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.

Conor McGregor has accomplished some pretty incredible feats in the past decade:

• Become the UFC’s first champion in two weight classes (“double champ”).
• Switched sports at the peak of his career (mixed marital arts to boxing and back).
• Created an international whiskey brand (Proper 12).

So what got Conor McGregor from where he was – an apprentice plumber – to today?

If only there was a way to see Conor’s thoughts before he became one of the world’s most recognizable athletes…

As it turns out?

We do.

McGregor was 25 years old when he tweeted the following:

ISOLATION, VISUALISATION, MOTIVATION, DEDICATION. NO OUTSIDERS.

— Conor McGregor (@TheNotoriousMMA) November 25, 2013

He outlined the process by which he was improving. And you can follow it too.

Let’s break it one-by-one…

Isolation

Isolation is to be by yourself.

Why does it help to be by yourself? No distractions. This is an important point. Conor makes sure to reiterate by saying “NO OUTSIDERS” at the end of his tweet.

Why is isolation a positive?

“I feel being alone with your thoughts is a good thing. It allows you to figure things out for yourself.”

Visualization

To visualize is to imagine where you want to be.

McGregor is an avid visualizer, who has predicted numerous knockouts.

He even got the moniker “Mystic Mac” for his eerily accurate predictions. For example, before UFC 194, McGregor noted he would knockout Jose Aldo in less than 60 seconds in the first round. It took him just 13 seconds.

How does Conor do it?

“If you have a clear picture in your head that something is going to happen and a clear belief that it will happen no matter what then nothing can stop it. It is destined to happen. It’s perfect.”

McGregor has spoken in depth about his visualization techniques:

“I keep having vivid dreams of success. Then it’s time to sleep.”

“Everything I’ve been thinking, every vision, even down to every shot I throw, it just ends up here in reality. Whether it was in a fight and how to react or whether it was in a stadium with screaming fans or whether I was in a fancy car or the best clothes ever, I always put myself somewhere.”

Motivation

If you’re by yourself (isolated) and you’re thinking about where you’re going (visualizing), you’ve got to be motivated to take action.

“It’s just about commitment. You put in the work, you’ll reap the rewards. There’s no secret sauce to this. Recognize what you need to do and do it and you will succeed.”

You’ve got to be doing, in this moment, what will take you to where you want to go.

Dedication

You’ve got to be fully committed to the process. All in. No slacking off. No question about if you’re committed or not.

There’s no talent here, this is hard work. This is an obsession. Talent does not exist, we are all human beings. You could be anyone if you put in the time. You will reach the top, and that’s that. I am not talented, I am obsessed.

Elon Musk walks into the room.

You’re going to be aware of it immediately.

Why is that?

“Well, Danny, he’s a famous entrepreneur. People are going to run over and start taking pictures of him. He’s going to be joined by a giant security guard who could double as a WWE wrestler. Obviously, we’re going to notice.”

Yes, yes, that’s all true.

But let’s take it deeper than that.

You’re going to know he walked into the room because of his influence.

Influence is the ability to alter someone’s behavior.

We respect it.

We either admire it (when the influence is used to do something we agree with) or despise it (when the influence is used to do something we disagree with). But either way, we respect it.

The question becomes… why do we respect influence?

Because influence is, in essence, cloning yourself. Cloning yourself means you can affect multiple lives simultaneously.

At the most basic level, influence defies what is possible evolutionarily.

Whenever you speak to someone, you are influencing them. For the far, far, far majority of human history if you were speaking to someone, you could only influence that one person (or group).

Think of kings and queens of generations past.

They could decide, “You know what… I’m going to decide everyone has to pay this tax” …and everyone would listen (or revolt). But when they were making that decision, they were cloning themselves.

That kind of power is rare.

Or at least, it was.

Today, the Internet lets anyone have influence.

You can post a tweet that can be viewed simultaneously in Rome and Sydney. You can record a song that can be played simultaneously in Berlin and London. You can create a product that can be used simultaneously in New York and Budapest.

This doesn’t mean you have to take advantage of the Internet.

It just means that if you intend to influence anybody, it might help to use it.

🙂

Do you remember what you ate for dinner three Wednesdays ago?

I certainly don’t.

But imagine you kept a detail log of everything you eat. Well, you’d be able to pull up what you had for dinner with startling accuracy.

In this simple case, the system (your log) became stronger than the individual parts. And there’s something absolutely amazing about that.

