Playbook Podcast

One of my favorite parts of the week is the Friday Training sessions, and last week’s topic involved some of the most valuable lessons that myself and my business associates have recently learned. Here are six of the top insights from the training, to help you on your journey as you pursue your potential.

#1-Remembering Our Lessons is Essential

Life is about lessons and these lessons will keep coming to us until we learn them. What makes our lessons more valuable is creating a system that helps us to access what we’ve learned. By writing down or capturing the lessons which resonate most with us, we empower ourselves to remember and recollect them, so that we do not have to re-learn them later.

#2-Focus on Our Discoverability

One of the best litmus tests for a brand is how discoverable it is, meaning whether the right people are coming across it during their regular communications. Who do we want to discover us? Those most closely aligned with us. We don’t want people who aren’t aligned with our message to discover us, as they tend to create more resistance for us. Discoverability is important to pay attention to because it is a confirmation of our ability to capture, modify, amplify, and perpetuate content that represents our brand.

#3-Don’t Take Ourselves So Seriously

We never want to take ourselves so seriously that we lose sight of what’s important. Life and practicing forgiveness are so much easier when we don’t feed the needs of our ego, like the need to be offended. We cannot let our pride get in the way of our personal and professional growth.

#4-Be Intentional About the Words We Use

We can’t feel bad enough to make others feel good, so we must try to take a positive approach with our communication. For example, rather than apologizing for being late to a meeting, we can choose to thank others for their patience and understanding. The energy and acknowledgment that comes with that type of communication are much more beneficial and will lead to even more authentic relationships.

#5-Our Ego’s Tendency is To Resist

When we are uneasy or at “dis-ease”, our ego tends to fight or resist the situation and in the process, we can unknowingly create even more resistance for ourselves. Rather than feeding into our fears or fighting against our perception, we must practice the Stop, Drop, and Roll technique. We stop feeding into the negativity, drop down to our center or baseline, and then roll by taking some action that is in pursuit of our higher self.

#6-Consistency and Persistence Are Keys To Our Success

Having daily practices and being consistent about them are what help us to build the greatest amount of momentum in our lives. As the saying goes, “Keep showing up and good things will happen.” Quitting ensures that our momentum toward our goal is gone, forcing us to start back at the beginning.

All of my life, I thought that money could buy happiness and solve any problem, but I was wrong. Since I’ve learned that lesson, these five ideas have been crucial to helping me make a lot of money, help a lot of people, and have a lot of fun.

#1 – Our Frequency is Our Neighborhood

Our frequency, the “vibration” we put out into the world, is what attracts people to us. This makes it key for us to not only put out the right vibe but surround ourselves with the right people and the right ideas. The right people include those who can help to provide us with options, opportunities, and touches of favor. The right ideas are those that bring us value and empower us to consistently and persistently pursue our potential.

#2 – Feed Those That Feed Us

One of the biggest mistakes we can make is prioritizing the people who do not prioritize us. In simpler terms, we need to feed the people that feed us. For those that do not add value to our lives, the ones that “bleed us”, we need to either let them fall away or we can choose to fire them from our lives.

#3 – Elevate Others to Elevate Ourselves

There is little that helps to accelerate growth more than mentorship. Mentors can guide us along our journey and help us to avoid making the same mistakes and missteps that they did. Not only must we seek out people with situational knowledge to ask for advice, but we must also do our best to empower others with the skills, knowledge, and desire that we possess. Those willing to give guidance and advice without expectation of anything in return will receive the greatest benefits.

#4 – Look For Open Minds, Open Hearts, and Open Hands

Seeking out the people that are most aligned with us is what will yield the best results, rather than looking for a specific archetype. It is infinitely easier to connect with someone who has an open mind than convincing someone who has a closed mind, so we must spend our energy and attention on people who think like we do. Practice identifying whether someone has an open mind at the current time, understanding that even open-minded people can have moments of closed-mindedness (and vice versa).

