Dan Waldschmidt's Blog, page 55

There Is No Substitute.

Life is full of options.  You can choose almost anything, at any time.

From what you eat to where you work to when you brush your teeth — you have almost infinite options. You can substitute what you don’t like for something that you do like.

But all that changes when it comes to living a legendary life. There are some things that can’t be swapped, traded, substituted, or left out of the equation.

There is no substitute for being amazing.

And there are no substitutes for the things that get you there.

There is no substitute for doing the right thing long enough for it to start working for you.
There is no substitute for leading even when no seems to be following — or even noticing.
There is no substitute for getting back on your feet when you fail and get hurt.
There is no substitute for making sure people feel like you care about them.
There is no substitute for doing the hard things that everyone else just makes excuses to avoid doing.
There is no substitute for resilience, determination, focus, passion, ambition, or drive.
There is no substitute for monitoring the details and fixing small problems quickly.
There is no substitute for giving more value than you take from the world around you.
There is no substitute for taking the high road, playing the long game, and living life with class.
There is no substitute for apologizing when you make a mistake.
There is no substitute for going the extra mile and then going a 1,000 more.
There is no substitute for hard work, smart work, effective work, and good old-fashioned “sweat”.
There is no substitute for agonizing over how to make a difference instead of just making more money.
There is no substitute for doing whatever it takes for as long as it takes to get the results that you want.
There is no substitute for looking others in the eye, shaking hands firmly, and smiling more.
There is no substitute for following up and following through on the promises that you make.

There is no substitute for being amazing.

And there is no substitute for doing the things that get you there.

It’s an easy choice to trade out your toothpaste. It’s impossible to do that with tenacity.

Just because you have a good excuse for your poor substitutions doesn’t mean you’re making smart moves. You might just be sealing your destiny as a loser.

Do the hard stuff. Be awesome. Leave the excuses to someone else.

The post There Is No Substitute. appeared first on Dan Waldschmidt: Author of EDGY Conversations.

Copyright by Waldschmidt Partners Intl... Not sure that all that legal stuff really matters. If you want to share this material, do so. Just don't charge for it and don't tell people you wrote it. Both of those are uncool.

Other than that, all rights are reserved to you to change your life. If you are ready to be amazing, now is the time to get started. Onward...

Don’t Be Dumb. [EPTV]

Our parents taught us to avoid doing dumb things in life—touching a hot stove, crossing the street without looking both ways, taking candy from a stranger—but who took us by the hand and told us dumb business mistakes to avoid?

Millions of people are making dumb business mistakes. And they don’t even realize it.

“Experts” tell you that you need to set quotas.
“Experts” tell you that you need to A/B test, because after all, if Google and Amazon are doing it, then you’d be “dumb” not to do it yourself.
“Experts” tell you that you need to hire only people who have the right experience.

Experts are dumb.

Are you? Are you the one carrying business cards at all the conventions you attend? Maybe you shouldn’t even be attending conventions.

It’s time to wake up and smell the EDGY sunshine of smarter choices. Smarter choices that will lead to better sales, better marketing, and better leadership.

Be smart. Watch the seventh episode of The EDGY Perspective.

The post Don’t Be Dumb. [EPTV] appeared first on Dan Waldschmidt: Author of EDGY Conversations.

Copyright by Waldschmidt Partners Intl... Not sure that all that legal stuff really matters. If you want to share this material, do so. Just don't charge for it and don't tell people you wrote it. Both of those are uncool.

Other than that, all rights are reserved to you to change your life. If you are ready to be amazing, now is the time to get started. Onward...

Confusion Is The Path To Take.

If you always seem to have it all figured out, watch out. Be prepared for a life of mediocrity.

The tough truth about success is that it’s a struggle. It’s a daily fight. It’s a battle against confusion, irritation, and the fear of never figuring it out.

Confusion itself isn’t the enemy. The fear of being confused, and the paralysis that it creates, is the enemy.

Confusion is the gateway to breakthrough.

Frustration and fear, paranoia and chaos — they seem like the problem, but they are just an opportunity to get you closer to where you want to be.

But first, you have to change your perspective. You have to fix the way you think about being scared. It’s uncomfortable. But necessary.

You can’t be your best if you’re not continuing to learn and adapt and improve. Frankly, that can only happen when you’re struggling to figure it all out.

If you know it all and have it all and don’t need anything else in your life, there is no reason to be awesome.

You need to do the hard stuff.

Big dreams and audacious ambition demand that you go a new direction. That you break the mold and step all over the status quo. Which sounds a lot grander than what you’re actually going to have to go through on a daily basis.

You’re going to have to fight and bleed, sweat, work, cry, and lead even when you don’t want to. But if you do, you’ll experience the breathtaking fulfillment of finding breakthrough in your life.

You’ll figure it out. And you’ll be stronger and tougher for the next battle that comes.

Success starts with a healthy batch of confusion, fear, and chaos.

That’s the path. Follow it.

The post Confusion Is The Path To Take. appeared first on Dan Waldschmidt: Author of EDGY Conversations.

Copyright by Waldschmidt Partners Intl... Not sure that all that legal stuff really matters. If you want to share this material, do so. Just don't charge for it and don't tell people you wrote it. Both of those are uncool.

Other than that, all rights are reserved to you to change your life. If you are ready to be amazing, now is the time to get started. Onward...

Let’s Talk About It.

A lot of problems in life are simply communication problems.

People get broken because they can’t have the right conversation with somebody who hurt them in the past.

Companies get broken because they can’t say something that’s truly meaningful to the marketplace.

Communities get broken because their leaders don’t share a vision that inspires change.

Friendships get broken because people who used to love each other stop having the hard conversations that lead to help and healing.

Let’s talk about it.

You can’t get better if you don’t fix what’s going on inside your head.

You can’t get better if you won’t fix the conversations you’re having with those around you.

It’s not good enough to share facts. It’s not good enough to share information. It’s not good enough to share data.

Meaningful change demands having tough conversations. Conversations that hurt peoples feelings sometimes. Conversations that make you feel uncomfortable sometimes .

Let’s talk about it.

If your conversations don’t drive people to a decision, you’re talking about the wrong thing.

Tough conversations force people to choose whether they’re all in or completely out. It’s not the normal mumbo-jumbo that you can just ignore.

Tough conversations force you to question your own beliefs and values. They force you to rethink old biases and new ideas.

It’s uncomfortable and gritty, awkward and unnerving at times.

Let’s talk about it.

If you can’t talk about what really matters, you can’t fix what you think is broken. And if you can’t fix what’s broken, your life is destined to be miserable and unfulfilled.

Which isn’t what you set out to become. It’s just all too easy to end up there.

Let’s talk about it. Let’s fix it. Let’s be awesome.

Talk tough.

The post Let’s Talk About It. appeared first on Dan Waldschmidt: Author of EDGY Conversations.

Copyright by Waldschmidt Partners Intl... Not sure that all that legal stuff really matters. If you want to share this material, do so. Just don't charge for it and don't tell people you wrote it. Both of those are uncool.

Other than that, all rights are reserved to you to change your life. If you are ready to be amazing, now is the time to get started. Onward...

What I Learned About Winning From A Loser.

Jake Tucker here. I’m the lead graphic artist at The EDGY Empire.  Episode 6 of The EDGY Perspective TV show on avoiding negativity got me thinking about my own personal experience being trapped with negativity. Dan asked if I would share my thoughts. Let’s jump in.

—–

My mother is the most pessimistic person I’ve ever encountered in life.

Don’t get me wrong, all of her worrying and “what-if” scenarios and “realistic” views have shaped me into a careful, calculated person — I’ve learned to weigh pros and cons and to look for obvious pitfalls.

But her negative outlook on life poisoned me. It controlled me.

For years it wrecked my life. Finally I woke up one morning and realized life is too short to not be happy.

I developed the need to live. The will to love.

And more importantly, I began to appreciate the positive, bright and happy side of life.

In the years since I moved away from home, I’ve grown up. I’ve failed. I’ve loved. I’ve hurt—and I’ve healed. But one thing stays the same: I want to be positive in everything I do.

I know that if I am negative, I won’t accomplish anything.
I know that if I fail, there is always something to be learned.

Those two lessons drive me.

I can always move forward and try again.

It took me awhile but I no longer look at being raised in a negative, “you can’t” environment as a dark depressing time in my life that I can’t escape. Those years were the window from which I saw the light of a happier, more successful life.

Every day I strive for that life. I make things happen — and I do it on my terms.

If someone says I can’t do something. I do it.

Or at least I try — and then try more. Until I do it.

There is always something to gain from trying more.

Here is the most important lesson I learned:

If you have people in your life that are negative,  avoid them.  Get away — even if it means moving away.

You can’t beat them.

They feed on the inevitable failure of others. They see the worst in the world and refuse to find joy in the successes of others.

In the 1992 Olympics, Derek Redmond was the heavy favorite to win the 400m race—but tore his hamstring a mere 100m off the line. If you haven’t seen that moment, it’s inspiring. While he’s crying out in pain, his father races onto the track and helped carry him across the finish line.

Are you the type of person who would boo and trash talk him?

Or would you be on the edge of your seat, watching as something amazing takes place right in front of your eyes?

What if Derek had said “I’m done. I can’t”? What if his father told him, “This is your fault; you’re a failure”? He never would have crossed the finish line. They showed the attitude of high performers — resolve and dedication, a positive outlook on a devastating occurrence at arguably the worst possible moment in time for them.

Apply that to your life. If you lose a girlfriend, ruin a business deal, wreck your car, or even scuff up your new wingtips, think, “do I want people rubbing this failure in my face?”  So don’t make other people feel that way. Negativity never wins the race.

Grab an arm. Lift someone up. Carry them to the finish line.

You never know when you might need the favor returned.

—–

Dan here. Jake’s story sounds a lot like the messages many of you send me. If you feel stuck — surrounded by people who drag you down — you have to make the hard choice like Jake did to get away, even it means you’re without a home for awhile. Jake’s a huge winner. And we’re winning every day he leads creative vision for us at The EDGY Empire.

The post What I Learned About Winning From A Loser. appeared first on Dan Waldschmidt: Author of EDGY Conversations.

Copyright by Waldschmidt Partners Intl... Not sure that all that legal stuff really matters. If you want to share this material, do so. Just don't charge for it and don't tell people you wrote it. Both of those are uncool.

Other than that, all rights are reserved to you to change your life. If you are ready to be amazing, now is the time to get started. Onward...

How to Avoid Negativity. [EPTV]

A few years ago, this site was just me and my own rants as a high-growth CEO. I wrote a few blogs about dealing with “stupid people” which blew up the internet. A lot of you emailed me asking what exactly I meant by “stupid people”.

Stupid people are negative people.

They’re the “Eeyore” in your life. And that’s a huge problem because the battle for success is a battle for your own mind.

And nothing will destroy you faster than negativity—whether it comes from those around you or your own negative thoughts.

Just when you’re all hyped up about your epic plan to finally achieve your dreams, he (or she) comes along and tells you, “that’ll never work.”

It doesn’t matter how detailed your plan is. It doesn’t matter how much “fight” you have in you to stick it out this time. They will always always always always have a reason why it won’t work.

Mark Twain once said, “Never argue with stupid people. They will drag you down to their level and beat you with experience.”

Who are the negative people in your life? I’m not talking about just those who say “that’ll never work”. What about the passive aggressive types? The ones who sit back and scoff at your big dreams?

What if you don’t know who that “negative person” is?

Maybe it’s you.

So how do you stop yourself from being the negative person in the group?

Don’t take your anger out at others
Apologize when you do things wrong
Seek out the good in a bad situation
Stifle jealousy and envy
Ask “what makes you say that” instead of responding off the cuff
Stop saying “oh, I’m just a realist (or a cynic)”. You’re just really the negative person people try to avoid.

Learn who to avoid (it’s a bigger list than you may think) how to avoid them when running away isn’t an option—or when you’re a running back facing the media before the biggest game of your life—and how to make sure you’re not the negative person crushing everyone’s dreams.

All on the sixth installment of The EDGY Perspective.

Watch. Share. Click all the buttons. Most importantly—trash your negative attitude.

The post How to Avoid Negativity. [EPTV] appeared first on Dan Waldschmidt: Author of EDGY Conversations.

Copyright by Waldschmidt Partners Intl... Not sure that all that legal stuff really matters. If you want to share this material, do so. Just don't charge for it and don't tell people you wrote it. Both of those are uncool.

Other than that, all rights are reserved to you to change your life. If you are ready to be amazing, now is the time to get started. Onward...

How to Avoid Negativity [EPTV]

A few years ago, this site was just me & my own rants as a high-growth CEO. I wrote a few blogs about dealing with “stupid people” which blew up the internet. A lot of you emailed me asking what exactly I meant by “stupid people”.

Stupid people are negative people.

They’re the “Eeyore” in your life. And that’s a huge problem because the battle for success is a battle for your own mind.

And nothing will destroy you faster than negativity—whether it comes from those around you or your own negative thoughts.

Just when you’re all hyped up about your epic plan to finally achieve your dreams, he (or she) comes along and tells you, “that’ll never work.”

It doesn’t matter how detailed your plan is. It doesn’t matter how much “fight” you have in you to stick it out this time. They will always always always always have a reason why it won’t work.

Mark Twain once said, “Never argue with stupid people. They will drag you down to their level and beat you with experience.”

Who are the negative people in your life? I’m not talking about just those who say “that’ll never work”. What about the passive aggressive types? The ones who sit back and scoff at your big dreams?

What if you don’t know who that “negative person” is?

Maybe it’s you.

So how do you stop yourself from being the negative person in the group?

Don’t take your anger out at others
Apologize when you do things wrong
Seek out the good in a bad situation
Stifle jealousy and envy
Ask “what makes you say that” instead of responding off the cuff
Stop saying “oh, I’m just a realist (or a cynic)”. You’re just really the negative person people try to avoid.

Learn who to avoid (it’s a bigger list than you may think) how to avoid them when running away isn’t an option—or when you’re a running back facing the media before the biggest game of your life—and how to make sure you’re not the negative person crushing everyone’s dreams.

All on the sixth installment of The EDGY Perspective.

Watch. Share. Click all the buttons. Most importantly—trash your negative attitude.

The post How to Avoid Negativity [EPTV] appeared first on Dan Waldschmidt: Author of EDGY Conversations.

Copyright by Waldschmidt Partners Intl... Not sure that all that legal stuff really matters. If you want to share this material, do so. Just don't charge for it and don't tell people you wrote it. Both of those are uncool.

Other than that, all rights are reserved to you to change your life. If you are ready to be amazing, now is the time to get started. Onward...

17 Things Awesome People Do That You Should Do.

If you want to accomplish your dreams, avoiding disaster isn’t good enough. And being good isn’t great enough. Even being great isn’t the same as being awesome. And being awesome isn’t easy.

In fact, achieving awesome is close to impossible.

And yet it happens every day.

All across the globe, ordinary people with driving ambition and brutally honest expectations rise to the challenge and do something that the rest of us can only call “awesome”.

Which begs an important question — “HOW”?

How do some people crush it while you just seem to stay stuck?

Awesome people do the brutally hard work that everyone else just makes excuses to avoid doing.
Awesome people take personal responsibility for every area of their life — even when things seem to be out of their control.
Awesome people look at obstacles as an opportunity to achieve a higher level of success, not as life being “unfair” to them.
Awesome people don’t confuse degrees and certifications with a never-ending obsession to keep learning.
Awesome people seek out great mentors and pay for elite coaching to help them take their game to the next level.
Awesome people deliberately focus on incredible performance one goal at a time and avoid the trap of being “good” at a lot of things.
Awesome people develop the discipline to work on what really matters when it really matters.
Awesome people improve their personal character flaws instead of just expecting other people to “get them”.
Awesome people give more to the world than they take, and they give before they achieve success — not just after they reap the rewards of achieving audacious goals.
Awesome people don’t let the negativity and bias of the world around them influence their passion for accomplishing their mission.
Awesome people work on fixing their own insecurities, fears, and emotional pain — and use those lessons to be more “human” in their interactions with others.
Awesome people refuse to see obstacles and setbacks as the way things will always be.
Awesome people are careful to develop and protect their internal will to win. They work on staying inspired and “hungry”.
Awesome people treat those around them with kindness — even those they disagree with.
Awesome people live ready to take advantage of the good luck that life serves up. They stay fit — physically, financially, and mentally.
Awesome people are obsessed about figuring out and improving the details of their plan that are easy to overlook.
Awesome people believe that they are capable of achieving more than what they are doing right now.

How awesome are you?

What are the excuses you make to avoid being uncomfortable?

Being awesome isn’t easy. But it’s worth it.

Every day, ordinary people with extraordinary dedication and relentless effort do things that are awesome.

Maybe it’s time for you to be one of them.

Start acting like it.

The post 17 Things Awesome People Do That You Should Do. appeared first on Dan Waldschmidt: Author of EDGY Conversations.

Copyright by Waldschmidt Partners Intl... Not sure that all that legal stuff really matters. If you want to share this material, do so. Just don't charge for it and don't tell people you wrote it. Both of those are uncool.

Other than that, all rights are reserved to you to change your life. If you are ready to be amazing, now is the time to get started. Onward...

Why You Still End Up Being A Loser.

Any strategy works as long as it is executed expertly.

Obvious winning strategies like Zappos providing superior customer service and Amazon always having the cheapest price attract a steady stream of eager clientele.

But it’s not just the obvious winning strategies that work. Bad strategies from bad people end up showing incredible results too. Strategies based in greed, bigotry, and divisive ideology also attract an eager clientele.

Good strategies win. So do bad strategies.

Good people do awesome things. So do bad people sometimes. Which is a reminder that what really matters is execution. Effort. Enthusiasm. Energy.

There are already people out there who want what you have to offer them. Your eager clientele is already ready to do business with you.

It’s your job to make sure they know you exist. It’s your calling to bring together that clientele into a community where they can grow stronger, develop deeper passion for your mission, and work to help you change the world.

You won’t go far if you’re not willing to work hard.

Creating engaged marketing isn’t a mystery. Executing a winning sales process isn’t a mystery. Developing expert leadership isn’t a mystery.

It’s all rooted in the foundation of incredible effort.

Other people might seem like they know what they’re doing more than you do right now. Other companies might seem to have a leg up on owning the conversation in your industry.

You might be broke, bothered, and in a bad mood right now because of life circumstances.

But all of that can change with the right amount of effort.

You can topple giants as long as you’re willing to put in the work required. You can change your life and get to where you want to be if you’re willing to do with no one else willing to do.

The longer you work and harder you work, the smarter you seem to work. Those strategies that seemed so confusing in the first place are a whole lot easier when you’re the one putting in the work to make them your own.

The question you have to answer isn’t what you want to do but how hard you’re willing to work to get things done.

Without enough effort you’ll always end up being a loser.

The post Why You Still End Up Being A Loser. appeared first on Dan Waldschmidt: Author of EDGY Conversations.

Copyright by Waldschmidt Partners Intl... Not sure that all that legal stuff really matters. If you want to share this material, do so. Just don't charge for it and don't tell people you wrote it. Both of those are uncool.

Other than that, all rights are reserved to you to change your life. If you are ready to be amazing, now is the time to get started. Onward...

You Just Need To Get Started.

You won’t ever get to where you want to be if you never get started.

And you won’t get started as long as you’re letting the fear and worry cripple your drive to get going.

Don’t let your plans and process and over-preparation hold you back.

You just need to get started.

The truth about success is that it usually comes in ways that you least expect it.

You know where you want to go, but getting there will require a path that you can’t anticipate right now. Which is why it just makes sense to just get started.

There’s a beauty in beginning things. Just taking the first step. Just getting up from where you are and deciding that you’re going to start heading toward where you want to be.

You just need to get started.

Your plan is to move in what looks like the right direction. Along the way, your mission is to keep learning and to keep trying — until you wind up where you want to be.

There may not be a road between here and there. You might have to build one. You might have to be more creative than anyone who’s ever tried the same thing that you’re attempting right now. You might need more money, more time, more experience, and better friends.

But all of that can wait.

You just need to get started.

You don’t need to think about tomorrow, next week, or what might happen a few years from now.

You just need to take the first step.

Sometimes the first step is a healthy dose of brutal honesty about why you have failed in the past and what you need to do differently in order to be successful this time around.
Sometimes the first step is you admitting that you haven’t really put in the effort before — that you have hurt people around you by taking shortcuts.
Sometimes the first step is as simple as you pulling out a piece of paper and writing down your goals and aspirations and the reasons why winning is so important to you this time around.

You just need to get started.

Forget about needing to have the entire plan and process put together before you get started.

Chances are, the plan you build won’t be the plan you execute once you get started anyway.

Get moving. Make this time the one that counts.

You just need to get started.

The post You Just Need To Get Started. appeared first on Dan Waldschmidt: Author of EDGY Conversations.

Copyright by Waldschmidt Partners Intl... Not sure that all that legal stuff really matters. If you want to share this material, do so. Just don't charge for it and don't tell people you wrote it. Both of those are uncool.

Other than that, all rights are reserved to you to change your life. If you are ready to be amazing, now is the time to get started. Onward...