Stop Ignoring This One Rule All Successful Entrepreneurs Follow

Finding your purpose is easy. Finding your purpose, finding your passion, finding what you're meant to do is easy. And I will beat this drum until everybody figures it out because it's one of the most common questions that I keep getting asked. We're not taught this in school. The people that we're learning from are not people who are living their purpose either. Your purpose, it comes from your pain. That's a simple answer. Whatever you struggled with, whenever you felt the lowest as a human, whenever you felt the most worthless, the most like you didn't belong, that moment, that's your purpose, to help other people who are currently going through that. For optimistic, happy, ambitious people, we usually don't like looking backwards into the pain. If you're the kind of person watching these videos, you're probably the kind of person who's pouring into others, who's loving others, who's optimistic, who's trying to not think about the rain that's happening today, right? Not focusing on the rain, but focusing on the opportunities and the sunshine to come, right? That's probably you. Need motivation? Watch a top 10 with Believe Nation. Hey, it's Evan Carmichael, and I make these videos because in my first business, I struggled to believe in myself. I quit on my business partner, and the thing that saved me was watching the successful stories of entrepreneurs. They gave me the inspiration to keep going as well as the strategies of what to do. And quite honestly, I still need their stories and motivation today as well. So today, let's learn from me and my team's take on my top 10 rules of success. Enjoy. So the point is not to sit in the previous pain. The point is to use that as leverage for yourself to jump into the next level of life for you. A more meaningful, a more purposeful, a more intentional life. Whatever you struggled with the most, there are millions of people right now who are struggling with the same thing. They're struggling with the exact same thing as you did. And they need your help. They need your guidance, they need your wisdom, they need your story, they need your hope, they need your light, they need your love, they need your energy, they need you, they need you to show up. That's your purpose, and that will never get old. That will never get old. That will never get old. Every time you see somebody who is a younger version of you and you can have a conversation with them and you can see the hope light up in their eyes that now they feel like something is possible, because they met you, that's a feeling that will never get old. I'll be, you know, 200 years old, sitting in an old age home, still trying to help people believe in themselves more, because that's what I struggled with the most. I am still making content. I am still speaking and writing books and creating videos and doing podcasts and shows. And everything I do is because I'm trying to help 19-year-old Evan. 9/11, who turned down his dream job to start a business to make $300 a month, to have no self-belief, to feel like I made the biggest decision, the worst decision of my life. I felt like I made the worst decision of my life instead of taking that dream job to do this business. It was, it was hooray, euphoria for a couple of weeks and then realized, oh my gosh, this is a lot harder than I thought. And I'm not making any money, did I make a big mistake? And all my friends were making tons of money at those investment banking jobs that I could have had, and I felt lost and I felt hopeless and I felt like I made a big mistake. And I was working like crazy, and I was too embarrassed and too ashamed to, to ask people for help, to let people in. And I didn't believe in myself at all. That's who I love helping. I love helping humans. You know, I want to help humans believe in themselves. But the softest spot in my heart is for entrepreneurs who are trying to get their thing off the ground, because I remember how hard it was for me to get my thing off the ground. And I quit. There was one day that I actually quit on my business partner, and thankfully I went back the next day. You know, thankfully I didn't, I didn't fully quit all the way because I would have regretted that. And I think a lot of people do. You end up quitting too soon on your dreams. And so that's who I'm trying to help with all, with all my content, with all my work, with everything I do. With 12,000+ videos later, I'm still doing it. People ask me, how do you stay so consistent? How have you made videos for 12 years and have not burnt out? Because I love what I'm doing, because I feel like it matters. I don't, I don't love the idea of just sitting here in the parking lot of a Costco making a video, but I love the idea that this is talking to you, that, hello, I'm a part of your routine. I appreciate you. Thank you so much. And so you can have that too, you know, whatever you struggled with There are millions of people who are struggling with that right now, and they don't know who to go to. They won't listen to Evan Carmichael because I haven't struggled with the thing that you struggled with, but they'll listen to you because you've been through it. The next part becomes, well, who am I? Who am I to have this mission? Who am I to help these people? I'm still trying to figure it out myself. Do you resonate with that? It's like, Who am I to be this person to help people? I still don't even have all the answers myself. And imposter syndrome starts to creep in, right? You ever felt that? There's so many better people out there than you, and you're an imposter for even trying. So the way to combat imposter syndrome is two ways, and leverage both. I've leveraged both and still leverage both because I still feel at times that I'm not good enough and they're better people than me. And so here's the two things that I use. Number one, you see your growth as a staircase. Your growth is a staircase and you wanna climb forever. You don't wanna ever stop growing. You don't wanna ever stop learning. As soon as you feel like you've stopped learning and stopped growing, you start to really hate your life. You always wanna feel like you're growing and learning somewhere. So look at your growth as a staircase. And when you're doing imposter syndrome, what you're doing is looking at the people who are ahead of you on the staircase and saying, "Oh my gosh, look at that person. They're so much further ahead of me. I suck. Why can't I be like them? Why can't I be like Elon Musk or Oprah Winfrey or Tony Robbins or whoever your heroes are that you look up to and respect and feel like they're so far ahead of you?" And because you're not where they are means in your own head, you can't do anything. You can't share your message. You're not worthy enough, right? Well, what you need to recognize is you're still on your staircase as well, but you're not at step 0. If Oprah and Elon Musk are at step 8,000, maybe you're at step 100. Great. But you're not at step 0. You've come a long way. You look back, instead of only looking forward to see everything that you haven't done yet. Look back to see where you've come from. Like, oh my gosh, you know what? I'm at step 100. It's nowhere close to where I want to be. I haven't figured it all out, but I've learned so much more compared to who I used to be. Then understand that most people who are struggling with the thing that you struggled with, they're still at step 0 and you're at step 100. You can help them. You can't help them get to 8,000 level, but you can help them get to step 100 because that's where you're at. Most of the people who are struggling right now are at step 0, and they need a little bit of help, and they need someone to believe in them enough to help carry them to step 1 and step 2 and step 3. It's your job to give them that hope and to give them that momentum, and you can. And the way I like to think about it is every time I take another step up on my journey, you reach back and you help somebody else out who's behind you. Help other people climb on and rise on their journey, because learning alone isn't enough. We want to feel like what we do matters. We want to feel like we're having an impact. That's where purpose comes from. We all want to wake up every day and feel like the work that we do is going to matter to somebody. You want to feel like today is important. I want to feel like today is important. What I tell myself at least is that people are going to watch this video and somebody's gonna get inspired enough to take some kind of action. For somebody watching this video, this video will be the one that actually pushes you over the edge into action mode. Whether that's true or not, I don't know. But I hope. It's what I tell myself. And that's how I get the meaning behind doing the work. Because I'm just sitting in my car in a Costco parking lot with my dog here, making a video, talking to my phone. But we want to feel like what we do matters. So every time you take a step up on that staircase, it's great to have people who are ahead of us that we learn from and look up to, but every time we take a step up, we pull somebody else up with us. And most people who are struggling are still way, way, way behind you. So you don't have to have all the answers, but you have enough answers to help the people who are at the start. So that's one. If you're struggling with imposter syndrome, you know, we found our purpose. It's to help people who are currently who we used to be, what we used to struggle with. We're trying to figure out imposter syndrome. Step number 1 is the staircase of growth. Step number 2 is imagining you sitting with yourself from 10 years ago. Think about who you used to be 10 years ago, 5 years ago. You've grown a lot. If you're watching this channel, you're subscribed here, you're into personal development, you don't want to stay stuck, you, you have grown a lot. You have. If not from my content, from other videos, from other books, from other podcasts, you've grown a lot. Like, hey, high five, congrats, that's amazing. So imagine you're gonna sit down on the park bench with the you from 5 or 10 years ago, and you've got 5 minutes with that person. You got 5 minutes with former you. Do you think you could share something with them that might inspire them? Do you think you could share something with them that might give them hope? Or some momentum, a little bit of motivation, think about what message you might share. And when I've done this with live audiences, they'll say things like, "It's gonna work out." "You're gonna be okay." "Believe in yourself." "You'll get through this." "You're stronger than you think." As I ask live audiences, these are the things that they say on the microphone or pop in the chat. Everybody, all of these people who at the beginning couldn't find their purpose and struggled with imposter syndrome, now all of a sudden have absolute clarity and certainty with a message they would tell their younger self. Okay, great. So if you are convinced that you can help younger you, just recognize that there are millions of people who are younger you. If you can help the you from 5 years ago, from 10 years ago, that's what most of the people are struggling with right now. And that becomes your message. Your purpose comes from your pain. You don't need to spend years on a mountain figuring it out. You don't have to spend journals upon journals upon journals. You don't need to hire an expensive coach to help you through this. Your purpose comes from your pain. Whatever you struggled with is the thing you want to help other people through, period. And it will be with you for the rest of your life. And when you can spend the time to figure that out and then do the exercises to overcome that imposter syndrome, that will come as your next step. It unlocks everything. It unlocks gratitude. It unlocks purpose. It unlocks happiness. It unlocks fulfillment. Because what it does is give you this well of energy to then go off and do the scary, difficult things, to finally get out of the way of your mind holding you back, telling you— that little voice telling you you can't do things. Because it's no longer just about you, it's about helping other people. And every time you can shift it from being about you to helping others, it gives you that extra little bit of courage to go off and do the thing, because you're built to serve. Because you want to help, because you got a big mission inside you. And the only difference between where you are now and where you will be in a year is how much momentum and how much belief you create in yourself to make that vision a reality. Rule number 2 is just get started. Just start, just start, start, start. Like that idea, start, go. Stop finding reasons why you can't win. Stop finding all the roadblocks that are in your way and just get started. I lost a $40 million deal when I was 20 because I had to have the perfect plan. And it was, you know, again, back to fear, too afraid to launch something without the perfect plan. And I lost, I lost a $40 million deal because of it. So just start. That thing you think you want to do, great. Find a way to get started on it. You want to, you want to make a YouTube channel, pull out your phone and go make your first video today. Just start on your ideas. Rule number 3 is model success. I would look at 2 kinds of people to model from. One, the people who have already made it in your industry. So if you're in software, look at people who are doing software. Like if you're trying to be successful on YouTube, follow other YouTubers. It doesn't mean you copy and paste, but just to get ideas, to get inspiration. Like, oh, that's how they did it, and so apply that into your business. The other people I look to are just people who you look up to. If you want to be a YouTuber, but you love Steve Jobs, there's something you can learn from him, and because you love him so much, he's your favorite entrepreneur, then you'll be able to take lessons and apply that to your business. So whoever it is that you look up to, you can learn from them and find a tweak to bring that to your industry. It, one, gives you specific ideas. So Bill Gates, partnerships, great. I'm going to apply that. Two, also gives you, at least for me, it helped give me a lot of motivation. Because a lot of these guys, if you look at the heroes you look up to, chances are they started from less than what you already have right now. Seeing them do it just gave me confidence that like, why can't I do it? I can do it too. Most people's environments aren't massively supportive. Most people don't have parents telling them, you're going to be a great entrepreneur. Keep going. Friends are like, wow, you're so good. Most people, I say, their family, their friends are like, what are you doing? Are you making money? This isn't going to work. It can be hard to be the lone person betting on this dream and everybody else around you doesn't get it. Changing your circle, it's why these people are behind me on my wall here in my office. You want to have an environment of success and that is motivating as well as the tangible kind of how-tos to grow your business. Rule number 4 is trust your idea. That idea that you have. Find a way to get started on it right now. Trust your ideas. Trust that if you got this idea, it came to you for a reason. It's a great idea. You have to do something about it. Coming up with ideas and then writing down, you know, in your notebook or email or whatever, your list of ideas, you're never going to attack that list of ideas. Your list of ideas is just going to build and build and build and build and build and grow. How do you attack it? By doing. So what you need to do is, when you get an idea, most people what they'll do is they'll make it bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger, the idea. Like, I'm gonna start a YouTube channel. Oh, and then from that I can have big guests come on my show, and then from that I can then build a huge email list, and from that I can run my own conferences, and from that I can do— and then you make this some giant thing, but the bigger it is, the more impossible it is to start. Now you need a team, now you need financing, now you need all the skills and training that you don't have And they go, I can't do that. Instead, you switch and just say, what can I do right now? So whether you want to start a YouTube channel or make a song or write a book or create a podcast or whatever, whatever idea you have, start by just starting right now. Don't worry about the perfect first step because in trying to be perfect and come up with that perfect first step, you're doing the biggest sin of all, which is not doing anything. Also, to make sure you're actually taking action after watching this video, I've designed a special free worksheet just for this video. The worksheet will highlight all the lessons learned in this video, as well as pull out our 3 favorite learnings and quotes that will inspire you to actually do something. The worksheet will also give you space to write down what your key takeaways are and your specific plan of action to make sure you're getting results. If you want the worksheet designed specifically for this video, absolutely for free, there's a link in the description below. Go click on it and start building the momentum in your life and your business. I'll see you there. Rule number 5 is work hard. Where does smarts or where does hard work play a factor in whether it's building a business, being successful online as an influencer or whatever it may be? I think intellectual ability has very little to do with success as an entrepreneur. I think if you're saying working smart versus working hard, that might be something a little bit different. But there's— I mean, if, if being— having a high IQ was the thing that made the difference, then every university professor would be super rich, and, and they're not. And most of them suck at being entrepreneurs. And so IQ— I, I think IQ maps very poorly actually to be— to entrepreneurship. When I was in the VC business, we were raising half a million to $15 million for companies. Um, if somebody gave us their business plan and you flip to the, the team part of it and they had a PhD on their name, that would count as a strike against them. Like, ooh, their PhD, like no street smarts. I don't know, statement. Yeah, that's— it's a strike against them. It's against them. Where in a— in the typical world where you're, where you're hiring people, like, oh, I got PhDs on my team, you think they're super smart. But in the entrepreneur world— and I didn't set this rule, I was 22 years old, I was just kind of following the model. That's what VCs were saying, right? These guys who are in their 60s or 70s that, that built giant companies and invested in tons of companies. Um, yeah, you had a PhD, it was a strike against you. So there's very little, uh, if there is a correlation, there might be a negative one for PhDs or, or super smart people becoming successful entrepreneurs. Uh, working hard is a prerequisite for anything in life that you want to get. Working hard is your ticket into the game. It doesn't guarantee you're gonna get a home run. It doesn't guarantee you're gonna win, but you don't win without working hard, period. There's lots of people who work hard and never win. There's lots of people who, you know, I think of people in my family who have jobs, who work crazy hard at their jobs and don't get paid super, super well for it. So you can work really hard and never go off and achieve your goals. But just working smart isn't enough. I think what smart people do is often find really smart reasons why they can't win. Like, I can't win because of this. Rule number 6 is choose your environment. Your environment has been perfectly designed to keep you where you are. But if you start hanging around Alain and you start hanging around Steve Jobs and Elon Musk and these other people, they will pull you into a different field of possibility. So whether that's, you know, in-person events— we can't do that right now with coronavirus— but whether that's, you know, events that you could eventually go to, whether that's books that you can read, whether that's videos that you can watch, podcasts you can listen to, to start to choose your environment so that you're not stuck where you are is step 1. And then step 2, to believe in yourself, is to do difficult things. A lot of the things that we want to do, we'll tell ourselves, well, I can't do that. I'm too afraid to do that. It's too scary. It's too difficult. When I say to myself, scary, difficult, or hard, that means I have to do it because I said it. And so what you don't want to do is teach yourself that something is difficult and you don't do it. Something is hard and you play small. You have to lean into it. That's where self-confidence, self-belief, self-love comes from. Because if you teach yourself that there's something hard and then you don't do it, you're telling yourself that you suck. You're telling yourself, I can't do hard things. I can't do scary things. And then the next thing that comes up, you don't do it again. And the next thing, you don't do it again. You keep building this pattern where if you switch it to say, no, I do scary things. I do difficult things. I do hard things. When it comes up and then you do it, that's when you start to self-celebrate, pat yourself on the back. And that's where your self-confidence, self-belief comes from. Rule number 7 is take on challenges. Evan, how to believe in oneself? By doing difficult things, right? By, by taking on the challenges, right? So, um, even, even doing this interview, right? Maybe you were nervous to ask, or maybe— I don't remember how we got connected initially, but a lot of people get an idea to do something and then they teach themselves that I'm not— that's too scary, I can't do that, and they don't do it. So what you're— and we do that all the time. So there may be somebody else that you want to book and you say, well, I can't go, I can't go ask that person. What you, what you're doing, and not just, you know, you, you, but people listening, what people are doing is you come with an idea. You tell yourself that you can't do it because you're too scared. You don't believe in yourself enough. And then you're, you're reinforcing that belief. So now the next difficult thing comes along. What you've done is taught yourself that you can't do it. And so then you don't do it. So you just become this idea machine and never taking action. The way to believe in yourself is to do the scary thing, to teach yourself that when something is scary, you do it. You jump in, you say yes, you move forward because otherwise, um, you're not going to live a happy life. You're going to know you're capable of doing bigger things, but never believe in yourself to do it. And so you just photocopy the same day over and over and over again and hate your life. And that's unfortunately where, most of the world is. Rule number 8 is do what makes you proud. I would equate a lot of my fulfillment comes from the growth that I'm getting. A lot of my fulfillment comes from like talking to you and, and making this show and, and talking about Cleveland and sharing stories and trying to help other entrepreneurs. Like, that's deeply fulfilling for me. That's— this isn't work for me. This is like the, the second I look at my calendar, it's like, oh man, really? I got to talk to Jad? Come on. Like, if that's my mindset, I'm out. I'm not doing those things anymore. This is deeply fulfilling for me. Balance, I think, is a very personal question and will adjust throughout time for every human. So what your version of balance looks like is going to be different than mine, than The Rock, than somebody else. When you hear The Rock talk about his calendar, you know, he needs to work out for 5 hours a day or something crazy. And so when he's on set, he has to wake up 5 hours early to go work out, and then, then he'll go and do his movie. And I think that's crazy. That's not balance for me. But if you hear him talk about being in the gym, it's his, it's his zen zone. It's his, like, he needs it. That's part of balance for him, right? So I'd rather be sleeping. I'd be sleeping in my trailer. I would not be working out 5 hours, you know, a day. But, but I don't look like The Rock, you know, when you get the results. So you have to figure out what balance looks like for you. I think there are definitely moments where you can lean in on gratitude and what you've got, but also want more and strive to go and get more. I think for the most part, though, people need to be harder on themselves. Like, I'd say 95% of the time, you need to be harder on yourself. And 5% of the time you have to be more gentle on yourself. Like when you feel like you can't go anymore, when you've actually— like I did my tour with a broken neck, like the second half or the second, the last third of my tour was with a broken neck. And it wasn't— when I showed up to Cleveland, I wasn't as good a presenter as I was before I broke my neck. Right. I had to just sit at the front of the room and I couldn't move for 4 hours while I'm trying to help people who are in the room. But I'm really proud of the effort that I put in, right? And so all that really matters is, are you proud of you? If I had— if I had to skip Cleveland, like, if I was in so much pain and I just skipped Cleveland, everybody would have understood. Everybody would have said, hey, it's okay, like, dude, you broke your neck, don't worry about it. And if I was proud of that, then, then fine, I would do it because I had hit my max. But I felt like I had a little bit more Just a little bit more. Let's show up for Cleveland. Let's make it happen. Come on, we got one more stop. We gotta like, don't skip them over because I'm in Toronto, so we're pretty close. Yep. So it's like, okay, don't skip Cleveland. Just let's go, let's do one more, and like, we'll hit Toronto after. There you go. Yeah, and I'm proud of that. So all that really matters is, are you proud of you? You know, not what other people say, but when you look at yourself in the mirror, are you proud of what you put in today? And if that means you need to lean on gratitude one day And the other day, the next day, you have to lean more into working harder for your goals. Um, that's the inside game that everybody needs to play. But in general, I think you need to be much harder on yourself because you're capable of more, and you need to push that. Just move the brake line. Like, wherever you would normally give yourself a break, just move it a little bit. I don't, don't like get all the way out here. It's just like, just Move it a little bit. Just an inch.

