Unlock Your Potential: John Addison's Guide to Mastering the Next 20 Minutes of Your Life!

Let me tell you what, the future you need to be worried about is not the next 20 years, but the next 20 minutes. What are you gonna be doing? What are you gonna be doing to be effective? I mean, you'll never be perfect. Good Lord, we're all human basket cases.

I mean, that's how we're all wired.

One of the things that I can't stand is people, you know, all these celebrities and people that wanna be like them. The truth is, you have to be the best you, you can be.

He's the former co-CEO of Primerica. He's a sought-after speaker, motivator, and business author. He currently serves on the board of directors for Primerica and LegalShield. He's John Addison, and here's my take on his top 10 rules for success. Rule number 1 is my personal favorite, and I'd love to know which one you guys like the best. And as always, guys, if you hear something that really resonates with you, please leave it down in the comments below. Put quotes around it as well so other people can be inspired. Also, when you write it down, you're much more likely to lock it in for yourself as well. Enjoy.

Your habits determine what direction you're going. Your success in life, your results in life, are in direct proportion to your habits. What do you— not what you say you're gonna do, but what are you gonna do? You've got to develop successful habits. And I believe that starts with being a daily goal setter and a daily goal hitter. That you get up— you know, too many people spend their whole life, they say they're dreaming, but they're really just pipe dreams. They're thinking about what they want to be doing in 20 years and what their plans are way out in the future. Let me tell you what, the future you need you need to be worried about is not the next 20 years, but the next 20 minutes. What are you gonna be doing? What are you gonna be doing to be effective? When you get up every day, know your priorities. Life will overwhelm you. Stuff will overwhelm you. The— with all the information we have now, whether it's your phone where sometimes I think we have smartphones and stupid people. I mean, it is so easy to get consumed by a bunch of stuff that is not gonna get you where you want to get to. Say every day, "I will do today what others don't, so I will have tomorrow what others want." You've got to choose to be effective. Know what your priorities are. Know what your must-dos are. Don't let your phone, don't let your, you know, your tablet, don't let the TV, don't let your friends knock you off What are the most important things to get done today? Sir Winston Churchill didn't have an inbox. He had an action this day box. And so things didn't get into that box that he wasn't gonna deal with that day. So make, as John Wooden said, make today your masterpiece. Get up today and get it done. Finish the day, attack the day. And go change your life. You know, look, life is short. You know, we're already well into the first month of 2017. Now I'm reaching an age where I go, oh my God, I remember when I was launching the year 2000. It seems like yesterday. Well, you know, that's 17 years ago. Time flies. It moves on all of us. The one thing that is constant is change. The world moves on. Time moves. Now, we can choose whether or not we move with it, but time moves. And you're not gonna get a do-over. This isn't a dress rehearsal for the second time you live on this earth. You know, I mean, I'm not one of the people that's, you know, big in reincarnation. I guess if you're one of those, hey, Maybe you think there's a do-over, but I don't believe we got a do-over on this earth. It's our shot here. It is our time. And it moves by on you quickly. You need to find what you are truly passionate about in life. Most people spend their whole life just enduring their work. They hate it. They can't stand it. They don't wanna, they don't wanna, you know, they live for Friday and then they dread Monday. Well, you know, I'm here to tell you, that's no way to go through life. Find what you're passionate about. Find something you enjoy. Find something that makes you excited to get up every day and then pursue that. Sometimes it's a, you know, you gotta go through a lot of process to get where you want. You can't, you know, but start by volunteering with something you love and then meet the right people, ask the right questions, and try to get yourself to a place where how you earn your income is something that you would do even if there was no money attached to it. I'm telling you, living a life where you're passionate, where you're excited, and you get after it. That's a great way to go through life. I mean, most of us chase money until the time runs out. Well, find a way to get paid, maybe even if it's not as much as you were making doing something else, but it's something you love, it's something you believe in, and something you want to do. You know, I believe with everything in me, it honestly is your ability to drive yourself and your team to a level It's the level of excellence that is what's gonna determine your future. I was watching the other day right after we got back from the RVP meetings, and I was sitting in my study, and there was on HBO a special about Vince Lombardi that's been on a number of times. And, you know, in that it was Bart Starr talking about the first— and, you know, you gotta remember, the past— you know, this was a guy that had been locked out of jobs jobs, locked out of jobs. I mean, he was like in his late 40s by the time he got his first head coaching job. And, you know, was— and it was in Green Bay, okay? I mean, it was like in the middle of— I mean, it was like, my God, it wasn't with the New York Giants. It was in Green Bay. And they had been terrible. And his first meeting with the team, what Bart Starr said, he always remembered the exact words he said. He said, we will relentlessly pursue Perfection. We won't catch it, but in our quest we will catch excellence. And see, in life I believe that's what separates the people that go do something great, is that they relentlessly pursue perfection. They beat themselves up every day when they're not perfect, when they don't do the right thing and stuff.

