Digital Nomad Life Lessons

Work Hard But Play HarderProgress Is Not LinearI believe that being the youngest of three sons is the reason for me being so loud and confident.

The list of life lessons in this article is what has given me my personal vision which is:

“To do things I love, with people I love, doing it in a way to be proud of. My job as an entrepreneur is to not accept no, ask why and turn it into a yes.

Live rich, die enriched by investing into things that will protect and develop my family, friends and make the world a better place. But the key is doing all this with trust, honesty and integrity”

But throughout my life like everyone I have learned many life lessons.

When you are younger you hear your parents tell you these things but take them with a pinch of salt.

I have compiled a list of lessons I personally have learned along the way below.

1. Take Action

This certainly has to be my #1 life lesson and for more information on taking action read this article. It covers a lot of reasons why people fail and mainly to do with the fact that they take zero action.

I love it when someone says they are busy working 40 hours per week and I respond “I remember my first part-time job” haha.

By taking massive determined action it opens so many doors and opportunities for you.

“Make your dreams a reality and start taking massive determined action today.”

Successful leaders and entrepreneurs have the courage to take action while others hesitate. Many do not see behind the scenes the effort and hard work which goes into success but taking action is the vital step to winning.

There is a big difference between taking notice and getting up off your ass and implementing your steps to reach your goals. Without action, the best intentions in the world are nothing more than just that: intentions.

2. Spend Money on Memories

I am a huge believer that the most valuable asset in life is your memories. People can spend millions on materialistic products but the memories on your death bed are what you truly remember.

Celebrating Mike Hughes Stag Party In Las Vegas

You can always make money but you cannot always make memories. This is very important because I have had friends become multi-millionaires thinking ‘they have made it’ and everything now will be perfect. The truth is the minute they retired and stopped doing the day to day tasks they thought was chores was actually what they enjoyed.

“Fill your life with experiences. Have stories to tell not stuff to show.”

Over the years I have bought nice cars, materialistic products and the concept of having it is far better than the outcome. For me, life was meant for family, great friends and great adventures with them. We are so lucky to be born so go and live the dream and experience the adventures of the world.

3.Develop and Improve

There is no such thing as 10/10 in my opinion. We can all develop and improve and for our sanity and life goals we should look to improve in all areas of life.

It does not matter how old you are or how much experience you have, you should always be improving. If you are not improving yourself then are you being lazy? Train and develop even when you feel you are the best because you need to remain several steps ahead of the game.

“Show me a fully satisfied person and I will show you failure.”

Online marketing, for example, changes regularly and you need to be keeping up to date with your knowledge. To further your own skills is very important because if you do not improve everyday your competition will take over you by improving.

Successful people don’t see it as free time, they see it as the only time they have to do the things they really want to do in life — and they don’t take a minute for granted.Reinvest Your Free Time Into Learning and Growing because wasted time is worse than wasted money in my opinion.

Your goal is to create a shift in your mindset. This will create emotional momentum, which will manifest itself into extremely focused behaviour. Most people don’t reinvest the time they’re given outside of work — they’d rather be entertained and distracted.

Choosing to develop and improve in your personal time isn’t common. But this is exactly what the world’s most successful people and top performers do. They know their ability to focus and avoid distractions is the difference between making thousands of dollars a year and millions of dollars a year.

4. Friends and Family

Surround yourself with loads of friends and family. The more friends the better because it means more different experiences, but keep your best mates and family close because they will be there through everything. I wrote how networking was important in businessbut this also applies to personal lifestyles also.

“I have learned that it is not what I have in my life but who I have in my life that counts.”

Create a tribe around you and make sure you gather around them frequently, it is always the times with your family and friends that are the best. The fun is priceless for your health, mindset and laughter is the best medicine for stress. A good laugh really does recharge your battery.

5. Play a Team Sport

Whether this is football, rugby, netball or whatever you decide. Being part of a team sport will give you laughter and fun as a team. The exercise is great for health and fitness but for me, the banter is the real reason why it has so many benefits. Being involved in a sports team gives you the social side of life which will create so many happy memories.

6. Health is Wealth

Your health is who you are and who you will become. Eat nice healthy food and exercise daily. When you’re young you feel you can eat whatever you want, but in later life, this catches up with you.

“Your body is your most priceless possession so take care of it.”

Make sure you live your life so your future self will be happy with what you did the previous day. Neglect your health and energy levels will drop and your whole life will change as health is the engine behind who you will become.

“Eat your food as your medicine, otherwise you have to eat medicine as your food.”

Maintaining a healthy lifestyle is easy if you can balance these natural medicines into your life:

1. Fresh Air
2. Sunlight
3. Exercise and Activity
4. Nutrition and Diet
5. Plenty of Water
6. Rest and Sleep
7. Laughter
8. Self Confidence

Maintain them and you will have the health to enjoy an amazing life. Try to make these above the things you enjoy doing because if you could work out with friends, going for a run in the fresh air while it is sunny you will be ticking off half of the list. Your health is your wealth so keep on top of it.

7. Learn a Martial Art

Great for conditioning and health benefits again. But the reason for learning martial arts is the respect it generates, building your concentration levels and discipline in focusing your mind. Oh and obviously the bonus is it helps you in self-defencesituations.

8. Be Proud of Yourself

We are all unique human beings but do not chase your life trying to be someone you are not. Be yourself and be proud of who you are instead of comparing yourself to someone else. Your friends, your teachers, your parents and family all have expectations of you but just be yourself.

“Don’t wait until you reach your goal to be proud of yourself. Be proud of each step you take toward reaching your goal.”

Do not try to live a life someone else would like you to be because that might not make you happy. You are awesome and have your own qualities which no one else in this world has. Here is an introduction to myself.

9. Choose your Own Path

Let close friends and family advise you on things, but you are responsible solely for your own path in your career, health, and happiness.

Choose your own path as it is your life. I absolutely love and enjoy networking, SEO and travelling so becoming a digital nomad was a no-brainer for me because included all three of these things.

You can choose for yourself what you believe or don’t believe, what you desire and don’t desire. You can define your own parameters.

Once you do that, you can start consciously creating your destiny according to your own vision.”You have to choose your own path in life.”

10. Treat People How You Want to be Treated

Ironically people start to change their attitude towards you when you begin treating them the way they treat you. There are a few great quotes I love with regards to this life lesson.

The Golden Rule goes beyond just treating others the way you would want to be treated. It’s a journey into the way you think of, feel about and speak to others, as well.

11. Focus on Solutions Not Problems

Identify your problems but give your power and energy to solutions. Too many complain and waste time whining instead of accepting the problem and quickly finding a solution.

Here is an article I highly recommend everyone to read about how to face your problems with solutions. If you focus all your ideas and energy into solutions then all the problems will make you the person you are today.

Remember, this morning if you are healthy, you are happier than the one million people that will not survive this week.

If there’s food in your fridge, shoes on your feet, clothes on your body, a bed to sleep on and a roof over your head, you’re richer than 75% of people in the world.

And if you have a bank account, money in your wallet, or a purse, or coins in a jar, you’re in the top 8% of the world’s wealthiest.

Play the cards you are dealt the best you can and learn from all the mistakes along the way.

All of us will fail and face problems in our lifetime but it is how we react and respond to these which creates our lives.

12. Think BIG

You really are capable of so much more than you can imagine. Chase your goals and set them high.

You will be surprised how much you can achieve if you believe in yourself.

Do not set your goals too small because you are capable of so much more. I love the quote

“Think big, believe big, act big and the results will be big.”

If you position yourself to act big before you have achieved your goals then the law of attraction will push you into receiving these goals.

Greatness lies within you and no matter what happens, it will always be part of you. But your mindset is what could be holding your greatness back.

13. Surround Yourself with Positivity

You’re a product of your environment so surround yourself with the best.

Positivity breeds positivity so hanging around successful folk and happy people is key.

David Goggins shows here why being surrounded by people who are going to push you and improve you every day is important.

Influence your family and close friends because a rising tide lifts all ships so your attitude can help others around you succeed.

People have a huge impact on your life. “You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with” is what the biggest entrepreneurs believe.

Surrounding yourself with positive people can make or break your efforts to grow and accomplish your goals and live your dream life.

“A Shark in a fish tank will grow 8 inches, But in the ocean, it will grow 8 ft or more. The Shark will never outgrow its environment and the same is True for You. Many times we are around the small thinking people so we don’t grow. Change Your Environment and Watch Your Growth”

Do not be a shark in the fish tank and have that wasted talent locked in a small living environment.

14. People Come and Go

This could be university friends you lose touch with as you move back home. Or it could be loved ones who pass away.

As awful as this sounds, we all are going to die. Instead of constantly feeling upset a close family member or friend has passed away, celebrate their life.

“People come and go but life is simply about seeing who cares enough to stay.”

Have you ever watched X Factor and seen all the sob stories people come out with thinking they are unfortunate?

The fact is it’s going to happen to us all, so are you going to waste your life away moaning or be positive and make them proud looking down on you?

You need to learn how to let go as hard as it might feel.

15. Learn to Forgive Yourself

You are probably your own harshest critic. Do not beat yourself up and be your own personal enemy.

You will make many mistakes and if you cannot forgive yourself how can you expect others to?

Be kind and caring to your inner self because you can then look to make amends or get back quickly to your positive attitude.

“There is no sense in punishing your future for the mistakes in the past.”

Learn from it and analyse if you have done something wrong but quickly forgive yourself and move on.

16. Travel the World

Have you truly experienced life and seen the wonders of the world? Have you experienced different cultures?

You will be amazed by the beauty you can find across the world and you will grow your knowledge and memories massively from doing this.

Studies show that friends that travel together remain together as best mates for life.

“Travel is the only thing you buy that makes you richer.”

If you want to go fast go alone. If you want to go far go together.

There are no strangers in this world, only friends I haven’t met yet.

17. Gratitude

Be grateful for what you have in life.

Even if you think your life is shit be grateful because someone else is certainly struggling more than you.

• Do you have a roof over your head becausethere’s over 10,000 homeless in Manchester (my local city)
• Two arms, two legs, hearing, sight? Many are very lucky to have this
• Men have died fighting wars so we can live
• Do you have a smart device phone with access to the internet which is your winning lottery ticket to learning anything
• A tap with freshwater, in Africa women, are leaving several kids to walk miles to get fresh water (barefoot)
• Get some perspective and show gratitude for everything you have

Unless you literally have not got any of these mentioned then feel grateful.

Expect nothing and appreciate absolutely everything. We are so lucky to be alive so cherish every breath we take on earth.

Every morning I wake up happy, proud and grateful for the life I have.

