile. I started with saving 10% of my income. It’s a good place to start. After you feel more comfortable, save more at a steady pace. With an calm assurance that you are preparing yourself to follow your passion. Or be able to say no to things you don’t want to do. With savings you are doing things you enjoy. Rather than have to. If you don’t feel it yet. Just give it time and trust process.

Portfolio of 2015

Portfolio of 2015

Depending on your situation. 60/40 split might be a good strategy. 60% goes to low cost index funds. 40% to bonds. You might even want to have more in bonds or cash. If you plan on taking extended leave for travel. Or quitting your job to work on your business full time.

 

Tips for better sleep and less anxiety:

  • Save at least 10% of your take home pay
  • Try to save 1% more every month
  • Ask yourself every month: How much do I have left from last month? Last year? Write it down and see it grow

 

Writing

Writing is a great exercise to come up with new ideas. Find solutions for my problems. Get a perspective of my situation. To derail my obsessive thoughts. When I’m writing I begin with a single thought or idea. At first It might be a mundane thought. That I question myself why would anyone wanna read about this?! But I write it down. And add on to it. It starts to develop into a story. Now I begin to have new thoughts. Where to take this story further. Or remember old thoughts that I haven’t thought of in years. Writing is a great exercise to get away from obsessive thinking. It get’s your mind thinking. It makes you more alert.

Writing a novel is like driving a car at night. You can only see as far as you headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way.

-E. L. Doctorow

Things to write about:

  • What you did today
  • Three things you are grateful of
  • Short story of an awesome experience you had
  • A short poem of the person in front of you on the train

 

Connect two people

Think of two people you know that would benefit getting to know each other. It could be work related or just two friends with the same interests. From different social circles. Tell them about each other and ask if they would like to meet. It’s a good exercise in networking. And they will be happy that you introduced them to each other. Try to think what the people you meet are good at every day. See if you know anyone that would complement their business or hobby.

 

Go on adventures

Something that I enjoy a lot is go on adventure. It could just be to explore my own city if I feel like taking a walk. Or doing a new thing. It could be a poster I see in town and go to that event. Or join a new activity like toastmaster. Try a new sport. Go take a dance class. Take a vacation and travel somewhere you’ve never been. It doesn’t have to be much to be a great experience. Sometimes it’s just taking a walk through town when you normally would be off to practice.

 

Call a friend and ask if they are free later. What would he/she like to try?

Go to a museum or sport event and chat up a new person. Ask what next event they are going to and ask if they want company.

Find a map of your town. Mark every place you haven’t been. Visit one new place every weekend.

 

Journal of what I did today

Something I had a lot of problem with before. Was days blending together. I couldn’t tell what I did yesterday if my life depended on it. Or a week ago. By journaling of what I did today. It helped me remember it better. Also it jolts my memory and it often makes me think of a little thing today. That made me smile. That smile is worth a lot. And you get a better sense of progress in life. If your standing still or moving towards your dreams. I set aside some time before I go to bed and write of my day.

 

  • What did you do today?

 

 

Meditate

Is exercising the brain being calmer. I mostly practice mindfulness. It’s the simple practice of focus on my breath as I inhale. And as I exhale. Just feeling the air go in through my nose, down towards my lungs, filling my body with life. And exhaling the air, leaving my lungs, through my nose and letting my worry softly touch the ground. It’s simple. But surprisingly difficult. When I feel stressed. It’s because I forgot to take deep, easy breaths. Sometimes I catch myself several times forgetting to breathe in a single minute!

Listening to guided meditation is also calming. I attain a more peaceful mind when I do it. There are plenty of apps or websites of this subject. I personally use Zen mindfulness on my windows phone and like to listen to Stephan Pende Wormland from mindfuldreaming.org

 

  • Practice an easy, single deep inhale
  • Practice an easy, single deep exhale

 

Three things I’ve stopped doing

I love to do these things. At several times I’ve had a full time job, and still played more then I worked. I used porn to dull my boring life for instant gratification. I wanted relationships with others. But didn’t know how to achieve them. I was afraid to try new things and did what was comfortable and safe. But it led to a boring and dull life. These habits drained me of my time, and energy to work on more important matters.

 

Quit watching porn

What porn does to me. Is draining me of my sexual energy. I cheat myself every time I’ve watched it. It gives me instant gratification. It’s fine if you want to continue watching it. But cutting porn, has for me, helped me immensely to achieve my goals. It’s like fridge full of fast food. I felt happy and content for a long time. But give it a few weeks, months, or years. That fast food isn’t so tasty anymore. If you want read more about the science behind porn go to Your Brain on Porn.

 

Quit playing video games

 

I’ve learned a lot from my time spent on computer games. Like dedication. Commitment. Trading your time for an item. Or trading for it. I loved mining, fishing, grinding. And still do. But what really would have helped me was learning how to trade. I was scared of it. Scared of rejection. Didn’t know the rules. I didn’t do it. But I just realized this now. I know how it would have benefitted me ten years ago. five years ago. And still ignored it because I was scared. In the end. I used video and computer games as an escape to face my fears. By quitting them I forced myself to deal with my problems. And I’m really happy I made that choice.

 

Sold my TV

Watching tv is like fast food for my brain. It comes packaged in a simple format right out of the box. In between episodes there is plenty of commercials playing. Wanting me to buy things to keep up with the joneses. Something I’ve begun to enjoy much more since I sold my tv. Is creating things for others to enjoy. It has made me more creative. I watch a movie or tv show every now and then. But mostly because it was spoken of or something caught my attention about that particular show. Something I’ve experienced after I sold it. Is how much commercial there is pushed out every day in our lives.

 

This is something I’m working on every day. It’s challenging. But freeing myself of time for other things. Will have huge value for me and you. When you have an urge to watch porn or play video games. Immediately say no and do something else. The sexual energy is what makes you want to conquer the world. Conquer your mission in life. Use it to your advantage. So many waste it away. Save it, and you will have such a lead on others that it’s almost like cheating.

 

 

Remember

1/3 will love you

1/3 are neutral

1/3 are not interested

 

Make new impressions every day. And focus on the people that love you and want to know more about you. With this simple mindshift it’s easier at least for me to handle rejection. Because there is an abundance of people that like me. I just need to meet enough people. And with time, I’m bound to find people that I like. And they like me.

 

 

 

 

On forming new habits

by

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

by

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?