#5 – Live in the World of “More Than Enough”

We must realize that like money, faith is a currency. One of the most important places to invest our faith is in the belief in abundance. When we believe in a world of “just enough” or “not enough”, that perception will be our reality. Taking an abundant approach to life and business is an essential component of achieving true wealth.

What it means to have an “internal thermostat” and how you can adjust yours

Why is it that people fail when the pressure is on? Ed Mylett uses his experience playing college baseball to talk about how your thoughts and beliefs about yourself will govern your results. When you understand how the limitations you place upon yourself are impacting your pursuit of your potential, you are able to overcome them.

How to identify the true skills you possess and use them to find bliss in life

For many, happiness can be found in helping other people. Every person has skills they can utilize to improve the lives of others, but it takes keen insights to apply those skills and create a positive influence on the world. Dedicate yourself to not only discovering your strengths but leveraging them in order to make life better for yourself and others. 

Why Ed believes that you are only one decision away from changing the trajectory of your future

Your mindset is one of the biggest keys when it comes to overcoming adversity. Ed shares his father’s alcoholism story as a shining example of how to create change in your life by taking things one day at a time. You can discover how to apply the “power of one more” in your own life by learning to shift your perspective. 

The best way to get the attention of a potential mentor

Mentors can have some of the greatest impacts on our lives, but creating that initial connection can be intimidating. Utilizing the Law of Reciprocity can help anyone to gain the attention of their desired mentor, and begin to establish a relationship. Having a sincere exchange of value is the key.

The single best strategy for building more self-confidence

There is one main cause for a lack of confidence… an inability to keep promises that you make. When you are able to consistently keep the promises you make, especially those that you make to yourself, you are guaranteed to have a more positive self-identity. And by associating yourself with the right people and ideas, that confidence will continue to grow!

All of my life, I thought that money could buy happiness and solve any problem, but I was wrong. Since I’ve learned that lesson, these five ideas have been crucial to helping me make a lot of money, help a lot of people, and have a lot of fun.

#1 – Our Frequency is Our Neighborhood
Our frequency, the “vibration” we put out into the world, is what attracts people to us. This makes it key for us to not only put out the right vibe but surround ourselves with the right people and the right ideas. The right people include those who can help to provide us with options, opportunities, and touches of favor. The right ideas are those that bring us value and empower us to consistently and persistently pursue our potential.

#2 – Feed Those That Feed Us
One of the biggest mistakes we can make is prioritizing the people who do not prioritize us. In simpler terms, we need to feed the people that feed us. For those that do not add value to our lives, the ones that “bleed us”, we need to either let them fall away or we can choose to fire them from our lives.

#3 – Elevate Others to Elevate Ourselves
There is little that helps to accelerate growth more than mentorship. Mentors can guide us along our journey and help us to avoid making the same mistakes and missteps that they did. Not only must we seek out people with situational knowledge to ask for advice, but we must also do our best to empower others with the skills, knowledge, and desire that we possess. Those willing to give guidance and advice without expectation of anything in return will receive the greatest benefits.

#4 – Look For Open Minds, Open Hearts, and Open Hands
Seeking out the people that are most aligned with us is what will yield the best results, rather than looking for a specific archetype. It is infinitely easier to connect with someone who has an open mind than convincing someone who has a closed mind, so we must spend our energy and attention on people who think like we do. Practice identifying whether someone has an open mind at the current time, understanding that even open-minded people can have moments of closed-mindedness (and vice versa).

#5 – Live in the World of “More Than Enough”
We must realize that like money, faith is a currency. One of the most important places to invest our faith is in the belief in abundance. When we believe in a world of “just enough” or not enough”, that perception will be our reality. Taking an abundant approach to life and business is an essential component of achieving true wealth.

Our greatest lessons in life are often found in our greatest challenges. For me, declaring bankruptcy and losing over $100,000,000 has turned into one of the most pivotal moments in my life so far. That experience taught me countless lessons, including the five keys below:

Surround yourself with the right people and the right ideas
As the old saying goes, “Your friends are your future.” We need to ensure that we are surrounding ourselves with the people and ideas that are adding to our lives, not those who are diminishing us. If they feed you, then feed them. If they are bleeding you, then let those people and ideas fall away from you or cut them out of your life entirely.

