Daily Boost — Motivation and Coaching

If you knew me as a child, one thing would be true; that I was 100% a non-adult and would maximize my time getting away with being cute and funny. That’s what kids do - and I love it.Children don’t generally ask for permission or forgiveness. That’s has nothing to do with what they want to do. It never enters their mind. It doesn’t matter if it’s a good or bad decision. Once a child decides on their path, nothing will stop them. Most times, exploring Life isn’t an issue. Unless it is dangerous when most parents say—“Oh, they’re kids. Let them have some fun…”“They have to learn somehow…”“They’ll grow out of it someday…”But sometimes, parents intervene, stop the madness, and crush another childhood dream. While the kids may not know it at the time, Life just got in the way — something worthy of a temper tantrum of epic proportion, and that leads to a realization.“Someday, when I grow up, I’m going to do what I want to do, and you won’t be able to stop me.”Fast forward a few years, and the day arrives that every child steps into the real world - only to find out Life has built a big wall in front of everything they ever wanted, and it seems to stop them at every turn. And forget that instead of letting you run free in the world, your parents passed their responsibility of getting in your face and denying your dreams to people who call themself Boss, CPA, Tax Man, Grumpy Old Guy… Shall I go on?Life. It can be a tricky thing that can shut down your dreams, make you turn on your autopilot, and lead you to count the days until you get to retire and have fun again.Or maybe…What if it was an imaginary wall? Nothing more than an illusion?What if all those people who are stopping you don’t care about you at all? Are they just on autopilot too?What if the reason Life gets in the way is to clear the road for folks like you to follow your dreams while the others are building fortifying the wall?Always remember, when Life gets in the way, YOU are the way.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

My wife and I were looking for something on Netflix and found ourselves repeating the scroll a couple of times. Finally, the screen changed, and the graphic offered us a choice. It said, "just play something?"Yes, please. Just play something, so I can put the remote control down and get back to petting my dog. Thinking back on the moment, I was reminded of a book I read a long time ago.In 2005, Barry Schwartz wrote Paradox of Choice. It challenged the traditional thinking that said the way to maximum freedom is to maximize choice. It may feel good, but too many choices lead to decision fatigue.Yes, too many choices are not necessarily a good thing, and they can create paralysis. Not to mention, no matter what you choose, you'll always wonder if you could have done better.Here's my advice to you:1) Limit your choices. Having every option won't serve you. Narrow your list to things that truly get your attention. 2) If you find yourself confused, permit yourself to try other options.3) If in doubt, choose to spend your time and attention on what you know gives you the results you want. There will always be too many choices in our modern life, but that doesn't mean you need to accept what is offered. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I’ve noticed in my life that humans are hoarders when it comes to keeping stuff in their life that works and doesn’t work. They keep hanging life their life depends on it.Now, before I go on, I think there are two situations at play here:1) Hanging on to what has worked well but needs to go so you can do more of what you want to do.2) Hanging on what doesn’t work in hopes that it will work well someday.Both can go on for years and lead to nothing but frustration as you continue to long for something else. I was on the phone with a client this morning, and we ran into that situation. We began dealing with it a few months ago, and it’s still rearing its ugly head in her life. After exploring it from every angle—Should I keep it?Should I put it to the side and come back to it?Should I toss it and start over?Should I… should I… should I.I finally said the only thing that came to mind -“The mere fact that you keep questioning it tells me that you want to drop it. You’re just worried about what comes next, which is strange because what’s next is what you want. Let me ask you a question—How would you feel if you just dropped everything that is holding you back and woke up in the morning with a clean slate and ready to move?”She smiled. You know, with that almost embarrassed look that people get when they can’t pretend anymore. She was busted, and she knew it. That’s when she said—“I’m not going to lie. That would feel great!”We had a “moment,” and everything changed. I suggested a 30 cooling-off period, but with the understanding that she is moving forward and not backward.A few hours later, she sent me a note. It said, “I don’t need 30 days. Thanks.”It’s simple. When you are making a life decision, if you stay, you can’t go, and if you go, you can’t stay. Make your choice. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I was riding my Harley-Davidson Road King a few days ago when my mind suddenly thought -“The Chinese Philosophical concept of Yin and yang describes how opposite or contrary forces may be complementary, interconnected, and interdependent in the natural world.”What? What? Huh?It happened right in front of the Daytona Speedway and got me thinking about advice I give my clients about slowing down. It goes like this -“You must slow down to get what you want.”Advice like that is why I get the big bucks for what I do. No, not really. I get paid because nobody believes me, and it’s up to me to prove it.Let’s go riding.Whenever I’m cruising on my motorcycle, I love fast and loud, and it makes me smile. That’s the Yin of riding a bike, but you can only go fast and loud for so long before the light turns red in front of you or blue behind you. Occasionally the place you were speeding toward gets congested, and you have no choice but to slow down. But when you are a high-performance machine designed to go fast, slowing down can be challenging - especially on an 800 pound Harley. That’s where the Zin of riding a motorcycle comes into play.Slowing down is the opposite of fast, yet it can yield the same result - if you know what you are doing.Whether it’s your life or a motorcycle, success requires precision control. If you get it right and trust yourself and your machine, you will continue to make progress. On a motorcycle…1) Slow down but keep moving. Never stop.2) Rev your engine so that you always have power to your wheels.3) Since the motorcycle wants to go faster, pull the clutch into the friction zone between nothing and everything while putting your foot on the rear brake.What?Slow down? Rev your engine? Hit the brakes?Yes. That combination virtually assures that you keep moving forward in any situation, in full control, until it’s time to open it up again.That same thing happens in life.You can’t run full out all the time, and sometimes you need to a complete stop. For everything else in between, you keep moving forward - no matter how slow you go. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

"You need to get out of your comfort zone if you want to succeed!"I can't tell you how many times I've heard that. Thankfully, that silly advice is something I've only accepted a couple of times. I hated every second of it, ran right back into what makes me comfortable, and have never told anybody to get out of their comfort zone."But, Scott? Isn't getting out of your comfort zone how you get what you want?"Yes, and no.Don't get me wrong. I firmly believe that you should continually be expanding the limits of your comfort zone so that you can grow into the next chapter of your life. I think you should be pushing the boundaries of your comfort zone right up until you feel the bubble around you about to burst. Why do I believe this so strongly?Because you will never perform to your full potential if you are not comfortable with your situation, environment, skill set, and just about anything else. Yes, you will do things that scare you from time to time, but you will only grow when the drama subsides, and you return to a place of clarity and comfort. From there, anything can happen.I was chatting with my daughter on the phone the other day and asked what her boys were doing - other than driving her crazy. Her answer made me smile -"Oh, they've been working hard on school stuff today and were hitting the wall. So I released them into their native habitat to get back to themselves."Native habitat?"They're in the backyard digging up worms. They're happy, and I'm happy."From that day forward, whenever I want to grow beyond where I am today, you'll hear me say, "I need to get back to my native habitat so I can get things moving."Do what you do in a way that makes you feel like YOU. The rest will take care of itself. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sometimes, I scratch my head when people say something that I can’t believe is true. That has happened over the years when my wife, Joi says silly things like -“I like to paint. It’s fun. I don’t like to do it all the time, but I like to paint.”I guess it’s a perspective thing. I’m not particularly eager to paint and would prefer to pay someone to paint. Joi likes to paint and chooses not to pay something to paint. So, if it makes her happy, I let her paint, which leaves me in an awkward situation of meandering around the house feeling guilty that she is painting and I’m watching paint dry. I wonder if she hatched this evil plan to make me feel like a lazy husband?It’s good she works out so she can keep climbing that ladder?Is that paint on that expensive workout outfit?Hmm… she does seem to be enjoying it. Oh well, happy wife, happy life - right?I guess it’s a perspective thing. One day, Joi was painting my office. I walked into my world domination chamber and she was up on a ladder with a confused look on her face.“How high do you think this ceiling is? 12 feet? 14 feet?”No, honey. The ceiling is 10 feet high. “Really? It looks higher from up here. Are you sure?”Yes. I’m sure. Everything looks different depending on where you are at the time.It’s a perspective thing.Joi continued painting, I started fixing lunch, and my mind settled in on two thoughts…That experience is going to be a podcast and…Perspective is everything in life. When you take a second to recognize that not everybody sees the world the way you see the world, everything gets better. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There’s a lot of talk about “ideology” these days, and it’s usually not in a good way. But what about YOUR ideology? Do you know who you are?Before I go on, ideology is simply a creed, culture, dogma, outlook, philosophy, theory, or view. And let’s not forget ideas, principles, and tenants.At the end of the day, an ideology is what you stand for in this world. And, if you do it well, it’s also how other people know what you stand for in this world. It’s also up to you to decide that for yourself. After all…If you don’t know who you are and tell the world, the world will decide who you are and tell you who to be.That’s why I have a living document that establishes who I am, what I believe, and serves as a foundation of growth and change as I live and evolve. I call it my “Who I Am” document. It’s all mine, and I share who I am with the world through my actions.How do you see yourself?How do others see you?How do you act in situations?What do you believe?What kind of people do you hang out with?What are the rules you follow for YOU?This list is endless and should be. After all, you are a complicated and ever-changing person. Can I make you a promise?It’s easy these days to seek sources outside of yourself to find out who you are on the inside.It’s also easy to let the agenda of others infiltrate your thinking and pull you down a path that isn’t who you are meant to be in this life.The very instant that you sit down and document who you are and want to be, nothing else will matter. And the more dedicated you are to documenting YOU… the more you will get to be YOU.How do you do it?That’s easy too. Just ask yourself who you are in every area of your life, document your answer, and live it every day. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If you were to ask my wife if I was always a happy and positive person, she would likely say, "Hmm… it's complicated… but yes."As a proud high-maintenance man who has never met a conversation I didn't want to see how deep we could go, I would have to agree. It's complicated. But, the answer is yes. I'm happy every day of the week. Not because I was born that way. Nope. As my Italian friends would say, "I had a good learning."Many years ago, right after high school and just after entering the adult world, I realized that life is complicated and that it wasn't going to change. I also had another learning…I noticed that no matter how difficult things were, some people I met were happy as they embraced the suck. I wanted to be one of them. I wanted to be the person that didn't need rose-colored glasses to be satisfied. That meant I needed to think like them…Can you accept that merely being alive means you will run into occasional challenges?Can you realize that dealing with challenges is a privilege that comes with being alive?Will you welcome frustration and be satisfied that it only means you are moving forward?Are you able to accept responsibility for solving your challenges? Do you have a "bring it" mindset for everything life throws at you?Finally -Are you expecting to get a great night's sleep, no matter what happened today or will happen tomorrow?That's how happy people think. That's how you should think too. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I have to admit that I get in trouble because some of the Scott logic that comes out of my mouth doesn’t sit well with lots of folks these days - and they let me know. One of the biggest comments…“You seem like such a positive guy, and then it’s like something clicks in your head and go negative and ruin my day.” While I don’t think I ever go negative, I’ve heard that many, many times. Here’s the thing…It would be easy for me to get caught in the feel-good trap of chasing positivity - if only for the sake of being positive. But I’m not interested in that. I am interested in the results. For me, that is a peaceful, content, joyful, and meaningful life. If you’ve been alive for more than a couple of decades, you know all of that is found lurking in the truth. That’s why I consider myself a practical positive guy, and you should too. I believe an optimistic attitude is a power in life; I also think that you can never be truly happy until you are willing to dig deep into the not-so-positive challenges in life. Until you do that, you’ll you blocked. That’s why you’ll always hear me cover both sides. Frankly, I’m not interested in what we can and will do in our lives, I’m interested in the millions of interactions, decisions, and feelings we encounter every day that become the life we will have lived someday.Stephen Fry said, “sticks and stone may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.”Almost everything that freaks folks out begins with words that come from others and yourself. Keep that in mind because… When you choose to be positive, practical, and ground yourself in the truth, you will become at peace with everything around you - including yourself. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“Please! Can somebody stop the world? I want to get off!”Okay. Just for you, I pressed the magic button, and the world stopped. Whatcha gonna do now?If you don’t have an answer, there’s no need to freak out. It’s common for people to get slowed down, think about what their life could be like, and I have no idea.But let’s say you are one of the few who decide the time has come to turn directly into the challenge?Many years ago, I adopted a philosophy that became the driver that would change everything. I decided I would always turn face-first into any challenge that stood between me and my dreams. Yes, I would face my passion head-on and do whatever it takes to make it real. Do you know what happened next?I tripped, stumbled, and fell into a pile of my own crumbled dreams. That’s when I realized that deciding to face your passion was only the beginning. Before you can face your passion and live your dreams, a few more things must be faced first.You must face your stress.You must face your relationships.You must face your health, finances, and spiritual beliefs.You must face your friendships, the clothing you wear, what you eat, what you dream.Yes, living the “I know there must be more lifestyle” is freakishly simple and no big deal; you do whatever you want whenever you choose to do it. But it doesn’t take long to realize that getting whenever you want requires that you face a few things first.It’s simple. As scary as it may feel, no matter how much you don’t want to do it, everything becomes possible when you deal with all the stuff in your life and take control. So, the next time you find yourself trying to figure out what’s stopping you from living your dreams, there might be a few things that you want to handle first. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices