{"id":2596,"date":"2009-10-21T16:59:53","date_gmt":"2009-10-21T20:59:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.local\/?p=2596"},"modified":"2009-10-21T16:59:53","modified_gmt":"2009-10-21T20:59:53","slug":"from-living-a-nightmare-to-living-the-dream","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.local\/from-living-a-nightmare-to-living-the-dream\/","title":{"rendered":"From living a nightmare to living the dream"},"content":{"rendered":"

The title of this post is simply, from living a nightmare to <\/strong>liv<\/strong>ing the dream<\/strong>, you see I now live the lifestyle that I dreamed of for many years. \u00a0At the start of this year I was pondering what’s next? What’s next that is so crazy I can’t comprehend?<\/p>\n

It was in answering this question, I wrote down everything I wish I could have told myself at 14, starting on this journey.<\/p>\n

These universal lessons<\/strong> provide greater insight that you first realise, have a read, print out, reread. \u00a0They are just as applicable in business as your personal life<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

So what makes these so powerful? These are the learnings that took me from a very rough childhood, whereby I sought to escape and break the cycle I saw around me, to the person I am today. \u00a0Those that can appreciate it will realise what a change (and transformation) it is to make that jump. \u00a0That’s why I want to share it, so others may learn.<\/p>\n

Straight from my mind to yours (unedited) notes & errings on how to live the dream.<\/p>\n

