Knowledge For Men

Jocko Willink is a decorated retired Navy SEAL officer, author of the book Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy SEALs Lead and Win, and co-founder of Echelon Front, where he is a leadership instructor, speaker, and executive coach. Jocko spent 20 years in the U.S. Navy SEAL Teams, starting as an enlisted SEAL and rising through the ranks to become a SEAL officer. As commander of SEAL Team Three’s Task Unit Bruiser during the battle of Ramadi, he orchestrated SEAL operations that helped the “Ready First” Brigade of the US Army’s First Armored Division bring stability to the violent, war-torn city. As commander of SEAL Team Three’s Task Unit Bruiser during the battle of Ramadi, he orchestrated SEAL operations that helped the “Ready First” Brigade of the US Army’s First Armored Division bring stability to the violent, war-torn city. Task Unit Bruiser became the most highly decorated Special Operations Unit of the Iraq War. Jocko returned from Iraq to serve as Officer-in-Charge of training for all West Coast SEAL Teams. There, he spearheaded the development of leadership training and personally instructed and mentored the next generation of SEAL leaders who have continued to perform with great success on the battlefield. During his career, Jocko was awarded the Silver Star, the Bronze Star, and numerous other personal and unit awards. In 2010, Jocko retired from the Navy and launched Echelon Front where he teaches the leadership principles he learned on the battlefield to help others lead and win. Clients include individuals, teams, companies, and organizations across a wide-range of industries and fields. Favorite Success Quote “Discipline equals freedom” Key Points 1. Discipline Gives You True Freedom If you want freedom, then forget all the crap about life hacks, smart drugs, and shortcuts. If you want freedom, then you must cultivate extreme levels of discipline. Period. I don’t care if you want to do the important things. Do them. I don’t care if you feel like handling your responsibilities. Handle them. I don’t care if you want to wake up early and grind. Just fucking rise and grind. Discipline equals freedom. 2. You Have to Be Humble Once you have cultivated discipline and overcome your weakness and propensity to allow your feelings in the moment to dictate your life, arrogance becomes your most dangerous enemy. Just because you have achieved a certain level of success does not mean that you have it figured out. The day that you think you know it all, the day that you stop trying to grow, and the day you stop learning from others… That’s the day that you will fall and you will fall hard. 3. Take Extreme Ownership  Whatever circumstances life has given you, it’s time to man up and own them. Step up and take charge of the results that you are producing or failing to produce. Take ownership of your marriage, your business, and your finances. Sure, you can piss away your time blaming others, whining, and moaning. But you will lose respect from the people who matter and accomplish nothing in the process. Or, you can let go of your ego, accept responsibility, and take extreme ownership. And when are willing to swallow your pride and take ownership of your life and success, you will cultivate respect for yourself and respect from others. 4. Detach Emotions from Your Decision-Making Process  If you want to sabotage your success and ruin all chances of high achievement, then allow your emotions to dictate your decision making. If you want to achieve greatly, lead effectively, and create massive success in your life, then learn to detach your emotions from important decisions. I don’t care if you like an under-performing employee and feel bad about letting them go. If you have done everything you can to empower them and call them forward, and they still fail… it’s time to let them go. I don’t care if you don’t feel like getting up and doing your work for the day. It’s time to rise and hustle. When it comes to important decisions, you must lead with logic. I don’t care how you feel. Feelings don’t win wars, build businesses, or change the world. Smart and consistent action does.  5. Win the Mornings and Win Your Day  If you want to have great days, then start with great mornings. Jocko rises every morning at 4:30 a.m. and hits the gym long before distractions or other people’s agendas can start to distract him and interfere with his goals. To achieve high levels of success, you must accomplish your most important tasks first thing every morning before the rest of the world is awake. If you can do this, success is all but guaranteed.

If you're struggling with an existential crisis, this guide will help.  I don't have all of the answers, but I've been through the ringer.  From quitting my job to devastating breakups, to losing my father and best friend in the same month... I've been through challenges that have made me question the purpose of life and my place inside of it.  And this is how I overcame those challenges. 

