Live Life With Purpose with Adam Smith

For the past ten years I have been building my online community, trying new things, and building businesses, all while attempting to meet my own expectations and the expectations of others in every other important area of life. Just like you, because of all the daily demands, I am always trying to find more time in my day.  After sleeping, working, and taking the time to meet all other basic human needs, it probably seems that there isn’t much time left to do what is needed — I know I have found myself in this place before — but I found that there are some fixes to the shortage of time we all experience. Once I began saying that I didn’t have enough time to exercise, or enough time to spend with friends, or enough time to vacation, or enough time to take a day or two off every week, or enough time to write a book, or enough time to [_fill in the blank_], I would hear of people who were busier than myself who had enough time to do all of the things I wanted to accomplish and even more, all while doing them well. You know who I’m talking about — the CEOs, and the entrepreneurs, and the politicians, and the successful business people who you hear about who have done everything you ever wanted to in life, but you in your busyness can’t seem to find any extra time in your day. So, what’s the difference between you and those who can find the time? The difference between them and you probably has to do with three things, and here they are: First, if you can’t seem to find enough time, you may be holding onto things you don’t need to keep. I can speak from experience here — when you run multiple businesses, you have to learn how to get creative with time, and that means that you learn to let go of things. Yes, you may even need to get rid of some things that you like doing in order to make room for the things that you love doing. Ask yourself, “What am I passionate about?” If you’re passionate enough, you’ll make ample room in your schedule for those things. Even if it means that you have to pay someone to cut the lawn in order to free up an hour, or you have to pick up carry-out for dinner to free up the hour of time spent cooking and cleaning up, or whatever small task you can pay others to do for you, it’s worth it if you can save any time at all. (Some people may think that fifteen minutes is just fifteen minutes, but I see it as fifteen minutes of opportunity.) As valuable as time is, my advice is to always save it when you can. Know what you need to do to accomplish your dreams, take care of the people who need you, and get rid of the excess. This is where you need to start when chasing your wildest dreams. Second, if you can’t seem to find enough time, it may be time to be more realistic with where you currently are in life.  If you are a single mom or dad and you have three kids under the age of seven, this may not the best season to build a startup. If you can figure it out and still enjoy your children, then great, but so many people ignore their current situations and will find that they missed out on more important things later down the road. Trust me, when you realize the current season you are in and you dance in those lines, you will save both your relationships and your sanity. And if you are extremely driven to accomplish your dreams, and you want them right now, you need to begin pairing that determination with patience, as it will save you from so many future letdowns. Success is coming; it may just appear a little slower than you think. And third, if you still can’t seem to find enough time, it’s time to become more efficient.  You know you can improve on efficiency when projects take much longer than they should. Maybe you allow your mind wander more than you should, or maybe you don’t give yourself enough deadlines, or maybe you are always working in an open space wher...

For the past three years I have offered life and business coaching sessions to people who are interested, but it has never something that I push. I figure that if people want to seek that service out from me, then they will see that I offer it on my website. And even though I offer this service, it’s not my main goal with my blog to gain more clients. In fact, I’ve had so many people interested that I have a waiting list right now. It’s a good problem to have, and I’ve had other investors approach me with ideas to scale my business even more, but again, that’s not my goal. So, what is my goal with everything I do?  My main goal in life is to make the best use of my time and to empower people. By myself, I can only coach twelve people at the most every month, whereas I can write on this blog and reach thousands of people with every article. Looking at these numbers, I can easily see that the best use of my time is to focus on providing content for my online audience. With my full schedule, posting online in any of the formats that I use — writing, video blogging, or podcasting — is the best use of my time. But, if my goal truly is to impact the most people that I possibly can, then the numbers don’t lie; I need to go where the people are. I charge a premium for coaching because I am short on time, but people are only interested in my program after hearing my unique perspective on my blog. This being said, I very rarely add a client just by telling people that I offer coaching, but instead, people approach me for coaching after reading my work and becoming a part of my online community. This is why my mentality on marketing has changed over the years. I now believe that selling a product has much less to do with the actual product than most think. But it does have more to do with whether the person selling a product is truthful and believable with how a product can be beneficial to one’s life. This is what makes testimonials so powerful. I’ve been writing for ten years now, not because I want to sell you something, but I began this blog because I enjoy writing, I feel like I can help people, and with these things in mind, people eventually took notice of my work. I gained attention by providing value, not by trying to make a sale, and this is what I am still trying to do. I’m just trying to add value. I see new opportunity as a means to begin new conversations and a way to spread new ideas. That’s the best way to influence, make a difference, and sell products. Now, go and do anything but sell your product, today. 

