Here’s my no bullsh*t advice on how to live a better life
Helping business owners and entrepreneurs take massive action to create explosively successful companies is an incredibly rewarding part of my life.
But what I also love to do is use the many incredible experiences that I’ve had in order to help people live their best lives. I didn’t always know these things.
By aligning myself with influential mentors, voraciously reading books about the life I wanted, and having a clear vision of how to get there, I feel confident in sharing these 20 bullsh*t-free steps that will surely help you live the 10X life you’ve long dreamed of!
Block all toxic people
Remove the people from your life who are distracting you from achieving your goals — all the naysayers, doubters, and drainers who are too afraid to bet on themselves and make something incredible out of their lives.
Odds are, they’re jealous of your ability to go for it. But that’s not your problem to deal with. Block their numbers. Block their texts. Block them on social media. Surround yourself with supportive people who will cheer on your success!
Start working out
No excuses, gang. Your physical fitness has the power to change everything. Not just your body, but your state of mind, your confidence, even the way that people perceive you.
Working out — whether you’re lifting weights, running, doing yoga, or whatever best suits you — teaches you discipline, consistency, and how to push yourself to achieve more.
Get a trainer, a gym membership, some home equipment, whatever — just get started!
Eat healthier
Do you think I don’t like junk food? Trust me, if I could live well on Cheetos, I’d certainly consider it.
We live in a world where we have access to a wider variety of delicious, nutritious foods than ever before. Eating better in combination with a consistent exercise routine will help you get more physically fit, and will also help your ability to focus, increase your energy, and just feel all around better.
Don’t eat like you’re ordering off of the kids’ menu. Fuel your body and mind with wholesome, nutritious food.
Reevaluate your goals
How often do you think about your goals? Do you even have goals?
I don’t mean ideas of things you’d like to accomplish someday. I’m talking about GOALS.
They’re documented, they’re broken down into smaller, incremental steps, and you review your progress on a regular basis.
I look at my goals every single day. Doing this keeps me true to my future self, keeps my day focused, and helps me adjust when I know that what I could be focusing on might be a distraction.
Set goals. Regularly review them. Reevaluate them when necessary.
Stop complaining
Think about it: What does complaining really accomplish? Typically speaking, nothing at all.
More often than not, you’re just digging yourself into a hole of frustration, not doing anything to change your situations, and, odds are, annoying everyone around you.
Instead, take a step back, look for what you learn from the situation that’s bothering you, focus on the things you can actually change, and take action on making those things happen.
Read more
Our phones and tablets are incredible pieces of technology, and I’m a firm believer in the power of social media and how it can make or break our brands, but we all need to read more.
I’ve had the pleasure of befriending some of my favorite authors, including my great friend and mentor John C. Maxwell, who has sold more than 24 million books throughout his career, largely focusing on the concept of leadership.
One of the reasons John has become so successful is his dedication to seeking knowledge and applying it to his life, and so I do the same.
In order to grow, you need to learn, and in order to learn you need to remove the distractions from your life, research the things that will help you succeed, and apply those concepts to your life.
Start following mentors or people you look up to
This is one of the most important and beneficial aspects of social media. It’s never been easier to learn from, and even get in touch with, the people you admire.
These are the people who have created the type of success you want to emulate. Follow them. Listen to what they have to say. Learn everything you can about them.
If it’s possible, reach out to them to let them know why you admire them, what you hope to accomplish with their mentorship, and what’s in it for them.
This is very much how I came into Grant Cardone’s circle, and in just a few short years, Grant and I have built business relationships worth millions of dollars. It’s not out of reach, folks. If you don’t go for it, you’re putting your own limits on what you can accomplish.
Wake up early
Get a jump start on your day. Get a jump start on your competition. You see, the thing about getting up early, is that there’s this brief period of time in the day where things feel peaceful and still, but in reality this is the time where the real go-getters are making things happen.
Maybe this is the time of day where you reevaluate your goals. Maybe it’s where you get your workout in. Maybe you’re clearing out your inbox.
