David Meltzer

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Studying human nature is an essential part of life, as human nature is something that never changes. Understanding human nature is what allows us to fully experience life and to understand the life circumstances that happen along the way. One of my favorite pieces of literature that discusses this topic comes from ancient Sanskrit, and it lays out the twelve rules that apply to all of our lives, no matter who we are and where we live. Understanding these rules will help us to identify when we are living in fear and empower us to live in “the flow” instead.

1. You will receive a body – Part of being human is being born into a human body. Since we only receive one body, taking care of it should be a non-negotiable for us.
2. You will learn lessons by using your body – This is an essential part of life and without learning, we cannot progress. It is up to us to utilize our senses to learn lessons during our life.
3. There are no mistakes, only lessons – We must take the perspective that there are no mistakes, they’re just lessons that we need to absorb and implement. This approach necessitates that we give the right meaning to our past, using it to push us forward instead of allowing it to hold us back.
4. A lesson will be repeated until it is learned – If we do not learn a lesson initially, the universe will keep teaching us that lesson. We need to look for clues and patterns when the same issues keep arising so that we identify the lessons we haven’t learned yet.
5. Learning lessons does not end – As long as we are alive and have a body, these lessons will keep coming to us.
6. ‘There’ is no better than ‘here’ – Taking a grateful perspective about where we are in life is an essential part of being happy. We must not attach our emotions to an outcome but focus on enjoying the consistent and persistent pursuit of our potential.
7. Others are merely mirrors of you – We cannot see outside of us what is not inside of us. Often, we are simply projecting our thoughts about ourselves onto others.
8. What you make of your life is up to you – We are accountable for our own perspective on the actions of our past, present, and future, as well as our own self-image. We must give the right meaning to the events in our life so that we are not limiting ourselves and our potential in the process.
9. Life is exactly what you think it is – Our perspective is what shapes our reality. Perspective and effective prioritization are what allow us to take an idea from a possibility, make it into a probability, and then manifest it into reality.
10. Your answers lie inside of you – We are already happy, healthy, wealthy, and worthy. We already have everything we need within us; we just have to learn to access it.
11. You will forget all of this – Nobody is perfect, and part of being a humble person is knowing that we will all forget these lessons at some point in our life.
12. You can remember it whenever you want – While we do forget all of these lessons, we also have the capability to remember them. Reminding ourselves and recollecting these lessons is what helps us to get back on the right trajectory during the times when we get off track.

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Succeeding in life is all about learning lessons and then utilizing those lessons to identify opportunities so that we can execute them. Below are six strategies that we can use to maximize the lessons that we learn so that we are taking full advantage of the opportunities that life affords us.

We need to capture our most valuable lessons

We receive new lessons every day, but we also have a tendency to forget what we’ve learned. That is why it is so important to create a system to access the lessons that resonate most with us. By using our intuition to focus on the lessons that have the most meaning or impact for us and then capturing those lessons, we can ensure that we can apply them, rather than forgetting them.

Do an inventory of our skills, knowledge, and desire

Regularly taking an inventory of our skills, knowledge, and desire allows us to determine the capabilities that we have or need. In order to take advantage of as many opportunities as possible, we must look and see where each of these abilities can be applied to industries or professions that are doing well or are stable. We can also work to apply those abilities to areas that might be doing well in the future. This approach allows us to maximize our current opportunities, as well as to prepare ourselves to take advantage of opportunities that may come our way later on.

Curiosity is an asset

The people who are more interested than interesting and seek out knowledge tend to be the ones who have the greatest achievements. Being curious and following our passions allow us a greater level of understanding of the world around us and also teach us about ourselves. Not only should we be curious ourselves, but we should also look to surround ourselves with curious people who are willing to share what they learn. This will further amplify the benefit we get from being curious, as we get exposed to even more new ideas.

The AAA Strategy leads to more success

When we take the time to get Alignment first, then take Action, and prepare for Adjustment, we are setting ourselves up for success. This strategy takes into account the idea that while we may not always know what action is best to take, it is vital to take action. And we must always look to learn lessons as we prepare to make adjustments to our course of action. We must also utilize the Five Levels of Intention, making sure that we are thinking, saying, doing, believing, and feeling the right things in each step of the AAA Strategy.

Our self-belief determines our capabilities

Having a level of belief in ourselves that we are already happy, healthy, wealthy, and worthy allows us to combat the fears that we experience along the way. This faith encourages us to clear the interference in our lives and push through challenges, no matter whether we have fears about our future or our past. Self-belief allows us to confront and end those fears when they pop up, rather than avoiding them.

