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Spend a Great Deal of Time Learning the ‘Status Quo’; Decide Whether to Go Along

The ‘status quo’ is a term that means ‘the existing state of affairs’. In practice, it represents the beliefs of large groups of people in a particular space. This status quo could be different in different countries, different cultures, even different cities. There is a status quo for genders, races, etc . The ‘status quo’ could also be defined as meaning ‘all that is considered normal to a group or groups of people’. This is because when you act within it, it raises no alarms. When a person steps outside of what is considered normal, it raises eyebrows, draws attention, or could even get you arrested. Although some elements are unavoidable – the law, for instance – you mostly have a choice whether you want to follow along. The best place to start is to ask: “What is expected of me simply for existing?” You will begin to come up with some answers. Try not to censor yourself. When you are 3-4 years old, you’ll wind up in pre-school. When you are 13-14 years old, you’ll go to high school. From 17-18, your parents may have forced you to go to college. When you graduate, you’ll be expected to work full-time. In your 20s, you’ll be expected to have found somebody and gotten married. After marriage, you’ll probably feel the need to start having kids. Work 30-40 years until you retire. Die? (I guess) Ask yourself, “Do I actually want those things, or do simply feel that I must do those things?” This opens up a rabbit hole; what if many of the things that you’ve been expected to do are things that you don’t want to do? What do people talk about when they talk to you? Has that been changing as you’ve been getting older? If they’re asking you if you’re looking into having kids, you’re likely at the age that the ‘status quo’ deems you worthy of having kids. If they’re asking you what your major is, you’re probably college-aged (18-22 in many Western countries). If you’re a man, you’ll be asked if you have a girlfriend, even if you’re gay and date only men. Due to the higher number of straight people, it’s assumed that a woman dates a man and a man dates a woman. You can go through all the types of questions that surround your life. Here are a few examples: · What types of jobs are you expected to have? · How many spouses are you expected to have at the same time? · How old are the people you should date? What age gap is ‘too much’, even if it’s legal? · What sorts of clothes are acceptable · How are you expected to talk to your parents? · What body shape is most idolized for your gender? · What is the public perception on sex? · What would peoples’ opinion of you be if you made a lot of money? · What would peoples’ opinion of you be if you didn’t work a 9-5, but still made plenty of money? · What if you were 45, but never married or had kids? What would people say? You can choose to embrace or reject individual aspects of the status quo. Embracing them doesn’t make you weak; it simply means that you’ve deliberately chosen them. This way of thinking presents a slippery slope: “People expect things from you, therefore you are a victim to peoples’ expectations.” This is not true; you have the choice to live your life exactly as you please.

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The Power of Gradual Improvement

Is it better to practice a thing 7 hours one day per week or 1 hour per day, every day of the week? The latter answer (an hour a day) is the best answer for several reasons: . It becomes an established habit that you can integrate into your day-to-day life, instead of a monumental event that happens occasionally. · Therefore, you’re less likely to skip days, and will put in more hours in the long run. · If you skip the 7 hour day, you’ve missed an entire week ofword for ‘improvement’. It refers to continuous improvement that one employs in every aspect of one’s life. In the Japanese business world, Kaizen is used from the assembly line worker all the way to the CEO. They are frequently encouraged to write down 10 suggestions on how they can improve their productivity, and they employ a couple of them. After a year, they’ve put into place several dozen productivity tweaks. Let’s look at a language-learning example : You want to learn German (I’m personally about to begin). You give yourself a couple of options: 1) Cram as much information as possible for as much time for 3 weeks. For 21 days, you spend 8 hours a day drilling and learning everything you can on the topic. 2) Spend 20 minutes listening to German instruction material and learning new flashcards each day for one year. Let’s suppose that you learn 25 new flashcards each day with spaced-repetition-learning soft- ware, reviewing old flashcards as you go along. Option 1: If you manage to focus for the entire 8 hours, you’ve dedi- cated 168 hours towards German after 3 weeks, listening to the radio while learning material. Option 2: Taking on the more digestible task of learning a little each day, you’ve dedicated 120 hours to audio material, yet you’ve learned 9,125 new words in only one year, far beyond what is required for fluency. learning new flashcards each day for one year. Let’s suppose that you learn 25 new flashcards each day with spaced-repetition-learning soft- ware, reviewing old flashcards as you go along. With Option 1, it’s difficult to say if you’ll be able to maintain all the new information that you’ve accumulated. With Option 2, you’re given the time to assimilate new information with old information, thus it’s likely to stick. Taking 20 minutes out of your day isn’t an enormous commitment, but such a daily investment will compound over time and give you enormous rewards. Although I’ve previously stated that you can’t reach your purpose with 10 minutes a day, it’s true that accomplishing your purpose will require the fulfillment of various goals. These goals can be accomplished with daily, consistent actions. Of course, I didn’t invent this stuff. Darren Hardy has a book called ‘The Compound Effect‘, which explains how our daily choices and habits leads for us to tiny results that compound over time. With the ideas from the Compound Effect, if you have 10 daily tasks that apply to this principle, applying 20 minutes to each task would be a daily commitment of 200 minutes (3 1/3 hours), but you’ll be certain to master each of these tasks if you give it enough time and consistency. It doesn’t mean that you need to keep it small; you could choose a task that requires three hours per day. Doing that 320 days per year (considering exceptions when it isn’t possible), you will have accom- plished 960 hours of that task. Engaging in a task three hours a day is only recommended if it is sustainable (you can do it every day) and it is a very important task for you and your success.

