👉Movies new to us:

🎬🎞️🤖 Avengers Infinity War: We love the marvel movies and it’s been pretty cool to see the character development on some, and just seeing what other characters do in their quirky mannerisms. We’ve seen them all so the was a fun thing to look forward to. This somehow melds what seems like an endless stream of super heroes into one film and they make it flow. This may follow some of the expected formulas they’ve used in the past, but really it will leave you shocked and floored and wanting more! There are so many preceding movies that if you haven’t seen them, don’t start with this. RDJ, Chris Hemsworth, & Chris Pratt are impeccable in their delivery! They might have been wise to have counselors in the theater lobbies to help people through the experience though…

🎬🎞️⛸️ I Tonya: WOW! Margot Robbie & Allison Janney will help you get lost in this before you know it. I never realized how badly Tonya Harding was treated and what an insane upbringing she had. If you haven’t seen this, i’d bet you a dollar you change your view of her by the time this is done.

🎬🎞️👦 Wonder: This is one of the most heartfelt films I’ve seen in a long time. It’s a wonderful family movie. My kids absolutely loved it and we had to go buy the books the next day. My 12 year old already read them both and now my older son is digging in. Jacob Tremblay & Noah Jupe are beyond gifted child actors and i’m sure we’ll all see more of them across the years! Fun fact, I don’t think Owen Wilson said “Wow” in this movie; that might be a first! 😂

🎬🎞️👨‍🎨 Loving Vincent: I’ve wanted to see this for a long time and finally did this week. This is incredibly unique and an amazing story offering perspectives that most aren’t aware of. Each of the film’s 65,000 frames is an oil painting on canvas, using the same technique as Van Gogh, created by a team of 100 painters. I’ve been to the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam as well as Auvers-sur-Oise and the asylum in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence. It was and is speculated to this day that he may have suffered from lead poisoning by resting his paint brush on his lip constantly across the years. It’s wild to stand in the field where he painted Starry Night and the Sunflower garden and more. He painted 76 paintings in 75 days at that asylum (which looks more like a nice chateau).

🎬🎞️👮‍♀️💩 Super Troopers 2: The Broken Lizard Comedy Group reprised their cult classic Super Troopers from 17 years ago! This is hilarious if you like warped comedic R rated movies. They crowdsourced this film (I donated to this in hopes it would come to life and they offered a refund if it didn’t). They raised $2M in 24 hours and ended up with a crowdsourced budget of $4.7M so they landed some amazing actors to partake! Fun fact: technically, this is the second film where Rob Lowe is a hockey guy (Youngblood-1986).

🎬🎞️📰 The Post: WHOA! This is an extraordinary film! I was captivated and lost in it like a time warp! Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks are simply amazing! The stories, the history, the potential shift in how our society could have changed as a result of a different outcome is scary to imagine. Don’t start this unless you can finish it in one sitting! The historical accuracy is supposed to be quite tight!

This just in — ->🎬🎞️👀🎥🇨🇵️ Madame: Toni Collette & Harvey Keitel never disappoint so i’m looking forward to this! The story line sounds enchanting and the preview is captivating! Rossy de Palma is magnetic in the trailer and a seasoned actress; in spite of not knowing much about her prior, I looked her up and she’s been in over 80 films, many in Europe. Here’s the IMDB write up:

“Adding a little spice to a waning marriage, Anne and Bob, a wealthy and well-connected American couple, move into a manor house in romantic Paris. While preparing a particularly luxurious dinner for sophisticated international friends, our hostess discovers there are thirteen guests. Panic-stricken, Anne insists her loyal maid Maria disguise herself as a mysterious Spanish noble woman to even out the numbers. But a little too much wine, and some playful chat, lead Maria to accidentally endear herself to a dandy British art broker. Their budding romance will have Anne chasing her maid around Paris and finally plotting to destroy this most unexpected and joyous love affair.”

My take:

This film felt like being a fly on the wall of a weekend & dinner party and all that surrounded. Have you ever sat at a dinner party, partaking in cordial chit chat, yet couldn’t help but pay attention to someone else’s conversation? I have and this was a rich experience in every sense of that. The instigating son, the obnoxiously pedantic & self absorbed hosts leave you wanting to know what happens next and I’d never tell you the ending but didn’t see that coming! I’m still not sire if i’m extremely satisfied or really sad. Maybe a bit of both!

👉Movies we’ve seen prior but enjoyed again:

🎬🎞️🗣️🎤 Sing: The music is incredible, the characters are lively, easy to connect with in spite of being animated animals, and there are some valuable lessons about not holding yourself back with something you’re passionate about! Home-run for a kid’s movie!