18. Loyalty Over Greed

Be loyal and fight the greedy guy from inside of us all.Loyalty is a huge attribute I expect from all my friends and business partners.

I was brought up with the ethics and morals to be loyal. You will encounter many times in life where you can get financial gains by not being loyal but this links back to ‘treat others how you want to be treated’

“There’s something wrong with your character if opportunity controls your loyalty.”

How would you feel if a close friend was not loyal? Do not betray a friend or another person for personal gains otherwise, karma will come back to bite you in the ass. Be loyal and not greedy.

19. Patience is a Virtue

Patience is not the ability to wait, but it is the ability to keep a positive attitude while waiting.

Our inner self-decides to get annoyed, and one of my weaknesses certainly is not being patient enough. Patience is not a skill but is a decision.

Like the attitude to not give up, you need to remember the best things in life are worth waiting for.

Try to improve and develop yourself to become more patient with your own self-being.

This honestly has been one of my hardest tasks because personally I am very impatient but like any skill, you need to train hard at it to improve.

20. Work Hard But Play Harder

Grafting in work is an absolute given. The harder you work the more successful financially you will be but have a fine balance in life.

If you do not play harder you will struggle to grow your friendships, to travel so much and create all those awesome memories.

I certainlyplay very hardbecause for me life is about living so what makes me happy is banter, laughing, experiencing new adventures my playtime is when I create my best memories.

21. Don’t Be Judgemental

Do not judge a book by its cover. You will be surprised in life what you get out of everyone you meet.

I have heard stories of a homeless guy on the streets giving his last dollar to somehow who need to catch the bus.

That act of kindness is unreal, and you can see asimilar story here which went viral about a homeless person giving a student £3 to get a taxi home safely.

Don’t base your opinion on someone by their appearance and try to learn something from absolutely everybody.

22. Fail Regularly

This might seem a strange one to put down but it is so true. Failure in life is inevitable if you truly push yourself to your limits.

It is impossible to live without failing at something unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all – in which case, you fail by default.

“We either learn to fail or fail to learn.”

You can’t be paralysed by fear of failure or you will never push yourself.

It is an amazing outlook to fail regularly. How cool would it be for a school pupil if the teacher said, “Right class you can all sit your exam and if you fail then go away, come back and resit it until you get all the grades you want”?

“Would you like me to give you a formula for success? It’s quite simple, really. Double your rate of failure.”

This is basically what you can do in life. Test yourself and if you fail you go away learn what you got wrong and test yourself again until you hit your desired goals.

23. Break The Rules

I do not mean break the law but breaking the rules. There are too many rules in life and if you are too well behaved and don’t break the rules you will never be a maverick or true original.

Here is a great video from Arnold Schwarzenegger about breaking the rules.

The only rule you should consider is that there are no rules.

Saying within the rules is staying within your comfort zone and no entrepreneur was created by staying within their comfort zone.

24. You Cannot Please Everyone

Grow thick-skinned for certain situations you will encounter. As we are all unique we all naturally have different opinions.

Do not chase to please everyone because it is impossible and reverts back to being proud of who you are.

Derek Moneyberg has a great explanation in this video with “If everyone likes you, then no one will love you”. Check it out:

As you cannot please everyone you need to set your own lifes plans.

“If you don’t design your own life’s plan. Chances are you’ll fall into somebody else’s plan. And guess what they have planned for you? Not much.”

Competitors, jealousy, and others will not like you or make an opinion on who you are without even knowing you as an individual but be hard-skinned to understand this instead of fighting it.

“The people who matter don’t mind, and the people who mind don’t matter.”

There will be times certain folk in life are selfish or have a hidden agenda. I wrote an article about how wasted time is worse than wasted money because you need to quickly weed out the people in life who will not make you happy so more time can be spent with loved ones.

25. Question Everything

Never believe something without testing or seeing it for yourself.

Richard Feynman was one of the greatest physicists ever, contributing to Quantum Electro Dynamics and he is a huge advocate of this.

To just copy or imitate the method of the past is true to not be doing science. Feynman says we learn from science that you must doubt the experts.

“Science is the belief in the ignorance of experts. When someone says ‘science teaches such and such’, he is using the word incorrectly. Science doesn’t teach it; experience teaches it”

Feynman calls for a “philosophy of ignorance.” This is more than just healthy scepticism but it helps us learn through our own evidence, experience and allow our own judgement then.

Check out this video we created for a laugh at a recent mastermind in my office.

The point is now when this gets shared some groups will be saying to others ‘hit the FUCK outta the HTACCESS file’ and sharing these knowledge bombs because they will just treat it as gospel and not test this.

Too many times in life we take everything for granted when actually we should create our own opinion from experiences.

Obviously, seek advice but then check this for yourself to develop your own thoughts on situations.

“Live by your own personal experiences and judgments, not those made by others, because you may learn that they are not the same for you.”

Trust people but verify it.

26. Retirement is Not An Option For Myself

Ironically, most people’s personal time can actually be about as stressful as work. In the words of Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi:

“On the job people feel skillful and challenged, and therefore feel more happy, strong, creative, and satisfied. In their free time people feel that there is generally not much to do and their skills are not being used, and therefore they tend to feel more sad, weak, dull, and dissatisfied. Yet they would like to work less and spend more time in leisure.”

So when you have enough money to retire then is this really an option? Nope, not for me because I’d always want to feel challenged and in my flow state of mind. Once you take retirement and take it easier it’s been proven that you start regressing both in physical and mental health.

This is also part of the reason why I love to do a couple of hoursof work when travelling on my holidays.

Just to keep on top of the workflow as I actually enjoy a balanced mix of work/playtime.

By doing this then it also allows me to have way more holidays throughout the year without falling behind on anything. Hence the #LaptopLifestyle photos constantly lol.

27. Time Flies

If you do not live for today and make the most of your time before you know it then you will wonder where your time went.

“Time is the pivot of life activities. When you miss a second, you miss a time in your lifetime! Time is undoubtedly the greatest asset one can ever acquire. The ultimate and real-time is in the mind. Time is thought and thought is time. To mind your time, mind your thought! To mind your life, mind your time!”

The most precious element of your life is time.

28. Delegate Work

When you travel and meet other digital nomads you start to realise so many of these have read amazing books like the 4 hour workweekand the emyth revisited which are possibly the best books I have ever read.

These teach you techniques to stop getting yourself bogged down on day to day running of your businesses. I wrote an article about working on your business and not in it which explains the reasoning why delegation is key.

We all have 24 hours in a day and are restricted to this so there is only so much you can physically do yourself. Hence the reason delegation of work is a real key to success and many entrepreneurs struggle to let go, but this struggle will always hold them back from further growth.

“Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.”

I absolutely love this saying about everybody is a genius. This is so true and we all have our strengths. However, it is about having a great leader playing into all these strengths which is key. Hiring character and training the skill is important in my eyes. Plus when delegating work it is about coaching and leading the way on what you would like. A leader is always better than a boss.

29. Embrace The Digital Era

There has never been a better time in life than now to earn millions. It is so easy to advertise and promote your brands or services now online with billions of people having an internet connection. Read the articleThe Digital World – So Easy Making Money Online which explains the digital era we are living in and capitalise on this time because people will look back as these were the glory days.

As technology is growing so fast, now is the time to start embracing this new digital world. By far my best blog I have written is here on INVEST INTO DIGITAL ASSETS because this explains the digital boom which is happening.

Let me make this simple: If there is lots of demand for houses then the sale price increases. Exactly the same equation can be used digitally. And as we live in the digital era, asset prices are obviously growing ridiculously fast.

30. Enjoy The Journey

I have some very close friends who are multimillionaires but some of them are depressed because all their life they have chased the money and done everything they can to improve their bank balance. With this obsession to earn more money they completely missed the point that you only have one shot at life.

“So often we become so focused on the finish line that we fail to enjoy the journey.”

You need to treasure every day as being your last and enjoy the journey. I did an article here calledLive The Moment – It Is All About The Journey Not The Outcome which explains this in more detail but do not relate success to money.

Money should be the by-product and my life lesson is that success is fun, health, laughter and love. Money is not a success and people need to enjoy the whole journey and not just the outcome.

31. BeginWith The End In Mind

When looking to build a successful business you need to set your goal and then work backwards. Begin with the end in mind because otherwise you could end up creating a website that you like but it does not appeal to your target buyers. A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.

Are you prepared to take these small steps to reach your goal? This saying I love because it is all about training and developing your skills. It’s about making you are prepared for fast growth when you are presented with certain opportunities. But it is all about realising the opportunities are rare so taking small steps of development in knowledge every day will prepare you for the quick wins.

“Step by step you get ahead but rarely in fast spurts. But you need to prepare for the fast spurts by learning step by step.”

A dedicated blog has been created called Work With The End In Mind because I learnt this as a valuable lesson when looking to flip some websites. I started several big affiliate websites and built them on a custom design website which saved me time and I thought this was a great idea because it suited myself.

But if I had listened to this advice I would have realised that buyers would probably want the website in WordPress because that is what they are familiar with using. For me to sell the site at my preferred bid I needed to move all these sites over costing me a lot of money. Always set clear visions of the outcome and then work this backwards.

32. Study Stoicism

This is a big part of my life at present to study stoicism more. The reason this is such a huge life lesson for me is that a few close friends of mine have made multi-million pounds in investments. Sounds amazing right? Well, what if I told you that since they have seven or eight figures in their bank balance they have become depressed and not satisfied with life. Watch this video which explains stoicism a little more:

The video explains to practice misfortune. Sounds daft but we need to prepare ourselves for family members passing away. We need to prepare that some investments will fail, relationships might end and misfortune in this ever-changing world is inevitable.

Stoicism is something we all need to study because in life many people set targets and think ‘If I can just make one million pounds I will be happy’. But the truth is when you get there you set yourself new goals of two million, three million, ten million. It’s a never-ending goal you chase for what many thinks will be happiness.

Look into stoicism more and in the video, I love the self-discipline techniques he explains. By using these techniques it allows you to gain self-discipline because the people with discipline have ownership of their life. The techniques are to voluntarily cause yourself some discomfort to appreciate things in life.

I say it all the time“you have to suffer”. You have to make that a tattoo on your brain. So when that hard time comes again, you don’t forget it.

