Dan Waldschmidt's Blog, page 4

How To Know When It’s Time To Give Up.

We all have a breaking point.

No matter how smart or strong or insightful you think you are, you are going to have a moment with it’s time to stop doing what you are doing and move on to something else.

You’ve asked yourself: “When should I quit? When is it time to be reasonable?”

To be honest, it happens to everyone. At some time, you are going to face failure, disappointment, and insurmountable odds.

And not the stuff that comes and goes in a quick day or week or month.

The scary, can’t-sleep-at-night type of stuff that rocks you to your core and makes you question everything you’ve ever believed about how life is supposed to be.

You feel broken. And you aren’t sure how to put the pieces back together.

More than anything, you just want the pain to go away.

Perhaps, Emilie’s story illustrates this best.

Walking down Shotwell Street in San Francisco, you’d be forgiven for not noticing the thin, nondescript brown building with its two businesses splitting the narrow front.

Pedestrians walking past the building on October 3, 2015 might have smelled the scent of freshly cooked pasta and sauce wafting from the building.

Inside, an artist was cooking up an experience. Using handmade, unstained porcelain bowls and carved wooden spoons, artist Emilie Gossiaux served 85 guests a meal they weren’t likely to forget.

Not because of the delicious food or the bowls left unglazed for the sauce to leave their imprint.

It was because Emilie Gossiaux was blind. And deaf.

And serving each guest personally with food, dishes, and utensils she made herself.

It was all part of an exhibit celebrating the life and work of Oliver Sacks — a neuroscientist famous for studying the edge cases of what the human brain is capable of.

She had been blind for the past 4 years and 360 days. Deaf since she was 5 years old.

Art was always her coping mechanism.

As a kid, her mom used to find her hiding in the closet, drawing her own cartoons hours after she was supposed to be asleep.

She filled notebooks with her sketches and drawings as she processed what life was like growing up “different”, constantly being picked on, having to learn to lipread her teachers.

As her mom said about her art: “it is all she sees”.

On the Friday morning of October 8, 2010, she had to go to the studio of famed artist Daniel Arsham whom she was working for while attending the prestigious Cooper Union art school in New York City. She kissed her boyfriend goodbye and pedaled off through the bustling New York City traffic.

At the corner of Johnson and Varick in Brooklyn, as she waited for the light to change, her life changed forever.

An 18-wheeler took that turn too tight, plowed right over her, crushing her—fracturing her skull, pelvis, and left leg.

She was rushed to the hospital where doctors frantically worked to save her life. But the doctors couldn’t work fast enough. She flatlined.

Her heart stopped beating: 1 second… 10 seconds… 30 seconds… A full minute passed before her heart started pumping blood again.

But she couldn’t breathe. Her internal organs had swollen from the trauma and were compressing against her lungs, causing her to suffocate.

The doctors had to do something—so they pulled her intestines out of her abdomen so that her chest cavity had room to breathe again.

She was alive. But inside, Emily remained in a hopeless, dark, silent void. Still unresponsive.

Her mom sat down by Emilie’s bed. She had just given the medical team permission to harvest Emilie’s organs when the time came.

That seemed to be coming all too soon.

Sitting there, she read one of their favorite books to Emilie, The Bridge of San Luis Rey, a 1927 Pulitzer-winning novel about seemingly random tragedy and death.

Her mom, overcome with emotion, whispered in Emilie’s ear, telling her that she would love Emilie forever, an unending love, a love that wouldn’t quit.

To the surprise of her mom, Emilie raised her left hand.

When her mom tried to convince the doctors that Emilie was inside, alive and fighting to come back, the doctors insisted that Emilie’s responses were just reflexes.

They saw no signs of high brain function.

Every time she scratched her wounds, slapped away a helping hand, or flailed her head when they tried to reinsert her hearing aids, the doctors insisted it was a reflex.

The doctors didn’t believe it was possible for her to recover from an accident that bad. But after several weeks of steady improvement in ICU, she finally stabilized enough that she had to go somewhere.

But where? She was blind and death. It is impossible to help someone recover when they can’t respond to basic commands.

Somehow Emilie kept finding a way to fight back.

When they removed her tracheotomy, she started talking again.

She cursed out everyone around her.

She called people “Ms. Dashwood”, recalling Sense and Sensibility she and her boyfriend Alan had watched a few months back. But it wasn’t enough to prove she was a candidate for rehab.

That left just one choice: a nursing home.

Her dad flew back to their hometown of New Orleans to look for a place for Emilie without bothering to tell her boyfriend. They felt it would be best for him if they just took Emilie away.

Alan insisted they give her a chance. He knew she’d claw her way back.

He was desperate for her to come back.

At 3 am one night, he had a breakthrough.

He had read about Annie Sullivan, the woman who taught Helen Keller through print on palm.

Taking her left palm in his and using her wrist as the baseline, he painstakingly traced large capital letters in her hand with his pointer finger.

I-L-O-V-E-Y-O-U.

I love you.

“Oh, you love me? That’s so sweet. Thank you.” She responded.

But she didn’t know it was Alan or that he was her boyfriend.

But to Alan, it didn’t matter. He couldn’t believe it. Neither could the doctors. He had to prove it to them somehow, so he started recording their conversations.

“What’s your name?” “What year is it?”

By painstakingly tracing each letter, he convinced her to let them put her hearing aids back in. And instantly, her personality came back.

But that was just the beginning of the fight. She would have to learn how to communicate all over again. She would have to learn how to do everything all over again.

So she dropped out of school to deal with life. What other choice did she have?

It takes most people 2 years to learn Braille.

Within a year, she finished reading her first Braille book: Ernest Hemmingway’s The Sun Also Rises.

She enrolled at a dedicated school for blind people to help them navigate society.

She could have picked a campus in her hometown, but she chose Minneapolis. She wanted to train in a city similar to New York City.

She wasn’t about to give up on her dream.

While in school, she took up an Industrial Arts class. She was determined to get back to art through whatever means possible.

Her teacher handed her a block of wood. She was told to carve the wood into who she wanted to become. As she painstakingly worked the block down, a definitive shape started to emerge.

She was carving a knife.

Emilie was going to cut through everything that was holding her back from art. That determination led Emilie to enroll in a night class where she honed her ceramics skill.

That determination led Emilie to become one of the first people to wear the BrainPort, a device specifically designed to help blind people “see” with their tongue.

The camera on the bridge of a special pair of sunglasses translates various shapes and levels of light into electromagnetic signals that stimulate the tongue like thousands of soda bubbles.

The only problem: the resolution was like using a child’s Lite Brite. Her doctors told her that even with the BrainPort, it would be impossible to create good art.

Somehow, she figured it out.

She painstakingly set up a blank sheet of paper on her desk and positioned a bright light on it so she could better see the contrast. If she drew with enough force, she could feel the wax of the crayon with her fingers — like Braille.

She also realized that a rich, dark ink called India Ink would show up well through the BrainPort.

And so she drew. Using the BrainPort as her guide, she drew a pair of hands. And as she studied those hands, she realized their cupped shape resembled a dove. She took that drawing and shaped it out of clay.

In 2013, that dove won Emilie the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Award of Excellence.

A year later, Emilie finally accomplished one of her dreams: she graduated from college.

And today, she continues to create art that inspires the world.