Yeah, just move it.

Just move the brake line forward just a little bit. Rule number 9 is think big, act small. What a lot of times people do is they have this idea and you love the idea. It's like, this is, this is my big idea. This is going to be my masterpiece and it's just going to change the world. And it's so exciting and it's so easy to live in that future world of how exciting everything's going to be. But the more you live there, the bigger the idea gets. And then you realize, oh, I need a team and I need to have I need to make that happen. I need to raise $1 million. You just make it bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger that it becomes impossible to ever actually do and then you get depressed like, "I can never go out and do that. Who am I to go out and do that?" Where what I encourage people to do is have a big goal, have a big dream. You need to, but then act small. You're thinking big and you're acting small. Whatever it is that you want to do, find one small way to just get started. To start a YouTube channel, you don't need to have an editor and a researcher and a production team and be great at all of this stuff. Just do a video and expect it to suck and be okay with it sucking, and then just suck a little bit less the next day. People will make a video and then— or they'll make their first product or whatever it is and it will suck, and then they know it looks good. They know that If they watch a big YouTuber, they see somebody else's product, they know like, well, that's what looks good and I can't make that and so I suck and I'm never going to try again. It's taking the big vision and living there and loving it, but finding the smallest possible action to get started today. Know that it's going to suck and just keep the continuous momentum going every single day. And rule number 10, the last one before some very special bonus clips, is aim for impact. Success is a— is a habit. Success is how you showed up today. So for me, success is that I put my best effort in, right? So as an example, today, all day, I'm just doing interviews, right? I had like 4 before you and another 6 after you. And my goal today is to create an interview that I'm going to be proud to show my grandkids, right? I want my grandkids— hey, hey, grandkids listening— like, I want, I want this interview to be the one that I gave my best to and that my grandkids are going to listen to. That is success. At the end of the day, it's me saying I'm proud of myself for what I did, not hitting some goal. So learning to tie yourself— like, what is success? Hitting 2 million subscribers? You know, hitting— I didn't even want to celebrate. I didn't even care because the success for me isn't hitting the million subscribers. Success for me is is showing up today and having an impact. And so that's what I'm— that's what I celebrate and pat myself on the back for every day, more than did I get a certain result.

