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We often think of talent as a good thing.

But talent comes with a price: we take it for granted. It coaxes us into believing we don’t need to work. Often, we are gifted this talent. So we don’t come to appreciate it.

The problem with talent is that over a long enough timescale, when someone has worked hard enough, they beat us.

I love the stories of Navy SEALs.

They all say the same thing…

“You know, before we went through BUD/S there were a bunch of dudes who looked like studs. Olympians, incredible athletes. We thought they were going to be SEALs for sure. But they were the first ones to drop out.”

Why?

Because all their lives those guys relied on their talent. But Navy SEAL training isn’t designed to test your natural abilities or talent (from what I’ve read, not experienced). It’s designed to test your grit.

Life seems a lot like that.

Some people are born more talented than others. 

And yes, eventually talent wins. 

But the fallacy is believing you can’t increase your talent.

In most areas, you can become world class by simply sticking with something long enough.

The disadvantage of talent is that over a long enough timescale… it loses.

I launched a podcast yesterday.

It was exciting.

A lot of work went on behind the scenes for the past month to make it possible (recorded 17 episodes in the past month). But it was still exciting.

The launch was magical in it’s own right. The validation of the idea and the feedback was priceless.

Here were some of the nice comments:

Just listened to @heydannymiranda's first podcast with @ComedicBizman. It was insane.

Felt like 2 older brothers were talking to me and sharing excellent advice. Got so much energy from it.

Here are my notes, hope they can be of value to you:

— Stephan (@stephankrijger) September 23, 2020

When you listen to @heydannymiranda and @ComedicBizman discuss life and business

You just can't help but feel energized.

Really enjoyed the podcast episode, you shared some great biz insights.

Looking forward to the reverse interview in a couple of months @heydannymiranda! 😉

— Dan📚🏖💷 (@Tweedtweets0) September 23, 2020

Listened to @heydannymiranda’s pod with @thedulab and feel so uplifted.

Just straight up ready to love everybody. Thanks for spreading the positive vibes, gentlemen.

— Mason (@CardinalMason) September 23, 2020

https://twitter.com/nazeefn_/status/1308911835278708736

All of this felt really good. Fired me up.

But at the end of the day: the success of the podcast is not about the launch. The launch only represents a tiny part of the actual journey.

So let’s apply this with an example: you start a new workout plan. You devise your strategy. Then you announce to the world that you are actually starting. Day 1. You’re really excited. You do your first workout with joy and enthusiasm.

But…

The plan only works if you follow the plan.

Meaning?

The launch is “easy.” The execution – doing it when you don’t want to do it, when times get tough – that’s the hard part.

That’s the part that matters.

Because whatever your plan is, there will be times when you want to go off course. When you don’t want to follow it. Discipline is all about doing what you need to do even when you’d rather be doing 100 other things.

My plan: publish Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for at least 100 episodes.

You can currently find The Danny Miranda Podcast on Spotify and iTunes.

Sleeping is something we do for a third of our entire life. So let’s think about the ways we can do it better:

1. No phone/laptop in the bedroom. Make your bed strictly for sleep and sex.
2. Have a routine before bed. This lets your mind know it’s time go to sleep. Journal, shower, stretch… it doesn’t really matter so long as it is consistent and your phone isn’t involved.
3. No phone/laptop within two hours of bed. Give your mind time to wind down and close the loops on open text and email conversations.
4. No caffeine after noon. Because caffeine has a half-life of ~6 hours, you need to give yourself time for it to wind down. This means if you have a 200mg cup of coffee at 2 PM, there still will be roughly 50-75mg in your system when you’re trying to go to sleep at night.
5. No more than two cups per day. This is dependent on the individual but this is a rule I like to follow. If I have more than two cups of coffee in a given day, not only will it make my energy levels look like a rollercoaster, it will also make it more difficult for me to sleep.
6. Exercise throughout the day.
7. Make the room as dark as possible. Consider a sleep mask if you can’t install blackout shades or make your room any darker.
8. 65–70°F (20°C).
9. Stretch before bed. Even a quick five minute stretch can make the world of a difference.
10. Stick to the same bedtime and wake up time – even on weekends. This is difficult in the modern world. But it’s a great way to get your body in a routine.
11. When you wake up, go outside or see the sun. This is a great way to let your body know its morning. If you wake up but don’t go outside or see the sun until the afternoon, your body is going to be confused.
12. Be weary of alcohol usage. Even one glass of wine or drink can increase your resting heart rate throughout the night which will lower the quality of your sleep.
13. BreatheRight Nose Strips. These have decreased nasal congestion upon waking up. Highly recommended.
14. Play Tetris. To be fair, I’ve never used this one. But Tim Ferriss recommended it, so that’s good enough for me.

It should go without saying, but these are the tips and tricks that work for me. Our bodies and minds are all slightly different.

There are one million and one podcasts out there.

Did the universe really need another? Probably not. But that’s not going to stop me from putting one out.

Here are five reasons why I am launching my podcast on September 23, 2020:

1. The natural progression. I had phone calls with Twitter followers and Tuesday Treasure family members. These people were so cool. So smart. So kind. These phone calls gave me more energy. More life. I realized it would be a disservice to the world to keep these conversations to ourselves. For these calls to be forgotten forever. So why not record them and post them?

2. You might understand the words I’m writing better when I actually say them. I have so much love and joy and appreciation and gratitude for life. Sometimes I resort to two exclamation points. You may be able to hear what I mean through audio.

3. To connect with other high energy people. Selfishly, I want the opportunity to connect with more smart, kind, and awesome people. By putting these podcasts into the world, I’m assuming it will lead to connecting with more people like the ones I’ve already picked out.

