Complacency, let me tell ya, is like the killer lurking in the shadows, ready to pounce on your motivation and squeeze the life out of it!
Picture this:
You’re cruising along the road of life, feeling all comfortable and cozy in your little bubble of success. You’ve achieved a few things, reached a few milestones, and suddenly, you think, “Hey, I’ve made it! Time to kick back and relax!” But guess what? That’s when complacency sneaks up behind you and goes, “Surprise! I’m here to suck the motivation right out of you!”
Motivation, is like a wild stallion, always ready to gallop towards new horizons. It’s that fire inside you that keeps you hungry for more, pushing you to set goals, chase dreams, and conquer challenges. But complacency? Oh boy, it’s the seductive temptress that whispers, “Nah, you’ve done enough. Take a break. You deserve it.”
Now, I’m not saying breaks aren’t important. We all need our R&R, no doubt about that. But when complacency becomes a permanent resident, that’s when trouble brews. It’s like sitting in your comfy recliner, binging on potato chips, and watching reruns of “Friends” for the umpteenth time. Yeah, it’s cozy for a while, but eventually, you’re gonna realize you’ve turned into a human potato.
So, what’s the antidote to complacency?
It’s simple. It’s all about shaking things up, injecting some adventure into your life. Set those goals, reach for the stars, and embrace challenges like you’re wrestling an alligator! Keep that hunger for growth alive, and don’t be afraid to stumble and fall along the way. Failure? Pfft, it’s just another chance to learn and bounce back stronger.
Surround yourself with folks who inspire you, who fuel your fire and make you believe in the magic of life, cause life is magic. And don’t forget to take a good look in the mirror from time to time. Evaluate your progress, celebrate your wins, and kick yourself in the butt if you’re getting a bit too comfy.
Conclusion
Remember, life is a wild and crazy roller coaster, and it’s up to you to keep that motivation train chugging along. So, stay vigilant, fight complacency like it’s an evil villain, and let your motivation soar to new heights!
If you liked this post or feel someone you know needs to hear it, share it. Share it to social media too or leave a comment. I’d appreciate it. Thanks!
This post is going to be all about the ability to finish. I call it close. How do you close the deal? How do you close the book? How do you finish something that you started?
In today’s society, in today’s environment, a lot of us suffer from attention span deprivation. I don’t know if that’s a real term. I’m going to call it attention span deprivation. We are deprived of having a long attention span because there’s so much short form content via TikTok and Instagram Reels and even, like, a lot of microwave mentality type things with Uber Eats and weight loss pills and weight loss surgery.
I kind of elaborated on easy ways to lose weight on last week’s Live Better Now podcastor two weeks ago’s episode, about I had someone email me a question about how he wanted to lose weight, but he was lazy. And I gave him three options on how he can lose weight if he was lazy. But those three options are not really sustainable long term, and they’re not the right way to do it, and they’re not the healthy way to do it.
The healthy way and the right way to do something great is to work hard, be consistent, and if you are good at something that you are doing for a long period of time, you will get great results. That’s how life works.
It’s 2023 and the pendulum is starting to swing in the other direction away from having it right here, right now. Because TikTok and Instagram Reels and Delivery Dudes and Uber Eats and on-demand Netflix and streaming platforms make it so easy for us to just get what we want right here, right now. As far as, like, a dopamine fix goes, if we want a shot of Dopamine, we just open Instagram. We want a shot of Dopamine, we just go to Netflix. We want a shot of Dopamine. You can get it very easily. It’s accessible. It’s not hard and complicated to get quick entertainment or get a quick hit rush of dopamine. And that’s not a good thing, it’s really not a good thing. Our attention span is being more compressed and compressed over time.
So what I want to talk about today is our ability to finish, okay? Your ability to finish something that you started. For example, if you start writing a book, your ability to finish the book. If you start reading a book, your ability to finish reading the book. If you start a project, your ability to finish the project. And this is something that I struggle with, too. We all struggle with the ability to close. But the message lately around social media and the personal growth and self-development space, which I agree with, about urgency and just trying things, throwing spaghetti at the wall and seeing what sticks, I think that’s the saying is, throw spaghetti at the wall and see what sticks.