Her story makes clear this question about when it’s time to quit. In truth, every inch of her success was a fight. For life. For love. For art.

She understood clearly that small progress takes massive effort. She willing to do whatever it took to turn her dream into reality.

Are you? Or have you decided that life is especially unfair to you?

It doesn’t matter what you have gone through so far in your life.

Get hit by a bus? Go through an ugly divorce? File bankruptcy? Lose a job? Lose a friend? Lose everything?

Here are three simple truths:

When you want to win bad enough, you’ll figure out how you do just that. Don’t worry about it now. When you can’t stand to walk away, you’ll keep working at it long enough to figure it out.When you are willing to sacrifice anything, you’re guarnteed to make it. Because that’s what it takes.

Do you know what you really want? Do you really care about winning?

You get to write your rebound story.

You get to decide that you are going to keep trying.

You decide when it’s time to give up. And hopefully you won’t.

Because you don’t need to.

The post How To Know When It’s Time To Give Up. appeared first on Dan Waldschmidt.

Why Winners “Won’t”.

Stop saying “I can’t”. Enough already with the “should I” or “I don’t know how” self-chatter.

If you are being honest with yourself and the rest of the world most of what you “can’t do” really ought to be an honest discussion about what you “won’t do”. 

It’s easy to reply to a hard challenge with the observation that “you can’t do that”.

You “can’t” or you “won’t”?

You can’t lose weight or you won’t stick to a diet? You can’t make more money or you won’t work hard enough to earn more? You can’t find a job or you won’t do what it takes to be found?



Being successful in life isn’t about what you “can’t do”. It’s about what you “won’t do”.

There is power in saying that you won’t do something. There is clarity in saying that you won’t do something.

There is a singular power and potency and seemingly superhuman potential when you shut down an opportunity for disastraction and refuse to be deterred.

But it’s scary to stop yourself. It feels awkward to slow yourself down. It’s unnatural to put limitations on yourself.

After all, isn’t that what other people are doing to you all the time.

Aren’t you keeping your options open so that if something bad happens you have something to fall back on?

The power you want lies in the secret behind your refusal. Behind every “won’t” is a much more powerful will.

The will to win. The will to work. The will to stay focused. The will t fight on, despite past losses.

If you will, it will. But when you decide that everything is an option — that every opportunity is equally important for yourself — you sacrifice what you really want.

All that potential. All that opportunity. Everything you could have been. You throw that away for the emotional crutch of feeling like you have unlimited options.

Here is the naked truth, your options have always been unlimited.

You have always been unlimited. You’ve always been able to do what you want to do.

So it’s foolish and rather downright silly to pretend that you “can’t” or “shouldn’t” or “might not”, “not sure”, “possibly,” or any other self-limiting self-talk you say that is stopping you from realizing your full potential.

Just say that you “won’t“. Say that you “won’t“.

Refuse to do anything other than that for which you have your heart set on most.

Demand awesomeness from yourself. Plan for all the best things to be right at your fingertips. Push yourself beyond mediocrity to the very edge of the greatness that you’ve always dreamed about.

It’s inside you, waiting to come out. Waiting to emerge. Waiting to show you the light of your own possibility. But none of that will ever happen until you refuse to do anything else but focus on what you care about most.

“Won’t” more. You’ll end up winning more.

But “won’t” isn’t just about focus. It’s about a mindset. A raging purposefulness.

“Won’t” is about that line in the sand you set for yourself.

I won’t back down until I get what I want. I won’t stop working until I reach the outcome that I want.

I won’t give up on my marriage, my relationships, or my destiny. I won’t stop fighting to be a better version of myself.

I won’t complain, be a cynic, point the finger at other people for my own mistakes, or pretend like the universe is out of my control.

Winners have a different vocabulary.

They see the world differently. They think of the world differently. They act differently.

They declare with passion what they won’t do.

That’s what winners do. Here’s the truth about trying:

You can work harder than you think you can. But if you think you can’t, you probably won’t even try. You can learn faster than you think you can. But if you think you can’t, you probably won’t even try.You can keep giving longer than you think you can. But if you think you can’t, you probably won’t even try.You can dream bigger than you think you can. But if you think you can’t, you probably won’t even try.You can live more boldly than you think you can. But if you think you can’t, you probably won’t even try.You can push the limits a little bit more than you think you can. But if you think you can’t, you probably won’t even try.You can dig deeper more than you think you can. But if you think you can’t, you probably won’t even try.You can fight through the fatigue longer than you think you can. But if you think you can’t, you probably won’t even try.You can take being laughed at more than you think you can. But if you think you can’t, you probably won’t even try.

You can always do more than you think you can.

But you won’t find out, if you’re not willing to try.

And sometimes trying means you get hurt and fail. That you have to pick yourself back up off the street and get back headed towards where you want to be.

And if you won’t do that for you, why should anyone else believe that you are worth it?

Believing in yourself doesn’t magically solve your problems, but it solves the biggest problem of all — getting started in the first place.

Chances are, you’ll surprise yourself with how good you really are after taking that first step.

So why won’t you get started?

What’s stopping you from being focused, fearless, and fantastically willing to keep fighting for getting to where you want to be?

The post Why Winners “Won’t”. appeared first on Dan Waldschmidt.

25 Truths To Guide You Through Tough Times From That Time Rocky Sold His Best Friend.

Life comes at you fast.

It doesn’t matter whether you are an entrepreneur, an actor, business leader, or just trying to get ahead — you’re going to have to make it through tough times

It’s easy to get an idea stuck in your head about the direction your future should be going. About how much money you should have by now. About how much status and popularity and success you should have already achieved.

Especially when you believe in your heart that you are destined for more.

But in front of you, all you see is frustration. And a desperate need for a breakthrough. 

That’s how Sylvester Stallone felt. 

In his late teens, the lonely kid from Hell’s Kitchen decided acting was his calling. And maybe even screenwriting.

He had a vivid imagination that made him the laughing stock of most of his teachers.

But he kept imagining. He kept writing. Working. Pursuing his dream.

After leaving college to pursue his dream, it didn’t take long before he started feeling the heavy weight of the world on his shoulders. 

Living in a roach-infested apartment in New York City, he tried to make it in the cutthroat world of acting–without success. Audition after audition. Rejection after rejection.

Stallone was not someone casting directors would call “good looking.” They called him gruff. Deformed. Ugly. Stupid, even.

But that part wasn’t his fault. 

He was born n the charity ward of the New York Hospital System. Pried out of his mother’s birth canal with forceps.

A procedure that damaged Sylvester’s facial nerves. Leaving him with a drooping eyelid, deformed lips, and speech impediment. 

But what he lacked in good looks growing up, he made up for in muscle.

Sylvester became obsessed with working out.

And when he realized the strength that came with the bulk, he started using his fists to defend his awkward speech and looks. 

Although his speech improved with therapy over the years, it crippled his barely-existant career. He was cast as a thug or a gangster in the small roles that he was able to get. 

And he did get a few roles.

Sometimes even enough to pay the rent in his tiny apartment.

And he was good at playing the thug. He had plenty of real-life experience getting in fights. Fighting to make the teasing stop. Fighting to defend the way his face looked and the way his voice sounded.

Eventually, people stopped making fun of him and started to take note. He even became somewhat popular.  

