Randy Pausch, a truly inspirational man and also responsible for delivering the “Last Lecture” passed away a few days ago.

I wanted to take a minute to publicly thank him as well for his inspirational speech which really makes one think about their life.

If you have not yet seen the video, it’s worth watching (I’ve included it below).

Here’s something interesting I found. Last time I watched his video, it had a little over 500,000 views. On last check minutes back, look at how many views he had…

In just a few months he has TEN times as many views! You can definitely get a feeling for the impact he has had on lives. Not to mention the MILLIONS of copies of his book that are for sale right now.

Anyways, thanks a lot Randy, I hope to make even 5% of the influence you made and I’ll be a happy man!

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“Thank you so much, you do such a great job, I wish I could do it this well…”

Sound a bit too mushy for you? Well, either way, try it. It can make a major impact on someone.

Yesterday night, around 9 PM my phone rang, it was my sister. I picked up and she said that my brother-in-law wanted to talk to me.

Some Back-story for you:

My sister is applying to medical residency programs and wanted me to edit her personal statements. I was cursed (I mean blessed ) with being a good writer. Funny thing because “writing” was the only thing I got a B in in high school (screwed up my 4.0 GPA).

Thanks to learning how to copywrite from Justin Ford, I do write very well now.

Anyways, I digress in self flattery…

She has two essays, one of them I had re-done and sent to her the night before. I was extremely tired when I edited it, it was NOT my best work, but still felt it was much better than the original draft.

My brother-in-law had called JUST to thank me. First of all, mind you, this favor was for my SISTER, not him. However, he said he was so incredibly impressed with my ability to write that he just had to call and say thanks (I’ve written things for them in the past as well, so he’s seen me at work in the past).

His exact words:

“Man…thank you so much…I just don’t get how you do these so well, it was amazing. Keep this up and you’re going to take over the world!”

(Obviously he got a bit exaggerated, I have no plans to try to take over the world).

The entire conversation lasted less than 2 minutes and I was glowing from ear to ear!

My sister had already thanked me. They weren’t telling me something I didn’t already know. Yet, him taking that extra step to make a phone call out of his way SPECIFICALLY to appreciate and acknowledge me went a long way for me.

Next time either of them needs a favor, I’ll be 10 times happier to do it for them versus someone else.

Lesson to take away - Take a minute every day or at least once a week and appreciate someone near you. Your wife, kids, co-worker, boss, kid’s teacher, employee, the local cross-guard - anyone, just do it.

Popularity: 60% [?]

Definition of Insanity: Doing the same thing over and over, but expecting different results.

Yes, I paraphrased that, someone told me that definition one day (still unable to find it stated like that in a dictionary), but that’s not the point. The point is that sometimes I wonder if I’m going insane (given the definition above).

Here’s what’s going on…

Have you read my rant about “Mind Aerobics (You Can Try It For FREE For 30 Days!)” yet? I talk about how this program has changed my life multiple times. I describe exactly how it works, you have to have an open mind - I didn’t believe it at first either.

Anyways, I also talked about how I keep starting and then STOPPING. I start listening to the CD every night religiously and almost IMMEDIATELY I see amazing impact on my day-to-day. Then, as things get good again, I get lazy or I get “over confident” and I stop listening to it.

I had promised myself about a month back that I would not (under any condition) stop this time. Well, guess what? I started traveling and the laziness kicked right in.

So, What Happens To Me When I Don’t Listen To Mind Aerobics?

I figured since I screwed up again, might as well turn it into a case study for everyone.

What happens is that I get more antsy. My ability to take stress drops significantly and I become more REActive then I do PROactive.

Meaning, I start to react to everything going around me, rather than taking logical steps back and evaluating everything.

In other words, I start to lose my cool.

I recently called Allen Koss and spoke with him about this and he said that “when you’re using Holosync technology, a certain element of it never goes away, even if you stop listening to it. However, your level of stress does catch up with you. Whereas if you keep doing the CD you stay 2 steps ahead.”

Personally, to me, it feels like I end up losing everything I gained?

Either way, off I go to start again today.

A lesson in discipline - Seriously, try to learn your lesson the first time, rather than the fifth time like me?

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I was at a graduation a couple of months ago and the president of the university used a story that really hit home with me, something happened today to remind me again of the story so I thought I’d share…

Here’s the story:

A professor calls an early study group for his students, when they all get there he offers them coffee to get the morning started. He lays out a series of cups (all different kinds), some very nice and others pretty ugly.

