5 Brutal yet Optimistic Lessons from 2021 😯
Rob Moore outlines five lessons from 2021 for entrepreneurs: governments pose the biggest threat to freedom, so build location independence and multiple income streams; real mastery is indifference to others' judgment; a decentralization movement is countering censorship, so own your data; stay agile and ready for shocks; and choose happiness despite external pressure.
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5 hard, real, brutal, yet optimistic lessons for 2021 to give you the best chance of an amazing 2022. I'm usually a guy that talks about full and final and personal responsibility. Blame nothing and no one. Nothing outside of your control could control who you are and how you think and how you feel. You control everything. You're responsible for everything. You must only blame yourself and no one else. However, in this session, I'm actually going to be probably a little bit more political than I usually am. And I'm probably going to talk a bit more about factors outside of your control that you've got to deal with a bit more, because I think that 2021 has been a brutal teacher. So here we go. Let's get cracking straight in. 5 real hard lessons from 2021. You know, being very honest here about the things that I struggled with. Even though I'm 16 years experienced as an entrepreneur, I can tell you things were difficult. Okay. So number 1 will be the, your biggest threat and what it is. And I always used to say your biggest threat to yourself is yourself, but actually I've got a different view on that. Thanks to 2021. The second thing is what real freedom really means. The third thing is the war on freedom. The fourth thing is don't get ready, be ready. And the fifth big lesson is how to control your your own happiness. Okay, so look, this piece of content isn't for the faint-hearted. It's not going to be happy clappy positive. Let's all set goals, let's have an amazing 2022, it's going to be our best year ever. Yeah, we're going to go to the gym, we're going to make money, we're going to start our own business. Because actually that's unbalanced and not realistic. And I do believe somewhat that the more realistic you are, and the fact that you are able to see the upsides and the downsides and the opportunities and the challenges will hold you in the best stead for 2021. So, um, this is perhaps my most political piece of New Year content ever. Um, every year I do a review of the previous year, and it's usually focused on what you can control, but this might be a bit more political than usual because I believe that 2021 taught us what we already knew but never did. Let me say that again. 2021 taught us what we already knew but never did. To know and not to do is not to know. When all is said and done, more is said than done. I also think that 2021 taught us to be ready for what we should have been ready for but weren't ready for. And you could say, oh well, Rob couldn't ever have been ready for COVID lockdown. But in reality, the great lesson for 2021 is to be ready for what you can't be ready for, to control what you can't control. And that's actually lesson number 4. I've got a special gift I'm going to share with you because I'm celebrating, which is point 5, by the way. So stay with me till the end. Number 1 then. Number 1 hard, real lesson for 2021 is that the government are probably your biggest threat. Doesn't give me pleasure to say this, but in reality it's probably true. The government are probably your biggest threat. COVID lockdowns, vaccines, regulation, inflation, taxation, politics and agendas. Let me say that again. COVID lockdowns, vaccines, regulation, inflation, taxation, politics and agendas. Now you can't control this, but you must be ready for it. You must be armed for it. You can't control if there's a world war. You can't control if there's massive litigation. You can't control if there's a tsunami. Or COVID-17.0, but you must be ready for it. So I believe your defense for COVID lockdown vaccines regulation, inflation, taxation, politics, and agendas is full autonomy of your lifestyle and your income. Full autonomy of your lifestyle and your income, which means having location freedom. It means being able to work anytime, anywhere in the world, from any device, remotely, locally, and nationally. It means that you have— must have multiple streams of recurring income from digital assets. The only way to hedge against future imposing rules and regulations and taxations and politics is full location freedom, full financial freedom, multiple streams of recurring income from various different asset classes, not relying on one income stream, not relying on one source of business, not relying on one channel for communication. Hmm. I was having a chat with my business partner in our director's dinner we have every year at Christmas, and he looked me in the eyes and he pointed at me and he went, Rob, our biggest threat is the government. Now, by the way, this is not me having a massive bash at the government. Some of their decisions will be right and some of those decisions will be wrong. Some we will agree with and some we will disagree with. That is not the point I'm making. The point I'm making