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    \n
  1. Define the dream, where do you want to go? what do you want to do?<\/li>\n
  2. Extend the dream, what is so radical you CANT comprehend it? you cannot even comprehend that happening. \u00a0This is you BHAG, big hairy audacious goal. \u00a0Do not settle for something that is achievable. \u00a0If you miss it, you’ll be average. \u00a0And that’s boring.<\/li>\n
  3. Your #1 criteria has to be fun. \u00a0If you are always doing something fun (and thats relative) you will push through the dips to succeed.<\/li>\n
  4. Read The Dip by Seth Godin. \u00a0A swift kick when you need it. \u00a0Reread every 3 months.<\/li>\n
  5. Tip from Tom Peters, meet crazy people, stop wasting time people who nod at everything you say, meet randoms who challenge you. \u00a0You will learn much more that way.<\/li>\n
  6. Throw yourself in the deep end, what is the absolute worst that could happen? Once for me that was I would be homeless. \u00a0More often than not it can’t be that bad for you. \u00a0Jump in, you’ll learn to swim.<\/li>\n
  7. Work yourself dead tired, then push through that barrier, it’s when your tired, you gain clarity and push aside your normal barriers.<\/li>\n
  8. Apply #7 in exercise, pick an exercise, running, swimming, skipping, and push yourself everytime. \u00a0Kill that voice that says to quit. \u00a0You will have huge breakthroughs by doing this.<\/li>\n
  9. Exercise, excercise, exercise. \u00a0You gain clarity, de-stress, keep fit. \u00a0Helps you focus on what’s important.<\/li>\n
  10. Sleep on the big things. \u00a0Forget the pressure for ‘instant’ decision making. \u00a0Chill out. \u00a0Sometimes you need to remove yourself to find your gut feeling.<\/li>\n
  11. Trust your gut. \u00a0Your gut sums up the best that you know at this point in time. \u00a0It is actually linked to your subconscious. \u00a0Trust it, listen, you will get more adept at this.<\/li>\n
  12. Set yearly, quarterly and monthly goals. \u00a0Always be looking forwards, am on I track? what needs to get done, do these distractions help with that.<\/li>\n
  13. Chill out. \u00a0Spend time with those that you love, your family, your friends. \u00a0Remind yourself of who is most important to you, are you giving them the attention they (and you) deserve?<\/li>\n
  14. Review & Reflect. \u00a0Take some time out each week where the sole purpose is to review & reflect on the week and plan the next one.<\/li>\n
  15. Reward yourself for the small wins. \u00a0Take some time out as well to reward yourself for the small wins, they are just as important as the big ones. \u00a0Hint: a number of small wins equates to a big one.<\/li>\n
  16. Fail lots. \u00a0If your not failing, your not risking, and if your not risking your not moving ahead. \u00a0If you already know all the answers today why aren’t you at your dream? Chances are you still have some learning to do.<\/li>\n
  17. Stand on the shoulders of giants, get some advisors, mentors, research, read. \u00a0Someone else has already had your problems before, seek the answers out.<\/li>\n
  18. Spend YOU time. \u00a0Too often we get lost in txting, phone, facebook, work. \u00a0Have some you time no cell phone, nothing, enjoy a good book, indulge in a treat, take a walk. \u00a0Time alone is vitally important.<\/li>\n
  19. If you are not comfortable with yourself as a person, fix it, enough said, you cannot be successful till you are comfortable with yourself and what you do. \u00a0Hint: this journey will help with this.<\/li>\n
  20. Passion. \u00a0What are you passionate about? What really drives you? What gets you excited and out of the bed in the morning? Follow your passions. \u00a0You will likely fall into your dreams.<\/li>\n
  21. Be You. \u00a0Stop trying to be someone else, that is NO FUN! and it’s boring. \u00a0Warning: you may lose some friends! But the friends you garner who respect you for you are much more valuable.<\/li>\n
  22. Hang out with successful people. \u00a0Success rubs off.<\/li>\n
  23. Challenge yourself, keep learning, keep yourself grounded. \u00a0Honestly you never want to get up yourself, once your at that place it’s hard to come back.<\/li>\n
  24. Give stuff away! Learn to appreciate what you do by just giving it away free every now and again.<\/li>\n
  25. Give something back, help out by volunteering, help that struggling company your friend started, ring up an fellow entrepreneur remind them how well they are doing.<\/li>\n
  26. START A BLOG! Your objective is to help people in <insert industry passion here>, the art of writing something intelligent each and every day will make you smarter.<\/li>\n
  27. Expose yourself. \u00a0Be bold about your goals. \u00a0For as much flak as you will get, people will admire and respect you for that.<\/li>\n
  28. Take things slowly. \u00a0Stop rushing. \u00a0Enjoy the coffee in the morning, the paper, time with the kids. \u00a0You only live once so stop rushing about.<\/li>\n
  29. Inspire yourself, indulge in the arts, learn a new hobby.<\/li>\n
  30. Read biographies! Learn how others have succeeded. \u00a0You will find yourself finding infinite learnings in reading others.<\/li>\n
  31. You are always wrong! always. \u00a0But you may be less wrong than your competitor.<\/li>\n
  32. Write your autobiography, how would you like it to read? write your obituary. \u00a0This will remind you of the journey you are walking.<\/li>\n
  33. Take the baby steps. \u00a0Big goals don’t happen overnight, they are the culmination of taking little steps each and every day.<\/li>\n
  34. Scare yourself! Is what you doing making you nervous, butterflies in the stomach? If not, seek out the butterflies.<\/li>\n
  35. Share your success! When you achieve a goal, let your friends know, celebrate with them. \u00a0Others love to hear of your successes.<\/li>\n
  36. Commit yourself. \u00a0Tell everyone all your goals and how you want to achieve them, how they can help (maybe?), or what you expect them to do.<\/li>\n
  37. Setup red flags. \u00a0Ask someone who you respect (and know will) to tell you straight when you fuck up. \u00a0We all do it.<\/li>\n
  38. Listen. \u00a0Listen to the red flags, your peers, your enemies, they are all relevant.<\/li>\n
  39. Expose yourself to polar opposite industries, are you a dentist? check out road workers? You will find you learn more about your industry than staying with the same old.<\/li>\n
  40. Destroy something. \u00a0Know something is holding you back, destroy it, dominate it.<\/li>\n
  41. Talk. \u00a0Talk at events, to your peers, talk online. \u00a0Talk in venues where your held accountable. \u00a0(Hint: you will not find the benefit till you do so).<\/li>\n
  42. Keep a diary, a notepad, log your days, you will get so busy you forget what happened 3 weeks ago, date it, take it everywhere with you.<\/li>\n
  43. Stop watching tv. \u00a0Tv is an indulgence, you can waste 3 hours in front of it, you could be 3 hours closer to your goal, or spent that time taking your wife out for an evening walk.<\/li>\n
  44. Network. \u00a0Network. \u00a0Network. \u00a0Meet people in your industry who share the same passion, there is nothing more rewarding that being reminded you are on the right path. \u00a0Plus a great way to get free coffees!<\/li>\n