We cannot attach our emotions to outcomes

One of the easiest ways to create resistance for ourselves is by attaching our emotions to specific outcomes. Telling ourselves things such as, “I’ll be happy when…” is a recipe for disappointment. Instead, we must dedicate ourselves to the consistent and persistent pursuit of our potential, understanding that our goals for the future will almost certainly change over time. When we seek progress each day instead of perfection, we are clearing the interference between ourselves and our potential.

Please remember that the greatest way you can help me is to subscribe, rate, and leave a review on my podcast. Thank you for your support!

Succeeding in life is all about learning lessons and then utilizing those lessons to identify opportunities so that we can execute them. Below are six strategies that we can use to maximize the lessons that we learn so that we are taking full advantage of the opportunities that life affords us.  

We need to capture our most valuable lessons

We receive new lessons every day, but we also have a tendency to forget what we’ve learned. That is why it is so important to create a system to access the lessons that resonate most with us. By using our intuition to focus on the lessons that have the most meaning or impact for us and then capturing those lessons, we can ensure that we can apply them, rather than forgetting them.

Do an inventory of our skills, knowledge, and desire

Regularly taking an inventory of our skills, knowledge, and desire allows us to determine the capabilities that we have or need. In order to take advantage of as many opportunities as possible, we must look and see where each of these abilities can be applied to industries or professions that are doing well or are stable. We can also work to apply those abilities to areas that might be doing well in the future. This approach allows us to maximize our current opportunities, as well as to prepare ourselves to take advantage of opportunities that may come our way later on.

Curiosity is an asset

The people who are more interested than interesting and seek out knowledge tend to be the ones who have the greatest achievements. Being curious and following our passions allow us a greater level of understanding of the world around us and also teach us about ourselves. Not only should we be curious ourselves, but we should also look to surround ourselves with curious people who are willing to share what they learn. This will further amplify the benefit we get from being curious, as we get exposed to even more new ideas.

The AAA Strategy leads to more success

When we take the time to get Alignment first, then take Action, and prepare for Adjustment, we are setting ourselves up for success. This strategy takes into account the idea that while we may not always know what action is best to take, it is vital to take action. And we must always look to learn lessons as we prepare to make adjustments to our course of action. We must also utilize the Five Levels of Intention, making sure that we are thinking, saying, doing, believing, and feeling the right things in each step of the AAA Strategy.

Our self-belief determines our capabilities

Having a level of belief in ourselves that we are already happy, healthy, wealthy, and worthy allows us to combat the fears that we experience along the way. This faith encourages us to clear the interference in our lives and push through challenges, no matter whether we have fears about our future or our past. Self-belief allows us to confront and end those fears when they pop up, rather than avoiding them.

We cannot attach our emotions to outcomes

One of the easiest ways to create resistance for ourselves is by attaching our emotions to specific outcomes. Telling ourselves things such as, “I’ll be happy when…” is a recipe for disappointment. Instead, we must dedicate ourselves to the consistent and persistent pursuit of our potential, understanding that our goals for the future will almost certainly change over time. When we seek progress each day instead of perfection, we are clearing the interference between ourselves and our potential.

Please remember that the greatest way you can help me is to subscribe, rate, and leave a review on my podcast. Thank you for your support!

Scaling a business successfully always requires a solid foundation. This means that our organization must be filled with people who are aligned on the same mission and use the same values to make their decision. These five strategies can help you to grow more effectively, stronger, and more sustainably, no matter what stage your business is in.

We must know our timing and risk tolerance first

Like with any investment, when we are investing in scaling our business, we must be clear on our expectations in terms of timing and risk tolerance. A large part of knowing our timing is understanding how our plans for our personal and professional lives may impact each other. We must also have clarity on what we are willing to risk losing and what we are not willing to risk as we scale and grow.

Scaling occurs in two ways

The first way that a business scales is through, where we use it to hire people with the skills and knowledge needed to help us expand (although they might not have the same values). The other way to scale an organization is by people. This means we must focus on hiring the right people, who also hire the right people themselves. Scaling by our people creates much bigger financial margins, which also means that we can create an even bigger impact with the work that we do.