is you can't control COVID lockdowns, vaccines, regulations, inflation, taxation, politics, and agendas but you must be ready for them because they are probably your biggest threat to your livelihood, your freedom, and your finances. Now, I do a lot of content on starting and scaling your business and getting better financial education and knowledge. My personal vision is that to help as many people on this planet start and scale their business and get better financial knowledge. I want to help you, um, gain multiple streams of recurring income and build your personal brand in the creator economy. So this is why you must continue to follow my work. All right, number 2 then: what is real freedom? Well, I think 2021 has really got us questioning what real freedom is. What is real freedom? Well, I think real freedom is to transcend the implications of external forces, and it is to transcend what other people think about you, because with every new level appears a new devil. There's always a challenge, always a problem, always a critic, always a hater. Your reward for solving problems is a bigger problem. Now you can run away and you can hide, or you can stand up and face your new challenge with no loss of enthusiasm and passion and drive and energy. So what are you going to do? What are you gonna do? Are you gonna hide, or are you gonna stand up? Now, much of the judgment and the fear that you experience is in your head. It is imagined. We are a prisoner more of our mind than reality. So I believe that full mastery and freedom of life is to totally transcend criticism, judgment, ridicule, and hate. Of other people. Now, there's a great book called The Courage to Be Disliked, and in that book, the, um, author proposes that the only way to be free, the only way, is to transcend the judgment, the imposed criticism of others, and to have no concern or have no dictation from others on how you live your life. So I believe number 2 is that real freedom is to transcend what other people think about you, to transcend criticism. I had a friend of mine recently, very good friend, I know was talking a lot behind my back. And he's supposed to be a really good friend, and so you think, hmm, is this what a really good friend does? And in reality, the answer is yes, because everyone speaks behind everyone's back. I like to think I don't speak behind people's back. I like to think that I have the courage to speak to their face. And yesterday someone said something to me, and I said something about a friend of mine that I probably wouldn't say to their face, and I felt disappointed in myself because of that. Now, while only one person could hear me, the universe could hear me. So do I judge others if they judge me? No, because everyone judges everyone. Does it matter what other people think about me? No, because their opinion is none of my business. And so even people I know, love, like, and trust, if they speak badly of me behind my back, I try to transcend and not be concerned by that, because everyone does that. Because you being concerned and worried about what other people think of you ruins your future, it robs you of your present, and therefore robs you of your freedom. And the single greatest freedom is to transcend what other people think about you and have the courage to be disliked. Let me know what you think about that in the comments, by the way. But that's number 2. If you want any further reading on that, go and read The Courage to Be Disliked. It's a great book. Now, you know, with everything that's been going on in the world right now, it's easy to worry about what people think about us, what our clients think about us, what our community thinks about us, what our followers think about us, you know, what our friends and family think about us. Oh, you've taken the vaccine? Judgment. Oh, you haven't taken the vaccine? Judgment. Oh, you know, you believe in lockdown's judgment. Oh, you don't believe in lockdown's judgment. There's judgment everywhere. And I believe that most of the judgment is actually in your mind, i.e., you're worried about what other people might be thinking about you but probably aren't thinking about you. By the way, thanks for tuning in. If you're finding this useful, one, make sure you're following me on whatever channel you are listening or watching in on right now. I do content every day, and I'm, you know, a little bit more political in this post, but usually it's about starting, scaling your business, and getting better financial knowledge. Number 2, please hit the share button because 2021 has been really hard for a lot of people. I know that, but it's been one of our greatest teachers. In every stressing hides a blessing. So please hit share this and share this gift with others so that they can learn from 2021 instead of dwelling in it. You know, by 1st of January 2022, we need to have got the lessons from 2021 and moved on and move forward. So big hard real lesson number 1 is the government are probably your biggest threat. You've gotta protect yourself and have a plan to hedge against imposed rules. Real hard lesson number 2 is that the real freedom is actually transcending the judgment and ridicule of others. Number 3 is the war on