I am always striving for excellence and improvement.  As such, I look for resources and different perspectives on doing so.  I came across the video below and really liked the message that it shared, so I thought I would bring it to you.  Enjoy!

21 days.  It's not a long time.  In fact, 21 days go by in the blink of an eye.  But what can be accomplished in 21 days is incredible.  In fact, 21 days of dedication is all that is needed to change your life.  Studies have shown that is takes 21 days to create a habit.  Think about that.  If you want to make a change, whether it is your health, something in business, or in just in life, you can be on your way in just about 3 weeks.  That's exciting!  

There are some keys to ensuring success if you decide to either change or create a new habit in your life.  

First, you must commit to it.  For example, if you want to start the habit of excercising for 45 minutes every day, you must commit to it and be deliberate in your approach.  

Second, write down what you are going to do.  So, if the goal is 45 minutes per day of exercise, write it down and make a 21 day checklist to check off that you did it each day.  What gets measured, gets managed.

Third, be consistent.  It is a lot easier to practice the new habit over 21 days if you are consistent in your approach.  Staying with the example of exercising 45 minutes per day, strive to do the 45 minutes at the same time every day, so it is built into your schedule and the time is set aside.  It will make it easier to plan for it as well.  

Fourth, be accountable.  It is easier to accomplish your goal if you are accountable to it.  The best way to be accountable is to have an accountability partner - someone that will help you keep on track for your goal.  This may be someone who is building the same habit with you or someone close to you that is not afraid to call you out.  

Fifth, reward yourself.  Building a habit means change and a lot of dedicated, consistent work for a short time, 21 days.  But that doesn't mean it isn't hard.  And to help keep you motivated, you should decide on a reward that is important to you, that you will give yourself for accomplishing to goal.  Keep your reward top of mind, especially in those moments where you don't want to keep going or consider skipping the work toward the habit for a day.  It will help you in the moment.

Good habits are the cornerstone of success and the best part is we get to choose them and put them in our lives.  Just think where you will be a year from now if you took 21 days each month to build a new habit to help you in your life.  That's 12 new habits.  Would your life change?  You bet it would.  So get started and here's to your success!

Why do people succeed more than others?  It's an interesting question.  We all know someone who just seems to have "it" or maybe we describe them as "lucky."  These people seem to find a way to success over and over again.  

What is it that they have that others don't?  Besides working hard and smart, and doing the things that everyone knows that are needed to succeed, the majority of the time, these people have a specific trait that cannot be coached.  They have a burning desire and drive to see things through.  No matter what is thrown at them, they keep going.  They are like a hungry lion stalking it's prey.  The lion doesn't stop until it reaches the goal and gets its meal.  It's driven to succeed.

Consistently successful people have this same trait.  They are driven by the thrill of the hunt, to pursue to end goal relentlessly until it becomes reality.  They keep going in spite of the obstacles, the challenges, the self-doubt, the worry, and all the other things that derail most people.  They dig down deep in the hardest and bleakest of times and keep going, because they know if they keep going, the percentages of success will finally turn in their favor.  Just like the lion who hasn't eaten in days, but keeps stalking and attempting kills.  At some point, they will win and eat.  

This trait cannot be coached as it must be developed by each individual in the way that works for them, but it can be developed.  The best way to develop it is to find the strenght and conviction to keep going when you want to quit.  You have to break through over and over again.  And when you do, you will develop this trait for yourself and you will succeed at higher and higher levels.  

Unleash your inner lion.

Every once and a while, I come across a message that really has an impact and spurs inspiraton, ideas, and helps further myself as an entrepreneur.  Here are 3 videos that I've found that have made a difference for me and can do the same for you.  

Here's an interesting question:  How do you have a great day?  Is there a secret?  A special formula?  For that matter, what is a great day?

A great day is going to be defined differently by each person.  But, I think I can say one consistency of a great day for everyone is that it is satisfying.  You end the day and know that it was good.

So, what can you do to have a great day?  

First, a great day begins in your mind.  Your attitude determines how you approach the day.  It is your inner game and if your inner game is good, so is your outer game.  You get to choose your attitude and thus you get to choose to have a great day.  Every morning when you wake up, you have this choice.  Do this little exercise for one week.  Each morning, after you get up, write the following on a piece of paper, "What attitude will I choose to have today:  Great, Fair, or Poor."  Once you write it down, choose "great, fair, or poor" and circle the one you will have for the day.  I have done this for years and I can say I have never circled anything by "great."  As my day goes on, if there are problems, or challenges, and/or things don't go my way - and I start to think negatively, I just look at the attitude I chose for the day (great) and it snaps me out it.  

Second,  plan your day.  If you take the time to plan your day to know ahead of time what you are going to do, you will be much more efficient and effective.  Of course, the more you can accomplish will make the day more satisfying for you.  Planning your day will ensure you know what to do ahead of time, so you don't waste time or focus on things that are not important.  

Third, be grateful.  Take 5-10 minutes at some point during the day to practice gratitude.  Whether it is to someone or just with yourself, gratitude is a powerful thing.  Take 5-10 minutes and write down 3 things you are grateful for and you'll be amazed at how it gives your perspective and makes you feel.  Or take 5-10 minutes to give a compliment to someone or share why you are grateful for them in your life.  If you take the time to do this, it will go a long way in making your day (and theirs) a great one.

Having a great day, is not that hard.  It just requires a few key things to ensure it happens.  If you take these 3 actions each day, you will find that every day can and will be a great day!

It's a common theme for most people that they do not have enough time.  That they are maxed and can't keep up with everything they have going on.  They are just too busy.  

