4.) Friends And Family:
In a nutshell: be who you are and make no apologies for it. Not only is this what women need you to be, but it’s what you may need to convey to family members you don’t see the world the way you do.
I talked about this in one of my posts which you can read here, but basically you need to have the balls to stand up for yourself if a family member disagrees with how you’re living your life. It’s not their say how you live your life, or what you believe in.
Don’t hide who you are to your friends either. Be careful of who you surround yourself with. Realize that your friends have an enormous impact on you, so having the wrong ones can undermine you and your life goals in subtle but very powerful ways.
Even your body weight is affected by your friends (yes it actually go’s that far). Don’t believe me? Read this part of the book and you’ll see how this is.
Do not be friends with people who are losers: you will never bring a loser up to your level, they will ALWAYS bring you down to theirs.
5.) Business And Career Success:
There are two varying styles that people have when striving to accomplish their goals: Leverage or Momentum. You either are one or the other in this case, and it’s helpful to know which.
They’re fairly self-explanatory. In summary: people either use the force of momentum to get things done (fast, aggressive work style) or leverage (slower but more calculating and strategic).
I am without a doubt a momentum type, as is Mike. There are pro’s and cons to each style. When the two opposing styles come together in a business environment, they compliment each other very well, as opposed to two people of the same style.
Mike also summarizes his experience attending Tony Robbins and Jordan Belfort seminars. He clearly took detailed notes and does a great job of documenting his experience of both seminars.
It’s some great insight into the benefits you could get out of investing your time and money into these kinds of events. I’m sure most of your know who Tony Robbins is. Jordan Belfort is the guy from the book and film ”The Wolf Of Wallstreet”.
One great thing about this book is that Mike often (in almost every chapter of the book), provides links to YouTube videos, other great books he’s read, and references that tie into what he discusses.
So the value you take from this read isn’t just limited to whats inside the actual book. This is something unique that you don’t get from most of the other self-improvement books.
If there was ever an UN-generic self help book, this is it.
Mike certainly has the ability to see in the world what others don’t see. This is what makes him so interesting, and this is even a topic of discussion in the book. He presents perspectives and points of view that you likely have never considered before.
You can also tell from the way he writes and speaks that he’s extremely intelligent. This is even despite the many grammatical errors of the book.
6.) Mindset Motivation & Inspiration:
If you know anything about Cernovich, you know that Mindset is one the main practices he teaches.
The mindset section of this book, is extremely brief compared to the depth of his Gorilla Mindset masterpiece, but its nice introduction to the subject if you’re new to it.
Audacity is the first topic of discussion here. Having audacity basically means being aggressive in taking actions towards what you want. You have to feel like you need something, rather than just want it however, in order to be motivated enough to be audacious.
Make people think to themselves: ”Who does this guy think he is?”. I personally live my life by that principle. If I’m not making people think that on almost a daily basis, then I’m not happy. Have balls, go after what you feel you need.
Feel that you need something in the first place however. If you don’t have a laundry list of things you truly feel like you need out of your life, that means you’re complacent.
Being ”complacent” is one of the worst things you can be.
That’s me saying that, not Mike. I mainly mean that in a general, every day sense. It’s ok to have moments, and sometimes even days of complacency, but they should always have a short half life.
NEVER get complacent with your life. You should always strive to be better, to have more, to do more, to be more. The longer you wallow in state of complacency, the sooner depression will start to set in.
Having audacity means having the balls to do what other people are afraid or are unwilling to do. To go even deeper: it means having the creative thought processes to be able to even think of making those bold/daring moves in the first place.
For example, who am I to start a blog? Who I am I to start a podcast? People might think to themselves. ”Podcast? Who does this guy think he is? Joe Rogan?”.
I don’t think anything you cowards, I KNOW who I am and I know I have the balls to do what other people are afraid or unwilling to do.
Obsession:
Obsession is not a bad word. Only cowards are afraid of being obsessed. You want goals, but more importantly: you need a VISION. You have a vivid vision in your mind of who and what you want to be. The places you want to see. A vision is far more powerful and motivating than just a goal.
Goals are just progress reports along the way. The more vivid and clear your vision is, the more likely you are to materialize it.
The Law Of Attraction:
Mike speaks of a 3 step process for actually putting the law of attraction to work for you.
It’s not enough to just think or imagine things, you have to actually spot opportunities as they presents themselves and seize them. Become an opportunity spotter and hone in on the practice taking action.
What people don’t realize is that opportunities are meaningless unless action is taken towards seizing them.
The universe rewards those who take action towards their visions. Usually, if you’ve done your part, it will meet you half way.
Abundance Mentality Vs. Scarcity Mindset:
I know far too many people with a scarcity mindset. The funny thing about these people, is that they have no idea they have a scarcity mindset. Most of them have never in their life even thought about the difference between these two world views.
This argument deals with how one views the world and the resources within it. Its a point of view. In short: to live in scarcity is to live in fear. You either see opportunities or you see costs.
Two people can look at the same proposal, one will see the benefit and what a calculated investment in it could give him (whether he takes the proposal or not), the other only see’s the costs. He see’s more costs than the first fellow because that is what is he focused on. He is constantly ruled by fear and likely doesn’t trust himself.
Having a certain degree of self confidence and trust in yourself is necessary if you want to truly have an abundance mentality.
Bulletpoint takeaway’s from the end of of D&P:
- You make your own luck in life. Life is 10% of what happens to you and 90% of how you react to it.
- How many things in your life have you been socially programmed to believe? What if you chose to think independently. Self examination is often necessary and will allow you to ”slow down” and realize that forces are at work that you didn’t plan for. People are scared to death of self examination. They are scared to look inwards at themselves. To them I say: cowards. Self examination is something I do multiple times a day.
- You can push yourself harder than you think you can. The line between breakdown and a breakthrough is thin one.
- A real, true crises is living a life of mediocrity. How many things in your life have you treated as a crisis that didn’t deserve such attention. The worst life crisis you could ever have is getting to the end and having regrets. Live intentionally, and constantly be pushing yourself out of your comfort zone, this is where real growth occurs.
- Everybody has problems. Everybody has their unique life hardships and challenge they deal with. Instead of resisting those, why not accept them? Chinese saying: ”If every man were to bring his troubles and lay them out on a table in front of everyone else in the world, at the end of it he’d pick up his own troubles and leave with them.”
- ”Zen and the Martial Art Of Living” might be Cernovich’s single best podcast, and its featured at the end of this book. I found I got more out of it by reading it out of the book while listening to it at the same time. Only reading or only listening to it wasn’t as powerful, the words I read reinforced what I was hearing.
Read this book guys, you will not regret it.
I’ll talk to you guys again soon. Until then,
Live Intentionally,
-Matt Mitchell