freedom. Now there's been the biggest war on freedom I've seen in most of my life, okay? You know, there's been world wars and there's been probably greater wars on freedom in the past, but in my lifetime, this has been one of the biggest wars on freedom because we have government-imposed lockdowns and regulations and rules and mandates that you could say take away our freedom, and platforms that de-platform us and cancel us based on what we say. Therefore, you could say that our freedom of speech is being challenged greatly. But the reaction to, in the rebellion of this war of freedom, is the decentralization movement. Now, I've done content on the movement of decentralization, so make sure you follow me and you consume my content, because I've actually done, um, two pieces of content, and one of them is the single biggest movement for 2022. And I believe the single biggest movement Not veganism, not information. The single biggest movement of 2022 will be decentralization. Decentralization of media, decentralization of social media, decentralization of big tech, decentralization of currencies, decentralization of money and banks. Now some people are saying, yeah, but Rob, there's a new world order, new world order, there's a great reset, there's the globalized power of big tech. You will own nothing and be happy. There will be universal credit. Ah, but there's a massive rebellion against this, and it's called decentralization. And here's the great news: you can go live on Twitter Spaces and Clubhouse rooms and Facebook Lives and Instagram Lives. You can put your content and turn it into cash flow, your information and turn it into income. You can gain reach into revenue. You can become your own media company with a couple of phones. And an audio and video recorder. So you need to jump on this decentralization movement. You need to fight against globalism, and you need to make sure that you can reach your community, your customers, and your followers and your fans on decentralized social media platforms. You need to own your own data. You need to have access to your own market. You need to turn on all the monetization tools on multiple social media channels. You need to have multiple streams of recurring income. You need to turn your content into an asset. You need digital freedom. You need digital assets in this digital and decentralized revolution. That is the big lesson of 2021. Okay, number 4 big lesson of 2021 is don't get ready, be ready. Now, I've had this little saying and quote for Probably 12 years I've been saying it at my speaking events. You hear, don't get ready, be ready. Don't get ready, be ready. Be agile, always be on your toes, be ready to pivot at a moment's notice. And then bang, lockdowns. And all of a sudden that lesson was forced on us. It was evolution into revolution, survival of the fittest and the most adaptable to change. Now here's a paradox: you have to plan what you can't plan for. Anything that could blindside you, disrupt you, or break you— if, if a competitor or an external force or a governmental regulation can disrupt you and break you, you need to be able to predict what that is, even if you can't predict what that is. No one could have predicted COVID and lockdowns, but the, the great lesson of COVID and lockdowns is you have to be ready for lockdown 17.0. Or, you know, COVID variant 18.6. You have to be ready for potential globalization of power and control, massive increase in taxation, in cost of living, political agendas, cancel culture. You have to be ready for it all. Now, I said that this would be brutal, and, you know, I'm being honest with you. I believe right now we're going to see a greater divide between the success and the failure. The rich and the poor, the entrepreneur and, you know, essentially the worker who's given up on their dreams. You must always be ready to pivot. You must be agile and lean and on your toes and in the new markets and up to date with your new technological movements like the movement of decentralization. And if you're not planning to disrupt yourself and put yourself out of business— like, if you don't plan to put yourself out of business in years down the line, someone else will put you out of business. Okay, and then lesson number 5. Thanks for tuning in. Celebrate more. So that sounds like a weird thing to say in a very disruptive year, but, um, give me a yes in the comments if you're an entrepreneur or you're a startup or a scale-up or you want to be one. Well, I tell you a curse of being an entrepreneur, and many of you are will relate to this: we never celebrate. You know, I've broken 2 world records for public speaking. I've written 18 books, many of them are national or global bestsellers. My podcast, The Disruptive Entrepreneur, is hitting nearly 1,000 episodes. It's been top of all of the charts. It's even been number 2 in all podcasts in the world. I've interviewed 15, 16 billionaires. I made £13,477,000 net profit in November 2021 on one of my developments with 159 tenants in it. I have the biggest real estate training company in the UK. And you know what? I never celebrate. I never think I'm good enough. I never think I've done enough. I'm always comparing myself to the bigger