"A person's success in life can usually be measured by the number of uncomfortable conversations he or she is willing to have."  —Tim Ferriss

But you don't have to battle your fears. Actually, Darren Hardy says you can be a coward 99.9305556 percent of the time (to be exact). You only need to be courageous for 20 seconds at a time.

If you courageously confront fear for 20 seconds every single day, before you know it, you'll be in a different socioeconomic and social situation.

• Make that call.
• Ask that question.
• Pitch that idea.
• Post that video.

Whatever it is you feel you want to do, do it. The anticipation of the event is far more painful than the event itself. So just do it and end the inner conflict.

In most cases, your fears are unfounded. As Seth Godin explains, our comfort zone and our safety zone are not the same things. It is completely safe to make an uncomfortable phone call. You are not going to die. Don't equate the two. Recognize that most things outside your comfort zone are completely safe.

• This habit will change your life. Your journal will:
• Clear your emotions serving as your personal therapist
• Detail your personal history
• Enhance your creativity
• Ingrain and enhance your learning
• Help you get clarity on the future you want to create
• Accelerate your ability to manifest your goals
• Increase your gratitude
• Improve your writing skills
• And lots more…

Five minutes per day is more than enough. Greg McKeown, the author of Essentialism, recommends writing far less than you want to—only a few sentences or paragraphs at most to help you avoid burnout.

Ordinary people seek entertainment. Extraordinary people seek education and learning. It is common for the world's most successful people to read at least one book per week. They are constantly learning.

I can easily get through one audiobook per week by just listening during my commute to school and while walking on campus. Taking even 15 to 30 minutes every morning to read uplifting and instructive information changes you. It puts you in the zone to perform at your highest.

Over time, you will have read hundreds of books. You'll be knowledgeable on several topics. You'll think and see the world differently. You'll be able to make more connections between different topics.

 

According to countless research studies, people who go to bed and rise early are better students. Harvard University biologist Christoph Randler found that early sleepers and risers are more proactive, more likely to anticipate problems and minimize them efficiently.

Other benefits of going to bed and rising early include:

• Being a better planner
• Being holistically healthier as individuals
• Getting better sleep
• More optimistic, satisfied and conscientious

Waking up early allows you to proactively and consciously design your day. You can start with a morning routine that sets the tone for your whole day. You show self-respect by putting yourself first. In your morning routine, you can pray or meditate, exercise, listen to or read inspiring content and write in your journal. This routine will give you a much stronger buzz than a cup of coffee.

"Have I done any good in the world today? Have I helped anyone in need? Have I cheered up the sad and made someone feel glad? If not, I have failed indeed. Has anyone's burden been lighter today, because I was willing to share? Have the sick and the weary been helped on their way? When they needed my help was I there?" —Will L. Thompson

If we're too busy to help other people, we've missed the mark. Taking the time to help other people is one of the greatest joys in life. Helping others opens you up to new sides of yourself. It helps you connect deeper with those you help and to humanity in general. It clarifies what really matters in life.

In a recent interview at the Genius Network mastermind event, Joe Polish asked Tony Robbins what he does to get focused. "Do you meditate? What do you do?" Joe asked.

"I don't know that I meditate. I don't know that I want to meditate and think about nothing," Tony responded. "My goal is clarity."

Instead of full-on meditation, Tony has a morning routine that includes several breathing exercises and visualization techniques that get him to a state of clarity and focus. For me, I use prayer and pondering (my version of meditation) as the same vehicle.

Whatever your approach, the goal should be clarity and focus. What do you want to be about today? What few things matter most during the next 24 hours?

I've gotten the best results as:

• My morning prayer and meditation is motivational.
• My afternoon prayer and meditation are evaluative and strategic.
• My evening prayer and meditation are evaluative and reflective.

Although people think they perform better on caffeine, the truth is, they really don't. Actually, we've become so dependent on caffeine that we use it simply to get back to our status quo. When we're off it, we underperform and become incapable.

Isn't that absurd?

In his book The Untethered Soul, Michael Singer argues that your energy should come from within—from your why—not from external stimulants. The scientific backing is substantial yet unsurprising: Intrinsic motivation destroys extrinsic motivation every day of the week.

Motivation aside, healthy eating, sleeping, and intensive exercise produce higher quantities and quality of energy than caffeine ever could. A holistic approach to life is essential. Garbage in, garbage out.

Give up the caffeine and see what happens. To avoid withdrawal headaches, replace your caffeine with something else. After a few days without caffeine, you'll develop confidence in your ability to function without it.

Although the amount of warfare and deaths by human hands are reducing globally, you will not get that message watching televised news or reading the newspaper.

On the contrary, these media outlets have an agenda. Their goal is to appeal to your fears by inflating extreme cases by making them seem normal and commonplace. If they didn't, their viewership would plummet. Which is why Peter Diamandis, one of the world's experts on entrepreneurship and the future of innovation, says, "I've stopped watching TV news. They couldn't pay me enough money."

You can get high-quality news curated from Google news. When you detox from the toxic filth that is public news, you'll be startled as your worldview becomes radically more optimistic. You are responsible for the worldview you adopt.