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How To Fulfill Your Goals

Out of all the skills that exist, the one skill that rules them all is goal setting. We humans are naturally goal-seeking creatures; the key is knowing what your goals are. Back in the past, our goals were pretty clear; get shelter, ward off predators, hunt down food, stay hydrated and alive. With that information, our ancestors’ brains were able to track a course to accomplish those goals. Think; you essentially have the same goal as your ancestors, but your line of thinking is drastically different from theirs, because your basic survival needs are presumably taken care of. Your ancestors could have thought like you, but only if their environment was similar to yours. Today, we have multiple priorities that overlap at various levels. We often don’t know which goals to tackle first; sometimes, we don’t even know what to tackle, since we aren’t clear about what it is we need/want to accomplish. However, setting goals and setting priorities for them will clear up your thinking to the point that you can accomplish more in 5 years than most people accomplish in 20 years. There’s a study (more of an urban legend) with Harvard MBA graduates and their income levels; the university is very selective, and those at Harvard are vetting to succeed, so it’s expected that any graduate will be reasonably successful. But it’s been claimed that 3% of the Harvard MBAs made 10 times more money than the other 97% combined. (1979, Harvard MBA Program) Here’s the reason why: certain groups of people set goals, and others didn’t:

· 84% had no specific goals · 13% had goals that they kept in mind, but not on paper · 3% has clear, specific goals that were written on paper with a plan for its achievement When the interviewers followed up 10 years later. here’s what they found: · The 13% group (with vague) goals collectively earned double that of the 84% (no goals). · The 3% (goals with a plan) collectively earned 10 times that which the other 97% was earning Am I a bit incredulous about this study? Sure, but I’ve noticed enormous differences in my own life when I’ve set goals and taken sensible steps towards their accomplishment. The point is that setting goals is crucial, but there are some other conditions to fulfill.

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How to Properly Set Goals

When it comes to writing goals, the average person has no idea how to actually do it. The main assumption is that you should have a general idea of what you want to accomplish. Wrong! Here is a quick list of conditions to properly goals: · They must be specific and measurable, so that your sub- conscious mind is able to work with the goal and find ways to accomplish it. · They must be written on paper; this stimulates the mind-body connection between your mind and your pen. · They must be written at least once a day to insert the mes- sage deep into your mind. · They must be written in the present tense; your subcon- scious mind does not conceptualize past or future, only the present; for example, “I weigh 150 pounds and am 10% body fat”, “I enjoy an abundance of energy and vitality” · They have a realistic deadline; having a sense of urgency will lead you to react, but too much time (ex: 10 years to make 100$) will not be engaging. Here is a list of good examples of goals:

“I earn 3,000 USD per month by teaching jazz and tap dance lessons to people in Chicago” · “I am married to a beautiful, intelligent, loving, interesting, ethical woman. We are deeply in love and fall deeper in love every day.” · “I play the flute like an expert by practicing one hour a day learning scales, technique, improvisation, and taking lessons from an expert” Here is a list of bad examples for goals: · “I teach dance lessons and make plenty of money” · “I will someday get married to someone who will put up with my crap” · “I play the flute real good” Let’s suppose you’ve written a list of 10 concrete goals – goals that you’d like to accomplish in 12 months – onto a piece of paper on January 1st. If you fold that paper and put it away, and open it up again next December 31th, you’ll find that you’ve accomplished 6, 7, or even 8 of those goals. This is because your mind is a goal-seeking organism, and when it has the right materials (goals and positive expectations), your subconscious mind will do the work behind-the-scenes to figure out how to accomplish it. When you write your goals everyday on paper, you’re reaffirming to your mind that these goals are what you truly want to accomplish, and not a fleeting wish. Consider this the small price to pay in order to guide your mind towards accomplishing your hopes and dreams. You will add a word here, or change your choice of words, and they will become laser sharp. Exercise:

Get a piece of paper – better yet, buy a journal for your goals.

Figure out a list of 10 goals that you’d like to accomplish in the next 12 months.

Write your 10 goals out onto a page of your journal.

Every day, write those 10 goals on a different page; do this without referring to yesterday’s page. The wording of your goals will become more specific as you spend more time thinking about it.

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The Way You Do Anything Is the Way You Do Everything

Your blind spots hurt you more than you think If you have a fault or a shortcoming in one area, it’s safe to assume that this fault will apply to many other areas in your life. You may be bashful when it comes to introducing yourself to potential mates, but it doesn’t end there. This concept suggests that if you are shy and bashful when it comes to dating, these qualities will carry over into other areas in your life. Being bashful will impact you when it comes to making and accepting social invitations. It will impact you when you’re trying to make a sale at work. It will impact you when you are disciplining your kids. It will im- pact you when you are trying to make a name for yourself. It will defi- nitely impact you when you are trying to accomplish your purpose. We all have faults, and these faults are transcendent in the sense that they impact everything we do.

If you have difficulties with confrontation, you can clearly see all the as- pects of your life that this issue will touch. If you have trust issues, you can clearly see how your life will be impacted. If you are non-committal.. you get the idea. Keep in mind that you have faults that will impact the way you navigate the world, as well as the rewards that you receive throughout your life. Your problems aren’t limited to one problem; in fact, they are so ubiq- uitous that they are often not visible to you. If you hear about people who want to “drop everything and just focus on X’, they’re revealing a great flaw that will keep them from accom- plishing X. If they’re dropping real responsibilities – paying the bills, keeping up hygiene, cleaning their apartment – then it’s a sign that they’re dodging their (real) responsibilities. If they aren’t responsible about these things, what proof have we that he can fulfill X? You must figure out these shortcomings, often by referring to coaches, by reading and honest self-reflection. Once you know these things, you can choose to repair your faults by using deliberate effort to succeed in moments where you would normally fail.

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How to Properly Set Goals

When it comes to writing goals, the average person has no idea how to actually do it. The main assumption is that you should have a general idea of what you want to accomplish. Wrong! Here is a quick list of conditions to properly goals: · They must be specific and measurable, so that your sub- conscious mind is able to work with the goal and find ways to accomplish it. · They must be written on paper; this stimulates the mind-body connection between your mind and your pen. · They must be written at least once a day to insert the mes- sage deep into your mind. · They must be written in the present tense; your subcon- scious mind does not conceptualize past or future, only the present; for example, “I weigh 150 pounds and am 10% body fat”, “I enjoy an abundance of energy and vitality” · They have a realistic deadline; having a sense of urgency will lead you to react, but too much time (ex: 10 years to make 100$) will not be engaging. Here is a list of good examples of goals:

“I earn 3,000 USD per month by teaching jazz and tap dance lessons to people in Chicago” · “I am married to a beautiful, intelligent, loving, interesting, ethical woman. We are deeply in love and fall deeper in love every day.” · “I play the flute like an expert by practicing one hour a day learning scales, technique, improvisation, and taking lessons from an expert” Here is a list of bad examples for goals: · “I teach dance lessons and make plenty of money” · “I will someday get married to someone who will put up with my crap” · “I play the flute real good” Let’s suppose you’ve written a list of 10 concrete goals – goals that you’d like to accomplish in 12 months – onto a piece of paper on January 1st. If you fold that paper and put it away, and open it up again next December 31th, you’ll find that you’ve accomplished 6, 7, or even 8 of those goals. This is because your mind is a goal-seeking organism, and when it has the right materials (goals and positive expectations), your subconscious mind will do the work behind-the-scenes to figure out how to accomplish it. When you write your goals everyday on paper, you’re reaffirming to your mind that these goals are what you truly want to accomplish, and not a fleeting wish. Consider this the small price to pay in order to guide your mind towards accomplishing your hopes and dreams. You will add a word here, or change your choice of words, and they will become laser sharp. Exercise:

Get a piece of paper – better yet, buy a journal for your goals.