4. Build an asset. I like to look at each piece of content as an asset. Each individual workout won’t do much, but over 1 year, 5 years, 10 years? It will have incredible results. I’m not in this game for the short term. There’s no $ play.

5. Another way to spread love. This is what it’s all about for me. Some people prefer to consume content with writing. Others prefer audio. Eventually, I’m sure I’ll make my way to video as well.

Since I’ve had the idea to create this podcast, it’s been on my mind almost every day. So I’m hoping you enjoy it.

Do you have trouble speaking to strangers?

I used to as well.

I recently put out a request to my Tuesday Treasure and Twitter family…

If you want to talk on the phone, my line is open. I’m here to spread joy to the world and if you’re down with that, I’m down with you.

But I only realized it was something special when someone on the other end pointed it out to me: “Dude, how do you get on the phone with anyone?”

Then, I started to think about it. Because I certainly wasn’t always like that. The thought of talking to someone new on the phone or in person would give me nerves.

“What will he or she think of me?”

I was in my head. Always. Wondering what other people thought of me. Judging others. Judging myself. Trying to come up with the perfect thing to say in a conversation. It was an absolute mess.

But that isn’t a problem anymore.

So, how did I make the change, that I could talk to anyone, for any amount of time, without worry, even if it was the first time talking to them?

Let’s dive into it:

1. Doing hard things gave me confidence (namely, doing 75 HARD). 

75 HARD was the game-changer.

It gave me confidence because I was living up to the greatest version of myself every day. Every day, I was responsible for doing some tasks. One day at a time. If I was capable of doing them one day, I was capable of doing them every day. Not getting overwhelmed with the journey. And if I didn’t do them, nobody would know but I would know. And this would come through in everything I did. When I started the challenge, I didn’t believe in myself. Eventually, after doing it long enough, people would be surprised/impressed and I would have no choice but to reaffirm my notion that I was someone who got shit done. 

2. My intent is to show and give love. 

If this is my intent in a conversation, I know that even if I screw up, even if I stutter over my words, even if I am say something wrong or something stupid, I am coming from a place of giving pure love to the other person. This allows me to be honest and open. My honesty and openness lets the other person’s guard down – I’m not here to judge. I’m here to help and give you love, so you can relax. Often they do.

3. 60 minute meditation sessions have allowed me to spend a lot of time in my own head. 

This means I’ve gone through problems that were in the back of my head. This means I’ve diagnosed issues that otherwise would have stayed in the back of my head and dragged me down. But I’ve gone through them. I’ve diagnosed the issues. Almost like a computer rebooting.

Meditation gave me comfort in silence as well.

As a result, I became confident, happy, and loving to all of life.

I am running on two hours of sleep as I type this. I hardly ate all day. But I am in a state of absolute love.

It all started when my plane landed.

My brother said he’d pick me up from the airport. He said he’d bring food too! Damn, I was excited. I hadn’t eaten all day. I was starving. But he was nowhere to be found.

Time passed.

Five minutes.

Ten minutes.

It started to rain. I waited, looking at the beautiful cloudy sky.

Fifteen minutes.

Twenty minutes.

I call my brother, “Is everything okay?” Yes, he says. He made the wrong turn. He’ll be there in ten minutes but no food. 

“Sounds great,” I tell him.

Thirty minutes pass.

He shows up.

I get in the car. And I smile.

Three years ago, I would have been angry at my brother. “Fuck you for being late!”

Two years ago, I would have been upset with my brother. “How could you let me down?”

Last year, I would have been passive aggressive. “Great job, pal!”

Today, just love. Love that I was going to see my brother. Love that I was loving myself. Love that I made incredible progress. Love that I had control over my mind. Love that Tej believed in me even when I didn’t believe in myself. Love that I even existed at all when the universe could be made of absolutely nothing. Love for the experience of floating in the clouds on an airplane. Love to be home with my family. Love for life. 

Love for my brother. To be able to give him all the tools he needs to be happy.

Love for my family. To be able to spend time with them.

When you are full of love, you want others to be love too. You want to see everyone win.

You see, most of the time we’re operating with clouds over our thoughts. What clouds our thoughts? Fear of death. Fear of what our boss will say. Fear of rejection. Scrolling too long on social media. Anyone with negative energy. 

Anything can cloud our thoughts, really. It can be as simple as our monkey mind running wild because someone sent us a passive aggressive text or someone looked at us the wrong way. But why?! Life is too short to be unhappy.

You can choose happiness at this moment. You can choose to love yourself.

Simply repeat, “I love myself” ten times in a row. Do this for a month straight. You might think you sound so damn stupid at first. You’ll be like, “Why am I saying this?” Like it can’t actually change your life. It can’t actually make you happy.

But it worked for me.

I have been doing this for approximately three months. Once a day, at least ten times.

And is it part of the reason why I feel absolute love and joy? It has to play at least a small role in my happiness.

I believe I brainwashed myself.

I know this sounds like nonsense. I know you might not believe me. I know it doesn’t even make sense. 

That you can say “I love myself” and you actually feel love? You can actually “be” love? Sounds like a bunch of hokey-pokey nonsense.

But the weird thing is “I love myself” came first. I started doing this practice after reading Love Yourself Like Your Life Depends on It. 

On April 7, I started writing daily. On April 14, I started reading daily. On May 17, I started meditating daily. All the while, I’ve been posting, engaging, and trying to be helpful to anyone I can. Trying to be a light in the world. Spreading love to friends and family. Being the person who others can turn to. Being the person that I can turn to myself.

Messing up from time to time and loving myself for the mess ups, too. But staying consistent. Staying disciplined. Staying on the path.

And loving myself.

Written on May 28, 2020.