David Meltzer

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From his time in the US Marine Corps to starring in films and TV, here are six strategies that funnyman Rob Riggle has used to face his fears and become one of Hollywood’s top comedic actors.

Fear and Love Are the Basis for Every Emotion

Every emotion that we feel can be traced back to its roots in fear or love. Some may call it the battle between dark and light, or good or evil, but we must be introspective and look towards the root of the negative emotions we’re experiencing in order to confront and overcome them.

Remind Ourselves to Stay in the Present

Rather than worrying about what we don’t want to happen in the future, or spending time focused on the regrets of the past, we must remind ourselves to be present at the moment. We must be grateful for the path we’re walking at the moment and place our intention on moving forward as we pursue our potential.

Have Daily Habits That Reinforce Our Values

Whether it’s repeating positive mantras to ourselves or keeping a gratitude journal, we must have habits or routines that help us to reinforce our values and remind us of our strengths. Having these practices to lean on can make a difference in our life, especially during the quiet moments or the times when we face the greatest obstacles.

Extracting Lessons From Failure is Essential

We don’t benefit by wallowing in pity or being a victim of circumstance after we experience what some would deem a failure. We can turn any “failure” into a success by extracting valuable lessons from that experience. Not only that, we must continually apply the lessons we’ve learned to stop repeating them in the future.

There is No Finish Line

There is truly no end goal for success, only milestones to be celebrated along the way. This fact places greater importance on the need to be our own coach as we pursue our potential. We must set our mindset towards growth, knowing that we are sure to face challenges as a part of our unending journey.

Making Our Dreams Come True Takes Time

Our dreams should be so big that they scare us and seem to be borderline unattainable. This also means that achieving our dreams requires us to apply all of our skills, knowledge, and desire. Achieving greatness always takes effort and time, which is something that we often underestimate.

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When it comes to performance, there are few people who know what it takes to soar to the greatest heights and John “Gucci” Foley, former lead solo pilot of the Blue Angels and stunt pilot for Top Gun, is certainly one of them. We sat down, along with legendary tennis coach Rick Macci, to discuss seven strategies that will help you to perform your best, even in the face of monumental challenges.

Remember that pressure is our friend

One of the benefits of dealing with a pressure-filled situation is that it helps us to realize what’s inside of us. The people who perform the best overall also tend to be the ones who can hold up well under pressure. This is a skill that takes practice, so we must not be afraid to venture out of our comfort zone.

Passion is a core part of success

Whether we are following our greatest passion or not, learning to love what we do will always increase our success at it. We can connect to our source(s) of inspiration by working to find the light, love, and lessons in even the most mundane tasks. And when we love what we do, it will tell us all of its secrets.

Focus is a skill to be developed

We need to treat our focus like a muscle, working to improve it each and every day. By placing our intention on our ability to focus and refocus, we can build that muscle into a strength, which can be applied to any situation or task that we face.

Utilize the Learn, Grow, and Give Approach

This three-part strategy will help us make the most of each day. As long as we learn something new, grow by applying our knowledge and understanding, and be abundant by giving first and giving often, we can ensure that we are making progress toward our true potential.

Thinking instead of acting can slow us down

We move best and most accurate when we are in the flow, not when we are thinking and overanalyzing the situation. Rather than getting paralyzed by analysis, we must place our intention on getting in the flow and “feeling it” in order to put together our best performance. Tapping into the flow state certainly takes practice, but its rewards are immense.

Visualization is an essential part of preparation

Just like for pilots, when we use visualization as a part of our normal routine, we are prepared to execute to the best of our ability. Visualization helps us manifest our plan into reality because we are able to act instead of reacting, allowing what we’ve practiced to be executed.

Emotions can’t get in the way of our execution

Experiencing emotions at work is part of being human. What we cannot do is let our emotions cloud our ability to take decisive action. We must learn to compartmentalize, especially in times of great stress, so that emotions don’t get in the way of doing our job. The first step is identifying when we experience those emotions or fears. From there, we can use the Stop, Drop, and Roll strategy to practice ending the fears or negative emotions that we are feeling.