Figure out a list of 10 goals that you’d like to accomplish in the next 12 months.

Write your 10 goals out onto a page of your journal.

Every day, write those 10 goals on a different page; do this without referring to yesterday’s page. The wording of your goals will become more specific as you spend more time thinking about it.

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How to Accomplish Your Goals

Now that you’ve selected a set of goals that you’d like to accomplish, we can put into place a strategy that will ensure that you will actually achieve them. Division If you set 10 goals, you could try to accomplish all 10 goals over the course of one year. However, it spreads your focus thin and really cuts into your time and energy budgets. Instead, you can find a way to divide your year into sections and focus on only a few goals with total focus. This will let you keep your year interesting with different sets of goals, yet give you enough time for all of them. My favorite strategy is to divide the 12 month calendar year into four quarters of three months each. I refer to these Quarters as Q1, Q2, Q3, and Q4. For example: Q1 goes from January 1 until March 31 Q2 goes from April 1 until June 30 Q3 goes from July 1 until September 30 Q4 goes from October 1 until December 31 You may certain divide the year into 3 four-month blocks (Tier1, Tier2, Tier3) or 2 six-month blocks (Half1, Half2). Divide your year according to how much work is required for each project you undertake. Main Projects In each of these blocks, it’s recommended that you focus on only two main projects, all while doing other maintenance tasks. Two main projects are enough to keep your mind occupied for three months, all while keeping you focused; if you had three or more projects, you wouldn’t have enough time or energy to make real progress in all of them. Some examples of a main project: · Intense work projects/working towards a promotion · Kick-starting an online business; · Increasing income · University studies · Running for public office · Training for a fitness/bodybuilding showcase · Speed-dating/finding a relationship · Improving language skills (ex: going from intermediate to advanced in 3 months) · Improve cooking skills to a high level (learning 30 new dishes) · Learning to hike · Taking classes and practicing them (Photography, editing, karate) · Learning a new instrument · Entering a competition/Training · Reading 10 books on a subject While you have these two main projects, you can certainly have mini-side projects, such as practicing a few minutes in a skill that you’ve acquired so that you won’t lose progress. If you work a full-time job, that should still be a priority. If you are self-employed, you can choose how to prioritize work in order to meet your goals. If you divide the year into quarters, and have two main projects going at a time, you’ll be able to work on 8 projects per year. If you divide the year into thirds, and have two main projects going at a time, you’ll be able to work on 6 projects per year If you divide the year into halves, and have two main projects going at a time, you’ll be able to work on 4 projects per year. Six-month projects are quite long, and it may become difficult to keep your momentum, so consider using quarters to start building confi- dence when it comes to accomplishing your goals. You might also under-estimate the time it takes to accomplish one goal, so it might carry over into the next quarter. Throw Your Hat Over the Fence If you want to guarantee that you’ll achieve a goal, you can engineer your life to make it more uncomfortable to not take action. One effective technique is using some form of leverage to compel you to follow through. Often, this is in the form of money. Here’s the formula:i) Set a goal that you really want to achieve ii) Find a person whom you trust and give them some leverage over you (ex: have them hold 100$ of yours). iii) Set up an agreement with them that you will perform some action re- lated to your goal every day, OR ELSE… iv) If you fail one day, the person gets to spend your money as quickly as possible. In fact, they’ll get even more of your money to keep lever- age over your head. If the leverage is strong enough, the consequence is that you’ll feel enormous motivation to do what it takes to avoid losing money. If you have to choose between running 4 miles each day or losing 100$, run- ning 4 miles seems like less of a big deal. So you’ll go for a run. Another way to gain leverage over yourself is to sign up for some sort of competition related to it. It’s said that the greatest way to get into shape is to join a fitness competition. This is because you’re immediately forced to figure out all the factors related to fitness. · Number of Calories · Macronutrient Proportions · Getting to the Gym · Bulking vs. Cutting · Increasing Strength · Recovery · Maximizing hormones naturally · Supplements · Getting a coach · Reaching a deadline Would you think about these things if you were casually interested in “losing weight” or “getting into shape”? I don’t think so. Other forms of leverage include accountability partners, who compel you to do what is necessary. This could mean friends, or even coaches who won’t accept your excuses. Exercise:Divide your next 12 months in quarters, thirds, or halvesChoose two main projects for each of those units (quarters, thirds) ac- cording to their best use. Example: get a beach body for Q2, which leads into summer; build an online business during Q4, as you’ll be spending more and more time indoors.Figure out the best uses of your time, energy, and money, to help fig- ure out which steps to take, how much action is required, and at what times of the day you should do them.

