I just finished listening to the audiobook 'Man's Search For Meaning' by Viktor Frankl, a jew and former brain surgeon who was forced into a concentration camp where he observed a lot of pain and had deeper insights into the will to live.

Viktor Frankl writes about his experience in the camp and the inhumane things that happened there, not as a way to share his story, but rather to illustrate a better picture of our purpose and desire for life. It's a weighty book, but absolutely fascinating to hear how far we can really be pushed before we have given our all. He really writes about how big an impact our will to live has on our longevity, and oftentimes, those who give up tend to die shortly after. 

One thing that really caught my attention was the desensitization of cruelty and inhumanity that they all grew accustomed to. Not only that, but there was a 'higher' rank of a prisoner in the camp, where they had more favor with the guards and often treated their fellow inmates with cruelty and almost acted as spies, while still being beaten and forced to work, though just not as hard.

It's really eye-opening, and I'm happy I read the book. It really confirms my thoughts on mindset being almost everything in life, and how you look at things really defines how you live and the quality of living. 

Viktor Frankl outlines the "psychotherapy" where you immerse yourself in something to look forward to, finding something beautiful and great. 

Key takeaways:

1) WW2 concentration camps were battles in themselves

2) The will to live oftentimes defines if you do or don't

3) Mindset really is everything we can overcome the worst tragedies if we have a hopeful spirit

One of my favorite books I've read this year was "the first 20 hours" by Josh Kaufman, where he outlines how you can become quite skilled in almost anything within just twenty hours of intentional learning.

This book reminds me of a lot of the 80/20 rule, where you spend 20% of your time to make 80% of the progress, and Josh Kaufman illustrates this very eloquently. 

The basic principle is you spend 20 hours of focused and dedicated learning regularly, where you take apart what you want to learn and find the few "core" things within that skill. Then break each of those into subsets of smaller skills that you can practice and self-correct to do them almost perfect before moving to the next. He sights many examples of people excelling in concise periods of time and identifies that the first 20 hours of focused learning typically gets you 80% of the way. It's not at an elite level, but you can get surprisingly good with very little time. 

The 20-hour method has actually been one of the core backbones to many of the projects I take on and skills I try to pick up. I don't set myself with exact hours, but I've found that I can get quite a bit of learning new things just by being intentional about learning and growing when I take the time to do that. 

Key takeaways:

1) Intentional learning is the key to developing skills faster

2) 20-hour method uses focused specific skill-building techniques to master subjects

3) I've found the 20-hour method works really well for picking up new skills extremely quickly in my own life

One of the biggest things I've learned this year was, you can live life to a complete level, and I'm on a journey to get a better idea of my 'purpose' and what kind of work I would find the most fulfillment in. 

Often, we take moments in life for granted, and I know I'm especially guilty of this. And that's why one of the big reasons many thought leaders out there today have some 'big moment' in their life, where they realized life is precious, and so started a journey to start enjoying it and living it to their fullest potential! 

The thing is, I don't want to have a 'big moment' (most often some tragic accident) before I can really appreciate all that I've been given. Because of this, I've been reading a lot more, finding more outlets to learn and take on projects that challenge my current abilities and never be in a state where I'm not growing or moving the needle forward in some way.

I don't fully understand this yet, but I've heard this a lot from many different people, and that is, 'You only get one go-around at this life,' so why not live it to the fullest. Serving, loving, enjoying every moment possible! I think that's one of the biggest reasons I started walking down the path of becoming a 'High-performer" and being as present as I can in each situation I find myself in.

Key takeaways:

1) We often take life for granted

2) Many big thought-leaders have a "big moment" in their life, and I want to avoid that

3) Try new things, and challenge your abilities to keep growing

4) The life of a high-performer is one that engages fully in every scenario, and I want to emulate that

It's late right now, and I just got back from a Friendsgiving dinner and feel extremely content and happy.

Unfortunately, I think we fail to appreciate what we do have when seeking what we don't. We take for granted where we are now and the opportunities to enjoy moments together with loved ones.

Something I've found helpful in keeping these times on my mind and not forgetting them is practicing always sending a thank-you note to hosts. Sharing my appreciation and putting it into words helps me better realize how great a gift it was and turns me into a more loving and appreciative person.

Being specific in the thank-you note also helps you remember the exact things that happened and knowing the details will help you better recall the time down the line. 

Key takeaways:

1) We often take for granted where we are and what we have

2) Showing appreciation through a thank-you note helps you better understand how great a gift it truly is

3) Being specific helps you remember it with more clarity down the line

I talked with one of the guys in my mastermind group on my drive about the culture of comfort and contentment with the people in my generation. 

I find it somewhat surprising and odd that there are so many young people who seem content with mediocrity and don't desire to reach for greater heights. There's nothing wrong with this, but when you only work enough to live on, you don't get to have the opportunities to serve and give as much as if you were striving to build your talents and skills!

Building an empire isn't selfish; you are helping others, creating wealth for everyone, and everything grows. 

Unfortunately, most of my generation is growing up without working or putting in effort for almost anything. It seems to be a lul, and insulation from the real world. We don't need to build something, so we don't. We are satisfied with just living for immediate pleasure, and it's easier than ever to get. 

Key takeaways:

1) My generation is very content with mediocrity

2) When you only work enough to live on, you are living only for yourself

3) Building an empire is a very selfless thing to do

4) Immediate pleasure is easy and plentiful

One of the things that have given me a lot of energy and focus throughout the day is having a morning routine, and it's something I've been refining for many months now!