Having a Learning Phase is important

The Learning Phase for an employee includes their recruitment, which is an essential part of scaling a business. When bringing on new interns or employees, we must always look at their values first, rather than just the skills that they bring to the table. Another vital part of the Learning Phase is shadowing. First, we can have our new interns or employees shadow more experienced team members. Then, we have our experienced employees shadow those newer team members, to ensure that they are executing their job properly. Eventually, those colleagues become experienced team members, who can then begin shadowing the next generation of new interns and employees.

Have a goal for employees in the Execution Phase

Once we’ve confirmed that an employee is aligned in terms of their values and has also demonstrated an ability to produce in their role, they move into the Execution Phase. We need to have specific goals for employees in this stage, whether they are tied to metrics such as revenue generated or not. This approach also helps our business in areas such as engagement and retention. Employees who feel like they have personal or professional goals that they are encouraged to chase after are much more likely to excel in that environment.

Having an Equity Phase allows our company to thrive

Once our employees have met or exceeded their goals from the Execution Phase, we can reward them for their contributions, with financial rewards and more responsibility. By investing in employees who have not only shown personal growth, but an aptitude for recruiting and retaining other employees like themselves, we are continuing the cycle for scaling the business.

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It is easy to see the rapid adoption of AI technologies, with tools like OpenAI’s ChatGPT becoming commonplace, but what is less obvious are the impacts that these tools are having on business. Technology has the power to transform our business if we are using it in the correct way, and here are four principles that will ensure that we are making the most of today’s technology in the workplace.

Technology is a servant, not a master
Technology is a bit of a double-edged sword in that it has increased our connectedness, but also brought with it more distractions to deal with. It is up to us to use technology in positive ways. Use tools and applications to help us be more effective and efficient with our time management and planning, rather than allowing ourselves to become victims of distraction.

We are still human
Regardless of how much technology has become a part of our lives, we are still humans.

We still have emotions, make mistakes, and have vulnerabilities. We must not lose sight of what makes us special and unique, instead, we can use technology to illuminate that frequency and create even deeper connections with others.

Empowering productivity and accessibility
Technology gives us the power to track and acknowledge productivity and accessibility, whether it is for ourselves or for our team. We must focus on how technology and its use are aligned with what we want for our present plans and future goals, and then make adjustments accordingly. By being as efficient and effective as possible with our daily activities, we can produce more and spend more time with our loved ones, all at once.

Find the light in new technology such as AI
If we are only looking at the drawbacks of new technology, that is all we will see. Our perspective is reality, which is why we must look to find the light, love, and lessons that are offered by utilizing new technology in a positive way. Remember to be grateful that technology provides us access to more opportunities, options, and touches of favor than ever before.a

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The single most important investment that each of us can make is in ourselves. By making the right investments in ourselves each and every day, we are setting our future selves up for even greater achievements. Here are eight strategies that you can use to make sure that you’re investing in the right areas of your personal and professional life.

Investing in the next generation

Whether we are working to empower our own children or just someone from a younger generation, we must encourage them but let them conquer fear for themselves. We cannot try to shelter them from fear, or else they will never understand what it means to have courage and stand up for what you believe in. Allow them to make mistakes and have setbacks, but encourage them to learn and grow from those experiences, so they do not repeat them.

Community and frequency are immensely powerful

Frequency is our own combination of skills, knowledge, and desire and when we know our frequency and what makes us unique, we are empowered to create a community around it.

By giving people more value than they anticipate, we create a void that they feel compelled to fill, and this creates a community over time. And when our community members become advocates for us and our brand, the value and impact of our community will continue to grow.

Avoid going through the motions wherever possible

By investing our attention and intention in our most common activities, we can find ways to become more efficient and effective. Not only does this approach lead to more positive coincidences in our life, but it also opens us up to learn more about the world around us and elevate our awareness to other areas we can improve.

Just get started

Whether it’s for creating an investment account, starting a podcast, or writing a book, getting started is key. It takes more energy for us to go from 0 to 1 than it does for us to go from 1 to 100. When we take initiative to start and combine that with a focus on making progress, each and every time, we are setting ourselves up on the path to future success.

Know our non-negotiables  

We should always know our biggest priorities for each day so that we can focus on taking care of them efficiently. Whether it’s prioritizing our health, our sleep, or ensuring that we spend enough time with family, knowing our non-negotiables allows us to create a plan to make it happen and then execute it.

Clear the interference between ourselves and happiness

We are already happy, healthy, wealthy, and worthy, it’s up to us to clear our connection with that reality. We need to raise our awareness and look to find what’s blocking the light in our lives. Whether it is our fear of the past or fear of the future that is blocking the light, or simply our bad habits, we need to work on clearing our connection with what inspires us.