Live in the world of “more than enough”
It’s important to operate from a place of abundance, rather than scarcity. Our perception is our reality, so if we perceive that we’re living in a world of “not enough” or “just enough”, that will be our truth. Choosing to live in a world where there is more than enough to make everyone happy will not only help us to create a more positive perspective, but it will also attract people who believe the same.

Ask for help
Seek out someone who is in the situation you want to be in and ask them for assistance. The right mentors can help us avoid the mistakes they’ve made, what I call paying the “dummy tax”. When we are intentional about selecting our mentors and humble enough to ask for help, they will accelerate our growth and assist us in getting closer to our potential.

Money can’t buy love or happiness
Happiness is the consistent and persistent pursuit of our potential and is not something that can be purchased. Money is an energy and what it does is it empowers us to shop. If we shop for the right things and invest that money wisely, it is a powerful tool for the pursuit of our potential and can even help us to empower more people along the way.

Our values are our foundation
Our core values are what help us to remain grounded when the unexpected occurs in life or business. Applying values like gratitude, empathy, accountability, and effective communication to a situation can help us to remember that we are being protected and promoted, rather than being punished. These values are meant to remind us of the truth of who we are and what we hold most dear.

I had the pleasure of learning from Rick Macci, featured in the movie King Richard, awarded United States Professional Tennis Association National Coach of the Year (seven times), and trained five number one ranked tennis players: Serena Williams, Venus Williams, Andy Roddick, Jennifer Capriati, and Maria Sharapova.

How to master the art of coaching and connection  

Being a master of coaching doesn’t mean that we have the best pupils, it means that we are able to meet our students where they are at in their journey. When we are truly present as an instructor, our students can feel it.

The best coaches know how to connect with the individuals they are instructing, as well as the best ways to motivate and inspire them. They consistently and persistently pursue progress, rather than perfection.

How teachers can help their students shift their mindset and change their life for the better

As coaches, we need to push the limitations of our student’s challenges, rather than trying to limit the challenges they experience. When we are able to do that, we empower our students to believe in themselves and their capabilities instead of doubting them. During his feature in the movie King Richard, Rick shared a story about having to motivate Serena Williams with a bribe of a t-shirt and candy.

Being able to forget is an essential characteristic of personal growth  

Holding onto mistakes only creates more resistance for ourselves, which makes forgetting a huge key to progress. We need to have a mistake response that focuses on taking action in the present, rather than dwelling on the past. The most positive people tend to be the ones who excel the most in business and in sports.

“Keep score with yourself” in business

As Rick says, “If you’re not getting better today, you’re getting worse.” We need to constantly be motivating ourselves to learn, grow, and progress in any aspect that we choose. If we aren’t keeping score with ourselves, there is a tendency to slack off or end up in a rut, so we must push ourselves to be our best.

These 5 steps will help you sell anything:

 1. Stimulate Interest
Stimulate interest for availability first, meaning practice getting people to respond to your calls, texts, emails, and social media messages. Then, focus on stimulating interest for your business or services.

2. Transition the Interest
Emotionally connect with who you’re targeting. Then, transition their interest through professional collateral and a clear explanation of true value. Use the 100/20 Rule: be able to articulate that your customers will receive $100 of value for every $20 they spend.

3. Share the Vision
Share the vision of true value. You want to demonstrate the value you’ll be providing in relation to the customer’s personal values, experiential values, giving and receiving values. Make them see the win-win situation in doing business together.

4. Manage and Develop the Vision
Manage and develop a vision by providing the value that you promised. Don’t oversell, rather help them manage and develop their expectations.

5. Thrive
When you’ve done all four previous steps correctly, consistently, and persistently, you thrive. Thrivation is, in essence, getting your customers or other people outside of your organization to sell your product or service for you. This means that you make a lot of money, help a lot of people, and have a lot of fun!

The drawbacks of complacency for high achievers

Resting on our laurels and not continuing to push ourselves towards progress can lead to boredom and discontent. It’s important to strike a balance between being grateful for what we have and not becoming complacent. Seek out sources of inspiration in order to keep moving towards the milestones that we want to surpass in life or business.

Grant’s daily process for goal setting and how that serves to inspire his actions

One of the best ways to set our intentions is to quickly write goals down every morning and every night. Make sure that these are our biggest goals, not those that can be accomplished in a day, week, or month. Don’t focus on the strategy or mechanics needed to reach these goals, simply just write out “destinations” that intrigue us and that we are enthusiastic to pursue.

How our mentors can teach us what to do, as well as what to avoid

Mentors have some of the greatest influence in our lives and set examples for us to follow. What’s equally valuable is learning what not to do from our mentors, helping to avoid the same mistakes and pitfalls they experienced. Watching and observing others can teach us many lessons, so that we do not have to pay the “dummy tax” ourselves.

Balancing giving and receiving as an entrepreneur 

Take an abundant approach to business, be transparent about our successes and show others what is working for us, so that they can thrive. Don’t be afraid to share the tools or strategies that will help others find the confidence to succeed. And remember that we need to first figure out the receiving portion of the equation, because we cannot give something to others unless we have it for ourselves. 

Our past does not define us, it refines us

We give the past inflection points in our lives meaning, so we must not let ourselves become victims of the past. It’s important to shift our mindset to see that our toughest challenges in life are also our greatest lessons. When we take accountability for learning and progressing from our past, our future becomes brighter than ever,

We cannot grow if we spend all of our time in the comfort zone

It is impossible for us to know our true capabilities without pushing ourselves. Spend as much time in the learning zone as possible, to pursue our higher self consistently and persistently. It is only then that we can overcome the limitations that we’ve placed on ourselves, whether knowingly or unknowingly.

Few things are worse than living as a “tube”

Taking stock in our approach to life (and business) is essential if we want to set and achieve goals that others may deem as “crazy”. When we analyze the areas where we are going through the motions, rather than placing attention and intention on our actions, we can make positive changes to our routines that will help us to plateau and grow.

Our words have immense power

The stories that we tell ourselves have a massive impact on our mindset, heartset, and handset. Adding or changing one word in a sentence can instantly change our perspective to one that is more favorable to our success. It can be empowering to tell ourselves something as simple as we “get to” do a task, rather than we’ve “got to” do it.

It’s important to focus on education with concussions and protocols

The biggest action we can take towards treating concussions right now is prevention, as there are 3.8 million concussions occur every year. That’s just the concussions that we know about, but there are countless others that go undiagnosed. The truth is that we’re not going to prevent concussions, but raising awareness through education will only serve to help those dealing with brain injuries

Expert opinions can help shift our perspective

In a discussion with Dr. Bennet Omalu, who was featured in the movie and book Concussion, Brett initially thought of only 3 instances where he lost track of time or blacked out for a period of time due to a concussion. What he eventually learned was that each time he hit his head on the turf, got tackled, or fell to the floor and saw fireworks or stars, heard ringing in his ears, or felt a little woozy, he had experienced a concussion. Seeking out the opinion of an expert is a great way to help open our eyes to new perspectives on reality.

What Favre would look to see being done differently in the NFL

One of my favorite parts from this episode came when Brett was asked what changes he’d make if he took over as NFL Commissioner for Roger Goddell. Taking additional steps to protect the players and their safety, while also pushing for innovative concussion treatments could go a long way towards ensuring the long-term health of our athletes.

The human brain is sensitive and fragile

Our brain is not adapted to take concussive blows, such as animals like rams, oxen, or even woodpeckers. When we experience a severe impact to the head, our brain can rattle around in the skull, causing damage and bruising. Activities like contact sports (particularly for youth) can cause long-term physical issues if we are not protecting ourselves and our athletes.