Marc's Blog

Your mindset is critical for your success. We all know this, but we need to consciously strengthen them.

Strengthening your mindset isn’t a quick fix. It’s something you do gradually. Some people can have an instant life-changing transformation, but even with that, the mindset determines how long that event affects you.

Some people feel completely transformed during the New Year only to lose that feeling halfway into February.

Strengthening your mindset is continual. It’s something you never stop doing. With that said, here are five principles you can use to strengthen your mindset.

 

#1: Achieve A Daily Or Weekly 1% Improvement

If you gradually improve, you’ll see the exponential gains later on. Improving at 1% every day will result in a 3778% improvement in a year.

If you improve by 1% every week, the improvement is 168% improvement.

I know everyone prefers the 3778% improvement over the 168% improvement, but some goals are different than others. It’s possible to achieve a 1% improvement each day for some of your goals. For others, weekly is the only possible option.

However, a 1% improvement isn’t just based on results. It’s also based on actions. Let’s say I write 1% more words every day for a given time. We’ll set the starting point as 1,000 words.

By the end of Day 1, I am at 1,010 words. It’s not a groundbreaking performance, but look at what compounded growth does…

1 Week: 1,072 words per day
1 Month: 1,347 words per day
1 Quarter: 2,448 words per day
2 Quarters: 5,995 words per day
1 Year: 37,783 words per day

Okay, I know no one is writing 37,783 words every day. You may decide to set that goal if you can build a team of writers around you, but chances are you and your team aren’t writing that many words each day.

However, the rest of those numbers are very doable. And a 1% growth isn’t asking for much. In the beginning, it’s just an extra 10 words. The growth compounds and adds up. When you hit 1,100 words per day, a 1% increase means an additional 11 words per day putting you at 1,111 words per day.

It’s not a consistent +10 each day but instead a consistent +1% each day. That’s a big difference.

So what happens when you reach 5,995 words per day (you might as well write those extra five to hit 6K)? You can continue to grow your word count, but you’ll eventually square off against a limit.

You have to write 14,681 words every day if you continue growing by 1% for a third straight quarter. But do you have time to write that many words? It’s easy to go from 1,000 words to 1,010 words and scale up to the first two quarters.

However, in the third quarter, you’re adding hundreds and sometimes thousands of extra words to your daily routine. You’ve trained for it, but time is finite.

It’s not like I could increase my weekly mileage by 10% all the time. Eventually, I’d have to run 100 miles every day (mathematically speaking).

I’d work towards it gradually, but I still believe it would have a heavy toll on my legs. 100 miles per day is A LOT to ask any runner, and for most of us 24 hours isn’t enough to run that long.

I don’t have to keep proving time is finite. We all know that’s the truth. But what happens when you’re writing 5,995 words every day and you are comfortable writing at that pace?

Pick something else to improve by 1% every day while maintaining the new routine you built.

I listen to audiobooks for 40 minutes each day during the school year during my commute. A 1% increase puts me at 40 minutes and 24 seconds. Sometimes I’ll blow past the 1% limit but set 40 minutes and 24 seconds as the minimum threshold. As long as I improve at the minimum 1% threshold every day, I’m happy with my progress.

 

#2: Live On The Edges

Most people start their day in the middle of it. Anything after 8 am, some people may be awake in your house. Rush hour traffic is building. Your part of the world is awake at that time.

I don’t start my day in the middle. Yes, 8 am is still early in the day, but not early enough to live on the edges. If you live on the edges, you’ll grow your edge on the competition (I had to).

My day starts at 3:30 am. That’s when I wake up and go through eight books. I’ll read a section or two and then march on to the next book.

At 4 am, I’m doing work. I’m writing blog posts, planning out videos (socially, I am not a morning person. I tried doing videos once at 5 am. Never again), marketing my business, and any of my other priorities. I’ll respond to emails later in the day.

Someday, I’ll start staying up until midnight because I have no problem with doing videos late in the day. That’s how I live on the edges. I get to bed at midnight and wake up at three.

I know what you’re thinking. Glaring health problem. Just three hours of sleep. This former teen entrepreneur went crazy at 20.

I get most of my sleep in the middle of the day. I’ll recharge when everyone else is hustling. For me, that’s usually in the afternoon. Productivity drops at that time anyway (What time do you eat your lunch? How do you feel afterward?).

I take my nap when everyone else is hustling but gradually losing productivity. When I wake up, I feel fully recharged. That’s why I can see myself doing videos until midnight during the summer.

My schedule won’t work for everyone, but by using my schedule as an example, you can find yourself less stuck and distracted. If you’re an entrepreneur, it’s better for you to go to the grocery store at noon than at 5 pm. Beat rush hour so you’re not in a long line with a lot of other people rushing to get the same food.

That grocery store reference is just an example that can be applied to many areas. Start grinding before others start their day, and take your rest while everyone else is up and about.  

 

#3: Associate With The Best

You become who you associate yourself with. There are different versions of the same idea, but we need to keep it in mind.

When most people think about who they associate with, they think of about the people in their community. Most people have an “Oh well” mindset if they’re in a bad community.

However, you don’t just associate with the people in your community. You also associate with the people you pay attention to.

One of the people I associate with is Jim Rohn. I’ve listened to his audiobooks and read his books even though he passed away in 2009. I never read or listened to any of Jim’s books while he was alive.

People like Jim live on through their work. Other people who impact people in a big way are still alive, and you can consume their work too. The more of their work you consume, the more you assume their work ethic and mindset.

That’s why I enjoy reading Brian Tracy books. Brian has an excellent goal achieving mindset. Even better, he’s written many books, and that allows me to consume more of Brian’s content.

I can also go through the daily content that Gary Vaynerchuk publishes so I can get a deeper understanding of his mindset.

I know that in some cases, I’ll come across insights that I already know. However, reminding yourself of those insights, but more importantly, forcing yourself to continue associate with the best will allow you to someday surpass them.

I study my role models with the belief that I will and must someday surpass them. When I surpass my role models, I want other people look at my journey and hope to surpass me someday. Assuming we have the right role models in mind, this would make the world a better place.

 

#4: Learn Every Day

This goes in line with associating with the best. Part of that association is consuming content that arms you with new knowledge and ways of thinking.

This isn’t a once in a while activity. This is a daily activity. You should invest at least 3% of your income towards self-education. That’s how you make a fortune instead of just a living.

That’s why I listen to audiobooks during my commutes. It’s also why I read blog posts and books on my smartphone instead of playing the latest video game app.  

 

#5: Continue Taking Action

Just because advice is simple doesn’t mean it’s easy. During good times and bad times, you must continue taking action. Keep on creating new content, promoting your brand, and doing everything else to up level your game.

Living on the edges will give you the uninterrupted time that will help you take massive action. Before you take any action, make sure you set your priorities. What are the three things you need to do today for it to be considered a success?

Keep taking action. If you struggle with taking action, give yourself reachable goals and more reasons to take action. I’ll continue writing down all of the reasons for me to take action just to motivate myself to do more than what I’m already doing.

 

In Conclusion

Your mindset determines your success. There’s no way around it. That means if you strengthen your mindset, you increase the likelihood of your success.

There’s no guaranteed way to become successful, but there are guaranteed ways to increase your chances of becoming successful.

This blog post outlined five key practices that will increase your chances of becoming successful (however you define it).

Now it just comes down to implementation and living based on these principles.

What were your thoughts on the list? Do you have any principles you’d like to share? Do you have a question for me? Sound off in the comments section below.