Here are some examples of voluntarily discomfort to practice tostart making yourself tougher and stop being soft like society is today (these are the baby steps in a western world but then from this, you move onto tougher tasks to build a calloused mind):

1. See how long you can leave your air conditioning off on a hot day – you will appreciate this much more by doing this when it is on
2. Go for a hike in bare feet – by doing this every morning you wake up to put trainers on or shoes you will appreciate what you have in life
3. Take an ice-cold shower – this will make you be happy for simple things like warm water
4. Don’t eat for 48 hours – then you will appreciate how easy it is for humans to access food so easily

It sounds crazy to do these things above by choice. But you are broadening your comfort zone to appreciate the simple things in life. Having clean running water, a roof over our head, the freedom of life and ability to access food so easily. We take all these things for granted too much but third world countries would do anything to be in positions many of you reading this are in.

33. Keep Your Feet on the Ground When Your Head in Clouds

Having your head in the clouds is good to think big and to have big goals, dreams and ideas. But you need to keep “your feet on the ground” to be practical in where you are on the spectrum. You need to realise where you are in dreaming vs. doing and taking action to move towards your dreams. But keeping your feet on the ground and remembering your roots is key.

I come from a small town in England called Leigh. It does not even have a train station so not a large city location. But I love my roots and proud to be known as Leyther. Leigh town is my roots and I will always remain rooted and feet on the ground. It is fine having mahoosive goals in life but remembering your roots is also very important I believe. So this is why I thinkingKeeping Your Head in the Clouds and Your Feet on the Ground is an important life lesson.

34. Move with The Times – DEAL WITH IT

This is a very frustrating life lesson when I hear people being negative towards change. Here is an article named Move with the Times – DEAL WITH IT I go into more detail on it. But Cryptocurrency is a prime example of this and people just sitting back not moving with the times and embracing the new digital currency. Over the years you hear I have learnt to ignore the negative vibes as history has shown these things to happen times and time again:

1. At first they ignore you
2. Then they start to laugh and ridicule your idea
3. They fight you on the idea
4. Then they invest in you

Uber, Airbnb and many others are prime examples of this. Be proactive and innovative in all work and thoughts in your life. I love these quotes to do with this “Too many businesses get left in the dust because they’re too comfortable with their current success” and also “I wake up every morning and think about how I can put myself out of business. By that, I mean I think about every way another business can disrupt my profit and current successes”.

35. Replace Lose with Learn in Your Vocabulary

Although I have got this life lesson above on failing regularly then I wanted to add this also about your mindset around it. What I mean by this header of replace lose with learn in your vocabulary is that all losses will improve you and you will learn much more from these in life than anything else.

A ‘never lose’ mentality is instilled into champions and entrepreneurs throughout the world. So I always educate my team to adapt this phrase into their mindset and always take this approach on outcomes:-

“You Win Or You Learn”

You see how this is not you win or lose. Replacing lose with learn now opens the door for you to experiment, test and push yourself much more as there is no option of losing. You train yourself to win and if it does not work out then you find out why and develop from it.

Too many never fail or lose in life but are not successful. This is because they live their whole life in the comfort zone and although this is a nice place then you never see progression or anything exciting inside of a comfort zone.

Life begins when you take that step outside of your comfort zone and push yourself away from there. It is great when you finally take those steps to move outside of the comfort zones many live in.

Do not let your weak mentality make you scared of losing or failure. Embrace it and try to push yourself every single day to lose or fail on something so you start to know your boundaries as this could be so much more than you predict.

You are only confined by the walls surrounding you that your mind built yourself. Examples of how to push your limits daily:-

• At the gym lifting a new heavyweight personal best
• A run you do then try to reduce the time by 10 seconds
• In the workplace how can you add an extra 5% gross profit
• Outreach to try and connect to five new influencers
• Health benefits – improving body mass fat, weight or your personal goals on the physique
• There are loads more but it is all about embracing your limits and treating losing as learning

36. Synergy is the Best Word EVER

Synergy is my favourite word in the world. This article on synergy and networking explains why I love synergising so much. I get asked to speak regularly at conferences and generally decline because do not personally promote myself as a brand. However, if I ever did then SYNERGY would certainly be my topic. I love this quote on why networking is so great:-

“I learn something from everyone I meet. From most people I learn what not to.”

With meeting people and synergising it is not just what you learn but also what you realise what not to do also. All the biggest entrepreneurs have dozens of success stories but along with that, they have many failures and tips they have learned along the way.

You might not agree with everything people say who you meet. Especially when you travel the world meeting people from different cultures, religions and origins. But the best part of all this is you have the choice to pick and choose what you want to adapt into your life and funnel your interests towards that.

37. Your Brain is Your Bitch

I created a blog on Your Brain is Your Bitch because of the importance of mindset. The truth is our thoughts create our feelings and our feelings create our actions which then our actions create our results. The question is –Are You in Control of Your Thoughts?

Every feeling in your life is because of a thought you’re thinking, it makes sense that we need to begin looking inside our minds and be conscious of our thoughts.Once you can become aware of your thoughts you can then decide which thoughts you want to keep thinking and which thoughts you want to get rid of. This will allow you to become the person you desire to be and therefore design the life you desire to live. The thoughts we think are a choice.

The law of attraction is a huge part 0f this life lesson. The truth is yourLife is only as good as your mindset so educate and train your mindset with gratitude and positive thoughts. Do not make your brain be your bitch and get in control of your mindset because you can change the direction of your life with your thoughts.

38. The Power Of When

Don’t believe the bullshit that you learn and do the most at 6am in the morning because all of us are different. I was educated get up early and that’s when you are at your flow state but this is not true and finding your power of when is key to success.

There are specific times when you are most primed for nearly every task.Every person has a master biological clock ticking away inside of their brain, and dozens of smaller biological clocks throughout his or her body. But, unlike a normal clock, not every person’s biological clock keeps the same time or even at the same pace. If you’ve ever heard someone say, “I’m not a morning person”, well there’s a reason for that. Some people are meant to be more productive in the morning than at night, and vice versa.

Believe it or not – your body has been programmed to function much better at certain times of the day than others. Based on general morningness and eveningness preferences, different people fall into different classifications, called “Chronotypes”. Each Chronotype will reveal exactly what you need to do towork with your body, not against it.

There are 4 Chronotypes so some might be best at work at midnight. Take the power of when quiz to see what chronotype you are. Each type has a very specific timetable for entering into peak flow states.So you need to find your power of when and capitalise on this every single day.

Most people will go their whole lives without ever really knowing when they’re the most primed to operate at world-class levels. They will continue to operate as a square peg in a round hole.

39. Never Give Up

Too many people in life think of an idea then never see the whole idea through. They give up when they are so close to something big or life-changing for them. A classic quote for never giving up is:

“If you’re going through hell, keep going.”

Focus your mind to complete tasks and do not jump from one minor task to another without finishing any. Stay true to your word and complete all the minor tasks you set out to do each day.

No matter who you are, who your parents are or were, where you live, what you do for a living, or how much money you have, you’re probably living at about 40% of your true capability

Majority of people give up because they look too far into the future and do not set themselves baby steps and mini-goals. A collection of these mini-goals get you to your desired destination and help you not to give up too soon.

40. Consistently Enter Flow States

If you want success the biggest task is to find your flow state and cut out the distractions in life. Most people sleepwalk through life without ever feeling so intensely focused, time seems to stand still. Flow is the optimal state of consciousness where we feel our best and perform our best.

It is believed that it takes 23 mins and 15 seconds (from professional studies) once distracted to get back on your flow state.

Typical distractions could be texts, emails, phone calls, social media or being within your busy work office. Productivity quadruples when you are not distracted and enter your flow state. Go to this article for more information on your flow state of mind.

41. Skill is Earned

Do you want to be highly skilled? Well get out there and earn it today.

Studies show you need10,000 hours of practice to become expert in themajority of niches.Do not think for one minute that the leaders in your field you believe is at ‘the top’ did not start at the bottom somewhere and did not fail numerous times.

“Hustle beats talent when talent doesn’t hustle.”

You need to excel in taking ridiculous, sickening amounts of work ethic to be the best. Earn those skills and while others are sleeping get ahead of the game, while others are watching TV be developing your skills and use your spare time wisely to develop and earn those skills to be the guru and expert in your niches.

42. Embrace Criticism

As a society, we’ve become so scared of offending anyone that criticism has fast become something that is virtually unheard of. This is wrong. If you only hear what you want to hear you’ll never learn anything.

“I do not want a load of fans who praise my mediocrity. I want critics who make me better as a human in everything I do.”

You won’t grow and adapt, and when something does go wrong (which it inevitably will), you’ll be completely unprepared and clueless as to how to put it right. You need to embrace criticism, however harsh it may seem. Take it on board, apply it, and you will learn so much more than if you hadn’t.

43. Focus is Todays IQ

Give me a member of staff with the highest IQ from university or give me a focused team member who says “I can”? I would take the latter every day of the week.

“I can is 1000 times more important than an IQ or qualification.”

It’s amazing to have so much information and opportunities at the touch of a button, but it has also lead to us becoming easily distracted and disconnected from the real world.

So many precious hours are wasted every single day just idly looking at a screen when that time could be better put to use expanding your knowledge and improving yourself. Be tough on yourself when it comes to using the internet, stay focused and be disciplined.

Hire Character Teach Competence

You need to hire character and teach competence for any members of staff you look to employ.

You must have heard the saying “Hard works beats talent when talent does not work hard”.

Hiring staff with character and the attitude to develop and improve will give them the skills they need to become an awesome team member.

Trying to hire staff with the correct qualifications or skills but not diving into their mindset or characteristics is a scary strategy and where businesses fail.

Courses can improve the competence of staff to get the ability to do something successfully or efficiently.

But no course can change a mindset or character of a person overnight. Check out the house of change model surrounding characters to educate you on the best characters to look at for employment.

44. Anywhere in The World Can Be Your Office

The best thing about being a digital nomad ormillennial wanderer is now with the internet you can literally be based anywhere in the world.A global network of live-work spaces is springing up to serve this new breed of millennial wanderers who travel around the world working out of various locations. Check out this video of a trip to Phuket in Thailand where several of my digital nomad mates travelled with me:

You can be just as productive in beautiful environments where you can have amazing massages under $10 each day and drinks in amazing coffee shops based in the most luxurious locations.

I love this the most about being able to work from anywhere in the world and this article shows you the world is my office with numerous locations where I have managed to work from and known to many as the laptop lifestyle.

45. Comparison Is The Thief Of Joy

Theodore Roosevelt, argues thatcomparingyour work, your life, or whatever else will only serve to make you unhappy.

Social media is very misleading in the sense that you only see what people want you to see.

You usually only see the ups, the massive paydays, beautiful vacations, chiselled abs, champagne showers, flawless relationships…

What you don’t see is the 12 months of grinding day and night to make that six-figure payday.

You don’t know whether that vacation you envy is a once-in-3-year trip that someone saved up for years to be able to do.

