Playbook Podcast

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 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.

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!

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.

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!

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.