🎬🎞️🇬🇧️👊 Snatch: Classic Guy Ritchie film following a bit on the themes of Lock, Stock, & Two Smoking Barrels. Brad Pitt’s speech is nearly indiscernible, but hilarious at the same time. It was rumored that he had a hell of a time trying to get an English accept down, so he leaned into the gypsy slang (Pikey) and all I can say is it plays! It’s an ensemble cast and still holds up!

Personal Development & Relationship Resources-Top Picks

Personal Development Resources I recommend along business and growth topics and a short bit of info from me on each:

There are so many books and seminars and TED talks we could discuss. This is why you are on a journey of personal development. I feel strongly that you should read what’s germane to your life. If you’re having marriage issues, you should read about marriage stuff. If you are starting out in Team Beachbody as a coach or you have a customer about to start, “The Compound Effect” by Darren Hardy is a fantastic start. This is like anything else you do in life. The compound effect is always moving. The success or failure is found in how you feed it. Eat crappy food all the time and don’t get off the couch and you’ll find weight gain. Eat well and do P90X and you’ll find yourself in great shape over time. No one gains or loses 100 pounds in a day. it’s a journey. Same thing with relationships, marriage, business, everything takes time to build. The key question is what are you doing to make your situation better?

“Think and Grow Rich” by Napoleon Hill This is the holy grail to the personal development world if you will. Andrew Carnegie challenged Napoleon Hill to go out and interview the 500 most successful people on earth and find out what makes them tick, what makes them different. It took him 25 years of consistent work to conduct these interviews and share time with these people. He discovered a couple extraordinary things: one is that he became wealthy in the process as you’re the sum of the five people you hang out with most. And two, he found that the 500 most successful people on earth have 13 things in common. Don’t you want to know what those are? I don’t care if you want to be the best physician or the best restauranteur or the best coach, don’t you want to channel what it is you’re passionate about through these 13 traits? Of course you do. Here’s a teaser; chapter 1 is called “Desire”.

John C. Maxwell wrote a book called “Everyone Communicates, Few Connect: What the Most Effective People Do Differently” This will help beyond what i’m teaching herein. He’s written 84 other books and is the top rated Leadership Expert by the two most discerning groups who rate such things. There are countless lessons you and I could learn from Maxwell. He’s like Yoda. I had read many of his books but until I met him and spent a weekend in a small private event with him and his key two people, did I realize the unquanitifiable knowledge he has!

Dale Carnegie wrote “How to Influence People and Make Friends” This is a fantastic book that anyone in sales should read. AND when you keep your authenticity about you, this book is even more effective. I feel that too many people take this “fake it til you make it” approach. That doesn’t work so well. We need to be enthusiastic about our life and what we are doing and that is not predicated on your current success level nor what you have in your bank account.

Peter Guber wrote “Tell To Win” One of the masters of story telling, Peter shares insights into some of his biggest failures, how facts tell and stories sell, and more! He’s a self made billionaire, was the Chairman/CEO of Sony Columbia Pictures, Mandalay Entertainment, and he owns more pro sports franchises than any other person on Earth. Including the LA Dodgers. He has an interview with Darren Hardy of Success Magazine that is brilliant.

Bob Beaudine “The Power of Who” This is about how you already know everyone you need to know in life to be wildly successful. The art of the referral.

The Heath Brothers (Chip & Dan) wrote “Switch” They talk in the first 50 pages about the vital importance of narrowing the path with people and cite amazing examples of what happens when people have too many choices. This is something you need to know.

“Start With Why” — Simon Sinek — Priceless info. I’ll leave it at that!

Relationships & Marriage

I can only imagine what my marriage would have been like for the first 14 years had I known these things. Don’t wait for your spouse to do these things or read these books, just lead by example. You can only change you. You control nothing but your perception of a thing and how you decide to show up to a situation. In this book list I mention how we co-create our situations.

“The Five Love Languages” by Gary Chapman So often, couples go about their relationship with a pattern or a predisposition for how they approach things and situations. When you realize what your love language is and what your significant other’s love language is, then to set forth being intentional in doing their love language consistently, you’ll find more peace and love in your relationship that you can possibly imagine. Don’t do the right one and you’ll find resentment from both sides of the table.

Andrew Marshall “I love you but i’m not in love with you” This book could easily be retitled the 6 seasons of marriage. As ominous as the title is, the six seasons he talks about are so spot on it’s erie. Andrew is one of the top marriage counselors in the UK.