The amazing physique might be the peak of a multi-week super strict diet and the person doesn’t look like that a week later.

It’s very easy for a couple to look like they’re in a perfect relationship but you don’t know how much they fight or lie or cheat.

So, enjoy social media but don’t compare your life to the absolute best moments of others that you see on social media.

“Stop comparing as social media has no truth and you are enough so keep it real.”

Comparing yourself on social media is a total dopamine distraction…..

You need to manage your time to stay off social media as it releases dopamine which leads you to not getting shit done.

When you compare yourself to others, you know all the dirty details of your personal situation or the problems with what you’ve created.

But only the seemingly positive surface information about them or their work.

So don’t hold yourself up to some outside vague standard of greatness.

Judge your work by your principles and leave comparison out of the equation.

46. Learn To Say NO To Clients

Winning every single client you price is not good and does not mean you are awesome – it means you are too cheap and need to raise your price.

The cheapest price is not always the best value – Buy Cheap Usually Leads to Buying Twice.

I have created an article called SEO Client Referral which is basically a default blog explaining why I do not want to work with clients to SEO their website.

There is no arrogance in this and the clients will appreciate your honesty. I hate the fact online there are loads of searches for:

• how to say no at work politely
• learning to say no to additional work
• Overwhelmed at work and need to know how to say no
• How do you politely decline a proposal
• How do you say no without being rude?

The reason I dislike these searches is that it should be an answer – be straight and honest to the client and say it how it is.

Check this table out above with regards to lowering your profit margins. It is scary if you lower your profit from 30% to 20% then you need to go out and find 50% more sales just to break the same. It just is not worth saying YES to every one.

When you learn how to say NO to some leads this will give you more time to think, grow and give the customers the service they deserve. It is about working smarter and not harder when looking to build profitable businesses.

47. Upsells and Funnels Is Where The Money Is

Grafting for years to build the client base and constantly looking for the NEW business to grow.

When your existing client base is the best place to start as they already know who you are and trust you.

The upsells, downsells and cross-sells to improve customer lifetime value is where the money is made.

All extra purchases from existing customers do not have all the marketing costs attached to acquiring that new client.

48. Have a Vision Statement

If you have a vision statement about what you want to be the law of attraction will get you there.

Here is my vision statement with a photo of my brothers, wife and close friends.

I regularly read back my vision statement because I like to make sure in business, personal life and overall I am sticking close to what I believe in.

49. Be a Shepherd Not a Sheep

What I mean with this is, do not follow the grain.

You can 100% learn from the older generation but life is faster paced now and with the advancements in technology and infrastructure there really are new methods to entrepreneurship.

My main life lesson in this is to forget competition. There is no such thing as competition if you are a shepherd. You are the leaders and you are raising the bar in your innovative ideas and mindset.

The true shepherd elevates others around them. To truly live life as a success focus on elevating everyone at all times and naturally, you will build amazing relationships.

It is so easy to tear others down and belittle them. But when you elevate everyone around you this is carried out by great people.

• Be a Shepherd By Leading By Example – lead them by your own good example
• Be a Shepherd By Focusing on the Bigger Picture – long term by elevating others you will be surrounded by love, committed staff and friends who buy into your own amazing thoughts to help others
• Be a Shepherd By Building Relationships – do not have growth plans and grow personal goals alone as you will be lonely when you meet this growth. Instead of including your relationships with friends, partner, and family in your growth plans
• Be a Shepherd By Inspiration – be that person people can’t wait to be around as they know they’ll leave inspired and motivated
• Be a Shepherd By Encouragement – the biggest stumbling block in humans is their mindset. Help and encourage them to achieve goals and experiences they only thought they could wish for
• Be a Shepherd By Elevating Others – the most rewarding gift you can do is making elevating others part of your life. Lead from the front and pull everyone up along your journey in life.
• Be a Shepherd By Love – if you are flexible and ready for the unexpected then this flexibility will be loved. Too love and to be loved is the best thing ever, but can be cruel. Lead by example and just show love to others even when it can be the most difficult moments of your life to do so.

“Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.”

50. Buy a Racehorse

Ok quickly let me tell you this before every reader starts to invest their life savings into a racehorse I am NOT saying it is a clever business investment by any stretch of the imagination. It is a huge gamble financially with vet bills, training fees and costs to pay when racing them.

I have added this one in because all my article has been around fun, laughter and memories. And this life lesson of buying racehorse links in nicely to this quote:

“Don’t educate your children to be rich. Educate them to be happy.”

From a business point of view, I feel this investment is not as strong from an ROI as investing in the digital era but buying a racehorse can certainly make you some nice money. Especially if you choose your horse racing trainers well like I have done in Ado McGuinness Racing in Ireland. Here is me recently at the horse racing yard with my horse called Saltonstall:

The main reason for the life lesson being added to purchasing a racehorse is what memories and experiences this brings for you, your buddies and your family. The days out you get and time to share with the most important people in your life is priceless.

Check out all the winners we have had over the years:

If the horses I have bought lose me money over for the years. But on my deathbed, I can look back and remember some of the best times in my life then the money will be well spent. Until you own a racehorse you’ll never understand that excitement and thrill of when it is at the races and I am saying this before I have even had my first winner with them.

But I know in years to come then I will be a successful racehorse owner and some people who will not know the downs we have had along the way will say ‘you are so lucky’ but my response is always:

“It is amazing how the harder I’ve worked the luckier I have become.”

51. Appeal to Authority

Appeal to authority is a common type of fallacy or an argument based on unsound logic. When writers or speakers use appeal to authority, they are claiming that something must be true because it is believed by someone who said to be an “authority” on the subject.

Do not be so deluded to believe everything you hear from our politicians, or any authoritative source, to be true. The Milgram Experiment proved this to be such a crazy experiment where humans would go to drastic lengths just because they thought it was ok because an authority figure told them it was. Check out this video:

In my internet marketing industry, I find so-called ‘SEO experts’ spouting bullshit and when you tackle them on it to say “have you tested this nonsense?” their response is they heard it from Moz Whiteboard Friday but they base all their findings on what could be made up or incorrect.

But just because Moz is seen to be a trusted source they treat it as gospel (not once questioning the fact Google has shares in them and might release information to push the Google propaganda and get more marketers into wrong paths so they just end up paying for advertisements).

Note to self: it is obviously great to read up and learn things but always err on the side of caution because nowadays the majority of the internet is false information. First pages of Google is filled with affiliate websites that are reviewing products and guess what – they are being very sneaky in just giving the best ratings to those brands which are willing to pay the highest commissions. Be careful with the appeal to authority fallacy.

52. Eliminate Analysis Paralysis Psychology

Luckily from being young, I would always throw myself into the deep end of the swimming pool – no literally I would (which is not good advice before you can swim lol).

But this attitude has put me in great stead because I can eliminate the analysis paralysis psychology (akaProcrastination) barrier many people in business get.

Analysis paralysis is a person’s tendency to over-analyze or over-think upon a decision to such an extent that they failto make a choice resulting in a paralyzed state of inaction. Another term for this isProcrastination and basically means “delay or postpone action; put off doing something”.

How to Overcome Analysis Paralysis

Here are some steps you can take to overcome this psychology or in some ways brain disease you have:

1. Break things down into mini-steps to help you reach the goal
2. Keep moving forward with your ideas and never analyse things too much
3. Put healthy pressure on yourself to push on with what you think is the right choice
4. Forget perfection – getting started is more important than a perfect plan
5. Prioritise your decisions and do not treat every task as having the same impact
6. Take action and remove paralysis by analysis

Have you ever thought the random nights are the best (that is because no plan was made and you go along with your instinct)?

Too many choices is a classic case ofprocrastinating but train your brain better to eliminate the analysis paralysis psychology. Procrastination can really hurt a business, so make sure when you are learning something, once you have analysed this – put it into action. Don’t put off doing something by over-analyzing.

53. It Took Me 23 Years to Become An Overnight Success

If anyone knows me personally they know I am at the young age of 23 years of age (and have been for a while lol).

The life lesson here is to do withsuccess taking time and being hard work, for many years, before you reap the rewards.

Nowadays after a lot of grinding, hustling and being in the trenches grafting I can start to see the benefits but took me the 23 years I have been on Earth to get to this stage.

For this reason, I now understand wasted time is worse than wasted money and why I do not carry out client work anymore.

“If I do a job in 30 minutes it’s because I spent 10 years learning how to do that in 30 minutes. You owe me for the years, not the minutes.”

I absolutely love this quote because it is so true in the commercial world where you need to be charging based on your expertise instead of pricing based on the length of time that particular work took to complete.

Raising your prices based on your experience is key and a huge part of how you become the overnight success. As now the knowledge and understanding you have to allow you to carry out tasks so much faster so you need to be charging for this ability.

54. Ebbinghaus Forgetting Curve

This is crazy. No wonder employers (who don’t have proper training) get frustrated with staff if 67% of what you taught the staff is forgotten after one day. (The employers need to improve the training and keep educating staff to develop).

Educate > Implement > Systemise > Get them to train the next member.

This video shows the Feynman technique where it states ‘If you can’t explain it simply, then you don’t understand it well enough’. And this video is showing you if you want to understand something well then learn how to explain it.

I knew a lot was lost in the initial training stage but forgetting 67% of what you learn is crazy within 1 day.

This graph shows the Ebbinghaus Forgetting Curve graph showing retention against the time since learning.

This is where patience, re-educating and helping fellow employees is crucial.

Staff learn the most when training other staff what they have learnt as they start to understand the WHY and not just what they are doing!!

Don’t be scared to ask for help or support if you are not sure of something. But try your best to implement what you have learned quickly so you don’t forget what you’ve been taught.

55. The Enjoyment of a Win Will Far Outweigh the Disappointed of Several Losses

I absolutely loved this quote, when I heard it off a legend of a chap, called Bart O’Sullivan.

This phrase resonates with myself so much, and I think every single entrepreneur will completely agree, with this saying.

You do not remember the losses, but certainly, have the memories of the winners with you.

Now a life lesson I have found out to be very important is this saying goes against everything studied in ‘loss aversion’.

Loss Aversion suggests that losses are twice as powerful, psychologically, as gains. So this goes against my quote here I heard from Bart O’Sullivan.

But what I have personally understood, is the folk who believe in loss aversion, are the folk who take no risks, who are too worried, anxious and suffer from analysis paralysis.

“In cognitive psychology and decision theory, loss aversionrefers to people’s tendency to prefer avoidinglosses to acquiring equivalent gains: it is better to not lose £100 than to find £100”

Where the people who understand “The Enjoyment of a Win Will Far Outweigh the Disappointed of Several Losses” are the risk-takers, the ones who become successful, who are driven to succeed and take action in their life.