Know our timing and risk tolerance

Whether we are investing in ourselves or others, understanding these two factors is an essential part of the investment. When we know what our parameters for investments are, we are able to detach our emotions from the outcomes, which is especially helpful for the times when we experience less-than-expected results.  

Prioritize the relationships that “feed us”

One of the ways to ensure a poor return on investment is by continually investing in people who do not support us in our goals. We must always prioritize the people who are most aligned with our values, the people who “feed us” the most in return, and let the others fall away from our life.

Please remember that the greatest way you can help me is to subscribe, rate, and leave a review on my podcast. Thank you for your support!

The more efficient and effective we can be with our daily tasks, the greater our results will be over time. Here are seven strategies that will help us to identify areas for improvement and take action so that our habits and behaviors are reducing the resistance that we experience along the way.

Understanding our misuse of time

We can put all of our time into two categories: traction and distraction. When we practice identifying when we have traction toward our goals, as well as the times when we are distracted, we can begin to look for patterns within each category. By looking at what may be causing us to be distracted most often, we can work to eliminate or reduce those hindrances. And by looking at the times we have the most traction or momentum toward our goals, we can identify the circumstances which put us in the best position to excel.

Simple repetition isn’t enough to learn something well

We cannot learn the intricacies of a new skill if we are not giving it our best effort. When we are intentional about our practice, rather than simply going through the motions, we are opening ourselves up to learn even more about that skill. Mastery is impossible if we are not utilizing our full attention and intention to achieve it.

We cannot overachieve our self-image

Remember that our perception determines our reality. This includes not only the way we think about ourselves but also how we think about others (and their perception of us). Without faith in ourselves or a high level of self-belief, it is extremely unlikely for us to get close to our true potential, let alone achieve it.

Spending too much time searching for “perfect” solutions to a problem is a detriment

Just getting started on fixing something, rather than getting bogged down in research, is often the best approach to solving a problem. One of the ways we can avoid making this mistake is by being humble and asking people with expertise to help, rather than wasting our time and energy to solve a problem that others have already solved.

Comparison is the thief of joy

We need to be focused on running our own race, rather than paying attention to the other “racers” around us. Knowing our own priorities, meaning what we are tackling NOW and what we’re tackling NEXT, is an essential part of being productive, accessible, and gracious every day. Prioritization also helps with feelings of being overwhelmed or a tendency to procrastinate.

Faith is key for “trusting the process”

Having faith that we are being protected and promoted whenever we experience pain in our life, such as a failure or loss, is a boon for our mindset. If we have faith that a better future exists for us, we are exponentially more likely to push through any difficulties, rather than choosing to quit.

Technology is a great servant, but it should not be our master

Using technology and tools like AI to help us be more productive, accessible, and gracious with our daily life, rather than letting them rule us, is what we should strive for. We must understand the impact of technology on our activities that we are paid for (also known as work) and the activities that we are not paid for so that we can make adjustments to our habits as needed.

Please remember that the greatest way you can help me is to subscribe, rate, and leave a review on my podcast. Thank you for your support!

Last week on our show Office Hours, we had a fireside chat with several business leaders about the most essential leadership skills for today’s entrepreneurs. Below are five strategies from that conversation that you can utilize to ensure that your organization is prepared to thrive in 2023 and beyond.

Have processes and procedures for yourself (and your team)

Having the right processes in place is essential for being productive, accessible, and gracious with our time. For the most repetitive tasks that we do, we should ensure that we have a clear system and workflow to follow. The more efficient and effective we can be with our workflow, the more we can achieve each and every day.

Ownership is key for success

When our team members must take ownership for their role, as well as their role in the company’s success, that is when we have a winning culture. Teams are always the most effective when everyone has bought in and the team regulates itself. And when everyone is operating in an environment with inclusion, openness, and control, then they are empowered to be their best.

There is no calamity without warning

As leaders, we need to raise our awareness to potential issues, whether they are financial or personal so that we are never caught off-guard by big changes in our business. We must combine our intellect and intuition to try and identify these issues before they happen. When we focus on controlling what we can control, such as the levels of risk that we (or our business) are exposed to or our revenue streams, we are best positioning ourselves to respond to whatever the future holds.