Finding your passion is one of the most important and least understood things that I think you can do, especially as an entrepreneur. We've all heard the expression, find your passion, find your passion, you got to do what you love. And from all the videos that I've done and all the people that I've studied and profiled, whether they're entrepreneurs, innovators, athletes, recording artists, like whatever they are, the number one rule that they all have in common is find your passion. When I get asked, you've studied all these people, what's, what's the most common thread? That's it. Find your passion. You have to be doing the work that you love. But how do you do it? How do you find it? Because most of the time we know what we don't want, right? You know the life that you don't want. You know the people who you don't want to be hanging around. You've been at some job that you do not enjoy. We typically know what we don't want, but we haven't done the work or been given the tools to know what we do want. And that's what I'm going to cover in this video. For me, I love helping entrepreneurs.

I think your purpose comes from your pain, right?

So whatever you struggle the most in life is what you want to help other people through. You are built to serve. So your purpose, your passion becomes a part of that, will definitely be in service to other people somehow. It's not enough for it just to be about you. You have to be doing other things. I just came from doing some squats. I feel a little out of breath, but it's amazing.

I love this.

This is the best. And so your purpose comes through your pain. Your purpose, your purpose is to help other people through something, especially what you went through yourself. The passion component though is actually enjoying the work to get people to the other side. So for me, I love helping entrepreneurs. I struggled a lot in my early days as an entrepreneur. And I'm, I'm basically trying to make the world of 19-year-old Evans who are struggling not struggle as much as I did. And I'm a visual learner, so I'd much rather see visual content than anything else. YouTube did not exist when I was getting started. And so I'm trying to share whatever wisdom I have, share the lessons from other successful entrepreneurs so that all of the 19-year-old Evans out there can learn and can improve and get better. I have a process that I call it the Passion Process. And if you go through this process, it help you identify your passion and give you a lot more light, love, energy, and money, you know, because we got to make money as entrepreneurs. So the passion process is this. If you want to go through it, make a list of all the things that you've done to help other people, especially the kind of people who are who you used to be. Like, make a list. And I went through this process in Built to Serve. I did this with my wife to help her find her passions.

This is where it was birthed.

But if you just make a list list of all the things that you enjoyed helping people with. Like you, you got them a result. You're so happy that they are now in a different spot because of what you did. Like, what did you do where you showed up and you helped somebody with something? And just if you want to pause the video, you can. If you want to make a mental list, just all the things that you've done to help other people. Okay, after you have that list, then write down or just circle the ones that you actually enjoyed the process of of doing as opposed to just the end result. This is where we get stuck. This is where entrepreneurs get trapped. Okay? We enjoy the end result of what we've done, but we don't enjoy the process of doing it. How many times have you helped somebody else out because you're a good person, because you're built to serve, because you love that person, or even you see yourself in that person and you just want to, you just want to help. And you're so happy that you helped them, but you didn't actually enjoy the work work that you were doing. And that's the key difference. The result has to be there and that you help somebody, of course. And the thing that will make you light up, come alive, love doing for the rest of your life is the actual work you're doing you love too. So to bring it home, that's some great theory.

Awesome.

In my example, the example that I use in Built to Serve in my book is I love helping entrepreneurs. Like, I want to see you win. Every day I wake up and I try to figure out What else can I do to try to help entrepreneurs win? How else can I help the 19-year-old Evans of the world out there get their business off the ground? And if you were to move your office, say you're going from a home office to— you got your first office, it's like, wow, you got your first place, amazing. And you needed help moving. I could help you move. And I would be so happy to see you in your new office. The problem is I don't enjoy the process of moving. I don't want to unplug computers and pack them in boxes and move desks. And sure, it might be a fun workout, but I don't get lost in the process of that, right?

I don't love it.

I love the end result of helping the entrepreneur, but I don't love the process of getting the entrepreneur to that result. And that's the key difference. That's where most of you will get trapped. You love the end result and feel like what you're doing matters and is important.

Great.

And you get that little hit at the end, like, yes, I helped that person. But did you actually enjoy the process of you doing the work? And if not, that's what we need to revisit. Most entrepreneurs are doing too much of the work that they do not enjoy, just trying to get to the result. Now, not everything you do is going to be amazing. Not everything that you do is going to, is going to fill you up with joy and passion. A lot of running a business does suck and you have to do things, you know, accounting and taxes and legal stuff. It's not stuff that makes me come alive and I find joyous. But your goal as an entrepreneur needs to be to spend more time in that zone of genius where you do actually love it. And at the beginning, you know, maybe it's 50/50, but hopefully as you build and scale and grow and learn more about yourself, you can shift the percentage of how much you do that is in your zone of genius that you love doing versus what has to get done to grow the business, right? And as you build and scale and grow, that's hopefully where team comes into place to handle all those things that have to get done that you don't enjoy doing. So if you make your list of all the ways that you have helped people, if you have no idea what's my passion, you have no idea, make a list of all the things that you have done that you've, you've enjoyed the result of helping somebody. What have you done to help people? Then circle the ones where you actually enjoyed the process. So I don't want to help entrepreneurs move and pack boxes, even if it leads to a great result. I want to do something that I actually enjoy.

