Book Review 005: Max Out your life - Ed Mylett

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Max out your life by Ed Mylett is a short, no-nonsense, step-by-step strategy book aimed to help you #MAXOUT Your Life and become an elite performer. Ed is one of America’s top 50 wealthiest under the age of 50, and is acknowledged for building one of the largest financial organizations in America today. Ed has been sought after, and privately mentored many of the top professional athletes, entertainers and business executives in the world for over two decades helping them to perform at #MAXOUT levels of their lives.

Think about this, the average person lives for about 78 years. Of those years, 28 is spent sleeping, 15 years working and commuting, 7 years spent worrying about life, many years on mundane activities, eating, getting dressed, surfing the internet, etc. , which leaves you with approximately 8 years to life your life. If you were told you had 8 years to life your life, how would that change your perspective, would that ignite urgency in your day to day habits and allow you to take more action and less time thinking?

Ed shares this example to depict how each of us do not really know exactly how much time will be given to us. You often hear of people who are older speak of regrets, and the opportunities missed, and chances not taken. Whether this be a dream audition, interviewing for a new job position, or asking out someone on a date. You hear less from people who gave it their all trying out something that eventually may have not worked out, as they will have no regrets, and will have learned from their actions.

In his book, Ed shares his strategies for the following:

1. Creating Strong Habits and Rituals

Ed shares how we as humans, are what we do, and not who we say we are. Habits and rituals allow us to stay motivated when the going gets tough. When we are weak, tired, and under pressure, our mind and body goes into habit mode. That is why it is so important to create habits that serve us and keep us on track even when we aren’t “feeling it”. Some of Ed’s daily morning rituals include waking up before sun rise, taking a cold shower (waking up the body), quick breathing and stretching exercises, meditation, review of goals, eating well, and working out. Ed reminds us that the two most important questions you must ask yourself are 1) why are you doing the things that you do and 2) how you will reach your goals

2. What is the RAS & How to Program

The average person has 75,000 thoughts everyday and 91% are exactly the same as the day before. This is why it isn't hard to see why people plateau and are in the same situation that they were in regards to their relationships, career, finances, fitness, etc. Do you have stop to think about your thoughts? Your thoughts are like magnets and they attract/filter the world you see. There is a bundle of our nerves at our brainstem called the Reticular Activating System (RAS) and it acts as the gatekeeper, filtering out irrelevant information and allowing only relevant information to enter our awareness. Your RAS takes what you focus on and creates a filter for it. Then it takes all the data that is received through your brain and unconsciously filters only pertinent information to you. Have you ever thought about making a purchase (e.g. car, clothing, electronics), and afterwards, you keep seeing those items again and again? They have been there all along, but your RAS is now creating a filter allowing it to enter your awareness. By understanding this and using it in a positive way, you will be able to take control of your life by controlling your thoughts and believing that the outcomes you desire will happen.

3. Raising and Shifting Your Identity

Ed explains how our self-confidence, or what we believe we are worth, equals our identity. Our identity is how we see ourselves, and we can never succeed beyond our identity. So the most powerful force in the human spirit is to live in connection with the ideas and beliefs that we hold true. Identity is like a thermostat with a pre-set temperature. As you are the one who controls the temperature, this is an internal game, not external and how you react to those change to temperatures. As you are in control, regardless of the external elements that may temporarily drop the temperature, you will find a way to bring it back up. You may have heard the term, you are the average of the 5 people around you. As such, the people you associate yourself with may influence what temperature you decide to set your thermostat. Know that you can’t skip the work and be ready to roll up your sleeves and get your clothes dirty as you strive towards success.