Isaac Lidsky “may possess the most eclectic resume in entrepreneurship” according to Inc. Magazine. He played series regular “Weasel” on Saved by the Bell: The New Class; graduated from Harvard College at age nineteen with a degree in mathematics and computer science; graduated from Harvard Law School magna cum laude; served as a law clerk for Supreme Court Justices Sandra Day O’Connor and Ruth Bader Ginsburg; argued more than a dozen appeals in federal court on behalf of the United States and never lost a case; started a tech company that sold for $230 million; transformed a struggling $15 million concrete subcontractor into an industry-leading $150 million construction services company in five years; and founded Hope for Vision, a nonprofit organization that funds the development of treatments and cures for blinding diseases. Lidsky was born with Retinitis Pigmentosa, a rare degenerative disease of the retina that caused him to gradually lose his sight. Lidsky lives in Windermere, Florida with his wife, Dorothy; their triplets, Lily Louise, Phineas, and Thaddeus; and baby Clementine. Favorite Success Quote “Try not to become a man of success, rather become a man of value” ~Albert Einstein Key Points 1. Make Your Own Definition of Success Each and every day, we are bombarded by images, videos, and social diatribes about what it means to be a success. Fancy cars overtake us in traffic, well-dressed men dating beautiful models captivate our attention, and the “Houses in the Hills” earn both our scorn and envy. And most of us allow this societal autopilot to determine our goals, dreams, and ambitions. We all want to make millions, sleep with beautiful women, and have a luxurious lifestyle, but we never stop to ask ourselves why. We define our success by the world’s standards instead of our own, and as a result, most of us are angry, confused, and frustrated. But there is another way. You have the power to create your own definition of success. To decide for yourself what is important and what is not. To create your own goals based on your deepest values and desires. Forget what society says. Success is subjective. If you wake up each morning, happy, fulfilled, and full of life, then you are a success. The only question that remains for you to answer is “What is my definition of success”? 2. Your Reality is Determined by Your Choices  If you are drawing breath and reading this paragraph right now, then chances are, you have been through the ringer. And if you haven’t, then you might want to put on your raincoat, because there are a couple of storms on the horizon that are headed in your direction. Struggle is an axiom of the human experience. Everyone has challenges, problems, and setbacks. So why is it that two people who are faced with exactly the same circumstance can create massively different results? One simple word. Choice. In each moment, you have the power to choose how your circumstances will affect you. You can choose to believe that life is happening for you, that everything happens for a reason, and that you will achieve your goals and dreams. Or you can choose to believe that life is happening to you, that people are all inherently evil and trying to hurt you, and that you are doomed to a life of failure. The choice is yours. But as the Knight in Indiana Jones said “Choose wisely.” 3. There is No Tomorrow  Yesterday no longer exists. It is nothing more than a series of mental projections that often occurred in a completely different manner than you remember. Tomorrow has not yet arrived and never will. All that we have is right now. This present moment. Take a minute to appreciate it. Enjoy the next breath you take, feel the chair underneath you, listen to the sounds around you. Each moment that we have is a gift, you must learn to appreciate it and be grateful for it instead of waiting for a tomorrow or “Someday” that may never come. 4. Reframe Fears as Fiction In AA, they define fear as “False evidence appearing real”. And truthfully, that is all that it is. Most of the things that we worry about, lose sleep over, and allow to paralyze us will never come to fruition. The worst case scenarios almost never happen, and when they do, they are rarely as awful as we initially imagined. Fear is nothing but fiction. Every fear that is holding you back and preventing you from achieving your greatness is little more than fiction. It is a projection that your 10,000+ year old brain is creating to try and keep you safe from an imaginary fate. Realize this. Embrace this. And step into your fear and take massive action. 5. Get Congruent with Your Values  We live in a world that utterly and completely lacks integrity. I don’t mean this in the sense that we all run around lying and breaking our promises, but rather in the sense that what we think, say, and do rarely align. Most people think that they want to be rich, they say that they want to be well-off, and then they act like they want to be poor. People say think that they want to be shredded and healthy, they say that they want to be in “Decent shape”, and then they act like their body is a playground to use and abuse. People are rarely congruent and almost never in integrity with their values. You need to realize that you cannot have your cake and eat it too. You cannot say that you value health and well being and then abuse your body, skip the gym, and deprive yourself of sleep. You cannot say that you value wealth and then spend every penny you make and waste hours on end in front of the television. If you want to be successful, whatever your definition of success is, then the first step is to get in integrity with your values. What do you want? Say it. And once you say it, go and do it. It’s that simple.