The fastest way to change your habits is to change your environment. You ever notice how when you're in a different environment, maybe you go on vacation, maybe you go to an event or seminar, you start doing different things? You are still you, And you do some of the things that you used to do, but all of a sudden you're doing new things that become a part of your regular routine. You ever been away for a couple of weeks and discover that you built up some new habits and maybe some are healthy and maybe some are unhealthy. But if you've ever been away and you notice that you've picked up some new habits, why? Well, it's because the environment demanded it, because everybody else was doing it, because it was so easy, natural, comfortable to do that, that that's why you do it too. And so if you want to be able to switch your habits quickly, you change your environments. Now, you may not always be able to go on vacation or go to events or seminars, although those are options, but it starts with you figuring out, well, what are the habits that you want to develop? Who are the people that you want to be around? And when you are around those people, you will start to think differently, which will lead to you behaving differently. When you see other people doing it, you're going to want to do it more. When it's in your environment more, you're going to want to do it more too. This morning I was talking to a YouTuber, big YouTuber, bigger than me, more subscribers than me, slightly different niche. And I remember meeting him in California a couple years ago, and one of the things he was struggling with was staying consistent. And I'm very consistent. And one of the things I was struggling with was staying healthy while I was on the road. And we're having dinner together and he was eating super clean. He was eating fish and salad, and I probably had a burger or something, fries. And coming away from that, what I realized was whoever is more confident wins. And when you're around other people, whoever's more confident in the habit that they have will be the dominant habit that both of you end up picking up. So if we were hanging out together more, here's what would happen: I would become a lot healthier healthier in my eating, and he would become a lot more consistent in his content because we'd be inspired by each other. Because he'd see me working away, make my videos, and he'd feel bad that he wasn't making his, and he'd have to go and start making his. And I see him eating healthy all the time and be like, man, I should be eating healthy. And it would force me to do it as well. That environment switch would allow us to create much better, stronger habits. So now you got to be careful about the kind of people who you're hanging out with. And if you look the people you've got right now around you, chances are they're keeping you stuck, they're keeping you small, they're keeping you where you are, and you're probably pouring into them, right? You're the one giving them love, giving them encouragement, giving them support, pouring into them. You're, you're taking your cup and pouring into them, and it's great, and it's— and you should keep doing that, and it's amazing, and it's, it's fulfilling. But who's pouring into you, and who's making you get to the next step. Because if you don't have that, you're gonna, you're gonna continue to stay small or just have slow growth compared to where you could be. So how do we get some practical steps? Okay, that's great. What do we actually do? How do you start making that change happen? Well, the first step is to figure out what is it that you want to get better at. You know, what area of your life or business do you want to be better at? Is it you want to stay more consistent on your habits? You want to, you want to learn how You want to have a better relationship, you want to take care of your health. Like, what is the thing that you actually want to get better at? Getting clarity on what that thing is. Two is to then surround yourself as much as possible with content, not even people, because it could be great to say, hey, awesome, hang around Joe Dispenza all the time and you will become better, you will meditate more, you will solve your— awesome, but you don't know Joe Dispenza and he's probably not I'm taking on students right now or mentees, right? Or Elon Musk or Oprah Winfrey or whoever, right? You don't know them. And so that's not a practical answer, but you can hang around their content. It's why I make these videos every day, because if every day there was a new video for you, hopefully it lifts you to bring some of the best experts in the world, the people that I find inspiring and learn from, to share their message every morning. You don't have that person life, but there's videos for you. So step 2 is— step 1, we're figuring out what is it that we want, right? Where do we want to improve and get better? Step 2 is who are the people who are, who are living it, who are preaching it, who are living it, who actually inspire you? And there's so many different people out there who are doing it, and everybody has their own way. I like to say that, you know, an Eric Thomas is going to yell at you through it and Oprah Winfrey is going to hug you through it, but they have very similar messages. Whoever style you connect with the most, have that more consistently in your environment. Follow them on Instagram, subscribe to them on YouTube, put their quotes on the wall around you. Create your own environment of the people who make you feel like you want to do more, who inspire you to step out of your comfort zone and take on those new habits that you want to actually adopt. You're creating a new environment for yourself. Without having to go live with Joe Dispenza or Elon Musk or Oprah Winfrey. Okay, so I call them aspirational mentors, and, and it— that can be fundamental, and that's where most people need to start, because you have access to their books and their videos and their content. You have that access right now, and that can make a big shift in you if you start surrounding yourself with it every day. And then step 3 is to, is to get more in-person connections. And And this is more time-consuming and more challenging and harder to find the right fits, but can make a big shift as well in your life. So I don't want to only rely on it. That's why step 2 is actually having just content that you're learning from. But step 3, if there's people that you're learning from, do they have an event? Do they have something coming up? Can you hang around people who are like-minded, who are also taking on challenges? I'm doing a challenge right now inside my Makers program, where Movement Makers is for thought leaders who are trying to get to the next level with their content and break through and have a greater message and reach more people. But a lot of people haven't been as consistent as they should have because they're the only ones doing this. They don't know anybody else making content. Their family thinks they're crazy, like, why are you making another video? They're not seeing results, that they don't have a peer group, they don't have anybody to connect with and talk to. And this can relate to any goal that you have. Movie Makers is just for kind of thought leaders making content, but whatever goal that you have, if you're the only one that you know who's doing it, it's really hard to stay consistent on it. So our Movie Makers challenge is every month we have a challenge where you have to make a lead magnet for your business, a solo video, and then 3 collaboration videos with other people in the group. So it forces you to start making content. And for a lot of the members, this is the most consistent they've ever been now. In making content because one, they're doing it together. You feel like you're doing it with other people, even though a lot of the content that you make, um, outside will still be separate from the members. You're not doing a business together, but it feels like they're connected. We're taking on this challenge together. And then in the collaboration videos, you're, you're connecting with people, you're doing interviews with people, you're, you're sharing your thoughts and feedback. It's not just you talking camera in the car with your dogs by yourself anymore. And that really, really, really, really matters. It really matters. So getting some kind of support group, connecting with other people who are on the same journey, going to seminars or events of, of humans that you can talk to and connect with who are doing the thing that you want to do, because the more that you're around those people, the more you're going to stay consistent on the habits that you want to build. So using that 3-step process can absolutely change your life. It's, it's entirely possible. And if you're watching videos like this, you're, you're already on the growth mindset journey, right? You're already into personal development. You already know you want to do more and serve more and help more. And this helps you elevate yourself to the next level because you are probably the most ambitious person that you know that you're hanging out with. And that's a great place to be because you're serving and helping, but it also sucks because it limits your growth of what you could become. Where if you can, one, clearly identify what do you want to change, what is the habit that you want to take on, where are you not satisfied anymore in your life— not beating yourself up and saying you suck, but like the next level of growth that you want to accomplish for yourself. And then two, following people just through content who are living that message, who are, who are not just not speaking it, but living it? Who, when you watch their, their videos, you actually get inspired to go make a change in your life? Who are those people? Subscribe to them, follow them every day, watch their content, read their books, put their stuff up on your wall as a reminder. You're creating a new environment for yourself. And then 3 is actually connecting with humans, joining a group like Movie Makers or something else, going to events where your, your tribe is at so that You are not alone doing this journey, feeling isolated and like you don't belong. Make those 3 changes. It will change your life. The difference between where you are now, where you could be, it's just the consistent habits that you're putting in. You know this. I know you know this. Now it's about taking the actual action to stay consistent on those habits. The fastest way to shift your mindset in a positive direction is to choose to show up with love. If you're stressed out, if you're fearful, if you've got anxiety, you're low on energy, just shift. Just tell yourself, I'm going to show up with love and see how that moves you forward in a positive direction. Otherwise, you get stuck. You stay stuck because you listen to the voices in your head as to you're not good enough, why you can't do it, and everybody's doing better than you, and so on. Where when you can choose to show up with love, it just negates all of that. So let me share a couple examples that I've used it in my life and hopefully it applies to your life as well, to help you get the momentum that you need. So scenario number 1 is when you're stressed out, when you are overwhelmed, when you're doing something scary or you're in doubt and you come up with all these reasons why you can't do something. So for me, it's staying on stage, you know, going on stage, doing a big presentation, even making these videos. Every time before doing something that I want to be good, that I'm worried about, that I might disappoint somebody, the procrastination sets in, the fearful thoughts set in because I want to be the best that I've ever done. My biggest fear is still disappointing people. And instead of listening to those thoughts and how it may show up as, oh, my message isn't good enough, oh, I don't know what gear to use, maybe not in my case for that one, but what prevents you from doing it? There's logical reasons, but really just fear talking. Where if you can decide, you know, if I'm making this video, is it my best video of all time? Maybe. I want it to be. Is it? Likely not, but I'm trying. And the way through that is to show up with love. Like, I love you, I love you, thank you for being here, thank you for investing in yourself, thank you for putting, putting goodness out into the world. You know, I make these videos because you can reach people that I can't. Your business your heart, your soul, your beliefs, what you've been through, your story can touch people and change the world in a way that I can't. And so if I can be a little bit of a push, motivation, whatever, to help you start doing something, that makes me happy. It fills me up knowing that what I'm doing matters, is important, right? So show up with love. That's all I have to do. Don't worry about it being the best video of all time. Just show up with love. Don't worry about it being the best speech speech of all time, just show up with love. Remember why you're doing it. It's another version of it, right? Like, why are you doing this thing? But not from an extra pressure. You know, if you feel over-pressured to be great, then that can be debilitating to the point where you freeze. A lot of procrastination is you're just afraid to do the thing. And so choose to show up with love. I love this person. I love who I'm trying to help. Even if you don't know them, right? Some of you are watching this video, I've never met you before. Thank you for being here. Even if you say I love you, even mentally, I love this person. I love my audience. I love my customers. Even if you haven't met them yet, it rewires you. It just makes it so much easier. Try it. What are you procrastinating on that you want to get done? That you know you want to get done. Not that you don't want to do, but you want to do. It's part of your goals. It's your ambitions that you hope one day you could be that person, right? What are you procrastinating on? And just flip it from having to be perfect I love these people. I'm going to show up with love. And watch it just shift you so you can actually start taking some momentum. It's a huge, huge, huge, huge, huge thing for anything that you're procrastinating on that you're afraid of. So that's scenario number 1. The things that you're afraid of. Scenario 2 is people. And specifically the people who are negative. Haters that we might call it. I don't actually like the term haters. I don't think there are haters. I think there's just people who are you're in a lot of pain. You know, I think if somebody's highlight of their day is to show up and leave something negative on your website, on your YouTube video, on your social media accounts, whatever, they're in a lot of pain. You know, I think people are built to serve. We are good. We want to help. We want to, we want to contribute. And so if somebody— that's everybody, like everybody wants to serve. So somebody is showing up with negativity in their heart thrown at you when they've never even met you before, Why would they do that? Well, they're in a lot of pain. Hurt people hurt people. And so a lot of times we get emotional, you know, we don't like seeing those negative comments. I don't like seeing negative comments even on a channel like mine where it's only positivity. I'm not making bash videos on people. If someone's going to show up to a channel about positivity and leave negative comments, how, how much in pain do they need to be in to do that? And even just seeing it like that already starts to shift it. But what if you were to say, I love this person? Like, how would you show up if you loved that, if you loved your hater? Not because it fuels you to go prove them wrong and be better, but feel bad for them, not sorry for them, but just have empathy for them and say you love them. Like, if you love this person, how would you show up differently instead of allowing that comment that they they left on your video to ruin your day, to maybe make you never post again, to get into a fight or debate or respond to them, you know, and try to win, win the battle. Instead of that, if you actually said, hey, I love this person, even if you don't, like you don't know them, you might think, well, that's ridiculous, I don't know this person. I get, I know, I understand. This is not your mom coming on your YouTube channel and saying that you suck. It's some random stranger you've never met, and maybe you don't even know who they are, and you can't see their name, and their profile picture is a cartoon, right? Or soccer player. So that's fine. But even if you just say, "I love this person," how would it change if you love this person? And watch it shift you. Watch the chemicals in you start to shift towards you now being more proud of yourself. If you show up with love, it allows you to have the courage to be the person who you want to be, who you're proud of. Like, when you get some negative comments makes a comment and then you respond in a really snarky way, or you show up, somebody slights you some way, somebody cuts you off in traffic. I'm in my car right now. Somebody cuts you off in traffic and you have to, you have to catch up to them and give them the look or cut them off or blast your horn. You know, if you actually thought about that, are you ever proud of yourself? Are you proud of yourself in those moments? Like, if you reflect back and say, see what you did in reaction, are you proud of how you showed up? Probably not.

Right?

Probably not. At least I'm not when that happens. And so the way through it is to show up with love. Like, even just tell yourself, "I love this person." I'll practice it with random people on the streets. You know, like I'm walking down the street and somebody comes by and like, "I love this person." Just as a mental exercise to practice.

How do you show up?

