Professional Athlete Routines

So in thinking about this my idea is to do the same thing in relation to work each day. Having a few things to do before each work day to make sure you start the day off right. I used to have a very strict morning regiment.

• 5:00-5:10 Prayer/Meditation
• 5:10-5:40 Read Spiritual Texts
• 5;40-6:00 Shower
• 6:00-6:15 Get dressed- smelling good.
• 6:15-7:00 Reading a self help or business book.
• 7:00-7:30 Read current business periodicals- Mags and such.
• 7:30-8:00 Review plans for the day-Start working

This routine got absolutely destroyed when I met my wife and we were hanging out late every night. I look at it now and it was good, I learned a lot, but it was also so tedious and robotic. I think about keeping something like this with young kids and it would be almost impossible to make it a week with that specific of a routine. This routine did form the habit for me now that I do certain things every morning. Pray, read-spiritual and business, and either get some hockey in or another kind of workout. Getting up early and doing something physical makes a huge difference for me. Having a young son now, I don’t adhere to anything nearly as structured, but I do have those certain things I do every single day.

Professional Athletes Routines

I did a few quick Google searches and found these articles on athletes routines:

• Nadal has a strict routine every time he steps on the court.
• Some athletes have borderline OCD rituals.
• This video of Lebron James is crazy, has like 3-4 different handshake routines before his famous chalk cloud.
• Ten funnier pre game routines.

I am thinking about a new routine/mechanism to make sure I start off each work day with guns blazing. I would love to hear what you do, especially if you have a specific thing you do every day, before any certain event, or if you had/have your own sports related pregame routine.

How do you leverage the social game?

Being an entrepreneur is all about leverage. You use talents, skills, systems to serve/create value for people. How effectively you use your assets is directly related to your bottom line. Knowing that the social game is not going anywhere, how can you utilize it? How can you use the current social tools to grow your business? Every business is on Facebook and Twitter now, just being found there is not enough.

Identify people who can help you.

Think about all the relationships you have right now, are any of them effective in your opinion with the social game? Ask them for help. Learn as much as you can from people you know using these tools and create your own plan, or improve your social game. The more things you are doing online the more things you can track and experiment with to find out which tool fits you and your objective best.

The social game is here to stay. There is still a lot of innovation in this space. Get engaged and use these tools to improve your bottom line and your life. Let me know if I can help you, feel free to hit me up, aaron(at)aarondommer.com.

I remember having a good laugh the first time I saw this video, and then I thought to myself: Dude! That would totally work. I went out and negotiated a few things with the ‘Game Face’ technique, it worked on my gym pass, my first car, and a bunch of other things. It is pretty fun to do. People will do exactly as the car salesman, they will beat themselves up if you don’t show them any emotion. It is a very effective negotiating technique when used properly.

Key to an effective Game Face.

It has to be authentic. You have to mean it. If you are all geeked out then it will be hard to disguise. If you don’t let emotion creep in when negotiating you will be much more effective at getting what you want for the price you want. I am not an advocate of grinding people until they don’t make any money, but all things are negotiable, and I personally think negotiating is very, very fun. I use the Game Face technique all the time when I ask people if I can do something ‘not on the menu’ and let them think and figure out a solution, it is a lot of fun to watch people solve your problems for you. It is also useful on the flip side of the coin when you tell someone the price of something and it is out of their range, let them figure out a way to pay for it.

Try it out and let me know how it goes.

Doing vs. Talking

This may seem weird but watching Obama get that fly has made me spend some time thinking about what he has done.

I have recently been reading the Tapstack (free mini books that are apps on the iPhone) titled: “Why did I marry you anyway?” by Barbara Bartlein, RN, MSW, The title may seem kind of weird, but it is a great book with a great message, very pro marriage and staying married. In it there is a page speaking on action that I found very powerful, quoting her:

‘You don’t get a degree because you intended to go to school. Or a paycheck because you thought about showing up for work. Intentions don’t count. I get so tired of hearing “I should’ve,”"I would’ve,” and “I could’ve.” Enough already! The should’ves, would’ves and could’ves of broken promises and commitments are not impressive. When evaluating human behavior, I always look at what people actually do, not what they say.” -Barbara Bartlein

Why Obama is more effective.

