TL;DR: I’m not going to talk about fear today, or self esteem, or imposter syndrome. Instead, I’m going to show you how I transcended all of those things, and how you can, too. Raise the stakes and you will find yourself. This week’s article will show you how to find yourself by choosing an Audacious Goal. It’s simpler than you think.

I’m building a community of adventurers chasing after Audacious Goals! You will get personal coaching, support and accountability. You can unlock special gifts and trainings by winning points in a friendly competition. It’s free for the first 100 people who sign up (84 spaces left as of this writing):

Find Your Life’s Work in One Step

Years ago, I took a big step forward in my life when I applied for a dream job.

It was the fabled “Renaissance Camp” in Santa Cruz, California, and I was going to teach children all about music and science at a park in the redwoods.

The pay was more than double what I was making at my current job, the location was closer to my home, and the work was way more fun and rewarding.

But the invitation to the interview almost stopped me.

I was supposed to prepare and deliver a real, interactive lesson to a group of kids and a panel of teachers.

“I’m not a teacher,” I told myself. “I don’t have any knowledge that they’re going to be interested in. I can’t do this. I’m afraid. I have to cancel the interview.”

Luckily, by this point in my life I was already learning to “reality check” that harmful self-talk.

So instead of cancelling right away, I went on a bike ride and thought it through.

The Audacious Goal Adventure

Have you ever been in a situation like this?

I’m not going to talk about fear today, or self esteem, or imposter syndrome.  

Instead, I’m going to show you how I transcended all of those things, and how you can, too.

My biggest hope is that you’ll go after an Audacious Goal. I talk about Audacious Goals a lot, so let’s look at what that really means.

An Audacious Goal is a goal that breaks the rules.

It’s something you’ve never done before, something so challenging you have doubts about whether you can do it, or even if you’re allowed to.

You might not even think you deserve it.

That’s what makes it audacious. It violates your internal status quo.

An Audacious Goal is something so big that once you pull it off, your life will never be the same.

For me, at the time, that job at the Renaissance Camp was an Audacious Goal. But today it doesn’t seem like a big deal. And that’s the life-changing part.

Just pursuing an Audacious Goal, whether you achieve it or not, you’ll develop new skills and have new experiences. You’ll expand your beliefs about what’s possible and what you can do.  

Very few people ever pursue an Audacious Goal. Most people just don’t care. They’re contented with their lives, and they have no interest in growing exponentially across multiple dimensions.

If you’re reading this, I’m going to guess that’s not you.

But you might have the other common problem: Not knowing what to do.

Choosing Your Audacious Goal

I spent a lot of my 20s saying to myself, “I don’t know what to do with my life.”

Many people do nothing because they can’t decide what to do. And there’s an easy cure for this. Just make a wish.

Imagine a djinni pops out of a bottle and said, “Your wish is my command.”

You make your wish, and then the Djinni says, “It is done, but I forgot to tell you one thing. We don’t do free delivery anymore. You have to go on a journey to pick up your wish.”

Your Audacious Goal Adventure is the journey you have to take to get your wish.

If you have trouble making a wish, the trick is to put more emphasis on the journey than on the wish.

You’re going to go through some stuff as you chase after your Audacious Goal. You’re going to learn new skills, overcome unimagined obstacles, and face your fears.

But at the end of the journey, when you achieve your Audacious Goal, you’re going to know yourself better than you did before. That’s the real reward. Your Audacious Goal gave you a map to bring you closer to knowing what you really want.

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Part of an Audacious Goal is having the audacity to simply choose and commit, knowing that it might turn out to be wrong for you.

I wasted years saying “no” to all kinds of amazing opportunities because I thought, “This is cool, but it’s not what I want to spend my life doing.”

But when I started saying, “This isn’t my life’s work, but I would love to try it for a month, six months, a year or two,” I unleashed extraordinary magic beyond my wildest dreams:

+ I moved to Italy and lived/worked there for 3 ½ years

+ I made an audacious, no-compromise intention to meet the woman of my dreams (and it happened quickly once I set that clear intention)

+ I left a comfortable life in the city to buy a few acres of land in the Pacific Northwest and start a farm

Just make a wish.

And then be open to the possibility that you’ll eventually have something even bigger and better.

Upgrade Your Thinking

You’ve heard the saying, “The thinking that got you here won’t get you where you want to go.”

That’s not just intellectual commentary. Artificial intelligence is going to replace you in 24 months. You could be imprisoned or murdered for your political views.

If you survive all the emerging socioeconomic pressures, you still have to deal with hurricanes, wildfires, earthquakes and tsunamis that are becoming both more frequent and more intense.

But how do you upgrade your thinking?

Well, if you’re meant to be a saint, you could probably get there by praying and meditating all day, but that’s not possible for most people.

There’s a much bigger opportunity in knowing your true self.

Authenticity is how you’ll stay employable, connect with other people, and tap into the resources you need not just to survive but to thrive in an uncertain future.

You get to know your true self by choosing and pursuing Audacious Goals. When you feel driven to approach something new, there’s a powerful lesson in that new thing. You’re going to learn a lot about yourself as you get closer to it, and when you achieve it, you’ll be a different person.

When I got that Renaissance Camp invitation, I went out on a bike ride and promised myself I would pretend I had everything I needed. I would act as if I deserved the job and was qualified.

I reframed it as an adventure, and I promised myself I would have fun doing the interview.

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I was in a vocal jazz ensemble at the time, and I took one of our warmups and turned it into a musical improv game. Almost everyone at the interview was into it.

Not only did I get the job, but my boss also told me that the teachers on the panel gave me the highest score anyone had received.

It was just a summer job, and when they offered me a full-time year-round position in the fall, I turned it down. I knew I was destined for bigger and better things, and I knew I was ready.

There’s a quote from Alex Hormozi that I’ve been thinking about a lot lately. “The end of the rainbow isn’t a pot of gold. It’s you. The real, authentic you.”

The Audacious Goal Adventure is how you’ll evolve. You’ll break through all the petty distractions that keep you small and enslaved, and release the powerful, authentic being you have always been.

Tool of the Week: Just Choose

Imagine a djinni is offering you one wish, but you will have to work for it.

1. Choose something that goes beyond your current capacity and beliefs

2. Let go of the need to choose the best possible wish available. Trust that you’ll get other wishes in the future

3. If your wish is not inspiring, life-changing, and a little bit scary, make it bigger and better.

TL;DR: Feeling daunted or overwhelmed is literally just a feeling. You can reframe it with a few simple tricks and turn fear and hopelessness into powerful energy that moves you forward.

I’m building a community of adventurers chasing after Audacious Goals! You will get personal coaching, support and accountability. Win points in friendly competition to unlock special gifts and trainings. It’s free for the first 100 people who sign up (88 spaces left as of this writing):

Think about a time you did something new and exciting.

Maybe you went ziplining for the first time, or you traveled to another country. Or it could just be trying a new kind of food somewhere you’ve never eaten before.

You were probably having fun. You were in the moment, aware of all the interesting sights and sounds around you.

Since you didn’t know what to expect, you didn’t have many expectations. As a result you weren’t judging yourself. As long as there weren’t any terrible mishaps, you were okay with whatever happened.

Fun. Interesting. A little bit scary, but judgement-free.

This is what adventures feel like.

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Now, compare this adventurous experience to how you felt the last time you did something hard that was important to you.

I mean, life is hard.

If you’re trying to make any serious changes, you have to do things you’ve never done before. Sometimes it will be a struggle.

Last time, you may have been too nervous to have fun. The stakes were too high. You were worried about what would happen if you messed up.

You were thinking about the aftermath of the event, and what would happen if you failed or succeeded. You weren’t present in the moment.

When you think about your next big challenge, you might remember all this fear and feel daunted. Then you won’t have the energy to do what needs to be done.

But did you notice something?

The Adventure Reframe

Aside from the way you feel, the formidable challenge you need to overcome is the same situation as the fun and exciting adventure. So why not reframe it as an adventure?

This takes practice, which is one of the reasons it’s good to have lots of adventures and Audacious Goals.

But here are a few tools to help you do that.

Reset your identity

When you don’t think you can accomplish something, what you’re really saying is you’re not yet the kind of person who can do it.

But when you were a kid, how many times did you pretend to be a superhero, an athlete, a wild animal, or anything else you wanted to be?

You are a natural-born shapeshifter, and you can immediately “pretend” to be a great leader, a charming flirt, a successful CEO, or whoever you want to become in order to accomplish an Audacious Goal.

When you pretend to be this new person, you start acting like them. This is what pretending means.

You talk like them, you do what they would do… and guess what?

When you talk and act like this person, you get the same results as they would.

You’ve borrowed their superpowers, which you really had within you all along.

Overcome fear by getting into your body.

Fear, worry, and anxiety are just physical sensations. And guess what? They’re the same sensations you feel when you’re excited.

How do you feel when you jump off the platform at the start of a zipline?

It’s the same adrenaline rush you feel when you step up to the microphone in front of a large audience, head out on your first date with someone new, or open your business on the first day.

When you’re getting overwhelmed with fear, just pay attention to what you’re physically feeling. This takes your mind off the anxiety and gets you back into the present.

You’ll immediately feel better, and you’ll do a better job at whatever you have to do.

Raise your energy by feeling excitement

Once you’re aware of the physical feelings, you can turn them into fuel.

Go back into your body, feel the tingling in your fingers, your racing heart, butterflies in your stomach or whatever it is you feel.

While you’re feeling these things, picture what success will look like. Imagine your happiness when you complete this challenge or solve the problem.

Connect your physical sensations with these new images. Tell yourself, “I’m excited to do this.”

Think of new ways to tackle the problem, new skills you can learn along the way, people you’ll meet, experiences you’ll have.

Depending on what works best for you, picture these things vividly, or tell yourself about them in detail, or hear the cheers, laughter, celebration and praise associated with a successful adventure. Feel the excitement around these images.

Tool of the Week: Reframe Your Problem

The brain loves symbols. Imagine your problem is a mountain you need to climb, a river you have to cross, or a monster you need to fight

1. Focus your attention to the physical sensations in your body

2. Connect the physical sensations of fear/anxiety with images of excitement and success

3. Pretend you are the person who would handle this problem with power, skill, and confidence. Do what they would do, and you’ll get the results they would get.

TL;DR: Break through the noise and mental clutter by choosing Audacious Goals that bring meaningful change to your life.

The last few months have been a whirlwind.

When a coaching friend invited me to join her 30-Day Challenge, I had to decline and tell her, “My 30-day challenge is to fix the roof and build a chicken run before the rainy season starts.”

A sense of being overwhelmed is rapidly becoming the new normal. But there’s a powerful shift that will put you back in control of your time.

And not only that, it will also give you laser focus and a new sense of excitement about life. Ultimately you gain rich material rewards. But there’s a catch.

The Power of Audacious Goals

I’m always ranting about goals, plans, tools and habits… but they all come down to one thing:

You’re trying to achieve a positive outcome.

You can cut out 90% of the noise and mental clutter just by asking yourself two questions:

· Is this going to lead to a positive outcome?

· Is it an outcome that’s worthy of you, your talents, and your dreams?

A worthy outcome is something that will make you feel like you did the impossible. It transforms your life.