As the students start going to get coffee, they grab a cup and make their way to the coffee.

What the professor noticed right away was that each student was choosing the nicest glass currently available at their time of selection. The last student even seemed a bit dissapointed to be “stuck” drinking from the simple styrofoam cup.

As the students sipped their coffees, the professor asked them WHY they had chosen the best cup available even the coffee was exactly the same for everyone.

None of the students could answer the question, as a matter of fact, they seemed to get confused themselves!

They hadn’t “conciously” looked for the nicest cup, it was innately built into them!

The point of the story is that we should all take a step back and think about what it is that we’re REALLY going after (the coffee) and not waste time worrying about the other things around it that are just helping you get there (the cup).

Afterall, in the end, the coffee is the same, right?

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I was reminiscing today about my business and my life and just thinking over the times where I’ve experienced the most growth or had the BEST results.

When I looked long enough I found some “spikes,” it was not that smooth. I was actually a bit disappointed. I was confused as well. I work hard all the time don’t I? Is this just luck?

Guess what I found when I probed long enough?

1. It had NOTHING to do with luck.

2. I DIDN’T work hard all the time.

3. It was 100% correlated with how hard I was working…

I Call This The “Hustle Effect…”

Now, what I’m about to say is 100% against what EVERY single “self help” book teaches you, so just deal with it If you don’t agree, no problem, just don’t complain to me later on when I’m right!

Here is what I saw in my life with the “spikes.”

Every time I had the extended success, I found that I was “heavily motivated” by something. I was working LATE hours and I was just going and going and going. Those were times when I actually remember not knowing what day it was or what I had to be doing that day.

What a crappy life? Right?

Now all the self-help books blab about this “balance” crap. You know, “don’t bring your work home…” blabbady blah.

Bottom line is that that is 100% baloney. The truth of the matter is that you NEED to bring it home and to your car, to your shower, everywhere you go!

I completely agree that a “smart” businessman delegates. You have a great “A player” team that you can delegate and that will allow you to take more time off. However, do you know how expensive it is to have this kind of team?

How do bridge the gap from when you can’t afford that team to when you can?

You work your tail off…that’s how.

See, when looking back, I saw that the MOST success I had came from the times when I was hustling around. I wouldn’t take no for an answer and I was doing EVERYTHING and ANYTHING it took.

Then, when success started to hit a bit, I got comfortable with my nice big car, my beautiful condo, my take-out food, etc… Now, I find myself spending hours a day sometimes watching movies.

Then, I wonder why the growth has slowed from what it was years ago? DUH!

I have a new rule for myself starting yesterday - i’M TURNING THE HUSTLE BACK ON.

I now wake up and come to the office and the first thing I do is make a list of everything I have to do that day. I make a “to-do” list.

My rule now is that I will NOT leave my office until that list is finished, period. I know that I don’t have the discipline to work at home, too many distractions - so I just won’t allow myself to go home.

For example, it’s 6:30 PM on a Friday evening and I’m at work. Oh well, I still have 6 things to finish. Hustle time, HUSTLE!

NOTE: I’m a single young guy, so yes, I have less responsibilities. For those of you with families and other responsibilities, please adapt my rule above accordingly to your lifestyle. Just don’t buy into some of the self-help mumbo-jumbo, you WILL have to work your tail off if you wanna become something.

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I just recently got back from an internet marketing seminar led by Ross Goldberg and there were many amazing internet marketers there. There is one problem with being around crazy genius minds.

They’re full of ideas…

First of all, they make everything sound so darn easy and to top it off they are extremely convincing.

Here’s some funny proof of the same thing working in reverse. You see I was also speaking at this same conference on the topic of affiliate marketing. Well, an affiliate marketing “wizard” himself, Kenneth McArthur, who has been around much longer than myself came up to me afterwards and said: “Man, Anik every time I see you do that presentation, I want to run out of here and start doing it too!”

So, now that I’ve stroked my own ego, here is my point…

I go to these events, hang out with very smart folk and come back with TONS of ideas that I want to start implementing right away. What happens next is that my mind starts to RACE…

It almost gets out of control!  I start to lose focus, I start doing 10 things at a time and the entrepreneur gets bored with what I am already doing.

All in all, the great ideas can start to back-fire on me.

Today, I’m dealing with just that so I’ve had to take a step back and really try to turn my mind OFF.