I've found this is simply not true.  Most people have way more productive capacity that they realize - they are just not structured well enough to take advantage of it in their lives.  I've written before about how structure = freedom.  I know that sounds contradictory, but the more structure you have in your day to day, the more freedom you can create for yourself.

For example, most people go through their day without any real plan just reacting to what comes up in their lives and work.  They have all these tasks they think they need to do "in their head" and at the end of the day after all the distractions and things that they let steal their time, they are exhasuted and frustrated because they "worked hard, but feel like they didn't get anything done."  This happens because they are have ceded control to everything around them and not taken control and put structure in place to keep them focused and get things done.  

Now, imagine if they started the day knowing exactly what they had to, their top priorities and had clear deadlines to get them done.  And they knew, if they got them done early, they could take the rest of the day to do whatever they wanted?  Sounds pretty good right.  They accomplish all their tasks and free themselves up to go enjoy the rest of the day.  That is what structure brings.  

They are a few key components to have a good structure.  First is to set aside time each day where you can focus un-interrupted on your most important tasks.  During these times, you eliminate distractions - no meetings, no phone calls, turn off IM, etc.  You can also block these times on your calendar if you share it with others to make sure they cannot steal your time.  Second, plan your week.  Each week before the week starts, take 20 minutes to go through each day for the upcoming week and plan out what needs done.  You can list the meetings or events you have and then build in the other tasks you need to do each day in your blocked times.  Third, at the end of each day, take 5-10 mins to see if you were able to get your priorities for that day completed and to adjust anything for the next day to make sure you are getting everything done.  You may find on many days that you are so productive that you can get ahead and work on the next day's priorities and tasks - and still be done early.  That is one of the benefits of having a good structure.  

Don't think this will work for you or that you don't have enough time in your schedule for everything?  Try this simple exercise.  For one week - just one week - track what you do for every hour of each day.  If you do this, you will be amazed at how much time is wasted and how much opportunity you have.  It will also help you understand where you waste the most time and allow you to make changes so you can be more productive.  

As H. Jackson Brown Jr. said, "Don't say you don't have enough time. You have exactly the same number of hours per day that were given to Helen Keller, Pasteur, Michelangelo, Mother Teresa, Leonardo da Vinci, Thomas Jefferson, and Albert Einstein."

​Remember, structure = freedom!

Most quotes are meaningless.  They are good for a thought in a moment and then are forgotten or never really thought about again.  But, occasionally there are quotes that stand the test of time and if you take the time to think about them deeply, can have a big impact on your life and how you think.  Below are 10 magnificent quotes to help you do just that.  Think on them and what they really mean to you - and then act on that meaning!

Let's face it.  Sometimes you just have bad days in business.  Days where things just don't go your way despite everything you do.  We've all been there and there will be more days like that in the future.  It is part of the journey of entrepreneurship.

The most important thing about bad days is how we respond to them.  After all, they are going to happen, right?  So, we should do our best not to make them worse.

The first thing to do when a day does not go your way is to recognize it for what it is - one day out of many and it will pass.  Not everything is going to go as planned and some things are just going to fail.  The most important thing we can do at these times is to separate emotion and logic and not let emotion get the best of us or drive our decisions.  We must think logically.  By all means take a few minutes to get your emotions out in whatever way is best for you - but don't take actions based on those emotions.   

Next, once we have seperated our emotions and have put them in the past, we must focus on the things we can control and maximize our efforts there.  It does not good to worry or put thought into things we cannot control.  We must cope with those things, but focus our efforts and our actions in the areas that we do have control and can affect outcomes.  

Once we have identified the areas we can control and are focused on them, then we must take action and start working toward better outcomes either to resolve the issue(s) or to pivot around them.  The key is to get going and build momentum so you get passed the problems of the day and back to business.  

As an example, I have a trading business.  Not every trade is going to go my way and sometimes, when I am just about to harvest my profits, the market can turn and go the other way putting me into a losing position.  As you can imagine, this can be very aggravating and cause a bad trading day.  But, I cannot control the markets - I can only take aciton on the things I have control over.  This is why I have specific rules that I follow and most of the time, things work out as planned.  When they don't, I remove the emotional response by following my rules and working the trade to the best outcome which sometimes is a loss, but not to the level it could have been if I panicked and let emotions dictate my actions.  Because I seperate emotions and focus taking action on the things I can control, I am able to achieve better results.

The next time you have a bad day in your business, use this strategy to help you navigate it and come out on top! 

I was reading some passages from Proverbs the other day on 7 Deadly Sins.  Now, a lot of people hear Proverbs and think religion, the bible, etc.  But, I have found Proverbs to be one of the great sources of wisdom for life and business that anyone can read.  

Specifically, I was reading about Sloth or laziness and found it very insightful.  We think of being lazy as just that, lazy - not doing anything, not taking initiative, etc.  And the consequences are that we miss out on opportunities and reaching our potential.  While that is absolutely true, this passage shared that the consequences are much worse.  

Part of the passage stated that "Laziness brings on deep sleep."  It went on to explain, that sloth brings a progressive decline of a person's ability to work hard - not just in the area they are choosing to be lazy, but throughout all areas of their lives.  Sort of like a person who loses their physical conditioning can no longer exercise as hard or as long and then finds themselves less healthy, gaining weight, etc.  Being lazy in that area brings about unintended consequences that impacts other areas of their lives.  

Over time, laziness can slowly erode capability and potential as well as habits needed to excel and succeed being our best.  It permiates into all parts of our lives.  

If you find yourself being lazy in one area of your life, ask yourself why?  And then take a look at other areas of your life and see if they are being impacted as well.  In the end, you must "do the work" and push throug the urge to be lazy because if you don't, you will find areas of your life going into "deep sleep."