Click here to listen to this episode of the Playbook! 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!

Our health and wellness are something that empowers us as we pursue our goals or they can impair our progress, so we must make sure that we are making the right investments in this area every day. Here are four strategies that will help us to be consistent and persistent as we pursue better physical and mental health so that we can get even closer to our true potential.

Take note of things that resonate most with us

We are born with intuition, but it doesn’t necessarily mean we know when things are going to happen. We have to think of intuition as a combination of intellect, gut feeling, energy, frequency, or inspiration that serves as an indicator for us to pay attention. Our health is one area that we can receive immense benefits by paying attention and putting our intention on having the right habits.

Using our intuition to capture health-related lessons or stories that resonate with us helps build a list of techniques and practices that we can apply to our own pursuit of our physical potential. When we create a system where we can reposit these lessons and stories, we are empowered to refer back to them whenever we need to, helping us to apply them more consistently.

Believe that there is something bigger than us

Whatever religion or belief we ascribe to, when we have faith that there’s something bigger than us that loves us more than our dearest family members, we are inspired to push through any difficulties we experience. We have to understand that we are all on a journey of protection and promotion. While life will have pain, suffering, failures, and setbacks, these are not punishments–they are there to protect and promote us as we pursue our potential.

We must learn to identify what limits us and puts us at “dis-ease”, whether physically, mentally, or spiritually. From there, we can work to eliminate the thoughts, actions, and people creating the most inference as we look to improve our physical (and mental) wellness.

Know that we don’t have the ability to see immediate results

If our (good) behavior is aligned with the direction we want for our life, we also have to have faith that it will aggregate and it will eventually arrive at the right time. It may not be at the time we initially want, but it will be even better than we imagined. Exercising, investing in our health, and being grateful every day are examples of good things that can have profound positive benefits in our life but require a lot of faith in progress. We must consider the behavior, habits, or activities that we do and whether they will aggregate positive energy and wealth in our life, or if they might be harming our progress.

Take care of ourselves, so that we can take care of others

The often-used “oxygen mask on an airplane” example is an important one to consider. We are best suited to serve others when we have properly taken care of ourselves and our health first. When we are consistently and persistently focused on investing in our health, we will have the greatest capacity to help others. When we are healthy, we will have more energy to invest in others and even more resilience to deal with any difficulties along the way.

Click here to listen to this episode of the Playbook! 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!

There are two attributes that will help us to succeed over the long run, no matter what goals we are pursuing, and those are consistency and persistence. Those attributes are immensely important when we are pursuing our potential in terms of both our daily habits and our financial wellness. Whether we are looking to make long-term gains financially or seeking to ensure that our day-to-day behaviors are aligned with our personal goals, here are five things we must keep in mind if we want to overcome our limiting beliefs and thrive:

Seeing our own progress is extremely difficult

Humans tend to look for instant gratification or quick results to identify our progress but are often disappointed because we do not see it. One of our biggest challenges comes from the fact that it is nearly impossible to determine our growth without having an outside perspective. Whether in finances or personal development, our own progress is something we cannot be aware of; so we need to utilize our faith and enjoy the consistent and persistent pursuit of our potential or goals. As long as we are taking the right actions to improve our skills, knowledge, or desire on a daily basis, we will see results in the long run.

Money and progress are both energies

Money and progress are both energies that aggregate, compound, and accelerate toward the future we think that we want. With faith, consistency, and persistence, it’s only a matter of time before we can reap the rewards of our work. Always remember the Rule of 72: If we improve or earn 1% over a period of time, it takes 72 periods for us to have a doubling effect. Believe and rely on the math of progress, and know that the earlier we start making financial or personal investments in ourselves, the better.

Do not let the past limit our beliefs

Our current beliefs are often ingrained with the past and we limit ourselves by the meaning we give that past– our mistakes, failures, setbacks, traumas, and historical references that are not aligned with where we want to be. Today is tomorrow’s past, and we can give meaning to today and to our future based on the meaning that we give our past. Having a clear understanding of our goals and where we want to go in life gives us the focus needed to get it done, and when we are consistent and persistent in our pursuit of the future, we can manifest even better things than what we’re dreaming of today.