When you realize that you and/or your work aren’t for everyone, it’s liberating. It’s at this point of realization that you can stop your appeal to the masses, and can instead find your audience. So, in an effort to help you push through the noise, here are three ways to shut out the critics when they come your way:  First, realize that anyone who has ever done anything great had many critics along the way.  I am fascinated by the Wright brothers, because anyone who takes a giant leap with their work has my attention, and to go first is a pretty scary thing. (Some believe that Gustave Whitehead was the first man to take flight, but I still believe it was the Wright brothers.) The two owned a bicycle repair shop and spent any extra time they had working on their idea of creating a flying machine. They executed on their idea, and created modern aviation on December 17, 1903. They helped make the world a smaller place, so that the rest of us could fly and enjoy far away places. Their sense of adventure and innovation showed through their work, but the road to get there was anything but easy. They had their share of critics along the way, but they kept pressing forward, because they knew they were onto something great. Critics in the European aviation community converted much of the press to an anti-Wright brothers stance. The Wright brothers certainly made their share of mistakes, but they kept experimenting and eventually found a way to make their idea work. They had to know who they were and that their work was going to make a difference so that they could defy both the odds and the critics simultaneously. Of course, the Wright brothers aren’t the only ones who had to learn how to tune out critics, but the principle has always been the same: stay true to yourself, take risks, be innovative, do the work, and repeat. Second, realize that we are all different and not everyone will like you.  This is just the truth. People’s personalities will clash, and as much as you want to be accepted by everyone, it will never happen. This is why it is so important to be yourself rather than trying to please everyone, because you will never be able to make everyone happy; you just won’t. The people who will love you and/or your work will be there for you no matter what, and the ones who don’t will still have their opinion no matter how hard you try to please them. Find the people who appreciate you and your work and fight to make a positive difference in the world. Now, please don’t hear me wrong. This isn’t a call to do whatever you want, but more of a call to find who you are and to be yourself, but to also care about other people and to produce great work for them at the same time. Great work always displays some piece of the work’s creator. You are you, but your work is an extension of who you are for this very reason. It is also for this reason that relationship brings an even deeper appreciation for one’s work. When I get to know someone, it helps me understand where the work came from, and that brings a deeper appreciation for their effort, their attempts, and their convictions. Relationships bring importance not only to the person, but to everything they do. If we have relationship, if it matters to you, then it matters to me. And third, produce results.  Nothing shuts critics up faster than producing results. If people keep criticizing you and your work, don’t give them your precious time if you know you’re heading in the right direction, define what success is to you, focus on your work, and fight for success. Find the problem you want to fix, and fix it. We all need that from you. Now, go and produce your very best work, today.  

You need passion because you need to experience every ounce of life that you can. Yes, life is dull without passion. So if the idea of having passion intrigues you, but you don’t know how to obtain it, here are three questions you can ask yourself to get you heading in the right direction:  1. Do I jump out of bed, excited for the day ahead? If you hit the snooze button more often than not, then it may be time to look at your level of passion for life. (Or how much sleep you’re getting.) Are you excited about your life? If not, then this is something that you can change. If ‘dull’ describes your life, then your best remedy is finding passion. Each new day includes strengthening relationships, doing great work, dreaming up new ideas, planning the future, and exploring nature. Life offers much to become passionate about. 2. Am I curious about what life has to offer?  Passion exudes out of people when they grab hold of a life worth being passionate about. And the only way for this to happen is to remain curious about life. When we stop being curious about life and what it holds for us, we lose sight of future opportunity, possibilities, and hope. What are you curious about? What sparks passion in you? What do you seek to change? Who do you seek to impact with your life? How can you influence others? How are you wired? These are great questions to begin with to raise your level of curiosity. Never stop asking questions and never stop being curious about what is to come. 3. Do I realize that passion has more to do with my life as a whole than just the area of work? Many people never find a life full of passion because they only concentrate on finding passion in their work. And while being passionate about work is important, I believe that someone can become passionate about any type of work, as long as they find their reason for doing the work. When one finds their ‘why’ there’s not much of anything that can stand in the way of finding purpose and passion. An easy way to do this in any profession is to find the people who you most impact and to do your work for those people, because people always matter. Yes, work is something to be passionate about, but outside of the conversation of work, life as a whole warrants passion. There is so much to do and life is shorter than you think. It’s time to use anything and everything to fuel your drive, and begin finding a passion for all facets of life. Now, go and find more passion, today. 