It wasn’t too many years later that Sylvester and his wife, Sasha, decided to pack up their little car with Sylvester’s huge bullmastiff, Butkus, in the back seat and head to Hollywood — where Sylvester was sure he would make it big. 

Instead, they left the slums of New York for the slums of Hollywood.

They moved into an apartment that was no better and no bigger than the one they had just left. And it had just as many roaches hanging out for dinner. 

He went out for audition after audition. Only getting picked for the parts of the dumb jock or the angry thug.

Again, he and his wife were hungry.

Rent was due. The light bill was due. The dog needed food.  It seemed like the world was closing in around them. They had each other, but not much else. 

Success seemed impossibly far away.

They were so broke, Sylvester made one of the toughest decisions of his life.

He had to sell his beloved dog. He couldn’t afford to feed him.

He couldn’t afford to feed himself and his wife — much less an animal.

So he put a for sale sign on Butkus outside of a convenience store and sold him for $50 to a guy named Little Jimmy. And then he went home and cried over the loss of his best friend.

It was one of his lowest moments.

A couple of days later, Sylvester found himself watching a Muhammed Ali fight. Live.

He had managed to get tickets to the big match because Ali was fighting a no-name fighter and promoters had to practically give the tickets away to get an audience.

And Sylvester was there. Watching. Being inspired. 

When he left that fight, which Ali won as expected, Sylvester went home and began to think about why all of the other screenplays he had written had failed.

He realized all of his scripts were too close to home. They were all autobiographical.

And if he was being honest, they were boring. And depressing.

He needed something uplifting and encouraging. He needed to inspire people.

And so he started writing a new screenplay.

He was in-the-moment. Obsessed. He wrote frantically. Nonstop. For three days. 

When he emerged from his mania, he had written a script called he called Rocky.

It had a lot of potential according to the producers he showed it to. So much potential that they were willing to buy the screenplay from him for $75,000.

That was more money than Stallone had ever seen in his life. 

But it came with a catch. 

They only wanted the script. They didn’t want Sylvester to act in the movie — and he had his heart set on doing just that.

So he refused the offer.

They offered $125,000. He refused that offer.

They offered $175,000. He refused that one too. 

He wanted to act in his own movie. He knew he could do it.

Plus, he had written that part for himself and he wasn’t going to let any other actor do it.

He’d let the script rot on a shelf and starve first. 

After weeks of negotiation, they agreed to let Sylvester play the part of Rocky. But they would only pay $30,000 for the script at that point.

He had been a real pain in the ass — so he wasn’t going to get paid for the acting. He would have to take a percentage of movie sales.

Stallone happily agreed.

He got his check and went back to his shabby little apartment. He could have moved into something nicer, but he stayed there with his wife. He was too busy to think about moving.

He was 100% committed to becoming Rocky.

He bought a heavy bag and hung it up in the apartment. He cut out carbs and ate only protein for 3 months prior to filming to get in shape.

But he needed something more. To stay focused he needed his best friend back.

When he went tried to buy his dog back, Little Jimmy told him: “NO”. He said his kids liked the dog and would be heartbroken.

The $50 price he had paid earlier soon rose to $100. Little Jimmy still said “NO”.

Sylvester offered $1,000. Little Jimmy still said “NO” and pointed to his children who had grown to love the dog in the less than six months they had it.

He eventually offered Little Jimmy $3,000. Ten percent of what he sold his script for.  it was an offer Jimmy couldn’t refuse. 

Stallone was reunited with his best bud — who appeared in Rocky with him.

Life was looking up. Maybe. 

The movie was filmed in less than 30 days. On a small production budget. It was a B-list movie at best according to the experts.

When the film was released, it shocked everyone by becoming an Academy Award and Golden Globe winner, making the poor kid with the deformed face a millionaire and a household name. 

The rest of that story is well-known history.

Six Rocky movies, Rambo, the Expendables series and appearances in over 50 other full-length films over the last 50 years. And a net worth of about $400 million. 

You know who Sylvester Stallone is. But you probably didn’t know this story.

That he was so broke he had to sell his dog to buy groceries. 

So when you find yourself frustrated by a lack of results, know that you are in good company. Know that doing whatever it takes is always what it takes.

Fall back on some common truths about what it takes to make it through tough times:

Your ability to win is directly related to your ability to tough it out.Inspiration is a reward. You have to work for it and fight to keep it.The opposite of success isn’t failure. It’s apathy.You don’t need to worry about getting it wrong as long as you are willing to keep trying.Progress is the reward of the courageous.Just because the critics are louder than you doesn’t mean they’re right.You’re not stuck. You’re just not making the right choices.The fastest way to get hurt is to look back while running forward.If you’re not radically different, you’re really not different at all.The path to realizing your full potential travels through the valley of setbacks.What works for someone else almost certainly isn’t going to work for you.Don’t believe everything you don’t hear.If you don’t believe in yourself, no else’s opinion will be enough to keep you motivated.There’s no such thing as burnout. If there’s enough fuel, the fire always burns.You don’t have to be “up for the job” to finish the job.If you have to tell people that you’re the one in charge, you’re probably not.Effort is one of the only factors in life that is solely within your own control.If life were easier you wouldn’t be any happier.If you think you can’t make it, you probably won’t.Motivation is like oxygen. You only know it’s missing when you’re gasping for more.The difference between winning and losing is when you stop trying.Spend the time you worry about what other people think about you making progress towards your goals.Changing might hurt right now, but losing hurts forever.Winning isn’t about the resources you have but how resourceful you are.The greatest discovery you will ever make is that nothing is impossible.

According to Stallone, buying his dog back was the best investment he ever made.

He still uses a picture of Butkus for his desktop wallpaper on his home computer.

And tells heartfelt stories of those dog days of life when the only person he had to talk to was his four-legged companion.  

It was a reminder of what it takes to make it through tough times.

The post 25 Truths To Guide You Through Tough Times From That Time Rocky Sold His Best Friend. appeared first on Dan Waldschmidt.

26 Mistakes That Will Stop You From Achieving What You Want In Life.

It was a little after 4 AM when I got to the starting line. It was freezing cold — barely 20 degrees outside. I was wearing Nike running tights, a compression shirt, and a light running jacket.

It was my last race of the year —  a 50 miler through horse trails in beautiful North Carolina.

It was early and cold, and I was nervous — which makes everything a little more frustrating than it needs to be.

At that moment, I needed a bit of help. I was wearing a hat and gloves and struggling to get water into my running bottle without getting myself wet.

To be honest, I wanted to ditch the water bottle and just run empty-handed — but I wondered if that would be a mistake 10 miles it.

As I was fumbling around trying to figure this out, I heard a bit of advice from the runner standing next to me: “I’m not taking any water with me. It’s too cold right now to get dehydrated.”

That made sense to me.

It was 4 AM and cold. This guy was an expert. Clearly — you don’t need water when it’s cold outside. Throwing my water bottle on the ground, I turned my headlamp on and headed to the starting line, waiting for the gun to go off.

When the race started, I joined a pack of runners who jumped ahead of the rest of the athletes. As we stumbled around in the darkness, trying not to miss the trail, we chatted a little bit about who we were and where we were from.