Think less… Do more
Now, I am a huge proponent of just starting things, of thinking less and doing more, jumping in headfirst. Do not test the water. Do not dip your toe in the water and see the temperature of the water. You just jump right in and you figure it out over time. I am a huge proponent of that.
A lot of the successes around the projects that I’ve started, whether it’s the Live Better Now podcast I started, as an example, when I started the podcast, I didn’t have all the details figured out. I didn’t have a perfect plan or a clear roadmap. I just knew that I wanted to share my thoughts and ideas with others and hopefully make a positive impact. I jumped in headfirst, started recording episodes, and learned along the way. I made mistakes, faced challenges, and encountered obstacles, but I kept going. I didn’t let the fear of imperfection or the uncertainty of the outcome stop me from moving forward. And that’s the mindset I encourage all of you to adopt when it comes to starting and finishing projects.
Develop the ability to finish
However, while it’s important to start and take action, it’s equally important to develop the ability to finish what you started. Starting is just the beginning, but finishing is where the real value lies. It’s what separates the dreamers from the achievers, the talkers from the doers.
So, how can we improve our ability to finish? Here are a few strategies that can help:
Set clear goals: Clearly define what you want to achieve and set specific, measurable, and achievable goals. This will give you a sense of direction and purpose, making it easier to stay motivated and focused until the end.
Break it down: Large projects or goals can often feel overwhelming, leading to procrastination or giving up halfway through. Break down your project into smaller, manageable tasks or milestones. Focus on one step at a time, celebrating small victories along the way.
Develop discipline and consistency: Building discipline and consistency is crucial for finishing what you started. Set a schedule or routine that allows you to work consistently towards your goal. Even if progress seems slow at times, keep showing up and putting in the effort.
Stay accountable: Find ways to hold yourself accountable for your actions. This could be through accountability partners, mentors, or even publicly sharing your progress. When others are aware of your commitment, it adds an extra layer of motivation to follow through.
Embrace challenges and setbacks: Understand that challenges and setbacks are part of the journey. Instead of seeing them as roadblocks, view them as opportunities for growth and learning. Adapt, adjust your approach if needed, and keep pushing forward.
Celebrate milestones: Celebrate your progress and milestones along the way. Recognize and reward yourself for the effort and commitment you’ve put into reaching each stage of the project. This positive reinforcement will keep you motivated and energized to continue.
Remember, finishing what you start is a skill that can be developed and improved over time. It requires a combination of mindset, discipline, and perseverance. By adopting these strategies and cultivating the habit of closing what you started, you’ll not only achieve your goals but also build confidence in your ability to take on future endeavors.
So, I challenge you all to embrace the mindset of a finisher. Start with intention, work diligently, and cross that finish line with pride. It’s time to overcome attention span deprivation and become masters of closing. Let’s finish what we started and live better now.
I hope you found some value in this post, thank you for subscribing and for more on this and many other topics and interviews with masters of their game, check out the Live Better Now podcast with Life Coach Zach available on all podcast platforms like Apple and Spotify. It’s a free resource for everyone and I’ll catch you next time.
THE LIVE BETTER NOW PODCAST IS AVAILABLE ON ALL PODCAST PLATFORMS
Are you feeling stuck in your career or personal life? Do you want to know the secrets of success from someone who has worked with the world’s most influential people? Look no further than the this podcast with Steve Sims.
Discover the Power of Aggravation
According to Sims, the key to success is aggravation. When you’re fed up with your current situation, you’re more likely to take action and make a change. Sims encourages listeners to harness their aggravation and turn it into momentum. Whether it’s a bad smell in your house or a lack of air in your tires, use your frustration to fuel your drive for success.
Embrace Your Curiosity
Sims also emphasizes the importance of curiosity. By asking questions and seeking out new information, you can unlock your full potential. Whether you’re looking to improve your career or personal life, curiosity can help you find new opportunities and solutions.