Nicolas Cole, a former pro gamer and now a successful entrepreneur and writer, shares fascinating insights from his unique journey. He discusses how skills acquired from gaming, like resilience and discipline, translate into business success. Highlighting that every endeavor teaches valuable lessons, Cole emphasizes the importance of consistent action and learning from failures. He also explains how community and accountability play vital roles in personal growth, encouraging listeners to embrace their emotions and pursue their passions with purpose.

William Eckstrom is the President and founder of the EcSell Institute. Bill has spent his entire career in the sales arena; the first 14 years in personal production and then 13 in various sales leadership roles. His management career began in 2000 as a District Manager for a medical equipment company and was promoted to U.S. Director of Sales in 2003. In 2004, Bill was lured away to become Senior Vice President of Business Development for a publicly traded healthcare organization. In 2008, he founded the EcSell Institute to fill a void he witnessed and personally experienced in the sales leadership Favorite Success Quote “The constant facade of order hides the wilderness that is craving to seek out and teach us that life wasn’t created to be what we think it is. Beyond words we must experience the wilderness to be taught what otherwise cannot be known.” ~Dr. Serene Jones Key Points 1. We Only Grow in a State of Discomfort  We live in an age of unprecedented comfort. Things are easier today in 2017 (or whenever you are reading this) than they have ever been before. If we get hot, we turn up the AC. If we get bored, we open up YouTube. If we are hungry, we order a pizza. Life is too darn easy! And with this ease, has come a disease that is plaguing society. The disease of stagnation. The more comfortable you become, the less drive and ambition you have to grow, create, and build a better life for yourself. The more comfortable you become, the easier it is to relegate your dreams, desires, and aspirations to the realm of “someday”. Unless you are facing massive discomfort in your life, then odds are, you are slowly dying. True growth, real, visceral growth is always predicated by discomfort. If you are living a mediocre life and want to break free to achieve levels of success and happiness that you have been searching for for so long, then you must get uncomfortable. It’s as simple as that. It’s not pretty and it’s not easy… but it is the truth. You need to actively seek out discomfort in your career, your personal growth, and your physical health. If your job isn’t inspiring you, then find ways that you can take on new and uncomfortable responsibilities or quit. If you are not growing as a man and becoming stronger and more grounded each and every day, then find mentors and friends inspire you to level up your game and quit playing it small. If you are not constantly pushing the limits of your body and breaking through to new feats of strength, speed, and agility, then get your butt in the gym today and start sculpting yourself into a stronger man. Gentlemen, if you are not growing you are dying. It’s time to cut the crap and start living life. And it all starts by stepping outside what is easy and embracing discomfort. 2. Focus on Yourself First If you have ever been on an airplane, then you are well aware of the boring (and often ignored) safety briefings at the beginning of each flight. But if you pay special attention during those briefings you will notice something interesting. The flight attendants will always tell you that, in the event of a crash, you need to put the oxygen mask on yourself first before helping anyone around you, including your children. And while this might sound selfish and downright barbaric to some of you, it comes with good reason. If you black out on during the crash while trying to help someone else, then what have you accomplished? You have likely killed yourself and sealed the other person’s fate as well. And this lesson is applicable in all areas of life. If you are not taking care of yourself, if you are not taking the time to grow yourself, mentally, spiritually, and professionally, then what use do you have to the rest of the world? If you are so strung out on projects and problems that you can’t think