Anything to take our minds off the ultra-marathon we had just started

My new friend with the advice about not needing to drink any water shared a little more information with the rest of us: “This is my first ultra-marathon,” he commented, “I’m just hoping I can finish in 13 hours.”

If it wasn’t so cold I would have stopped dead in my tracks.

I had just accepted advice from a newbie. A novice. A nobody. A person who sounded like they had great insight — but without any real experience and wisdom.

What sounded logical to me at the time is something that you know is absolutely dead wrong.

Why? Because I confused and tired and scared at the moment — and he sounded confident. I was willing to buy into this theory that “you don’t need water when it’s cold outside”.

I believed it. I wanted to believe it. I accepted it as truth. And it was going to cost me.

Unfortunately, that sort of advice isn’t relegated to my running. It’s all over the internet, packed into books and webinars, courses, coaching, and countess video programs you buy.

It’s easy to fall into the trap of blindly following other people’s advice, hoping that it’s better than what you’ve been doing thus far.

When you’re tired and frustrated by the battle, it’s natural for you to want to believe that someone else’s solution will help you get to where you want to be faster than what you’re doing already.

In your state of frustration and hopelessness, you can injure yourself irreparably.

You can too easily waste time, money, and precious resources making mistakes that will stop you from achieving the success you so desperately want for yourself.

Here are a few of those mistakes to avoid.

It’s a mistake to not put in enough effort to achieve your goals. The grind is what leads to glory. You have to pay the price. It’s a mistake to play it safe. Progress is the prize of the courageous. It’s a mistake to chase what is easy, fast, or free. It’s an automatic shortcut to a dead-end. Every time. Guaranteed. It’s a mistake to think that you can achieve success without massive amounts of sacrifice. Enough said. It’s a mistake to not ask for help. There are others willing and able to help you get to where you want to be. It’s a mistake to expect other people to care more about your success than you do. It’s on you to stay motivated. It’s a mistake to look at failure as anything other than a learning experience. You can’t level up without failing around the way. It’s a mistake to expect that the details of your life’s mission can be managed by others. Nope. You have to be the one working that out. It’s a mistake to not listen to what isn’t said. Your chance at breakthrough is often found in the silence of what others are afraid to tell you. It’s a mistake to let bad times cause you to lose sight of the big picture. You are going to make it. Keep fighting. It’s a mistake to choose more money over a bigger mission. You can make more money doing just about anything. But a mission is priceless. It’s a mistake to worry about what other people think about you. What others feel about you is none of your business. It’s a mistake to think that you can do anything one time and expecting it to be successful — no matter how smart or successful you have already been. It’s a mistake to blame other people for your circumstances. It’s a lie that destroys any chance you have of achieving big goals. It’s a mistake to forget that everybody is going through something right now. Empathy is your superpower. Try using it.It’s a mistake to expect that everybody thinks exactly as you do. They can’t. And won’t. Listen and care.It’s a mistake to let your raw emotions drive the decisions that you make. What you feel matters. But sometimes that feeling is self-destructive.It’s a mistake to try to be what you think other people want you to be. Be authentic. Care deeply about who you want to be.It’s a mistake to spend your emotional energy making sure no one takes advantage of you. Lose the chip on your shoulder. It’s a mistake to try to please everyone. Please yourself by leveling up each day. Be a better version of yourself each time you compete.It’s a mistake to surrounding yourself with people who are only as good as you. You get better by learning from better people.It’s a mistake to focus on what people say you should be doing. You know what you should be doing. Do that.It’s a mistake to refuse to change your mind. Stubbornness is a fire that will burn you in the end. Be open to whatever makes you better. It’s a mistake to compare where you are in life to where others seem to be. Looks are always deceiving. Just focus on your own mission.It’s a mistake to not be honest with yourself. You can lie to everyone else. But you lose everything when you can’t tell yourself the truth.It’s a mistake to believe that perfection is possible. It’s usually just the enemy of you making progress.

The good thing about learning from your mistakes is that no matter how badly you have failed in the past, you can turn things around with a few smart choices.

Ten miles later into my ultra-marathon, I grabbed my water bottle of the ground and finished running.

I ended up finishing in second place overall. A few minutes behind the winner. My friend, with great advice, finished 8 hours later.

And I learned a powerful lesson about accepting advice.

It’s easy to assume that the person telling you what to do knows more than you. But maybe they’re just as confused as you are.

Maybe what you’re hearing isn’t what you need to be doing. Maybe it’s time for you to believe a bit more in yourself.

And stop making these mistakes.

The post 26 Mistakes That Will Stop You From Achieving What You Want In Life. appeared first on Dan Waldschmidt.

The Magic Of Knowing That You’ll Make It Out Alive.

There is nothing more powerful than believing that you are going to make it. Not just believing. Knowing.

Knowing that no matter how bad you feel right now that you are tough enough to make it through to the other side. To survive. And thrive.

If you are struggling right now, you know the sense of dread that accompanies problems. You know the panic that creeps up the bottom of your throat. The hopelessness and fear.

You aren’t sure if this is the struggle that finally breaks you. You don’t know if you are going to be able to make it this time around.

What you need is to know that you will indeed make it out alive.

That you are strong enough to do what it takes to realize your dreams.

No matter how bad things look, you need to know. Like “Nando” did.

It was October 13th in 1972.  Flight 571 from the Uruguayan Air Force was flying over the Andes Mountains.  Onboard were 45 people, the entire Uruguayan rugby team and their friends and family.

It was a time of celebration and joy as they enjoyed each other’s company and the time they had together.

And then, that all changed in an instant.

A flash snowstorm high above the mountains caused the aircraft, a twin-turboprop Fairchild FH-227, to crash.  As the plane exploded against the side of the mountain more than a dozen of the passengers were killed instantly.  

The rest were left scrambling. In a wild panic.

Wondering how long they would make it.

At 11,000 feet in blizzard conditions, the 29 remaining survivors huddled around a makeshift shelter sharing a can of sardines, a few chocolate bars, and a couple of bottles of wine that they found in the wreckage of the plane.  

That was all they had.

They waited for rescuers to find them in temperatures that plunged to -30°F.  The first night 5 more survivors died.  Frozen solid in the unforgiving conditions.

A few days later, an avalanche fell from the top of the steep mountains peaks above them.  As the snow swept furiously around them, several of the group were snatched from their flimsy shelter and swept over the side of the mountain to their death.

Little did they know that the search-and-rescue effort for them had been called off days ago.  The best search teams in the world couldn’t make it to them.  

They were doomed to certain death.

Stuck impossibly high in one of the most inhospitable locations anywhere in the world.

For days they waited to be found by people who weren’t actually looking for them.  

No food.  Harsh conditions.  The odds against them.  

But then – things were about to get worse. Much worse.

To stay alive they resorted to the unthinkable.  The only thing left to eat were the frozen bodies of the family and friends who had died in the plane crash.  

They couldn’t build a fire in the swirling winds of the mountain top so they ate the frozen body organs raw.

Sickened by their state. Weak. And broken. They waited to die.

Hours turned into days.  Days turned into weeks.  Weeks turned into a month.  One month turned into two.  

That’s when hope began to die.  

They had survived an unimaginable tragedy.  They had stayed alive for 60 days by resorting to cannibalism.

And despite it all, they were still going to die.  Only 16 of them were left.

That’s when Nando knew he had to make a difference.  