Every time you choose one thing over another, you are taking time and effort away from something else, or even someone else. Every single choice has a cost. This is just another reason that our choices are so important. No, not everything in this world can be a priority for this very reason. We have to be very intentional with the way we live our lives, because we all have limited time and resources. Sure, we can delegate tasks to others, but this doesn’t solve everything. This means that we must weigh the cost versus the payout; the risk versus the reward; and the effort versus the possible result, and then make decisions accordingly. In an effort to help you see all of your options, even if there seems to be no margin left in your life, here are three ways to know if the cost of your choices is adding up to something great: First, how important are the actions you are taking? So many times people do things that just aren’t important, but they feel are required of them. The role of the micromanager comes to mind here. One question you can ask yourself along the way to know if you are doing what is necessary is, “Am I helping or hurting the situation?” People can actually hurt the outcome just by doing the right thing at the wrong time, so timing is important as well. Not to mention that when you allow others to make attempts, you allow them to learn valuable lessons in the process. Letting others take action empowers them to do more in the future. Yes, by not doing everything, you are actually helping people, because they need practice, too. In the end, it is imperative that you know you are doing the absolute very best thing you could be doing. If you’re not doing what brings the most value, then it’s probably time to find a way to either eliminate it or delegate it. Second, are people being positively impacted by most, if not all of your efforts?  We can’t look at the amount of people who are impacted by our work enough, because the reach of our influence changes things. My goodness, are people important. To change the world, we must examine the way in which we view others. People aren’t here to be used and abused, but to be cared for, and it is when we find how we each are individually wired that we can care for people in remarkable ways. Sure, there are people all around us who need us, but we must be willing. Ideas are never enough; there must be action taken to create a lasting change. Third, how much do you value your time? Your decisions show how much you value your time. If you are wasting time, not focusing on your priorities, then you aren’t viewing your time as valuable. When you realize that we all only have one life to live, and there isn’t much guaranteed in this world, but we are all guaranteed to die, this whole valuing your time thing becomes so much more important. When you waste your time, you waste your life — it’s that simple. Now, go and weigh the cost, today. 

The internet has been the most impactful thing to ever happen to my business, but it may not be for the reason that you’re thinking of. Sure, it has helped me make money, and it has given me a direct communication line to people, and it has given me a large audience, but more than anything, it has given me a way around seeking permission and approval. The internet, as a means of communication, has allowed me to just go and do. It gave me an opportunity that previous generations didn’t have, and this concept has changed the entire way that I view life.  No, I don’t have to run my work past anyone in editing before I get to click the “publish” button. Nor do I have to hope that the gatekeeper of a publication gives me permission to be printed in their publication. Nor do I have to seek approval from the masses before I get to work. In fact, I just log in to WordPress, write an article, and then publish it. You may not agree with everything that I say, but you’re engaged with this content in this very moment, and that’s worth something. And now, you can apply this concept of seeking permission from others to many areas in your own life. Instead of waiting for permission, many times, you just need to go and do. Now that we’ve talked about getting permission from other people to do something, now I need to talk about seeking approval from others to go and do something new. When previous generations have thought about work, they have thought about work being the one day job that they will hold for their entire lifetime. And while doing this will help people become really good at their craft, what it doesn’t do is fully take advantage of opportunity. It’s been a long, long time since I’ve only had one job and worked a 9-to-5, but that’s because I started one business while having another. I didn’t seek approval to start a new job; I just did it. All of this to say, too many people seek approval from others before they will go and do something, but many times, they already have what they need to begin. This is the same idea that those who are all talk have adopted. (You know the people who I am talking about.) So, if you are currently contemplating whether you should start something new or not, here are three reasons that you should stop seeking approval and begin working immediately: First, seeking the need for others to call your work “perfect” halts progress faster than anything else. Many people think of perfectionism as striving to be your best, but it is not about self-improvement; it’s about earning approval and acceptance.” – Brené Brown If you keep waiting for others to tell you that your idea is perfect to begin the work, you’ll be waiting forever. No, perfect doesn’t exist, but working until you find something that is interesting enough to spark the curiosity within you that is needed to keep exploring is possible. And when you do find this, it is then and only then that you will provoke the thoughts of others. Shoot for that kind of influence through your work, because that’s as close to perfect that you’ll ever get. Second, to be creative and innovative, you have to stop seeking approval.  If you are going to do something truly innovative, you have to be someone who does not value social approval. You can’t need social approval to go forward. Otherwise, how would you ever do the thing that you are doing?” – Malcolm Gladwell To seek approval before you begin is to push away any possibility of innovation. Think of anyone who has come before us who had a crazy idea. Do you think that each idea they had or each piece of work was immediately accepted by the masses? It’s usually quite the opposite. Stop talking and start doing meaningful work; it’s the only way to make a difference. Third,