An outcome at this level requires you to change. You have to upset the status quo, especially your internal status quo. That’s why I call these outcomes Audacious Goals.

When you’re pursuing an Audacious Goal, you’re five times more likely to enter that magical state called Flow.

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Flow is that state of mind when you’re “in the zone.” Time seems to stand still, which means you can do things faster. Not only does hard work become easy, it becomes fun.

When you’re in flow, you learn more quickly, too.

Flow is likely to happen when there’s the right amount of excitement and challenge. That’s why it’s so important to choose an Audacious Goal, one that is worthy of who you are and who you want to become.

While you’re going after your Audacious Goal, you stack new skills. You build self-confidence. You upgrade your beliefs about what’s possible.

And once you achieve your Audacious Goal, your life will never be the same.

If you’ve taken my WIND course, you know the lesson on Seven Gates and the “Better, Faster, Easier” lesson show you how to turn an existing goal into an Audacious Goal.

But for now, here’s a quick way to get started.

Tool of the Week: Setting an Audacious Goal

1. Think about your three biggest accomplishments. What did they teach you about yourself? How did they change your life?

2. Now, add another one that you haven’t accomplished yet. Imagine the ways your life will be better if you achieve this.

3. Next, supersize it. If your accomplishment is to become a published author, make your book a bestseller. If you have an income goal, triple it.

4. What would it take to achieve your Audacious Goal? What would you have to believe about yourself in order to make it possible?

TL;DR: You don’t have the time and resources of an elite athlete or artist. But your time and resources will grow when you put them to work.

Sometimes I get pissed off at the “no excuses” people.

You know, the kid living in his parent’s basement who hops on TikTok and berates anyone who says:

“I don't have time.”

“I have too many responsibilities already. “

“I don't know where to start.”

“There are too many other things I need to do.”

Those statements are not “excuses.” They are real challenges that every normal human being has to face.

So instead of preaching the No Excuses dogma, I’m going to show you a realistic way to deal with these challenges.

A New Approach to Old Problems

I call this technique Breaking Zero. Let’s look at what this does not mean.

Bestelling author Brandon Sanderson has his entire life optimized so he can write for hours every day, undisturbed, exactly when his energy and creativity are at their peak.

Bill Gates used to lock himself in a cabin in the mountains for two weeks every year, surrounded by books and notepads, free to brainstorm and dream up new business ideas.

Elite athletes train all day and build almost superhuman skills, while nutrition experts prepare their food and assistants handle all of their legal and financial affairs.

It seems you need massive blocks of undisturbed free time if you want to be one of the top performers in any field.

So what do you do if you want to start a business, create a masterpiece, run a marathon, or do anything else that requires hours of careful preparation and hard work stretched out over months or years?

The rule is this: “Just start.”  The tiniest bit of time and effort is infinitely better than zero.

Just put in 5 minutes today. You just need to break zero.

Someday you’ll be free to block a weekend in a mountain resort to concentrate and muster your creative efforts.

But most people get caught up in what they should do someday when the game is big enough. If you’re daunted by the time and effort you’ll eventually have to put in, you’ll never get past zero.

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Whatever you think about J.K. Rowling, remember that she was once an impoverished single mom who was juggling multiple jobs. She wrote the first Harry Potter book on trains and in laundromats whenever she could snatch a few minutes of time.

Eventually her efforts brought her grants, a small advance, and even financial support from friends. She was able to write the rest of her books in style.

Break your zero, and eventually your efforts will snowball.

Think about your most wild, audacious dream. Figure out a way to move forward, just a millimeter a day, by breaking zero.

Once you break zero, you start to build habits.

You show your unconscious mind that this is something important.

You gain momentum and attract resources.

Soon that millimeter a day becomes an inch, then a yard, and then a mile.

If you want to do a triathlon someday, just run to the end of the block and back today. Or do five push-ups. If you can't do five push-ups, just do one.

Start your novel by writing one sentence. Tomorrow you'll write another sentence and it will be better.

Outline your business plan and tell one person about it. Tell one person a day until you make your first sale.

I'm creating a vast empire of groups who go on amazing quests and help each other achieve audacious goals like biking around the Mediterranean or transforming our educational system.

I just broke zero last week by starting the first online community. I'm not even charging for it yet.

Tool of the Week: Breaking Zero

1. Choose a wild, ambitious, even audacious goal that is close to your heart.

2. Do one tiny thing today that will bring you closer to realizing your dream. (The Circular Outline I showed you last week is a good tool for surfacing tiny, high-leverage steps.)

3. Devote just 5 minutes a day to your cause. Or even one minute.

4. Know that anything greater than zero is a success.

TL;DR: You have a lot on your plate. Map it out visually, and all those little tasks become a smorgasbord of possibilities. Then you simply pick the possibility that best matches the time and energy you have available.

You already know the problem and the solution.

The problem: You’re starting a business, producing a play, moving to another country…

You’re taking on something big, you’ve never done it before, and there are a lot of moving parts.

Do you need to file legal paperwork? Hire a manager? Write a press release?

I’ve spent many restless nights thinking about the latest adventure, going over all the required tasks in my head, with no idea where to start or even how to do most of the job.

The solution: Just start. Do one thing.

But… what is the “one thing” I should do?

The “do one thing” solution works, but it can lead you down a rabbit hole. You can waste time on trivial tasks without making any forward progress. You won’t even feel closer to your goal.

There’s a better way.

About seven years ago, I was writing copy for a successful REALTOR who had a cryptic diagram on the wall of his office.

I asked him about it, and this became the Circular Outline. It’s is one of the most overlooked lessons in my Changing the WIND course.

The Circular Outline: Your Visual Coach

The Circular Outline is like having a talented coach who helps you figure out exactly what to do each day based on the right sequence of actions, the time you have, and your energy levels.

Everything you need to do is laid out visually right in front of you. You can tap into the natural mapping skills of the human brain to

This tool immediately stops the sense of overwhelm and helps you feel in control of everything.

This has been such a useful tool for me that I’m giving it to you in three ways.

If you want to dive right into it, just keep reading.

If you want to visually see what a circular map looks like, here’s the video lesson from Changing the WIND.

Or you can skip down to the Tool of the Week if you just want the bare step-by-step.

Make a “stress list”

Write down every task or project that requires a significant chunk of your time, energy, or cognitive bandwidth.

Some of these might be broad, sweeping projects like, “next year’s marketing plan” and others could be concise tasks such as, “Create a new Instagram account.”

Keep writing them all down, big or small, until you run out of tasks. At this point, every source of stress, at least in your professional and creative life, is trapped in the list.

Set the list aside for a while before you do the next step.

Photo by Jon Tyson on Unsplash

Find the big projects

When you’re ready to revisit the list, go through it and find the biggest, broadest items. Here are a few useful criteria:

· It involves many smaller tasks

· You can’t do it by yourself in a single day

· It requires outside purchases, vendors, or other third parties

· When you finish it, you will feel a strong sense of relief and accomplishment

· Completing this will make a significant change in your work and/or your life

Give each big project its own page

Get a sheet of paper or a section of whiteboard for each big project. You could open a new file, but that’s harder, as you’ll see in a minute.

The bigger the project, the more space you're going to want.

(The REALTOR I worked with had one of those giant Post-its for each of his projects.) 

Assign big jobs to each project page

Go back to your stress list and find the big jobs that you need to complete in order to finish the project. If you want to write a book, some jobs might be to research publishing options, market the book, cover and book design, creating time and space to write, etc.

Draw a circle on your project page for each of these big tasks. Leave plenty of space between circles. Then write one of the tasks inside each circle.

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Add the smaller tasks to the list

Now it’s time to go through the stress list and find the little, specific tasks that will complete each job.

If the job is to market the book, individual tasks might include:

· Send review copies to influencers

· Create 10 social media posts to promote the book

· Invite members of my network to join the launch club

· Write 5 emails to pre-sell the book

· Post 3 cover designs and ask followers to vote for their favorite

Assign each task to one of the circles with a job in it. Draw a short line from the circle, and write one task on that line.

When you finish, you'll have every detail down on paper. Every little task will be connected to a larger job.

If you thought of new tasks and jobs as you worked on your outline, you now have those written down in just the right place, too.

Let's look at how to use your circular outline to save time and avoid stress. 

Use your circular outline

Every day, you simply choose the project or projects you want to work on, and you take out the relevant project page.

You’ll see lots of individual tasks tied to each job. When you finish all the tasks connected to a job, that job is finished. When you finish all the jobs on a project page, your project will be completed, and your life will never be the same again.

All you have to do is choose one task and cross it off the list. You can choose it based on urgency, the time available, even your mood.

A few guidelines will help you choose a task:

· Only do a task that you realistically have time to finish. Every day will be a small win as you cross something of the list

· Do the most creative, important, or difficult tasks when your energy levels are high

· Save the quick, simple, easy tasks for times when your cognitive bandwidth is low.

The beauty of the circular outline is that whatever you choose, it moves your project forward in a definite, concrete way.

Tool of the Week: The Circular Outline

1. Write a stress list

2. Find the big projects

3. Give each project its own Project Page

4. Break down each project into jobs

5. Break down each job into small tasks

6. Each day, do the tasks that best fit your time, energy, and resources

TL;DR: You have to let some of the little things slide so you can focus on the important stuff. When you do, you can literally expand and extend time. The Tool of the Week makes this easier.

Quick! What’s the most valuable and important thing you could do today?

I can’t tell you the right answer. It depends on what’s valuable and important to you.

But I can guarantee these are all wrong answers:

• Cleaning the toilet

• Sorting laundry

• Filling out tax documents

• TikTok

• Checking your email

Chores like the ones above will become emergencies if you ignore them for too long. And they can even be fun.

But they’re not valuable or important.

They’re weeds in the garden of your life, choking out all the good things you want to cultivate.

If you’re a hero on a journey, if you’re aiming to make at least one aspect of your life ten times better in the next 12 months, then you have to make time for the valuable and important stuff.

Weeding the Garden

The way you control the weeds is counterintuitive. You don’t try to stay on top of them. That’s how your valuable time gets eaten by low-value activity.

Instead, you have to ignore the weeds for a while. Let something slide so you can devote time and attention your masterpiece, your personal growth, your family, your health, etc.

And while you’re spending time on what’s most valuable and important to you, don’t think about the weeds.

You’re going to reclaim some of your time and expand it.

Gif by RezDogsFX on Giphy

Taking Your Time

You’ve heard people say, “Take your time.” What does that mean?

It means doing something more slowly and being more present for it.

Taking your time is really taking back your time from the many distractions constantly flying at you.

Taking your time is a decision to say, “Okay, right now I'm doing something important. I'm going to relax and take my time and not think about anything else.”

This simple decision immediately improves the quality of your time. It lowers your heart rate.

You’re able to think more clearly and get more done.

By taking your time, your stress goes away (at least temporarily) and you have a chance to get into a Flow state, where learning and productivity skyrocket.

Even if you only have ten minutes, take your time. Focus 100% on what you’re doing. You’ll get more satisfaction and happiness out of those ten minutes, and you’ll feel like you were given a full hour.

Once you practice taking your time, it becomes easier. Soon you’ll be able to take your time when you're doing something hard or something that you don't want to do.

This will make the job more fun, because you’re truly present for it. You’ll also get it done more quickly and efficiently.

Tool of the Week: Taking Your Time

1. Set your intention. Say out loud, “I’m taking my time.”

2. Relax and take a slow, deep breath while you count to four.

3. Hold your breath as you count to four again

4. Exhale slowly to the count of four

5. Hold your breath for four counts.

6. Beathe in to the count of four, and repeat the whole breathing pattern for a minute or two. You’ll feel the difference when your mind and body relax. (By the way, this is called “Box Breathing” and it’s useful in many situations)

7. Focus your attention on your scalp, and imagine it completely relaxing.

8. Then do the same with your forehead, your jaw, your neck, and work your way down through your whole body. If you notice any area that’s especially tense, imagine your breath flowing through it as you breathe in and out.

9. Now that your mind and body are relaxed, look around and find a detail you never noticed before. Maybe the color of a tile, the pattern or texture of the surface of your desk, the material on your chair, etc.

10. Touch something near you and notice the texture and feeling. You could feel the warmth of your coffee mug or the width of the pen or brush in your hand.

11. You are now relaxed and in the present. Take a few seconds to picture your self doing the task you intend to do. Imagine yourself enjoying it, while being very good at it and getting a lot done.

12. Once again, say, “I’m taking my time,” and commit to this. Then get to work on your valuable and important activity.

I now spend 50% my time writing, pondering, and showing people how to become the center of the universe. I spend the other 50% cleaning up animal poop. I guess I’m a farmer now, but most of all I’m farming dreams.

Feature: The Vital Message Hidden in Your Fear

TL;DR: Fear is always telling you one thing. It only thwarts you when you misinterpret the message.

The first time I hopped on a moving freight train,* I learned the meaning of the term “paralyzed with fear.” Every step I took towards that train felt like I was up to my chin in wet concrete.

I didn’t feel a rush of adrenaline. I felt weak like I was on the edge of collapsing. And that’s exactly what I wanted to do.

Instead, I followed the classic advice. I forced myself to be strong and overcome my fear.

I’m proud of what I did. I got on that train, and over the next 10 years or so I caught lots of freight trains “on the fly” without ever feeling the restricting grasp of fear.

But logic grounded in self-preservation says I never should have hopped onto a moving fucking train!

You see, fear is there to protect you and to guide you. It will help you if you listen to it. The trouble comes from interpreting fear the wrong way.

The Danger in Being Safe

About two years ago, I started working as a copywriter for the owner of a large company.

I had plenty of marketing ideas that would have been fun and over the top. I noticed opportunities where they could have created a new line of products, a new profit center, more clients.

But I was intimidated by this client, by the size of the company and the speed of their growth. I was afraid of writing something that would make them look bad. So I never said a word about my ideas. Instead, I stuck to traditional copywriting formulas.

The results were mediocre, at best.

Taking the safe, conventional approach is a good idea when you're filling out your tax returns or removing somebody's appendix.

But in real life, most of the time, by playing it safe you're just holding back your true, authentic self.

And that's the part of you that's going to make friends, attract lovers, build your career, and earn money.

After a few months, the client started using Jasper, and I was politely dismissed.

I had fallen for the universal fear of being judged. The fear that when you create something and have people look at it, your artwork or your writing, they’re going to say, “No, that sucks.”

Imposter syndrome is tied in with this fear. Shyness is connected to it. So are analysis paralysis and a lot of other mental blocks.

Gif by RobertEBlackmon on Giphy

Why “Conquering Fear” Isn’t the Answer

Now, you’re probably thinking, “So it’s all about being brave and conquering my fears, right?”

Well, not exactly.

If you completely ignored and defied your fears, you would be absolutely uninhibited.

You would talk freely about your deepest, darkest, weirdest, creepiest personal thoughts and feelings. Then you would act upon them.

This would freak people out, and maybe get you arrested or killed. Nobody would want to eat, sleep, hang out, or do business with you.

So simply resisting your fear isn’t the solution to most problems.

Instead, listen to what fear is telling you. It’s usually telling you one thing:

Fear is a crystal-clear signal that you're in a situation that matters.

Fear says, “This audition is important. You care what people think about your idea. You want to be close with this person.”

Fear is a guide. It points to what’s important.

Fear is asking you, “Are just going to play it safe and be half-assed and mediocre and sleep your way through this?”

Fear is telling you, “This is it. Game time. Time to go big and do something exciting and amazing that's going to make a difference.”

Your job is to listen to that fear.

And when you hear it, grab the ball and run with it. Be authentic and be real and take some risks and be bold.

Tool of the Week: Interpreting Fear’s Message

1. Whenever you feel fear, acknowledge that this is an important moment.

2. Pay attention to what the fear makes you want to do.

3. Ask yourself what would happen if you did what the fear wants.

4. Think about what would happen if you did the opposite.

5. Thank fear for pointing out the importance of this moment. Then choose a course of action.

6. Carry out the action you’ve chosen, even if you’re afraid.

7. Believe and embrace the idea that you're meant for something bigger, something better, something greater than what you have right now. This is what fear is trying to tell you.

I was up all night building a nursing pen for a score of baby chicks scheduled to arrive sometime this week. We’ll likely get a text around 5 or 6 a.m. and we have to be ready to pick them up immediately. They’ll be cold, hungry, and dehydrated. But now there’s a warm, roomy space for them with plenty of food and water.

Five years ago I couldn’t have imagined my life would look like this.

Feature: Living Your Best Life After 40

TL;DR: Your experience is more valuable than your labor.

You may have to take a leap of faith on this one.

Somewhere in your 40s or 50s*, people start to think differently about hiring and working with you. Your own priorities begin to change, too.

Past regrets and unfulfilled dreams take up more of your headspace.

You might find the situation depressing, or even alarming. I used to, until I learned the truth: With the right approach, this could become the most exciting and creative time of your life.

Anything is possible as soon as you realize your experience is more valuable than your labor.

*If you’re under 40, you may want to scroll to the end of this. I have something for you, too.

Lying on the floor, I’ve come undone.”

I had my “Weezer Moment” one evening when I was 42.

I hurt my back and couldn’t get up off the floor of my tiny, roach-infested apartment. I was paying my rent with a credit card.

I spent an hour lying on the floor, coming undone. I cried a hot puddle of self-pity.

But then, something changed.

I managed to tap into those vast internal resources that we all have available.

It was the start of an exciting journey as I learned to fix my bad back, fix my finances, and finally do all the things I really wanted to do.

I’m writing a book about that journey, but here I’m going to give you the basic strategy so you won’t end up on the floor like me.

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Leverage Your Experience: The Story

There are specific events in your life that shaped who you are. Usually they’re the most painful ones, but sometimes they can be among your happiest moments (we talked about that last week).

Each of these events reveals a salient fact about you. It shows you are resilient. Honest. Funny. Brave.

Each salient fact leads to two important questions:

1. What could you accomplish as a person who is resilient/honest/brave/etc.?

2. What can you teach someone else who wants to be resilient/honest/brave?

Now we come to the leap of faith. Let’s start with the premise that you’re meant to help and serve other people through the qualities you’ve acquires as a result of your experiences.

Leverage Your Story: The Entrepreneur’s Solution

We’re going to look at this through the lens of business and entrepreneurship, because that’s what I do.

When you take ownership of your lifestyle and prosperity, it forces you to grow in every area of your life. Your health, relationships, and other important factors start to fall into place.

Let’s start by looking into who might be interested in your story and your qualities, and how they could benefit from them.

You could create artwork around your recovery from a chronic injury, an abusive relationship, or an addiction. You could teach other people who are going through the same challenge.

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You could also pursue a radically new direction in your career or life, trusting in those qualiteis that you know you have.

An simpler route is to share your story openly in your professional life. Whether you’re a real estate agent, a teacher, or a chiropractor, people will feel a bond with you and trust you more when you share your story. This leads to more clients, more hiring, and a better outcome over all.

Both of these routes will put more money into your pocket. But that’s not all.

You are now living your truth. As you draw upon your story to serve others, you gain a stronger sense of purpose. Your physiology changes through the release of chemicals such as dopamine and oxytocin.

Not only that, but your past begins to feed you. You form a deeper bond with you past self. You begin to think more deeply about other stories you’ve lived.

Tool of the Week: Leverage Your Experience

1. Think of 5 or so major life events that shaped you in a significant way.

2. What qualities do you have as a result of those experiences?

3. Think bravely about things you’d love to do that would require these qualities. You know you have the quality. Now start for the adventure.

4. Brainstorm the types of people who would benefit from hearing about your experiences. How can your qualities serve them? How can they learn from your experiences?

5. Start sharing your story in your professional life. Make your qualities a core reason people should work with you.

6. Brainstorm new creative projects and business ideas build around your experience. Try putting one of your ideas into action.

My wife and I are officially producing healthy food for the masses. I spent all day yesterday watching YouTube videos, trying to troubleshoot a malfunctioning refrigeration unit. Then a neighbor came over and showed me how to fix the problem in 10 minutes. Lesson: Asking for help is usually a good idea. If you’re in northern California, reach out to Muddy Bears Farm and we’ll hook you up with free-range eggs and organic strawberries.

Feature: Are You Part of the 27 Percent?

TL;DR: The argument about whether happiness comes from enjoyment or helping others just got more complicated. There’s a third factor.

Henry David Thoreau said that most people live lives of quiet desperation.

That might be truer right now than ever before.

According to a recent Gallup poll, only 44% of Americans are “very satisfied” with their life, which is the lowest since 1979 when this poll was first done.

Forbes reports that depression and anxiety are responsible for $193.2 billion in lost revenue each year in the U.S., and more than a trillion dollars worldwide.

But I consider this a good sign.

You see, in past, people had good reasons to feel dissatisfied.

Generations of peasants lived in squalor, barely keeping warm and fed. Their freedom and even life could be taken away any instant by the whim of a lord or king.

If you took the average person from 13^th -century Europe and put then in a modern urban home, their first reaction would be to think they had died and gone to heaven.

Most people alive today are more likely to die from obesity than starvation. Instead, we’re unhappy because we expect better and believe we’re worthy of more.

The fact so much of humanity lives in quiet desperation is a tribute to our optimism. Not just belief in something better, but the conviction that we can and should achieve it.

This is a good thing, and it points the way to a solution.

For more than 20 years, psychologist Shige Oishi has been studying happiness, and he recently noted something groundbreaking.

Three Kinds of People

When it comes to being happy, there are three kinds of people who each have their own source of happiness.

Now, there’s a lot of overlap, and most people want to walk all three paths of happiness. But one of these paths will lead you to a better life than the other two.

When you understand your source of happiness, it’s not hard to start doing things that will make you happier.

The Old Dichotomy

Oishi noted that for centuries, there were two schools of thought about happiness.

First, there was the hedonic approach. This was the idea that happiness comes from enjoyment. This doesn’t have to mean an orgy of feasting and debauchery. At least not every day.

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You can also enjoy a good game. Spending time with your friends and family. Hearing live music or watching a sunset.

The hedonic approach to a good life is the root of the word “hedonism,” which usually has slightly negative connotations.

That’s because its opponents claimed that hedonism is selfish and greedy.

From the opposing viewpoint, you can only find true happiness by giving back. Helping people, contributing to society, doing something good with your life is the secret to happiness, according to the other point of view.

This counterpoint to hedonism is the eudaimonic lifestyle.