Gay & Kathlyn Hendricks-”Conscious Loving” This is a fantastic book that shows how we each have a 100% responsibility in relationship. It’s a 100/100 scenario, not 50/50. If i’m doing more than my share in relationship over time, i’m taking her responsibility too. That might look like 180/20. The problem if i’m doing that is i’m enabling her. By only taking my 100%, if forces the discussion to air things out and achieve balance. Of course we all get busy with life and we both pick up for each other in healthy ways. My aforementioned example is more based on behavioral and longer term patterns. You’ll learn that you have co-created your situation. You could be living with a person who’s had extraordinary childhood damage that’s unresolved and that’s still 100/100 which won’t make sense at first or even for a while, but it will over time. When you find someone and you fall in love, that person either has attributes similar or opposite to what you grew up with for parents (caregivers). Your subconscious is attracted to their subconscious and you’re literally falling in love and feel safe because you’re there to help each other complete whatever you didn’t get in childhood. You may be triggered by something your spouse does, but a trigger is about you, not them. They are triggering something from your past and most likely childhood. Please know that this is an amazing journey and one that will help you get to a deeper place of love than you have ever known possible!

Harville Hendrix “Getting the Love you Want” This is one of the best marriage books out! I’ll leave it at that! Ironically, i’ve talked about two Hendrix/Hendricks who are both famous PhD counselors from NY, and both of their spouses are PhD counselors. They are renowned for their work!

Byron Katie “I need your love, is that true?” I mention this book for a handful of reasons. If anyone is dealing with a very traumatic life experience from a (brutal) death in the family, rape, incest, etc, this is one of the foremost authorities on helping people work through their experiences and onto a fulfilling life. I didn’t deal with things like that in life, but we’ve all gone through tough situations and what I learned from her 4 question and turn around process is life changing to say the least! Picture that we all wrap a story around the reality. Imagine that this is like cotton candy. The stick in the middle is the reality, and the spun sugar cloud around the stuck is the story. The story is almost always worse than the reality of the situation. That’s us running with stories in our head.

***I’m a HUGE advocate of counseling. A counselor is simply a coach who’s trained in that particular area. Shop for one you both like or who you resonate with and invest in it. it’s a journey and does take time. Patience was never my strong suit but with what i’ve learned from counseling, i’m vastly more patient than i’ve ever been as well as so much more at peace.

There are so many great books and great seminars. The key to this whole thing is that you are investing in you. There is no greater ROI in life than that. I’ve been to many seminars and learned something at each one. I don’t care if you’re able to get on stage and teach that course, i’ll guarantee you can learn at least one key take away from that event. I’m always looking at what I can learn.

Remember, sometimes you win, sometimes you learn!

PS, if this put you to sleep and you need to be revived, here’s the sexiest CPR training available (this is meant to be funny. I’m a lighthearted person, so you can expect that I can give you a huge business talk and shift gears to movie quotes from Anchorman or Caddyshack in the next breath! “Lighten up Francis!”

My specialty in business is person to person and truly connecting with people. Your goal is to connect with people. I’ll offer some simple “How to’s” for you herein. Also know that you have most of the information you need to have a good conversation with someone. Simon Sinek is famous for his “Start With Why” TED talk (second most viewed TED talk of all time). I’ve watched his 18 minutes of brilliance 50 times. The whole talk is about rearranging the info you have in order to land with someone. He breaks this down on a biological level as well as psychological level. Sounds technical, but you’ll find it’s easy to understand and appreciate.

When you think about what happens online, it’s the same thing aside from being able to look someone in the eyes and feel the energy of the moment. I can talk to more people at one time online, but I can have higher quality of conversations in person, hence i’m talking to less and have a higher percentage of finding a yes.

To start, you first need an intent. What is your intent? Mine is simple. I want to add value to people’s lives and i’ve got three shots to do that with our delivery system (Team Beachbody-fitness, food, finance), as well as I can be a decent human being and actually care about this person’s situation, listen to them, ask questions to find out what they want and need, so I can offer some sort of solution, point in the right direction, help them with a connection to someone who can help them, ie referral, etc. The person might just need a restaurant recommendation or a realtor recommendation.