Don’t forget the simple things

Things that are simple to do are also simple not to do. Basic things such as saying thank you every day or saving small amounts regularly are easy to overlook, but doing them consistently and with faith creates the compounding energy we need to reach our goals. When we heighten our awareness of accomplishing the simple tasks that are aligned with the trajectory we want, we are also setting ourselves up to have the greatest chance of success when facing the most difficult tasks.

All of these principles apply to negative behaviors as well

Bad behavior creates negative energy that interferes with our potential, and this negative energy also aggregates and compounds over time. We may not see its effects right away, but it can lead to devastating impacts in the future if we do not mitigate the bad energy around us regularly. We first have to identify the negative energies, habits, and behaviors in our life that are creating the most resistance. Then, we work towards redirecting those actions towards the trajectory that you want or focus on cutting them out of our lives entirely.

Click here to listen to this episode of the Playbook! 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!

One of our greatest challenges in life comes from finding out who we are truly meant to be. Enjoying our chase for our destiny or our “highest self” is what makes life worthwhile. No matter what areas you are choosing to pursue your potential in, here are nine strategies that you can use to ensure that you are on the right track.

Our potential comes from our genetic and energetic inheritance

When it comes to our true potential, this is determined by both the genes that we inherit from our parents (and how they express themselves), as well as by the energy that we carry. Sometimes, we may have the desire to chase goals that aren’t aligned with our physical or mental abilities, but we can still learn valuable lessons from those experiences. When we are consistent and persistent in pursuing the right things in our life, that is when we will experience the most enjoyment and see the best results.

Use the Law of Gravity to our advantage

The Law of Gravity comes from the idea that right now, we’re exactly where we’re supposed to be, and that we need to be grateful for this fact. Having the faith that we’re in the right place, at the perfect time, is a key part of our mindset. Tied into this principle is the principle that we are already happy, healthy, wealthy, and worthy, we just have to figure out what we’re doing to interfere with it.

Live in the world of abundance

There are three worlds that we can perceive that we live in: the world of not enough, the world of just enough (for me), and the world of more than enough. To truly be abundant in our lives, we must believe that we live in a world where there is more than enough of everything to make people happy. Living abundantly is not only about being a giving person. We can’t give to others what we don’t have for ourselves first, so we also need to practice receiving. The next step is giving things away so that we can truly appreciate them. Finally, we must have the willingness to ask to receive more, so that the cycle of abundance can continue.

Faith is the ultimate currency

Currency is an object of energy that we put into the flow or current, to get what we want. We must remember that faith is also a currency that we can spend or invest, and we do this by utilizing the Five Daily Practices. Knowing What we want, Who can help us (and Who we can help), How we can achieve it, creating a plan for our Now, and then applying our Why to connect us with what inspires us. This consistent and persistent behavior uses faith to guide us as we pursue what we think we want for our future.

Pain is not a STOP sign

Pain is an indicator that there is a lesson to be learned, not that we should stop the pursuit of our potential. We must also have faith that our situation will improve if we are consistent and persistent about taking positive actions that push us toward our goals. Reminding ourselves that we are being protected and promoted, rather than being punished, can also help us to maintain our connection to what inspires us.

Ask for Help

Mentors and teachers are invaluable resources as we pursue our potential, so we must be willing to seek them out and ask for advice. Having the humility to ask may feel like a challenge, but it is a necessary part of growth. When we find people who are in the situation we want to be in and ask for help or directions, they will help us to get to our desired destination more efficiently and with a far greater rate of success.

Analyze time with a lens of productivity, accessibility, and gratitude

When looking at how we plan our days, it is helpful to focus on three areas: productivity, accessibility, and gratitude. We must work to improve our productivity or how much value we can provide in a specific amount of time. We should also place our attention on the idea of accessibility, meaning how we are to be of service or value to others, as well as how we’re accessing what we want. Finally, we need to utilize gratitude as a muscle we exercise by seeking the light, love, and lessons in each circumstance we come across. In order to be the most efficient, we also have to determine whether it’s worthwhile to invest our time to find those lessons.