straight and need a double shot of espresso and a line of cocaine just to function, do you really think that you will be able to be the man that you woman needs you to be? That your family needs you to be? That your friends need you to be? No! Absolute selflessness is the ultimate selfishness. It is only by taking care of yourself first that you can truly serve others. If you want to truly serve your team, your loved ones, and your friends, then start by serving yourself. Take time in solitude each day to meditate and be alone with your thoughts. Take care of your health. Take whatever time and resources are necessary to ensure that you can show up fully charged and alive. Because when you are can unleash yourself on the world with power and energy, that’s when you can serve others and make the biggest impact. 3. Life Happens for You Not to You Each and every day you have a choice. You can choose to believe that the circumstances and the events in your life are happening to you. Or you can choose to believe that they are happening for you. When you believe that life happens to you, you disempower yourself, rob your life of meaning and purpose, and will get lost in the downward spiral of negativity. But when you can expand your mind and embrace the belief that life is happening for you, you will begin to see lessons and opportunities where previously, there were only obstacles. If Bill hadn’t been fired from his job, I would not be writing this article and would not have had the pleasure of interviewing him. If I hadn’t quit corporate and endured the pain of sleeping on my brother’s couch and going broke to build this business, then I wouldn’t have been privileged to have the business and the impact that I have today. Whatever situation you are facing in your life, whatever struggle you don’t believe you can overcome, choose to reframe it and see it as a gift from the universe. See your pain as an opportunity to grow and become the man that you need to be so that you can truly achieve greatness when the time comes. 4.Realize that the Journey Never Ends As you are reading or listening to this talk about discomfort, many of you might be thinking “When does this end? When can I sit back and relax and just enjoy all the comforts and ease life has to offer?” The honest answer? When you are dead. You see, life is a journey. And while you are on that journey, you are either growing or dying. It doesn’t matter how old you are, how accomplished you are, or how much you have achieved, in every moment you can either choose growth or death. If you look at the statistics you will see that a large number of retirees die shortly after they leave their jobs, businesses, and careers behind. And this isn’t because of old age. It’s because they were no longer growing. Because they no longer had a deeper purpose driving their lives. So yes, you can embrace comfort and just coast through life. Just be prepared for decades of unfulfilling drudgery and overwhelming emptiness. However, if you are listening to this podcast, if you are actively seeking out information that will help you grow to become the man you were born to be, then I would guess that you have no interest in coasting. And if this is true, then you need to embrace discomfort. Embrace the fact that until the day you die, you will never arrive, you will never be done, and the journey will never end. Life is nothing more than a continual set of problems for which you are tasked to find the solution. If you do it right, these problems will grow in size and magnitude as you grow. But they will never end. Embrace the journey and get excited about discomfort. 5. Focus on Your Passions  There has never been a time in human history where it was easier or more important to find and follow your passion. With the power of the internet, you have the opportunity and the responsibility to find what you love and unleash it on the world. It’s time to start living your life and stop living someone else’s. Find what you love doing and go do that! Stop squandering your time pursuing dreams and goals set by other people and start doing what you were meant to do. If you get nothing else from this interview, get this. You are meant to do so much more than you can imagine. But to do this, you must embrace discomfort and follow your passions no matter what the cost. Period.