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Secrets of True Motivation: Understanding Your Themes

Discerning your life themes can help you tap into a wellspring of energy and motivation

One of the biggest blocks to creating our best self by making lasting change in our lives comes down to energy and motivation. All change requires effort, and motivation is one of the fabled secrets to success. Without that boost for our energy, we tend to encounter blocks, such as procrastination and over-thinking. The end result is that change doesn’t last, and we feel we’ve failed to step closer to that potential we know is possible. Uncovering Motivation When we sat in English literature classes, we were often expected to recognise a core themefor the story. As a writer myself, I look back on those lessons with rolled eyes. Although seeking themes in literature can be a mixed experience, one of the best places to start outlining your potential path to an empowered life is to reflect on the themes of your life. We spend much of our life feeling out of control, unable to craft our ‘Right Path’ — either through different self-help techniques, or due to the doubts and unhelpful thoughts that fill our minds. Each thought, every doubt, and even the attempts to make sense of what step we should act on next, are all part of the stories we tell ourselves. When we can connect to that core theme, we find ourselves with almost infinite energy and motivation to help fuel us in making changes stick. And if that story theme can motivate and energize us to make lasting change, it’s worth a bit of space to uncover and identify it. My Main Theme When I look back at the themes running through my life, there is one consistency from my single-digit years up to this age, a theme which has never wavered: the capacity of humans to harness inner strength. As a child, I was increasingly worried about being ‘weak.’ In hindsight, I began studying resilience at the age of twelve. I was drawn to study psychology by the idea that we don’t use all of our mental capacity. I read (and now write) fantasy novels, with magic that may one day be explained by science. In 2011, I began my first mentoring business, and as the face of it has evolved, I’ve noticed just how many of my core underpinnings remain the same. In my blogs, my business, and my daily opinions, my core theme is that of capability, resilience and inner strength. It is this thread that makes me passionate about fighting back, about speaking up and about taking action.This unwavering theme gives me an infinite wellspring of energy. If I can live out my truth and act in some way to teach people about accessing that capability within them, I end the day feeling more energized than I began it. When thinking about your potential and what will help you connect with your best self, it can be helpful to pause and consider what you’ve done before. How to Find Your Theme The first place to look for your life themes is to reflect on your early decisions — especially ones that may not quite fit with how you were expected to behave. Here are some questions to ask yourself:

Have you ever felt drawn to try something that you couldn’t explain, even if you didn’t question it at the time? I took Tai Chi and Yoga classes as 12-year-old because I wanted to learn how to still my mind. I began learning Karate because of a fascination with discipline, and getting my body to move in flow. I read a book on Neuro-Linguistic Programming in my early teens. At a time when most people my age liked music and fashion, I was obsessed with emotional regulation and what the human mind could create.

Thinking over the key decisions you made in the past, what themes have run through most of them? Another way to find that theme, especially those that may still be strong motivators even now, is to let go of your expectations and ask yourself, what calls to you right now?

If you had a month to spend as you liked, what would you do beyond the ‘I’d rest and relax’ answer? We change as experiences move through us, but some of those core beliefs and guiding values are dictated by those decisions. Our intuition guides us to act, to take a specific direction. Building upon the foundation your intuition has guided you through could be a good way to uncover those themes and core beliefs that fuel you to keep moving forward. And those motivations are worth your time and energy.

What nudges have you felt that might have been a little sign from your intuition that suggests a certain direction? At the end of the day, finding your theme is not a simple quick-fix process, but once you find that consistent motivation, you will feel more energized. When you follow your intuition, you tend to feel in flow, with a sense of achievement bolstering any energy already in that well. When you have energy in your well, you can act. And only through action can we change the world.

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Self-Discipline Starts with Habits

Research shows it takes anywhere from 18 days to 254 days to form a new habit. On average, it takes a little more than two months (66 days) to make a new behavior automatic. Each day you repeat the beha- vior you intend to automate, you need less discipline to make it stick. Sixty-six days later, it takes little discipline to maintain the habit – it becomes your automatic behavior. Charles Duhigg, the author of The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business, breaks down a habit into three elements: cue, action, and reward. If your cue is the sight of a chocolate bar in the store, your action is eating it and your reward is the sweet taste of chocolate in your mouth. Your brain follows a simple plan – when it sees the cue, it makes you perform the action (usually with little awareness) in order to get the reward it craves. Fortunately, we can use the exact same process to form positive habits and make our behaviors automated. We can also make changes to

our existing bad habits and transform them into good ones. To take the example with the chocolate bar, let’s assume it’s your craving for something sweet that drives you to eat it. The next time you get a craving to eat a candy bar, replace it with an apple. The first time you’ll modify your behavior will be the hardest – that’s when your self- discipline is needed the most. You may need to put into use some of the tips I’m going to share later in the book. Once you repeat the same behavior several times, it will get easier and easier to replace the bar with an apple. Several weeks later, you will grab an apple at the sight of a chocolate bar. It will become your new default. You won’t even think twice about making a different choice. Developing new habits is the essence of self-discipline. But there’s a better way to introduce new habits than doing it one by one.

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The Fundamentals of Self-Discipline

The 80/20 Principle says that 80% of the results come from 20% of the efforts. In reality, you often need to know just one thing to achieve extraordinary results. Self-discipline is no different. It can also be simplified to one con- cept – automating your behaviors. You don’t need any more self- discipline than you have now if you learn how to establish new habits in your life – default actions you take when tempted to lose sight of your long-term goals. Imagine you’re on a diet and someone offers you a chocolate bar. Your long-term goal is to lose weight and become healthier. But the temptation staring straight in your face – a delicious bomb of sugar – lures you in almost as if it meant your death if you didn’t eat it. You wriggle and squirm, trying to draw from your willpower and say no. Two minutes later (if not sooner), the chocolate bar is gone. After all, what the hell – one chocolate bar won’t screw up your diet, right? The next time someone offers you a chocolate bar, you won’t be able to resist again. Soon, you’ll drop your diet and go back to your regular eating habits.

All because you haven’t developed an automated reaction to some- one offering you a chocolate bar. Now imagine your behavior is automated – you followed the 80/20 Principle and introduced a habit in your life. At the sight of a chocolate bar, you become self-aware of your craving. But instead of giving in, you recognize the craving for what it is – a detour that will take you away from your long-term goal. You remind yourself you can eliminate the craving by eating a piece of fruit. All of it happens in an instant. It’s as natural to you as brushing your teeth right after you wake up (you don’t need to exert your self- discipline to do it, do you?). Congratulations, your automated behavior has prevented you from breaking your resolutions.

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The 10X Rule for Managing Your Expectations

You may be motivated to accomplish a project, and be fired up to start the steps. But after three or four weeks, you may be wondering “What gives? Where are my results?”. This is to be expected, especially when re- sults depend on other people. Most people have an unrealistic expectation on how long it takes to accomplish a goal. They believe it takes much less time than it actually does. For example, on average, how long does it take a person who desires to become a millionaire to do so? There will be people that expect it to take one or two years to gain one million dollars in assets. The honest truth is that it often takes much longer. Some people are lucky and get it with one or two years, but much more often, it takes anywhere between four years and forty years of focused work, sometimes even longer.

There is a book called ‘The 10X Rule’ by Grant Cardone. The main idea of this book is that our big dreams will take ten times more time, more effort, and more money than what we’d ever expect. This statement may or may not be true, but you should be willing to entertain that idea to be able to move forward with your head in the right place. The key is that if you’re willing to accept the fact, you’re more likely to succeed since you understand that there will be roadblocks in the way. Especially at the start, our actions aren’t met with very much fanfare. But if you put in the time day after day, the benefits begin to pile up, and you’ve build momentum. After enough time, your momentum can bat- ter any obstacle. Another concept of Cardone’s book is that you should set your goals ten times larger so that you’re more motivated to succeed. In my opin- ion, it’s better to set realistic goals and achieve them before working on huge goals.