Consistently Motivate Yourself

This is the Momentum podcast.

This week I had the opportunity to speak at my friend George Bryant event, and I'll probably share more of some of the stuff that came up there. But one of the questions that I got from the audience is a question that comes up a lot with entrepreneurs and that it's a question that I think haunts a lot of us and comes up for all of us is, you know, I've got all these things that I should be doing and why am I not doing them? Well, there's a lot of different reasons. I think this happens to us. One is, I think that sometimes we're always trying to climb Mount Everest, which means instead of making subtle adjustments that make a huge difference in our lives, that we try and change everything all at once. And right away, I think we have a tendency to put way too many things on our plate. I think that as entrepreneurs, sometimes we don't get really clear on why we want an outcome. But one of the biggest reasons why we don't do what I think we set out to do is that we don't measure things.

I'm Alex Charfen and this is the Momentum podcast made for Empire Builders, game changers, trailblazers, shot takers, record breakers, world makers and creators of all kinds. Those among us who can't turn it off and don't know why anyone would want to. We challenge complacency, destroy apathy, and we are obsessed with creating momentum so we can roll over bureaucracy and make our greatest contribution. Sure, we pay attention to their rules, but only so that we can bend them, break them, then rewrite them around our own will. We don't accept our destiny. We define it. We don't understand defeat because you only lose if you stop and we don't know how. While the rest of the world strives for average and clings desperately to the status quo, we are the minority, the few who are willing to hallucinate. There could be a better future. And instead of just daydreaming of what could be, we endure the vulnerability and exposure it takes to make it real. We are the evolutionary hunters, clearly the most important people in the world, because entrepreneurs are the only source of consistent, positive human evolution. And we always will be.

I know this probably sounds maybe a little too basic to be real, but here's what I've noticed in the years that I've worked with entrepreneurs, and today I just this is going to be short. This is going to be quick. This is something I want you to think about. If there's something in your life that's important to you and you don't have measurement around it, then how do you know that you're achieving it? And let me give you a couple of examples. Like one is net worth, you know, and when I go out and speak, I often ask, how many of you believe you will be a millionaire in your careers? And if I'm in a room of 100 entrepreneurs, 99 hands go up and then I'll say, okay, how many of you track your net worth on a monthly basis? And 97 hands go down. And the reason is, as entrepreneurs, we often think that we're going to achieve something, that we're going to get somewhere, that we're going to have what we want without really understanding if we're actually moving towards it. And one of the biggest net worth growth hacks that there is so simple. It's just tracking your net worth on a monthly basis. If you're not doing it yet, you should.

Cadey and I had a massive net worth year last year. Part of the reason is we're looking at it constantly. We understand where we stand. We know where we are as far as our net worth goes. And that goes really for anything in your life that you're doing. You know, one of the big ones is why I want to get in shape and people say things, why I want to be in the best shape of my life. Well, what does that mean? Have you defined it? There's that certain weight that you want to head. Is that a body fat percentage that you want to hit, a body composition that you want to have? What is that exactly? And are you measuring towards it and keeping metrics? Keeping measurement is one of those things that's so important to us as entrepreneurs. Here's why I want you to think back through your life to achievements that you made. And every single time you have pulled something off everything, a single time you've done something that was important for you, every single time you've done something that was exciting to you. Here's a guess that I can give you. There was a scoreboard involved, that scoreboard that that measure of perspective is going to help you lean in to do the things that you should be doing to get what you want.

And so this doesn't need to be a big long presentation or a big, long speech to you, a big, long dissertation. This is more about are you going to get what you want this year? Are you going to get the things that really matter to you? You know, the process that I use is simple. I get clear on what I want and then I make sure I understand what I'm going to do for it. Like, what are the things that I'm going to do? Like if I want to get in incredible shape, how am I going to work out? What types of workouts am I going to have? And believe me, for me, it's not running the San Francisco marathon or doing something over the top. Usually it's subtle changes I'm going to make so I can get the results I want. And then the second thing is, is it like, what? What? Is my actual outcome. Like, what is my destination? This year I'm taking a body fat percentage. I actually want to get back to the lowest body fat percentage I've ever had. I'm going to be 50 at the end of this year. I want to be as lean as I've ever been and as cut as I've ever been at 50 as I've been in my entire life. And that's a difficult task because the older you get, the more difficult it is to lose body fat. But I'm going to do it because I'm measuring. I'm looking at it at least once a week. I've got a body fat scale I'm using. I'm moving the metrics in the right direction. And then the third thing is, you know, I want to understand what I'm doing, and then I want to understand how I'm measuring it. And I kind of let on a little bit about how I'm doing it. I've got a body fat scale and, you know, this same framework of clear outcome, understanding what you're accountable for and what you are measuring is not just the way that you can get what you want in life, though. You can get what you want for yourself.

This is where you can get what you want in just about anything you do as an entrepreneur, especially your business. In fact, if you listen to my podcast for a while, you've heard me say this before when I've been around wildly successful people, billionaires, people who are worth over $100 million, people who are up there in financial success, the ones who don't have to work another day in their lives, which is kind of cool. Cadey and I are actually approaching that place. And when you look at what they do to be successful, here's what I've found. After years and years of watching them over and over again. If there's an issue where an outcome wasn't achieved, if there's a place where somebody is stuck, if there's a place where there was a huge mistake made, they really look at three things. What were we trying to do? Clear outcome. Who was doing what? What were the responsibilities involved, accountability involved. And how were we getting perspective as to know we were winning? Like, what is our scoreboard? How were we measuring? And so I apply that everywhere in my life, clear outcomes, knowing exactly what I'm going to do and what am I measuring to be able to see if I'm successful. If you do this, you're going to see the same movement forward in your life, the same changes that the people at the absolute upper level of income see. And apply this to whatever it is that you want right now. And so if you're going to be a millionaire, I challenge you to start tracking your net worth right now. And here's my ask: go put together your net worth statement. Go look at what your assets are, what your liabilities are. Track it for the next six months and then come back and let me know through social media. I'm out there. Let me know how it works for you. And if you actually made progress, this will change your life and it will absolutely show you how you can achieve anything that you want. Put some measurement in place.

Thanks for being here with me today. And if you haven't yet, join our faith group on Facebook. I discuss this type of stuff and a lot of other things in our group. It's called Simple Operations: Operating your business just got simple. I look forward to seeing you there. Join the group and let me know that you're there. I look forward to seeing you.