We all want to do great things with our lives, but for many, there just never seems to be enough time in the day to get everything done. This is why becoming your most productive self is so important. If you can’t seem to find the productivity levels that you’re looking for, here are 3 tips for you to take back your time and increase your productivity: 1. Put in the work before you reward yourself.  The reason that most people don’t accomplish more with their lives is a lack of self-discipline and focus, and this first point addresses that very issue. If you just can’t stop looking at your phone or checking email, you first need to identify what it is that you need to accomplish, and then before you ever allow yourself to do those things that you know are unproductive, make sure to check off all important tasks first. This practical advice allows you to reward yourself for finishing what you set out to do and keeps you productive more often than not. 2. Stop reading about others who are productive, and become productive yourself.  You need to take action to become more productive. More often than not, you know what you need to be doing, but let this be just the push you need to take productivity seriously. Reading information and listening to what people have to say are so important, but at some point, you need to heed the advice for yourself and begin making decisions. Some decisions will be wrong, but some will be correct, as well. That’s just something you have to live with as someone who is becoming more productive. When you do this, you’ll begin moving in the right direction. 3. Stop saying “yes” to everything.  You should prioritize the things that matter most and automate as many of those things that you can through creating a routine centered around them, but please stop saying “yes” to every opportunity that comes your way. I hate letting people down, and I know how it feels to have to say “no” to people, but this could be the biggest obstacle to productivity that there is. Author Peter Drucker even said, “Nothing is less productive than to make more efficient what should not be done at all.” There are so many times that people are giving their all to something they’re not even made to do, but when we step into what we were made for, natural productivity can take place. Sure, there will be great opportunities that come your way, but that doesn’t mean that they’re a great fit for you. Remember, you’re the only one who can do you. Now, go and become more productive, today. 

Being proactive is important because people and businesses who are proactive in the right areas usually win. We can see how this plays out by looking at the differences between successful companies and struggling companies. The differences between J.C. Penney and Nordstrom are apparent — one is always reacting to trends whereas one is setting them. And Airbnb and Uber were proactive in a different way, in that they disrupted their entire markets by seeing what others couldn’t see, and then jumped on their open opportunities. But, all three of these companies offer more than services and products; they all offer great experiences. From these examples alone, we can see just how powerful being proactive can be in the marketplace. But there are lessons found in these business examples that we can use for our own lives, too. Here are three reasons that being proactive is important, not only for companies, but for each and every one of us: 1. Being proactive means that you are planning. Nordstrom, Airbnb, and Uber all saw their plans come to life, and the same can happen for each and everyone of us, but we must first see the benefit in being proactive. When you’re proactive, it means you are not only dreaming, but you are putting a plan in place to tackle your dreams. Sure, having ideas in your head is one thing, but putting those thoughts out on paper is what begins bringing life to your goals. Recent studies performed by Dr. Gail Matthews, a professor from Dominican University, even show that written down goals result in success much more often than goals that are not written down. This is just one thing that proactive planning can do for you. Planning also saves you time. When you’re in the moment, and you have to make a split-decision, many times it is much more helpful if you could have planned your response to what played out. Of course, you can’t see the future, but planning can get you pretty close. Planning allows you to sit down and see all of your possibilities. No, not every plan will work out in the way that you want it to, but at the very least it will keep you moving towards your dreams. 2. Being proactive means that you are seeing a need and filling it.  Nordstrom, Airbnb, and Uber all saw needs and filled those needs to help people find things they didn’t even know they needed. In fact, being proactive is the only way to see what people need, when they need it. However, in business, you can be too early or too late to market, whereas in life, it is never too early or late to begin. There’s only the now, and that’s always the best time to begin preparing. There are so many lost opportunities due to the fact that people just aren’t aware of people’s needs — right now or possible needs in the future — but being proactive changes that. It is proactiveness that leads to creativity and innovation. This reminds me of something that John Wooden said, “When an opportunity presents itself, it’s too late to prepare.” 3. Being proactive means that you aren’t becoming complacent.  Nordstrom, Airbnb, and Uber all understand the importance of remaining active. They are well-versed on trends, and if they know they aren’t where they should be in an area, they tweak their systems and infrastructure. In other words,