Instead of just being head down, ignoring them, you know, looking at your phone, maybe give them a smile. It feels really weird, especially as an introvert, shy person. I don't go up and say hi to people, but it's a good practice to get into. But especially for the haters, like number 1 and 2. 1 is again, you're afraid, you're stuck, you're overthinking, stressed out. And number 2 is you're also afraid, but of people's opinions and specifically the negativity that's out there. What they do is they prevent you from taking action. It keeps you out of momentum. You're just stuck in fear zone instead of creation zone. And so The opposite of fear is love, right? It's not hate. Like, the opposite of love isn't hate. The opposite of love is fear. And so it allows you to get out of the fearful mindset and into a loving mindset, which is not just foo-foo, foo-foo, foo-foo, what, I don't know, fluffy. It's not, it's not, you know what I'm saying? It gives you the momentum mode. Moving from fear to love allows you to take action, and that's what makes super practical. So have love even in your own mind for who you're trying to serve and what you're trying to create. Have love for any negativity, any people who are, who are criticizing you. They're not haters, they're just people in a lot of pain. And show them love and watch how it shifts you into momentum. And then the third scenario is loving for yourself. A lot of times we just need to love ourselves more. So the first two are love that are outwardly pointed right out toward our customers or the audience, towards people who are disagreeing with us or disrespecting us or hating, hating on us. But the third one is just self-love, more self-compassion, self-love. Love that you showed up today. Love that you decided to watch this video today. Love that you're, you're fighting to chase down your goals and your dreams even in the face of not getting a lot of results or not being where you want to be. You know, you're, you're probably not you're not where you want to be right now. And maybe you're not proud of the week that you've had or the day that you've had or the month that you had or the year that you've had, that you could have done better. You should be, you should be further ahead, right? Have you ever thought, has that ever popped into your mind? So self-love again allows you to get into momentum. So what can you be proud of yourself for? So love that you showed up, love that you're trying today, love that you're watching this video right now, love that you're making another attempt, even if you failed that a million other times, you're trying again. Like, love that. Love that you're starting. Love that you're learning. Love that you're adapting. Love that, love that you're gonna put forth your best shot this time, and maybe this is the one that actually sticks. Like, love that about yourself, as opposed to just beating yourself up and say, oh well, here I am again, you know, another thing that's not gonna work. Because again, that keeps you stuck. So all of this does two things. It allows you to actually build the thing that you want to build, right? It allows you to be proud of yourself. It allows you to start getting more results, start getting closer to your dreams because you're showing up with love instead of fear, right? Love is the opposite of fear. And two, it allows you to have more fun along the way so that you're not just constantly stressed out of jumping from one problem to another problem to another problem to another problem because entrepreneurship is a a lot of problems, right? You're going to have a lot of problems running your business, a lot. And, and we're professional firefighters, just constantly putting out fires. So if you can do that with love, it's a lot more fun. This is a lot more fun. So it allows you to be more productive and effective, and it's a lot more fun. And so I think love is a strategy. Love is a secret ingredient, and it's something that I need to— I'm not perfect at it. I need to constantly remind myself of, and this video is a great refresher for myself as well. And the more that you can have that as a reminder in your daily environment, as a mantra, as something that you live your life by, to choose to show up with love for your customers, for your haters, and for yourself. If you can start to embody that even 5% of the time, your entire life changes. Self-confidence comes from doing difficult things. Self-confidence, self-love, self-respect, it all comes from deciding to do something difficult. Here's what happens when, when something hard comes up and you find a reason why you can't do it. It's too hard, it's too difficult, it's too scary. Most people will let you off the hook. The people around you will say, yeah, yeah, that's way too hard. I mean, the fact you even thought about it was crazy. You let yourself off the hook, but then you realize I could have done it. You know, like, that's the worst feeling in the world, that you could have done something but then you came up with an excuse as to why you can't. And that will eat you up. And even if the world lets you off the hook, recognize that they have lower standards than you. Recognize that the people who are giving you that advice and patting you on the back and saying it's okay, you you don't need to do it. They don't like their life either. They're stuck. They're trapped. They're not pushing hard. They're not being aggressive for their goals. They're not tough either. And we're reinforcing that comfort loop every day. Comfort you versus growth you are in a fight. There's a war going on inside you. Comfort you versus growth you. Comfort Evan Birth is growth, Evan. Every day there's a fight, there's a battle, there's a war going on, and you need to decide who's gonna win the fight. It's a daily thing, and the more growth you wins against comfort you, the more you start to grow, the more you start to hit your goals, the more you start to have an impact, the more you start to love yourself. Because again, even if the world would let you off the hook, you know it's just an excuse. I think most people think of it as a giant step that you have to take to build that self-confidence. It's not. I think it's much more about the daily battles with yourself that then builds up to major things. Just like you don't go to the gym and lift 400 pounds, you start by lifting 5 pounds or 10 pounds or 20 pounds or 40 pounds, whatever it is. That's how you start to build the muscle. It's much more about the daily building of the muscle muscle to show yourself who you are much more than the one-off heroic moments. Here's an example. So, uh, yesterday we had an insane snowstorm here in Toronto. I don't know if we can— it's kind of blurry, can't see. We had— I can see some here behind me, like, look and see that mountain of snow behind me. We had an insane snowstorm. We had probably the worst snowstorm in Toronto, Canada, in a decade. I have not seen seeing this much snow in a crazy amount of time. And so I'm going for a walk, uh, rucking. And rucking is where you carry a backpack. So I'm carrying a backpack of 20 pounds as I'm walking, doing my normal walk, and it's, it's crazy outside. Normally the rucking alone is hard enough, and I just increased the weight in the backpack. Now I— there's no path to walk on. And this morning I was walking through an area and there was zero path. The snow is up to my knees and I need to get through. So what are my options? Well, I could complain and turn around, right? Like, I could look out the window and say, ah, so much snow, I'm not gonna do that. I'll do it when there's less snow, you know? And then the next day there's less snow, there's still snow, and the next day there's still snow. And then all of a sudden you just give up on the habit, right? Like, you let yourself off the hook. To say, I'll do it tomorrow, and then, and then you never do it. And then the habit's gone. And that's what you're teaching yourself. This is why it leads to identity. This is why it leads to negative self-worth and negative self-confidence. Because the next time you come up with an idea, you've already reinforced the training. You're training yourself that when you come up with an idea, you don't do the thing. When you say you're going to do it and you're going to start tomorrow and then you don't, the next time you come up with an idea, Guess what? You've already reinforced the pattern. I don't follow through. I'm not going to do that. I'm excited today, but tomorrow I won't follow through. So this is snow. It's up to my knees, right up to my knees. And I'm 6'1", so it's some serious snow. Like, I got to walk through. Not quite that. That's probably taller than me. I don't have to walk through that much, but up to my knees. I'm looking at it and I've got to go, I don't know, 100 meters through this thing. And initially my thought was, why is there no path? Why has nobody shoveled this? Why has nobody snowblowed this? Like, gotta get over there. I got a backpack on, I'm rucking, I'm sweating like crazy, I'm already exhausted. Now I gotta go through this. This is when we need to catch ourselves, right? Everybody would have let me off the hook, and another me would have let me off the hook. Right? Comfort Evan would have let Growth Evan off the hook. So it's okay. Go back home or go the long way around where there's a path. Don't go through that snow up to your knees. And as soon as I caught it, now what? Most of the time you won't catch it. Most of the time you'll just do, you'll do the automatic thing. And usually the automatic thing is the comfort thing. So usually play small by default. Usually you, you'll look outside and see the snow and not go, just by default, not even catching the, the conversation with yourself. But when you catch it, this is a really important moment. What do you do? Do you do the difficult thing or do the comfort thing? Because when you catch it and you make a conscious choice, this is how we start to either change our identity or reinforce our humanity. So I looked at it, I caught it and said, I'm going through. Let's go. You know, I caught the negative thinking. I caught the comfort Evan coming over, walk around, go home. Nope, not happening. We're going through. We are going through. We are going to make it through. And it was rough. Yeah, I'm walking through. I'm freezing. I'm taking one kind of giant step at a time. Snow is getting all through my boots, all down my legs. I almost slip and fall. I have a coffee that I picked up. It's dripping all over the place. And in my head, as I'm going through it, it's like, this is the best. Let's go. Let's go, Evan. You got this, man. Let's go. You do difficult things. That's the thing on repeat in my head. Combined with that, I'm also telling myself that, you know You know what? Not only am I doing this difficult thing for me, I'm also creating a path for other people. That the next person who comes up against this 100 meters or so, that now they will have not an easy time, but an easier time of crossing the same path so they can get across. So it's going to service. If you're ever having a hard time getting yourself to do something, It's one, you do difficult things, remind yourself, and two, default to service, that it's not just about you, it's for other people. Now, that may not even be true. Maybe nobody ever comes across that path. Maybe I didn't make it easier for the next person. Maybe somebody comes 5 minutes after me and snow blows the whole thing, and so there was zero service. It doesn't matter. It's the story that I'm telling myself that it will serve other people, that will get you to then do the difficult thing. So in order to make it happen, there's two triggers that I use. One is language. So scary, difficult, or hard. If you say those things, if you feel those things, if you text those things, if you write those things, if you're talking to yourself and you catch those things, then you have to do it. You can no longer accept scary, difficult, or hard as reasons for you not to do the thing. Because your great life is on the other side of scary, difficult, hard. Everything you want, the business you want, the relationships you want, the help that you want, everything, everything, your great life. If you wrote down a list of everything you want out of life, everything on that list comes on the other side of you doing scary, difficult, and hard things. Growth you, that's growth you fighting comfort you. So when you catch yourself saying, speaking, writing, thinking scary, difficult, or hard, that's a trigger. It should be a trigger. It's a trigger for me. It should be a trigger for you to go and do it. Do it. Go walk through the giant snow. And you might be thinking, well, how does that help me with my business? It's just walking through snow and I'm going to be cold and have snow in my boots. How does that help me? It's an identity thing. Because as soon as you start to teach yourself that you're the kind of person who follows through on those scary, difficult, hard things, then the next time that shows up anywhere in your life, in your business, in your relationships, in your health, anything that actually helps you accomplish your goals, you're going to be ready to show up for it. You're going to be more likely to actually do the thing because you've been training and conditioning yourself to do the thing. That's why walking through 100 meters of snow matters. So the first is scary, difficult, hard. Those are verbal cues or thought cues. The second is the boom boom boom test where your heart is beating quickly. It's like when your heart is going crazy like that, it's usually because you should be doing something. You're afraid right now. Don't again go— don't go— don't go standing on the highway because it's scary and it makes your heart race, right? Don't be stupid. But most of the things that you're afraid of aren't actually things that are going to be life-threatening, right? They're not. They're usually— it's other people's opinions. Usually you're afraid of not failing, but somebody watching you fail, right? You're going to fail at something. Who's going to see you? That's what we're actually afraid of. And that cannot be a good enough reason. It can't. Not anymore. If you're afraid of losing in front of somebody, if you're afraid of other people's opinions, if you are living your life based off of the expectations and judgment of other people. You will never do anything great. You will never live your great life because somebody always has a plan for what you should be doing with your life. You will never please everybody. It's not possible. You have to start to learn to please yourself. And it's not doing something just to show off and just to prove somebody wrong. I'm not a big fan of tapping into that energy. The reason to do something is not to prove somebody wrong and make somebody else look stupid. The reason to do something is because that's who you are and that's what you want to do. And so learning to do difficult things, teaching yourself step by step, brick by brick, one snowstorm at a time, teaching yourself that will change your life. You deserve a better life. You deserve a great life. And that comes on the other side of you doing the things that are scary, difficult, and hard. Honestly, I think we're all thinking small. You're thinking small, I'm thinking small, we're all thinking small compared to what we're capable of. And I think we've been conditioned to think small. We've been conditioned by our upbringing, our family, our parents, our guidance counselors, our teachers, our— we've just been conditioned to think small because we're learning about life from people who also never thought big. And so because we are products of our environment, we have conditioned ourselves to think the same way as the people in our environment. And if you're not happy with your environment and your environment is not around, around big people who've done amazing things or thinking big, then you will stay stuck thinking small as well. What I love about Naveen Jain is that he thinks big. You know, the first time I found this content, there were 3 people who I get recommended all the time. You should do a top 10 on this person, you should do an espresso on this person, you should profile this person. And there were 3 people who, for the first time, upon first consumption of their content, really blew me away. One was Denzel Washington. Uh, if you have not seen Denzel Washington, you should go watch his top 10. He— his backup his life was being a minister, and he is a fire presenter. I just kind of— a lot of times we do actors, it's really hard to get anything good out of the interviews that they're doing, but Denzel Washington is a whole other animal, so he really blew me away. The second was Priyanka Chopra, who had a just amazing set of interviews and super intelligent, bright woman. And the third was Naveen Jain, where I had like no idea who this person is. You should do Naveen Jain, great, go look him up. I was like, oh my gosh, this guy's amazing. I want more Naveen Jain in my life. I think that's a great sign, you know, like when you find people like that, even if you've never met them. And up until this year, I had never met Naveen Jain. I had the good fortune to just recently have him on, on my channel to do an interview in a collaboration. But up until that point, I'd never met him before. And when you find the people who make you think bigger, who make you feel more confident, who make you feel more bold, be around them more. This is my solution, right? I am trying to hang out, even if it's just virtually, with the people who inspire me to want to play a bigger game. You know, either those 3 people— I haven't met Denzel Washington yet, I haven't met Priyanka Chopra yet, and up until, you know, this year I hadn't met Naveen Jain yet— but I can still be inspired by them. I can still learn from them. I can still look at their content. They can still push me to become better. And I think a lot of us stay stuck and stay small because it's so good to feel important, and we end up being the big fish in a small pond. If you're watching this video, you are probably the one that's pouring into everybody else. You're probably the the most optimistic person in your circle. You're probably the one who cares the most about the people around you. You're probably doing the most for the people in your circle, and you're the one people come to and say, hey, how do I X? You know, how do I grow? How do I get better? How do I— you're the one that's advising and helping and pushing other people, maybe pushing them too much. That makes sense. Maybe you're, maybe you're pushing some people too much, but you're the most optimistic, most ambitious the person in your circle, probably. That's great in a sense, in that you can pour and give back and help others along the way. But who's pushing you? You know, if you don't have somebody pushing you to be better, to be stronger, to be greater, to be more ambitious, to think bigger, then you probably won't. Like, if you— it's really uncomfortable to think bigger. And if you don't have somebody inspiring you, pushing you, helping you, then you probably stay stuck. And that's what we need to change. And so it's a message for you, but it's a message for me equally so. And so step one in doing that, I think, is just changing the environment to be around the people who do inspire you. And chances are most of the people who do inspire you are not, not people who have— you have direct access to, and not people who are taking on an intern, you You know, Warren Buffett's not taking on an intern to go live with him for a year, as far as I know. So how do you do it? Well, the easy way is through content. I've learned so much and been inspired so much by just amazing people through the content on my own channel. Like, I make these videos for me because I need them, because I need to believe more in myself, and then I share that with you. And thankfully enough of you like it that I can make it a business and hire a team team and continue to make even more content. Because if it was