  45. Never ask for a meeting, ask to buy someone lunch or coffee, more engaging and much more relaxed.<\/li>\n
  46. Remind yourself of the dream constantly, what is the end goal? how far are you? do you keep a poster of that sports car on your bathroom door (or somewhere you will see it a number of times throughout the day).<\/li>\n
  47. Inspire yourself with quotes, I have the ‘inspiration’ wall in my bedroom, on the closet are post it notes with quotes that inspire me, so i read them or at least realise their existence everyday. \u00a0Post its are great as they fall down every few months, so i need to replace them with new quotes.<\/li>\n
  48. Keep healthy, the most important part of success is you, so look after yourself. \u00a0Garbage in, garbage out, give yourself the right inputs.<\/li>\n
  49. De clutter, like destroy something, are physical items cluttering your life? get rid of them, gives you mental clarity.<\/li>\n
  50. Be a kid! Go play with your kids, go play on the beach, bounce on the trampoline… it’s just fun.<\/li>\n
  51. Turn negativity around to motivate you, if your out there enough for someone to criticise you must be on the right track.<\/li>\n
  52. Be patient, impatience is killing success, be patient, take small steps every day you will get there, my biggest goals take years to come about, but they do come about, versus others who have given up on five other goals.<\/li>\n
  53. Persevere. “perseverance is genius”. \u00a0who do you remember that gave up when things got tough? no one. \u00a0enough said.<\/li>\n
  54. Be made of rubber. \u00a0When things go bad (and they will) remind yourself that your made of rubber no matter how hard you get dropped you bounce back and bounce back fast.<\/li>\n
  55. Be loved. \u00a0Chase a girl, a guy, cherish those you love.<\/li>\n
  56. Learn to value your time, stop wasting it on senseless or time wasting activities, each and every day is a day closer to living the dream, only if you want it to be.<\/li>\n
  57. Remember it all starts with you. \u00a0It always has. \u00a0No matter your belief, if you do not take action it will not happen.<\/li>\n
  58. TAKE ACTION!!!!! You always regret what you didn’t do vs what you did do.<\/li>\n
  59. Listen to music, especially whilst in deep focus, (unless your dyslexic) music helps occupy half your brain so the other can focus on what needs to be done.<\/li>\n
  60. Use whiteboards! Write up grand strategic plans, wipe them out, start again. \u00a0When you have the freedom to reinvent you will.<\/li>\n
  61. Do less, it is easy to keep yourself busy, it is much harder to spend less time and achieve more.<\/li>\n
  62. Focus. \u00a0Focus on what is important, what adds value, what leverages your time.<\/li>\n
  63. Write! Write down what you want to do, how your doing it, your learnings, your thoughts, detail them, the act of doing this (like blogging) is going to accelerate your learning and progress than you ever thought possible.<\/li>\n
  64. Be lucky! Luck comes to those that turn up. \u00a0If you don’t turn up and keep turning up how can you get lucky?<\/li>\n
  65. Learn to be objective, on everything, religion, political views, relationships, when you can fundamentally understand and relate to both sides of the argument you are immediately more astute than both parties.<\/li>\n
  66. Question all assumptions. \u00a0Always.<\/li>\n
  67. Any doubts you have on yourself, get rid of them, more often than not others only see these doubts because you realise and accept they exist. \u00a0You are awesome. \u00a0You will dominate.<\/li>\n
  68. Change your language, become more enthusiastic, use words like awesome, dominate, success, perseverance, wow<\/li>\n
  69. Smile. \u00a0The act of smiling makes you happier. \u00a0Smile at strangers. \u00a0You’ll be surprised who might say hi back.<\/li>\n
  70. At a conference? Talk to the person who is standing alone, they will appreciate the effort and you never know who you are going to talk to. \u00a0If they are boring, escape by saying you’d better catch up with your friends.<\/li>\n
  71. Maximise value of your time, if you can help for 3 hours with a conference and then attend vs 20 hours work to pay for the conference, do the former. \u00a0Remember value isn’t always about direct dollars. \u00a0I helped with registrations once to get into a $800 conference. \u00a0Best investment of my time.<\/li>\n
  72. Be honest. \u00a0Do I really need to explain this one?<\/li>\n
  73. Respect the young guys, you never know who your brushing off, it may just be the next Steve Jobs, believe me he will remember you but not in a good way.<\/li>\n
  74. Be a mentor. \u00a0Mentor someone else who is where you were 3 years ago, this process helps you identify what you are good at, what you did, and is surprisingly helpful.<\/li>\n
  75. Stay up all night till the morning, do crazy stuff you used to do but somehow stopped. \u00a0This will inspire you.<\/li>\n
  76. Stay on track, if your not working towards your goals, jump tracks.<\/li>\n
  77. Adjust your context, move to a nicer part of town (rent if necessary), have lunch where successful people eat, attend the same events, being in the right places gives you leverage you can never have expected.<\/li>\n
  78. Ask for help when you need it. \u00a0Stop being arrogant, you can not do it all yourself, ask for help, chances are there are many people more than happy to help.<\/li>\n
  79. Break any addiction you have! Cigarettes, booze, they’re not helping anyone, especially you.<\/li>\n
  80. Share the love, when you get recognised for your success, share the love amongst those that helped you get there.<\/li>\n
  81. It’s the journey just as much as the destination which will shape you. \u00a0Remember this above all.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/div>\n

    That’s it! If you could share by emailing on, retweeting, stumbling or digging that would be insanely awesome and I’d appreciate it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    The title of this post is simply, from living a nightmare to living the dream, you see I now live the lifestyle that I dreamed of for many years. \u00a0At the start of this year I was pondering what’s next? What’s next that is so crazy I can’t comprehend? It was in answering this question, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[125,202,719],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.local\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2596"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.local\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.local\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.local\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.local\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2596"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.local\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2596\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.local\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2596"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.local\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2596"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.local\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2596"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}