Think about what else you are knowledgeable. Also what are your family & friends knowledgeable? This matters as I know all about what my brothers and sisters do for a living. Of course no where near their degree of day to day, but i’m able to speak to it. My background is that I was an athlete growing up, played lots of team sports as well as many individual sports. If you break it down further, i played traditional sports and do extreme sports. I was a professional skater for Team Rollerblade in the 90’s and was sponsored by many other companies. I learned the most in life working in a retail store that my brother owns to this day. The people skills, the connections, relationships, the work ethic and more. Then I got into real estate. I have more than simple real estate skills, there are stories in and around why I got into real estate, how I was recruited away from my career at the time, the insane lessons I learned through my tenure as an agent and Broker. Hence the importance of cataloging what you know far beyond the technical skills of being an agent or a cop or a nurse or a musician, it’s about the life lessons woven through your life experiences. Those are the things that you have in your hip pocket, when communicating with someone, that stands to make a profound difference in a person’s life. When my friends are going to sell a house, i’ll send them a line to ask about their move, how’s it going, and encourage them to be great to each other in what can be a stressful time. Sometimes people are unrealistic with pricing and their home will sit on the market. If that’s one spouse’s idea and not the other, then marriage issues can pop up in their immediate future. I’ve lived this personally and by proxy of those I represented, so i love to send a note to those friends to offer a bit of advice and to work hard to keep their relationship of the first importance, be as unemotional about the transaction as possible and then I offer why that’s important via sharing a story. I’ll tell them about the most successful and wealthy people i ever represented were the ones who had the least amount of emotion in their deals. I realize how difficult that is, and it’s something you need to get comfortable with.

This isn’t me with a crystal ball. This is me with empathy. it takes empathy to sell anything in life. You’re simply selling people on ideas. But guess what? Everything starts with an idea! I look at the landscape of social media, and when I see a post from someone who I feel I have some value to add, i do so. I’ll like the post, then send a private message. Should I go with putting that message in the comment thread, it’s a waste of time 99 times out of 100.

In a person to person situation, i’m listening to understand, not listening to reply. You may be reading this note and thinking Mike is the master of the replies. Yes i’m good at the replies, maybe even great, and that ONLY comes from caring about that person’s situation, using empathy, and not making it about me. If I made it about me, I might be too pushy about the insights/perspectives/recommendations I have and that would NOT land with that person.

The only way you or I can land with someone is to be very authentic and relate to them. When I’m authentic, patient, which makes me grounded in the moment, I have the highest odds at landing with that person. They may not need or want what I have and that’s perfectly fine. When I was in real estate, that was 99.9% of the conversations. With Beachbody, everyone needs what we have. This is interesting and incredibly unique. The issue with this is that it enables us to talk to anyone as anyone is our future customer/client/coach, however the slippery part is that it’s easy not to niche market. What’s easy to do is easy not to do. You want to niche market. That’s one of the most important things in any type of business unless you’re selling air to a world without any.

Niche Markets: If you are getting out of medical school and you’re looking at the landscape of how you’d like to administer your new skills, expertise, and knowledge, you wouldn’t go about it like this; cardiology on Mondays, Orthopedics on Tuesdays, Oncology on Wednesdays, Pediatrics on Thursdays, and so on. You would specialize. When’s the last time you’ve ever heard of a doc who didn’t specialize? If you go to a family practitioner, and have an issues beyond their scope of things, you will be referred to a specialist. For instance, my buddy who reconstructed my shoulder is an orthopedic surgeon. He doesn’t participate in any other type of medicine than orthopedics. He also doesn’t do hands, feet, spine, neck, hips, or elbows. He does knees 30% of the time and shoulders 70% of the time. He used to be 50/50 knees/shoulders, but after having his own shoulder operated on, he became even better in his technique and is now one of the top shoulder specialists in Southern California.

Put that up against your business. What is your niche market? Who are your people? What do you love? What would you want your “tribe” to look like? (tribe in the sense that Seth Godin teaches). You can’t be all things to all people. It’s not your job to make all people happy. It can’t be done.

When my brother opened his sports shop in 1988, he specialized in bicycles as his #1, then skis and volleyball. Those were his passions in life and were all very popular things at that time. Today his store is 10 times the size from when he opened and now he’s got everything from Climbing to all aspects of cycling (road, tri, TT, BMX, cruisers, commuters) to swim, snowboard, and sunglasses. He’s grown with his market, the trends, and what he loves. He loves golf but knows that’s a stand alone store if you really want to do it right. So he doesn’t touch it. The sport/product in the middle of all this was Rollerblade. Maybe that sounds funny, but it was the most explosive sports industry in the 90’s and out shined all other categories in the sports world in terms of growth. We had races, we held hockey tourneys, we did stunt shows, we promoted every inch of that genre to create the excitement and opportunity to people. We also ended up being the #1 skate shop for sales in the country (non coastal). There were two coastal shops that did more and that was all they did. We still sold bikes and skis and snowboards. We sold snowboards as they were invented. Hence we were early adopters.