Which do you believe is more powerful? The wins or the losses?

56. It Is Not the Lack of Resources, It’s Resourcefulness

Have you ever noticed how some people seem to be able to accomplish anything no matter how big the odds are stacked against them?

“I have a lack of resources.” We’ve all heard it so many times, we’ve probably said it ourselves. Lack of money, time, technology, contacts, a better boss, education, opportunity… and the list goes on. But is this really the issue? If you had a million dollars, a 48-hour day or unlimited opportunity, would things really be that much different? Would you be more creative, more passionate? Would you reach your dream? Do you consider yourself a success? I doubt it.

Resources are never the problem – it is a lack ofResourcefulness that is why you failed. Check out this video from Tony Robbins explaining this:

Resourcefulness is the ultimate resource. The ultimate human resources arehonesty, sincerity, love, creativity, decisiveness, passion and when you engage these resources you can get any other resources on Earth.

As harsh as this sounds but if someone said ‘you have 24 hours to do something or I shoot all your family’ then you will find a way to get it done. Cause people when they are going to die or succeed tend to succeed.

To understand it is not the lack of resources to why you are failing at present but is resourcefulness, you need sort out, in your life. If you truly want to change your life you can do, but deep down you are choosing not to.

57. Breathe Motherfucker

Ok so straight away you are wondering what the hell am I talking about as we all breathe.

But unless you have experienced the Wim Hof Experience you will not get this life lesson.

We’re always breathing, yet we’re mostly unaware of its tremendous potential. Heightened oxygen levels hold a treasure trove of benefits, and the specialized breathing technique of the Wim Hof Method unearths them all:

• More energy levels
• Reduced stress levels
• The augmented immune response that swiftly deals with pathogens
• Faster recovery from physical exertion
• Better sleep
• Improved sports performance
• Enhanced creativity
• More focus and mental clarity

Practising the specific breathing exercises of the Wim Hof Method will release your inner fire. The exercises are focused on deep and rhythmic inhalations and exhalations, described by Wim as ‘controlled hyperventilation or power breathing’ and are followed by a retention time, where you hold your breath for an x amount of time. By practising the breathing exercises, you are releasing more energy, influencing your nervous system and changing various physiological responses.

After meeting Wim Hof personally I can honestly say what a top bloke the guy is. He is known as the ‘Iceman’ and holds over 25 world records so a legend in his own rights. But the methods he taught me with his breathing exercises were truly the most liberating feeling I have ever felt.

If you get the chance to meet the guy at any event I would strongly advise on this because is a life memory I will never forget.

58. Fix the Roof While the Sun is Shining

So recently my father-in-law Tony Rimmer educated me on the 4 room house of change model

• Renewal –Strong feelings of community. Self-confidence. Energy. Radical ideas, a desire to make things happen. Participate and observe with open feelings to create change. Eager, strong, open, alive, able to do what I want, intelligent, independent, growing, warm, glowing, vibrant, creative, insightful, ecstatic, faith, hope and love, courageous, rich, infinite. Known as the YES+ Model.
• Confusion – Something is or feels wrong here & now, but I do not know what, or what to do to make things right. Tense, negative self-consciousness with feelings of inferiority and doubts. A sense of unreality. Troubled, alone, frustrated, split, anxious, misty, confused, no self-confidence, restless, helpless, raging, rootless, inferior, uncertain, doubtful, afraid, left out, torn, lost.Known as the YES- Model.
• Contentment – My present situation feels good enough as it is. No marked self-reflection. Feeling average in the sense of not special. Confident, calm, effective, liking myself, relaxed, willing to compromise, uncomplicated, resting, collected, useful, industrious, belonging, comfortable, optimistic, satisfied, sleepy.Known as the NO+ Model.
• Denial – Self-discipline with focus on defending a certain pattern or status quo. No clear feelings. I am in control but uptight. Attention concentrated on the task felt to be necessary, on the rules in others’ eyes, on not to lose face, on tactical considerations. Irritated, tense, bored, calculating, withdrawn, tough, determined, stating the facts, superior, deliberating, poor, mean, like an impostor, abstract, hard, hidden, frozen, hesitant, entangled, harsh, indifferent, cynical, uninformed, critical, hostile, condemned.Known as the NO- Model.

But after researching the house of change model I disagreed with Tony who said I was in the renewal room and replied – No I am on the Roof not in any room.

The termFix the Roof While the Sun is Shining is a phrase which is often usedto justify completing a task ahead of time. If there are holes on your roof it wouldn’t matter very much in the summertime but if youwaited until a rainy day to start fixing those holes then we’d all get wet. Stay ahead of the game!!

Repair the roof while it is still sunshining.

“When the company is good – change the company”

Like the term “Fix the Roof While the Sun is Shining” then start completing tasks, ahead of time. Then stay ahead of the game with your company.

59. Great Leaders Eat Last

This digital nomad life lesson comes from the book Leaders Eat Last by Simon Sinek who is an inspiring author.

Inside the book, there is a couple of super important elements which resonated with me:

1. When we make ourself vulnerable to our employees and partners by giving them the power to destroy the business and trusting they won’t use it
2. We give everyone responsibility and power so they are valued which earns respect for them to grow (a rising tide lifts all ships)
3. Previous times you have had bad experiences trusting others as they take take take. Well, look at yourself because there is one common trait here and that is YOU. When you take a vacation your staff will work even harder as won’t want to let you down (if you give the respect they deserve)
4. Human Relationships is so much better in person than email or text message. Texts and email are you talking at each other. Interaction in person where you interrupt each other is messy and this messiness cannot happen over the internet as everything is exactly that way. But it is this messiness which gets shit done
5. Great leaders eat last because they protect their team first. Employees get paid and if the business is not making a profit the leaders do not eat. They take that responsibility to protect their team and are the last to take anything from the establishment
6. Real leaders are that mother who instinctively without weighing up the pros and cons or bad things that might happen to her throw herself on that child. That is what real leadership is
7. The best leaders create a team and this team understand the whole vision. They fight as one and together are so much stronger united

Check out this animated video with regards to the book Leaders Eat Last:

The reason I love this video is that it highlights the importance of the following:

• Endorphins – Serve the primary purpose in a release when you workout. Endorphins are a chemical for progress and that great feeling after doing a gym workout or also known after a run called ‘Runners High’
• Dopamine – Is the intense feeling of satisfaction when you achieve that goal you have set out. Crossing the milestone and another chemical for progress as ticks things off your to-do list
• Serotonin – Is a feeling you get within a group environment and feel appreciated by others. Serotonin strengthens your social bonds and you cannot get serotonin working alone. Hence why having a team or friends around you is key for a healthy living balance
• Oxytocin – Is known as the love drug. It is that feeling you get when you do a good deed for others. Physical contact can also release oxytocin when you give someone a hug for example. Without oxytocin, you cannot build deep levels of trust and friendship.

These are the 4 happy chemicals above and understanding these four chemicals is so important to understand human behaviour.

My life lesson of Great Leaders Eat Last is one of the most important because balancing these 4 chemicals is key to success but more importantly happiness.

60. The Compounding Effect

Big shout out to Karl Hudson for this life lesson because the compounding effect certainly moulds us to who we are today.

I hate to break it to you but if you are not happy with your life, weight, career or relationship these have come from the small choices in your life you made.

You are 100% responsible for your actions and all the small decisions you make throughout your life compounds to who you are today.

“We’re all self-made men and women but only the successful peopletake credit for it. But if you’re dead broke with no friends it takes a lot ofcharacter to say I’m here because of my choices and the decisions that I’ve made and once you have the humility to admit this then you have the answers to get yourself out of the hole”

Here are some great examples of the compound effect:

• Crash diets not working? Not being overweight is a lifestyle and you need to stop ridiculous diets and change the small choices of unhealthy food or drink you make on a day to day basis
• Want bigger muscles? Go to the gym and push yourself those extra few steps and in time this compounding effect builds strength and muscle
• Stuck in a boring job? How many self-awareness books and extra courses have you done to improve your knowledge to further your career. These small steps compound over time and make you who you are today
• Relationship problems? Has this built up over time because you allowed it to where you could have nipped it in the bud way earlier

This video explains the compound effect amazingly:

The truth is the successful people take credit for the choices they made in life. But the less unsuccessful have a blame culture and always think they are owed something on Earth or just was not lucky enough.

“fate decides” is for people who are scared to work for their happiness. You build your own “fate”

Every single choice you make in your life compounds and makes you who you are today, tomorrow and in the future. Look after your body and strive to improve every day. The choices you make today will mould who you are tomorrow.

61. Experience Thermal Journey Spa

Life is for living. If you have not yet experienced a Thermal Journey Spa Experience you really are missing out.

The thermal journey spa is experiencing multiple saunas, steam room, jacuzzi and chilled menthol areas for several hours.

The experience allows you to switch off from the outside world, away from technology and rejuvenate your body.

62. Every day is a School Day

I cannot stress the importance of developing, improving and growing every single day hence the header “Everyday is a School Day”.

The reason to why I think this is super important for everyone to listen on this life lesson, from my experiences, is because I have 3 business partners, who think they are ace at everything and our growth is average at best. They never blame themselves and just think they know everything. (they do not believe they need to develop or improve and certainly not got the mindset of ‘Everyday is a School Day’ so hence our growth is average).

Contrary to this I have four other business partners who I think are brilliant and way more knowledgeable than the other three I have. And their attitude is “how can we improve” and constantly looking to strive forward further. These partnerships are doing soooo well and always wanting to kick on is important.

When reading this then please take away with you to ask questions, more questions and then more questions. Keep testing yourself, keep filling up with new knowledge and progressing every damn day.

63. SKD – Summat Kinda Different

There are times in life I hear about anxiety and stress but do not understand how this feels because never experienced it.

I honestly believe this is because one of the best ways to reduce stress is by trying new experiences and doing summat kinda different aka SKD.

Break out of the norm and try new things every day.

Get out of your comfort zone and try new things you have never experienced before. Become the YES person to your friends.

Your friend is inviting you somewhere you have never been to before? Go!

Saw some exotic food on the menu you have never tasted? Taste it!

Not spoken to an old friend for ages? Reconnect today!

A new group class has started at your gym? Try it!

Heard of a new place to visit? Travel to it!

Talk to strangers? Meeting your neighbours, chatting in the local bar or new person at the gym starts, then make an effort to say ‘hi’. When you talk to strangers it sparks creative ideas and gives you a chance to look at opinions from a different angle. It could change your view of reality altogether and get you to prioritise more important things in your life.