There are many physiological reasons why having a morning routine is good, but I want to focus on what's worked in my personal experience! 

I've found that doing something regularly every single morning is a great mindset for the day. It's a time where I can take a few moments to myself and think about what's to come for the day. There are many unknowns, and especially with my work scenario, I don't always know what I will be doing until the day of. So reviewing what I will be working on and preparing myself mentally helps me overcome any doubts I may have. I use Brendon Burchard's high-performance journal for this, and his morning mindset questions have been very helpful in letting me see what I need to stay focused on.

I've also found that exercising in the morning is much more enjoyable than in the evening. Having a regular schedule for what time I go to exercise helps me be consistent in doing it every day. Exercising your body also gets your blood flowing and pumped up for the day. 

I also read from my bible each morning, which allows me to wholly focus on God's word and lightly meditate on it.

I used to get up 30 minutes or so before I had to get started with whatever task I had for the day, which wasn't ideal, as I was going into it half asleep and overwhelmed by everything going on.

Key takeaways:

1) Having a routine helps you stay focused on the tasks for the day

2) Review what you will do for the day

3) Starting with exercise will energize your body and mind to get you out on the right foot

Often I fall into the trap of thinking I know it all, and the second that happens, something goes off in my brain telling me to stop trying to learn new things.

When trying to find people to guide you, you want to go in with a learner's attitude. You want to show them that you are eager to find out all the hard-earned wisdom they have to share. You can even put yourself in your mentor's shoes and ask yourself, "what kind of person would I want to share my experience with" and someone with a know-it-all attitude probably isn't on your list.

Honor your mentor, show you're listening, repeat back to them their advice in your own words. I've found that if you approach someone with an eager to learn attitude, coming in as the student, they will more than likely want to share their advice with you. 

Show up and be consistent; this is one area I am very aware of, mostly because it's one I fail at quite a bit. Show not only that you want to learn but also that you will work on it; showing up is half the battle. Show up for your mentor and prove that you are focused and consistent in their word and actions. 

Key takeaways:

1) Go to your mentor with a student attitude

2) Ask yourself what kind of person you would want to mentor

3) Show you're listening by repeating back

4) Be consistent

What is a mentor? 

I see a mentor as someone with more experience, guiding, or giving advice to someone with less experience. In my own life, my parents, older siblings, and my boss would be considered mentors, just for specific applications. One thing I had to overcome was the thought, "there is one mentor who will show me the way," when in reality, people are specialized, and so you can get amazing advice from people who have a lot of experience in that.

Why would I want mentors?

The primary reason to have mentors is to move along faster. Not make the same mistakes others have made, and take the path of following what's worked for other successful people. However, something I've come to realize is, what worked for them, may not work for you. We all have our own unique personalities and ways we understand things, and often times I'll hear something that a great leader says helped them the most. But that may not be what will help me the most. I have my own challenges to overcome and strengths they may not have!

Key takeaways: 

1) A mentor is someone with more experience guiding one with less

2) You want mentors that are especially experienced in what you want to learn

3) You want a mentor because they can help you avoid many of the mistakes they made

4) Not all advice will be helpful

Why I wouldn't start with a mentor, I've realized that there is so much I can be doing now that having a mentor would be more of a burden than a help. I think we often overlook how much free knowledge there is already out there and want to skip past the stuff that's everywhere and get to the meat of things. But if we don't know enough about the new work, we don't know what questions to ask of the mentor. 

Say I wanted to get into buying and to sell real estate (something I know almost nothing about) if I go straight away to find someone who has experience in it and try to get them to mentor me, they wouldn't necessarily know where to begin. You are essentially asking them to tell you the ABCs. You can find that information so fast online that you're almost insulting them by asking such a broad question.

On top of researching the work, you want to do, start talking about it. Start an Instagram account, get on forums, ask questions, engage with other people about it. I think just sharing what you are learning on an Instagram page is one of the most needle-moving things we can do as the younger generation. Showing interest and a willingness to learn things on our own. 

Mentors come in time; they are when we've reached a point where we understand enough and are interested enough to dive deeper in.

Key Takeaways:

1) Don't start with a mentor

2) Do the research to know what to ask

3) Show interest and engage with other people

4) Mentors come in time

One of the things Tony Robbins said in an interview was that most people know what to do. They don't do it primarily out of fear. They are scared to lose something or don't think it's possible, may ruin their life.

The thing is, there are very few things we can really do that will actually ruin our life, or have major bad ramifications. The worst that will typically happen is that we don't like it, so go back to the old process. Thinking specifically of losing weight, it's a daunting thing, and back at the beginning of the year when I was nearly 300lbs, I had a mindset of "but if I get on a diet, I will never get to eat my favorite foods again for the rest of my life." The primary reason I fell off the other plans was getting fed up with not enjoying those foods or letting something small slide. 

One of the ways I overcame, this was changing my mindset on it, and instead of looking at what I would lose, look at what I would gain. I could play sports and not get tired, I could last longer in almost everything, and I could feel great about my body! I realized too that I could change what I wanted to eat and what I enjoyed eating.

Everything is a mindset game; that is the key to unlock anything in life. 

Key takeaways:

1) Most people know what to do; they are just scared

2) It's hard to actually to mess up your life, and if you don't like it, go back to the old ways

3) Mindset is everything; you can change how you perceive all things in your life