Obama has been a good leader, not from what he has said but by what he has done. Although I disagree with many of his policies and agendas, he has quickly and decisively led America (to where? is a big question, but where headed there in a hurry). He is very effective at passing legislation. The recent bailout was incredible, I can’t say I was tuned into the news everyday as it went down (as it is going down) but it was done with alarming speed. I think Americans felt like something needed to be done about our financial situation immediately and allowed for the government to throw around money like it is going out of style. Effective. Not effective in the sense of principled solutions to problems, but effective in the sense of just getting stuff done.

Credentials.

On the news and through Facebook I hear a lot of Obama detractors and it makes me laugh. I could quote all their opinions about him and it would just take up a bunch of time. It comes down to this: Sitting on a computer somewhere posting videos or ideas online about Obama is simply not effective.  By posting a video on your Facebook page or website about Obama being evil or doing an awful job you aren’t really doing anything. Look at his resume: Bachelor at Columbia, Harvard Law School graduate, teacher at U of Chicago Law, Attorney, U.S. Senator, U.S. President, and lately Nobel Peace Prize winner. He has some serious credentials. Not that credentials mean everything but compare them to his haters? It makes you think.

My Point.

It’s simple. He hasn’t gotten to the White House by accident, he has done it with very deliberate intention. He is highly effective, his campaign of ‘Change’ was no joke. He is changing things. I have a lot of respect for him. He is a great example of the American Dream. In America we can be whatever we want to be. If you disagree with Obama, just be aware of what your up against. He has done some monumental things, and those that oppose him think they can post some quotes, or disagree with him online and make a difference? You have to be more clever than he is to be more effective than he has been. Watch him get this fly, can you do that?

Where the Wild Things Are

Max’s character makes you think.

As a young child I read the book and thought it was a story with a happy ending. Young boy chooses to leave his family, goes to a far away land, lives out his fantasy and then heads back home.

Caught up in the excitement of the new movie, I went to the bookstore and read the book again. This time the story had a totally different meaning to me. When I finished reading it, I thought: “Huh, I kind of remembered this book having a happy ending?”

Being somewhat older since my last reading of the book, and maybe somewhat wiser, I saw 2 different perspectives on the book.

The Prodigal

Referring to parable found in the bible:

The young man finally comes to his senses, remembering his father. In humility, he recognizes his foolishness, decides to return to his father and ask for forgiveness and mercy. The father who had been watching and waiting, receives his son back with open arms of compassion. He is overjoyed by the return of his lost son!

The Entrepreneur

I shall quote Timothy Ferriss to explain this perspective:

“The New Rich (NR) are those who abandon the deferred-life plan and create luxury lifestyles in the present using the currency of the New Rich: time and mobility. This is an art and a science we will refer to as Lifestyle Design (LD).

I’ve spent the last three years traveling among those who live in worlds currently beyond your imagination. Rather than hating reality, I’ll show you how to bend it to your will. It’s easier than it sounds. My journey from grossly overworked and severely underpaid office worker to member of the NR is at once stranger than fiction and — now that I’ve deciphered the code — simple to duplicate. There is a recipe.

Life doesn’t have to be so damn hard. It really doesn’t. Most people, my past self included, have spent too much time convincing themselves that life has to be hard, a resignation to 9-to-5 drudgery in exchange for (sometimes) relaxing weekends and the occasional keep-it-short-or-get-fired vacation.

The truth, at least the truth I live and will share in this book, is quite different. From leveraging currency differences to outsourcing your life and disappearing, I’ll show you how a small underground uses economic sleight-of-hand to do what most consider impossible.” – Timothy Ferriss, Introduction to ‘The 4-hour Workweek‘.

Perception determines Action.

The story although extremely short, maybe one entire paragraph, is powerful. Who was Max? A wreckless youth, a waster? Or a genius, a creator? You choose, more importantly than what we think of Max, we get to choose what we are. People’s perceptions of us matter very little, It’s all about what we think, and then what we do with our thoughts. Max is an example to us good or bad. The story has a happy or sad ending depending on how you look at it. He is either the returning prodigal or the quitting entrepreneur. Either way, “Let the wild rompus begin.”