Adapting SKD into your life will open your mindset wider, which will make it easier for you to figure out what you really enjoy and what your life purpose is.

A break from routine can help us assess what really matters in our day-to-day lives because if you do not experience SKD on a day by day basis I honestly do not believe you have the knowledge to understand what you thoroughly like in life (just merely on the fact you have not experienced so many things).

64. Make Baby Steps

When I got to understand the compounding effect I realised quickly life is about all the baby steps you make.

If I gave you a million pounds today what would you do with your life? You would probably say “Travel the World”.

But realistically you do not need a million pounds for this so starting make baby steps towards achieving this.

When you break down your goals into baby steps you will realise those crazy dreams are actually very achievable.

We all need small sparks, small accomplishments in our lives to fuel the big ones. Think of your small accomplishments as kindling. When you want a bonfire, you don’t start by lighting a big log. You collect some paper, cardboard, a small pile of hay or some dry, dead grass. You light that, and then add small sticks and bigger sticks before you feed your tree stump into the blaze. Because it’s the small sparks, which start small fires, that eventually build enough heat to burn the whole fucking forest down

Start taking baby steps today towards your dreams and with the compounding effect these baby steps will start making these dreams a reality.

65. It Is What It Is

I always preach about life – is what you make of it. And you can control the outcome of your own life.

But something in life you cannot control is other people’s behaviour. Or change history with the mistakes you have made previously.

But you can always choose how you respond to it.

It is what it is. It was what it was. Don’t Stress It. It will be what it will be.

The principle of controlling the controllable is designed to cultivate the art of being able to let things go, of dropping resistance. It’s amazing how many aspects of one’s daily life involve pointless resistance to something outside of our control.

The sooner we realise we have no control over how others act or react the happier we will be.

When things do not go to plan, then you focus on the solutions and not the problems.

Adapt your mindset to “IT IS WHAT IT IS” to prevent any pointless need for stress or anxiety.

66. We All Lack Knowledge

No one knows everything and one of my best blogs is –we don’t know what we don’t know.

How many times have you heard“If I knew then what I know now…”.

Knowledge is power and why it is so important no matter where you are in life you adapt the mentality every day is a school day.

Some people might think they know everything but they are the ones who are very weak.

You never know what’s around the corner. It could be everything you ever wished of. Or it could be absolutely nothing. But this is where you make sure you progress and keep moving forward because then you can turn round many corners until you find your dreams.

67. Smiling is Infectious

A smile costs nothing but gives so much.

Smile! It makes everyone in the room feel better because they, consciously or unconsciously, are smiling with you. Growing evidence shows that an instinct for facial mimicry allows us to empathize with and even experience other people’s feelings.

A Smile Is The Prettiest Thing You Can Wear

Ever heard the saying ‘surround yourself with positive people’? Well, another you can use is ‘surround yourself with friends that smile’.

It takes more effort with facial expressions to frown as it does to smile – so why waste that energy?

Smiling doesn’t necessarily mean you’re happy. Sometimes it just means you’re strong

Not all smiles are the same.No amount of words can describe the emotions of a smile.

One innocent smile can erase a lifetime of pain. A smile is so powerful that it can pull a person out of complete darkness to shining bright light within minutes.

Smiles are precious and should be protected.

68. Empower Others

When people feel empowered, they believe in themselves and their ability to control their personal and professional lives.

Helping to empower others promotes optimism and a “can-do” spirit.

Empowering others in the workplace can yield great growth. But also in private lives can help friends and family achieve their dreams.

Share your knowledge and wisdom to empower friends, coworkers or family. But allowthem to come up with their own ideas and answers. People in control of their choices feel happier, more fulfilled and more productive.

Here are some examples where you can look to be empowering others:

• Students at school need direction in their careers and want to become an entrepreneur but not sure how?
• Friends following an MLM scam and need educating on the marketing scandal
• Been brought up by parents who are working class and struggle to dream big for what they can achieve
• Showing them the phrase ‘the harder you work, the luckier you become’ comes from hard graft and you need to take action
• Educating them to stop wasting hours every day on social media, watching TV and doing 2-3 hours extra graft to fulfil dreams
• What you doing between 5-8 am and 7-10 pm each day (as these hours should be spent developing and building your empire). This is obviously if you are in a standard 9-5 job. But it is all about what you are doing extra to grow
• Sharing knowledge bombs you have learned along the way to help others not fail as frequent in their journey
• Offering the less fortunate better chances in life with opportunities
• Educating the younger generation all aspects to business
• Fearlessness is like a muscle. I know from my own life that the more I exercise it the more natural it becomes to not let my fears run me

I always throw myself into doing something I’m not able to do very well, that’s how you grow. When there’s that moment of ‘Wow, I’m not really sure I can do this,’ and you push through those moments, that’s when you have a breakthrough.

It is about trying to get others to take this mindset by empowering them and making them believe there is more they can achieve with hard work.

69. Build Calluses On Your Mind

You need to build calluses on your mind to be ready for what life has to throw at you.

You are going to experience ill fortune, hurt, pain, death to close ones and your mind needs to be trained to be ready for this.

An amazing American entrepreneur I follow closely for building calluses on your mind is David Goggins. Here is a famous quote of his:

The most difficult part of the training is training your mind. You build calluses on your feet to endure the road. You build calluses on your mind to endure the pain.

Mental toughening by putting yourself through brutal training, uncomfortable situations and pushing yourself past your minds survival mechanism.

Your brain’s survival mechanism stops you at approximately 40% your capacity according to scientists so breakthrough this and toughen your brain to be ready for whatever life throws in your journey.

Our culture has become hooked on the quick-fix, the life hack, efficiency… it will not lead to a calloused mind or self-mastery. If you want to master the mind and remove your governor, you’ll have to become addicted to hard work. Because passion and obsession, even talent, are only useful tools if you have the work ethic to back them up.

When you are able to callus your mindset you strengthen your willpower and allows you in life to break records and dream bigger than anyone can imagine.

Do you practice self-mastery and improving your calloused mind. Be proactive to toughening your mindset now so ready to face any problems that arise.

70. You Are Entitled To Nothing

Taking the mindset ‘you are entitled to nothing’ is the best personality approach in life.

You have to earn respect and have to earn your success.

It won’t always go your way, so you can’t get trapped in this idea that just because you’ve imagined a possibility for yourself that you somehow deserve it. Your entitled mind is dead weight. Cut it loose. Don’t focus on what you think you deserve. Take aim on what you are willing to earn!

Believing oneself to be inherently deserving of privileges or special treatment is one of the worst habits you can have.

Kids who feel so entitled and think the world will revolve around them, never succeed.

I have seen on many occasions super successful parents raise their children so wrong that they become drug addicts and suicidal.

This is because the children become entitled and a life hack is to remember you are entitled to nothing. This video is a good speech on entitlement:

You build your future. It isn’t handed to you.

If you want something – Earn it.

71. Masterminds are Better Than Conferences

A mastermind is different than other conferences because it is intended to be a roundtable discussion, where attendees learn from each other as much as they do from the speakers at conferences.

“Mastermind Groups is the concept all billionaires reference when they credit one thing to their success”

The intention of a Mastermind Group is that peers can help each other solving problems and developing themselves together through input and advice from each other. The best advantage of a mastermind is advice can be challenged between peers and testing compared.

Wherewith conferences the speaker gives his opinion on what is correct and you are at the beck and call of how good that speaker is at producing knowledge bombs. But you cannot really challenge someone publicly on stage if you did not agree and this is where masterminds are better than conferences.

Why I Prefer Mastermind Meetups

Here are the reasons I think Masterminds are Better Than Conferences:

• Limit the number of attendees
• Like-minded members attending if invite-only setup
• Restrict and invite only the best marketers who will add value
• Select attendees, you know tests and do not rehash rumours as being a fact
• Allows the more introverted attendees who may get stage fright at conferences to share knowledge bombs
• Inspiring to hear like-minded people in the community success stories
• Build better relationships in smaller groups
• Not recorded and can share the real knowledge bombs
• Can tackle peoples ideas and ask them to explain further
• Regurgitated nonsense or made up theories in masterminds get tackled where you cant at conferences
• Can see tried and tested strategies in private masterminds as you share tests
• Only so much speakers will share publicly but in private masterminds is where people open up more

Making the Most of Masterminds

A mastermind group must be mutually beneficial to all members attending.

It includes a combination of brainstorming, education, peer accountability and support in a group setting. Here are some masterminds attended:

1. Manchester Mastermind Meetup
2. Wilmslow Mastermind Conference
3. Chiang Mai SEO Mastermind
4. Amsterdam SEO Meetup
5. Jersey SEO Mastermind
6. Birmingham SEO Mastermind

To make the most of masterminds we have carefully started to create invite-only private meetups where we know all members attending will offer value from testing they have carried out.

Recently conferences have produced old content or outdated information as most speakers travel the word rehashing the same talks that are years old and probably not even tested what they are preaching for a long time.

We are proactively looking to organise a new mastermind every few months to keep ahead of the curve as it’s great to meet serial online entrepreneurs and see the growth and journey of their careers.

72. Givers Attain – Takers Fail

The majority of people in life do not openly give without expecting something back in return.

This has never made sense to me and is not how I live my life.

‘The secret of living, is giving.” – Tony Robbins

Do you constantly take from people in life without giving anything back? Do you offer value on the odd occasion when you think you will get something back in return?

If this sounds anything like you, congratulations! You have just made the first, and most important step to change how you operate. By being honest with yourself and taking the following information on board, this will certainly improve your life moving forward.

Givers

A true giver is someone who openly offers value to others without expecting anything back in return.

Ironically, these are generally the most successful people in life.

“You give, they take. Give to the givers, not to the takers. Give to yourself”

Givers are a rare breed in modern society and will generally put the needs of other people before them. However, it is no surprise that the most successful givers are also the hardest working.

By giving time, energy and resources to others without expecting anything in return, you open many doors that would never have opened otherwise.

Takers

Takers tip the scales the opposite way by taking much more than they give. They will generally put themselves before others who they see as direct competition.

Takers are seen as leeches in most walks of life including business and social circles.

“The takers may eat better, but the givers sleep better”

They may do well in the short term but will eventually fall by the wayside.

You may often find these people upsetting others and ruining relationships just to make a quick buck. In my experience, this will always come back to bite you.

Matchers

Matchers (traders) have a fairly equal balance of giving and taking.

They generally have a ‘what’s in it for me attitude’ and may only give if they know they will get something back in return.

This is the category where most people will find themselves if they are completely honest. This is especially when looking at a professional sense.