Learn from the Best
As a successful entrepreneur and founder of Bluefish, a luxury concierge service, Sims has worked with some of the world’s most influential people, including Elon Musk and Sir Elton John. On this podcast, he shares his insights and experiences to help listeners achieve their own success.
With a focus on actionable advice and real-world examples, the episode with Steve Sims is a must-listen for anyone looking to unlock their full potential. So what are you waiting for? Tune in today and start your journey towards success.
Also available on youtube
THE LIVE BETTER NOW PODCAST IS AVAILABLE ON ALL PODCAST PLATFORMS
If you can tell by the title, this is about what to do when you’re feeling stuck, which is very relevant to my most recent Instagram post that I posted this week. It was an Instagram post that went semi-viral. We’re at over 42,000 views and over 100 shares on this Instagram post. Instagram reel about a client of mine who came to me last year, back in July of 2022, feeling extremely stuck in his life. He didn’t like his job. He had no money. He was abusing drugs—in this case, cocaine—a few times a week and wasn’t going to the gym. He had a terrible mental health problem, was struggling a lot, and was experiencing a lot of challenges in his life. And he came to me and said, Hey, Zach, do you think you can help me out? And after having a few conversations with him—two or three conversations before we started working together—it came down to the fact that he needs to get clean. And we discovered that together. I did not give this person advice. I did not tell them what to do. I simply asked the right questions to uncover what he wanted for himself over the next six months, over the next year, and over the next 50 years of his life. And he wanted money. He wanted to travel. He wanted to be happy. He wanted to feel secure and safe; he wanted to feel inspired; he wanted to be ambitious; and he knew he could accomplish more. But there were a lot of things that were holding him back, and he felt stuck. And the biggest factor that was holding him back was his use of drugs.
This is a problem, guys. It is an epidemic.
We do have a drug problem in America. We have a drug problem in the country and around the world. And it’s not just cocaine, fentanyl, and heroin. I mean, there are a lot of people who are addicted to marijuana. There are a lot of people who are addicted to alcohol. There are a lot of people who are addicted to caffeine. There are a lot of people who are addicted to vaping. And even though vaping doesn’t really change, your mindset, it is extremely detrimental to your health.
So when this client came to me and we discovered together that the most profound and blaring issue in his life was his drug problem, we decided to get clean. And the first thing he did to get clean was get rid of his paraphernalia. The second thing he did to get clean was text me every single night, email me every single night when he was going to sleep sober, and fast forward the clock ten months. He has been sober for over 275 days. He has erased a lot of his consumer debt. He has saved up a good amount of money in his savings account, and he just landed his dream job in the dream city that he wanted to move to. He’s lost over 50 pounds. He is extremely healthy. He’s in the best place of his life he has ever been. And it didn’t take much to make that change. All it took was one small pivot, putting 1 foot in front of the other, and doing that day in and day out consistently over time, because those small wins stacked consistently over time amount to massive results.
Those small wins each and every single day is going to amount to the results you’re after
So I want you to think about the one thing that you could either stop doing or that you can start doing that will change your life or pivot your direction in a better way. And if that’s going to the gym every single day, if it’s stopping smoking cigarettes, if it’s stopping drinking alcohol for a month, if it’s starting that business, starting that podcast, picking up the phone and calling a friend to pick up the phone and asking for help to schedule an appointment with your therapist. Those small wins each and every single day is going to amount to the results you’re after.
So to the reader today, if you’re reading this right now and you’re feeling stuck, I want you to write it down, whether it’s digitally or pen to paper. What’s that one thing you’re going to do today, and what’s that one thing that you’re going to be more intentional about to pivot your life in a better direction? Because this story, this anecdote of the client I was working with and that I’m still working with, is proof that through small steps consistently executed over time, you will reap massive results.
So how do you know if you’re feeling stuck?
I think it’s pretty simple and user-friendly to understand. I don’t think you have to read a book or watch a video on Socrates, Plato, or Aristotle to recognize when you’re feeling stuck. A lot of us feel stuck a lot of the time, and there are a lot of reasons why we feel stuck.
We are such a consumeristic society, and we want a nicer car, a newer watch, a newer bag, more followers, and to eat at more expensive restaurants. So we’re always chasing, and craving more things, right? So it’s easy to feel stuck when you don’t have the things that you dream of or believe that you should have. But at the end of the day, those things that we want, those things that we’re after, we have to earn those things. You have to earn a lot of money. You have to earn the ability to go to parties, go to events, and go to charities with extremely successful millionaires and billionaires, okay? You can’t just show up because you think you’re deserving or feel privileged to belong there. You can’t make money out of thin air. You earn money out of thin air. Two completely different things, okay? And in this society, in this day and age, a lot of people live with the microwave mentality. They want to house hack and do zero money down creative financing to build a massive $100 million real estate portfolio. They want to buy the newest altcoin, whether it’s Dogecoin or Shiba Inu, and they want to get rich from that. They want to buy an NFT, flip it, and make $40,000. They want to find a rental, and they want to create this huge Airbnb arbitrage business, okay? But getting rich is not easy. Getting rich takes time.
So back to the conversation about what to do when you’re feeling stuck. The one thing to do when you’re feeling stuck is the one thing that’s going to make you a better version of yourself next hour than you were this hour. And if that means meditating for five minutes, if that means journaling for ten minutes if that means picking up a book that you said you were going to read last year, the year before, and the year before that, read the first page. Okay?
Being specific about your goals is very, very important
Now, obviously, I talk a lot about goal-setting. Specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and timely goals are going to help you create the lifestyle you want, and having these goals written down is so key to your success because if you don’t know where you’re going, you’re going nowhere. And I feel like I’m beating a dead horse when I talk about goal setting from time to time. But the real reason why I continue to talk about goal setting is that goal setting is so important to me, and I continue to talk about my goals, or, let me rephrase, I continue to write down my yearly goals. My monthly goals, my quarterly goals, and my weekly goals—my daily goals, my morning goals, and my afternoon goals—the more I revisit them, I mean, look, you guys, they’re right up here. Objectives. Make $20,000 a month. Be in the best shape of my life. Travel the world and become a top 100 podcast. Okay? Those are my objectives right now. And then I have the systems in place. What are the systems that are going to get me there? Okay, I’ve got to ask for reviews on the podcast every single day, and I’ve done it twice already. And third, times a charm. If you have not already left a review on Apple, Spotify, Audible, Google, or iHeart, go ahead and leave one now. We recommend five stars. But being specific about your goals is very, very important.
So there are two things to do when you are feeling stuck. That’s going to be the description of this post and the latest podcast episode “Two Things to Do When You’re Feeling Stuck”. Number one, be a better version of yourself this hour than you were last hour, and do that every single hour for a week straight. The second thing you’ve got to do is write down your goals, your health goals, your habit goals, your personal finance goals, your relationship goals, your community service goals, your habit goals, your reading goals, your family goals, your spiritual goals, and your personal finance goals. I don’t know if I said that already, but if I said it once, it deserves to be said a second time. How much money do you want to have in your bank account by the end of the year? Is it $25,000? Good. You’ve got to save $500 for the next twelve months, ten months, whatever the math is, to get that $25,000 in your bank account. Is your reading goal to read four books this year? Good. That’s one book per quarter. That’s literally ten pages a day. Is your goal to lose 40 pounds? Awesome. You’ve got eight months. We’ve got to lose 5 pounds every single month. We have to intermittently fast. We’ve got to stop eating sugar. We’ve got to stop drinking alcohol. We’ve got to exercise every single day. And having accountability, having a mentor, having someone in your corner, whether it’s a coach, whether it is an online community, whether it is a friend, a family member, or someone who you want to call you out, is so important.
That was one thing I was lacking for a lot of my adult life: accountability. Even though I’m someone who is pretty self-reliant, and very independent, I was getting everything done. I was paying my own bills. I was creating a lot of momentum in my financial journey, in my career, and things like that. I need a little bit of extra accountability. So I went ahead and hired a life coach. I have a life coach that I speak to every Friday at 12:30. Shout out to my life coach; you know who you are. And he holds me accountable for the commitments that I make to him each and every single week. Some of the commitments that I’ve been making recently include getting up at 4:00 a.m. Being at the gym at 4:30, getting right into that cold plunge, and hitting my Iron Man session, and training session. That’s swimming a thousand yards, getting my meditation done, doing my micro-tasks, and hitting my goals when it comes to my real estate career and my life coaching career, which are going extremely well.
Guys, I had a huge quarter. Sold four houses, did probably twelve plus rentals, and added four or five new clients to the life coaching roster, half of whom have already resigned and one of whom has paid in full for the year. And these people are getting results. One of my clients is down 45 pounds. Another one of my clients has been sober for more than 275 days. Another one of my clients wasn’t working, and the therapists, doctors, and everyone she spoke to—specialists—told her she’d never work again. I helped her start her own business. She made over $900 last weekend. Okay, huge win. Huge success stories are coming from my corner and from my camp. And that’s because we focus on those small wins. We focus on those microtasks that, executed daily, yield massive results.
So if you’re feeling stuck or like you don’t know where to go, schedule a free discovery call with me. This is a 15-minute phone call where you and I are going to dive deeper into your challenges and your goals, and together, if we seem like a good fit for each other, we’re going to co-create an action plan for you. And that action plan is going to be written down. And I’m going to hold you accountable for those actions. Thank you, guys, so much for reading this. Enjoy the rest of your day. Have an amazing week, and I will talk to you soon. Take care, guys.
the “Live Better Now” podcast with Zach Rance is available on all Podcast platforms
Why 99% of the people that tell me they want to think about coaching never end up taking action?
So every week I usually take a few free coaching calls from people that are interested in exploring life coaching. I’m not surprised when people ask me what a life coach actually does because I tend to get that question often.
During these calls, I’d say 9 out of 10 people realize that this is an amazing life-changing opportunity for them, especially during a rare time when I have space on my roster to take on new clients. On these free calls I ask some questions similar to the ones below:
“Do you think this is a good way for you to accomplish your goals and dreams?”
“Do you trust me?” And
“What would happen if you were to lose all that weight you’re trying to lose or if you stopped abusing drugs and alcohol?”
Then they proceed to tell me about all the possibilities that are waiting for them on the other side of these challenges. They know they have a bright future if they can take control of their health, finances, and addictions and they desperately want a great future.
Seems like a no-brainer, right?
Then we get to the most important part of the conversation, the part where they are asked to take action. I tell them how much the coaching commitment costs and begin to go over the next steps which include but are not limited to: scheduling the first call, signing an agreement, methods of payment. I encourage them that if they are ready they should act now and act fast. These are not sales tactics this is a challenge to step into the greatest version of themselves so why wait? Why would anyone say no?
Entering a coaching client relationship is a big commitment and that’s why we create such massive positive results. Sometimes, the potential client, on the other end of the phone, tells me they need time to think about it. I say, take as long as you want to think about it, there is no pressure. But I let them know If they don’t act right here, right now they likely aren’t going to act, and I tell them why… If we get off the phone without you acting your mind and your thoughts are going to try to convince you of all the reasons why you do not need a coach. Your thoughts are going to justify to you that this is not something that you need. But over the last 20 minutes you have given me dozens of reasons why hiring me as your life coach will benefit you in so many countless ways. You know this is right for you and you know this is what you need but if you allow yourself to end this phone call without taking action it will be the last time I ever hear from you.
Why is this true?
Our mind likes to play crazy little tricks on us. Our mind wants to prove to itself that they are control of us, this is called ego. Our ego doesn’t like to be threatened especially by other people. Our ego will do anything it can to remain in control. When hiring a coach you are being vulnerable to someone else and you are in a way giving up some control. Sometimes the best way to gain control is to give up some control. You must kill your ego. Do everything you can to show your thoughts and your mind who is really the boss of your choices and actions. All this begins by being aware of your thoughts or the way you react to something when it’s time to make a decision. Becoming aware allows you to react as your true self and not from your thoughts and emotions that are trained to react in a certain way.
I am currently interviewing new clients and am planning on taking on 3 new people by the end of the year.
