Tag: habits

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Awareness Blog IRONMAN Optimize Your Life writing

CONFIDENCE IS KEY

I remember April/May 2017 – I had just left a salaried position to embark on a journey of a true entrepreneur, not knowing where my next paycheck was coming from. I had just leased a brand-new Infiniti Q50 and had a $400 car payment. I didn’t have much money in my bank account, I was paying $1200 a month for rent and now with a $400 car payment my back was against the wall, the pressure was on. I tell you about this story because today is 5 years to the day that I received an award from EXIT Realty as the #1 agent in the state of Florida in closed transactions for the month of May 2017. This award was presented to me without my knowledge, not even realizing that I was in the running. This award gave me the boost of confidence I needed to keep on going.

“Pressure creates diamonds.”

What is confidence

I’ve always been a confident person, naturally, I just believe in myself. And the belief that I am capable of just about anything has given me faith to take risks and perform actions that have yielded incredible results. My confidence not only in my intelligence but my confidence with social skills has allowed me to create opportunities that would not have been possible without it. Every one of us needs to find ways to create more of that confidence inside. But how do you create confidence if you’re not a confident person? Well, what are you good at? Where do you show up your best? What do you do better than other people? These should be some simple easy-to-answer questions to ask yourself if you are struggling with confidence. Confidence is key and I’ll tell you why.

Why is confidence so important?

Without confidence, you won’t be able to step into the greatest version of yourself. If you’re feeling down and don’t believe that you can accomplish something, or if you are afraid of failure, then why would you ever try? Trying and failing ultimately getting closer to success might be a SHOT to our confidence, but if you never give up and always try, those failures experienced are just another step along the way. There is success in failure. And confidence can be built in any failure you experience. Failing with confidence, have you ever tried doing this? It’s empowering.

How has confidence changed my life…

I think the best example of where confidence has changed my life is when it comes to Iron Man. For me, the most important thing is getting to the starting line healthy, but the next most important thing is having the confidence that I’m going to dominate the race. The only way I have confidence at the starting line is if I’ve executed my training plan at least 90%. Hitting each run, bike, and swim during training blocks gives me the confidence to get through and endure the pain to pass the finish line and become an Iron Man, yet again.

Confidence and the Snowball Effect…

The snowball effect. Confidence is just like the snowball effect. The more confident you become the more you are able to achieve, resulting in more confidence. The more confidence you create from the more you are able to achieve creates more achievements. More achievements leads to more confidence, so on and so forth. You get the idea.

“A journey of 1000 miles starts with one step.”

So where’s your first step of confidence? Maybe it’s your work ethic or maybe it’s simply the way you make other people feel. You are the only you there ever were and ever will be, you are unique and this uniqueness should bring you confidence. I know this is easier said than done, but what’s your other option? Giving up?

In conclusion, lean in to what you are good at, lean in to where you show up your best. Take chances, and try not to be defeated by any failures you experience, be resilience in your determination to build confidence and it will come.

Leave me a comment…. Shoot me an email zacharyrance@gmail.com. Would love to hear from you.

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Awareness Blog Optimize Your Life Uncategorized

TRUSTING THE PROCESS

Where are you trying to go?…

There is an old fable about a man riding a horse. Another man sees the man and horse and asks him where he is going. The man on the horse says I don’t know ask the horse! The point of the story is that most of us are riding a horse and allowing the horse to take us where it wants to go instead of us directing the horse. In life, it is extremely important for all of us to have goals and a clear direction in where we are trying to go and these goals and directions are the processes that we must follow.

“If we don’t know where we are going then we are going nowhere.”

Success is simple, but not easy. There are proven methods and processes when it comes to being successful and even though success means different things to different people there are a lot of commonalities between separate success stories. Health and happiness are some of the two most common words when people are asked to describe success and today in 2022 a lot of us are confused as to how to get there because we don’t even know where we are trying to go.

Very few people have clarity on what they want their life to look like 3,5,10 or 20 years from now.

Are you moving forward or backward? There is no in-between…

Every single day you are either giving yourself a check mark towards your dreams or you are putting up a big red X and allowing your dreams to slip away, there is no in-between. We all have the same 24 hours in the day but some of us create more opportunities and experiences than others. How are you utilizing your 24 and what can you be doing better?

