Throughout my life and even today in my mid 40’s people ask me “Rob, how are you always able to get so much done? Run around writing books, training people, doing volunteer work, coaching children’s sports, being a foster parent, being a parent”, and the list goes on and on. The way that I am able to do it is by understanding that greatness requires following four hard and fast rules.
1. Beware and avoid Pothead Mentality
Pothead Mentality is a term I invented years ago when a pothead buddy of mine explained how he and his brother were going to make a home improvement company have 10-15 trucks on the road, and make millions of dollars. Within days of that he changed his mind and instead was going to write a Sci-Fi novel. No wait, he was going to build muscle cars and sell them. NO WAIT!!! He was going to make his own beer. Needless to say he never did any of those things. Even as we speak he is still planning to do things that he will never do. Pothead Mentality is dreaming to do something big and never taking any steps to bring your dreams to life it has a tendency to lead us to believe in things like ‘I’ll do it tomorrow.’ In most cases tomorrow never comes.
We all know that guy/girl that talks about all the cool things they are going to do one day. What they actually do is sit on the couch smoking pot, eating Cheetos, and playing video games. (Not that there is anything wrong with Cheetos, as a matter of fact Cheetos are delicious.) They live the creed ‘WAKE AND BAKE MAN!!’
Decide to be a the type of person that is a doer, commit to the tough parts first and work your way through the things you want to accomplish.
2. Know where to put the tired.
Have you ever tried to run a 5K? I mean why not people do them all the time. They have 5K obstacle courses, and that adds a little bit of complication to the run. I have even seen 5K obstacle course, zombie run. That’s where people dress up as zombies run out into a field and try to tag you. Despite joining these 5K’s a large percentage of people quit before they complete the run. They simply give up because they are tired, or their side hurts, or they twisted their ankle, and the excuses go on and on.
The people who complete the run, do they get tired? Do their sides hurt? Do they twist their ankles? OF COURSE THEY DO….. But they knew where to put the tired and push through it. That is the key. You will be tired. You will be in pain. You will think of quitting halfway through, and here’s the kicker, most of you will. Unless you can find a way to put that tired away and store it deep down inside.
Learn where to put the tired so that you can catch your second wind and push through
3. Surround yourself with greatness
You are the combination of the five people you spend the most time with. That’s a fact, and if you surround yourself with people that are negative you will get negative results. Crystal wrote a great article about this back in March when she attended an event designed for empowering black women. What she learned from this event was simple when you are around people that have big dreams and big ideas, they inspire you to have big dreams and big ideas. She challenges you to find your five people and if they are not conducive to your dreams, then find five more. Life is too short not to follow your dreams.
Answer the question who are your 5? Do I need a new 5?
4. Learn to recognize resistance in all its forms
Resistance is the world’s way of shutting down your dreams. Resistance exists in so many forms. Sometimes, it is the people that are closest to you saying “Hey, get a real job, quick chasing that stupid dream.” Maybe they say something like “Make sure you have a back up plan in case this doesn’t work.” Little do they know that the backup plan will cause you to fail. Just the very creation of a backup plan takes the focus away from success and says “Here’s a nice soft place to land when you fail.” Some of the other forms that resistance comes in is laziness, or procrastination, or maybe sometimes it is just too hard. Learn how to recognize resistance and push back against it. Too many times, people we love, learn to accept resistance. Instead of fighting back against it, they give in. Be the type of person that will not give in to resistance in all of its many forms. If you want to learn more about resistance check out the book ‘The War of Art’ by Steven Pressman.
Recognize Resistance and how to overcome it in all aspects of your life.
I came across this great speech that Steve Harvey (Yes Steve Harvey the comedian) said about overcoming your fears and chasing your dreams check it out by clicking on the Steve Harvey Picture
Now you have my 4 basic Rules to succeed, and as always “That’s How a Service Ninja Does it.”