What are the top 5 things about you and what you love? At this point in the conversation, I get people all the time who reply with “family, faith, and fitness”. Faith is more of a core value than it is a hobby. I’m looking for people to focus in on their top 3–5 things they love. For me, it’s business acumen, a super dad, extreme sports. There are other things I love, those are my top 3 for communication online. I also love to travel, I love red wine, & i’m an expert in relationships & marriage (doesn’t mean i’m perfect, just studied and practiced). The deal with this is that it’s easiest to talk about what you know and love. If you’re a diehard college football fan, then it’s effortless for you to engage in a conversation about that. I was in a conversation just today as a matter of fact about the NFL draft. And I wove that story into Beachbody. The guy i’m recruiting mentioned that his wife is in the hospital recovering from surgery, when she’s sleeping he was catching up on the NFL draft a bit, and reading the info on the challenge pack i sent him. Most people would be done here. I respected his space and the seriousness of what he has going on, AND knowing that he’s able to catch some of the draft online while she’s sleeping, is an open door to discuss what we do a little bit. One of the quarterbacks drafted was from my home town, his mom is best friends with a couple coaches on my team. I mentioned that and what a small world it is. Also that the doc the NFL listens to (as well as Olympics) is the head of our medical science board, Marcus Elliott from Santa Barbara (P3). I then said that every workout that’s been made starting with P90X2 has his fingerprints all over it, which is why they all work so freaking well. Then I mentioned that Marcus talks about how we’d all be surprised how many professional and Olympic athletes are using our programs in the off season and now our nutritionals.

This related to him on the level of what he’s passionate about. He also mentioned golf but i’ll save my golf stories for another time. There’s no need to inundate him with Beachbody knowledge all in one shot. I joke that it’s like meeting someone and getting married in a day. These things take time, we don’t need to ram it down their throat. I’ve peaked his interest and curiosity about this, and the way that I connected what he loves to what I love is where the magic happens.

People need a connection. You are weaving a story, as if you’re the seamstress of their life’s work. In person, you need to be able to think on your feet. This is crucial. And you are capable of this regardless of how good you perceive yourself to be right now. What it starts with is being interested more than you’re interesting. I make sure that I take someone down a path. It’s my path. Think about it, we could sit and talk about so many different things. As much as I love funny movies or great personal development books or red wine, i’m not there to make it about me.

One of my friends in the biggest real estate companies in the world ran mergers and acquisitions and dealt in very sensitive matters. He told me that he does what I do when he’s working with a new client; he strives to relate. He said he can go into that office and be Ivy League Mark. He can be Division 1 athlete Mark. Beer drinking Mark from Philly, MBA Mark, or a son of a firefighter from Philly. He’s all those things and if his client happens to be related to a firefighter, that might be his path of connection. It doesn’t matter which one it is, he’s there to relate as that makes the rest of the rapport, relationship, & business dealings much smoother.

When you’re mindful, intentional, have clarity on what your mission is, treat your business like a business, you’re on the right track.

The right actions & behaviors over time = Success

Cheers to all of your future success!

Mike

Some of us are where we want to be in things and in life and in this
business and some aren’t. I’d say many aren’t. I want to be better and
do more just like everyone else.

This is either a time of awesome celebration or a time of reflection
in missing our mark or somewhere in between. In no way is this memo to beat anyone up for not getting what they wanted or where they wanted to go. 100% to the contrary. This note is to enlighten and empower you to see
more wonderful times, more gains in your business, and an even more
harmonious you for the new year. That’s all!

That said, there are some deep and/or challenging questions to ponder.
And also solutions and a road map to get where you want to go! It’s a given that we want a nice life and the creature comforts. At some point, you were introduced your career, for many of my readers, they were introduced to becoming a Team Beachbody Coach by one of us, saw something in it as a way to your goals and dreams.

I’ve found that so many people tend to be in cruise control on life. Ponder that for a moment.

Are you where you want to be? Are you in the place in life where you have the freedom financially and time wise to do what you want, when you want to do it? The ability to give and donate? The ability to take a couple weeks off for the Holidays? The ability to take time off for the people who matter most in your life?

Either what you’re doing in life is getting you to your goals or not.
That’s pretty powerful stuff when you think about it.

For many of us, we are looking back on 2015, thinking about what we did well and what we wish had gone better. I know first hand what this is like as I’m no different than anyone in wanting to get more out of life and realizing the difference between being content and being complacent. Contentment is everything you want it to be. It’s harmony in your life. Complacency is poisonous. So is indifference.

Contentment is coming home from a hard day’s work or effort or completing a project or crossing off the X on the calendar for the workout you did. Contentment is the feeling of joy when you have a great time doing something with your loved ones (you know hose times when we put the phone away and are fully present in the moment).

That feels right and just.

Complacency is not caring enough about your situation to do something
about it. Call that detachment. Some might call it narcisism. Call it wearing a mask. Call it whatever you want, Juliet said, “that which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet”. In the case of complacency, the foul stench would render us unconscious.

In looking back, I find that I tend to put everyone else first. My greatest strengths are my greatest weaknesses in that I don’t need any help and I’ll figure it all out. I’m self motivated, driven to succeed, and don’t need to stand on stage or get a trophy to do so (the recognition used to motivate me but that stopped when I realized that’s not where the victory was. The victory was and is in the lives changed for the better; it’s not about me).

I know what I want, I have conviction about what I do, and work as smart and hard as possible. In tumultuous situations, it’s easy to put all of our focus and attention there. It’s kind of like the screaming baby in the movie theater last night that the parent didn’t seem to think needed to exit for the benefit of the 500 other people sharing that space; very easy to put our focus on the loud noise or shiny object distracting us.

The last year or so of my life has been fraught with a tough time in marriage. We kept this mostly private, talked around it at times and confided in a very select few friends for their love, support, and counsel. I feel it’s important to share as I’ve never had anything hinder me in building my business; not in real estate or as a Beachbody Coach. I’ve had injuries, surgeries, my dad passed away, we went bankrupt, lost everything we owned, but still made it happen. In fact, my Beachbody coaching business was born in the most challenging time preceding this which was the year of the market crash, 2008. When I found that my marriage was in trouble, that was my new front burner issue and where all of my focus went. Kelley and the kids mean more to me than any business ever will and over time, things got out of balance, somethings never dealt with, and the compound effect of that added up to “we have a problem”.

I share that to say this, when I look back at my last year of life I
see tremendous victories and incredibly hard times. While my business
didn’t grow this year by 30%, 75%, 200%, or 500% as it has in years past, it
didn’t take a hit either. How crazy is it that most jobs shoot for a cost of living increase at best 3%. It was a year off of my compound effect to nurture what meant the most. Our marriage is doing much better and that came with a ton of work, love, patience and more by both of us. Scarier yet would have been two people who wanted to give up.

The victories are in all of the life lessons learned, the peace inside our house, the love that is growing exponentially, and unmistakeable from the lessons of failure and the openness to what is. The victories are also in my openness and willingness to share with others in an effort to relate and add value to their lives.

There’s some false sense of security in leaving things be. Many people fear change and many are not open to questioning things. My intent isn’t to have someone stir up trouble in their life, rather to look at their life and be open to the possibilities that they can be even happier and more peaceful and present in each moment.

F.E.A.R. is an acronym for False Evidence Appearing Real

Why not be more proactive and read great books on marriage and relationships. I’m happy to share my book list on this topic or any personal growth topic or business challenge that seems to be most relevant to what you have going on in your life.

In order to see growth in my business or your business you have to
have a business plan; for a Team Beachbody Coach, this looks like doing the three vital behaviors daily, choosing your offense on where you want to run
your biz, AND also doing business development. Personal development is
crucial but business development is also as vital. As I’ve said countless times before, “Success leaves clues”. We don’t want to mimic our broke and inconsistent relative or friend, we want to mimic the traits and behaviors (in our own authentic ways) of successful (while ethical) people who are where we want and/or doing what we want but at a higher level. If you’re a professional in another line of work, I still advocate working as hard as you will on you and having a clear understanding of what your daily vital behaviors are. Think of it in terms of your rule of 5. What are the five things you need to do each day to be successful? So many do their busy work, but for things to change, something has to give. What is that for you? A new approach? A mentor? Asking for help? Taking your ego out of the equation? It’s been an amazing thing to witness the benefit all of this has been to my friends who are Attorneys, Realtors, Doctors, Retail Store Owners et al. Do you ever wonder why some otherwise solid looking businesses folded? Oftentimes it’s not the economy and it’s not the person in office, it’s the person who owns and runs that business. They are the leader of that organization and it starts and stops with them. This might be you.

We didn’t come into this world with knowledge or insights or
perspectives. Those were learned. Or not. We should always have a thirst to learn!

“Show me your 5 friends and I’ll show you your future” is a deeply profound old truth. So is “show me the last five books you read” or tell me about the last seminars you attended and you now grasp the beginning of how I think and approach my business and personal life. Some of you did the work and are seeing tremendous growth, some didn’t do the work and are no further along. Some did many of the important things but missed enough phase one activities. There are only about 5 or 6 things we need to do in a day to be successful. When we are of by one important thing, we don’t unlock it.