dogs, you know, the American gurus and influencers. Why? Why? So my question to you is, why aren't you celebrating more? Why aren't you celebrating the small wins? Why aren't you controlling your happiness? If there's been a great lesson of 2021, it's that there's a lot of things out there that can rob us of our happiness. Let me say them again: COVID lockdowns, vaccines, regulations, inflation, taxation, politics, and agendas. And all of that can rob your happiness and your worthiness. And I want to say to you, you mustn't let that happen. You know what? What doesn't break you makes you stronger, and a diamond is formed under extreme pressure. So I would say the greatest lesson of 2021 is that you can be fully autonomously responsible for your own happiness, your own well-being, your own mindset. Your own freedom. And to do that, you have to choose happiness, choose fulfillment. I choose to be happy even if we're being locked down. I choose to be happy, happy even though they're putting my taxes up. I choose to be happy even though inflation has gone crazy. I choose to be happy even though our country is not being led for the greater good of the people but for political agendas, yada yada yada. I choose to be happy even though I haven't had my best revenue year. I choose to be happy even though I'm just starting out and I'm not where I want to be. That for me is a great lesson. The great upside lesson out of lockdown 17.0 is that only you can choose your happiness. Now, they can rob you of your freedom, they can rob you of your ability to go to shops and to travel. They can't rob you of your freedom. And I learned this first from Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl, who was, you know, persecuted for being Jewish and, um, you know, was sterilized and tortured in concentration camps, and many of the people he knew and loved, you know, were murdered. Genocide. Yet he chose that they could take away his dignity, they could take away his physical freedom, but they could not take away his thoughts. They could not control his mind, and therefore they could not take away his choice to be happy. So If you leave your happiness to any external factor, your happiness will be fleeting and elusive. Your celebrations will never come because you're only going to celebrate when you hit a million, 2 million, 5 million, when we come out of lockdown 17.0, when we're finally back to freedom, when we're out of this globalization political polarized landscape. When, when, if, when, if, when becomes never. Now the big unspoken pandemic of 2021 was global fear. Now everyone knows about the physical pandemic, but what about the pandemic of global fear? My question to you is, did you buy into it? Because honestly, I did. I'd never experienced fear on such a global level. And so what happened was it leaked out to me. I started feeling the fear of other people because it was so strong. Everywhere you went, everyone looked scared and white. There was no blood in anyone's face. It all leaked down. Everyone was scared, and I bought into that, and I made short-term decisions, and I made fear-based decisions. I know I did. Because I've never been through something like this before. So I've forgiven myself for that. I'd read it. I'd read 3,000 books on business and entrepreneurship and mindset and skill set. And, you know, don't get ready, be ready. Observe the masses, do the opposite. Be greedy when everyone is fearful, and fearful whenever one is greedy. You can choose to be happy. And I'd read all that. I didn't need to read a book in lockdown. I just needed to learn through the lockdown. So you can choose how you feel. You can choose that there's a stressing in every blessing. So I hope you've enjoyed my 5 real hard, brutal but optimistic lessons for 2021, moving us into 2022. I'm going to do a quick summary because I'm always told by people that they like the summaries, and sometimes people tune in late or they like to just listen to the summary as a way of edifying everything that I've shared. Also, I go on a few tangents and bring in randomness. But before I do share, in summary, the 5 brutal, hard, real but optimistic lessons from 2021 to arm us for success in 2022, I have a gift for you. And this is me eating my own dog food and learning to celebrate. So, you know, people don't know things about me that, you know, you might deem as being credible because I rarely talk about it. They don't know that I've broken world records for public speaking. They don't know that Um, I've written 18 books, many of them bestsellers, the UK's best-selling book on money. They don't know I've done nearly 1,000 episodes on my podcast. They don't know I have a foundation to help young and underprivileged people, yada yada. And I never celebrate any of that. I look at my foundation and go, I should be raising more. I look at my books and go, I should be selling more. I should be higher up in the charts in America. Yeah, and I'm going to commit with you to changing that about myself and celebrating more. So I celebrate now with you, and I bring you gifts. So in a few days' time, it is the 6th anniversary of my podcast, A Disruptive Entrepreneur. Now, if I was mentoring myself and being kind to