For the last 3,000 years or so, the hedonists and eudaimonists have been battling it out. Most people try to strike a balance between the two. Many people are not satisfied with either one.

But as it turns out, there’s a third way.

The Hobo’s Guide to Happiness

When I was 23 years old, I was invited to ride freight trains. At the time, I had nothing better to do.

I was a college graduate, but after months of searching, the only job I could find was washing dishes in the cafeteria at the university where I had recently been a student.

I had spent the previous summer protesting in vain while I watched logging crews tear apart a beloved redwood forest.

And I had just been dumped by the woman who I thought was the love of my life.

Going on an adventure, having a new and unusual experience, seemed like exactly what I needed. It turned out I was right.

I came back with a view of the world much bigger and interesting than I had ever imagined. I was feeling happier and more optimistic than I had in years.

I decided I was going to spend my life seeking adventure. And for the next 15 years, that’s pretty much what I did.

What I didn’t know is that Oishi has a term for people who want this.

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The Heroic 27%

In Oishi’s research, 27% of the population wants something different than hedonic or eudaimonic happiness.

These two are always present, but Oishi noticed a third element. It involved new experiences and usually led to personal growth.

27% of humanity gets its happiness from what Oishi calls Psychological Richness. If you’re in the 27%, you’ll feel truly happy when you’re climbing.

Life is a game, a skate park, a cruise around the world. You continuously level up because as soon as you stop seeking adventure, you’re dead inside.

Living your life to the fullest is a cliché and an impossibility. But it is always the ideal to strive for. If you reach 80% of your potential, you will soar above the masses and become a guide and a model for humanity.

Because when you seek happiness through Psychological Richness, you end up enjoying all the benefits of hedonism and eudemonism, too.

Bringing Psychological Richness into Your Life

I created this newsletter for those who want to be psychologically rich.

But even if you’re more of a hedonic or eudaimonic personality, you could benefit from a little bit of adventure. Let’s find out what makes you tick.

Tool of the Week: Finding Your Fire

1. List the 10 happiest moments of your life. It’s okay if you skip something important. Just list the first 10 that come to mind

2. For each moment, ask the following questions:

   1. What do you remember most vividly about it? (Flavors, beauty, laughter, or good feelings indicate this was Hedonic happiness.)

   2. Did anyone else benefit from the experience? (If so, it is probably a eudaimonic happiness)

   3. Did you have to go through anything uncomfortable or unpleasant as part of the experience? (If you enjoyed happiness despite the discomfort, this experience was part of your psychological richness)

3. Based on your answers, classify each experience as hedonism, eudaimonism, or psychological richness.

4. If one of these three experiences is in the majority, congratulations! You’ve found which form of happiness is most important to you. Now seek out more of it.

Join Changing the WIND and be part of a community where we dive deeper into tips and tools like these. Videos, worksheets, and live Zoom calls keep you motivated and active as you begin to do the extraordinary. Click the button below to learn more,or to watch the first lesson:

Feature: How To Invoke Magic: A Scientific Approach

TL;DR: Your thinking can dramatically affect your luck. I’m going to show you how.

In my early 20s, I lived a dangerous and lawless life.

I rode freight trains all around the United States. I spent weeks on platforms in old growth trees, to protest logging in our national forests.

I can think of five close calls when I could have died a horrible death. I literally dodged a bullet at least once. 

Through most of those years, I believed I was being guided and protected by a higher power. I even had a ritual to invoke that power.

Later, I went back to school to become a science teacher, and I became way more skeptical.

But apparently the “magical aura” didn’t go away when I stopped believing in it.

A Circle of Luck

Even though I’m not dodging bullets these days, I’ve continuously had extraordinarily good luck:

Conversations with random people which lead to unexpected opportunities.

Extra money showing up just when I needed it.

And did I tell you how I met my wife?

Years ago, I watched a movie called The Secret, which was all about using your mind to “manifest” anything you wanted.

I thought it was mostly bullshit. But I decided to test it out.

“Okay, Universe,” I said, “I want to date a hot, young Latina. She should be nerdy, she has to love animals and nature, and ideally, she’s a lot smarter than I am.”

It only took a few weeks to run into someone who checked all the boxes. It only took me six months to get the courage to ask her out. Today we’re married and together we “manifested” a small farm next to a national park.

I still don’t believe in The Secret. But I know your thinking can dramatically affect your life in ways that seem almost magical. I’m going to show you how.

A Scientific Approach to Magical Phenomena

There are some simple concepts in physics, along with some that are very weird, which seem to support many old ideas about luck and magic.

My favorite example is the inverse square law. It states that force, attraction, and energy increase geometrically as two objects move closer together.

This is the scientists’ version of the saying, “When you take a step towards God, God takes two steps towards you.”

When you’re actively moving towards a compelling goal (one with strong gravity, you could say), you begin to attract help, information, and resources in uncanny ways.

Another, stranger example is the way observing a phenomenon changes it.

For example, as soon as you try to study the movement of a particle, it ceases to have a detectable location. But as soon as you observe its location, it ceases to move.

It seems that your awareness of the physical world creates changes in the physical world.

And if that’s not magical enough for you, consider entanglement. Two particles could be separated by vast distances in time and space, yet their activity is perfectly synchronized.

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I’m not a physicist, and quantum physics is a strange field that even the best scientists are struggling to understand. But an exciting picture is starting to form.

It seems you can attract things by reaching out to them, you can impact things by paying attention to them, and precise activity in one part of the universe can create precise activity in another part of the universe.

That’s the physics behind magical thinking. I’m encouraged by it, but I don’t understand it.

However, there are some more accessible concepts in psychology and neuroscience which also support the notion that your thinking affects your circumstances.

Mind Over What Matters

When I was 27 years old, I said out loud, “One year from now, I’m going to be living in Italy.”

I had no idea how I was going to make this happen. I didn’t speak the language or even know much about the country.

But I had become obsessed after my first double espresso, consumed at a bar in San Francisco adorned with Italian decorations.

Over the next 12 months, I seemed to run into coincidences everywhere. I met Italians, people who had been to Italy, people who spoke Italian or had useful expertise around Italian art and history.

Every time I went on a bike ride, I would pass a yard sale where there were maps, pictures, and books about Italy.

A traveling artist who stayed at our house for a while brought me a book on how to be an English teacher in Italy.

Each time something like this happened, I took it as “a sign that I’m meant to be in Italy.”

I won’t rule out that possibility, but it also could have been the result of the Reticular Activating System (RAS).

I’ve talked about this before. Your RAS is the part of your brain that chooses what’s important and makes sure you pay attention. It causes you to notice details about things you consider important.

As a result, you have many useful coincidences.

It turns out, those people, resources, and “signs” were there all along, but you didn’t notice them until they became important to your goals and interests. Then they stood out to you because of your RAS.

When you follow a deliberate goal-achieving program such as Changing the WIND, your RAS is primed to spot what you need to see and hear.

As you have more of these coincidences, your mood and excitement bubble up to new levels of excitement. You see, when you start to feel like the Universe has your back, when you believe there’s a power guiding and protecting you, it changes your physiology in positive ways.

Tool of the Week: Invoking Magic

1. Get clear on the big things you want in life. Use an exercise such as the Seven Gates (which I taught you last week) to go deep into your highest goals.

2. Every day, review those goals and remind yourself what you’re living for. This will keep your RAS attuned to what you really want. Write them down, or draw a quick picture that symbolizes your success.

3. Go for concrete images instead of abstract ideas. If you want to be a millionaire, don’t use numbers or a dollar amount. Use images and descriptions of all the things you’ll own and enjoy when you have the wealth.

4. Acknowledge the new ideas you come up with and the coincidences you experience that bring you closer to what you want. You want to encourage the RAS to give you more of the same.

5. If you’re comfortable doing so, bring in a Higher Power. This could be part of your religion, a form of energy, or maybe just a complex pattern of neurons firing in your brain. Whatever you believe in, imagine that power has your back and that you’re going to accomplish this amazing thing together.

Join Changing the WIND and be part of a community where we dive deeper into tips and tools like these. Videos, worksheets, and live Zoom calls keep you motivated and active as you begin to do the extraordinary. Click the button below to learn more,or to watch the first lesson:

That wraps it up for this week.

If you’re enjoying these rants, lessons, and tools, I would love to hear from you.

If you’re not, I would like to hear from you even more.

Reply to this email and tell me what you think, what you’d like to see in the future, or just to drop me a line about your cat.

I don’t always have the time to reply to your message, but I read every one of them.

Jacob

What if you had a network of friends who were all pursuing inspiring, transformational goals?

What if you had a collection of videos, exercises, and templates to help you choose and achieve a transformational goal of your own?

This is exactly what we’re building at Changing the WIND, and you can still become a lifetime charter member. Click the gold button below to learn more or watch the first lesson free.

Feature: How I Find Out Exactly What I Want

TL;DR: A compelling goal will bring you abundance, growth, and experience. Sometimes the hard part is finding that goal. The Seven Gates tool of the week gives you a way to become crystal clear about what you really want.

There’s a simple formula I’ve been following since I was 12:

1. Choose an ambitious, life-changing goal.

2. Pursue it relentlessly.

3. Learn, meet interesting people, and have loads of fun along the way.

4. Repeat.

More than 40 years later, this has worked out better than anything else I’ve done.

The most important part is step 1, choosing that transformational goal. I call that your Ithaka.

Ithaka is the island Ulysses was trying to return reach throughout his entire Odyssey. 

He had scores of legendary adventures along the way, making Ithaka a symbol for any goal or quest a human being might have.

I named my newsletter after Ithaka, both the island and the poem by C.P. Cavafy.

The poem starts with an important wish:

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You constantly learn throughout the journey. You gain priceless treasures, not the least of which is the experience itself.

When you finally reach you reach your Ithaka, you've already grown rich and wise from all you’ve been through.

The purpose of an audacious goal is to have an inspiring quest. One that will not only lead to the fulfillment of your greatest wish but will give you love, wisdom, and new skills and superpowers as you go through it.

 What is it about having an “Ithaka” to aim for that makes it so powerful? A few things come to mind.

• It engages your Reticular Activating System.

• It creates a big picture so you never lose focus or get caught up in busyness that wastes your time and drains your energy.

• It keeps you inspired so you have a reason to get up in the morning and go to work.

• In business, having an Ithaca can get all of your team aligned towards the same goals, and help the decision-making process run more smoothly quickly and effectively.

Not to mention, having an Ithaka gives you something to talk about when other people ask “what do you do?” It’s usually way more inspiring than just telling them your job title.

If you've ever wondered what to do with your life, the quickest way to find out is to choose an Ithaca and start sailing towards it.

You will quickly know if this target is truly what you want because the world will constantly test your resolve.

But before you set sail, you need to have a worthy Ithaka. My favorite way to find this is through the Seven Gates.

Don’t underestimate this tool. There’s usually a reward around the 5th or 6th gate.

Tool of the Week: The Seven Gates

On a sheet of paper, write down the goal you want to make your Ithaka. For example, “I want to write a book about being a working artist.”

At this stage, your goal doesn’t have to be perfect. Just pick something you think you might want.

You’ll pass through each gate by answering the same question. (This works better if you have someone do the exercise with you.)

Your answer refines the answer you gave to the previous question.

First gate: Answer the question, “Why do you want to write a book about becoming a working artist?” Your answer may be, “Because I want to be a published author.”

Second gate: Answer the question, “Why do you want to be a published author?”

Repeat the question, “Why do you want _______” at each gate, until you’ve answered it seven times. Usually you’ll find your true Ithaka somewhere after the fourth gate.

Join Changing the WIND and be part of a community where we dive deeper into tips and tools like these. Videos, worksheets, and live Zoom calls keep you motivated and active as you begin to do the extraordinary. We’re now accepting charter members. Click the button below to learn more:

That wraps it up for this week.

If you’re enjoying these rants, lessons, and tools, I would love to hear from you.

If you’re not, I would like to hear from you even more.

Reply to this email and tell me what you think, what you’d like to see in the future, or just to drop me a line about your cat.

I don’t always have the time to reply to your message, but I read every one of them.

Jacob

What if you had a network of friends who all had inspiring, transformational goals?

What if you had a collection of videos, exercises, and templates to help you choose and achieve a transformational goal of your own?

This is exactly what we’re building at Changing the WIND, and you can still become a lifetime charter member (38 spaces left as I write this).

Feature: The Secret to Unlimited Confidence

TL;DR: Stories about the underdog are popular and relatable. But in the best stories, the underdog always rises triumphantly in the end. If you’re stuck in underdog mode, you need to think of yourself differently. Here’s a way to make it happen.

There was this cute young woman working at the library near my house.

One day I got ready to ask her out on a date.

I rode my bike to the library, carefully rehearsing exactly what I was going to say to her. But when I got to the front of the building, I just kept riding right past the entrance.

I guess I needed to rehearse a little bit longer. As I pedaled along, my mind went through every interaction I’d ever had with her.

The day she told me she was a geek.

The day her co-workers made sure I got help from her and nobody else.

The time I put a book on hold and she grabbed it off the shelf the moment I walked in the door.

At the corner I turned right and circled around for another go. I knew she was there, because one of her colleagues had shown me her work schedule just the other day. I’m sure that violated some kind of rule.

I had to think about this some more. Once again, I rode right past the building.

Why would her co-workers tell me her schedule? Maybe they knew I liked her, and they wanted to bring us together. That was a good sign. Or maybe it was a trap.

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I saw myself as the underdog. It was good that I was trying to get a date with someone who was way out of my league. But she was definitely going to reject me.

I rode past the library entrance for the third time.

Fourth time is the charm, I thought to myself. I’ll just ask her, “Do you like Turkish coffee?”

If she says “yes,” I’ll ask, “You want to get some Turkish coffee with me one of these days?”

There was this great coffee shop in the neighborhood, run by two Tunisian woman. They were sisters, and both of them were kind, funny, and wise beyond their years.

These sisters had been urging me for weeks to invite the librarian there for a first date. What could go wrong?

Well, she might not like Turkish coffee.

That’s ridiculous!

Then she might not like me.

Highly probable.

I wasn’t the kind of guy who dated women like that. So I coasted past the library for the fourth time, and rode home.

The Heavy Cost of Low Confidence

If you’re anything like me, you’ve probably caught yourself thinking “I can’t do this,” or “I shouldn’t do this,” or worst of all, “I don’t deserve this.”

If you don’t believe you can accomplish what you want to accomplish, if you don’t think you’re worthy, if you doubt you can do what needs to be done, then you are going to fail.

Low confidence deprives you of the wealth you deserve. It keeps you out of strong friendships and loving relationships. It blocks you from exercising and taking care of your fitness.

When your confidence is low, you’re not going to devote as much time as you deserve into the passions, self-development, and other pursuits that matter to you.

So how do you build confidence?

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The Reason for Low Self Confidence

Confidence is only a symptom of the real issue. By default, you behave in ways that are congruent with the person you think you are.

You might view yourself as a hopeless Romantic who will never “settle,” so you avoid dating anyone who isn’t perfect.

You could also jump into a bad relationship in order to “save” someone because you think of yourself as a hero. Or you friendzone the partner you really want, because you don’t identify as someone worthy of their love.

You could be out of shape because you don’t think of yourself as the kind of person who takes ownership for their health and fitness.

It’s also common to you identify as a kind, giving person to the point that you don’t set aside time for your own self-care and development. You neglect your music, your art, and everything else that’s important to you.

In other words, low confidence is an identity problem. You don’t see yourself as a person who is competent, deserving, confident, and so on. Therefore, you don’t act like it.

The Key to Confidence

All of the examples I’ve mentioned above are based on personal experience.

You know what else is based on personal experience? I changed everything when I changed my identity.

I started making money as a copywriter almost as soon as I stopped picturing myself as a rookie copywriter. I ditched the romantic notion of a starving creative, grinding away to pay the rent. I thought of myself as a professional instead.

When I started thinking of myself as a warrior, I began practicing martial arts and quickly cured my perpetual back pain, which I had thought was the inevitable result of sitting at a desk for 12 hours a day.

When I chose the identity of a confident and loving partner, I started dating the hot young librarian who is now my wife.

Change your self-image and you will raise your confidence and change your life.

Right now, claim the role of a professional, an artist, a writer, or an influencer oozing rizz.

Let me show you how.

Tool of the Week: Level Up Your Self Image

1. The next time you’re doing something important, pretend you’re an actor. Or imagine yourself as a character a role playing game.

2. You’re playing the role of someone who is good at the thing you want to do. You might even be armed with a magic sword, upgraded armor, special certification, or fame based on your past achievements.

3. You could be playing a future version of yourself, someone who has already done this a hundred times and it’s a piece of cake.

4. How would you act if you were that person? Surely you wouldn’t hesitate to ask for a date, offer your services, prioritize your practice, or organize your workspace.

5. See yourself as a leader, a teacher, a professional, an adventurer. Wear the role like a mask, and you’ll be instantly more decisive and confident.

6. Do what that confident, competent person would do. You will begin to become that person.

If you found this article helpful, join Changing the WIND and be part of a community where we dive deeper into tips and tools like these. We’re now accepting charter members (41 spaces left). Click the button below if you’re interested:

That wraps it up for this week.

If you’re enjoying these rants, lessons, and tools, I would love to hear from you.

If you’re not, I would like to hear from you even more.

Reply to this email and tell me what you think, what you’d like to see in the future, or just to drop me a line about your cat.

I don’t always have the time to reply to your message, but I read every one of them.

Jacob

What if you had a network of friends who all had inspiring, transformational goals?

What if you had a collection of videos, exercises, and templates to help you choose and achieve a transformational goal of your own?

This is exactly what we’re building at Changing the WIND, and you can still become a lifetime charter member (41 spaces left as I write this).

Feature: Force Multipliers to 10x Your Power

TL;DR: It’s easier to hit an audacious, passionate, life-changing goal than something more modest and “realistic” There are several skills that will amplify your ability, no matter what you’re trying to do.

You’re probably on the same road as I am.

You have strong wishes, high ambitions, and lots of cool projects you want to do.

But these adventures take time and money, probably more than you think you have. They involve skills you’re still developing people you haven’t met yet.

I’m going to give you the cheat code.

Why 20% Goals are Harder than 1,000% Goals

Imagine you wanted to get 20% better results than you’re getting now. Make 20% more money or be 20% better at golf. You could do it if you worked your ass off.

The trouble is, you’re already working your ass off. You only have so much blood to shed.

Pushing down on the accelerator will ruin your relationships and your health. It might even kill you. That’s the trap. The alternative is to replace that 20% with 1,000%.

Commit to 10x better results and something magical happens.

While 20% growth is possible with a heroic effort, there’s no way you can work ten times harder. So when you go after a 10x goal, it forces you to do something new and take a new approach to doing it.

Your 10x vision is going to be way more inspiring. It will stimulate your creativity and enthusiasm. You’ll spend more time in that mysterious state called flow.

In fact, there’s a book that you don’t have to read because everything you need to know is in the title: 10x is Easier Than 2x.

You’ve heard that the thinking which got you into your current situation can’t get you out out it. But 10x thinking will get you out.

I’ve got some 10x goals for the next 12 months, and I’m going to be very public about my progress. I’m hoping that you will come along for the journey, and 10x aspects of your own life.

More on that later. First, let me prove to you that you can do it.

We’ll start with money. Everybody wants more of it, and it’s easy to measure.

If you wanted to make ten times as much in the next 12 months as you did in the last 12, my first question for you is this: How much did you make at the very first job you had?

Unless you’re still in high school, I would bet the farm that you’re currently making a multiple of that early salary. You’ve gained this increase by taking on new and different work, skilling up, learning to leverage people and software, or maybe all of the above.

You can do it again. If you’ve been following me for more than a week, you know the process.

Pick an audacious goal that requires you to learn and grow and do things you’ve never done before.

Use the tools I share in Ithaka and elsewhere to learn, grow, and do things you’ve never done before.

Complete your adventure, reap the rewards, and discover you’re a new person with superpowers you previously didn’t know you had.

But let’s break it down. Here are six force-multiplier skills that will help you 10x any aspect of your life.

The Six 10x Force Multipliers

There are certain meta skills that will amplify your ability in dozens of areas. These Force Multipliers are likely to enhance almost anything you do.

Master 2 of these and you’ll be unstoppable.

Writing

Organizes your thoughts and helps you think more deeply and clearly. Essential for marketing and other business practices. Enables you to create “products” out of thin air.

Public Speaking

Establishes you as a leader and authority. Gives you an edge over the millions of people who are afraid to do it. A potential means of teaching, spreading ideas, and generating income.

Meditation

Improves your empathy and intuition. Reduces stress. Can help with sales, interviews, talks, and presentations. It can help you learn faster.

Active Listening

Helps you build rapport and become more attractive and persuasive. Enables you to pick up and apply new skills and knowledge fast.

Flow

Understanding and cultivating this state will help you produce higher quality work in less time. Protects you from making fatal errors. Improves your overall happiness and mental stability. Applies to almost anything that excites you enough (and your 10x goals should do so).

Leadership

Inspires others to give you their best, whether it’s an employee, a student, or the people remodeling your kitchen. Most 10x ambitions require help from other people, making leadership essential for your growth.

Tool of the Week: Master a 10x Force Multiplier

1. Review the 10x force multipliers listed above. Picture specific scenarios in which one of the force multipliers would help.

2. Decide which one will give you the most help in reaching your 10x goals.

3. Learn about this force multiplier and if possible, apply it within the next 24 hours.

4. Each day, give yourself one specific task to improve your chosen Multiplier.

5. Keep a journal about what you do, the results you get, and how to improve.

If you found this article helpful, join Changing the WIND and be part of a community where we dive deeper into tips and tools like these. We’re now accepting charter members (41 spaces left). Click the button below if you’re interested:

That wraps it up for this week.

If you’re enjoying these rants, lessons, and tools, I would love to hear from you.

If you’re not, I would like to hear from you even more.

Reply to this email and tell me what you think, what you’d like to see in the future, or just to drop me a line about your cat.

I don’t always have the time to reply to your message, but I read every one of them.

Jacob

I started this newsletter a few years ago to put you on the path to your own adventure.

To help you find your unique edge.

Last month I created a course where I teach specific tools and techniques to make the best use of your personal talents and experience. I’m building a community around the course.