A 24 year veteran of the FBI, Chris Voss is one of the preeminent practitioners and professors of negotiating skills in the world. He is the founder and principal of The Black Swan Group, a consulting firm that provides training and advises Fortune 500 companies through complex negotiations. Voss has taught for many business schools, including the University of Southern California’s Marshall School of Business, Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business, Harvard University, MIT’s Sloan School of Management, and Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management, among others. Favorite Success Quote “It can’t be that hard” ~Chris Voss Key Points 1. Just Jump in and Figure it Out  Whatever it is that you want to do, whatever goal you want to achieve, whatever business you want to start, whatever dream you want to pursue… Just jump in and do it. How hard can it be? If other men have come before you and accomplished goals of the same or similar magnitude, then why not you? Why shouldn’t you be able to gain the knowledge, skill sets, and expertise you need to succeed? Don’t overthink it. Don’t waste time analyzing it. Just jump in and figure it out. 2. Don’t Talk to Somone. Talk with Them  One of the keys to great negotiation and communication is that you must talk with people, not just to them. Too many people walk around running their mouths and talking to people, but they never actually take the time to slow down and listen to them. They never talk with them to figure out who they really are and what they are saying. If you want to immediately improve the quality of your negotiations at work, your communication in your marriage, and the quality of conversation with your friends, then start talking with people in your life. Figure out what really makes them tick. Delve deeply into the why behind their comments and beliefs. Become deeply curious about them and you will find doors opening up in some huge ways. 3. Surround Yourself with the Right People Regardless of your goals and ambitions, it is imperative that you surround yourself with the right people. People who are smart, hard working, fun, and most importantly… people who know things that you do not. If you are the smartest person in any room, then you are in the wrong room. As you progress through life, seek to find rooms that make you more and more uncomfortable. Rooms that are filled with people who are so big and powerful that you are forced to pause and think “Do I really belong here?” The more that you can surround yourself with the right people, the more quickly you will become the right person in your own life. So ditch the negative friends and the unambitious buddies from college. It’s time to level up your social circle and level up your life. 4. Work Hard and Have Fun The rules of success are simple. Work hard and have fun. At the end of the day, if you can do those two things, then you are a success. If you can show up, put in the effort, get your nose to the grindstone and make things happen while laughing, smiling, and enjoying yourself, then you have achieved success. To live a fulfilling and rich life, you must work hard. But you must also have fun while doing it. 5. Take Good Advice  Most people want mentors. They want teachers and guides who can help them to achieve their goals and live a 10/10 life. But when they finally find those people and are given their first challenging piece of advice, they run and hide, ignoring the very thing that could revolutionize their reality. If you want to succeed, then learn to take good advice. No matter how hard or uncomfortable it might be, when you find someone succeeding at a high level who has what you want… Listen and implement what they say. No questions asked and no hesitation.

Todd Henry is the founder of Accidental Creative, a company that helps creative people and teams be prolific, brilliant and healthy. He regularly speaks and consults with companies about how to develop practices that lead to everyday brilliance. He is the author of Die Empty, The Accidental Creative, and Louder than Words. Favorite Success Quote “Verily the lust for comfort murders the passion of our soul and then walks grinning in the funeral” ~Kahlil Gibran Key Points 1. The Goal of Life is Not Comfort it’s Contribution Society has tried to convince us that the ultimate goal of our lives is to increase our comfort. But the problem with this philosophy is that no great work ever came from comfort. You cannot contribute to society and build a true legacy while staying comfortable. In fact, comfort is what kills great work and dreams. The more you are pursuing comfort, the more you are going to be willing to compromise what you know is right and ultimately the more you are willing to reduce your goals and play it small in life. It’s not comfortable to build a great business. It’s hard work, it requires long hours, and lots of lost sleep. It’s not comfortable to sustain a strong marriage. It requires difficult conversations, a commitment to your spouse even when they are at their worst, and the ability to say no to the temptation of other women. It’s not comfortable to build a great body. It requires strenuous exercise, denying yourself the pleasure of excess food, and controlling vices that would harm your health. But while it might not be comfortable to do any of these things, it is worth it. 2. Suffering is Not Evil One of the missions of many modern gurus is to “Eradicate suffering wherever it exists”. And while this sentiment sounds noble, when you understand its ramifications, the truth becomes clear. Suffering is not evil, it is not wrong, and it is not a danger to society. Suffering is a necessary part of growth and development. Suffering builds character in the individual and equips them for challenges that they will face later in