just me, then it'd be a lot fewer videos coming up and a lot less profiles and a lot less content. So being around the people, and when you find people who really speak to you, who really get you going, who like, yes, this is exactly what I need, then be around them more. Subscribe to their channels, buy their books, Listen to their podcast, be around them more. If they're speaking at an event, go to the event because it'll push you to reach another level. And this is why it's so great to have so many people now. I'm passionate about helping bring new people onto the platforms like YouTube and getting their message out there because some people will push you through things, some people will hug you through things, Everybody has their own lens and you'll connect with people in a different way. So you look at Eric Thomas, or you look at Jocko Willink, or you look at Andy Frisella, who are going to be very in-your-face, cut right to the truth, no BS, no excuses, no wiggle room, like get up and go chase down your life. You know, it's a hard push. They may be yelling at you. They're very intense. It's a hard push forward. And then there'll be other people like Oprah, like Brené Brown, like Dave Meltzer who have a different approach. It's a much softer approach. They'll hug you through it. You know, some people will push you and yell at you to get through it, and some people will hug you through it. A lot of times the message is exactly the same. You know, Oprah's message is very similar to Eric Thomas's message. The difference is the delivery. Oprah will hug you through it, and Eric will push you through it. And it really just depends on what you need. There's no right or wrong, it's just what do you need. And when you find the people who give you what you need, just be around that more. Be around that more. Because no matter how much you watch one video, the impact will wear off, right? Like, you're waking up tomorrow the same person you were almost yesterday. Maybe a half a percent better. But you could be— you could watch this video and get all inspired, like, yes, all right, I'm gonna chase things down, amazing, let's go! And you have energy for a few hours or for the day, but then you wake up tomorrow and that energy is gone, right? Has that happened to you? That energy suddenly is not there anymore. You don't feel as bold, as courageous, or ambitious as you were yesterday. Why? What happened? It's not that— there's nothing wrong with you. That's just normal because you got an injection into your environment that took you to another level and then it fell off because there was no consistency in the environment. So you are what you consistently do. So whatever you want to accomplish, whoever you want to be, to consistently surround yourself with people like that because you're not getting enough in your home environment. Your home, your environment now, your life is has been perfectly designed to keep you where you are. It's allowed you to get to where you are right now. Amazing. And if that's where all you want to be, awesome. Congratulations, you've done it. You've hit the jackpot. But if you want more, then your current environment is not designed to help you go and get more. And again, I'm talking to myself just as much as I'm talking to you. Like, saying these words out loud, it's like, what changes do I need to make to my environment? Who do I need to be hanging out with more, either in person or just through the video content to make me want to push more, be more courageous, say, say bolder things and have bigger aspirations and goals and dreams and, and take bolder action towards accomplishing them. Okay, makes a big, big, big difference. And so if you want to accomplish something, if it's business success or mindset success, then, you know, it's just thinking bigger. Then if you love Naveen Jain, be around Naveen Veen Jain more. Watch all his interviews and listen to any podcasts that he does. And I did one on my main channel. We'll link that up at the end of this video. You can go watch if you want. If you want to improve your health and fitness and you're tired of, you know, being on an Oreo diet, okay, you can make a choice and decision that I'm gonna— I want to be this person. I want to be the person who works out. I want to be the person who takes care of my body, takes care of my health and energy. And that's awesome as a decision, but you need the environment to support you. And so now if you're subscribing to health channels, if you're following people on Instagram who are working out and take care of their bodies, it will make you want to live a healthier life. One of the ones that I love watching is Tom Bilyeu and his Health Theory show, where he's interviewing experts around health. And every time I listen— I was listening to one this morning— every time I listen, watch, it makes you want to be a little bit healthier. The more that you're around that kind of stuff, the more you will take on the mindset. Similarly, if you're injecting poison, like if you're around negative people or you're consuming negative content, and that's most of the news and most of media, to be honest, is mostly negative. If you're surrounded by negativity constantly and you're watching negative videos and reading negative news constantly, constantly, you will be a lot more negative. You'll be a lot more scared. You'll be a lot more scarcity mindset. You'll be a lot more afraid. You'll be a lot less positive and ambitious because that's what you're feeding into your mind. So be very careful about now designing and engineering your environment. Your environment has happened to you. You know, you've had some control over it, but it's mostly happened to you. And now you can, with intent, change it. To be more positive. If you had to ask yourself, if I wanted to surround myself with the most positive, encouraging, inspiring people who will make me more courageous, bold, and ambitious, who would those people be? What would that environment look like? And then make a choice. Change it. Change who you subscribe to. Change what you're listening and watching. Unsubscribe from all the channels that make you feel worse about yourself. Change your physical environment. What, what clothes are you wearing? What do you put on the wall around you? What's your background on your cell phone and on your computer? You start to change it. And when you change your environment, it'll force the change in your habits, in your mindset, and in your thinking. You don't have to stay stuck. When you come up with a great idea that in your heart you know, this is the thing that I want to do, And then almost instantly, all the negative voices come in your head as to why you can't do it and why someone like you will never be able to do this thing. It keeps you stuck, keeps you small, keeps you frustrated, keeps you knowing that you're capable of more and being too afraid to go take the action. And until you can break that pattern of negative self-talk, nothing will happen. And so we're going to fix that in this video. I think as soon as we come up with ideas, it's not even our friends, it's not even the people around us. It's us. It's us telling ourselves that we suck, that we can't do it, that we're not good enough, that we're not capable, that it's not going to happen. We land into procrastination mode, and you can call yourself a perfectionist. It has to be perfect. But perfectionism is still just fear. Just fear. Just fear that you're not good enough. Fear that it won't work out. Fear of being seen. Fear of not being seen. And it keeps you stuck. When I procrastinate on things, even like making videos— yeah, I've made, I don't know how many, 12,000, 13,000, 14,000 videos, some crazy number of videos. And yet every time before I sit down to make the videos, I procrastinate a little bit. In today's filming session, I'm here at my wife's acupuncture clinic. She's inside getting her acupuncture done. I joined her sitting in the car, and it probably took me 15 minutes to get into the zone. I know I'm gonna make the videos. I've developed the identity that I'm gonna get, get it done. But I'm worried. I want the videos to be good. I don't want to embarrass myself. Don't want to let myself down. Don't want to let you down. Fear of disappointing people is my biggest fear. I don't want you to feel like this is wasting your time. You ever had these thoughts? You know, like you want to do something and then you want it to be good and you don't want to disappoint people, and so you hem and you haw and you procrastinate, and then all of a sudden the day is gone, you haven't done anything. You know, has that happened? So I try to keep it to 10 minutes, 15 minutes. Today's a little longer. I'd usually be like 5, 10 minutes. Took a little bit longer, 15 minutes today to get into, to get into the zone. And you know what happened? The next thought was, what if I just check, check and see how my team is doing? And because I want to feel valuable and because I want to feel like I'm doing something productive, I want to get out of the discomfort of not feeling videos and go check in on my team because that would make me feel more productive. Like, no, no, no, no, no, no. Just sit with it. We gotta, we gotta change it. We gotta go. We gotta make some content. You're gonna do this and make that first video. So even for me, even for someone who's done 5 figures of videos, every time I sit in front of the camera to make a video, the first one, I procrastinate. I sit on it because I'm afraid. I don't want to disappoint people. So it's totally normal. So if you feel like whatever the thing is that you want to do, you know you're capable of it, you know in your heart that it's something that you want to create, and then for some reason you keep stopping, you keep procrastinating, you keep staying stuck, that's normal. You're not— there's nothing wrong with you. It's not abnormal. It's 100%. Everybody goes through it. The difference is how quickly can shift? How can you get unstuck? Because most people just stay stuck. They stay constipated. They're like, all this, all the stuff that has to come out, that's just not coming out. You're constipated. You stay stuck. So how do you do it? How do you shift it? Here are a couple things that helped me that I hope can help you. Number 1 is, is floss the first tooth. Take immediate momentum. You think about flossing It's, you know, people don't want to floss. I mean, I floss. I built the habit of flossing twice a day. Most people don't floss. And the concept is just floss one tooth, and once you floss one tooth, you'll floss the rest, probably, right? Just get your running shoes on and go for a walk, and once you're walking, you'll probably do more than, you know, the 2 minutes that you set yourself in the mind. Like, just do 2 minutes. So for me, is just make the first video. 'Come on, Evan, just record the first video.' So I recorded the first video, and now this is my second video in my filming session, and I'm already feeling better. It's like, 'We're going, we're vibing, yeah, let's do this, this is amazing.' Come on, just get going, just, just go. It's so much easier to keep the momentum going once you've built some momentum. The hardest step is the first step. The hardest step is just building that initial momentum at the beginning. Once you get going, it's a lot easier to keep going. So just start. Don't, don't make it some big thing. Don't make it some giant endeavor that you have to go off and chase. It's nice to have big goals and big ambitions and big dreams, but sometimes they're too big and then you feel like you can't do it and you need venture capital and you need a team and you need all sorts of things before you can do anything on it. It's great to have that big goal. And what are you going to do today? To build some kind of momentum. And once you start building up momentum, it's just so much, so much, so much, so much easier. So the challenge for today is just, just find one small, simple, easy way to get started. That doesn't have to be amazing, doesn't have to be great. It's just the first step. Once you get your first step, it's so much easier to take the second. So that's one, just start building some immediate momentum. Number two is change your state. One of the reasons why I like filming in the car— people ask, why are you always filming in your car? I like, I like being out. I like, I like being out of the place, out of my home. I like, I like energy. I like nature. I like being able to see trees and sunshine and have people around, you know. I like, I like that. It changes my state. It's— it makes it a lot easier for me to go off and film when I'm by myself. So it's not just me talking to the camera. This feels more conversational. I don't know. It's all just a head game. But it feels more— it feels like I'm talking to a friend. Hello, how you doing? I'm Evan. It feels more conversational and natural for me. I like having the sun on my face. You know, it just feels better. And so changing your state can be a good way if you're in a— wherever you're at, Whether you're in your bed, or in your car, or in your office, or at the dining room table, change your state. Move around. Get up. You want to change the negative thoughts? Start moving. Get up. It doesn't mean you have to go work out or do 100 jumping jacks. Just get up and even get in some fresh air. Getting out of the space that you're thinking negatively in really helps. Just changing your physical location really, really, really, really helps. I promise you. Have you ever had a, uh, you're thinking really negatively, um, you're procrastinating, you're feeling down, and then you go for a walk and you feel better? Or even just change your room, or you go to a different part of the house, or you go for a drive and then you feel better? Like, changing the physical environment can really help you get out of that funk that you're in, where while you're in that space you're feeling stuck and you can't move. So change your physical environment. One little bonus for that is music. Music— I should have done that today. Music is the fastest way to change your state. So while I was sitting here in the car for 15 minutes procrastinating on making these videos, instead of thinking, hey, I should go and check in on my team and see how they're doing, underneath, like, logically, that makes sense. Like, how's my team doing? I'm being a good boss. Boss, you know, good manager, a good friend. I should check in on them, see how they're doing. It's going to move my goals forward, of course, because if they're waiting on me for something, right? Logically, all that makes sense. Underneath it is just, again, the fear that my videos won't be good enough, so I need to feel productive. I need to feel value— valuable to myself. I need to feel worthy, so I'm going to spend my time there instead of making videos, right? I should have put on music when that was happening instead of going to check on my team, which I didn't do but wanted to. I should have put on some music, like put on some music that makes you move. And you don't have to be the most expressive dancer or singer. Just anything that would get your head bobbing or your foot tapping or your knee bouncing. Just songs that make you come alive. And there's no one perfect song, but whatever song gets you in the zone Even if you're feeling really low, you'll find yourself like having energy and moving, and it changes your state. The whole point is just to get unstuck and to start building some momentum towards what you say is what you want to do, right? So music is a fast way to change your state. And then number 3 is I would say have play bigger triggers. And play bigger triggers are the things in your environment that remind you of who you want to be. The things that you could put up, the reminders on your cell phone background, on your desktop background, the artwork on your wall, the things that you could put in your life to remind you of who you want to be. So I'll share a couple from my example. In my office, I have 5 pictures on the wall, and they all tell a different story and remind me of who I want to be. I've got Steve Jobs on the wall, who reminds me to be a visionary. I've got AP Giannini on the wall. Who is my favorite entrepreneur of all time, and he reminds me to, to believe in, um, in the little guy and what I'm trying to do. I've got my parents on the wall who remind me to believe in myself. I've got Howard Schultz on the wall who reminds me to stand for something important. I've got Kanye on the wall to remind me that the time is now, that I have to go do something now to be the greatest me. And those pictures I picked with intention And when I walk into my office, they're there and they remind me, and I don't have to do anything. You know, you set it up once and it reminds me, it reminds you of who you want to be. I walk in the office, there's my parents looking back at me and telling me to believe in myself. The clothes that you wear, right? I wear, I wear, this is my Believe hoodie. I feel like I'm Batman. I tell myself when I put this on, I'm Batman. I'm a superhero going to work fighting the crime of lack of belief, right? And, and so somebody commented on my hoodie yesterday, like, you're always wearing— you're always on brand, you're always wearing your hoodies. Like, it's not just— it's not just when I show up to make videos. This is, this is, this is what I wear because I'm a, I'm a superhero going to work. And when I put this on in the morning, it's like I'm, I'm, I'm Batman going to work, or, uh, you know, police officer going to work. It's like, this is, this is what I do. And I'm a lot more, for me, productive and ambitious and bold when I'm wearing this compared to when I'm in my pajamas. And so it was a conscious choice to say, okay, what do I want to wear? And so the artwork on my wall, the background on my cell phone, the computer screen background, the the things that I wear, right? Play bigger triggers that you ideally just set it up once and then it reminds you. It's okay, there it is, there's my trigger again, there it is. This is who I want to be, this is who I want to be, this is who I want to be. I'm around the things that make me remember what I'm trying to do because your brain will trick you to stay small, your brain will trick you to stay stuck, your brain will trick it's going to trick you to say, "Yeah, you can't do that, and here's all the reasons why." And you believe those reasons. You believe those reasons. Where really, you're just afraid. I'm just afraid. We're afraid that we're not good enough. We're afraid that we're going to be judged. We're afraid of disappointing people. We're afraid of not being loved. We're afraid that we're going to be seen and going to be made fun of. You know, we're just afraid. At the end of the day, me, everybody. We're just, we're just afraid. The reason why you're stuck is you're afraid. And so when you can learn to catch those feelings, and when you can learn to uncover those feelings and switch them, say, you know what, I'm gonna change my environment, I'm gonna change my state, I'm gonna change what I'm listening to, I'm gonna change what I'm wearing, I'm gonna change my mind, and I'm gonna go do the thing to start building momentum. Momentum. Because the only thing you're missing is momentum. The only thing you're missing is momentum. You've got a great heart, a great soul, a great idea. Your idea is worthy. You're doing it for the right reasons. You want to serve. You can do this. You can be in a totally different place in 6 months, in 12 months. You can. It's possible. You can. Your mission is worthy and noble and should happen, and you're the one to do it. You, you're the one to do it. And it's not that you're not good enough, and it's not that you're not capable and it's not that you can't do it at some point. It's you just don't have the momentum. Momentum. You're just missing momentum. And so the next time you feel stuck, procrastinating, not good enough, know that you can do it and that all you need to do is take that first step. Great ideas flow through you.