Get a jump on the day and you’ll be able to accomplish so much more than you’d imagine, which is way more satisfying than sleeping through another snooze alarm.
Cut out negativity from your life
Stop doomscrolling through social media, or bringing any of that toxicity into your life. The best way in which you can leverage social media is by building and promoting your brand, learning from your mentors, and discovering new things that inspire you.
The worst of it is the drama — whether it’s politics, entertainment, or otherwise — and there are people who thrive on creating this drama in order to get clicks, views, and likes. It does nothing for you.
Same goes for those real-life interactions where you’re faced with people who love to talk about other people in a negative way. These are insecure people who do not have your best interests at heart.
Positive people. Solutions-oriented people. Successful people who want to lift others around them up — these are the people who you need to surround yourself with.
Drink plenty of water
It seems so simple, but it’s true! You need to stay hydrated in order to think clearly, maintain a clear state of mind, and even lubricate and cushion your joints.
Soda, energy drinks, and the like are often filled with a high volume of sugar, which can lead to diabetes if over consumed, and too many energy drinks can even lead to feelings of anxiety, insomnia, and negatively affect your heart health.
Limiting my caffeine intake and cutting sugary drinks out of my diet has done wonders for how I feel throughout the day.
Take ownership
The way you structure your day? Your responsibility. The way you respond to criticism? Your responsibility. How you to choose to invest in yourself and relationships with others? Entirely your responsibility.
You have to stop blaming others or blaming bad luck or unfortunate circumstances for you not being in the place where you want to be. You have to take stock of your life, set big goals, and take ownership of how you go about achieving them.
Yeah, not everything is in your control, but the way you respond to those situations is entirely in your control. Once you finally realize, you’re giving yourself more freedom than you’ve probably ever felt. This is your life. Take ownership of it and act accordingly.
Build your network
If you have big goals set for yourself, you’re never going to achieve them by yourself. It takes a village. You need a network of people you can trust.
Just like when you’ve taken your big goal and turned it into smaller, incremental goals, you can take those incremental steps and identify the type of people you should align yourself with in order to achieve them.
Having the same mindset and doing the same things with the same people isn’t going to cut it.
Get outside of your comfort zone, start reaching out to people whom you admire, and ask them if they know people you can reach out to. Soon enough, you’ll find that you’ve curated an incredible network of talented people.
Don’t be afraid. Be vulnerable. Put yourself out there. You’ll find plenty of people who are excited about your journey who will do what they can in order to support you.
Start investing in something
Maybe it’s real estate. Maybe it’s in tech. Maybe it’s in your own mental or physical health. Maybe it’s all of the above!
The point is, you should be at a place in your life where you understand that you’re not going to succeed by relying on the potential rewards of immediate gratification.
You put in the time. You put in the effort. You do it with intention. You do it not just because of the outcome, but because you’ve grown to understand that working toward something means working. You’ll learn to find pleasure in the process. You’ll learn about yourself. You’ll grow, and that investment, no matter what it is, will grow with you.
Start delegating more
If you’re the sort of person who finds themselves thinking things like, “This will be easier if I just do it myself,” then I’m afraid that you have to work on your leadership and communication skills.
The best leaders are great communicators. They know how to distill complex ideas into easily digestible concepts so that people can emotionally connect those ideas, act upon them, and ultimately improve them.
Delegating is such an important skill because it helps people take on new responsibilities, grow their skills, and then teach those skills to others in the organization.
It also allows you to zoom out even further so you as a leader can focus your energy on working on your business vs. in your business, which should be a goal of any serious business owner.
Stop comparing yourself to others
It’s incredibly difficult to not compare yourself to others. “X was worth $XYZ at my age, and look where I am.” is toxic thinking. It doesn’t help you achieve your goals. It’s a distraction.
We’re all on different journeys, and who you are right now and where you are right now is all a result of your previous actions and decisions. Think about that for a moment.
If you don’t like where you’re at right now, then it’s more than likely that it’s because of past decisions. Those decisions have already been made. You can’t change those things.