I feel that after giving you content every single day for the past five years and having conversations with you on social media, I have a strong enough relationship with you to give you the truth, so here it goes. I’m genuinely exhausted with talking to people who hate their job and their life. (I’m coming out with the punches at the beginning of this episode.) I feel a passion and even an anger around this subject that comes from a good place, and it’s growing larger with the more life I live. This is because I am finding that people who hate something about their life isn’t an isolated problem, but rather, a problem that keeps coming up over and over again, with nothing being done about it. That last part is the main problem I have with it. When someone gives up, disregarding any need for change, it’s frustrating to see. These lives that are plagued by regret, the fear of making decisions, the fear of change, and unrealistic expectations that can’t be reached. But of course, someone must want help to actually change their life’s trajectory. In most cases, it took choices to get people where thay are at today, and it will take other choices to get them to love what they do again. If this is you, then it’s time to get over what has happened in the past. It’s time to remove yourself from seeing each day as a pity party, and instead, begin seeing it as a daily opportunity to learn something remarkable about yourself and the world around you. Don’t think you can see anything positive in your life? Think again. There’s something in there to be thankful for — I can promise that. Maybe this all sounds harsh, and you may even be angry at what I’m saying here, but it’s the truth. So, are you going through a rough time, but are ready to make some changes? Great, I’m so excited about that. Even when everything is falling apart and all seems lost, there’s hope. If you’re ready to love what you do, here are three ways to get there: 1. Identify what work you actually love to do. As the discussions transpire that I told you about earlier, I see that these individuals want to do some other work with their lives, but it’s usually hard for them to put what that work actually is into words. When this happens, their lack of clarity becomes obvious to me. Focusing on the work that we love can only become possible when we identify what that work is. It isn’t enough to only do what we love, but work has to impact people to be fulfilling work. You only get one shot at life, so you might as well be doing what you love, right? Stop just thinking about it or talking about it, but go after it. Write it out, know what it is that you want to do, and then take action. 2. Make necessary changes to see your dreams become reality. Stop making excuses and make changes instead. If you’re currently unhappy with your life and the way things are going, then that means you know changes need to be made. But, what changes need to be made and how will you make them? Let’s think about this — what does your ideal life look like? Let’s move on from work, and look at everything else, because maybe it’s not a change of work that you need, but rather a change in your personal life. Once you know what your ideal life looks like, you can then work backwards from there and make each area of life look exactly how you want it to. Do you need to begin exercising more often? Studies show that happiness and exercise are linked. Do you need stronger relationships? Research also shows that having great close relationships are linked to happiness....

Too often people allow exterior influences to completely control their happiness, not allowing them to bounce back, but it doesn’t have to be this way. Levels of happiness can fluctuate, but knowing what controls these levels can help you regain happiness. Know that happiness is yours to hold onto, not for others to rob from you. When you understand this, life is much more balanced than allowing emotions to always dictate your mood. So, if happiness seems difficult for you to find right now, here are the two things you need to pay the most attention to: First, know what is in your control and outside of your control, but realize that there’s more within your control than you probably think. Far too often, people keep themselves concerned with things that they cannot change. This would be the first area that I would pay attention to when looking at your happiness levels. If you’re in business, then please understand that there isn’t much you can do to change the overall current market or economy. You can do your part and influence what you can, but there’s a natural upswing and downswing to things. Patience is the key in waiting for things to come back around. Also, if you allow the choices of others to alter your happiness, then again, you are allowing something in which you do not control to sway your happiness levels. Remember your choices are yours and the decisions of others are theirs. You are not responsible for the choices of others, but you are responsible for your actions and reactions to things. You control your perception. This being said, you control more than you probably think. Second, live with the decisions that you’ve made or make the choice to go a different direction, but stop complaining about the choices you are choosing to live with. Seriously, complaining is just wasting time. If you aren’t happy with your life, please realize that it is your choice to stay stuck, or to choose a different path for your life. You choose to have the job you are in, you choose to work the amount of hours that you do, you choose to live where you live, and the list goes on. I know this may sound harsh, but it’s the truth. Now, I do wish I could say that I’ve always practiced these things, but the truth is I have to remind myself of these truths often. That’s me being vulnerable and that’s me showing you what I’ve learned along the way. I do admit that it’s easy to forget that my busyness is a choice, but I’d never choose to do life differently. When you focus on doing these things, you will live a happier life. Now, go and be happy, today.