Teach yourself to learn, to understand, to feel that great ideas flow through you, that when you are feeling bold, powerful, courageous, ambitious, an idea comes to you that is the right, perfect idea for you right now.

And don't let your head talk you down from doing it. I think most of us live small. I think, I think we're constantly living small.

We're so concerned about our friends telling us that our ideas suck.

It's us.

It's ourselves.

It's you telling yourself that your idea sucks, that you can never do that.

We feel great one day.

This is the entrepreneur roller coaster, right?

You feel great one day.

Oh my God, this is such a great idea.

I could go do this.

This is amazing. And maybe you start taking some action on it, but then what immediately happens is your head starts taking over. Say, well, you, I mean, you can't do that because you, you don't have the school, the education, the parents, the connections. You live in the wrong country, you're the wrong gender, race, et cetera. And then, and then it stops. Meanwhile, dummies are winning off of your idea with less heart, with less drive, with less ambition, with less of a desire to do good. They're winning off of your idea because they went off and did something while you are stuck overthinking your idea. This is what we do. This is what entrepreneurs, especially the, the heart-centered ones, do— stuck constantly overanalyzing, overthinking, and stuck in the mud instead of actually creating. And the way to go through it is to trust in your ideas. If you're concerned that that's too egotistical, like, oh, I'm so great, I got these great ideas— great, take yourself out of the equation. Trust that the idea came from somewhere and it was given to you, and it's your responsibility to birth it into life. It's not even your idea, it was given to you.

And then go off create.

One of the things that have really helped me achieve speed and momentum is I've learned to not judge the ideas that come to me. I've just said, you know what, because I came up with this idea, now I have to go do something about it. And sometimes it turns into the next great thing, and sometimes it goes nowhere. That's okay, right? The first top 10 video I ever made on my channel was on Kanye West, and he's behind me. On the wall. There he is, Kanye West. Because my friend made a blog post about Kanye that was in a negative light, and so I wanted to make it positive. So, hey, you can learn from him. And so I made a top 10 video on Kanye West just to show my friend. I had other things planned today, shut that all down just to make this one video just to show my friend, with no plan of this is gonna be my next big idea, right?

People say, well, how did you know?

I I didn't know. I got an idea and I did something about it. I'm not that smart to be able to project 10 years forward and say, here's where the world is going, right? Maybe I can leave that to Elon Musk. I'm not that smart, but it came to me, so I did it, and it turned into something amazing. I've had other ideas that, that I started and didn't go anywhere. Either the idea wasn't good enough, or, or more likely, my energy just kind might have faded from it, and so I stopped doing it. But at least I gave it a shot. All of these ideas that you've got, you don't know which one's going to work out. They could all be, practically speaking, great ideas.

What's the best idea for you?

I don't know. You don't know either until you start to try it by taking the immediate action on it. You have to trust in your ideas that they came to you for a reason, and you're supposed to do something about them. So how do we start doing it? How do you start taking the action? How do you start getting getting unstuck in your head of all the stuff that holds us back from actually creating, let me give you some steps. Step number 1, idea to action. Take your brain out of the equation. There's a phrase that when, when you're in your head, you're dead. Like, as soon as you start overthinking something, it's over. You came with the idea, you're going to do something about it. When? Today. You came with the idea, so you're going to do something about it. When? Today, right now, what's your next idea? What are you thinking of right now? Go do something about it. Immediate action. Take the— because you came up with the idea, therefore you must go do the thing. That's the training you want to give yourself. Doesn't mean you have to go and do some big thing, but you have to get started. Immediate momentum. You want to start a YouTube channel? Great. You pull out your phone and you make a video. Doesn't matter what you say. It doesn't matter what the lighting is. Don't worry about the sound. Don't worry about having a fancy microphone or fancy camera, you pull out your phone, you press record, and you say you're starting the channel and you post that first video. Okay, but then it's gonna suck. Great. Which leads to point number 2: expect to suck at the beginning. Why do you expect to be great out of the gate? You will not be great out of the gate.

Doesn't mean that you suck as a human, just means that your product sucks. But it's your first attempt, that's okay.