life. I want you to imagine two men. The first grew up in NYC, with rich affluent parents, and the whole world presented to him. The second, grew up in the South Side of Chicago, with an abusive father and an emotionally distant mother. They both grow up, and decide to take up the mantle of entrepreneurship. When the first man comes in contact with his first set of challenges, what do you think will happen? When he is required to work for 24 hours straight, to fire a dear friend, and to pull payroll from his own bank account… how do you think he will respond? While he might rise to the situation and surprise us all, odds are, his love of comfort and soft life will have conditioned him to tuck his tail and run. But the second man? The man who became friends with pain and suffering from a very young age? What do you think he will do? He will laugh. This is nothing compared to where he came from and he knows that he can easily overcome these obstacles to achieve his goals. Suffering breeds strong men and strong men shape the world. While you shouldn’t seek to suffer more than is necessary, you should embrace suffering as it arises and be willing to see it for the gift that it is. 3.Contemplate Your Own Death  We are all going to die. Maybe Elon Musk will step in and save the population from its rapidly approaching fate, but until then, the only axiom of life is the inevitability of death. You are going to die, I am going to die, and everyone who reads this is going to die. And when we are presented with this reality, we have but one of two choices. We can either continue living life like we always have, lazily coasting through our days, living the deferred life that everyone else has designed for us. Or we can take action. We can use this disturbing and dark reality to inspire us and empower us to live our best lives. If tomorrow is not guaranteed then you can no longer waste today. Don’t wait until later to tell someone that you love them, don’t wait until next week to start pursuing your dreams, and don’t wait a second longer to start living with joy and passion. We are all dead men walking. So we might as well make the most of it. 4. Make Mistakes of Commission Not Omission There are only two kinds of mistakes in this world. Mistakes of omission and mistakes of commission. Mistakes of omission are the worst kind. These mistakes are where we knew we needed to do something, desperately wanted to take action, but froze in fear. These are the mistakes where we think back and wonder “What would have happened if I had taken that trip, quit that job, asked that girl out, or been willing to be my true self.” These are the mistakes that haunt us to our death bed. Then there are mistakes of commission. These are the mistakes that we will most often look back and smile on. These are the mistakes where we started that business, made a bad move, and then failed and learned what we needed to for our next venture. These are the mistakes where we drop out of school, travel the world, lose everything and have to rebuild. But, we had a heck of a time doing it, met some amazing people, and lived a fuller life for it. These are the mistakes where we go up and talk to the girl, ask for her number, and then get shot down. But we laugh it off, go back to our buddies and try again. Mistakes of commission at the best, help us in future endeavors, and at worst teach us lessons. You have a choice. You can either make mistakes of omission and live the rest of your life wondering “what if” or you can make mistakes of commission and live the rest of your life saying “At least I tried”. 5. Are You Loving People Through Your Work or Using Them? At all times you are either loving people through your work or using them through your work. There is no in between. When you use people through your work, sure you can make a few dollars. But how long will it last? How long until people say, “Enough! I am sick of this”? When you love people through your work, you might find that the money comes a little bit slower (trust me though it will come) but the fulfillment flows in abundance. You know that every post you write, every video you publish, and every product you sell is ultimately helping people, engaging people, and pushing them further in their journey to become their best selves. When you can use your business to love people, the flood gates of the universe will open to you and you will start to see love and abundance show up in your lives in a way that you never could have imagined.

Sean Ogle is a former 9-5er turned lifestyle entrepreneur. Since 2009, Sean has built his company Location Rebel into one of the premier digital nomad and location independence blogs on the internet. After quitting the corporate world, Sean was able to grow his company to multiple six figures in revenue and create a lifestyle of total freedom, travelling to dozens of countries, and exploring parts of the world many people didn’t even know existed. Favorite Success Quote “Comparison is the thief of joy” ~Theodore Roosevelt Key Points 1. Stop Comparing Yourself to Others One of the most pervasive problems in our hyper “connected” society is the prevalence of the comparison mindset. No matter how great you are doing in your business, health, and relationships, someone is always doing better, and after 30-seconds of surfing through Instagram you are immediately reminded that you are not the biggest fish in the pond. But guess what? It’s ok. Every single person is on their own unique journey to success. We all have our own path to chart and our own roads to travel. And comparing yourself to others (whose story and struggle you are completely unaware of) is the fastest way to sabotage your own success and happiness. It is one thing to aspire to a certain level of success. It is another thing entirely to degrade your own journey and achievement by comparing yourself to other people who had an entirely different set of skills and advantages when they entered the game. Cut out the comparison and you will cut out a vast majority of your unhappiness. 