Master the Mathematical Equation for Luck (Attention + Intention = Coincidences)

There is a very simple equation for being lucky in life or having the right coincidences occur. What we pay attention to (aka what we’re aware of) plus where we put intention in (aka what we think, say, do, believe, and feel) equals the coincidences that happen in our life. We want to put our attention and intention on the things that we want in life to manifest them, rather than focusing on what we do not want, what’s missing, or what others want for us.

Prioritization is the antidote to procrastination

Utilizing the aforementioned Five Daily Practices will help us to be clear on our greatest priorities so that we can make the most efficient use of our time, energy, and resources. Taking inventory of our values leads to having a clear understanding of our greatest priorities so that we can take decisive action based on opportunities that are aligned with those values. Prioritization also helps us to overcome any feelings of being overwhelmed by too many opportunities, as we have clear guidelines with which to make our choices.

While you may recognize him from shows like Holey Moley or The Daily Show, or maybe movies like 21 Jump Street and The Hangover, Rob Riggle truly has one of the most unique careers in Hollywood history. With more than 23 years of service in the Marine Corps to add to his wealth of experience in the entertainment industry, the Emmy-nominated comedic actor sheds light on four ways that people can get closer to becoming their best selves.

We must get out of our comfort zone

We will never achieve our potential if we are unwilling to step out of our comfort zone. We have to try new things in order to determine what areas are best for us to focus on improving. We can learn from the “failures” we experience along the way, but we can’t learn from not trying.

When we find our calling, follow it relentlessly

It’s important to find an outlet for our greatest passions in life, especially those that make us happy. We want to live inspired, which is a mindset that empowers us to be creative and pursue our potential. After we have identified a potential calling, we must be consistent and persistent in chasing after our goals, while also understanding that our goals may change over time.

Success is about resiliency, fortitude, and a willingness to “embrace the suck”

We all experience setbacks and rejection as a part of our lives. Most of us also experience the feelings of shame that come along with rejection or a sense of failure. We must remember that this feeling is only temporary and that we must look for lessons in the challenges we face. When you have practice in weathering those difficulties, you develop the grit to help you keep pushing forward, no matter what.

Constantly seek opportunities for growth

Personal development is a key part of thriving in life. As Rob says, “If you’re not growing, you’re dying.” It is our level of skills and knowledge that determines our baseline of potential, so we must be tenacious in the way we learn. A passion for adding things, combined with a high level of desire, ensures that we are getting closer to our greatest potential.

Click here to listen to this episode of the Playbook! 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!

Clarity of message is important if we truly want to get our point across to an audience. One of my favorite areas to reflect on during the New Year is the times when I am more commonly misunderstood, so I can make adjustments and ensure that people are truly hearing and understanding what I want to say.

I went back and found some of my most misunderstood pieces of content from this year, to help better articulate some of those ideas, so that everyone has an opportunity to grow and learn these five lessons and apply them going forward.

Money doesn’t buy love or happiness

Above all else, money is a tool that allows us to “shop” for things that may make us happy. The biggest key comes from the choice to shop for the right things in life, rather than focusing on purchasing items or experiences that bring us no happiness or joy.

The spirit of excellence always sets people apart

There is a difference between feeling beholden to complete an activity to feeling inspired to accomplish it. The people who are the first to show up and the last to leave, who operate with a spirit of excellence, are the ones who will receive the greatest rewards. When you give your full attention and intention to a task, that leads to more luck and opportunities in the future.

There is a massive difference between going the extra mile and living on the empty mile

Being willing to go the extra mile on occasion is fine, but those who are consistent and persistent about making an extra effort will always see the greatest benefit from this approach. Having the faith to invest in ourselves each and every day is the mindset of a champion and is a necessary part of pursuing our potential.

Empower people to make decisions that are good for them

We get the best results from employees who have the power and flexibility to balance their priorities with those of the company. Offering people a path to make their own decisions, such as unlimited vacation time or the ability to set their own schedules, is a just reward for individuals who work alongside us.