What I did was make a list of 5 things that I’m already working on, my team has already started it and I’ve already built a mastermind behind many of the projects (this means that many other people are invested in my previous already in motion ideas).

So, if what I learned can help augment what I’m already doing, great, but if not, I’ve decided to WRITE IT DOWN in my nice black journal as a way of removing it from my mind.

If your mind starts to race, quickly make a list of everything on it, pick a few you really want to think about or act on and leave the rest on paper.

It’s amazing how well this simple exercise works!

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I want to start by apologizing for having dissapeared the last two weeks, I’ve been on the road and had not had a chance. Actually, I took my first vacation in 5 years with friends (no work, no colleagues, nothing).

We went to Las Vegas and believe it or not, I actually LEARNED something from one of my friends who’s quite a gambler, the guy has a strategy for every game!

Here’s how it goes…

I pretty much refuse to gamble, the first couple of times I went to Las Vegas in my life (I’ve easily been 10 times by now), I lost over $5,000! After that, for some reason, losing money just wasn’t fun any more

Since then every time I go to Vegas it’s for work so I’ve lucked out on not having any time for gambling. However, this time around, I was with friends and all they did was gamble!

I finally decided to plop down $300 on Blackjack and of course 30 minutes later, I was out cold and this was just the first day. The rest of the vacation I simply enjoyed the sight seeing and watched others gamble.

I started to notice a trend with my friend…

This guy was making money, he was up $1,000 at a time (he also had down times), but when he went up, he went up fast and he’d immediately start cashing out.

The one thing I noticed on him was that no matter WHAT, he stuck to his strategy. Even if it got DEAD BORING, he would not leave his strategy.

Gambling, for him, was not about the “adrenaline” of putting it all on the line, but it was more of a business - it was about leaving with more than he came in with (and he would do whatever it took to make it happen).

The one word that really hit home watching him?

Discipline!

I have never seen discipline like what I saw on him. He would sit there for HOURS at a time, doing the same thing OVER and OVER, religiously. The results showed as well, when he stuck to his discipline, he made money.

He finally got me in…

He had a very simple strategy for Roulette which meant playing the EXACT same numbers every single time. Basically this leads to the best odds of winning.

You can have either of three things happen:

1. You can lose ALL your money (but only if it hits 4 of 36 numbers).

2. You can lose $25

3. You can win $50

So chances are that it’s either #2 or #3, in which case the odds are in YOUR favor!

Anyways, he convinced me to start playing too and it was DEAD BORING at times, but bottomline, I was winning! The entire point was to STICK TO MY STRATEGY and be committed to it.

I’m not saying that discipline needs to be boring, but bottomline, it works - stick to your strategy that works!

Popularity: 6% [?]

Happy 4th of July!

<Begin Rant>

Sounds funny coming from me given that I just started IwillFight.com right? Well, let’s see what I mean…

I actually LOVE self-help and self-development, but there are certain “kinds” that drive me insane. The reason I’m talking about this today is because I recently bought a book, we’ll refer to it as “Book X” that talks about how to change your life in “X” days.

It came in through Amazon yesterday and I was pretty excited to start reading it, broke it open today and within 2 minutes, I read just one phrase that made me wanna slap myself.

“Good work! Give yourself a pat on the back, look in the mirror and tell yourself ‘I’m Awesome!”

Are you kidding me? What’s this hokey pokey blabbady blah advice? Look at myself in the mirror and say I’m awesome? WHO DOES THAT?

Don’t get me wrong, Book X (I’m about 25% done) has SOME good concepts, but mostly it’s just too “common.”

TRULY good self-help books present unique concepts that help shape the way you think and react. The BEST ones use live examples to allow you to vividly picture what they’re talking about.

I’m hoping to write a book soon. I can only hope that mine will be very targeted. My goal is really to only present 10 key characteristics that can help awaken the fighter mentality.

As for what the TITLE of Book X is? I really don’t want to hurt any feelings just yet. Also, I’m only 25% of the way through it, when I finish it, maybe I’ll have changed my mind?

If not, if I’m even more irritated, maybe I shall seek revenge by naming the book here

With those happy thoughts upon you, go enjoy 4th of July or if you’re not in the U.S. - Enjoy the day anyways!

<End Rant>

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Leonardo, a 5 year old charming young man paid me a visit today. Like any incredibly playful and talkative kid, he immediately started telling me stories of what “Mike did to him today, what his teacher said and how he threw a football across the whole field!…”

Confession - I typically just nod my head yes with a blank stare, but I’m glad I didn’t do that today.

Who knew that in his over-excited story-telling he would embark on me a piece of life advice that spun me into 3 hours of thinking and maybe even a moment of revelation.

What Were His Words of Advice?

“Just relax man, everything will work out just fine…”

I’m 100% serious, those are the exact words a 5 year old said to me when he observed that I was losing my temper with my mom.

2 Months Ago I Burned Out And Stopped Worrying…

Here’s the scoop. 2 months ago a LOT of things happened. You know how they say “when it rains, it pours” - well let’s just say I had a monsoon. As much of a Fighter as I am, this time, I was in over my head.

I got incredibly stressed, I began worrying and even thinking “life as I knew it was over.”

Talk about over-reacting and freaking out? I was the poster child.

I had lost all control, I couldn’t calm down - my brain was running 100 mph and negativity had overtaken me.

Two things happened that I feel saved me:

1. I re-started Mind Aerobics (thank god). You can try Mind Aerobics for FREE - click here…

2. My body’s self-defense mechanisms kicked in and I BURNED OUT!

That’s right, I had worried so much that my brain actually SHUT OFF. I woke up one morning and had the completely wrong attitude - “I just didn’t care any more…to ‘he**’ with it, I don’t care what happens…”

Obviously this is NOT the right way to react, but ironically it was just what I needed. Why?

Because I finally “relaxed maaaan…”

Within Days After Relaxing The Problems Started Dissapearing…

My “careless” attitude allowed me to finally relax and get my head together. I had just accepted the worst case so now I officially had nothing to lose, I just started focusing on implementing solutions.

One by one, everything began to improve and within just a few weeks, I was rocking and rolling!

The day I officially pulled out of the mess I remember thinking to myself, “You see, you did it AGAIN, just as always, you pulled out. Why do you freak out so much?  You KNOW you’ll get through it, you always do.”

I cannot express how much of a difference that new realization has made. I finally TRUST myself. I believe in myself. I know now that if all I do is relax, focus, believe in myself and take action, I can overcome any problem.

I mean, for god sake, I’ve almost died 3 times, battled a chronic illness since I was 13, started/run my own business, etc…etc… - what else do we need to do in life to start trusting ourselves?

So thank you Leonardo, your words today helped put structure around something I was thinking about for months now. You’re one smart 5 year old, it’s going to be fun watching you grow up.

Lesson For The Day: For the love of god, have some faith in yourself, trust in yourself and relaaax man, you and I both know that you’ll be fine and you’ll make it through one way or the other.

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Ever had anything bad happen to you? Anything that really crawled under your skin? Something you feel like you never got closure on?

How long have you let it eat away at you…how long did you run around complaining about it and inflicting your negativity not only on yourself but on all those around you?

What good did it do? Did it help you in any way? Did it help anyone around you in any way?

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Without being too specific, I will just say that a while back “things” happened that left someone very unhappy with me. In all honesty, I had just as much reason to be upset with him, however, I never really was.

In short, things didn’t go exactly the way this person had wanted, even though I did everything in my power to help resolve the matter (and he even agrees that I did), he walked away very un-happy.

It’s been months and months now and I’ve since completely forgotten about it. The only time I am reminded about it is when I hear this person is (yet again) publicly making remarks about his displeasure.

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Initially I used to get very upset and confused about why this person is acting this way. However, I recently had a moment of “epiphany.” You see, I know this person, he’s not a bad guy - the opposite actually, he’s an awesome person (good heart and all).

So, when I decided to put myself in his shoes, I realized that for him to STILL be so bitter that he continues to make remarks, he must really have been hurt or even traumatized from what happened. See, for me, it was not a big deal, like politics, I was used to it all - however, for him it was all BRAND new.

Rather than being upset with him, I now try to better understand his side. I guess he’s still very upset/hurt and the reason he continues to make “sly” remarks every now and then is because he needs a release (a pressure valve to open).

But what good is it doing?

It’s not hurting me (maybe irritating me a little). However, it is bothering him obviously. It’s bringing negativity to him and those who he makes the remarks to.

Whatever needs to be done, he needs to do SOMETHING to gain closure - it’s just not good to keep carrying it around.

2 lessons today:

1. Before you react to someone, take a minute and put yourself in their shoes. You may still not agree with what they did, but I promise you’ll better understand them.

2. LET GO! I don’t care what you have to do, but find a way to let go. Negativity can become a plague, not only bringing you down, but all those around you who you care the most for.

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