Because when applied to the broader scale of life, we can massively benefit from it.

Here are two ways I’m personally using this principle in my own life.

Publishing On This Website

My website is probably already smarter than me.

It certainly has more information on it than I can recall at any given moment.

And I’ve only been posting information on it for the past five months.

Although that’s hard to believe… when you build something, when you continue to pour yourself into a project over a period of days, weeks, or months… it can easily overtake what you can accomplish in any given moment.

Using Roam

I tried using Roam in April. I didn’t like the way they used bullets. The format kinda pissed me off. Now, I’m writing this article on the platform.

Why?

Because during my retreat, I made the realization that if my website could recall information better than I could… it would make sense to be create an entire system to recall information.

Roam is my personal own Google. For more information, check out Nat Eliason’s article Roam: Why I Love It and How I Use It.

Conclusion

You find this principle everywhere. Whether it’s in a business invention or building the Pyramids.

The individual can’t possibly create what the system can.

So use it to your advantage.

Use yourself today, tomorrow, and the following day to create incredible change.

The top performers have skills. Not just one. Multiple.

A lawyer knows law. A personal trainer knows fitness.A doctor knows medicine.

The top performers in each field might have their one core skill down. But they also have many other skills that helped get them there.

This post is about identifying those skills.

Taking Care of Your Body

Taking care of your body is arguably the most important skill because without it, you won’t be doing the others for long.

How do you take care of your body?

You use it. It doesn’t matter if you lift weights, run, do yoga, bike, or play team sports. Are you moving your body? If not, it’s an area to look into.

Taking care of your body is more than moving your body though.

It’s also making sure you’re eating high quality foods. Are you getting enough protein? Are you eating micronutrient dense food?

Recommended Resource: OnTheRegimen.com

High Energy

You take care of your body by feeding it with exercise and high-quality foods.

That will give you half the puzzle to create high energy.

You also need to guard your mental.

Cut news sources that don’t add to your life. Read books from people who have achieved enormous success (any self-help or autobiography will do). Watch documentaries. Use that energy.

High energy is a natural result of doing the things which are good for your body and mind.

Recommended Resource: Awaken the Giant Within by Tony Robbins

Sales

It doesn’t matter what you end up doing, there’s a high chance you’re going to communicate with others.

So it may help to make sure those people like you.

How do you get someone to like you?

You have to sell yourself.

Sales is about more than selling a product. Sales is about getting what you want.

If you want to get a raise, you’re selling yourself.

If you want to get into college, you’re selling yourself.

If you want a boyfriend or girlfriend, you’re selling yourself.

Sales are a skill everyone can (and should) learn.

Recommended Resource: How To Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie

Psychology

Our brains were not made for the modern world.

Our brains are still getting used the idea that we can see light at night. That we can travel in the air. And that we can contact any person we’ve ever spoken to with a push of a button.

One of the things our brains are not used to are understanding that we’re flawed. That we do several things that make no sense. To understand how we are flawed is tremendously important. Not just that we are flawed. But the biases we have.

Scott Adams once listed 190 biases in his book. Then he proceeded to say, “Not knowing any of these biases will probably cost you money in the future.” Psychology is more than a list of biases.

If we can understand how these biases affect us, then we can do our best to fight against them. We can watch out for them and be vigilant when they pop up.

Recommended Resource: Thinking In Bets by Annie Duke 

Negotiation

If you’re going to own your own business? You need to know how to negotiate.

If you’re going to work for someone else? You need to know how to negotiate.

If you’re going to buy anything ever? It might be helpful to know how to negotiate.

Negotiation is more than knowing how to get a good deal. It’s knowing when to walk away. It’s the ability to get your price. To be good at negotiation, it helps to have empathy (listed below). It helps to understand psychology.

But negotiation is a skill by itself.

Recommended Resource: Never Split the Difference by Chris Voss

Habit-Formation

Why do all professions need habit-formation? Because habits help you improve at your craft. If you don’t take advantage of habits, someone else will. If you want to be good at anything, you need to make it a habit.

That doesn’t mean you have to do it every day. Joe Rogan talks about how performing comedy five days doing a week can be better than seven days a week because the extra two days lets your mind come up with new material.

But regardless, performing is a habit for him. Similarly, Rogan is in the habit of recording podcasts.

