Elevate Your Standards with Derrick Lawter

Guess what? Life is hard. The good news is as humans, we get to choose what path of hard we want to take.

Discipline is hard. So is living a life of regret.

Being a good partner is hard. So is being alone.

Staying in shape is hard. So are the health problems of obesity. 

No path in life is easy. The shortcut that you think is making your life easy is actually setting you up for hard times in the future. We get the blessing in this life of being able to choose our hard. Choose Wisely. 

Life is not designed to reward you for reaching one ultimate goal. Instead, the foundation of growth and success is routinely meeting small goals and taking steps forward. This is what I like to call the infinite staircase. 

Too many people have a vision of achieving success and then being done. They have a place they want to get to and will be happy and done working when that goal is achieved. Understand that the staircase never ends. You have to keep getting better each day, or you will go backward.  

Many people are simply waiting for 2020 to be over in a hope that 2021 comes along and solves all of their issues. While 2020 has been a tough year for everyone, we have to take the burden on yourself to make 2021 better.

We all have problems that existed before 2020, and they will continue to exist after this year is gone. Waiting for the date to change will only lead to more disappointment when January 1st comes and the problems we wanted to disappear are still here.

2021 starts now. Use these last 30 days of December to start your new year in a productive way. Momentum is key, start building it now. 

Do you have a craft you are on the path to mastering?

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Many people bounce back and forth between different games their whole life. They often pick something up for a couple of months, then quickly give it up as soon as the going gets hard. At the first sign of resistance, most people quit.

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Because of this attitude, very few ever get to experience the rewards of mastering a craft. When you spend the hard work and discipline to master a skill, you begin to live life on your own terms. You can charge what you want, work when you like, and people will praise your work thinking you are some kind of genius.

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Whatever path you are on, it is time that you find your game and play it. Stop dabbling and commit to going full speed. It's not good enough just to be another player in the game. You have to want to be the best. 

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I challenge you to focus on something that you want to master. Once you have it, commit to becoming the best in the world at it. The only problem? Not everyone can be the best. And someone reading this post has the same game as you. You know what the means?

You need to work harder.

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Full Episode available now on all podcast platforms!

Listen now with the link in my bio!

How many opportunities are missed by capable people simply because they are afraid of rejection?

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In reality, there is no reason to fear rejection. Rejection is a sign that we are pushing out of our comfort zone and attempting to add new things to our life or career.

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The real damage is done when we avoid opportunities out of fear of being rejected. When we fail to even try, we sell ourselves short on what we could have been. 

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You must find a way to use rejection as fuel. Find a way to learn from each rejection and use it to push you forward and improve. When you are rejected, it is a sign that you have something to work on. 

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It only takes one "Yes" to change your life. You may have to make your way through thousands of rejections, but the payoff at the end is always worth it. Nothing worthwhile has ever been accomplished without struggle. 

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I challenge you to stop looking at rejection in a negative light. Instead of running away from it, chase it down and use it to fuel your growth.

Fear and uncertainty are often viewed as emotions to avoid at all costs. Fear is not an indication of something you should avoid, but rather a sign that there is a chance for you to grow. When you feel uncertain about a task or a new opportunity, you need to ask yourself if the emotion is coming from a place of fear. If we continue to run away from fear and avoid it, we will never take the opportunities life gives us to push out of our comfort zone and grow!

Often we focus too much on results and not enough on the processes that allow us to achieve them. You will often hear people in sports say to "Trust The Process"; but what does that really mean? The idea of attacking the process is that by consistently doing the work required, and doing it the right way, the results will take care of themselves. Find your process and make a commitment to attack it every day! You will be shocked how quickly your goals come to fruition.     

Why does Self Care get pushed to the back in our society today? The reason is actually pretty simple for most people: When taking care of yourself, it feels like you are not getting anything done! When you have stacks of work or tasks that you know need to be completed, taking care of yourself can almost feel counter-productive. In reality, the self-care tasks are the most important ones on your list! By taking care of yourself you ensure that your work doesn't suffer and that burnout is avoided; these are two of the most common causes of failure! 

Risk is often misrepresented in our society. People view risk as a negative term and one that can taint decisions in a negative light. In reality, the risk is a necessary factor to success and in order to achieve your goals, you must become a master at working with and taking risks. In this episode, we talk about if you are taking enough risk in your life, strategies for how to evaluate risk, and how to judge decisions based on risk and not outcomes.  

Society today is full of people who are losing the crucial skill of tolerance. Instead of trying to see other people's views, they are starting to believe that anyone who doesn't agree with them is wrong or a complete idiot. When you shut your mind to other points of view, you lose the opportunity to make fully educated decisions. Learn to see both sides of an issue before making a decision.