A poor child from a poor section of Uruguay, Fernando Parrado, was a knock-out: a rugby player and captain of a popular team.  

His mother and sister had died in the crash.   He was all alone now.  If anyone was going to live, it was going to be because of him. He would go find help and bring them back to rescue the remaining survivors.

To begin their escape, he made snowshoes out of seat cushions and seat belt straps.  Using an old sleeping bag he put together a three-day ration of human flesh as food for their journey.  

Nando asked two other survivors, Roberto Canessa and Antonio Vizintín to go with him.  

They left the crash site and headed west.

To get out of the mountains, Nando led his small group up the mountain pass directly to their west.  The peak of the mountain was over 14,447 feet high.

From the top of the mountain they could see the faint outlines of a road and the Pacific Ocean far away.  They knew they had a longer trip than 3 days.  

They started walking.

For 10 days they walked up and over mountains until they finally saw signs of civilization — green grass, a farm, and a river.  

They had walked 40 miles and were now in Chile.

Too exhausted to go any further, they collapsed on the side of a riverbank. They had given all they had. They were finished.

A short while later, a Chilean rancher found them and brought back the military and a medical support team, who were shocked at the men they saw.

It had been 71 days since their plane hit the side of the mountain.

The next day, Nando led helicopter pilots to the crash site where 14 of the survivors waited to be rescued. They had lived through the most horrifically improbable tragedy in history.  

Weeks later as the dead were buried atop the mountain, the rescue workers marked the grave with an iron cross on top of a pile of stones.  

That still stands today as a monument to the tragedy and a memorial to the miracle of hope.

Hope led by one man.

A man who knew that he was going to make it.

Chances are your life isn’t exploding against the side of a South American mountain pass like Flight 571 did 47 years ago.

You won’t have to eat the dead bodies of your friends and family to survive.  You have food in the pantry, a roof over your head, and 300 channels on cable TV.

But your problems might seem just as horrific.  And they’ve still solved the same way: “You need hope.”

You need to believe that you can make it. To know that “you’ve got this.”

You need to know that no matter how tough things are right now that you can do what success requires.  You can make it out alive.

You are tough enough to do what it takes to realize your dreams.

Shuffle. Stumble. Crawl. Move. Do whatever it takes to make forward progress.

You go this.

The post The Magic Of Knowing That You’ll Make It Out Alive. appeared first on Dan Waldschmidt.

1 Epic Victory And 10 Lessons Learned About The Power Of Words From The Greatest King Who Ever Lived.

It’s not good enough to be right. Or to do what you think is right. The hard truth about leadership is that to be effective you have to master the power of words. You have to master delivering those words in the right tone.  

A good example of this comes from perhaps the greatest ruler who ever lived. 

In early 335 B.C., Alexander the Great began his quest for world domination.  No other ruler had a passion for conquest like Alexander.  

Not even his father, Philip II of Macedon, who had expanded the Greek empire further than any king before him.

After ten years of fighting, Alexander arrived at the edge of India without having lost a single battle.  His army controlled most of the known world at that time — Greece, Egypt, and what had been the Persian empire.   But Alexander wanted more.

The problem was that his men were tired.  

They had followed him for ten years — fighting thousands of miles across lower Europe, into Africa, and to the edge of the Middle East.    Far away from families and wives, they languished in fatigue, without the rage to conquer another empire.

Alexander gathered his men together and delivered an impassioned speech: “I observe, gentlemen, that when I would lead you on a new venture you no longer follow me with your old spirit.

I have asked you to meet me that we may come to a decision together: are we, upon my advice, to go forward, or, upon yours, to turn back?

I will make those who go the envy of those who stay.”

Those words made a big difference.

You don’t have to be in too many shouting matches to figure that when things get heated it’s very easy to say things that are cruel. Things that are unfair or highly manipulative, hurtful, or mean.

These sort of words rise quickly to the top of an angry argument especially when you feel like you are losing the fight.

And then, instead of arguing about the original reason for your discussion, you find yourself simply trying to hurt the other person. Trying to win at all costs.

That’s because words are effective weapons.

What is especially interesting about those moments where you say hurtful things is that those cruel words didn’t just magically come out of your mouth. They were words shaped by thoughts that you had been doing a good job keeping bottled up inside you.

But once you say the words out loud, you can’t take them back. The words are out there. The emotions they create. The way they make people feel.  You can’t take that back.

So it’s important to act like words matter.

It’s important to know that your tone delivering those words matters.

You don’t need to act fearfully. Or without candor. You need to use words purposefully.

Here are a few lessons to learn about words and leading with tone:

Ask smart questions and people will believe you’re a smart person. Challenge yourself to ask more questions than making statements.If you want people to take action, then be specific about the results that you expect and a timeline that is acceptable. Words spoken angrily are ineffective in the long run — even if they contain something truthful. Give yourself 3-seconds of quiet before you answer.Don’t be unclear. It makes you untrustworthy. Effective conversations require words that inspire trust, confidence, and intrigue. If everything you talk about is “I’s” and “Me’s” then don’t be confused when you don’t get a lot of help. Whining creates massive amounts of irritation, anger, and fear — not positive progress or constructive growth. Ruthlessly eliminate it.Choose words that make the mission personal for the other person. It’s not about what you want, it’s how they hear you.Passive-aggression is confusing (and annoying) for anyone listening and the least effective way to get what you want from others.There is nothing you can say to be interesting when you’ve talked for too long. Fewer words make for an effective conversation.Grateful and thankful words are the best way to motivate people to accomplish results over the long run.



The wrong words can make your life miserable

They can make it take longer accomplish your goals. And impossible.

Just because you need to say “what’s on your mind” doesn’t give you permission to be a jerk. You don’t get a chance to take things back, hurt people, or re-explain bad behavior.  

Words matters.  Act like it.

Actions might speak louder than words, but words are the best way to drive better actions.

That’s important to remember when you need to get things done. 

Say what’s important. Be purposeful. Ask questions. Take responsibility for the results of the words that you use. 

It didn’t make sense.

King Porus had hundreds of elephants. The Persians had none.

But that simple speech Alexander the Great delivered to his tired army had an incredible impact.

It inspired his men to dig a little bit deeper and push into India — adding another victory and more territory to the largest kingdom of all time.

It took actions. But behind it all was the artful delivery of words.

Speak to inspire.

The post 1 Epic Victory And 10 Lessons Learned About The Power Of Words From The Greatest King Who Ever Lived. appeared first on Dan Waldschmidt.

Finding Your Greatness, Abandoning Glory, And The Grit You’ll Need To Do Both.

You can choose greatness or glory. You can’t have both at the same time. That’s the hard truth of doing something that matters.

Getting started, it feels like you need glory to propel you towards greatness.

If you just have enough attention. If more people just knew about what you are doing. If you had more time, money and notoriety, you would be so much more ahead in your conquest for getting to that next level.

Greatness comes without glory.

It has to because what you need to do to become great isn’t glorious. It’s gory. And gritty And flat out hard work.

Remember that moment in the valley of Thermopylae when 300 Spartans stood against the powerful army of Xerxes? That moment when 2 million soldiers decided that the few hundred soldiers fighting for King Leonidas were too much for them.?

That moment wasn’t the result of more social media attention. It didn’t come about because people all over the world were cheering for the Spartans.