Our words have power

The words we choose have immense power, both positive and negative. Negative or attacking thoughts rarely make a situation better, which is why we should always focus on positive communication. We must strive to bring positive and thoughtful words to our conversations, even if they are not always received in the same fashion.

Click here to listen to this episode of the Playbook! 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!

One of my favorite places to speak at each year is Web Summit, which has been called the world’s largest tech conference. Getting to experience cutting-edge thought leadership and interacting with some of the best executives always reminds me of the principles that unite all successful marketers.

Here are four of my top lessons from this year’s conference that you can apply to marketing and growing your business in 2023.

We can’t scale a business without the right people

The people are the foundation for any successful organization and there are three steps to scale any business that we need to apply in order to ensure we have that foundation. New members of the team should start with shadowing others until they are able to “break-even” with the value they are providing (either relative to expectations or to the revenue that they generate). From there, they can continue to grow and progress until their level of performance requires that we elevate them to a higher role, so others can start shadowing them. Lots of people think that scaling a business is only about the financial investment you make, when it really boils down to how many people you need, in order to get the goals that you want

We need to be learning every day

One of the best investments we can make is in ourselves and our education. Following our passions and curiosity are what will help accelerate us in the pursuit of our potential. We must also seek out mentors to learn from, meaning that we identify people who sit in a situation that we want to be in and seek to understand the mindset, heart set, and handset that they used to excel. Also key is having the humility to ask for help, whether that is from our mentors, coaches, or teachers.

Consistency is key for any marketing or branding efforts that we undertake

We must combine our desire for growth with a consistent approach to our day-to-day activities in order to thrive. Having the right systems in place will serve to amplify our efforts, rather than diminish them. Simple practices, like saying “thank you” when you wake up and before you go to bed, can have a massive impact on our mindset when we are consistent about using them. Having a strong mindset empowers us to effectively share our messages with others so that the message resonates with our audience.

Concentrate on what we’re becoming, not what’s coming

We can get lost paying too much attention to trends or trying to predict what will happen in the future, rather than placing our attention and intention on the present. The best results come when we direct our focus inward and work to improve our product, service, or solution wherever possible. We must also make a practice of taking stock in who we are now and what we want to become in the future, then identify pragmatic actions we can take to help us progress towards those goals.

Greatness comes in all shapes and sizes, and last week I was lucky enough to spend some time with two very different sports legends, top tennis coach Rick Macci and star running back Austin Ekeler from the Los Angeles Chargers, to chat about what exactly makes someone great. Below are four of my biggest takeaways from the conversation, that can be applied by anyone who wants to pursue excellence in their own life.

Be sure to check out new episodes of Game, Set, Life w/ Macci and Meltzer, each Tuesday at 12pm PT / 3pm ET on LinkedIn, Facebook, or Twitter.

We determine our ceiling

Our talent level may determine our “basement” or baseline in terms of performance, but our knowledge and desire are what determine our ceiling or potential. It is up to us to determine where our skills fit the best and from there, our strategy should focus on maximizing our abilities. By placing our intention on having the right mindset and being consistent, we create more acceleration toward our goals.

We have to face challenges head-on if we want to get better

Things are not always going to go smoothly for us, which means that learning to be persistent and continually getting back up after getting knocked down is essential for progress. We have to be accountable for ourselves and not expect anyone to solve our problems for us, but that does not mean we shouldn’t be asking for help along the way.

Accessibility is key to brand-building

We have the desire to be connected to people, brands, things, and ideas that we relate to most. That drive for connectivity places an added importance on giving people effective and rewarding ways to discover us and access the content that we create. We must always concentrate on providing value first, and doing that consistently and persistently, knowing we’ll get value in the long term by building a community.

Mental toughness and physical toughness go hand-in-hand

Much like a professional athlete, most of us need to be able to perform when we’re not feeling our best mentally or physically. We can’t let minor obstacles “take us out of the game” or derail our plans. Instead, we must connect with our sources of motivation and inspiration to give us an extra push when we need it.