But by being relentless at that, I mean, you'll never be perfect.

Good Lord, we're all human basket cases.

I mean, that's how we're all wired. I mean, we all got more snakes in the attic than—

I mean, trust me, I know I do.

Okay, but at the end of the day, when you relentlessly pursue perfection, you'll catch excellence.

The one thing that is absolutely certain is change happens. Things change. Look, you can either embrace change or you can get run over by change. You can either shape change or stand there screaming, kicking, and complaining about things changing. The world changes. Time moves on. And you have to adapt and be a person— you know, like I said, you can either— you can either You can either be a force for change or you can be a victim of change. You've gotta embrace change and get after it. You know, everybody wants to change the world, but nobody wants to change themselves. And you've gotta look at yourself every day and say, am I adapting? Am I moving forward? Am I a part of the future or am I just sitting and telling stories about the past? Look, the world will be— I don't know what the world's going to look like in 10 years. I wish I did. I'd make some investments and make a lot of money. But the reality is I know one thing for sure. It'll look different than it does today. So every day, work on yourself. Get better. You're a human becoming, not a human being. Work on yourself. Get better. And go be a force for change. Not a victim of change.

Let me tell you, I'm going to tell you a key. It's not easy to win. If it sounds easy, it's sleazy. In life, you gotta pay a price. You gotta fight every day. You gotta get up and make a decision that you're gonna play wide open, all out. Leave it all on the field. Every day is a battle. You know, Napoleon Hill said in Think and Grow Rich, "Thoughts are things." Earl Nightingale in The Strangest Secret said, "You become what you think." That is the truth. That's the way life is. So my question for you is, who controls your thoughts?

Thoughts?

Who controls your thinking? Who do you give the keys to your brain to? Turn on the news. We have mastered— you know, technology and information is great, but I believe with every great thing there's an equal bad thing to it. Now you can put garbage into your brain 24/7. You turn on the news, There's a person talking, telling you bad crap. Bad crap's going across the bottom. Bad crap scrolls down the sides.

Now I'm not saying, I'm not saying don't, you know, watch the news and just be an ignoramus or anything, you know.

But what I'm telling to you is you gotta be careful. What you allow to get here. You know, in data processing there's a saying, "Garbage in, garbage out." With the brain, it's garbage in, garbage stays. You gotta be careful. You know, I'm a huge gardener.

I love to garden.

I've got— my wife and I have a home in North Georgia, got 50 acres. When I get home, you know, next week, you know, I'm planting all my tomatoes and all all this stuff. I have a huge, huge garden.

I love, I love to garden.

But one of the things you learn about gardening is it is easier to grow weeds than it is to grow vegetables. Weeds just show up. It's amazing. And it's very much like the brain. You've got to, like, if you want to grow positive things in You gotta weed your brain all the time. And if you let a weed— you need to weed early and often. If you let it get tall, you'll pull the weed out, the root will snap off, and then it's right back. With your brain, it's the same way. You have to fight to be positive. That's what you read, who you talk to, who you hang out with. See, in life there's the power of association, but I tell you an important thing many of you need to learn is the power of disassociation. Every one of you has people in your life that if you ask them how you're doing— how they're doing, you wish you could stuff the words back in your mouth. Because they will tell you— Negative people share much more frequently than positive people. They will spend 2 hours just putting their garbage, and you know, they just crush you down.

You gotta be around positive people, positive thinking, positive things in your brain.

That's not a bunch of rah-rah-rah hype. That is a fact. You're in the people attraction business. And so I tell people all the time, "John, you know, give me a key. What could I do?" Smile! Walk fast! Be going somewhere. I live in airports. I'm a 3-million-miler on Delta, OK? I live in an airport, and I am amazed at the number of people I have people that come up to me and go, Chuck, or they don't know my name, they'll just go, you seem so happy, something good must have happened. Yeah, I woke up. See?