What’s the process for success? There are many…

This isn’t a blog post about efficiency, this is a blog post about processes. Your process and how efficient you can be are two different things. When it comes to your process there should be a clear and consistent method of steps for you to follow and the order in which they shall be executed.

First things first what does success mean to you?

But first, where are you trying to go? Nothing is more important than getting ultra clear on how you define success. It sounds a little cliché but money does not buy happiness, even though it is very important. Success does not have to mean your dream job or an abundance of money. It can simply mean a happy life with your future family. However, if you don’t want to create a 7 figure business and are happy with a successfully quaint lifestyle you still must have direction and a process to get there.

Which process are you following?

Has someone else worked through these steps before?

So which process are you following? Maybe you are waking up early, meditating, journaling, and saving your money but you’re not sure exactly where you are going, that’s fine. Maybe you are waking up and scrolling through social media and turning on the tv and don’t know where you are going, that is not fine. You see, back to the beginning of this blog post about commonalities in success stories it’s clear as day that you must be willing to put in the work if you want to have something great. Constant work on yourself with habits like rising early, daily meditation, journaling, and gratitude practices will absolutely get you there and this is exactly what I mean when I say you must trust the process. When I was broke, depressed, and abusing drugs and alcohol after Big Brother I had an idea of what success looked like for me but I had no idea what the process was. Today I do not know exactly where my life coaching career is going to take me but I know the process that must be followed. I know the constant work on myself that needs to be done to garner any amount of success and that is exactly what I described in this paragraph.

Recipe for success:

1 – tsp of 5am wake-up calls

2 – 20 minute sessions of Transcendental meditation

3 – a pinch of gratitude

4 – a full cup of ambitious goals

What process am I following…

What process am I following? Great question. I am following the process of the amazing coaches, authors, and thought leaders before me. I am waking up every single day at around 5am to give extra time to my health and spirit through Ironman training sessions, meditation practices, and cold plunges. I am unlocking more of my creative potential by writing multiple blog posts per week (this week my goal is 5) and lastly, I am coaching my butt off and changing my clients’ lives and in turn becoming a better coach each and every day.

I’m keeping my life simple and focusing on the things that are going to progress my career, health, and happiness to the next level.

Share with me the process you are following by emailing me at zacharyrance@gmail.com

Thank you for reading

Categories
Awareness Blog Optimize Your Life

ADDICTIONS

What is an addiction? An addiction is a psychological or physical dependence on something or a substance. Most people assume that the word addiction follows the words alcohol or drugs but these are not the most common addictions. Addictions can come in many shapes and forms and they are all very bad for you if you are unaware of them or in denial of the fact that you may be powerless over them.

Some examples of addictions.

Some people are addicted to drugs and alcohol and some people are addicted to porn. But, most people these days have a habitual or psychological dependence on coffee and social media. These are two of the most popular addictions and they can be nearly impossible to break. I think it’s safe to say that all of us are on our phones way too much and we get into a habit of constantly reaching for our phone even if we do not have a new notification. (Last year I disabled push notifications on all my apps except for texts and calls and this has greatly reduced my screen time.)

“Be the master, not the slave.”

Why am I credible to talk about this?

Well, one of my life coaching clients that I’ve been working with for almost a year now came to me with a lot of life problems and challenges. After a few sessions, it was very clear that the reason his life situation looks the way it does is because of his dependence on alcohol. My client could not go more than 1 day without drinking wine or liquor. Without going into too much detail I continued to ask my client questions about his relationship with alcohol without insinuating he should quit.

Sidenote: While working with a client I make it very clear that they are in charge of creating the action plan. I am just here to ask deep open-ended questions that allow them to gain clarity on what the next step is from here. I did not push sobriety on my client and I definitely did not tell him that he was an alcoholic. This is very important as a life coach because we are not here to make anybody feel bad about themselves, we are here to help people get closer to their goals and dreams faster than they would without a coach. With this specific client, it was very evident that alcohol was getting in the way of him accomplishing those things so naturally, the conversations gravitated more towards his relationship with alcohol.

How did I prepare to serve my client?

First things first, it’s important that I mention my brief stint of alcohol and marijuana addiction myself after being on Big Brother when I became severely depressed. I was excited about this challenge with my client and I decided this would be a great opportunity for me to not only help and change my client’s life but also learn the science behind addiction. I picked up a few books about addiction and substance abuse and learned a lot about the effects it has on our brains and the triggers that can cause addiction. But the best lessons that I was taught were from attending alcoholics anonymous meetings. I decided to go to a few meetings every week to learn about the struggles and challenges that alcoholics face and the most successful steps in getting sober. This not only helped my understanding, but my client is making excellent strides toward living a much better life free from his dependence.