But what you can do is take stock of where you are right now and where you want to be five years from now, and start taking action TODAY about how you can get there. All you have control over is the present. Use this moment to stop comparing yourself to others, so you can start taking action for yourself and be the person you want to be.
Give meaning to what you are doing
Life is full of mundane things. Our days are filled with mundane tasks. When we lose sight of ourselves and forget about the value of our work and the reward of achieving our goals, life can feel monotonous.
However, when we’re able to keep our minds active and stay engaged with the meaning of our actions, then even the most seemingly insignificant tasks can take on a profound meaning to our lives.
Every trip to the gym is an act of self care and long-term health. Every text is an opportunity to communicate a meaningful idea to another person. Every meeting is a chance to connect with someone else and add value to their day.
At Cardone Ventures, our mission is to help business owners achieve their personal, professional, and financial goals, and I always do my best to keep that mission in mind with everything that I do.
I can add value. I can contribute to their goal achievement. I can derive satisfaction from their success. The meaning of my actions are right there in front of me, and I choose to embrace them.
Give yourself breaks to unwind
Just like you have to give yourself rest days from the gym, you need to give yourself breaks from the breakneck speed of business ownership in order to reconnect with the reasons why you became an entrepreneur to begin with.
For most of us, we saw a problem that no one else was willing to solve. We had a vision for how we could solve it better than anyone else, and we charged down that path with every bit of energy we had.
Soon, days turned into years, and our labor of love became a well-oiled machine, with an army of talented people serving a satisfied customer base. It’s exhilarating. And it’s also exhausting. Often, it’s also alienating.
Give yourself a break. Find special moments where you can reconnect with your loved ones and with yourself so you can remember all the reasons why you’re doing this in the first place. You’ll come back refreshed, inspired, and ready to take on new challenges.
Listen to your gut more
I tend to think that “gut” often gets conflated with “guess.” But your gut reaction to situations isn’t based on assumptions.
Your gut reactions are typically based on the years if not decades of experiences you’ve acquired, and when your internal alarm system is going off, you’re always better off listening to it than ignoring it.
The more you ignore your gut response to things, the more you’re telling yourself that you don’t trust you. Eventually, you’re going to condition your internal alarm to stop signaling when things are off, which will certainly lead to increasingly poor outcomes.
Your gut isn’t everything, but it is a valuable tool, and it’s one that has to be listened to in order to be honed. I’ve walked out of more than one meeting because things felt off, and I’ve never regretted it. Trust yourself. Your gut has real, valuable meaning.
Be disciplined
We all want things. We often want to get those things with as little effort as possible. That’s just a part of being human. The problem is, it’s not realistic.
The life you want, the body you want, the partner, the houses, and the cars you want, they’re all gonna take effort. And it’s not just effort to get them — it takes effort to keep them, too!
All of this effort takes discipline, and in my estimation, discipline is one of the most valuable skills a person can have.
Discipline means you’re willing to make a long term commitment. Discipline means you have the vision to see beyond where you are today. Discipline means that you’re the sort of person who can create a new habit. Discipline means you know how to commit.
The greatest businesspeople, athletes, musicians — whomever you consider to be at the top of their field — all have at least one thing in common, and it’s their ability to be disciplined.
Set the goal. Identify the steps you need to take to get there. Commit. (Do it now!)
Do these things for 90s days. Now you’ve created a new lifestyle!
Seriously, if you can prove to yourself that you can do these things for yourself for 90 days, then you’ve created a whole new lifestyle.
There’s no going back now. You’re well on your way to a 10X way of life.
If you need an extra nudge, then I want you to seriously consider joining me and the Cardone Ventures team for our next live event. My blogs and social media channels can be incredibly motivating, but nothing compares to sharing a venue with like-minded business owners who are striving to achieve incredible results.
Don’t delay. Commit to your best self, and register now for a Cardone Ventures event. Take the action. Achieve the goal. I’ll see you then!
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