You know, one of the things I've learned over time is that the best you'll ever be if you're trying to be someone else is a pale imitation. You know, most people spend their whole life looking at, you know, this, I want to be like this person, I would be like that person. One of the things that I can't stand is people, all these celebrities and people that want to be like them. The truth is, you have to be the best you you can be. There's only one you. I mean, there's not another one on the face of the planet. Now, you need to learn from other people. From some people you need to learn what what not to do. From some, a lot of people, you need to learn what to do. But as you study people, as you look at successful people, study their traits, study their behavior, study what they do, and then take the best and leave the rest. You have to create an authentic you. Now does that mean you don't need to learn from other people? No. But you've got to step back and go, well, okay, this person is super outgoing and full of— and I'm not wired that way. Maybe I'm quieter. Well, you're never going to be like them. But learn from them. Take the best. And then when you look at some other person that's got a great skill set that maybe doesn't line up with your skill set, but Take and learn things that you can put to work in your life, but factor all of that together by understanding who you authentically are. Find what you're good at. All of us have a list of things that we're good at. But the truth is, we spend way too much, way much more time working on what we're bad at, trying to get better at it. Well, I'm telling you, the thing that you're naturally bad at, and you can work all day long, 7 days a week on it, and the best you'll ever be at that is mediocre. Somebody is naturally good at what you're bad at. But I guarantee you, you have natural skills that were just born in you, a part of your DNA, that you're good at without even trying. And then other people are terrible at it. I mean, I've always been able to speak in front of people. It's never bothered me. For a lot of people, it mortifies them. It's never been a real problem. And so what I was able to do is find a way that there was something I knew that I was good at, that I could show up without any notes, and do better than most people, and then work like crazy at it. Spend my time focused on what I'm good at. See, I believe each of us, if we found our natural inclinations and then we focused on what we're good at, you're gonna be the best you you can be. I believe great teams are made up of a bunch of individuals who find a way to mesh together in a way that accentuates each person's positive for the good of the group. So be the best authentic you you can be. Work on yourself. Focus on yourself. Understand your strengths and weaknesses and find ways to put put yourself in a place where your strengths are magnified. Most of us that come from just normal backgrounds, we don't see ourselves doing abnormal things. The world is full of people who were born on third and think they hit a triple and they've got all this confidence, all this stuff. For most of us, it's not that way. We don't think we are wired or programmed to do something great. Well, I'm telling you, that thought is nothing but a fear, nothing but a doubt. It's what holds you in place. You gotta work hard on understanding you have within you the power to change, the power to do something great. And those fears are gonna crop up, particularly in the middle of the night when you wake up and you're scared to death about what's happening. What to do. They're gonna crop up and they're gonna hold you in place. Quite often if you're trying something different, they crop up in the middle of your dreams. When you're asleep at night, those fears and doubts creep in. Understand they're not real. They are things in your head that have been programmed into you by your past life. Wrestle with those fears. Never conquer 'em, but control 'em. And go out and live the life you deserve. Choose to win. Control your thinking and go win big. I did not want to go to college, but with my mom, it was not an option. I was going to college. But I wanted to quit. I was looking for a reason to quit. And so the first class, I'm sitting there, Dr. Miller, Political Science 101, and get there the first day. Now where do you—

if you really don't think you belong, where do you sit? Back row. Far back as you can get.

I was almost out the door, sitting in the back of the room.

And at the end of the class—

now you gotta understand, I was from the country, okay? You get to UGA, in, and most of the students in your class came from Buckhead, which is the very nice area of Atlanta, and went to the right schools, and they had all this college prep stuff, and I didn't have any of that. And so, this is in the '70s when the preppy look was in, the girls with the big bouffy hair and bows in it and everything. And so this girl with this big bouffy hair and a bow in it and stuff was sitting in front of me. And at the end of class she goes, "Dr. Miller, will we receive a syllabus today?" And I'm like, hell, I had no idea what a syllabus was.

If she had said a schedule of when we're taking the tests, I'd have gone, "Yeah, I need one of those." OK?

So, I leave class and go back to my dorm, Milledge Hall, and go down the end to the pay phone, you know, no cell phones and stuff then. And I call my dad and I go, "Dad, I hate this place. I hate these people. I hate everything about it. I hate it, I hate it, I hate it. I want to come home." And he said, "Son, we've already paid your tuition for this quarter. Just go through Christmas and then come home and we'll talk about it." And so I went, "OK Dad, that's fair enough." So we go back. A few weeks later we have our first exam. Now, don't let the accent throw you. I'm pretty good in school. And I was always good in school. That's why Mom made me go to— and if I, you know, like a history or class, political science class, if I read something, I remember things. And so, first exam, I get my test back and I made a 98.

And I look down in front of me and that little smart-butt girl that knew what a syllabus was, made a 46, okay? I bet she didn't wind up CEO of a multi-billion financial services company.

But now, but the reason I tell the story is what if my dad had said, "Son, get your butt home. I'm sick of hearing from you." And I went back to Mobile Chemical company and was the funny guy working on the assembly line. Where would my life have gone?

What would—

I wouldn't be speaking in front of a big group, I wouldn't be wealthy, I would—

none of those things would have happened in my life if I'd have let her make me quit. See, that's life. It moves on small decisions. When you keep going when your friend quits, when you keep moving— here's reality, new people, I'm gonna tell you the reality— your friends don't want you to succeed. They want to tell you that you're doing some crazy crap that you'll get over.