Selfless Givers v Otherish Givers

Although giving is extremely important for long term success, it is important you implement this in the right way. Please see the two different type of giver below.

Selfless Giver – Selfless givers will drop anything to help others and this can be detrimental to success.

Otherish Giver – Otherish givers offer as much value as above but are much more strategic with this. They can easily spot the takers and matchers and make sure they do not take advantage of their goodwill.

Making sure you are not treated like a doormat and walked all over is very important. Being a giver to other givers is important and strategically where you need to position yourself. Takers will run you down and this is why surrounding yourself with positive people is very important.

“Stop planting flowers in peoples gardens who aren’t going to water them”

I love this quote because giving takes up your time which is your most valuable asset. So choosing your time efficiently to who you help is the main difference to an otherish giver vs a selfless giver.

Become a Successful Giver

Life is too short to be selfish and when you learn to help others and give back then it is one of the most rewarding experiences you will face.

Growing older and wiser I have understood this and think it is solely the reason why I get“Dooley gets where water can’t” and “Never met anyone as lucky as Dooley”. Two phrases I hear regularly!! But why is this?

“Never met anyone as lucky as Dooley” = It’s amazing the harder I work the luckier I become. Check this article where big believer you create your own luck.

“Dooley gets where water can’t” = Be a giver, not a taker. By giving time, energy and resources to others without expecting anything in return, you open many doors that would never have opened otherwise. Hence the get where water can’t.

I have grabbed onto the saying “A RISING TIDE LIFTS ALL SHIPS” and if everyone in my community concentrates to slightly raise that tide by giving back and offering assistance, then everyone within our community will benefit from this.

73. Win at Life Not a Single Game

I have never met anyone in life more competitive than myself and I hate losing with a passion (even at the smallest of games).

This obsession by winning is not always the best attribute to have because there is a balance where ‘taking part that counts’ is important.

But I have always struggled with that saying and never really understood it until I heard a great example of this on the Joe Rogan show.

For anyone who listens to the Joe Rogan podcast, my favourite is Jordan Peterson, who is a clinical psychologist.

In his podcast he has taught me this life lesson and explains it so well here:

What he explains really well is this below I have carefully selected out.

“Life is not a game, even a game is not a game. Because a game is a series of games. There’s winning the game, but the game isn’t the issue. The game is the whole series of games so maybe the game is winning the championship and winning the championship and winning a game is not the same thing. To win a game the best thing to do is to let your star player make all the moves, but if you want to win a championship maybe the best thing is for your star player to do everything he or she possibly can to develop all the other team members. Now that’s a different strategy”.

In isolation, a single game to win is not as important as the championship and teaching your kids this I can now see the importance of this.

You’re trying to train your son not to win the game. You’re trying to train your son to win the championship and so that’s a series of games. But then life isn’t the championship. Life is a whole bunch of championships. It’s a whole sequence of them and so what you’re actually trying to train your son to do is to be a contender in the entire series.

The strategy is helping your staff or kids to develop the character that would enable them to win the largest number of games across the largest possible span of time

So it is not about teaching your kids to win but it is to educate them to play well with others.

As you understand this strategy it is not all about winning you become more fun to play with and then you win at life.

74. Take the Moral High Ground

Recently I have helped many marketers and mentor them because they have come under a lot of online bullying, stress and haters.

The trolls that go out their way to slander and ridicule you are certainly not worth your time to fight back.

“You need to understand never to wrestle a pig. You’ll both get dirty, but the pig will enjoy it, getting full of shit. Trolls are Pigs!!”

You need to take the moral high ground on this and the best way of fighting back trolls is to ignore it.

75. Read The Fucking Manual

Recently away snowboarding and heard Ged saying to a member of staff he needs to improve his management skills.

Installers were ringing his manager and asking ‘how’, ‘why’, ‘when’ and ‘what’ but all the answers to their questions was in the manual provided.

Ged screams the installer need to RTFM and I was not aware that RTFM stood for ‘read the fucking manual’.

If you have the processes in place your staff need to read these and follow them without needing constant reassurance.

If staff follow the RTFM model it will present the death by a thousand cuts to your managers in the workplace.

76. What You Put Into Your Brain Is What You Get Out Of Your Life

There are two major parts to this life lesson in what you put into your brain is what you get out of your life:

1. Read books, listen to audiobooks and keep educating yourself every god damn day
2. Do not let your chimp take over your brain with anxiety, stress, jealousy – you can control your brain

The major reason for this life lesson though is more to do with the educational side of things.

Start reading or listening to audiobooks regularly to enhance your knowledge as it opens new doors and takes you on more journeys you could not dream about.

Here are some books you need to purchase or listen to:

• 7 Habits Of Highly Effective People
• Think and Grow Rich
• The Secret

There are obviously many other amazing books but these are 3 of mine which 100% resonates to my growth to success.

77. Learn Kaizen

Kaizen focuses on applying small, daily changes that result in major improvements over time.

Kaizen comes from two Japanese words: Kai (improvement) and Zen (good), which translates to “continuous improvement”.

Have you ever sat in masterminds and heard folk say they want xyz but never taken one step towards achieving their goals.

Too many SEOs procrastinate and say where they would like to be in their career but do not carry out the little things to make these dreams a reality.

With learning kaizen you understand the little things add up “From tiny seeds grow mighty trees”.

Check out the video if you are unsure what is kaizen:

Kaizen is an attitude toward operational business transformation, focusing on consistent, positive changes, instead of radical, top-down transformations. Similar to lean management, Kaizen prioritizes adaptation and improvement to make business more efficient.

78. You Cant Catch Whales With Minnow Bait

There is so much to take from the quote “you can’t catch whales with minnow bait” coined by the legendary direct response marketer Frank Kern.

Here are various meanings behind the saying:

• You can’t catch whales using the same bait you used to catch minnows – you need to adapt your sales pitch accordingly
• If you want better customers, you can’t keep sending “Free report reveals how to get rich without doing anything”
• If you want higher paying customers, you need to sell at premium rates and up your price
• You are the average of the people you spend the most time with – shop in a minnow pond and you won’t find any whales

Also, you need to pack accordingly if on the hunt for whales.

They don’t come along often and you’ll need supplies while you wait.

It’s also lonely waiting, you’ll need support so you don’t quit too soon.

79. Your Vibe Attracts Your Tribe

Your personality, your thoughts and your actions are what attracts you to like-minded people.

Ever heard of the term “Surround Yourself With Positive People” or “You Are The Average Of The 5 People You Spend Most Time With”?

Well, you cannot attract positive people if you are not positive yourself – why would a positive person be attracted to a moaner?

Our brain searches for familiarity as it means safety and the reptilian part of our brain is soothed when things are the same.

If looking to be surrounded by successful entrepreneurs or happy crowds, unless you are a good fit for the tribe, then why do you deserve to be a member of the tribe?

“Your tribe will cheer you on, celebrate when you succeed and commiserate when you don’t get there. Your tribe should help you feel more confident and happy”

Growing and building your tribe has been proven scientifically to make you happier and have more fun.

The bigger the tribe the more opportunities you have in opening doors to new business ventures, to more holidays and more happy memories as invited to more events.

Having friends who hold you back in energy, work, creating memories or don’t have the same mindset as yourself can create cognitive dissonance when we hear views that don’t match our own and takes energy to reconfigure our neural pathways to consider new ideas.

Building your tribe will help massively with personal development. But make sure you enter into tribes to match your personality or to help you reach your life goals.

Go build new friends and your tribe today – what are you waiting for?

What does your vibe attract your tribe mean?

Your vibe attracts your tribe means the energy you put out in the world directly reflects on the energies you receive, and that you are open to receiving.

Your fun vibe will attract like-minded fun friends.

Your energetic successful vibe will attract other successful members to your tribe.

Your vibe attracts your tribe has the same meaning as “what you give is what you will receive”.

80. Rome Was Not Built in a Day

The proverbial saying ‘Rome wasn’t built in a day’ suggests that a complex task or great achievement takes time and effort and should not be rushed.

A river cuts through rock not because of its power but because of its PERSISTENCE.

A continued or prolonged persistent course of action in spite of difficulty or opposition is where true power comes from.

Persistence is a quality that helps you achieve what you desire. If you have it — you feel self-confident, while other people perceive you to be a strong personality. At the same time, being very persistent is easier said than done.

81. Why You Should Limit Your Number of Daily Decisions

The human brain is limited to the number of daily decisions it can make with a high attention span.

When faced with endless questions all of us suffer from decision fatigue.

“In decision making and psychology, decision fatigue refers to the deteriorating quality of decisions made by an individual after a long session of decision making. It is now understood as one of the causes of irrational trade-offs in decision making. Decision fatigue may also lead to consumers making poor choices with their purchases”

Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg have been known to reduce their everyday clothing down to one or two outfits in order to limit the number of decisions they make in a day.

Entrepreneurs regularly plan their meals in advance to limit this decision each day.

But more importantly, all successful business people need to STOP the need for simple questions being asked.

If you allow staff or friends to ask you silly questions they will continue to do so. A common comment in masterminds is “Let Me Google That For You”.

“I take full responsibility for these distractions because previously have asked to be kept in the loop. This is not a staff, supplier or partner issue but one of my own that I needed to sort out. Blaming others is pointless because it is myself that allows this to happen. And in my opinion, you should always blame yourself or your systems in business because it is not normally a staffing problem but a systems issue you need to implement.”

Studying decision fatigue has allowed me to let go more and give people the space to use their initiative which is great for the mindset.

For more information on “Why You Should Limit Your Number of Daily Decisions” check out It is Better To Ask For Forgiveness Than To Get Permission.

82. Scammers Talk About SEO Coloured Hats

White Hat was started by people who couldn’t rank and needed to give clients an excuse for poor performance when they SHOULD have never taken that client’s money in the first place.

The fact is that all SEO has some level of chance and some level of risk. What is within guidelines today could change tomorrow with no warning, and at times has done so.

So actually what there is are people with various degrees of risk management and risk tolerance.

Anyone claiming to be “white hat” is the biggest scammer in the marketing industry. As the “coloured hats” is a simplistic strategy for mongs who scam business owners by scaremongering coined phrases.

Don’t have a coloured hat. Just provide ROI and a great service to your customers. Period!!

83. Progress Is Not Linear

Growth, success, achievement, and progress is not a straight line in one direction, but rather necessitates a step or two backwards, a couple of steps sideways, some zigzagging, and circular motions in order to ultimately move forward.

A linear process or development is one in which something changes or progresses straight from one stage to another and has a starting point and an ending point.

