Happy New Year!

2018 is here! I can’t believe how fast 2017 flew by. I guess it’s true what they say, the older you get, the faster time goes. Although it went by super fast, 2017 was a great year. It was a year of growth, a year of finding my purpose, and a year of love (I married my high school sweetheart).

Now, I’m sure you’re probably already overwhelmed with all the new year resolutions and “new year, new me” declarations. But to keep it 100, this post isn’t for you. This is for me, so I can hold myself accountable. I’m pretty sure that goes for a lot of people as well. Every year for the past three years, I have given my lifestyle website (The Great Ones) themes for the new year. I would like to continue that on my personal blog.

Past Themes

2016: Breakout Year
2017: Level Up Season

Twenty-Gr8teen

I don’t know what it is, but I truly believe that this is going to be a tremendous year. Not only for me, but for my wife, my family, my friends, and all my go-getters! I must say that this is still Level Up Season but just like everything else, even that must evolve. I will now refer to it as Level Up SZN! Let me tell you why. I would usually have a completely different theme, but I still feel like I’m in a time of growth and mastering my fate. As I continue to level up, I have a new theme that I will be focusing on and that is….

I going into savage mode and I’m #GoingforGold. That means I’m giving it my all and I’m not letting up. This not to say I haven’t been giving my all, but I sometimes distract myself with doubt and what other people think. Not this year! I know God has something great planned for my life, and that’s all I need to know to get my gold medal.

The Olympic Games are held every four years. But those athletes train relentlessly during those four years and they all train for one reason. They train so they can win a gold medal. March will mark four years of me living in Austin, TX, and I believe everything that I have been working for will flourish this year!

Not only will I be #GoingforGold, but I will be focusing on securing the bag along the way. For my more mature folks, securing the bag means getting to the money. For me, it means a little bit more. I can care less about being rich, but I do care about my family and my future kids living comfortably and stress-free when it comes to money. This year will be about creating passive streams of income. In other words, I want to make money in my sleep. I want to provide avenues for my family where they can have various options to earn money.

Let’s Get It

As I said earlier, I create these themes to hold myself accountable. I also use these themes to motivate others. Your goals may be a little different from mine, but we can still encourage each other. There’s enough greatness for everyone! Let’s jump into 2018 head first and get this gold medal together.

If you ever want to collaborate, hit me up at chat@iambrandonboone.com!

One Last Thing

Make sure you check out my team’s new organization Up SZN! Our mission is to empower the culture through the creative arts. We have a lot in store, so stay tuned!

As I reminisce on our wedding photos, I started thinking about how hard it was to convince my parents to actually come to my destination wedding. Believe it or not, my parents planned on not attending my wedding in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. They couldn’t figure out why I wanted to get married in Mexico and plus, my Mom hasn’t flown on an airplane in over 30 years. Then I started thinking about all the things I do completely different from how I was raised by my parents. But it’s not just me that’s pushing the boundaries of my parents’ limitations, but it’s the entire Generation Y as a whole. So here are 10 things Millennials do that parents just don’t understand.

1. Destination Weddings: Since I already brought this topic up, this is my number one. Destinations weddings are gaining more and more popularity. As more couples lean towards having their weddings in the Caribbeans, let’s hope more parents become more accepting to this growing trend.
2. Traveling: We all know how popular traveling has become, especially within black culture. I have been to more than 10 countries in the past year and a half. My parents think I have lost my mind. Let’s not even talk about how my Grandma feels. I can her voice now, “Hey Grasshopper (yes, that’s my nickname to my Grandma), where are you now? Timbuktu?”
3. Wedding Rings: Back in the day, you can guarantee a diamond ring was the way to go for your bride to be. Nowadays you have everything from ruby to pearl wedding rings. Even I was thrown for a loop when my soon-to-be fiance wanted a morganite ring. You can even get silicon rings to wear which is extremely useful if you use your hands a lot or if you just want to keep your main ring in tip-top shape. Being the GQ model that I am, I have about 10 rings myself. I wonder how my parents feel about that?
4. Food: Growing up in Louisiana, soul food is what we’re raised on. And pretty much anywhere we went, it was good ole American food or soul food. Fast forward to 2017, I eat just about anything. On my parent’s last visit to Austin, I tried introducing them to something new. We went to a food truck park that had all types of different food like Thai, Greek, and Indian. Long story short, all my parents ordered were french fries. And that leads me to my next topic.
5. Diets: I don’t remember anything about dieting growing up, at least not in my household. If you wanted to get healthy or lose weight, you did it the old-fashion way. Exercising. Now we have all sorts of diets and eating habits. I asked my Dad if he wanted to go Vegan and he told me, “Boy, you know this is a Christian family.”
6. Cutting the Cord: Since the rise of streaming services like Netflix and Hulu, my household hasn’t had cable for the past two years. We cut our cable for several reasons like: too expensive, no need for 1,000 channels, and Amazon’s Fire TV Stick saved our lives. So beware family members when you visit, we don’t have cable.
7. Multiple Jobs: Back in the day, you mostly had one maybe two jobs that you worked. You might have worked long hours but it’s nothing like today, working 3–4 different jobs. That’s exactly how it is in our household. We each juggle at least three jobs apiece. The hustle is real.
8. Dating: This one is probably a given. I’m pretty sure they didn’t have Tinder back in the day. Dating has changed so much from when my parents grew up. My Mom still trying to understand the difference between dating and just talking.
9. Technology: Technology is on another level. I can barely keep up myself. From the latest cell phones to drones to virtual reality, this is one of the most advanced generations in history. I can only imagine what the next generation will be like.
10. Living Arrangements: I don’t think people had roommates back in the day like they do now. Nowadays, you can find roommates on Craigslist. Millennials are all about not taking the traditional route. Whether that’s living with three other people, building a tiny house, living out your car-turned-camper, this is what we do. And my personal living arrangements may even trump (no pun intended) some millennials. So my wife and I have roommates, which is my brother and sister. It may be strange for you, but it works for us (for the time being). We’re barely home as it is and we don’t plan on having kids anytime soon. Plus how these Austin prices are set up, we’re just fine for now!