And I’m currently accepting lifetime charter members for a one-time fee. If you want to know more, you can read about it by clicking the button below:

Feature: Uncover Your Hidden Masterpiece

TL;DR: You already have the qualities you want to develop. You just have to cut away all the clutter and fluff that covers up the person you want to become.

Everything amazing and beautiful that you want already exists.

It’s just been waiting for you to show up, and I’ll prove it to you.

In fact, I’ve brought in a Renaissance artist and a historic Zen monk to back me up on this.

Let me show you what I mean.

The Secret of the Sprigionati

There's a lesser-known exhibit in Florence where Michelangelo reveals a secret of the universe. It’s sometimes called the “Sprigionati,” which translates into “released from prison.”

The Sprigionati is a collection of marbles housed in the Accademia, where most people go to see Michelangelo’s famous sculpture of David.  But more than 90% of the tourists who come here overlook the Sprigionati. 

Sprigionati is a group of apparently unfinished sculptures. The figures seem to be emerging from the marble. Michelangelo did this to make a point:

The art already exists in the marble. Your job as a sculptor is to cut away all the superfluous material so the masterpiece can be released.

When I first understood this concept, it immediately changed my life.

I used to believe the key to happiness and success was to become an extraordinary person: strong, skilled, disciplined, an amazing lover, etc. I spent most of my 20s and 30s trying to be that person and more.

Then I went to Italy. I learned about Michelangelo, others like him, and their philosophy.

As I learned to chip away at the excess marble, the sculpture emerged, and I started to attract the things I wanted. Money. A girlfriend. The opportunity to travel.

Almost everything I wanted flowed towards me, because I became the kind of person who could attract those things. In fact, I had been that person all along.

So, how can you cut away the superfluous marble and release the sculpture trapped inside?

The Ceaseless Practice

Michelangelo wasn’t the first to understand this idea.

Centuries earlier, the Zen monk Dogen said it was silly to practice meditation with the goal of becoming more like the Buddha.

The reason for this is that you already are the Buddha, you already are an enlightened expression of the universe and the divine.

Spiritual practice doesn't transform you into something greater. It simply reveals what was there all along.

And you don’t need to spend your days sitting on a cushion, reciting mantras and counting your breaths. In fact, most people probably shouldn’t.

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Dogen said that the sun, moon, and stars are all engaged in ceaseless practice. Their movements across the sky are a kind of divine martial arts or yoga.

They’re not orbiting each other to become heavenly bodies, because they already are heavenly bodies. They balance the cosmic gravitational forces and inspire us when we look up and watch them. But they do it because that’s what it’s in their nature to do.

When you attain your wishes and goals by becoming the kind of person who can attain them, you’ll discover something profound.

You’ll realize that you already are the artist, leader, lover, warrior, millionaire, or athlete you wanted to become. By writing, painting, or doing the exercises that such a person would do, you’re engaged in the same ceaseless practice as the stars.

Your actions reveal and release those qualities which are already an intrinsic part of you.

Action is the key to unlocking the sculpture within. This week’s tool will help you find the right action to take.

Tool of the Week: Release Your Intrinsic Qualities

1. Write a bucket list of things you want to do, achieve, and experience in your life time. Your list can include single events, such as visiting the Taj Mahal, or general concepts such as being rich, being a wonderful father, or working out and getting jacked.

2. List the qualities you'll have to cultivate. These might include being disciplined, staying calm when things go wrong, or paying close attention to details.

3. Brainstorm habits and practices that will bring out these qualities. Maybe you’ll draw for 30 minutes a day, lift weights, or listen attentively to everyone you talk to.

4. Choose one of these practices and do it every day for 3 months. (You can also do the other practices but focus on one and make it a daily non-negotiable.)

5. Keep at your chosen practice until it becomes as natural as brushing your teeth. Then pick another habit and do the same thing. 

The secret is to develop unshakable faith that you already have all the qualities that you say you want to cultivate. The habits and practices are meant to bring them out.

If you found this article helpful, join Changing the WIND and be part of a community that will transform your entire life. We’re now accepting lifetime charter members. Click the button below if you’re interested:

That wraps it up for this week.

If you’re enjoying these rants, lessons, and tools, I would love to hear from you.

If you’re not, I would like to hear from you even more.

Reply to this email and tell me what you think, what you’d like to see in the future, or just to drop me a line about your cat.

I don’t always have the time to reply to your message, but I read every one of them.

Jacob

I started this newsletter a few years ago to put you on the path to your own adventure.

To help you find your unique edge.

Last month I created a course where I teach specific tools and techniques to make the best use of your personal talents and experience. I’m building a community around the course.

And I’m currently accepting lifetime charter members for a one-time fee. If you want to know more, you can read about it by clicking the button below:

Feature: Open Up Space for Your Dreams

TL;DR: If you have one big obstacle that’s holding you back, you may not need to overcome it. Instead, simply build your resilience until the obstacle becomes irrelevant.

Every now and then, you reach a turning point in your life.

A point where new possibilities open up for love, wealth, fitness, travel, or some other incredible thing that brings your happiness to a higher level.

I say possibilities “open up” because the turning point usually happens right after you overcome something that was blocking you.

You pass through a bottleneck and literally open up new space to manifest your dreams.

There's a reliable pathway to such a breakthrough. I call it the Beneventum Moment. Let me explain.

The Land of the Evil Wind

 Back in the days of the ancient Roman Republic, there was a place called Maleventum. A common translation for this word is “evil wind.”

(I rode a bike through there once, and yes, the wind felt distinctively evil.)

In 275 BCE, a conqueror named Pyrrhus gathered a formidable army to beat Rome into submission and turn the Italian Peninsula into his private empire. He almost succeeded.

It took a moving speech from Appius Claudius, who said “Every one of you is the architect of your own fate,” to convince the Romans to fight back.

This wasn't the decadent Roman Empire, best known for a long period of collapse.

This was the young republic, guided by farmers and artisans with ideals of justice and democracy, where even women and slaves had rights and the potential for social mobility.

This was the flower of freedom and justice in the western world, and Pyrrhus was about to trample it to the ground with his war elephants.

The soldiers of the Republic, mostly farmers defending their land and families, made their last stand at Maleventum.

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Obviously, the battle went well, or the world today would be very different.

Pyrrhus wasn't defeated, but he was convinced that his plans for Italy were too expensive to carry out. He set sail for greener pastures, and the name Maleventum was changed to Beneventum, which means a “good wind.”

A few key points to this story are relevant to your life.

First, Pyrrhus was the only enemy that could stop the Romans from building aqueducts, discussing philosophy, writing poems and doing other Roman-ish things.

Second, Rome didn't have to beat Pyrrhus, she just had to be resilient. And with Pyrrhus gone, Rome could put her efforts into growth and expansion.

Maleventum didn't change, only its meaning changed.

Now check this out. The obstacle that stops you from being your best self is your Pyrrhus.

Something is holding you back. It could be a tangible obstacle, or it could be a limiting belief. But for all practical purposes, this obstacle is as powerful as Pyrrhus with his armies and elephants.

Maybe you can't get rid of this challenge. But you don't have to.

Giphy

While the Romans fought Pyrrhus, they continued farming, building aqueducts, debating philosophy and writing poems. They cultivated all their best qualities, and this made them resilient.

When Pyrrhus won a battle, it didn't change the day-to-day life in Rome for most people. Their resilience made Pyrrhus largely irrelevant.

That's the secret I want you to learn. Be so good at whatever you do that your strongest enemy becomes irrelevant.

Cultivate your best qualities, skills, and talents.

Eventually the biggest obstacle won't matter anymore. You've outgrown your limitations. You are free to expand and grow in every facet of your life. you've reached the breakthrough.

I call this breakthrough your Beneventum moment because it's the turning point where the evil wind becomes the good wind.

This is one of the reasons my signature course on personal growth is called Changing the WIND.

 Ultimately you don't really defeat the enemy, break the limitation, or change the environment. The transformation happens to you.

Tool of the Week: Creating a Beneventum Moment

1. Think of your Pyrrhus, the biggest threat or obstacle that keeps you from the amazing life you're meant to have.

2.  Ask yourself, “Why hasn't this terrible enemy destroyed you already?”

3. Think of all the qualities and assets you have that are helping you, holding you up, bringing you victory and success despite the obstacles you face. Make a list of these.

4. Pick one of these qualities you’re going to actively cultivate. Give yourself a specific daily or weekly practice. Switch qualities every 2 months until you’ve extended all of them.

5. Practice visualizing in detail the lifestyle you will have once you've outgrown your biggest obstacle. What will your daily life look like? How will you be dressed? What new habits and skills will you acquire?

6. Be intentional about adding some of these changes to your life right now.  

That wraps it up for this week.

If you’re enjoying these rants, lessons, and tools, I would love to hear from you.

If you’re not, I would like to hear from you even more.

Reply to this email and tell me what you think, what you’d like to see in the future, or just to drop me a line about your cat.

I don’t always have the time to reply to your message, but I read every one of them.

Jacob

Tap Into Next-Level Thinking

TL; DR: You’re in Un-Mode when you’re operating from intuition, and you can sometimes do the impossible. I’ll show you how to build your intuition and one practical way to apply it.

What if you could accomplish more in the next 12 months than you did in the past 12 years?

This is actually a documented phenomenon. Dan Kennedy, who has written a lot about it, cleverly calls it, “The Phenomenon.”

There are many “phenomenon triggers,” but the crown that holds all these gemstones is simple: A new way of thinking leads to the Phenomenon.

Let’s break it down.

An Eternal Golden Braid

Douglas R. Hofstadter once wrote a very long book called Gödel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid.

He was trying to explain how human consciousness works. Today, his ideas are very relevant to Artificial Intelligence, but that’s not what we’re interested in at the moment.

Near the start of the book, he suggests there are three modes of doing things.

There’s the Machine-Mode, where everything is automatic. You follow strict rules and never try to reinterpret what you do.

Next is Intelligent-Mode, which is where you probably are most of the time. Intelligent-Mode is best for solving problems, following the spirit of the rules, knowing the ultimate goal and figuring out the best way to reach it.

But have you ever had a sudden flash of intuition? A brilliant idea that made whatever you were doing ten times better?

There’s a third mode that gets you there, and I’m going to show you how to reach it.

The Un-Mode

Sometime soon, AI may take over most Intelligent-Mode tasks.

This means you either have to be an expert at AI, a celebrity, or someone with extraordinary people skills if you want to have a job in the future.

Or there’s a better way. Hofstadter calls this the Un-Mode, and you’ll have a big advantage in the future if you can work in the Un-Mode.

Un-Mode is where you're operating from a place of intuition. Not only do you take the 30,000 foot view of things, but you’re seeing it in four dimensions and rearranging it in your mind faster than you realize.

Un-Mode should be a dangerous place, because you're more likely to make errors with huge consequences. But extreme athletes spend more time in Un-Mode than anyone else, and most of them will tell you it’s what keeps them alive and uninjured.

Un-Mode also leads to rapid change, discovery, and innovation.

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Making Space for Un-Mode

Google used to have a policy of letting their employees spend one day a week working on a new project of their own creation that was meant to make the world better.

Gmail was a product of this policy, along with many other innovations.

 Google got this right. In order to work in Un-Mode, you have to create space. You have to play. You have to give yourself time in the shower for random ideas to show up.

Un-Mode runs on intuition, and it’s a natural human talent that has been stifled for too long.

Here are a few ways to bring it back.

The Brainstorm

Every day, write or draw ten new ideas. They don’t have to be good ideas, but you need at least ten. They can be about anything. You’re training your mind to come up with random ideas on the fly.

The Unthinkable

Think regularly about goals that seem absurdly unrealistic.

How to make ten times as much money while working fewer hours.

How to complete a B.A. program in a single year.

How to master a language or an instrument in just a few weeks.

Thinking the unthinkable makes you comfortable with challenging your limits. You teach your mind to expect quantum leaps.

Walks and Daydreams

Flashes of intuition often come when the Default Mode Network (DMN) is active. The DMN is a part of the brain associated with your mind wandering, and it seems to make connections between different people, thoughts, ideas, etc.

When you’re on a hike or taking a shower and you suddenly have a new idea, that’s the DMN in action.

If you want to spend more time in Un-Mode, create time for the DMN to do its work. Daydreaming, staring out the window (but not staring at a screen), or taking a walk are all ways to activate the DMN.

Now, how can you make all of this useful?

Tool of the Week: Applying Un-Mode for a Quantum Leap

The activities we’ve talked about in this edition will build your Un-Mode muscle. Now let’s look at a way to put that muscle to use.

1. Choose a high-leverage activity that you do often.

2. Think about what you would do if you had to do this task differently.

3. Do it while trying to prevent the usual outcome.

4. Do it backwards.

5. Leave out an essential element. (For example, baking bread without using flour.)

6. Do the exact opposite.

7. Add something new to the activity

8. After you’ve thought about it in these ways, your mind should be bubbling with new ways of doing the same task. Let it sit for a while. Take a walk or go to bed.

9. Return to the task and imagine you have to make it 10 times better, whatever that means for you (i.e. 10x as fast, 10x more food, 10x more fun/interesting, etc.)

Repeat this process often and breakthrough ideas will come.

That wraps it up for this week.

If you’re enjoying these rants, lessons, and tools, I would love to hear from you.

If you’re not, I would like to hear from you even more.

Reply to this email and tell me what you think, what you’d like to see in the future, or just to drop me a line about your cat.

I don’t always have the time to reply to your message, but I read every one of them.

Jacob

TL; DR: You don’t get better just by exercising or reciting mantras. Become a new person and have an impact on the world.

There’s an important detail in the photo I’m including here.*

This is a photo of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. marching in Selma, Alabama in 1965.

But note the man with the long white beard, second from the right.

This photo may be copyrighted. See below for further information.

The man with the beard and glasses is the controversial rabbi and philosopher Abraham Joshua Heschel.

About 60 years ago, Heschel made a prediction about an exciting possibility for your future. A fun and glorious possibility.

The chance to set your own schedule and earn as much as you want.

The chance to do work that energizes you.

 A way to help others and make every day a joy and an adventure.

You see, Heschel stepped on a lot of toes by flipping the script on religion. I’m oversimplifying this a, but Heschel believed that you don’t achieve holiness by praying and devoting a lot of time to spiritual practices.

Instead, he taught that human beings grow and evolve and become more godlike by having a positive impact on the world.

This attitude fueled his commitment to social justice and personal growth. Reading about him in my 20s led me on a path of environmental activism, travel, and some unconventional studies.

But there’s a more urgent side to Heschel’s world.

If we don’t all start to learn, grow, and evolve, the world is doomed. We’re caught in a dreadful binary situation.

Either we destroy ourselves in an explosion of war, famine, oppressive governments, and environmental degradation…

Or we rise to a golden age of freedom, prosperity, and happiness.

“The predicament of contemporary man is grave,” Heschel wrote. “We seem to be destined either for a new mutation or for destruction.”

This “new mutation,” is the concept that interests me the most. The outcome isn’t going to be based on what you do, but on what you become.

If you want to travel, become curious about other cultures and committed to lifelong learning.

If you want to have a lucrative business, become a leader and a problem-solver.

If you want loving relationships, become more loving and compassionate.

When you work on yourself, you elevate the entire world.

The reason to have audacious goals and adventures is to break out of your shell and become this better version of yourself.

Tool of the Week: Become a Better Version of Yourself

1. Divide a word doc or a sheet of paper into 3 columns.

2. In the first column, list all the things you want to achieve or experience in your life—your “bucket list.”

3. Rank them in order of importance, and underline or highlight the one you want to accomplish first.

4. “Power up” your goal by brainstorming the ways it would help other people or benefit the world. Write these gifts in the second column. You can also things you could do to help others that would also bring you closer to achieving your top goal.

5. Think about an ideal, heroic person who could and would achieve this goal and make these contributions without doubt or hesitation. What qualities would this person have, or what kind of person would they be? Write words in the third column such as, “Generous,” “a teacher,” “disciplined,” “a warrior,” etc.

6. Review these qualities daily. Say out loud, “I am (generous, a warrior, disciplined, etc.).” Start acting as if these statements are true. If you don’t yet believe they are true, pretend you’re an actor playing the role of this person you want to become.

Making this personal transformation has become a lot more important now than it was in Heschel’s time.

There was no Internet in the 1960s.

Sending a document required postage. It would take days, if not weeks, to be delivered.

In fact, every single phone was attached to a wall. There was usually just one phone shared by the entire family. And if you wanted to contact someone in another city, you had to pay extra.

By the way, you couldn’t just open YouTube and find videos on playing the bass. You had to find a bass player within traveling distance and meet them in person for lessons.

It was tough for both the teacher and the student.

The point is things go wrong a lot faster in modern times. A crass remark by a politician can start a war or make the stock market plunge.

Fires, rumors, and germs all spread a lot faster.

We need to hurry and evolve, because time is running out.

But more to the point, today you have far more ways to learn, grow, teach, make money, or express yourself.

You have access to a universe of opportunities that didn’t exist for most of human history.

All you need to do is start.

The world needs you to grow, to molt, to shed your exoskeleton and become the next-level version of you.

At some point, you’re going to break through a wall of fear and do something that only you can do. In fact, you’ve probably already done this. Maybe more than once.

Somewhere along that journey, you find out what makes you truly unique and exceptional.

That wraps it up for this week.

If you’re enjoying these rants, lessons, and tools, I would love to hear from you.

If you’re not, I would like to hear from you even more.

Reply to this email and tell me what you think, what you’d like to see in the future, or just to drop me a line about your cat.

I don’t always have the time to reply to your message, but I read every one of them.

Jacob

TL; DR: Think of yourself as a character in a book or a movie. Then write fan fiction about yourself. Fan fiction is the first step to transforming yourself and your life.

A very small number of people are born for greatness.

They are born with an obsession, and natural talent to match. They are born into the right circumstances to train their powers. Then hard work and luck do the rest.

Another rare breed is thrown into heroism by adversity. People like Helen Keller or Stephen Hawking come to mind.

And then there are the rest of us. Apparently meant to live quiet, comfortable, mediocre lives.

If that’s what you want, you won’t have to struggle too much to find happiness. But maybe you see that there’s more.

You know that deep inside you there is awesome potential. I’ll prove it to you.

The moment you were conceived, more than 200 million sperm cells were released. Each one would have created a different human being.

So right off the bat, biologically speaking, you only had a one in two hundred million chance of being alive. But it’s not that simple.

Each of your biological parents had to face the same odds. One in two hundred million odds for your mother to exist, one in two hundred million for your father, and then, once they joined together, the same odds for you.

That’s one in 200,000,000 x 200,000,000 x 200,000,000 or one in 6,000.000,000,000,000,000,000,000.

The math is already extraordinary, and that’s assuming both your parents and all four of your grandparents were in the right place at the right time just to create you.

If anyone had lost a fight, eaten too much, caught a cold or jumped on the wrong bus, the odds of your existence would be much lower.

And we’re only going back two generations. Multiply these odds by adding at least eight zeros to each generation, all the way back to prehistoric times.

If one cell had been out of place through the course of all those tens of thousands of years, you wouldn’t exist.

You’re either the winner of a million million lottery tickets in a row, or you’re inevitable. Both are equally profound.

Know that you are a hero who is able to surmount extraordinary odds. That’s how you got here in the first place. You were already extraordinary as an infant, as an embryo, even as a single cell.

Giphy

These astronomical odds prove there is awesome potential deep inside you. But you’ll have to dig deep and practice great courage to bring it out.

That’s the reason I write this newsletter, and it’s the reason for almost everything else I do.

Each week I try to provide a useful tool that may help you or someone like you to realize that awesome potential.

This week?

Write your own fan fiction and you immediately cast yourself as the hero you are, in a story you choose.

A quick definition: Fan fiction is the practice of borrowing a favorite character and writing a story about them.

Whether it’s Harry Potter, Violet Sorrengail, or Aragorn, you get to decide what happens to them. Or at least what they're going to do about it.

This time around, the hero of the fan fiction you’re going to write is you. Take a close look at the situation you're currently in. Then write the story.

What are you going to do next? How are you going to capture that treasure or get out of this predicament?

Now here’s the magical part: As you write your fan fiction, you find meaning. You uncover what your story is truly about.

Are you grinding away at a job until you’re old enough to retire, lost in quiet desperation? Or are you the musician who bravely endures the necessities of work so you can play in a band on Friday nights?

Are you the protector and provider for your family? An aspiring writer, entrepreneur, speaker, or coach who's going to change lives with your creativity and inner power?

Consciously writing your fan fiction will reveal the true meaning of your life and empower you to change it in extraordinary ways.

Giphy

To have a story, you have to find the conflict. There’s either something the character deeply wants, or something they deeply want to avoid.

There are daunting obstacles that hinder their progress or escape.

If everything was hunky-dory, it would be a boring story. Instead, there's always a challenge. That's what makes the story interesting.

 What about your story?

I'm sure it's not too hard to think of what you want or need. And you probably don't have to look far to see the obstacles.

What is the obstacle or the challenge your fan fiction character is facing?  What is the conflict?

Writing your life as fan fiction will make you look forward to the challenge. You'll be eager to see how the story ends.

This could change the meaning of your life.

Tool of the Week: Writing Your Own Story

1. Name the #1 conflict in your life. What is your greatest wish? What is preventing you from fulfilling that wish? There’s the conflict.

2. Write about the current situation as if it were happening to someone else. You could start with a sentence such as, “Once there was very wise, brave, and capable person named (Your Name). The found themselves in a very interesting situation…”

3. Write about the obstacle or the transformation that the character will need to go through or overcome.

4. List your character’s superpowers. What can they (you) do to dramatically alter the situation in your favor?

5. Write about how they will do it (or how they already did it).

6. Now you know how the story goes. Take action and be that character.

Most people go through life rarely questioning the circumstances they're in.

Those who raise the question usually wake up to a sense of horror at how much they're missing and how much they’ve settled.

But you can do the opposite. You can see this as an amazing opportunity to rewrite the scripts and become a hero on an epic journey.

You can take your life to a new level because you've examined the story and empowered the hero.

Be your own fan. Write fan fiction.  

That wraps it up for this week.

If you’re enjoying these rants, lessons, and tools, I would love to hear from you.

If you’re not, I would like to hear from you even more.