Adjusting to new happenings that decide to come your way is how you remain successful. If you don’t learn how to adjust along the way, the rapid pace of life and work will take over, leaving you overwhelmed and confused as to what to do next. As you already know, things don’t always go as planned, so it is adjustment that will keep you on track when this happens. Author William Frederick Book said, “Learn to adjust yourself to the conditions you have to endure, but make a point of trying to alter or correct conditions so that they are most favorable to you.” So, this means that as you are adjusting to your current circumstances, your focus needs to be on two things: your current circumstances and your future success. This means that what you are going through now doesn’t have to be your future, because you have the power to adjust and make changes as you see fit. With enough thought and effort, you can change your course of direction. Sure, we all go through tough spots — that’s called life. But what’s important is that we are constantly aware and constantly tweaking so that we come out stronger and wiser in the end. If you are in the midst of a trial right now, it is imperative that you also adopt patience. Listen, I know that you want instant results, but that’s not realistic. Everyone likes instant gratification, but that’s not real life. What you need in these times of adjustment is patience, because harnessing patience is the only way to get through trials without sacrificing sanity and clarity along the way. In fact, I would say that the one thing people don’t discuss enough is patience. Napoleon Hill, author of Think and Grow Rich, said that “patience, persistence and perspiration make an unbeatable combination for success,” and I absolutely have to agree with him. But to develop patience means that we have to learn how to endure our less than ideal circumstances along the way. Helen Keller said that “we could never learn to be brave and patient, if there were only joy in the world,” and she’s correct in saying that, as well. From these two quotes, we see that we absolutely need patience for success, but it is only the journey of life that can teach us patience. Life is a classroom if we are aware and allow it to teach us lessons along the way. So, how do we find patience? We all need to fall in love right now with the idea of leaving a positive lasting impression on this world. When we do this, we will realize that there is no way we can do this in a short amount of time. It’s not possible. Leaving a lasting legacy is a culmination of daily actions over a lifetime. You have to be patient if this is your mindset, and forced patience is many times the only way to adopt this mentality. People just aren’t naturally wired to be patient, but when you train yourself to be, it can be the difference between quitting things prematurely because of being fed up with mediocre results and adjusting to the right things so you can improve your results and make a bigger impact on the world over time. When your reality doesn’t meet your desires, it’s time to adjust. In your work, if things aren’t going well, then it’s time to adjust. And if your health isn’t where you want it to be, then it’s time to adjust. Whatever you are going through, your answer may not be to completely quit what you are doing, but to adjust accordingly. Now, go and adjust to your circumstances, today. 

The best leaders don’t have all the perfect answers, and they realize it. But to find the best answers, they know they must ask all the right questions. That’s the difference between a good leader and a great one. Novelist, Thomas Berger said, “The art and science of asking questions is the source of all knowledge.” Writer, Arthur C. Clarke said, “I don’t pretend we have all the answers. But the questions are certainly worth thinking about.” And writer and philosopher, Voltaire, even said, “Judge a man by his questions rather than by his answers.” Great leaders see questions as the best way to open doors of opportunity with their teams, and the best means to start new conversations. And it is only through relatability, conversation, and real-world application that the best answers are revealed. Great leaders understand that using practicality and logic are important, but they also understand that people are more important. So, if you’re looking to find better answers, here are the three types of questions you should be asking: 1. Ask questions that encourage people. Putting other people down is never a good idea, and this includes when you are attempting to have others confidently produce great answers. A great question that always encourages people in the right area is, “Will what you are working on right now bring you benefit tomorrow?” If the answer is “yes,” then that person will be encouraged to keep pressing forward. But if the answer is “no,” then that person will know that they need to change their area of focus until they can answer, “yes.” Encourage people to keep pursuing the right efforts, and find better answers. 2. Ask questions that challenge people to become better.  Use challenging questions to make people think. Using this as a filter eliminates “yes” or “no” questions and shows the importance of open-ended questions. This also means that questions should cause people to evaluate and research each given scenario. I absolutely love the two questions, “Are you avoiding anything?” and “Are you missing anything?” Many times people, including myself, will avoid necessary steps to finding the best possible answer. This is because we don’t either want to take the time, or the effort, or the energy, so we choose the first available shortcut instead. The problem with this is that shortcuts always produce the worst answers. Face your fears, and take more time to produce better answers. 3. Ask questions that provide clarity. When people aren’t clear with what they’re saying, confusion for everyone involved is closeby. One of my favorite questions to provide more clarity with is, “What do you mean by that?” Questions like this one can only help others communicate exactly what they are trying to say. I have rarely found over-communication to be a bad thing. Pushing for clarity helps everyone to get on the same page, and doing so can only make everyone produce better answers. Yes, asking great questions is a skill that needs to be developed, but as with anything useful, it takes time. This is a practice that is a must to become better, and a great place to start is with asking these three types of questions. Now, go and ask better questions, today. 