I could go on, but I’ll cap my list off at 10. What are some things that you do that your parent(s) don’t understand?

I’m rolling down I-35 in Austin, TX listening to the radio, which I hardly ever do. As I listen to Logic’s latest song, I catch myself singing the hook. “I don’t want to be alive, I just want to die today.” I had to pause myself immediately. This was before I knew the meaning behind the single, which is a collaboration with the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. But at that exact moment after singing those lyrics, all I could think about is what my Mom preached to us growing up. I could hear her voice in my head saying “what you say comes your way.”

Now, this may be a drastic example, but my Mom’s words are 100% true. What you say comes your way. Your words are super powerful. What you put out into the universe comes back to you tenfold. Your words can either work for you or against you. But most of us don’t even realize how powerful our words can be. That’s because we grew up with the stigma of “sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.”

That’s one of the biggest lies on Earth, and we might not realize it until it’s too late. Words are more often used as a weapon of destruction rather than a tool for greatness. How many times do you use words in a negative sense? I will never be good enough. I cannot do anything right. I will never receive that promotion. I’m never going to pass that test. But what happens if we use our words for good?

Let’s flip the script.

Let’s wake up every morning saying “I’m going to be great today” or “I’m going to receive that promotion.” This is what you call positive affirmation. According to Essential Life Skills, positive affirmations are short positive statements that can help you focus on goals, get rid of negative, self-defeating beliefs and program your subconscious mind. Positive affirmation needs to be utilized more on a consistent basis. That negativity and doubt need to be driven out of our minds by speaking positive thoughts and backing up those thoughts up with action.

Not only do we need to speak more positive about ourselves, but we need to speak more positively about others as well. Uplifting others can be just as beneficial. When is the last time you empowered your family or friends? As humans, we tend to remain in this constant state of negativity without even realizing it. We have to do better. We have to be more mindful of what we speak into existence because after all, what you say comes your way. I challenge you to be more mindful of your words and focus on replacing your negative thoughts with positivity.

Before I get into my spill, I know you’re thinking how the heck did I come up with that number. Well, I can’t take the credit for this one. My inspiration came from an artist named Aha Gazelle which has a song called “Twentylemhunnidmillion.” And I must say I have been listening to his latest project “Trilliam 2” since it released back in June. So yeah, I’m worth twentylemhunnidmillion. But how?

Now you’re probably thinking I never heard of this guy, so why is he worth anything. Let me take some time to reintroduce, my name is HOV (I mean) Brandon Boone. Along with being the founder of The Great Ones and a co-host for the Driftr Travels Podcast, I’m a guy with some huge ideas of inspiring the world (stay tuned).

Now I don’t have some dramatic life-inspiring story like Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, but here’s a little back story that I know some people can relate to.

I have been struggling with reaching my full potential. Every time I took one step forward, I felt like I got knocked back five steps. Through all of the hundreds (and I do mean hundreds) of job applications, I felt like I would never score my dream job. From working jobs that I have nothing to do with my passion to trying to work my way up at a company I didn’t enjoy working for, it felt like a never ending cycle of regression. Then once I finally scored an entry level position at a great Austin based startup, I ended up getting laid off RIGHT.BEFORE.MY.WEDDING. The struggle was real.

I always believed in myself and never gave up, but I always had that little voice in my head telling me I would never be good enough. That little voice was doubt. Doubt leads to your limitations and stunts your growth. My end goal was always working for myself, but I thought I had to work for some great fortune 500 company first. I was limiting my creativity instead of going out on the limb, following my heart, and creating my own path. I had the ideas and the plan, I just had to execute it.

As of this month, I threw out all of my doubt to Daenerys dragons. You see, not only do I believe in myself 110% but I have a support system that believes in me 200%. I went out on a limb and I’m officially self-employed which allows me to focus completely on my ideas. During my Honeymoon, I did a lot of soul searching to truly understand my self-worth. Knowing your self-worth is the key to unlocking your true potential. Once you know and value your self-worth, no one can tell you what you’re capable of.

Knowing your worth also comes with trusting the process and listening to your heart and not your mind. Never giving up, allowed me to keep pushing through and learn so much along the way. If it wasn’t for the process, I wouldn’t be who I am today (traveling the world, creating websites, co-hosting a podcast, etc.)

“How many times it wasn’t working out but you ain’t never stop, you just kept on trying….Twentlylemhunnidmillion”

-Aha Gazelle

So yes, I’m worth twentylemhunnidmillion and no one can tell me otherwise! How much are you worth?

Follow my journey at www.IamBrandonBoone.com