4. Goal Setting Strategies

Ed shares how we should set goals as if we already have possession. Be very specific with your goals and remember the three main ingredients: specificity, accountability, and visualization. Being specific is important as saying “I want to be rich” is vague and not a real goal. By identifying the amount of wealth you want, when you will achieve it, and what it will look like, creates an actual target you can it. The clearer it is, the more likely that your mind, body, and soul, will go to work on creating those things in your life. The second part is accountability. There is a reason why people share their goals with people who hold you accountable. When you become distracted by happenings in your life, having another person outside of those distractions can help connect you back to those goals. Lastly, visualization of your goals is wildly important. By focusing on these goals repeatedly in your mind, your brain will become more familiar with it to help identify the paths, people, and tasks needed to achieve them. Your “why” is seventy times more powerful than your “how”.

5. Developing Your Will to Win

As you strive towards your goals, you want to ask yourself if you can be bought. Most people allow their will to win to have a set price. With enough rejection, pain, and setbacks, people will relent and sell their way to win. Most people are not willing to put in the extra work to better themselves. They fall into the pattern of working for a job they don’t like for just enough money to pay for a handful of bills and a modest lifestyle (A salary is nothing but a bribe a business owner has paid someone to work on his/her dream instead of their own). If you have truly committed to your dreams, there is no obstacle or price to high. Your will to win is not for sale. As you progress and achieve milestones, do not allow that progress to cloud the vision to your ultimate goal. Small wins create the illusion that you are successful and you may take the foot of the gas pedal. Eventually, you may start telling yourself, “this is good enough” and compromise. You settle for less than your goals and dreams. This is why your identity is important and making sure you don't re-set the thermostat to settle for short term success and accolades.

Favorite Book Quote: “The average person has 75,000 thoughts every day, and 91% are exactly the same as the day before. It isn't hard to see why so many people stay in the exact spot in life as it relates to relationships, careers, finance, fitness, etc. Do you ever think about what you think about? Thoughts are like magnets; they draw to you that which you think about regularly. They also create the filters you see the world through. If you want real change, you must first change what you are thinking about.”

Become the ultimate and best version of you. The YOU that you were BORN TO BE.

Good Luck!

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Book Review 005: The Slight Edge - Jeff Olson

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The book Slight Edge by Jeff Olson explain how our philosophies shape our attitudes, actions and results, which in turn shape our lives. This book has a repeating theme which is that small habits, if performed over time, will get you the results that you want. Many of these small things are easy to do, but because they are easy, people pass on further consideration such as choosing a cup of fruit over a side of fries, or deciding to buy the latest and greatest smartphone over using the one you have until it needs to be replaced. However, over time, the results of these small decisions produce massive results.

1. Power of the Slight Edge
You may have heard of the story where a person was asked if they want to receive $1 million dollars today, or take a penny, but double it every day for a month? Most of you would choose the million dollars, however, if you were to take the penny, the following would occur: the first day, you have 2 cents, the second day, you have 4 cents, the third day, you have 8 cents, but at the end of the month, you will end up with over $10 million dollars. They started with just one penny, but with time and compounding, it has produced 10x the results. This is the slight edge working either for us or against us. Once you embrace this philosophy, you will know that if you do something long enough, you will get the results you want. But, if you make the small errors of judgement long enough, you will also suffer the consequences.

2. It seems simple, but will you do it?

People may be wondering, if small actions will yield massive results, then why doesn’t everyone do this? Its precisely because its so “easy” and will not impact you immediately, people do not think twice about doing it. This gets even harder with the development of technology and instant gratification we receive through social media and the internet. For the slight edge to work, you have to do something, and keep doing it until you succeed. You need to follow the Plant-Cultivate-Harvest cycle. However, many people either expect something from nothing, or they want to go directly from plant to harvest. The results are not immediately visible. The small activities are undramatic and seemingly insignificant. In a society that tends to worship breakthroughs and quantum leaps, it’s easy to give up or stop doing the small actions required to deliver results.

Favorite quote from the book:

“The truth is, what you do matters. What you do today matters. What you do every day matters. Successful people just do the things that seem to make no difference in the act of doing them and they do them over and over and over until the compound effect kicks in.”

Good Luck!

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Book Review 004: The Richest Man in Babylon

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The Richest Man in Babylon is a story about a wealthy man and his common sense approach to creating wealth. Written by author George S. Clason, a businessman and writer who drafted pamphlets about generating wealth in the 1920s. His book has sold over 2 million copies, and his work has been the foundation of countless other personal finance advice that coined the term “pay yourself first”.

Summary:

1. Pay yourself first

“Every gold piece you save is a slave to work for you. Every copper it earns is its child that also can earn for you.”

Algamish advises the young Arkad to always keep part of his earnings. At first, Arkad thought that he kept everything he earned, but in fact, he earned money, spent it on expenses such as food and clothing, but did not have any savings. Algamish told him that by keeping a part of his earnings off the top and using those funds to invest, those monies will bear “children” and those “children monies” will create even more children, Arkad would eventually be rich.

2. Never invest in something you don't understand

(“A small return and a safe one is far more desirable than risk.”)

Arkad took the Algamish’s advice and began to save, but he used his savings to invest in jewels with Azmur, a brick maker, who promised him big returns. However, it turned out to be a scam and Arkad was given worthless glass trinkets instead of jewels. Algamish then warned Arkad to invest only with experts. If he wanted to buy jewels, he should go to a jewel merchant, not a man who made bricks. When it comes to money, he said, always seek knowledgeable advice.


3. Save early and often , seek out opportunities

“A man’s wealth is not in the purse he carries. A fat purse quickly empties if there is no golden stream to refill it.”

Arkad had become a wealthy man following the principles of Algamish, and he began to teach others how to create wealth. Arkad explained that the most important investment rule is to protect your principal. He warned the men against get-rich and fly-by-night schemes, and told them to be as careful choosing their investments as they were when choosing their wives. To invest, he said, they should seek wise counselors who knew about both gold and life. Arkad told them never to invest their gold in ventures they did not understand or with men who were not skilled in the enterprises they promoted. He told them to buy homes instead of renting them, thus taking advantage of one of life’s best investments. He cautioned them to plan carefully for their later years when low energy, illness, decrepitude and age would make it more difficult to work. Finally, Arkad advised every man present to increase his knowledge, expertise and skills, to become wiser so he could earn more.


4. If you have a strong desire, you will find a way, if not, you will find an excuse

“Good luck waits to come to that man who accepts opportunity.”

A trader who had once been a slave, and still would be one if not for the kindness of his mistress, who took pity on him and helped him gain his freedom, shared his story. His mistress gave him two camels, some bread and a jug of water, and told him to ride across the desert to flee for his freedom. He was greatly afraid because the desert is vast and cruel. Then his mistress asked him if he had the heart of a free man. If so, she said, you will take your chance. If not, you will stay here and remain a slave. Dabasir took her dare and rode into the desert. He journeyed for weeks, his food and water long gone. He thought often of death, but the words of his mistress spurred him forward. He vowed to trek on until he was safe and free.

Thus, one day he finally came out of the desert and made his way to Babylon. From that day on, he always used determination to forge ahead, no matter what difficulties lay in his way. Dabasir looked hard at the young man by his side and told him that he, too, had either the heart of a free man or that of a slave, and that a free man would find a way to repay his debts. Tarkad rose and thanked him for the story, assuring him that as a free man he would repay the money. The next day he did. Where there is a will, there’s a way.


Key Take-Aways

  • Always save at least one-tenth of your income. Invest your savings. Put your money to work for you.

  • Be thrifty. Budget carefully. Do not spend on needless things.

  • Seek the counsel of knowledgeable experts before you invest.

  • Never put the principal that you invested at unseemly risk.

  • Increase your knowledge, expertise and skills, so you can earn more money.

  • Good luck comes to those who know how to seize opportunities and act on them quickly.

  • Be cautious with your money. Lend it only to those who are sure to repay it.

  • Take comfort in hard work. It is your best friend.

  • If you are determined to get ahead, you will.

Good Luck!

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