Life achievements are far from linear and more like a rollercoaster. You have your peaks and troughs throughout growing any business or achieving any goal.

The problem is most humans QUIT on the troughs and do learn from the dips in growth.

True entrepreneurs fail regularly, recover from setbacks faster and create safety nets for future relapses.

If you can understand progress is not linear it makes the journey to the top so much easier to understand and enjoy the journey (even when it looks like times are bad).

84. Its Always Too Early To Quit

It’s always too soon to start regretting life.

It’s always too soon to fall and never get back up.

It’s always too soon to give up on your dreams.

The direction of your goals, dreams and vision can certainly change direction, but quitting is never an option.

Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.

Part of the art of success is knowing when to change direction and when to keep going.

85. By Failing To Prepare You Are Preparing To Fail

If you have not made adequate preparations for your journey or project, you are unlikely to succeed.

If we do not prepare, then we are setting ourselves up for failure.

Preparation can be the longest part of your new project.

Preparing for all reasonable circumstances will help set you up for success.

“If I had twelve hours to chop down a tree, I’d spend the first eleven hours sharpening the axe.”

In December 2024 society all inexperienced, unqualified creatures title themselves as managing directors, entrepreneurs and gurus (without little to no business experience).

The younger generation wants to move as quickly as possible to the next task. But are doing so with a dull axe and giving zero time for preparation.

Learn your trade ie learn how to effectively sharpen the axe.

SEO Preparation Example

Before a launch of a new website, proactively prepare the following:

• Keyword Research
• Content Clustering
• Silos
• Topical Authority
• Branding
• Content Hierarchy
• Tech stacks
• Backlink Strategy

Upon launch track, analyse, research, improve, test, execute improvements and test again.

Create the SOPs and have this ever-evolving so technicians update the processes continually.

By Failing To Prepare on your SEO Efforts, You Are Preparing To Fail

The time spent in preparation sharpening your axe will save you 10x the time in production of completing the tasks at hand.

86. Stop Worrying About Things You Can’t Control

You’ll be much more effective when you put your time and energy into the things you can control.

You can’t prevent bad things from happening, but people worry about them anyway.

They fret about everything from natural disasters to deadly diseases.

Their worries keep them occupied, but ultimately, they waste their time and energy because worrying doesn’t do any good.

If you waste a lot of time worrying about things you can’t control, here are things you need to learn.

Determine what you can control

You can’t prevent a storm from coming but you can prepare for it.

You can’t control how someone else behaves, but you can control how you react.

When you put your energy into the things you can control, you’ll be much more effective.

Focus on what you can influence

You can influence people and circumstances, but you can’t force things to go your way.

You can plan a good party, you can’t make people have fun.

Be a good role model and set healthy boundaries for yourself.

When you have concerns about someone else’s choices, share your opinion, but only share it once.

Don’t try to fix people who don’t want to be fixed.

Identify your fears

Do you doubt your ability to cope with disappointment?

Usually, the worst-case scenario isn’t as tragic as you might envision.

There’s a good chance you’re stronger than you think. When the back is against the wall you will have much more drive than you can imagine.

Stop thinking “I can’t allow my business to fail” and change it to “What would I do if my business failed?”

Acknowledging that you can handle the worst-case scenario can help you put your energy into more productive exercises.

Develop healthy affirmations

The affirmations are either to take action or calm down.

If you ever hear your voice saying “I hope I do OK today” then MAKE IT HAPPEN. Be in control of your actions.

If you ever hear your voice saying “I hope it doesn’t rain today” then remind yourself you can handle it. Deal with the things you have no control over.

Develop a few healthy mantras that will keep you mentally strong.

Developing healthy affirmations will help you combat self-doubt, catastrophic predictions, and endless rumination.

87. Lower Your Expectations to Be Happier

The expectations you set hugely influence the way you feel.

If you had a dog that died at 8 years old, but found out the average age to live is 15 years. You feel sorry for the loss and additional pain at why the dog died so early.

But if you were told the average age of death for the dog breed was 5 years. Although you still feel sorry for the loss, then you celebrate a great long life against your expectations.

Lowering your expectations and having real-life experiences that outweigh your expectations, yields happiness.

If you raise the bar on what you expect, then you are just increasing the likelihood of not achieving true happiness.

Many successful entrepreneurs become depressed when they hit ROCK TOP (opposite to “rock bottom”) because they expect higher standards on food, drink, and experiences and when the expectations are not met – they struggle to achieve happiness.

Lower the bar on your expectations so that real-life experiences are achieved and release the dopamine brain chemicals humans require to be happy.

88.Rock Top is Just As Real As Rock Bottom

You can achieve all your goals and dreams in life but still feel empty.

In fact, many successful entrepreneurs don’t understand why? And Rock Top is not taught or educated because it is a new illness now come to light as we talk more about mental health issues.

Rock Top all comes down to the perception of life and think you have achieved your dream, but that feeling is not what you anticipated.

This is where many of the most successful people turn to elevating others and realise in life to win doesn’t need to be at the expense of someone else.

Many shrewd business people who are ruthless or look to win at all costs suffer from “Rock Top Syndrome”.

True happiness comes in the journey of reaching goals and not at the peak of the mountain.

Many successful entrepreneurs who suffer from ROCK TOP end up becoming a philanthropist.

89.Enjoy Being A Philanthropist

A Philanthropist is a person who seeks to promote the welfare of others and elevate colleagues or friends in their journey.

There is a common misconception that only rich people can become a philanthropist because “a philanthropist is someone who donates substantial money”.

Anyone can be a philanthropist, regardless of status or net worth. A philanthropist is a person who donates time, money, experience, skills or talent to help create a better world

We all have time and are skilled in some sectors, so why not become a philanthropist?

Elevating others can be the most rewarding thing you do in your life.

90. A Mistake Repeated More Than Once Is A Decision

The difference between a distractible person an indistractable person is that a distractible person keeps getting distracted by the same things.

“A mistake repeated more than once is a decision”

So distractible people keep getting distracted by the same things again and again. How many times we’re going to complain about technology or artificial intelligence before we say enough I’m gonna do something about it.

Being Indistractable

Indistractable people say okay I got distracted once but you’re not gonna let it happen again and again. So I’m gonna take steps today to prevent getting distracted tomorrow.

Many people blame technology for taking away our free time or causing an addiction.

Now the latest blame is being thrown at AI and how that is going to change human behavior.

But the truth is there’s always something to blame and previously it was TV was making us all a couch potato.

Everyone needs to stop blaming other reasons and dig deep into the root cause.

Sometimes it’s important to find the ROOT CAUSE of why you choose to not act on what you say “you want to do”.

Nir Eyal is a Procrastination Expert who discusses being indistractable and breaking habits says:

Being indistractable is striving to do what you are saying you’re going to do!! The game is not to beat distraction – but constantly get better at managing distractions

We will always struggle with distraction in the workplace, at home, or finding the time to do what we THINK we want to do.

The truth is though we got to take a long hard look at what we say we want and see if our actions are following our so-called goals.

91. Brain Learns Without Telling You

Anyone who is trying to study a new language or take the next big educational course needs to understand The Neuroscience of Learning.

If you are studying a course and you feel you are not understanding the meaning or taking everything in then continue with the course until you have completed it.

There is a good chance your next lectures or steps will make the previous study start to make sense.

Here is a video of The scientific term for this process called plasticity. Your brain’s ability to create and strengthen connections between neurons.

You need to create and strengthen neural pathways in the brain. Building muscle memory and plasticity is strengthened by practice, development, and repetitive actions.

92. A Lion Doesn’t Concern Himself With The Opinion Of Sheep

There comes a point in life where you need to take risks and not follow the crowd or trends.

Sheep are a weak-willed beast that is easily influenced by everything around it.

Lion’s are classed as the kings of the jungle because of their raw power and strength. Lions fear no other animals.

The saying “A Lion Doesn’t Concern Himself With The Opinion Of Sheep” means that a king doesn’t concern himself with the opinions of his followers.

The lion’s regal, powerful existence means it would never deign to follow the orders of those weaker than itself.

It is important to listen to your surroundings for advice, ideas and feedback. But there comes a point where you need to act like a lion and take responsibility for your decisions and take ownership of your own future.

93. The Making of an Expert

Expertise is relative. To become a world expert could just mean caring a little more than the next person.

In a recent talk by Kyle Roof I loved the analogy he used:

You don’t have to run faster than the bear to get away. You just have to run faster than the guy next to you

By the way if you have never heard one of Kyle Roof’s talks i strongly recommend it as his story telling techniques is what makes him the best SEO Speaker in the world.

Research shows that outstanding performance is the product of years of deliberate practice and coaching, not of any innate talent or skill.

94. Life Isn’t All Sunshine And Rainbows

“The World Ain’t No Sunshine And Rainbows” is a poignant exploration of the harsh realities and challenges that people face in life.

Life is not all sunshine and rainbows. Real life a very mean and nasty place and it will beat you down if you let it. We all need some hardship or suffering in our life to appreciate the good times more. Life is about keep moving forward through the tough times as that’s how winning is done!

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The phrase “ain’t no sunshine and rainbows” signifies that life is not always easy or idyllic. It conveys the idea that the world can be tough and unforgiving, often presenting obstacles and struggles that individuals must grapple with.

The phrase encapsulates the notion that life’s journey is characterized by difficulties, darkness, and hardships, and it serves as a reminder to confront these realities with resilience, determination, and a realistic perspective.

Despite the challenges, the phrase encourages people to persevere and find strength within themselves to navigate the complexities of life.

95. 2 steps back to go 10 steps forward

“2 steps back to go 10 steps forward” is far greater than “1 step back to go 2 steps forward”.

Growth is not always linear, and temporary setbacks might involve reevaluating strategies, learning from mistakes, or making adjustments to improve the overall trajectory toward a more substantial achievement.

Conclusion

I hope to add many more life lessons to this article as I experience them.

I am sure there are some I have missed off this list because I am only 23 years old 😉

So please comment below on life lessons you have learnt and if I can relate to this then I will add them to the blog.

Hope you have enjoyed the read and will appreciate it if you can give it a share to friends who would enjoy the life lessons I have learnt along the way.

Key Takeaways

• All of us can change our thoughts if we take control of our mindset
• Most people learn a lesson from a failure
• Some books can change people’s outlook on life for the better
• Anyone can change their habits if they have faith
• Failures lead to growth, wisdom and asking for help
• Love living and smile more
• Investment in books is like school and helps educate the brain
• Work on building courage and strength with increased determination andperseverance
• Have faith in hope and love
• Show happiness, joy, kindness and gratefulness to family and friendshard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard