What's up, welcome back to the show - Episode #17. This is a docu-series on growth/self-improvement and my experiences for building a valuable life.

Here are my notes for this week – Check me out on Twitter and Instagram for other things going on -  @trevorsean12

Grit

Just finished a book recently called "Grit - The Power of Passion and Perseverance" by Angela Duckworth. Angela Duckworth is a great author, is a psychologist and teaches at the University of Pennsylvania. She wrote this book to find out what factor most closely corresponds to success in ones life. 

Highly recommend this book, especially if you feel lost with what you want to do with your life, if you frequently move from project to project or if you're feeling trapped or limited in your life. She does a great job of researching methods for improving your life through effort, time and perseverance in whatever goals you set. 

A few notes I make in this podcast: 

To wrap this up, set your goals - make them difficult but obtainable. Stick it out, no matter how hard it is. Build momentum that will carry you onto your next spot. 

Book on Amazon - Grit by Angela Duckworth

Grit Scale on Angela Duckworth's website - Grit Scale

10% More Effort

Referencing the book "Grit" one more time, I started thinking about everything I do in a day for my life. Obviously life gets busy with a career, kids, relationships, friendships, extra projects, etc. But I noticed a lot of complacency in my everyday actions. I moved the needle 80% of the way with almost everything, but never really completed a lot of tasks. Thinking about this drove me crazy! 

I started to try two things: 1 - complete any task that I take on, no matter what. However much time it takes and no matter how hard it is, complete it. 2 - Put in more effort to make it a better experience. 

I'll give you a few examples. With my work, I move from task to task all day long and its hard to complete things in a way. I started structuring my day, being more conscious about my work flow. I also started to get to work earlier and stayed later. I feel like I spent that time preparing and being more thoughtful for how I would hand the day and also plan out the next day. 

Also in my home life, thinking with a "complete this task no matter what" mindset, I started to be more thoughtful with planning the projects I wanted to get done, to make sure I wasn't starting a long project when I would have to leave in ten minutes. It's helped me be more diligent and prepared to handle all the things I have to do with my kids, house projects, side hustles, etc. 

This last note made a big difference for me with how I'm approaching life. Understand the long goal, becoming a little better every day over the course of 10, 15, 20 years instead of trying to become everything in one year. We have a long time to make a big impact for our lives, and that takes a lot of practice and dedicated work each day to achieve. 

Thanks guys - catch ya on the next episode. 

Onto the next - Welcome to Episode #15. This is a docu-series on growth/self-improvement and my experiences for building a valuable life.

Here are my notes for this week – Check me out on Twitter and Instagram for other things going on -  @trevorsean12

Don't Dwell

Nothing good lasts forever, and all terrible things will eventually pass. This week was a good reminder that life can be difficult, no matter what type of systems you have set up in your life. Dwelling can compound one bad day into 2 or 3. We all make mistakes, we all have to deal with difficult situations. 

I learned to not make things worse, but deal with what you need to and get back to your system as quickly as you can. Deal with your problems, and move on - no sense in making things worse wondering why something happens. Remember your resources, remember your network, vent it out, deal with your problems, get back to your thing. 

Compare Against Yourself

I came across an interview with Michael Jordan about why he's so good. They asked him about his athleticism, his talent, his size, his work ethic. He attributed it to one thing - He competes against himself, he tries to beat how good he was yesterday and that opened up a different level of possibilities. 

Watching and learning from all the great success stories in the world, this is the one constant thing that allows someone to transcend to different levels that we've never seen. It's good to have marks to beat and to chase, but the constant journey of competing against yourself unlocks your true potential. 

To go back to a Tom Brady quote that he loves and asks his kids: "Is it better to be THE best or YOUR best?" 

Quote

To remember where one has been on the open sea is a task for record keepers, not the captain. The captain only cared about charting the path ahead, not the sea long past. 

- Jacob Seethaler

And we grindin' - Episode #14 - This is a docu-series on growth/self-improvement and experiences for building a valuable life.

Here are my notes for this week – Check me out on Twitter and Instagram for other things going on -  @trevorsean12

Dressing Nice

The importance of your appearance matters because it shows how much you care to take care of yourself. I talk about how I was very negligent with my dress, I've always been the t-shirt guy and got by with that for a long time. Growing older and starting to look around and notice things about the professional world, you start to notice that successful people really take care of themselves and it matters how they look.

Important note, I'm not lobbying for suits for everyone or expensive clothing or any of that. I'm talking about taking care of yourself, dressing your part, looking nice, putting yourself together. The best phrase that I came up for this segment is dressing purposeful - I think that explains it all. Get yourself in a solid mindset for the day. As Guy Ritchie says, put on your armor. 

Guy Ritchie on dress - (1) Guy Ritchie "You Must Be The Master of Your Own Kingdom" - The Joe Rogan Experience - YouTube

Don't Over-Think

Over-thinking has been a big struggle for me in my life. I think it falls in with procrastination as two of the bigger areas that hold me back from doing what I want to do. Looking back and being very honest with myself, most of my better decisions have come from making a decision and running with it. 

It's definitely important to plan things out, prepare ourselves for different things that we want to do, but here's my take. Whenever most people have a significant decision on something they want to do, we put in a solid amount of time to make sure that will play out. If you're thinking about moving careers, I don't think any of us just make a split second decision and quit our jobs. We take time to research, look up other positions, other companies, look at the pros and cons. 

Over thinking wastes a lot of time and at the end of more planning, thinking about all the different angles and sitting on that decision for too long. I feel like we already have a pretty good sense for what we want to do. 

I'm interested a lot more in trusting ourselves for what we want to chase instead of planning for the perfect moment and for the perfect opportunity. That doesn't happen, we are beings of action. We need to make choices, pursue them, and learn along the way while planning, learning, documenting and making things happen. 

Trust yourself, attack your ideas, make a plan and go. Don't wait, nothing is coming to help - you have to do it on your own. 

Back at it, episode #13 - This is a docu-series on growth/self-improvement and experiences for building a valuable life.

Here are my notes for this week – Check me out on Twitter and Instagram for other things going on -  @trevorsean12

Importance of Strong Resources

I really love this topic, it's something that has really helped me start down a path for more instead of being content with average. 

Throughout my life, I've always felt something inside of me that's been wanting to achieve something great. I believe that our potential directing us towards a path. I've experienced a lot of highs when I listened to my potential, and just as many lows when I would try to quiet it. And the most difficult part is dealing with the inconsistency, you're not able to make any kind of significant improvement. 

About 3 years ago, I really started to pay attention to what I was consuming and it started with books and podcasts. I remember reading "Mindset" by Carol Dweck. It opened my eyes to a completely different way of thinking that I hadn't been exposed to before. That's not true, I had been exposed, but not as holistically and as a subject that I was able to really study. 

And that's the point of this - Finding and putting together a list of resources that bring inspiration, new ideas, and a map to help guide you through your own journey is essential. 

There's a lot of great sources for that information too: Books (the best), blogs, podcasts, YouTube, successful and influential people and their websites, newsletters, etc. 

Start putting together your catalog and then continue to adjust as you grow. As we improve, we will change - Search for the resources that keep pushing you to the frontier of your potential. 

Create a System

I've talked about habits previously, and I wanted to touch on that topic again by introducing a concept of systems in our lives. We're habitual creatures and to sum up this section, the less time and energy that we have to spend deciding to do certain things in our day allows us to use that energy towards other actions that are more difficult and valuable. 

One book I reference a lot for this is "Atomic Habits" by James Clear. Amazon Link

James does a great job of making habits and more complicated systems very simple and manageable - One of my favorite books. 

One of the most important notes when creating systems in our lives, I really believe that the slow, long term game is the best and most valuable for this. Start slow, tackle one thing in your life that is the most pressing, spend a lot of time on it and win it. It is absolutely contagious and will push you toward the next area in your life that you want to change. 

Here are the quick rules that I talk about in this episode: 

Quote

Inspired by books, the lifeblood of growth and development: 

"If we encounter a man of rare intellect, we should ask him what books he reads."

- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Another week, another episode. Here's #12 - This is a docu-series on growth/self-improvement and experiences for building a valuable life.

Here are my notes for this week – Check me out on Twitter and Instagram for other things going on -  @trevorsean12

Keep Grinding

For no particular reason, this episode was hard for me to get down and record. Initially, just wasn't really in the mood and didn't quite know what to talk about honestly. It's crazy how things start to happen if you just keep showing up. 

Consistency matters and it's the only true way to keep growing. You have to show up more times than you don't. And once you build momentum, who knows how great you could be. It's interesting to think about. 

Even when it's hard, don't think about everything that you have to do and get done. Just show up, and then start working on one thing at a time - You'll get into your flow and before you know it, you'll be finished and you'll hardly remember the struggle you were having at the beginning. 

Commit / No More Middle

A few things to remember: Anything that you choose to pursue will be difficult. Even not choosing a path is difficult; it might be the most difficult actually because you get stuck. With anything you choose to do, that road always leads to other roads based on the skills you gain and the experiences you have along the way. 

Staying in the middle, you miss out on the journey and you're not pushed to your personal frontier that's necessary for growth. 

So make a decision, commit to it, work hard at it every day, accept the difficulty of the challenge and start building upon yourself. Doesn't matter how quick your progress is at first, just show up, do the work and be consistent. You'll start building momentum and opportunities will present themselves. 

No quote for this week - wish you all the best this week. Catch ya on the next episode. 

Welcome back, thanks for checking out the show, Episode 11! Onto the next, Happy New Years! This is a docu-series on growth/self-improvement and experiences for building a valuable life.

Here are my notes for this week – Check me out on Twitter and Instagram for other things going on -  @trevorsean12

Goals

Importance of "writing" down your goals. Needs to have something to move towards that's visible. Something that you can see and reference every day is the most effective way for progress. Write things down, make notes, adjust, don't dwell, keep moving. 

Have a big idea, narrow down into daily actions that move you toward the horizon. 

Challenge yourself - you're capable

New Habit / Old Habit

Evaluate your habits to help you achieve your goals. 

Set up your day that allows you to work on what you want to accomplish. 

Book reference: 

Atomic Habits - James Clear

This is one of my favorite books. He makes habits very actionable and practical. He lays out a great map for progress in our daily lives. 

Quote - Art of Manliness

This site took a quote from Benjamin Franklin and talked about working on one habit at a time. Spend a year creating one new habit and removing one bad habit from your life and over the course of ten years, you'll become someone you hardly recognize - For the better. 

Welcome back, thanks for checking out the show, Episode 10! Feels good to be in double digits, hope you had a great Christmas. This is a docu-series on growth/self-improvement and experiences for building a valuable life.

Here are my notes for this week – Check me out on Twitter and Instagram for other things going on -  @trevorsean12

Merry Christmas. I sincerely hope that you are able to find time to reflect, spend time with loved ones and enjoy your life at least for a moment. 

Gratitude

I have learned to love putting myself into the grind and working on my own progress and achievements, chasing my goals and getting better. I also understand how important it is to make time, step back and enjoy the life around you. It's not hard, you just have to look. Change your perspective, see what you already have and the progress you've made, and appreciate that moment. 

This time really helps me understand myself and my goals even more and makes me want to work even harder to chase down my dreams. Hope you're able to do the same. 

What You Have

I get caught up in wanting more quite a bit. Sometimes it's so distracting, it makes it hard to work and I get frustrated and impatient. We can break everything down into small steps to take away that overwhelming feeling. 

Look around at what you already have, whatever is is, and make it better. Maybe you could clean your room, reorganize it, throw away things you don't use, declutter. Maybe you could clean off your desk, sort through your papers, throw away things you don't need and want. Maybe you could use something that you have lying around again, start writing something, read that book again. 

It's good to want more and to work for it, but it's also necessary to pay attention to what you already have and make that better. 

Hope you enjoyed the episode - Excited for the New Year's podcast coming up, catch you later this week! 

Welcome back to the show, Episode 9 - Hope you're having a great December! This is a docu-series on growth/self-improvement, tech, sports and experiences for building a valuable life.

Here are my notes for this week – Check me out on Twitter and Instagram for other things going on -  @trevorsean12

Schedule

Use a schedule to map out your day. Let it be your guide for things that you have to get done and also want to get done. Sit down and plan out your most perfect day. What time you'd wake up, what activities are hard that are good for you that you need, what activities are great for your leisure time that you can look forward to? 

Write it down, and try it - it literally changes your life. 

Pace

I talk about find your own pace. There's a lot of opinions on how hard you have to work, the timing of everything, etc etc - More than ever, I believe that value and quality will get you where you want to go. Start somewhere and be consistent - then see where that takes you. 

Cold Challenge

Recently came across a podcast with Jordan Peterson and Wim Hof where Wim talks about the benefits of the cold for your body and your mind and it caught me. It's been fun to challenge myself to difficult things that are so beneficial for me and that euphoric feeling after you complete it. 

So, challenge yourself to ending your showers with cold water. Start at 30 seconds, work up to 2 and 1/2 minutes. Video below: 

The Power of the Cold With Wim Hof - YouTube 

Listen to yourself

You have to believe in yourself and work the way you work or you'll always be someone you're not. I definitely think it's important to talk to people, share ideas, get feedback and learn. But the hardest and most important thing is to take all that information and decide what you want to do with it. It's your life, you get to make the call. 

Quote

“To those human beings who are of any concern to me I wish suffering, desolation, sickness, ill-treatment, indignities—I wish that they should not remain unfamiliar with profound self-contempt, the torture of self-mistrust, the wretchedness of the vanquished: I have no pity for them, because I wish them the only thing that can prove today whether one is worth anything or not—that one endures.”

Back at it, Episode 8 running this week – Thanks for checking out the podcast. This is a docu-series on growth/self-improvement, tech, sports and experiences for building a valuable life.

Here are my notes for this week – Check me out on Twitter and Instagram for other things going on -  @trevorsean12

Experiment

I talk about the importance of following your curiosity, putting in the time and experimenting with things as you're building your life. Pay attention to what you're doing, not if it's too hard, but if what's hard about your current work gives you a sense of pride. Example - Working out is hard, but afterwards you feel so proud of your work and you feel great, so the time you spent was worth it. 

If you're working on something that's hard and there is no joy at all and after you felt like the time was wasted, pay attention to that and follow your interest to another area. Make sure you play around with those interests and curiosities enough to validate moving on to something different. Sometimes you just have to push past that initial wall before you start liking something. 

Believe in Yourself

"If you won't believe in yourself, why would anyone else?" - Tom Brady

Aim to be better than you were yesterday, don't worry about being better than others - it's not the same playing field. (Pulled from Jordan Peterson's book, 12 Rules for Life) 

"Is it more important to be THE best or YOUR best?" - Tom Brady. -- Don't put a cap on what you can achieve. 

Pay Attention

Understand what's going on around you and the climate that you're living in. Pay attention to your actions and interests no matter what they are. Lastly, don't be afraid to act on them. There's a lot of different things that you can do in life, whether you go about it on your own or you team up with others that are like minded - Follow your impressions and see how the horizon is moving so you can be in a good spot with how the world is changing. 

This doesn't mean always the newest thing. If I'm not into tech but I love the 90's and cd's fore example, I think you could create a really cool business around that, but maybe a brick and mortar store isn't the vehicle that would get you there, I'd have to market it on all the social platforms to stay relevant. 

MKBHD talks about his start with his YouTube channel and how it progressed to what it is today - cool video. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=psJzH3xjpLE 

Likewise

Cool new app, allows you to build lists of interests in your life and make recommendations to your followers and other profiles. Check it out on iOS or Android. 

likewise.com 

Happy December, Episode 7 to kick it off – Thanks for checking out the podcast. This is a docu-series on growth/self-improvement, tech, sports and experiences for building a valuable life.

Here are my notes for this week – Check me out on Twitter and Instagram for other things going on -  @trevorsean12

Spotify

If you know, you know. For real, best music service out there right now hands down. Streaming quality is great, browse and search experience is the best and on top of that, their algorithm for smart playlists based on your listening kills everyone else. 

They have a great discover playlist to help you find music that is both similar and also out of your norm, they have a release radar playlist that’s updated weekly with new tracks from your favorite artists, and tons of other smart playlists they put together based on your listening. Give them a try, you won’t be disappointed – 

Keep Learning

Always important to keep learning and stay fresh with how the world is moving and changing. It’s important to read, listen, watch, and continue to grow. I think reading is one of the greatest habits you can create that will expose you to more things throughout your life than just about anything. But with reading, take notes, think about what you are reading, and apply it to your life. 

It’s not just about how much time you read for, what you read is just as important. 

(From Ryan Holiday, Daily Stoic newsletter – check him out here: https://billowing-sea-7267.ck.page/79d6c63e9f 

Double Down on You – Don’t be a Bitch

For real, don’t be a bitch. You are your most important asset, spend time figuring yourself out and then once you do, don’t waste all the work you spent because you’re scared of becoming that next person. I’m going through this process right now, and something I realized this last week – Whatever path you choose is going to be hard, but you have to choose one, you can’t stay in the middle undecided. 

So choose something and go all in on it. If it doesn’t work out, pick yourself back up and try again, pivot, change it up a little, but keep progressing and figure it out. Life is hard, but you can figure it out. 

Quote of the Week

Guy Ritchie on Joe Rogan from a few year’s ago: 

“You must be the master of your own Kingdom.” 

“If you don’t own something, then you’re not the boss.” 

Link to video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rd3yeX1-SaM

Those Duck Uni’s…… damn

https://twitter.com/GoDucks/status/1334678899817500672

Thanks for checking out the podcast – tear it up and I’ll see you next week.