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Good morning.

Last night, limping to my dinner table after my second session of Jiu Jitsu for the day, I looked at my journal where it lay open to “TO DO.”

The whole page was filled with rows of bullet points, some with arrows neatly pointing to “subtasks.”

Other arrows pointed to boxes that represent “what’s next,” or “if this, then this.”

I am pleased to say that when I see this amount of things to do for my next day, I don’t feel overwhelmed…

I feel excited.

There’s a mental approach to having a lot going on, just like there’s a mental approach to everything, that makes it poison or panacea.

It’s our decision how we choose to view being “busy.”

I’ve written before (and undoubtedly will again) about my general dislike for “hustle” culture- that is, the constant online and in person “flex” of people having a “who’s busier” competition.

“How you doing, man?”

“Oh, you know...SUPER busy.”

In a previous email for The Seed, I talked about how changing one simple word altered my perception of “busy” days forever.

I try to use the word “productive,” instead of “busy” and I can feel stress transmuting to excitement, to a feeling of forward motion, progressive overload, resistance being overcome.

Being productive means you have a lot going on. Having a lot going on means you’re neither idle nor sedentary.

Be productive. Be excited to be productive. Enjoy the life you’ve created for yourself, or…

Change it.

You can explore more of my projects and see what interests you by checking here.

PHYSICAL

There’s an invisible line that exists between training hard and training smart.

Finding that line is the difference between longevity and incapacity-

The younger an individual can learn this, the higher his chances are of being ready for action into his later years.

MENTAL

People are a lot like books.

The ones with a really loud and flashy front often don’t have much going on inside.

The really excellent ones are hard to find, but when you do-

They stick with you for a long time.

SPIRITUAL

Perhaps the hardest thing to come to grips with in our lives is that the mountain has no attainable summit.

No matter how doggedly we drive toward the peak, each time we reach it, we see that is was a “false summit,” and another, even higher, looms in the distance.

In some, this creates a sense of hopelessness- of never being able to get where they want to go.

In the intrepid, and the daring, the feeling is one of knowing they will never run out of challenges to attempt, and overcome.

Perception truly is everything.

TEMPORAL

Perhaps the most hopeful thing a new entrepreneur can hear is this:

To make $100,000 a year, you only need to build a dedicated following of 100 individuals who will spend $1,000 on your company over the course of an entire year.

Obviously this number exists on a sliding scale- you could instead have 500 full supporters who spend only $200 a year.

The point is, many people think you need to have thousands and thousands of subscribers, social media followers, etc. in order to run a successful business-

When in reality, you just need to find a niche where you can reach a few hundred people and solve a problem for them.

Just go for it.

(This is not an original idea of mine- if you’d like to read the essay I got it from, I’ve included it below- thanks to Eric T. for reminding me of this one).

Original Essay

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Talk to you next week,

Paul Waggener

Author of the entrepreneur's guidebook,

No Surrender

Creator of Brand Builder's Bible

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