There are a lot of things that I don’t know that maybe I should, but there’s a reason for it. People tell me that they know how to do something, like rebuild a car, but I’m terrible at working on cars. People talk about the television shows that they enjoy, but I have never seen them. People talk about activities that they’ve done a million times, but I have never tried them, and I’m okay with that. I’ve also turned down great opportunities, because they didn’t quite fit into what I wanted to accomplish in life. Why? Because I stuck to the life plan I created for myself. Sure, not everything has gone as planned, but the plan at the very least let me know what I wanted to accomplish in life, and if things didn’t fit into that plan, then I knew that it was okay to pass on those things. But more than not doing something that sounded good or fun, the main reason that I stuck to the plan is because of how valuable time is. As Tony Robbins said, “You’re already a financial trader. You might not think of it in just this way, but if you work for a living, you’re trading your time for money. Frankly, it’s just about the worst trade you can make. Why? You can always get more money, but you can’t get more time.” The problem is that so many people just don’t get this concept. Wasted time is wasted opportunity. Everything we do costs us precious time. This being said, with every action we must ask ourselves, “Is this worth spending time on?” In other words, will what you are doing right now, later today, next week, next month, later this year, get you to your goals? If so, then great! You’re headed in the right direction. But if not, what can you eliminate or delegate to free up time? That’s where having a detailed life plan comes in handy. So, if you need more time, enough is enough; it’s time to create a life plan. Here are three action steps to planning out your very best life, starting right now: First, focus on what you want to accomplish in life, and learn your craft.  When I look at all of the intricacies of running businesses, there really isn’t much time left for anything else. This being said, I have always known that I wanted to own businesses, so that has always been my focus. Many times I miss out on “fun”, because I gladly choose to work. This is because work is fun. This has allowed me to not only become better at what I do through the practice of work, but it has also allowed me to study other businesses and my own business field. Having fun is great, and I highly recommend it, but more than anything else, work is what brings success. When you know what you want to do in life, you can prepare ahead of time and learn your craft along the way through hard work. Second, know the relationships you need to build on the way to getting there.  The relationships that I have built have been most important to my success. When I knew that I wanted to be an entrepreneur, I picked the brains of other entrepreneurs who had already been where I wanted to go. I took notes, I learned from them, and used their wisdom to make my journey easier. As you write out your life plan, be very detailed in not only the where, when and how, but the who, as well. Third, know the other resources that you will need to succeed.  A building, an infrastructure, funding, employees, an office — what do you need? It’s important to really dial in on the ‘how’ of doing what you do, so you can plan accordingly. You need the dream, but you need the action steps to get there even more. That’s why the ‘how’ is so important. When you have the plan, you can then know where you want to go in life, and the necessary action to get there becomes much easier to navigate. So, now that you have the core ideas behind constructing your life plan,