Place our intention on asking better questions

Asking quality questions is invaluable because it helps us to get alignment with others, as well as to do an honest review of ourselves. By asking the right questions and paying close attention to how their answers are aligned with our skills, knowledge, and desire, we determine how we can best provide value to others.

Look to move forward from loss

“Moving on” immediately may not be possible, but we do need to keep moving forward after suffering a great loss. There is no benefit in deciding to be a victim of loss, so we must seek the light, love, and lessons in the negative circumstances we experience. Life is never going to be perfect, but we should always try to enjoy the progress that we are making along our journey.

Please remember that the greatest way you can help me is to subscribe, rate, and leave a review on my podcast. Thank you for your support!

It’s always a pleasure to chat with Gary Vaynerchuk, one of the world’s most successful entrepreneurs and motivational speakers, and gain insights on the hottest trends in business. During our insightful dialogue, Gary shared five lessons on the current states of entrepreneurship, parenting, and education, which you can use to plan for an even greater future.

Find Inspiration in Creating Value for Others

Some of the most successful entrepreneurs are those who understand this basic equation: provide more value than you ask for in return. When we are consistently providing more value than we ask for, we are creating a void that the Universe will fill. Remember that entrepreneurs and influencers have a responsibility to provide value to their audience, rather than the people having the responsibility to give them likes and follows.  

Don’t Beat Ourselves Up Over Balance

Achieving a perfect work/life balance each and every day is just not realistic, especially for entrepreneurs. What is most important is understanding our values and prioritizing those values, each and every day. Being too judgmental of ourselves only creates more resistance, so we must be quick to forgive ourselves when we fail to balance our work and home life effectively. We also must try to extract a lesson from that experience, to avoid making the same missteps in the future.

The Future of NFTs

While there may be a similarity to the internet crash in the 90’s with the current state of NFTs,  Gary notes that NFTs’ future remains bright. He’s a big believer in the idea that the digital contract aspect of NFTs is here to stay, and that their use for digital transactions will only become more common in the future. While individual projects will come and go, the utility of NFTs will remain.

Don’t Let Grudges Impact Our Energy

Holding a grudge doesn’t really hurt the other person, it is by far the most harmful to us. When we’re spending our energy on people that are not feeding us, we are wasting our finite resources. Only practicing forgiveness will reduce the interference that a grudge causes, so that we can invest our time and energy in finding our own happiness.

The Future of Education

Talking about the future of education, Gary predicts that in the short term, there will be small steps towards more digital learning, homeschooling, and alternative forms of education. However, in the long term, he believes that Gen Z parents will make significant changes to the educational patterns and priorities for their kids, which will result in a substantial fall-off in college admissions. This means that parents will become more practical and let their kids pursue what they want from an earlier age, leading to a greater focus on skill sets and alternative learning.

Please remember that the greatest way you can help me is to subscribe, rate, and leave a review on my podcast. Thank you for your support!

Succeeding in the music business is no easy task, but Tony Brown, former President of MCA Records in Nashville and producer with over 100 million album sales sat down with me to discuss four of the most valuable lessons he learned about success from working with legends like Elvis Presley, Reba McEntire, and George Strait.

There is power in defying expectations

People who don’t know us well often have their own perception of us, and that’s something we can utilize to our advantage. By demonstrating some ability, intelligence, or intuition that they do not expect, we can start to shift their perspective. Remember, we should never act in a certain way only due to the expectation of others, our actions must always be aligned with our core values, goals, and our vision of ourselves.

Find value in the “intersections” of our life

We all have pivotal moments in our lives that forever change our trajectory, but it can sometimes be a challenge to find the light, love, and lessons in the most difficult moments we experience. It’s important to remember that we are the ones who give meaning to these moments, so taking the perspective to be grateful for the lessons that we learn along the way is an essential part of being an optimist.

Be open to taking a new approach

Some of the most successful people are the ones who approach a problem with a new point of view or solution that others have not considered. Rather than confining ourselves to in-the-box thinking, we must live life with an open mind, open heart, and open hands. Taking this approach will lead to the greatest outcomes.

Luck is when preparation meets opportunity

Luck, or the coincidences we experience in life, are the result of where we place our attention and where we place our intention. The first step in taking advantage of the lucky breaks that come our way is based on our level of intention, meaning we must be aware of the opportunity. Then, we must have the skills, knowledge, and desire to execute upon that opportunity. However, this level of preparation only occurs if we have placed both our attention and intention on acquiring those skills, knowledge, and desire before the opportunity arises.