Reply to this email and tell me what you think, what you’d like to see in the future, or just to drop me a line about your cat.

I don’t always have the time to reply to your message, but I read every one of them.

Jacob

TL; DR: Original thinking is the precious commodity of the future. You’ll learn to think more deeply and creatively by using this week’s tool. If you rely on social media to make a living, this will make you rich.

I got into a small battle on X (formerly Twitter). And no, it wasn’t about politics.

We were locked in mortal combat over a way of marketing that is going to kill a ton of creators/influencers who are addicted to the old model.

Now, usually I write about business topics in my other newsletter, Bold Words. But I decided to write about this here, as well.

If you’re committed to achieving any major life goal in the next 12 months, original thinking will help you learn faster and more deeply. So let’s lay out the scene.

The internet is filled with people like me. You post stuff on social media. Some of the people who see it are interested in learning more. So they follow the links in your bio and sign up for a newsletter or schedule a call. From there, you sell your products or services.

This process worked well in the past, because there weren’t many people doing it.

But now there’s so much content that many would-be entrepreneurs spend hours a day just trying to remain visible. The arrival of AI has made this even worse.

Luckily, there’s an easy way out of this that will make you smarter in your own life, along with giving your own creations a level of quality and recognition akin to that of Dan Koe, Josh Johnson, or Elle Cordova.

Let me break it down for you.

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The Battle

Last month a certain “content marketer” was preaching that curation is the future. I enthusiastically disagreed.

Curation is the practice of reading or watching something brilliant. Then you share a summary with your readers and followers.

There’s nothing wrong with this. It’s a useful service. It also gives you an unending stream of fresh, interesting content without a lot of work. If you’re trying to launch a newsletter or build your presence on a new platform, curation is a way to jumpstart your plan.

But curation will not be the future. If anything, it could be the end of yours.

First, AI can already research and summarize content faster than any human being. If people only follow you to get a “digest” of information around a common interest, you don’t have an edge unless you’re Tim Ferriss and have direct access to celebrities and high achievers.

Second, curation trains your mind to be a narrator and deprives you of original thought. If you’re not careful, you’ll become another repercussion in your own echo chamber.

Think of curation as an emergency boost. Use it when you don’t have anything else, but don’t make it the major feature of your work, as some internet gurus are advocating.

So what should you do instead?

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Grow Your Mind, Grow Your Influence

The way to stand out and grow online is by creating original content.

Original content comes from original thinking.

You have plenty of original thoughts every day. You probably don’t have a habit of consistently capturing and sharing them.

More to the point, you (hopefully) read, watch, and hear things that stick. You find ideas and tidbits of information that are inspiring, useful, or at least interesting.

You connect those ideas and tidbits to knowledge you already have.

And you have personal opinions about why those tidbits are interesting, useful, and inspiring.

There’s gold in those connections and opinions. That is the start of original thinking. You’re doing it already, but you may not have realized it.

Here’s a process to bring your thoughts into the world.

How to Have Original Thoughts

If you can make the time, do a free-flow exercise every day.

Start with something that’s already on your mind, or read for half an hour if there’s nothing on your mind already.

Grab a pen and a sheet of paper if you’re old school. Otherwise, open up a file and start typing, or hit the “record” button and start talking.

Write, type, or talk. Let your thoughts and ideas flow. Let everything come out that wants to, uncorrected and uncensored. You’ll clean it up later, and probably delete most of it.

Free flow is like jogging or doing push-ups. Do it consistently and you’ll get stronger.

Here’s a way to capture your best ideas.

Tool of the Week: Your Idea Catcher

Create a spreadsheet with Four columns. (If you don’t want to be that techy, you can just divide a doc or a sheet of paper into three columns.)

You first column is going to be “Subject.” The Subject should be a broad category that you think about a lot. It could be Philosophy, Piano, Home Improvement, Business, etc. The ultimate goal is to have many original ideas that you can sort into a few broad Subjects.

Your next column is the Tag. A tag should be a short word or phrase that will connect your idea to the subject and help you find it more quickly. For example, if one of your subjects is Fitness, your tags might include Weights, Yoga, Morning Routine, Gear, etc.

The third column is for the original thoughts. This is usually the one you will fill out first, and then you’ll add tags and a subject later. You might be freewriting about learning to play bass, and suddenly think about practicing scales during the 5 minutes it takes for your coffee to brew in the morning.

Finally, the fourth column is Action. Here you put something specific you can do to act upon your idea. This column will often be blank. Often your idea will be the action item itself. Sometimes you’ll get an idea you just want to ponder and savor without the pressure to do anything.

Now you simply do your free-flow exercise. When you’re done, ideas will often stand out as being useful or important. Write these down in your idea catcher.

Let’s look at an example of hour your Idea Catcher might work.

You’re free-flowing one day and all that’s coming out is frustration that you don’t have more time to practice your bass playing skills. Then the idea emerges that you could do your scales for 5 minutes while your coffee is brewing.

When you finish the free flow, you add this idea to the Idea column of your Idea Catcher. The subject is Bass, and the tag could be “practice” or “scales.” In the Action column you could write, “Put bass in kitchen before bed.”

As you start following this process, you’ll discover your mind is wildly flexible and creative.

Give it the space and you will constantly surprise yourself.

That wraps it up for this week.

If you’re enjoying these rants, lessons, and tools, I would love to hear from you.

If you’re not, I would like to hear from you even more.

Reply to this email and tell me what you think, what you’d like to see in the future, or just to drop me a line about your cat.

I don’t always have the time to reply to your message, but I read every one of them.

Jacob

TL; DR: The most important people in your life can accelerate your progress or pose the biggest obstacles. There are four levels of communication that bring your people further into your dream and on your side.

This might be hard to hear.

But I have to say it.

I have to say it because I want you to achieve something amazing in the next 12 months. Something that currently seems like a dream.

But here it is. There are important people in your life who have to share your vision, or at least understand enough to get behind you.

You don't live in a vacuum.

You have children, a spouse, a partner, friends, maybe even employees or colleagues who matter. These people can either give you space and support or become your biggest obstacle.

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I saw this happen once. My parents went through a brutal divorce, largely because one of them wasn't able to follow the path that I'm about to lay out for you.

If you want to 10x any aspect of your life, you have to get other people on board. This is a complex situation to navigate, but you can do it. Let’s look at how.

The Pyramid of Cooperation

There’s a hierarchy of situations or stages in bringing your vision to your people.

If you can't pass from one level to the next, you're either going to end up sacrificing your dreams or sacrificing relationships.

Let's talk about the ground level. This is just what I call apathy or complacency, where you don't have a clear vision or major goal. You’re drifting through it.

This is where most people are. Unfortunately, you have to be aware of this because you need to meet people at the level they’re on.

I assume you're reading this because you're beyond the ground level. You feel driven to do something extraordinary that hasn't been done before, at least not by you.

You want to grow, expand, take control of your life, to have adventures and achievement.

All of this means you're already on this pyramid I’m about to show you, which is built above the ground of complacency.

Discipline

The first level is the base of the pyramid. Don't think of this as a low level think. It’s a foundation.

The foundation is Discipline. You've made a conscious choice about what you want and who you want to be, and now you're taking consistent action.

It doesn’t matter if it's writing, exercising, making sales calls, painting, practicing, or studying.

Whatever it is, your daily practice makes the success you've chosen as inevitable as a glacier.

When you're at this stage it's easy to look down on the people who are on the ground in complacency and apathy. It’s easy to feel superior to them.

But nobody is an island.

You can get lost in discipline, especially if you're single and don't have many responsibilities or obligations to other people.

At some point you're going to want or need to relate to other people, or even if it’s just a cat or a dog. And you have to meet them at the level they’re on, even if they don’t have a Grand Vision like you do.

Now the cool part of being on this pyramid is that the first level gives you some influence over people on the ground. Being disciplined inspires a grudging respect from those who aren’t.

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One reason Discipline is a prerequisite to everything else is because it shows the world that you’re serious. And this has more impact than you might think.

If you show the people who care about you that you’re determined to spend an hour a day working on your business or writing your novel, they will be impressed.

However, there’s some give and take. As they accept your choice to be disciplined and proactive, you have to accept the complacency that might be a part of who they are at this point in time.

 Which brings us to the next level, Accommodation.

Accommodation

There are important people in your life, and you're going to have to accommodate them a little bit.

You're still a warrior, you're still a hero on a journey, but at the second level you make room for others.

Accommodation is hard, because it requires discipline with nuance.

Maybe you’ve set aside an hour a day to work on your driving goals, but once a week you spend that hour with your children instead, or you don’t begin that hour until you’ve had fifteen minutes of quality time when you’re fully present.

Externally it might look like you're slacking off, but in fact Accommodation requires more discipline from you. You have to be clear on your priorities, set boundaries, and then make the most of your time within those boundaries.

 If you succeed at the Accommodation level, you'll almost get to the next level by default.

Integration

Level three is Integration. This is where you figure it out. You communicate with the people you love and anyone who has a claim on your time and attention.

Everyone gets clear on what they need from you and what you need from them. Instead of just accommodating other people, Integration is where you convince them to accommodate you.

At the Integration level, the people in your life support and enhance the efforts you're making to reach your own goals.

At the same time, your discipline and success are a boon and an inspiration to your people.

Once you’ve achieved complete and authentic Integration, you'll get to the final level. This top tier is Transformation.

At this level you become the extraordinary person you were meant to be, after crossing oceans of discipline and communication. Not only do you complete your journey, but you also bring a partner, a family, or a whole community with you.

Tool of the Week: Conversation Templates to Gain Buy-In

Discipline Templates:

• I’m going to ______________ for (length of time/frequency) every (day/week/month) because ____________ is important for my future health/happiness/sanity.

• Want to (new disciplined activity) with me?

•  I’ll bet I can (new disciplined activity) for the next 6 months. Can you help hold me accountable?

Accommodation Templates:

• I’d like to spend some time __________ with you. I know I’ve been busy with _______ and I appreciate that you’re giving me the space for it. What would you like to do?

•  Let’s make some time for _____________. I can skip doing ____________ for one afternoon. Would you like that?

•  If you want (describe positive details of life after you complete your quest), then I really need to make time for __________. Can you help me with this?

Integration Templates:

• Won’t it be amazing when we (describe positive details of life after you complete your quest)?

• You could really help me by ____________, and I’d like to reciprocate by ____________.

• How can we do this together?

There’s one more thing you need to know.

You achieve the Discipline stage by being unconditionally committed to fulfilling your dream. And to successfully complete a quest, you have to love the adventure.

You have to love the process and the outcome. You have to love the way it shapes and refines your character. You even have to love the pain, the embarrassment, and the frustration that you’re going to experience much of the time.

Then, when you work towards Accommodation and Integration, you have to unconditionally commit to the people your work will affect the most.

You have to make them an essential part of your world. You have to love them even when they get in your way. Your quest has to be for them as much as it is for you.

The key to climbing this pyramid is unconditional love.

Photo by Everton Vila on Unsplash

That wraps it up for this week.

If you’re enjoying these rants, lessons, and tools, I would love to hear from you.

If you’re not, I would like to hear from you even more.

Reply to this email and tell me what you think, what you’d like to see in the future, or just to drop me a line about your cat.

I don’t always have the time to reply to your message, but I read every one of them.

Jacob