They—

if you succeed, you put pressure on them. If you win, it makes them uncomfortable. They want to be able to say, "Told you so, huh huh huh huh huh." You've got to make a decision that you're going to prove all the doubters wrong, that you're going to stay tough, keep forward.

I know now I'm reaching an age, I just turned 59. The other day, and I'm reaching an age where, you know, you do look back on things a little bit. And, you know, as I look at the world today, I'm gonna be completely honest with you. Sometimes I'm afraid we're losing our toughness, okay? The ability to demand results. I believe there are two things in business, in sports, or whatever it is, there's results, and there's bull, okay? I mean, and most people spend all their time talk— making excuses, talking about why they didn't get it done. Winners get results. There is a scoreboard in life. There is a thing called making it happen. I've been at business points in my career, you know, in the— in 2008 when the economy collapsed, My partner Rick Williams and I knew we had to get our business separated from Citigroup. We knew we had to make it happen. Not getting it done was not an option. We had to make it happen. And it was hard and we didn't know what to do every day. But when a door would close, we'd find a window. You've got to win. You gotta take responsibility for where you're at. You got even, sometimes even if it's not your fault, and then you gotta go get after it. When you're playing golf, I used to play golf a lot, you hit the ball off the tee into the rough, you can't just go, you know, I meant it to be out there in the middle of the fairway. You gotta play the ball where it lies and go get results. So that requires toughness. It requires discipline, and it requires getting after it on a daily basis. So that's my challenge to you. Whatever challenge or problem or where you're at in your career, go out, get tough, and get results.

Weather vanes typically are politicians, where whatever way the wind's blowing, whatever the mood of the moment is, whatever the the poles say, they spin that direction. Leaders are lighthouses. There's a consistency to them. There's a strength to them. You know, lighthouses are only needed when the weather's stormy. When it's beautiful, they're just a pretty building. But when the seas are stormy and it's dark and rainy and foggy, that's when you need a lighthouse. A leader has to be a rock. Someone of consistency, that when the storms, whether it's in business, what the economy, whatever's happening to the organization that you're over, that you're a human Alka-Seltzer. You calm the organization. I've worked for people that were quote unquote leaders who would bring a bucket of gas to a fire and make it, just turn it into a blaze. By how they reacted to it. Great leaders are calmers. Great leaders are people that when maybe everything is hectic and chaotic, but when people see them, hear from them, they're calmer. I believe a peaceful mind generates power.

Thank you guys so much for watching. I made this video because Pablo Bernal asked me to. So if there's a famous entrepreneur that you want me to profile next, Leave it down in the comments below and I'll see what I can do. I'd also love to know what did you love most about this video? Which clip resonated the most with you? And what lesson are you going to immediately apply somehow to your life or your business? Please leave it down in the comments below and I'm super curious to figure it out. Finally, I want to give a quick shout out to Joseph DeVito. Joseph, thank you so much for picking up a copy of my book, Your One Word. I really, really, really appreciate it and I hope you're enjoying the read. So thank you guys again for watching. I believe in you. I hope you continue to believe in yourself and whatever your one word is. Much love.

I'll see you soon. You've gotta take control of your life. Not waiting for the government, not waiting for a corporation. You taking charge of your economy. You know, a lot of people call it the gig economy, the share economy. All of those kind of things. What I really think it is, is you controlling the means to your income instead of letting the means to your income control you. It's you taking control of your life. It's you becoming the captain of your ship and charting your course and deciding when you wanna work, how you wanna work. But see, that takes education. That takes working on yourself.

The key to you is you.

And that means you've got to improve. You've got to learn. You've got to get better. You've got to hone your skills and your craft every day. And that's where I believe success comes in.

A lot of people adapt to pressure differently. You know, Peyton Manning, who just retired, one of the— I heard him speak one time in a great coach— quote he had was, "Pressure is a privilege." I mean, you know, I'm sure he's gonna miss it now, okay? Pressure is a privilege.

You know, lighten up, enjoy it, enjoy the journey.

It goes by very fast.

What you focus on grows. What you focus on grows. If you focus on problems, problems will multiply. If you focus on opportunities, opportunities will multiply. You have to choose what you're going to spend your time on. See, every day you're either getting better or worse.

You don't stay the same in life.

People don't stay the same. They're either getting better or they're worse. You're not, you're not a human being, you're a human becoming. Coming. Okay, every day you are changing your life, and you are every day becoming your current most dominant thought. Not what you say you're thinking about, not what you tell other people you're doing. You are becoming what you're thinking. Napoleon Hill said thoughts are things. Thoughts aren't, thoughts aren't random electro you know, synapses between nerve endings. Thoughts are things. What are you allowing to be in your brain? What are you focusing on? What are you spending your time on? Who influences you?