I’m looking back on the last year and the last number of years as to
what went my way and what didn’t. It’s New Year’s Eve. Most of the
free world is contemplating this to some degree. The most success I’ve
seen in my life came as a result of the compound effect of my actions.
When taking the right actions, all of them, consistently, the compound
effect adds up and we see amazing results. It’s no different than our
fitness. We didn’t get ripped and lean by working out a few times a
month or even a few times a week. We had to get to a five or six day a
week routine. When comparing and contrasting this business to a
Beachbody workout program, consider and remember a few things: it’s a
system that was well laid out and fairly prescriptive. How well
someone follows it shows direct physical evidence in terms of results.
If a coach wakes up to wing it that day and really doesn’t have a
business plan on what to do each day and how they are going to do it,
it’s no wonder that the results didn’t occur. The compound effect is
working regardless, so the question is do you want it to work in your
favor or against you?

I hired a new consultant to help me sort out my business and opine on
what I’ve done well, where I can be better, and any outside perspective to help me grow, as me growing means and equates to many many people standing to benefit. He said the same thing my life coach/counselor said, “it’s easy for me to look from the outside in as I’m not emotionally invested in your situation, so it’s easy to see the fixes”.

We are all emotionally invested in ourselves and that can be a heck of
a block at times when we find ourselves struggling. When we are in the
midst of success, we tend not to study what’s going on so much and
just ride the wave. That’s human nature and why one of my attorneys in
a real estate deal gone bad told me once, “ Mike, you’ll learn infinitely more from your failures that you ever will your successes.” He also told me I could get busy fighting or get busy making money but I couldn’t do both.

That’s deep. We want our cake and want to eat it too. But it doesn’t
work like that.

We are a ball of energy and have amazing capabilities to do the most
wonderful things in life. If we turn to our dark side, it’s the same
energy but focused on the bad.

We are the sum of our thoughts.

As you are sitting down to write out your goals for this new year,
remember a few things; have a clear idea of what exactly you want,
keep adding to your list and expanding on things regardless if it’s
Jan 1 or the middle of spring or summer. Your list should have many
micro details, because broad generalities won’t do it. Saying you want
to lose weight isn’t a goal. Saying you want to lose 15 pounds by
Valentine’s day is however, a goal.

In my most sincere place of the heart, I hope that you take the time
to contemplate the things that will truly bring joy and value to your
life. You have to love yourself and take care of yourself to be good
for those around you. Lead by example and be patient with those around
you as they might have different goals. Your journey will inspire them
over time and make a difference!

Cheers, Mike

I have to be up in a few hours but have to say that i’m in one of those incredibly inspired times for whatever reason. Call it chemistry. Call it fate. Call it whatever you like. I can’t say when it hit me as these things can be a slow surge not unlike a swell building in the ocean or the way precipitation ignites one of the best powder days you’ve ever floated through. Sparing you the long version, i’ll say that everyone…everyone needs to be in tune with their why. Your why will bring you to your purpose.

(the clips are linked in this article. I’d love to hear what out of this inspires you and speaks to you)

Tonight, I’ve spent priceless time with my children, my wife, was fortunate enough to be phoned by some dear friends, and I found inspiration between those experiences and some what would seem random Facebook posts. That may sound funny, but it’s what happened. I can share how friends of mine can take what makes some people lose time, focus, and even bring about negative energy within the constraints of facebook posts and watch them turn those interactions into something meaningful and even life changing. And you know beyond a shadow of any doubt in your mind, that only happens because they have a different perspective than you might on how they decided to view that thing.

Perception > emotion > reaction will explain that.

Tonight, rather than drift off in slumber, I found myself simply floored with the amazement of human beings who see things differently and appreciate things in ways we can only hope to feel and experience in our own lives.

This first particular clip is the last of everything i’m talking about, but at the heart of the matter. My friend Jon shared this. Thanks for that buddy!

Prior to this, i saw a post from my friend Denise about her joy in playing the piano tonight. She’s amazing so I couldn’t help but share with her a clip of someone who I feel is one of the most remarkable musicians of all time, Vladimir Horowitz, in a many decades old performance at Carnegie Hall. My mother is a piano teacher and made her career as a musician so I grew up with an appreciation for the classics. Something I found more value as the years go by. As many times as I’ve seen that, I couldn’t help but look through the youtube suggested clips on the side. I took notice of some interviews he did and as much as i’ve been a fan of his, I’ve never seen him interviewed, only playing. His perspectives were completely beautiful, humble, and FULL of life.