It was simply because of the decades of training those soldiers had endured.

It was about the way of life their parents had instilled within them.

The Spartans of old spent years developing skills for combat that many of those warriors would never actually use in a real battle. They trained, prepared, ate right, and sacrificed entertainment in pursuit of their ideals. 

According to historians of the day, their focus and hard work seemed like overkill to the rest of the Grecian Empire who openly mocked them: “Why put in so much work when life is so good?”

While everyone else in the world was getting drunk, they were getting strong. While everyone else was goofing around, they were getting smart.

It sounded cruel to rest of the world when they would send a 12-year-old boy out in the wild on his own. Some of them never came home.

But in that valley — on that day — those 300 men who had been battle-tested every day of their life thus far created a story so great we tell it thousands of years later.

Their greatness did not come from glory.

It came from intentional activity and a daily routine that was focused on building the strengths and courage it would take to win — despite the number of opponents against them.

But it wasn’t just the spirit of hard work and discipline that made the Spartans great. It was their mindset. It was how they viewed the world around them.

We see that illustrated clearly almost 130 years after the Battle of Thermopylae and those 3 days of epic conquest.

It was 346 B.C. and Philip II of Macedon, better known as the father of Alexander the Great, invaded Greece with a powerful army. Dozens of key city-states immediately submitted to his conquest without putting up a fight — knowing that the Macedonian army would destroy their lands, kill their sons and their women if they didn’t surrender before the fight began.

And that strategy worked perfectly.

They were promised life and peace if they submitted and sent yearly tribute to the empire. To spare their people destruction, the leaders wisely pledged their loyalty to the invading king.

All of them except Sparta. Sparta refused to submit.

There was no discussion. No persuading. No compromise. No nothing.

They simply refused to be ruled by anyone else. And it was about to turn into a potentially epic mistake.

The enraged invaders sent a warning to the Spartan leaders: “Surrender. If I conquer your land, I will destroy your farms, slay your people, and raze your city.”

It was a clear message: “We are going to crush you like we have crushed everyone else.”

Except the Spartans didn’t read the message that way. They didn’t see the same threat that had stopped every other leader in Greece in their tracks.

The Spartans replied with a single word.

They didn’t overthink it. They didn’t stammer. They weren’t confused or frightened.

They said: “If’.

The “IF” in their reply was the result of the greatness in their mind and discipline of their lifestyle.

It wasn’t a foregone conclusion that Philip of Macedon with his much larger army would actually win. And so they asked back to him a serious question: “Are you sure that you can actually beat us?

Are you willing to lose everything to try to beat us?How much are you willing to do to try to win?What happens if you try and fail?Who else will rebel against you?What if you end up with nothing?

Their message was clear. And the outcome proved it.

Neither Philip II nor his son Alexander the Great ever attempted to capture the city. Sparta remained the only spot int he known world that was not crushed under the dynasty of Philip and his son.

They didn’t chase glory. They were mocked. They were scolded.

They looked foolish and overly obsessive.

But when trouble came — and it always does — they were the only ones left standing.

Maybe that sort of living is good enough for you too.

The post Finding Your Greatness, Abandoning Glory, And The Grit You’ll Need To Do Both. appeared first on Dan Waldschmidt.

3 Rules High Performers Live By That Are Hard To Achieve But Surprisingly Simple.

Success is frustrating. The advice you get from people trying to help you is often conflicting and seemingly impossible.

Your own pathway is confusing. At times it’s hard to make sense of the feedback you’re getting from your actions.

Failure one day can often look like success the next. What used to work doesn’t work anymore — and the changes you’ll need to make to fully appreciate that are often the most frustrating part of your journey to success.

This raw, human element to navigating the twisting pathway of success is often the part that undoes you. It’s often the obstacle you can’t get around.

That’s because what’s missing from your struggle — and the entire conversation about success — is simplicity. You need less to do. Less to manage, monitor, and obsess about. Inside the giant cornucopia of rules that make up success, you need a few, simple ride-or-die beliefs that you can hold on to. Philosophies and rules and edicts that guide your daily existence.

Over time, those will change as your goals change and as your skills and your expectations change. It’s not for me to tell you what your rules for you should be.

I’ve focused on many different ones for the years. Tried some. Abandoned many. I’ve also read the rules that other successful people put in place for themselves, sometimes even speaking and interviewing them. Digging deep into what works. Building relationships with those I share the most in common.

Despite how you word them, here are the three simple rules that successful people live by.

1. Be Honest

This is a hard one. A really hard one at times. You will feel the impact intensely before, during, and after your exercise this behavior.

Most often when you hear someone talking about “being honest” the discussion involves the word “liar”, but honesty is a lot more complex than that.

It’s about candor and kindness and believing that you can help others level up when you encourage them with your clear, illuminating insight.

Before that happens with others, you have to experience the discomfort that creates by practicing honesty with yourself.

It’s impossible to practice radical candor with others when you haven’t first done the same for yourself.

What was the last time you took a few minutes to examine your motives and intentions?When was the last time you had an honest conversation about your results, your effort, and your attitude?

It’s easy to look around and blame all of your problems on other people and their bad behavior. To blame bad luck. To pretend like none of the reasons why you are where you are right now have nothing to do with you.

But that’s not being honest. Not in the least bit.

Nothing in life is an accident. Your results, your predicament, your income, your obstacles — they are all there for one reason or another.

Be honest with you. It’s an emotional investment you won’t ever regret

As for being honest with others — you already know that it’s the right thing to do. But somehow — and when it matters most — you don’t do it. You hold back. You equivocate. Pause. And obfuscate.

You aren’t honest. And it’s not because you’re a stone-cold, manipulator. Or a con man. Or a liar.

It’s most likely because being honest is hard work. It’s a huge emotional investment.

By being honest with others you have to care about them. A lot.

It’s easy to tell others what you know they want to hear. It doesn’t hurt their feelings and you don’t have to invest in a tough conversation where you tell them that they can achieve more if they’re willing to put in the time and effort to improve.

Which is why being honest is such an important rule.

The fact that it’s hard to do already puts you in an elite category of performers. To do it consistently will make you a superstar.

By the way, being honest with others isn’t a license to be a jerk. Kindness always trumps candor. In fact, candor is kindness. You don’t have to be loud or obnoxious, or the least bit insulting, to give feedback that is honest and hopeful.

The reason you’re doing this in the first place is to help them. So, help them.

To get started you might need to premise your insight with a quick question or two: “Would you like my feedback?” or “Can I be honest with you?”

Once you have permission, you now have a duty to be honest. And remember, you want that same candor from others — especially when you are desperate to level up. Extend the same honesty to others.

2. Ask Questions

You see the world through your own perspective — which is great until you expect that others share that same outlook. Which they likely won’t.

You see what you see based on years of your own life experience and struggle. And that’s different for all of us.

The only way to get the perspective of others is to ask them for it. Asking questions. Probing. Digging into the reason behind the explanation.

Asking questions will help you increase the growth of your business. It’s a skill that will help you build better relationships and avoid unnecessary conflict — and solve just about any other sticky situation where other people are involved.

The simplest question is “why”. It’s somewhat crude and often misunderstood to be offensive if delivered with the wrong tone, but it is at the core of all questions.

Why does it matter? Why are you doing that? Why do you think what you think?