Recommended resource: Atomic Habits by James Clear

Mental Toughness

The top performers are mentally tough. They are willing to do what needs to be done, even when it sucks. That’s what it means to be mentally tough.

It’s a trait that’s becoming more and more rare as society becomes easier and easier.

And thus, it becomes more and more valuable.

Recommended Resource: 75 HARD, Can’t Hurt Me by David Goggins

Leadership

Why leadership?

You’re already leading yourself every day.

Leadership exists in a dichotomy. A good leader must be (from the resource below):

• Confident but not cocky

• Courageous but not foolhardy

• Competitive but a gracious loser

• Attentive to detail but not obsessed with them

• Strong but have endurance

Recommended Resource: Extreme Ownership by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin

Empathy

Empathy is the ability to understand someone else’s point of view.

If you don’t have empathy, you’re going to struggle with relationships outside of profession, which will make your job much harder.

You will constantly blame other people instead of trying to understand their perspective – which will lead you to be miserable (I only know because I’ve been there!).

Overall, your quality of life will improve as your empathy for others improves.

Recommended Resource: How To Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie

Conclusion

The top performers are good at a whole bunch of stuff.

They might have one skill they are known for – but they often have several other skills they have in their back pocket. Like a magician, they are ready to pull out these skills whenever the moment calls for it.

A personal trainer needs to know how to lift weights. But he also needs to have other skills in his back pocket. Like communication. Psychology. Nutrition.

A doctor needs to have knowledge of medicine. But he also needs to be able to know how to communicate efficiently. How to touch patients appropriately.

You can’t get by in this world with just one skill.

Why?

There are too many people who will attempt to master that one skill and who will master it. That doesn’t mean there’s no room for you. Just the opposite. If you can combine that skill with some of (or all!) the attributes mentioned above, you’ll be far and away a top candidate in your specific field. You’ll field the best job offers, you’ll be the top ranked individual in your field by customers and peers, and you’ll live a happier life.

I write an email every week called Tuesday Treasure.

Then some people started to subscribe to it. As it turns out, these people are really cool. I figured it’d be awesome to highlight them and to tell you all the cool things they’ve been up to.

(In alphabetical order, by last name.)

Gerard Dawson (Twitter)

• EdTech marketing consultant
• Creator of the EdTech Startup Show

Tej Dosa (Twitter)

• Masterful copywriter
• Turned -$67 in his bank account to 6-7 figure businesses
• Creator of Clicks and Copy

The Du Lab (Twitter)

• Turned a layoff into a 7-figure business
• Helped his friends overcome depression
• Created jobs for people in need during COVID

Madison Fischer

• 19 year old rock climber
• Social media free since 2018
• Incredible writer

Stew Fortier (Twitter)

• Co-founded writing group – Compound Writing
• Quoted in New York Times
• Has a really awesome newsletter

Jared Gaon (Twitter)

• Creator of Jordan Jamming
• Strategist for Publicis Media

Alex Hugh Sam (Twitter)

• Product manager at Haleo
• Author of The Kaizen Newsletter

Dan Hunt (Twitter)

• Co-founded writing group – Compound Writing
• Product & Growth Consulting at The New Company

James Lawrie (Twitter)

• Once road a motorbike from Manchester (UK) to Poland
• Creates reliable web infrastructure

George Mack (Twitter)

• Curator of incredible ideas on Twitter
• Writes a newsletter on Mental Models

Michael McGill (Twitter)

• A well-read Stoic on Twitter
• Writes a website for IT professionals
• Board member of the Cleveland Chapter of the Society for Information Management

Max Miranda

• Ran a marathon
• Coder at LinkedIn
• Generally sound human being

Tyler O’Shea (Twitter)

• D3 baseball alum
• Founder of an awesome newsletter that highlights underdog stories in sports

Jose Rosado (Twitter)

• Makes a full time income online writing in English…
• …English is his second language

Maggie Rose Taylor

• Portland-based graphic designer/illustrator
• Has designed a lot of really cool stuff

Mike Vacanti (Twitter)

• Gary Vaynerchuk’s personal trainer
• Arguably world’s greatest online fitness coach
• Creator of OnTheRegimen.com

Hunter Weiss (Twitter)

• Creator of Venice Skate Park vs. COVID Social Distancing video (50+ million worldwide views)
• Ran 50 miles
• Has run a marathon every month in 2020

If you’d like to be added to the list or removed or have something changed, just shoot me a message and I’ll update it.