What are you addicted to?

So what is something that you are addicted to? Are you addicted to coffee or social media? Maybe you have a habitual or psychological addiction to porn or sweets. The first step you must take is to recognize yourself as powerless over this substance or habit. Try and understand the underlying issues that cause you to be dependent on either a substance or habit. Recognition that you are an addict is the first step in stepping away from it. You are not in control of your addiction but you must take proper steps in managing your addiction. Take 1 small step to breaking free from your addiction and believing wholeheartedly that progress is better than perfection. Depending on the severity of your addiction or habit, it may be worth reaching out for outside help.

How to fight your addiction?

Try and take a 3-day detox. Take 3 days away from your addiction, if you can, and see if you are the master or the slave. Feel free to email me or text me with your feedback on how this challenge went. If you are dependent on alcohol I highly recommend alcoholics anonymous, there are likely many meetings in your area, you can find more information at aa.org.

If you need some encouragement and help getting sober or beating an addiction you can schedule a free discovery call with me and we can discuss your situation. It’s always helpful to have an unbiased, non-judgemental outside source on your side for encouragement. Schedule a free discovery call below… It’s FREE:

With love,

Categories
Blog Optimize Your Life Personal Finance

NAVIGATING A RECESSION, MENTALLY Part 2

During a recession, it’s really important to save your money and try to maintain your cash and assets close to what you currently have. Being able to get through rough economic and financial times with just a few nicks and bruises would be something to be proud of. Usually, during recessions, hundreds of thousands and potentially millions of people lose their job, have their retirement accounts swallowed up, and lose their most prized assets. Why does this occur? Each recession is different and this impending recession is characterized by the tail end of a global pandemic, massive inflation, questionable monetary policies, and massive stock, real estate, and cryptocurrency gains.

So why is this potential recession different and how does that affect you? This recession will likely happen because of massive inflation for the most common goods and services. When the most common products and services like gas, utilities, packaging, logistical operations, and food increase in price out of line with typical increases, the spending habits of people soon follow. Businesses start feeling the effects of massive inflation on their bottom line which results in them not making as much money which then results in having to let people go. Businesses go out of business at scale, massive amounts of people lose their job. Because massive amounts of people lose their jobs this results in fewer people spending which means lower profits for businesses, which means more layoffs. Typically when growth in an economy slows for two quarters you are officially in a recession. This is loosely followed by economists, there are other indicators as well that show a recession is happening but they all revolve around a slow down in certain sectors of the economy. It’s a revolving door, a never-ending cycle, and the only way that we are going to get through this and back into a time of economic growth and prosperity is if we hit the reset button which was just hit by the Fed when they rose interest rates yet again. And interest rates will likely continue to rise over the next year, which puts even more pressure on the spending habits of people. Rates increase to slow spending when it gets out of hand. But it’s a balancing act on the Fed’s part. Increase too much too fast and it’s like slamming on the economic brakes. Increase slowly, incrementally, and it allows the economy to absorb the effects.

I am not a financial advisor and this is not financial advice but because I’ve been getting so many questions about the coming recession I thought I’d write another post on this topic. However, this post is coming from a different angle, an angle I know well, mental health. So this blog post is not about personal finance this blog post is about how you can mentally navigate through this recession.

Step #1

Be hyper-realistic

Your first step is to be hyper-realistic. The next two years are going to be really tough. There might be months when you are barely paying your bills. There might even come a time when you lose your job, these are both possibilities. There will be times when you think to yourself that it couldn’t get worse, and then it does. Having the hyper-realistic mindset that it can get really ugly and expecting the worse is the mindset that you should currently be dropping into. This might sound a little apocalyptic but wouldn’t you rather be safe than sorry?

Step #2

Be grateful for what you have and appreciate the little things in life.

Covid showed us how depressed we can get. I myself experienced an awful few weeks of mental health during the beginning of covid when I was afraid to leave my house and saw the economic impact it was having on all the people around me. You can try to fight your hardest but battling through depression doesn’t always work. Living with severe and chronic depression and anxiety is not easy and it seems as if these feelings are exacerbated during financially hard times. If you experience constant or severe depression now you will definitely be feeling it worse when your finances begin to crumble. So where should you turn and what should you do? Your first step is to recognize your negative thought patterns and then actively change your thoughts to more appreciative and grateful ones. This is the most important part. Easier said than done, I know. But, I’m confident that you got this.