But beyond “why”, there are many other important questions that will get you the answers you need.

Questions to help you level up in business and in your relationships — but also to help you dig a bit deeper into your own psyche. To hope you get clear on the baggage in your mind that can often be debilitating.

Here are a few of those questions you’ll want to practice asking yourself:

Would I be embarrassed if other people were to know that I was making this decision?What advice would I give someone else if they were in my position?Is this a legitimate step towards getting closer to where I want to be or am I chasing a shortcut?When I look back at this decision, how will I feel?What else haven’t I considered that might help me make a better decision?Am I making this decision based on fear?Can I deal with the consequences that will come from making this decision, this way?

Ask yourself the hard questions. Be clear about your intentions, even if it isn’t something you want to share with anyone else.

And then practice the art of asking questions.

Most conversations would be more productive if the first words said came in the form of a question.

Try it. You’ll find it uncomfortable at first. But like any important skill, if you deliberately stick with it, you will find yourself spending less time on hurt feelings and misunderstood intentions.

3. Do Things That Matter

It seems obvious that high performers do things that matter.

However, it’s not that simple. High performers don’t start doing things that matter actors after they are high performers, it’s what makes them high performers in the first place.

Doing what matters is the playbook. The road map.

The answer is actually quite simple. You only have so much time in a day.

You’re going to spend half the day working — or working to get to work. You’ll spend another 8 hours sleeping — or getting ready for or out of bed.

After you factor in eating, reading, working out, and personal entertainment, you probably only have a few hours (if any at all) that are all yours.

What you do with your time ultimately determines your destiny.

Doing things that matter is your shortcut to consistent and reliable progress.

The faster you focus on what matters, the more quickly you’ll move around obstacles and the less frustrated you’ll feel by failure.

But it’s not always easy to see what matters.

Priorities change. So does your environment. And the world around you is constantly changing. All of that comes straight at you — at a torrid pace that is confusing and overwhelming.

The only way out is to stop and live in quietness. Even if only temporarily.

That quietness is your compass, pointing you towards greatness. In the direction of what really matters.

But sometimes, even that doesn’t work. You can’t find quietness because of the chaos and noise inside your head.

And so you have to fall back on timeless activities that are proven to propel you towards progress, regardless of your goals or the obstacles in your way.

Here are a few of them:

Make time to improve your “mind game”. — Everything you ever do — or don’t do — is a direct result of how you think — and what you allow yourself to keep thinking about. Be aware of which thoughts make you act which way. By the way, meditation is a great exercise to figure this all out. Try using Calm or Headspace or Omvana if you want to master this skill.Take time to get physical. — Instead of eliminating regular exercise from your schedule, protect the time you work up a sweat. Run. Punch. Kick. Cycle. Just move fast. You’ll find yourself thinking of ideas you wouldn’t have considered. You’ll return to your work focused. And — you’ll eliminate a bunch of the frustration and pettiness you would otherwise direct at those around you.Stop wasting time on regrets or worries. — It’s easy to spin out of control when you think about what you could have done or should have done. Replace those negative thoughts with specific thoughts for moving towards where you want to be. Again, this about you being aware of what you are thinking. When you recognize negative thoughts you pause and switch them to thoughts that help you get closer to where you want to be.Reduce the time you spend on entertainment. — It’s amazing how distracting a binge-watch session on Netflix can be. Instead of working toward success, your brain goes to mush when you call up the latest episode instead of working on the things that matter most. Sometimes, you need to take a break and reboot. But that shouldn’t be a “most of the time” thing.Get more sleep. — Most human beings need 6 to 8 hours of sleep each night to operate at optimum performance. Your brain reboots. Your immune system recharges. Your body gets a bit more resilient. The more sleep you can get, the more likely you are to stay strong and healthy — and clear-minded. When you do more, you need more sleep. Don’t overdo the sleeping part and don’t think you can cheat time by sleeping less. It’s guaranteed to backfire on you.Pay attention to the details. — Getting things done isn’t the same as getting things done well. Don’t just check things off your list. Make sure you’ve done the best that you can do. Take the time to reflect on what you can do better the next time. Dig deep into the success you want for yourself. Hone in on what other people who have achieved the success you want for yourself are doing. Always be learning and growing.Avoid everyone and anything who takes you off your game. — It doesn’t really matter why or when or who — negativity and fear and worry and confusion will crush your ability to get to where you want to be. So avoid it. Don’t try to contain it. Or tolerate it. Get as far away from it, as you can. It might not be forever, but for now, you need to anything that is negative completely behind you.

More importantly, this is a mindset. A deliberate way of spending your time.

Make no mistake, three simple rules won’t fix everything. They aren’t the perfect formula for every obstacle standing in your way.

But they do give you a foundation to stand on. A platform to launch from.

And when life is hard and your dreams are big, sometimes it’s important to know that you have a few simple rules guiding your pathway to success.

The post 3 Rules High Performers Live By That Are Hard To Achieve But Surprisingly Simple. appeared first on Dan Waldschmidt.

The Hard Truth No One Told You About Doing Whatever It Takes.

I can’t help but look down at my running watch.

My heart feels like it is about to explode out of my chest. The pain in my lungs is now in my neck. Pounding through my cheekbones.

I am literally moments away from a heart attack.

It all started with a simple phone call from one of my long-time ultra running buddies: “Let’s go to Pisgah and attack some mountains. It will be fun”

I should have known from the drive that this run was about to be a lot different than any of us expected.

We decided to park at the top of the mountain, run to the bottom, and then run back up. Up and up and up and up we drove.

When we got to the top, we checked our gear to make sure we had enough water and food in case it took us longer than we expected.

Finding the nearest trailhead, we started our descent to the bottom. The trail obviously hadn’t been used much because there were rocks and roots and large overgrown spots along the path.

The path itself seemed to descend straight down. At times, the only way to stop was to run into a tree. Or you could try to grab the side of one as you ran by, flinging yourself around the tree in a circular motion to slow yourself down.

If that seems absolutely insane, it is.

The only thing more insane is getting to the bottom of the mountain and realizing that you have to run back up.

Instantly, your brain starts to make excuses.

Maybe there is a way to drive the car down here and pick us up? Are you sure there isn’t an easier way to get back home? Why did we decide to do this anyway?

We took a minute to collect ourselves. Checking the map to see exactly where we were in the trail system. And then, the inevitable became reality.

“Ready to go?”

Those three simple words were really an unspoken paragraph about the pain each of us knew we were about to endure. Little did we know what that would actually be.

So back we went. Up. And up. And up. And up.

At first, it didn’t seem like that hard of a climb. But I could tell it was starting to get in my head when I noticed how often I was checking my watch.

The miles accumulate quickly when you’re running downhill. Not so much when you’re running back up.

Slowly but surely, the path became more difficult and our breathing louder. My watch appeared to show that we were close to being at the summit. But the path seemed to go on endlessly.

And despite the water and food we had brought with us, neither of us felt as prepared as we should be.

I felt a slight buzz on my left wrist. It was a notification that we had run another mile.

When I looked down at my running watch I was horrified by what I saw.

My heart was beating at close to 200 beats per minute. And the time for my last mile was a grizzly 29:32. Almost 30 minutes.

Impossible — it seemed. For the amount of effort my body was expending I should have been running a lot faster. A whole lot faster.

But there I was, in the middle of the trail with my body exploding in pain, exhausted by the journey, and completely disillusioned by how much effort and pain it was going to take to get to where I wanted to be.

I wish I could say this was the only time I have been in this precarious position. But it isn’t. And it won’t be.

The hard truth I have come to realize about accomplishing dreams is that it always costs you more then you think it will.

It’s easy to tell other people that you’re willing to do what it takes. It’s a cool phrase to put on a t-shirt. And empowering to believe in. But living your life that way requires next-level focus and a radical commitment that most people consider to be overly obsessive and a bit wacky.

But if you’re not committed to doing what it takes you’ll find yourself giving up too early and only coming close to achieving your goals. You’ll never quite get there.

So what does it take? And why are you going to have to try so hard?

We all agree that you won’t get far in life doing the bare minimum.

To be candid, you won’t get much farther doing a little bit more.

It’s a dangerous trap to think that because you are doing more than those around you that you’re doing what it takes to accomplish your goals.

The truth is that you have to do a “lot a bit” more than everyone else around you to have a chance at accomplishing great things.

That’s nothing new. That’s always how it has been. You just haven’t noticed until now. maybe this goal is a little more important than the ones you’ve had in the past. Maybe the stakes are higher for you accomplishing breakthrough right now.

Maybe you just want it more.

The truth is that doing what it takes is what success requires. You have to lay it all on the line. No matter where you are trying to go or what you’re trying to do. You won’t make it happen by hedging your bets or holding back.

You have to be all in with every fiber of your emotions, every bit of your financial resources, every ounce of will in your body — and a bit more you don’t believe is possible right now.

What does that really mean?

You have to work tirelessly. You have to focus on the details.You can’t play it safe. You can’t pretend like doing what’s easy is really going to work.You have to be vulnerable enough to try and fail and try again. Until you get it right.

Even when you don’t feel like it.

Even when it feels like you don’t have enough strength and courage to get back to the starting line again.

You have to get back up and keep moving.

Because doing what it takes is always what it takes to achieve big dreams. And if that’s what you have, then that’s what you have to give. Anything. And everything. And sometimes both at the same time.

So when you find yourself panting for air and wondering why you set out to conquer the mountain in the first place, know that in this moment by taking the next step you are one of the very few who are actually doing whatever it takes.

From the time that I looked at my watch and realized how incredibly slow I was running up a very steep hill, I ended up only being about 45 minutes away from my car. And the top of the mountain. And a moment when I could sit down and breathe a bit more slowly.

I’ve not been back to that mountain since, but I’ve run other mountains — emotionally and literally.

There is always a crest. Always a finish line. It might feel like forever, but it never is.

It can’t be, especially if you refuse to stop moving forward.

The post The Hard Truth No One Told You About Doing Whatever It Takes. appeared first on Dan Waldschmidt.

It’s On You To Get What You Want From Life.

You are responsible for your actions. Completely responsible.

This is never a time when you are not responsible for what you do, what you think, and the results that you achieve.

It doesn’t matter what other people are doing to you. It doesn’t matter what other people are getting away with. Your life, your priorities, and your perspective are all completely your responsibility.

It is easy to be distracted by what is going on around you. It’s natural to think that because someone else is getting away with something wrong that consequences don’t apply to everyone. They do.

The truth is that no one gets away with anything.

What you do earns you the results that you get. It may take you years or decades to experience the consequences of your actions. But there’s never a time when you earn a different result than the actions you execute.

It’s really that simple. What you do matters. What you do leads to clear and distinct results.

You’re not responsible for the timing of those results. Usually, you can’t change when you get what’s coming to you. You are, however, completely responsible for you.

Think about the frustrations you face in your life right now.

You think you need more resources or you need more time. If it’s not one of those, it’s something else you think you need. You’re frustrated because you feel like you could be more successful if life gave you your chance. More resources. Less of the bad stuff.

That’s a dangerous way to think.

The truth is that it’s on you to get what you want from life.

If you want something that you don’t have, go and get it. Don’t wait for other people to realize your situation and ask to help you. Fight for yourself.

It might require personal sacrifice. It might mean that you have less free time — or less money to spend on fun. But that’s the cost of getting what you want. That’s the price of taking back ownership of your life. And destiny.

And just in case you think that life has it in for you, let’s be clear about something else.

Bad stuff happens to all of us — not just people we might label as “losers”.

It’s true that successful people get to write history. But if you look at the traits that those people share, you will see something remarkable

They remain eternally optimisticThey are “all in” on their own success They make fewer excuses and expect less fairness They know exactly what they want to achieve nextThey are willing to do whatever it takes to make progressThey don’t care what anyone else thinks about them

Look around at the people you think of as successful. They share these same qualities, don’t they?

Now, before you get angry and disagree –or find fault with my choice of words, let’s dig into this a bit deeper.

You’re responsible for getting to where you want to be.

You alone. It doesn’t matter where you come from, what you been through, or where you are right now.

The life you’re living is of your doing. It’s the result of everything you’ve done or not done to get to this point right now.

Make no mistake, you’re going to need help from others to achieve breakthrough. That’s normal. And natural. We all need somebody. And in most cases, a lot of somebodies. But let’s be super clear about this. It’s you. All you.

Think about the last time you ran a race.

Whether it’s a 5K, half marathon, or something longer you’ll find people at the starting line, at the finish line, and throughout the race holding signs that encourage you to keep running.

Some of them will even have cowbells or plastic trumpets that they’re blowing. Cheering for you. Telling you to keep going. That you’re almost there. But it’s on you to move your legs.

No amount of cheering or support can force you to keep running when you have decided that you’re going to quit.

So what does this tell us about making forward progress?

What can we learn about getting all we want from life?

Most people are not as successful as they could be because they aren’t willing to go far enough.

Many people work hard. Few people work hard enough.

Many people are determined. Few people are truly willing to do what it takes .

Many people hope for success. Few people believe it will happen.

These are “almost-indistinguishably-different” positions too. The people who work hard but not hard enough look “scary similar” to the people who are willing to put in enough effort to achieve results. 

They usually use the same nouns and verbs. They often look they are doing the exact same thing. But with enough time, history makes the difference clear.

And this isn’t about money.

Getting what you want from life isn’t all about making more money. That’s a really small part of success.

In fact, there are many more stories of people achieving mindblowing feats of greatness outside of wealth — in math, sports, science, and politics. Where driven people with clear goals decide to be magnificently accountable for their own actions and outcomes.

We all start from different places in life. Most of us are in the middle of the crazy extremes we use as illustrations of success or failure. No one is probably going to be making a movie about the story of your life.

And that’s absolutely OK.

Regardless of each your starting point, forward progress is simply a matter of will. You have to truly believe that — or you won’t achieve your true potential. Whatever that is.

So own your day. Own your destiny. Own this moment. Take about control of your life.

Refuse to blame anyone else for where you’ve been and the frustrations you have faced along the way your journey.

Listen to the crowd cheering — and sometimes jeering — and just keep moving forward. One step at a time.

You’re already strong enough. Smart enough. Tough enough. You just need to believe that you’re responsible for you.

Be the boss of you.

The post It’s On You To Get What You Want From Life. appeared first on Dan Waldschmidt.