2. Start with the Basics  So often whenever people are getting started on their journey to freedom and location independence, they want to focus on the sexy businesses. They want the six figure membership site, the 7-figure ecommerce store, and the high ticket coaching and consulting gigs. But what most people don’t realize is that these types of businesses require an incredible level of skill and knowledge to build. You need to start with the unattractive basics first. Select a skill like SEO, copywriting, or web design. Become extremely proficient in that skill until you can make a full time living as a freelancer. Then, once you have the bills paid for and the ability to work from anywhere in the world, start applying those skills to your own “Freedom Business.” Without the basics, you will fail at creating the “sexy” business every single time. 3. Consistency is the Key to Success True success comes from one thing. Consistency. It doesn’t matter whether you devote 2 hours a day or 20 hours a day. As long as you are doing something to grow your skillset or business every single day, you will achieve success in a relatively short amount of time. By making a 2-hour daily commitment over the next 18 months, you can quit your job, travel the world, and make more income than you ever thought possible. But it requires consistency. You can’t just work 80 hours on your freedom business one week, and then forget about it for three months. You need to lay the foundation every single day and keep piling up those bricks until you reach the level of success that you desire. 4. Focus on Vulnerability, Not Perfection One of the biggest road blocks that most entrepreneurs come across is that they are striving for perfection. Perfection in their content creation, perfection in their product creation, and perfection in every aspect of business execution. This is a mistake. The world responds to vulnerability, not meticulously written articles that require a month of editing. Be raw, be real, tell people what is really going on. The more vulnerable you are, the more people will be able to relate with you and the more of an impact you will be able to have. Don’t try to be perfect. Just be real and the results will come. 5. Realize that Uncertainty is the Greatest Killer of Dreams  “People will choose unhappiness over uncertainty” ~Tim Ferriss People are scared of the unknown. It’s just how we are wired. We are terrified of the “ifs” surrounding our lives. What if she rejects me? What if this business fails? What if I lose it all? But what people forget is that 9 times out of ten, the worst case scenario, the “if” that we are so scared of is extremely unlikely. And even if it happens, it’s almost never as bad as people think it will be. So what if you start a business and it fails. You can lick your wounds and return to the corporate world or you can start over and try again. But if you succeed, you will have a life that you can only imagine right now. So what if that hot girl rejects you? Odds are she will let you down gently and you will still be the only guy in your social circle with the balls to talk to her. And best case is that she is amazing and you end up in a happy fulfilled relationship. With most uncertainty in life, there is a disproportionate reward to risk ratio. Meaning that whatever you are scared of and uncertain about will typically result in a small potential loss, but has the potential for massive long term gain.

After sticking out his thumb and traveling the world, David returned home to Austin, Texas broke and unemployed, at the age of 26. Though his travels may not have yielded wealth, they instilled the key motivation that he brings to every part of his life to create it — freedom. Through this intention, David began to test his entrepreneurial merits alongside his business-partner mom in the world of real estate. The results were nothing short of remarkable. In less than 10 years, David would go on to build one of the top real estate brokerages in the world, founding over 50 companies. Yet, more than anything else, the inherent freedom derived from his success awards him the time to focus on the importance on what matters most: being a proud father of two beloved daughters, a son and husband to the wonderful and talented Traci Osborn. Today, still rooted in his boundless sense of adventure, David continues to travel the world not only to be enlightened by new experiences, but to share his insight and expertise with others so they, too, can truly be free. Favorite Success Quote “If you go to work on your goals, your goals will work on you. If you go to work on your plan, your plans will go to work on you. Whatever good things we build end up building us.” ~Jim Rohn Key Points 1. Create Your Vision and Get to Work on It  Most people are simply coasting through life. They live each day in a reactive mindset, allowing circumstances and the whims of others to control their emotions and outcomes. And most people are miserable. They are uninspired, financially and emotionally poor. But you don’t have to be like most people. The first step to breaking out of the mold that society has cast you into is to take responsibility for your future and make the major definite decision about what you want. Who do you want to be? What do you want to contribute? How much wealth do you want to accumulate? What is your plan for achieving it? Creating a vision for your life and achieving that vision is possible. But it will require you to think differently, it will require that you make difficult decisions, and it will require that you put in the