When you try anything, you fall. When you get on a bicycle, you didn't just ride, right? You get a skateboard, you didn't just go. You're gonna suck. That's okay. That's the learning process. You're going to learn a lot more and get better a lot quicker by actually trying. Well, we're stuck in learning and researching and planning, and then nothing that ends up getting created. You are wasting your best energy on planning. This is what most This is what most people do. This is what happens almost all the time. You come with an idea, you think it's a great idea. Oh my gosh, it's such a great idea. Great. You spend the next day or until you go to sleep planning, researching, preparing, and then you wake up tomorrow and say, I can't do that. That's crazy. That idea I had yesterday is crazy. I can't do that. Who do I think I was to be able to do that? You spent your best energy, your most confident energy, your most bold energy on doing the wrong thing, planning instead of making. Planning is important, but it's not the first thing you should do. The first thing you do is take some kind of action, some kind of immediate momentum, some kind of commitment, especially to somebody else, that you're going to do something. So if you want to start a YouTube channel, you take out your phone and say, hi, I'm going to start my YouTube channel. I don't know what I'm going to make content of. I'm really nervous, but I've been putting this off for 5 years and I'm tired of putting things off. So I don't know, join my journey and let's see how it goes. Great, post. And as you start making, you're gonna get better at it. Your first thing is supposed to suck. If you're gonna get started, you're gonna start making YouTube videos as an example, and your first video is amazing, then you actually suck, then you waited too long. Your first version of whatever you do should be terrible. That's okay. So step 1 is listen to the ideas. Trust the ideas. They are right for you because they came to you. You got to do something about it. Take immediate action. And then step number 2 is expect to suck. Reduce the burden of expectation on yourself that you have to be great from the start. As kids, we do this, right? We start, we try, we fail, we laugh, hahaha. And as adults, all of a sudden we're afraid to do anything. And what you do is just slide into more of your comfort zone and more your comfort zone, more of your comfort zone, more of your comfort zone, and then realize, why do I hate my life so much? Because you're doing the same thing every day, because you're afraid to branch out a little bit. Just expect to suck. Reduce that burden that you have to be amazing. And if you keep practicing and you keep loving it, you keep building it, guess what? You're going to get great at it. Doesn't have to take a decade. There's hacks, there's shortcuts. Model success, you'll get there faster. But you still have to do the journey. And step 1 of the journey is the most important step and is also the most painful step, that it's gonna suck. Amazing. Every time you suck at something at the start, pat yourself on the back. You did a good job. Step number 3, and this is just the caveat, is pay attention to your energy when you come up with ideas. Okay, I'm assuming you're in a positive, bold, ambitious, confident, courageous state. When you are feeling a positive emotion, the ideas that flow through you are the right ideas for you. However, when you're feeling negative, low, you're feeling judgmental, you're feeling anger, you're feeling depression, you're feeling rage, you're upset that somebody else is having success, when you're in a negative mindset, the ideas that come to you are not the ones for you. Those are the ones to sit on. Right? Like, I'm gonna show her, I'm gonna do this thing to him, I'm gonna get my revenge by doing that. Okay, those are the ideas to sit on. And it's funny, 'cause those are the ideas we usually act on. The spontaneous ideas that come to you that are negative, you're more likely to act on than the spontaneous ones that come to you that are positive. You're more likely to send that nasty text or leave that negative review or do that negative thing instead of the positive one. And so if you're in a negative state of mind, that's when it's worth waiting till tomorrow. You know, if tomorrow you think it's the right call, okay, then, then let's think about it. But not in the moment. Don't do the negative ones in the moment. But if it's positive, if you just came back from a seminar, you're watching this video, or you're around amazing humans and you get these great ideas, those are the ones that you need to take some immediate action on. You have amazing ideas. You have a, a heart and a soul that wants to serve, that wants to help, that wants to contribute, that wants to not just fill your pockets and fill your bank account, but also contribute and help other people. You know you've got something much bigger inside you, but it does not come out unless you start to listen to those those ideas and start to do something about them. So the next time an idea comes to you— maybe you got one right now, maybe something's flowing through you right now— learn to trust that idea. Tell yourself that great ideas flow through you, that you need to take some immediate action on it, and that it's gonna suck at the beginning, and that's the best, and that's how you learn. Because if you kept doing that. Do that for 3 months. Do that for 6 months. Do that for 12 months. The amount of amazing things you're going to help create for yourself, for your family, for your community, for the world is going to be just outstanding. And I can't wait to see what you end up making. The reason why you're not following through is because you're doing it alone. When you wake up and you feel like you are by yourself, you are all alone, you have no community, you're not collaborating and you're not doing this with anybody else, it's just massively difficult to follow through. Still possible, absolutely. But this is the life of an entrepreneur. This is why so many great entrepreneurs don't follow through. And it breaks my heart because you've got talent, you've got a desire to serve and to help, and you know you have a story that matters and You're just not as consistent as you know you could be, and it's not that you suck, it's just that you're doing it alone. This is something I've struggled with in terms of being a great resource for people because I actually have a very low community need. I think the journey that I went through is almost impossible to model because I just woke up every day and I still made videos and I still make content, and I did about myself. And it's not prescriptive. It's really difficult to do it exactly the way that I did. Most people need more community than me. I still need it, but I have a really low— maybe it's just introverted or, or, uh, whatever, but I just don't need it as much as most people. You probably need more community. You probably are not following through because you feel isolated and alone. And the great promise of entrepreneurship is freedom, right? Like, you don't have to have a boss, you don't get to— you don't have to have employees that you hate or people on your team who you hate. Now you get to pick everything you want. But then to go from having a job where you have community, even if it— even if you didn't enjoy the work you were doing, what you got from the job, if you've had one, is community. That you had coworkers and you and you had some people who you did like, and you had people to go to lunch with, and you had just human connection every day, where as an entrepreneur, you don't have that nearly as much or at all. And so it's very lonely, and it's really hard to do great work when you're lonely. So what's the solution? Like, okay, great. Yeah, you just tore my heart open, Evan. Now what do I do? How do I fix it? Well, first is just recognizing that that is a problem. You know, first is recognizing that there's nothing wrong with you. There's nothing wrong with you. You're amazing. The only problem is you just don't have anybody that you're collaborating with, that you're doing this by yourself. So the answer is we need to now go and find other people to collaborate with. So one, recognizing that this is a problem and you need to fix it. Two is then finding a group that you can be a part of. And what we tend to do as entrepreneurs is lead. We want to lead, we want to create groups, we want to build, we want to make. But I would actually advocate for joining a group. One, you don't need another thing on your plate to lead. You've got enough already that you have to worry about. And two, when you're the leader of it, it puts you in a slightly different position where it's nice just to participate. You know, it's nice just to have somebody else be in charge and you just get to show up. And, and be a part of it. So I would look for a community that you could join where it's, where it's your people. It's people like you who are trying to do similar things. I look at Movement Makers as an example, and whether you want to join Movement Makers or, or, you know, find your own group, amazing. But Movement Makers, I started as a way for me to help train up-and-coming thought leaders. You know, it was the initial goals. Like, hey, I can only reach— I want to solve the world's biggest problem, right? People don't believe in themselves enough. Not everybody's going to learn through my story, but they might be able to learn through yours. Your message, your story, your history, your way of looking at it, the thing that you went through I haven't gone through. And so that by definition allows you to reach people that I can't, that Tony Robbins can't, that Jay Shetty can't, that whoever, Oprah can't, right? Your story can reach people in a way that others can't. And so I want to give you skills to be able to go off and reach those people. That's why I started Movement Makers. What I realized getting through it is the skills alone aren't enough. The skills are not the main reason why people are not following through. You already have a lot of skills. You may— it's not where you want to be, but you have a lot of skills and you have a lot of heart. So if you take somebody with a lot of skills and a lot of heart and they're still not following through, what's the problem? Community. You're doing it alone. You're lonely, and it's really hard to do it when you're lonely. So I shifted Movement Makers to still be, yes, skills and training and techniques and strategies, and I realized that people were winning when they connected to each other. And at the start, I was doing all the connection, like, oh, I know this person is doing this and this person is doing that, and so I should connect those two people together. And I was, and that was creating that's created businesses, that's created podcasts together, that's created opportunities for people. But it still was limited on me connecting people together, where I wanted to make it that people would connect to each other without me. And that's what we've ended up doing at Movement Makers. One of the things I'm most proud of is we started a challenge. And again, whether— I don't care if you join Movement Makers or not, great to have you, but this concept you can apply to your business. We started a challenge where I was giving people the tactics and telling them what to do, and that they still weren't doing the follow-through. And the follow-through would be making content, making videos, right? You want to be a thought leader, you got to get your message out there. So I started a challenge, and we started the first one, I think, back in October. So now we're into our 5th challenge or so. Where here's the challenge: you have to make one video, one lead magnet, and three collaboration videos around the theme. So the theme might be momentum or impact or believe or belong. We pick a different theme every month, but something everybody can talk to, right? The theme was impact. You can talk to impact within the thing that you do. And by forcing them to collaborate with with 3 other people in the group, it really led to a situation where 1 1 1,000. Because by forcing yourself to show up for somebody else, it made sure that you followed through. Where all of a sudden now, people who had— who hadn't made a single video, who might have been in Movie Makers for 3 months and still never made a video, now they're making their first videos. Now they're making the lead magnets. Now they're making their first solo videos. Suddenly they have some follow-through, and suddenly the fears and the excuses go away because they're connected to other people. When you're doing something with somebody else, there's energy there, there's momentum there, and you're much more likely to follow through. So you have to go and get a tribe. Find people who are like you, who have a similar mission. If you look at moving filmmakers, everybody's mission is, is different in the sense that they're trying to serve different people, but everybody's connected in that we want to have an impact. We have a story that matters and we want to share it with the world. That's everybody in the group. The types of people trying to reach are different. And so when you are by yourself, you're the only one in your family trying to do what you do, you're the one pouring into other people, right? You're probably the most happy, optimistic, positive person. You're encouraging the people around you. You're pouring into their cups. Great, keep doing that. But who's helping you with that? When you feel low, when you feel down, when you feel not worthy, when you feel not good enough, who's pouring into you to say, hey, let's go do this thing together? Nobody, right? Your friends, maybe. I mean, if you're lucky and you have some great friends, might be empathetic, might be encouraging to you, but they're not doing the thing that you're doing. They don't understand what you're going through. They could, they could give you some words of affirmation and encouragement, but they don't know how to actually help. Where if you're going through a journey with somebody else, with a group of people, you're just much more likely to follow through and feel connected and feel special and feel like you matter. So step 1 is recognize that there's nothing wrong with you. You're amazing. You've got the heart, you've got the dream, you've got the, the ability to serve. And step 2 is then to go find your tribe. Go find people who are like you, who you see on your calendar and you're excited to go meet with them and connect, whether it's Movermakers or something totally separate. But don't do this alone. If you could make one change this year for the next 12 months, to have a significant impact on the growth of your journey. Commit to just not doing this by yourself and watch everything in your life get better. Because you made it this far in the video, I want to celebrate you. Most people start and don't finish. Most people never actually follow through. Most people say say they want something, but they don't ever do the work to actually get it. But you are different. You are special. Believe Nation, you made it here all the way to the end, and I love you. So as a special celebration, if you put a hashtag #believe down in the comments below on this video, I will showcase you and celebrate you somewhere on the screen in a future video because you are awesome. If you want to watch another top 10 rules up Evan Carmichael, check out the video next to me.

Continue to believe. I will see you there. You are what you consistently think about. Whether you think you'll win or lose, you're right. It's a challenge I think a lot of us face.

We are stuck in our head, in our mind, telling ourselves why we can't do something, why we're not