myself— because I'm not kind to myself, I talk to myself quite harshly, I'm always looking for more, it's never good enough. You know, my friend Mark Victor Hansen, I'm good friends with him, he sold 500 million books. I probably sold a million, and I look at myself like I'm a loser. Whereas how many people on the planet have sold a million books? So let's celebrate more together. Let's commit together to celebrating more into 2022. So I'm going to celebrate with you right now and give you some gifts. So it's the 6-year anniversary of my podcast, The Disruptive Entrepreneur. I've done nearly 1,000 episodes of podcasts, and I know I'm in the top 0.001% who's done that. That is such a rare thing. I only know 5 people alive that I've ever seen that have done 1,000 episodes. So I've got to give myself more credit and celebrate. 6 years and 1,000 episodes is not bad going. So here's how I'm going to celebrate with you. I'm going to ask you for something in return for 5 special gifts. Now, before I give you these 5 special gifts, instant access, I just want you to commit to doing this one thing for me. So give me a yes in the comments. It won't cost you anything, it's literally just a click, but I want there to be fair exchange. And I want an ask. I don't usually ask you for anything, but I'm coming to you with an ask. So give me a yes in the comments if you're prepared to support me. Okay, then here's what you do. Go right now to robmoore.com/pod. Rob Moore dot com forward slash pod. Go there right now and claim your 5 special gifts. Now you'll see on the page it says 4, but there's actually an extra one you've got on the thank you redirect page. I'm just sharing the link with you. I'll do it now because I'm almost finished. Rob Moore .com/pod. RobMoore.com/pod. P-O-D. Go there right now. There's 4 gifts waiting for you there, and then there's an extra gift on the redirect page. RobMoore.com/pod. There you go. Go there right now and claim those gifts. Now, my ask for you, once you've popped your details in at robmoore.com/pod, my ask is that on the thank you page you just subscribe to my podcast, The Disruptive Entrepreneur. Now, you'll see on the, the redirect page after you've popped your details in that you can either subscribe on Apple/iTunes if you use Apple, or on Stitcher if you don't use Apple devices. You choose. And if you've already subscribed to my podcast on Apple or non-Apple, subscribe on the other. That's my ask. That's all I ask. Please just do that for me to help me celebrate 6-year anniversary of my podcast, A Disruptive Entrepreneur. I want you to gain access to 16 billionaire interviews and Floyd Mayweather twice. And, um, I've got my first billionaire-esque interview coming soon. I've got many disruptive guests coming. In fact, I've got big news of a rebrand on this podcast channel coming very soon. So that's going to benefit you. It just means we're going to get bigger, sexier, more outrageous, more disruptive, more controversial guests. But my ask is, once you pop your details in at robmoore.com/pod— thanks Kirsty, I can see quite a lot of you have done it— you simply go and subscribe to my podcast on Stitcher or iTunes. Now let me explain what these gifts are that I'm giving to you, and then I'll do a summary of my 5 hard, brutal lessons for 2023. 2021 to give you optimism but realism for 2022. Please make sure you share this content. If you find any of my content useful, please do make sure you hit the share button. Now, um, if you go to robmoore.com/pod, link is there available to you. I've just shared it. I'm going to give you my 19 ways to 10x your following. So I 10x my following in the last 9 to 10 months. I went from 500,000 followers in about 7 years to 1.1 million followers over the, the last 9 to 10 months. That's about a 10x speed in growth. And I learned 19 things doing that to hack virality and growth, and I'm going to share all of them with you in a deep dive document at robmoore.com/pod. Also, I'm going to share with you the 20 ways to monetize social media And I've created a 20-page document, and on every page it teaches you what monetization tool this is, how to unlock it, what's the criteria, where to apply, um, and essentially how to actually have this monetization feature available to you. Because, you know, people are always saying to me, yeah, Rob, you talk about supporters and stars and badges and gifts and subscriptions and ads and premium and luminary and all these different monetization tools across social media. 'But how do I unlock them?' or 'How many followers do I need to get?' or 'How many videos do I need to have done?' etc. So what myself and my VA have done, and we've spent a lot of time doing this, is we have created a step-by-step document, 20 pages, one page per monetization tool, how to apply or how to gain the criteria or what metrics to hit or where to go and how to unlock each monetization tool. I don't know anyone else on the planet that's ever offered this. And that's for free at robmoore.com/pod. There's many other gifts and bonuses. Like I said, there's actually 5, but I'll just leave the rest for you to go and find. My only ask is that you, on the thank you page, once you've popped your details in, is you just subscribe to my podcast on iTunes or on non-Apple on the links on the, on the thank you page after robmoore.com/pod. I want to celebrate with you 6-year anniversary of my podcast. I want to shower you with gifts. And my ulterior motive, I'd like to get back up to number 1 in the charts. I'm number 3 in business and I'm number 3 in entrepreneurship. That's not good enough. That's not where I'm meant to be. So you can help me and I'm helping you. Okay, so a quick summary then of my 5 real hard brutal lessons for 2021 are number 1, the government are probably your biggest threat. 2021 taught us what we already knew, but never did. It taught us what we should have been doing but were not. So COVIDs and lockdowns and vaccines and regulations and inflations and taxations and politics and agendas are all a real, true, clear, and present danger to you, your autonomy, your freedom, your revenue, your reach, your location freedom, your recurring income. So your defense is to be fully focused on autonomy of lifestyle, Autonomy of income, creating multiple streams of recurring income and hedging against any impositions that could be placed upon you outside of your control. Number 2, real hard, brutal lesson of 2021 to arm us with optimism in 2022, is that real freedom is to transcend what other people think about you. Much of the judgment and fear you experience is an illusion of your mind, and it's a worry about what other people are thinking about you who aren't thinking about you, who don't care about you anyway. And what other people think about you is none of your business anyway. So full mastery of life and full freedom is to totally transcend judgment, criticism, ridicule, and the hate of others. Everybody's a critic. People will criticize you. People who love you will loathe you at times. People who you think have got your back will criticize you at times, and that's okay. We've all done it. It's just life. Transcend it and don't let it affect you. Don't let it distract you from your mission. Number 3 then is the war on freedom between globalization and decentralization. So there's big techs and great resets and new world orders and globalization that is a threat to our own individuality, our own freedom. And so the war against that is decentralization of media, of power, of politics, of control, of social media, of tech, of currency, of finance. And this is a massive opportunity for you in 2022. Now I've done a deep dive specific piece of content on the movement of decentralization and where it lies and how you can benefit from it and how you can turn that into a new career and how you can impact the masses with it. So just make sure you're following me on whatever channel you're listening into right now, um, and you'll be able to gain access to that piece of content. Okay, number 4: don't get ready, be ready. I've been saying this for 12 years, and then all of a sudden, bang! Lockdowns, vaccines, COVID regulations, inflations, taxations, politics and agendas. It surprised me. It shouldn't have surprised me. It was always able to be there. It was always one day away, one decision away, but it surprised me because I wasn't ready for what I couldn't be ready for. I was blindsided. Don't be blindsided. And the way to be blindsided or not to be blindsided is to be agile, to disrupt yourself, to ensure that you have a plan B and you can— you're lean and you can change your focus and your attention and your business model at a moment's notice. If you don't disrupt yourself, someone else will. Okay, and then big, hard, real lesson number 5 is that you control your happiness and you should celebrate more. And people only celebrate when they've exceeded their own expectations, and entrepreneurs are classic for not exceeding their own expectations because they have unrealistically high expectations. So you have to choose happiness now. You have to choose to be grateful now. You have to choose to celebrate the small wins as well as the big wins, which are always elusive. And the great upside of Lockdown 17.0 is that they can lock you down, but they can't take away your ability to choose happiness and choose freedom. Happiness and freedom is an inside job, not an external factor. And that's why I've decided to finally start celebrating. And the 6-year anniversary of my podcast is coming And I've got a shedload of gifts for you at robmoore.com. My only ask for you claiming these 5 gifts, including interviews with billionaires and, um, 19 ways to 10x your social media following and 20 ways to monetize social media— these are all thoroughly researched and fully experienced, um, pieces of work that I've created over 10x-ing my following in the last sort of 9 or 10 months. My only ask for all those free gifts at robmoore.com/pod, P-O-D, is that you on the thank you page just go and subscribe to my podcast, The Disruptive Entrepreneur, on iTunes if you have an iPhone or on Stitcher if you use any other device. So I want to say thanks for tuning in on my lives. Please hit the share button. 2021 has been a great, great teacher You know, you learn way more in 2021 than you could in 1,000 books. So please share this 5 disruptive, real hard lessons as a gift to other people that you know.