What should you be appreciating?

Appreciating all the things you currently have and proving it by taking care of the things you have. This includes the roof over your head, your car, your pets, friends, family, and relationships with the people that you care about most. This is a great time to invest your time, energy, and attention into the people around you. If you’re going to fight through a recession at least don’t do it alone.

What are you grateful for?

Gratitude is being grateful for the little things in life. Most of us go through our lives taking our legs and health for granted. If you are in perfect health or near-perfect health you are very lucky. Money isn’t everything and there are a lot of billionaires that would trade their exorbitant amount of wealth for a few years of good health. Put your health first. Be grateful that you have time and opportunities ahead of you. Prove to yourself you are grateful and take in each moment as if it’s your last.

With all that being said I hope that I’m wrong. I don’t like seeing my stock account and Bitcoin being this low and I can’t even imagine what it will look like if it goes lower. No one can predict the future but everyone can prepare for it.

Make use of these two simple steps so that you can thrive not only mentally but financially as well!

Good luck and stay disciplined folks!

Best,

Categories
Awareness Blog Optimize Your Life writing

PRODUCTIVITY EXPERIMENT

How To Get Twice As Much Done In Half The Amount Of Time

I am on a mission. A mission to accomplish twice as much in half the amount of time. Your first thought is, Zach, that’s impossible. And that’s what the average thinker would think. However, I’m not the average person and I’m always looking for ways to challenge myself in every area of life.

My challenge for the next 30 days is to try to accomplish twice as much in half the amount of time. Let me explain…

I want to be twice as productive in half the amount of time. And before I tell you the ins and outs and specifics of how I plan on doing this I think it’s important for you to understand what I’m trying to accomplish. As a life coach/Entrepreneur/business owner/”work from homer”/ beginning online coach/ content creator creativity is of the utmost importance. Being creative in my approach and creative with my input of work is the only way that I will be original in positioning myself as a thought leader on a myriad of topics health and wellness. With that being said, these are the things that I’m trying to accomplish day in and day out: writing as many blog posts as possible, publishing as many books as possible, recording and publishing as many podcasts as possible, having as many coaching conversations as possible, reaching as many people as possible on the Internet, etc..

To put it in perspective here’s an example of my weekly goals

  1. Write and publish two blog posts per week.
  2. Record four podcasts per week and publish two.
  3. Have 10 coaching conversations per week.
  4. Direct message 100 followers per day.

These are not exact figures but they’re pretty close to what I try to accomplish each week. Now how am I going to double my productivity in half the amount of time? Here’s the answer: I’m going to make very subtle changes in my habits and time management to increase productivity and decrease distractions.

For example, while I’m driving to the gym, during that 15 minutes of time I’m behind the wheel I’m going to talk to my phone and record a podcast. I’m then going to use this podcast as an outline for my next blog post.

“Why is it admirable to work hard when we can accomplish the same quality of work in an effortless manner.”

Accomplishing twice the amount of what you value most. This starts with your goals. Constantly reflecting back on your goals and tracking your progress..

If you don’t write down your goals how do you know if you’re on the right track? I myself write down my goals for each month and reflect on them every 30 days. When I look back on what I was trying to accomplish and what was actually accomplished it’s either a huge wake-up call or a confidence boost to continue going. I’ve tried a lot of different projects and ventures in the last three years and 90% of them have not worked out. However the 10% of the projects and ventures that have worked out made up for all the losses from the 90% of my failures.

Writing down your goals so you can increase your awareness..

Awareness is key and I’ve written about awareness in so many previous blog posts. In order for you to track your progress in the pursuit of whatever success looks like for you, you must write everything down. Now I’m not saying pen to paper, you can use digital devices to track your progress. Don’t let the logistics stop you from taking action. This is your wake up call to start tracking your goals and it has never been more important then right now to keep track of your finances, time management, health, exercises, and most importantly the time, energy, and attention you’re giving to your top priorities and values.

What do you value most? How can you get twice of what you value in half the amount of time?

Email me zacharyrance@gmail.com or send me a private message on IG @zachrancey with your answers I’d love to hear from you.

Best,