Very sad to see the passing of the legend Michael Jackson. I think he was amazing artist and performer. I believe that there are people in the world who hate to see people succeed. Especially extraordinary success like the kind that Michael created. There are also people, media, and influences in the world that seek to destroy successful people, and I mean this in a very literal sense. So is it possible that MJ was portrayed wrongly or poorly in the media? Yes. Could the media have been right on? Yes.

My point is this: What is the truth? Will we ever know? Are there tremendous stresses and issues when you are super successful? I can only imagine that there are. I can only imagine the people who seek to consume from those who are successful, who lie, cheat, steal, and manipulate to get money from those who have earned it. I can only imagine that once you are labeled something accurately or inaccurately that it sticks with unquestioning masses. There is so much to learn from MJ.

That is my objective. What can I learn from the King of Pop? What did he do to influence millions? What was his mission in life? Regardless of whether he achieved that vision or not. What can I do to protect myself from harmful accusations and the dangers that come from success? There is a lot to gain from MJ. God bless his family and especially his children at this difficult time. Thank you Micheal for the great music that shaped so much of life as we know it.

What is Hustle?

I would like to define it. The dictionary (in my opinion) doesn’t do the word justice.

Hustle is giving your all, and by all, I mean, your all! All of your heart, might, mind, and strength to achieve your desired result. It is not just being busy. I know a lot of business owners (I would say Entreprenuers, but that word is becoming more and more sacred to me every day) who are always relating how busy they are to how hard they are working. This is a fallacy. Busyness is not Business. Hard work isn’t sufficient by itself either. I know plenty of people who work hard and feel good about how HARD they work, yet they hate their lives.

Hustle to me means working faster, longer, more effectively, smarter, being passionate, focused, creating, leveraging others, leveraging time, leveraging products, leveraging anything and everything you can (business in its simplest sense is just that: leverage) to get your desired result.

Americans generally lack hustle. They think the government is so incredible that they rely on the government to protect them, pass a law to make it easier, or do it all for them. Hustle says: If you want it, It’s yours, go earn it. The best things in the world are those earned.

I believe everyone is an entreprenuer (sacred) in some area, and if they hustle in that area life will be incredible for them. Agree or disagree with me, the recession is a result of lack of hustle. In a personal recession? Take a scoop of hustle and call me in the morning.

To hustle or not to hustle?

That question actually doesn’t exist, Hustle or die. Do the Hustle.

Everyday we write down exactly what we want to make that day. Our boss/employer doesn’t determine our worth, they simply agree to pay exactly what we ask for. Please do not misunderstand what I’m saying. I’m not saying that you should walk up to your boss and tell them ‘I should make $_______’, and then expect them to immediately start paying it. What I am saying is that everyday you wake up and work for $_______( your current income) you are telling the world exactly what you are willing work for, or to put it another way, what you can be bought for.

So aren’t you worth a whole lot more?

No matter what your current $_______ is, you are worth way more than that. I hear and read a lot of people say that human beings are priceless, or infinite in value, yet everyday we accept much less than that. So what is the point? Nothing I have said so far is blowing anyone’s mind, and that kind of leads to the point I’m getting at.

What $______ would blow your mind?

My buddy Garrett Gunderson did an exercise one time, that changed my life forever, he blew my mind to shreds! He said what is a lot of money to you? $100 a month? $1,000 a month? $1o,ooo a month? $100,000 a month? $1,000,000 a month? $10,000,000 a month? and well, he kept going. When he finished with these incredible amounts of money, he said that at some dollar amount, which was different for everyone, it became a joke. At some point it becomes a joke, at some point it is no longer reality to you.  It would be better if you heard Garrett teach this, but what I learned was this: Why do I accept $_______ right now? Why couldn’t $100,000,000 a month be possible? What I think is a lot of money someone else looks at it as chump change.

So what do we do?

If you could write yourself a check right now for your monthly salary, what would be the ideal amount? More importantly than the amount is what are you doing to be more valuable today? Are you creating more value than you are being paid for? According to Napolean Hill and others, it is impossible to create more value than you are paid for. So create value. That’s it. Create value for people by being valuable or worthwhile. You are always worth more than you are paid, but what you get paid should validate your worth.