work. But ten years from now, you will surely arrive… The only question is who will you arrive as? Will you be the man that society wanted you to be? Or the man that you want to be? 2. You Have to Beat Your “Hopium” Addiction Most entrepreneurs suffer from a strong addiction to a sinister substance that is the insidious destroyer of goals and dreams. “Hopium” This drug isn’t something that you snort, inject, or smoke, but rather it is a mindset that permeates every aspect of your life and (if you are not careful) can destroy every aspect of your life. You see, entrepreneurship is challenging, and it requires that you have a positive outlook and a strong mindset. However, this mindset often leads many entrepreneurs to make assumptions and hold unfounded beliefs about the future of their lives and business that simply aren’t based in reality. They get overly excited about what might come to pass, they put too much emphasis on what is happening in their business right now and not enough on the possible downsides that could happen in the future. This dangerous addiction blinds many entrepreneurs to the reality of the business world and causes many fortunes to be flushed down the drain. If you want to wean yourself off this potent “substance” the first step is to cultivate a sense of positive skepticism. This does not mean that you approach every deal, hire, or project with a negative attitude, it simply means that you look at it for what it is and ask yourself “Where will this go wrong”. For example, if you are expanding your company and opening up a new branch, before you sign a $20,000/month lease, ask yourself “How could this decision negatively affect my financial future and stability.” After some careful thought you realize that this new territory has not been proven yet. You only have one agent and have no idea how your new branch will perform. Therefor you make the decision to run a 90-day trial period with no branch location. You meet up with your representatives and agents at local coffee shops, and wait until they have proven results. Once the cash flow becomes positive, then you can sign a lease for an office building. 3. Become a “One-hundred Percenter” The first step to truly living a life on your terms, a life by design, an extraordinary life, is to become a “100%er.” This grammatically incorrect (yet wildly powerful) term simply means that 100% of your monthly expenses are covered by passive income. You could get into a car accident, or lose your biggest client, or sell your house and go backpacking across India and you would never have to worry about finances because 100% of your expenses are covered by passive income. This is a powerful goal that most authority figures on money and financial freedom do not teach. Who cares how much you can earn if you are constantly living in fear knowing that one bad deal or one lost client could result in a tumultuous end to your financial income. Your #1 goal for the first part of your financial life should be to build up enough passive income that you never have to work again. Once this goal is achieved you have true freedom. You can sleep in every day, watch reruns of loony tunes in your underwear and play xbox for hours on end (not an outcome we recommend). You can dance your happy tail across South America. You can continue building wealth and growing businesses. Or you can devote more time to your faith and your family. Becoming a 100%er means that you can do whatever you want because you have true financial freedom, and the quicker you can achieve this goal, the quicker you will be able to live a life on your terms. 4. Real Talent Cares More About Upside than Income Your goal in business should be to “fire” yourself and hire people who are better at your job than you are. Your goal is to build an empire. And to build an empire you must become a master at finding and hiring talent. And with this job comes one critical misconception. Most entrepreneurs think that great talent cares only about the income that you can offer them, but in truth, talent cares more about upside than anything else. Ok, so their base pay is only $50,000  a year… But what is their long term potential when you include bonuses, equity, and commission? If you offer enough incentives, you will attract incredible talent into your business. But you have to learn how to create contracts that build up “golden handcuffs” offering your new hires the ability to earn as much as they want… provided that they are earning you even more income in the process. 5. Constantly Grow and Educate Yourself   The key to all success in life lies in education and massive action. If you are not constantly expanding your mind, skill sets, and patterns of thought, then you are contracting them. And if you are not constantly taking action on the new information that you are learning then you haven’t truly learned anything at all. Your first priority in life should always be to expand your knowledge and skill sets so that you are equipped to face whatever challenges life might throw at you. From finances to health to relationships, expand your mind and your reality will follow.

While I was rewriting The Dating Playbook for Men, I came across something I didn’t expect.  My friend told me about a site where you could date the hottest women in your area…  ...But you had to pay them to do it.  I thought he was lying.  But later that night I decided to check it out, and soon after I became an “undercover sugar daddy” where I met up with “sugar babies” to try and see what this bizarre and twisted underworld was all about and what was really going on.  What I found next scared the living crap out of me… I recorded an expose of my experience and how the new world of sugar dating will impact men and women in the future.  And I can promise you, you will NOT want to miss this.