The environment that you are in or the environment that you create has a tremendous effect on your goals and the way you go after your dreams. Unfortunately, when people set goals they don’t take their environment into consideration.

Also, a big part of success is mindset. Mindset is the way you think about your goals, go after your success, and even go about your day. Environment plays a big part in your mindset. Environment can be categorized into two buckets. The first bucket is your physical environment. This can be the tools for success. Your computer, your workout clothes, the food in the house, even your phone are part of your physical environment. These are the tools that you need to achieve success. If you have more access to the tools used to achieve your goals, you are more likely to use them. For example, if you have a treadmill in your living room, you are more likely to use it than if it is located in your garage. If you have junk food as opposed to healthy food...

When you are working on your goals or you set new goals, one of the activities that you need to perform is a constant diet of information that will help you on your path.  There are several reasons why you need this diet of information.

Here are some reasons:

1. Know your next steps. When you are accomplishing your goals, it’s important to have clarity on the next steps and have the actions that you take effect your goal. One of the problems is that when people don’t have a clear vision of the steps that they need to take and when they fall short, they blame other factors or take the idea of “it was meant to be” or “it is what it is.” Also, what works at one level may not work in another level. For example, an exercise routine may work to lose the first ten pounds, but it may not work for the next ten pounds. An entrepreneur may grow a business to a certain point. However, to scale that business to the next level may take different...

Last week, I wrote about the importance of a healthy emotional diet. We are influenced by the events surrounding us, and we are emotional creatures. It is also important to note that we have a natural tendency to disproportionally focus on the negative. Also, part of our process is to look at what is wrong and try to navigate our challenges. There have been periods in my life when I have been focused on my challenges as a disabled person. Here are ways that can balance out the negative and focus on the positive.

Another benefit to a healthy emotional diet is that it gives you additional ideas and strategies. It also can help with tunnel vision.

Diet Plan

1. Reading and other education: There is information out there that can help you become amazing. I categorize these into two buckets. The first bucket is personal development. This includes learning about how to have better relationships, how to get what you want out of life, how to become a better leader, how to get over a...

Emotions play a part in how you go after your goals, go about your day, and deal with challenges that come up. Human beings are naturally programmed to look at the negative rather than focus on the positive. In fact, people need three positive experiences to counterbalance one negative experience. In some cases, one negative five-minute encounter can ruin some people’s day. Even worse, some people’s days are ruined when someone cuts them off on the freeway, which only takes a few seconds. 

We also have to deal with life and the emotions that come with the everyday struggles. Some paths in life have more struggles than others. For example, being a pediatric oncologist involves being constantly bombarded with bad news and negative experiences. In addition, we may have unique circumstances that we have to deal with. Ingrained in my life are the negative messages and the psychological ramifications that my cerebral palsy presents. I am constantly reminded of everything...

A big part of mindset is emotional discipline. If mindset is the way we think about our lives, go after our goals, deal with challenges, deal with others, have clarity, and other factors, then having emotional discipline is a factor for amazing success.

In order to accomplish amazing success and have a good mindset, we need to take direct actions. We need the actions that get us to amazing success. A part of every decision we make is dictated by our emotions and feelings. Human beings are not rational, robotic decision makers. They are feeling machines.

Emotional discipline touches the five keys to an amazing mindset.

Rewriting Our Narrative

Part of our narrative is based on the way we feel about issues regarding where we are now and where we want to go. It takes emotional discipline to look at our narrative and see what parts need to change.  

Habits

No matter where you are in life, no matter how positive or negative, it takes emotional discipline to change or maintain your...

As I get older, I value patience more and more. Ironically, people have always remarked about my patience. They pointed to the fact that I am always willing to repeat my words, and everything takes more time, more energy, and more focus.  While this is true, I never saw myself as a patient person. I was always in a hurry.  When I am alone, I drive fast in my wheelchair.  My brain is always going at 100 miles per hour. I love the big city.

This year, one of the habits that I value more is patience. The value that I get out of patience is that time makes a situation less reliant on emotions and more reliant on logic. In order to take direct action, you need to be more considerate. 

I was working on a marketing project and I was disappointed by the results. My first instinct was to try something different right away. I had a lot of emotions and excitement invested in the project. When it didn’t go well, I was disappointed and emotional. Instead of jumping in...

The right focus is crucial for amazing success. However, it’s important to have breaks.  In our culture, the 80-hour work week or total commitment is celebrated. The problem with total commitment is that it turns into an unhealthy obsession. In order for amazing success to happen, you need time to focus on something else or you need time to let your actions take effect.

As a writer, many of my ideas for blog posts, online classes, books, and other products don’t come to me when I’m in the office. They come to me when I am playing with my kids, taking a ride in my wheelchair, on vacation, or even watching tv. I also get ideas while reading other’s work about my topic.

Noah St. John writes about goal free zones, which is the idea that ideas don’t come to you while you are working on them. They come to you in the oddest of places. They come to you in the shower. They come to you while you are working out. They come to you when you are having drinks...

Last week, I wrote about focus. This week, I am writing about focus and how the right focus can lead to an amazing life. We live in a time where we have an abundance of information at our finger tips. We can literally call up any information that we want, sometimes we can even see the last thing our favorite celebrity ate, or what kind of jeans they were wearing. When I was growing up in the 1980s and 1990s, you had to buy a magazine or wait for a show to get this information.

The good news is that there’s more information than ever that can help you become amazing. There are blogs, podcasts, online classes, forums, and other avenues that can help you become amazing. On YouTube, there are funny videos, cat videos, videos of kids playing with toys, and videos that can help you live an amazing life.

The opportunities to focus on amazing are endless and abundant. On the other hand, the opportunities to be distracted and overwhelmed are ever-present. In addition, there is an...

At one point or another, we all had dreams. Maybe it was dreams about success.  Maybe it was dreams about love. Maybe it was dreams of adventure. Whatever it was, dreams need attention. What gets in the way of dreams? Life. We attend to what is immediately in front of us. We all have obligations and priorities. These obligations and priorities may be paying for a mortgage, a car payment, children’s activities, and any bandwidth leftover we want to go have fun. This can be going to the movies, going out to eat, or going on a weekend getaway.

There is nothing that is left over for our dreams and our true purpose in life. Your dreams require energy, time, money, focus, and commitment. Bottom line is it takes sacrifice! 

A payment for a dream is sacrifice. 

Your dreams are alive in you. Whether it’s a desire to write a book or open a company, whether it’s engaging in a creative venture, and even traveling the world. These dreams are alive and in you....

On your journey to amazing success, you are going to deal with challenges and part of dealing with challenges is facing discouraging moments. These moments can either stop you or empower you to pursue amazing success.

Throughout my journey, I had and continue to have many moments that are discouraging. Some of these moments are directly related to my disability, but most of these feelings are related to my desire to become amazing. I chose to be an author, a speaker, a father, a husband, and I chose all my ambitious crazy dreams.

If I am not careful, I can be daunted by negative emotions and feelings. With regard to my disability, I can be consumed by everything I cannot do. I can be consumed by my speech impediment, the fact that I need so much help, or the sheer effort that my disability requires. My disability makes most activities exponentially more challenging. In my pursuit of amazing success, I have to deal with marketing, sales, leading a team, and everything that it takes...