- Hey guys, Dan Martell here
and today I want to share with you guys
something that's near and dear to my heart.
It's the idea of getting unstuck.
Recently I was sitting down with a friend
and his business is doing good.
He actually hasn't worked a whole lot
and the business continues to go along,
and I was asking him, hey, what are your plans for the year?
I mean, we're almost halfway through the year,
and he just kind of didn't really feel connected
to the business any more.
And he used the word.
It really threw me off.
He said, I just feel comfortable.
And I was like, I can get that.
Sometimes, when you actually do the things at work
and you get to a certain point
it's hard to always keep yourself motivated
and the more we talked about it,
I kind of sat down and started thinking through
some areas that he could look at
to get re-energized and re-excited about his business.
And that's what I want to share with you guys today.
It's three strategies that I shared with him
to really get reconnected with purpose
and why he started the business
and where he wanted to go
and just who he was in his life,
because he wasn't even happy
with the approach he was having personally.
So, the first thing I want to share with you guys
is something that I think is pretty profound.
It's just asking yourself, and I do this in interviews
when I hire people,
is, what does your life look like in five years?
If you had to sit down and describe,
as you wake up in the morning,
the place you're living,
the things you're going to do in the morning,
your routine, the people in your life,
the relationship you have,
the quality of those relationships,
the kind of work you're doing.
And just kind of talk me through
in a five-year scenario what your day looks like.
I think it's just such a powerful visualization.
There's this great quote that says,
"Begin with the end in mind."
And I feel like that's the first step.
Because if you don't know where you're going,
then any path will do.
And I think it's really important
to just get crystal clear on, you know what,
in five years, what would I hope my life looks like
and my day looks like?
And start talking about it.
Write it down.
Draw a picture.
Even try to visualize, who are the people
from a relationship point of view,
your health, and even your business.
What have you accomplished?
That was the first thing I asked him,
is, if you had to wake up and describe
in five years that day, what would it look like?
And he thought it was really interesting.
So we wrote that down.
The second thing is, start thinking about the people.
If you know where you want to go,
think about the people that are going to support you
in making those decisions.
A lot of people are the by-product
of the people they spend time with.
You're the average of the five people
you spend the most time with.
And I just think, any time I've started a new project,
especially a company
in an industry that I've never done before,
I make a list of a hundred people, I call my Dream 100 list.
And these are a hundred people
both from investment opportunities,
so people that might invest in my company;
people that have had success in that thing;
people that just inspire me,
that are going to teach me new ideas, so maybe advisors;
and then also some potential friends or peer group people
that I want to spend time with.
And, I don't think you need a hundred,
but, I mean, if you just think of that idea of five.
You know, if you're trying to get healthy,
who's the healthiest person you know?
If you're trying to get better at business,
who's one of the strongest entrepreneurs
you know in your life?
And just ask them to do coffee once a week.
And, yeah, there's a bunch of structures.
And you can join mentorship groups or hire a business coach
or whatever it is, and those are all great things,
but I really think that it can be as simple as
just asking yourself, who are people
that are going to support me in this decision.
That was the second thing.
The third is really doing an action every day.
Some people call it the Slight Edge.
Some people call it the Compound Effect.
I learnt this when I was 21, and I totally dismissed it,
from a family friend named Wayne.
You know, he sat me down one day and I asked him.
He's an entrepreneur and a business person.
I said, if there was one thing you could suggest to
an up-and-coming entrepreneur.
At this point, I'd failed twice already.
What would you suggest?
And he thought about it for a second
and after a few minutes, he just goes, "Habits."
And I was expecting something deep and profound,
like something, I don't know, some magic formula.
And he just goes, "Habits."
And I was like, okay, could you explain it?
And he did, and unfortunately it took me another five years
to finally figure out what he was saying.
But, what I suggest you do is think about the thing
you can do every day that seems mundane;
that will, over time, allow you to accomplish a lot.
I think that a lot of people,
they're always looking for the next big thing.
The big idea that's just going to make their business work.
The next fitness fad, or cleanse, or whatever it is,
to get their health in order.
And I really think it could be as simple as
choosing one action for 90 days in each area.
So maybe for your health, something as simple,
I'm going to suggest this,
drinking ten glasses of water a day,
or maybe a gallon of water a day.
And I'm not even talking about food or anything else.
Just choosing that one action
that will start to inspire you in other parts of your life.
So choosing to drink water.
Or maybe getting up every morning
and going for a 20-minute walk.
That's it.
Just a 20-minute walk.
I'm not talking about going to CrossFit
or running a marathon in six months,
I'm just saying something simple.
And in business, the same thing.
Think about it.
If you realize you don't have a good marketing strategy,
maybe it's every day for the next 90 days
I'm going to write a blog post.
And if that sounds daunting,
maybe it's once a week
and you just work on it every morning for 10 minutes.
But whatever it is, it's choosing something
that you can do an action every day for 90 days
that is in line with your five year plan.
That, for me, is a really simple, tactical strategy
that will help anybody get unstuck
when they're feeling like things are comfortable,
they can't find their mojo again.
You know, beginning with the end in mind.
Start thinking about the people that will support them
and then also put a very simple action plan
so you don't feel overwhelmed.
Something that you can do for 90 days.
And even if you miss a day after 10 days,
start again on day 11 and 12
and just keep it up for 90 days.
And just try to get as many days
doing those simple action.
As little as maybe an hour total in your whole day
doing those things.
That's my ideas for you.
I want to challenge you guys to live a bigger life
and business, and I would love to hear from you below.
If there's something in those areas that you do every day,
that you feel is just the thing that works for you,
I would love to hear from you in the comments below.
Leave a comment below.
I'm going to reply to every one of them.
Really excited to have you guys here
and I'll see you next Monday.