He was interviewed by Mike Wallace in 1977 in his own home, and the stories he shared were and are priceless. Epiphany after epiphany for me and a reaffirmation of what I believe that seemed to elude me for the last period of time, believe it or not. Then to see him playing in his living room with only Mike Wallace and Mrs. Horowitz, (the daughter of a famous conductor) for him to suddenly jump up, bursting into laughter, you will witness what pure childish joy looks like….but on an old man. Old by the # of years he lived by that time, but younger than most of us with the overwhelming zest, love, passion, and joy he has for what it is he does. Yet he talks about his struggles and his 12 year break he took, how he was wildly criticized for no good reason, how he handled things and ultimately overcame what he was dealing with, what he did to feel what eluded even him for some time. To know that after being on top of his game for so long, to take a break like that (he still put out 6 records in that “break”), to coming back, touring, and selling out the most famous concert venues across the globe, AND to talk about what he’s doing next, what he has to learn, all while in his later years is completely remarkable.

Then I found a clip of Vladimir being interviewed in Amsterdam a decade later and it’s a European slant on his genius. Wisdom upon wisdom, and even some mannerisms like that of Einstein.

After that, I came across an interview with Artur Rubinstein in Paris at 90 years young and his poetic way he describes his appreciation for life and the time won and the time lost, his battle with losing the center of his eye sight, the things he’d have done differently, and his new found appreciations that came from what others label a disability.

Here i’ve taken you from a comedian who shared a priceless life lesson about being in tune with your why, including a crystal clear demonstration of what something sounds like that’s 100% amazing to what that same song looks like when it’s 100% amazing AND infused with massive passion and heart, then to a pair of the most amazing musicians who’ve ever lived.

Now to another friend’s post tonight that will take my ski & snowboard buddies and make them want to fast forward the fall season and scream WINTER IN COMING like they’re on the set of Game of Thrones. Glenn thank you for posting that clip! It was spectacular and beautiful. You and I have respectively seen countless ski flicks to get stoked for the seasons upcoming through the years, and this one sparked a fire for me!

If you’ve ever been fortunate enough to share time with wise people who’ve come before you, and we all have but may not have realized it until much later, you know the value and priceless life lessons you received. What we choose to do with that knowledge is another story. When you get incredibly in tune with your why, you’ll find your what. This post is not me soliciting anyone to follow me in what I do; that would be too easy to write some inspiring long post, chalked full of clips that will pull at your heart strings and then ask for the deal. No. Do what it is that speaks to you. But for yourself, for those who love you, don’t half ass that deal. We have a saying in my team of awesome people…”I’m all in”. When you take your why, you light it on fire, you realize that the word “someday” is not on the calendar, you also really that you have a expiration date on this thing called life not unlike one of my friends in Canada who passed away yesterday far too many decades before he should have, but a guy who was so full of life it was remarkable, and you have taken the first steps in a passion filled life or what some call as a life of purpose.

Just do it. Just do what is in your heart that makes you move. I’ve been fortunate enough to have found my stride, my mission in life which is quite simply to add value to others. That is there for you just as so many amazing things are. As with most things in life, all you have to do is be aware and simply ask. Feel free to message me if you need a point in the right direction.

Be altruistic in your journey. Give what you know freely and watch what happens. Volunteer your time in something meaningful or someone meaningful and/or someone who needs your help. If you’re gifted at something, share it with people who will appreciate that gift. Last week I met a kid at the soccer fields who was clearly a gifted player, clearly had very little to his name and was playing with a ball that was as used up as any i’d ever seen. I brought him a new ball the next time I found him, but it was the note i wrote that meant the world to him. Because in that note I told him that he was remarkable thanks to an amazing attitude, his respect of the people around him, & a love for the game, and to never give up what he’s passionate about in life. That note is what put the emotion in the deal.

Put the emotion in your life to your fullest degree. We all know what it’s like to play a half assed game. Sports, life, relationships, all of it. We have all been there. I won’t judge anyone at anytime, but I am here to nudge you to “ponder the immensities” as my dad would say, but what that means for this moment, is to ponder and put deep focused thought into what makes you sing and feel alive.

Do more of that. When many of us are doing more of that, you will find yourself in a community of people who are thriving…not just surviving.

If this spoke to you, please recommend it and/or share it with someone who could benefit from these perspectives. Thank you, Mike

If you want to be better at something it takes consistent, focused practice with feedback and constant adjustments. Don’t be stuck on ideas for the sake of being right. Be open to feedback. The 10K hour rule isn’t about 10,000 hours of lackadaisical practice, it’s focused practice as mentioned herein. Do you want a better marriage/relationship? Then do something about it. Read the books, go to a good counselor; By yourself or as a couple, but eradicate any excuses. The only thing you can change in this world or control in this world…is YOU! Imagine what your life will be like when your focus is on being the best version of yourself and full of gratitude at every moment!