I often talk about the importance of making better decisions, and the impact that decisions have on your life, but I don’t often communicate the importance of quickly making better decisions. Ths isn’t meant to rush you along in your decision making, but it is to help you realize that there will be times that quickly making decisions is required of you as a leader. There will be many situations where a quick answer is not only beneficial to you and a specific situation, but is necessary due to the rapid pace in which this world moves. This being said, here are three reasons why you must become better at quickly making better decisions: The quicker you become at making better decisions, the longer you are able to reap the benefits.  I’ve always tried to make decisions with this piece of knowledge in mind. Some decisions have been bad and some have been good, but I’ve learned from each decision along the way. I don’t know about you, but for me, life has been one giant classroom, teaching me many things along the way from the decisions I have made. But, there is one lesson that I’ve learned from my decisions, and it is that we should all look at decision-making in the same way that we look at financial investments. The benefits that we receive in the long-run from making better decisions sooner is tremendous. You can benefit greatly from starting the right business sooner rather than later. You can work in the business longer, you can reap the financial benefits for a longer period of time, you can better your entrepreneurial skills for a longer period of time, and the benefits go on and on. You really can apply this concept to making any better decision in life. Again, this isn’t to push you to start before you are ready, but it is to get you thinking about the effects that your decisions have. When you look at life in this way, your excuse of being too young or not ready enough to take on more can’t exist, because maximizing your return on investment in life requires that you begin as soon as possible. The quicker you become at making better decisions, the more you will be able to do. Dave Girouard, the CEO of personal finance startup Upstart, believes that speed is the ultimate weapon in business, and he definitely has a point. I have noticed that the faster I become at making decisions, the more decisions that I am faced with in my day. Once I make a decision, I can then move on to the next one, opening up endless possibilities. Yes, I’m bad at multitasking, but there’s more to it than that. I have a process for making decisions, and it is only when I make one that I can move onto the next one. It helps me to at least commit to a plan, whether good or bad, and it also helps me move my full attention to the next thing. When I leave things open for too long, I tend to create unnecessary self-doubt, and can put off important decisions because of this. As General George Patton said, “A good plan violently executed now is better than a perfect plan next week.” Now, I’m not subscribing to the mentality that we should just do whatever comes to mind first without giving our decisions much thought, because we have brains for a reason. But, I am saying that a plan tends to become better with movement and experimentation. Sometimes, the best decision making happens once we are already in the fight, trying things out along the way; a trial and error if you will. The quicker you become at making better decisions, the better you will become at acting and reacting. Whether you realize it or not, decision-making is a muscle that needs to be worked on and strengthened. No, making a bad decision or two along the way probably won’t kill you,

“Should I care about what other people think?” is the question that will haunt you if you allow it to. It’s actually the reason that so many people don’t do what they know they ought to do. Do the questions, “Will people think that I’m not qualified to do this?”, or “Will people think that what I am doing is weird?”, or “Will people think that I am doing this to just show off?”, or “Will people think I am too young or old to do this?”, sound familiar to you? If so, you can fight the fear of what other people think with a better understanding of who you should listen to. So, here are the three best ways to view what other people think about you, so you can make a bigger impact with your life: First, know who you are and know why you were put on this earth. You are unique and have something valuable to offer to the world. When I truly understood this, enough was enough. It was time to care more about my purpose than what people thought of me. I found that it is only when this mental shift happens that true success can happen. Until you find this for yourself, you’re just a puppet being controlled by everyone else but yourself. When you understand that you are living and breathing for a reason, you can then use your fears as fuel to do something great with your life. So, how do you find what you were created to do? Know what you are good at, know what you are passionate about, and know what people need from you. If it’s a business you are creating, that last point will sound a bit different. You not only need to know what people need from you, but you also need to be able to charge people for your product or service. We all have to make a living somehow, right? You were created for something amazing, but you must find where all of these points connect. And when you do, you will make a huge difference in this world. Second, know who you should have speak into your life. Don’t think for one minute that you should be doing life solo. We were never meant to do life alone. Of course, ultimately the decision as to what to do in the end is up to you, but you should care what the people in your inner circle think. The advice of mentors who you have brought into your life to help you navigate your life’s trajectory matters. Another way to know if you should listen to someone is to ask the question, “Is this person trying to help me become better or hurt me?” This is the filter I use when I toss a negative email or keep it. This is also the filter I use as I contemplate concerning myself with someone’s opinion or not. And you know what? It gets rid of about 90% of negativity in my life. Beautiful, right? Knowing someone’s true intent will let you know if you should listen to them or not. I hate to break it to you, but there will be people who don’t like you along the way. There will be people who will tell you everything you’re doing wrong before they point out one thing that you’re doing right. But the people who only focus on what you are doing wrong don’t want you to succeed in the first place. You will know who wants you to succeed by the way they see the good in you before they ever see your flaws. And third, understand that finding what other people think is an important factor in finding success for your business.  If you’re trying to grow your business, you better listen to what your customers and potential customers have to say. They are the heartbeat of what you do, and their feedback matters. Their input can actually make you better at what you do. If there is a majority of people who are unhappy with what you’re doing, it’s important to evaluate and reevaluate your work. Can you become better? How can you become better? Those are two questions you can ask your client base and really liste...