I've been doing quite good as of late, not amazing as some crypto millionaires but also not as bad as I was a few years ago, and I've learned a lot during that time where I tried my best to improve myself, my approach to life and the way I roll.
I know there are a lot of posts that aim to advice other users on how to thread in life, crypto, the internet or the professional scene, and I don't mean to undermine them but, here's probably the most thorough post about self improvement.
This post will be long but it will cover most of what I've learned since I became part of the crypto world and from my days in corpo world, I hope you get some value out of it because it took me a very long time to write it.
Generating business relations and networking
We all know bigger fish, and we all wish we could count them within our network, work with them and generate value while learning along the way. Here are some tips to outreach these people we wish we could collaborate together with:
- Have the correct mindset - In order to generate meaningful business relations, you have to have a mindset where what matters is what your prospect needs and wants, not what you want out of the business relation. Approach people with a mindset of providing value, not taking it.
- Don't waste their time - Don't message people with short openings that provide no info on what you want to talk about, go straight to the point in a short, concise way and do not make the prospect waste their time by having to reply to simple "hello" messages. In fact, odds are they won't even reply to short messages with no info on what you want out of the conversation.
- Make it personal - Do not be robotic, too formal or use bots to begin conversations, find a way to add personality to your outreach messages and if you can, maybe even add some humor.
- Always provide proof - If you are offering to take care of some areas of opportunity in the prospect's business, provide them proof that you can take care of it and you can make things happen in order to avoid the perception of smoke selling. Adding proof of previous works or jobs done is a great way to empower your proposal.
- Straight and to the point - Make your message as short as possible without sounding robotic and without keeping any information out, this one is hard but doable. At the end of the message maybe even ask a question to encourage the response and finish with a firm CTA.
- Be clear - Do not disguise your intentions, they will see through your bullshit, they are not where they are by being naive or gullible. If your intentions are business related make it clear from the start, if you just want to add them to your network then be clear about it, if you want to sell, pitch away in the first message.
- Prove you are worthy - Successful people don't have time to chat with random people. Make it clear you know what you are talking about, you know what their niche is all about and what value you can add to their team's skillset.
- Persistence is key - Notice that I said persistence not being pushy. If you want to generate business relations with someone and you don't get a response right away that's fine, these people are busy and they might miss your message/email. Don't get discouraged and try again after a few days and maybe a couple of weeks after, if you don't get a response then take the cue and don't be a pushover.
Achieving your goals faster
We all have goals, but some of us find it easier to achieve them while others might just wonder why is everyone else advancing so fast in life while we are stuck trying to accomplish out own goals? I am a procrastinator and I find it extremely hard to execute my plans.
I used to be a planner and not a doer... that is one of the worst possible personalities because I can envision everything I want to achieve perfectly but I struggle so much in getting it done because execution is a whole different game.
The world belongs to doers, not thinkers, so here's a quick rundown on how I managed to become a doer and achieve my goals faster:
- Set specific goals - Don't be broad, have a specific goal with a deadline and a gameplan, be as specific as you can so you can hold yourself accountable. If your goals are ambiguous then you will find gaps to excuse yourself from fulfilling your goals.
“I want to have 20k Leo Power” is a statement
“I want to have 20k Leo Power by December 2023” is a goal
“I’m going stack 20k Leo Power by December 2023 by posting every day, engaging and participating in LPUD every month with at least 500 LP” is a game plan.
- Write your intentions - That's how I hold myself accountable, by posting on Hive my goals and then having everyone around you knowing what you want to achieve and maybe even encouraging you to achieve it. Writing your goals also helps you break them down into shorter goals within the main one, that way you can set smaller goals with shorter deadlines and simpler game plans. Establish milestones: Milestones are one of the best ways to stay focused and keep being encouraged in achieving your main goal.
- Be proactive - Procrastination & poor time management signal reactivity, while organization & good judgment signal proactivity. If you operate with a reactive mindset then you are always going to be a slave of fate, but if you are proactive then you create your own fate.
- Do not share your goals with anyone - Except from the main write up (that you can actually leave out of hive), do not share these goals with other people because the psychology behind telling other people your plans is simple: when we share our goals we release the same rewarding endorphins as achieving them so you are basically tricking your brain into thinking you no longer need to achieve them because you already got the rewards from sharing them.
- Constantly remind yourself about your goals - When we wake up our brain is in alpha state. The first thing you have to do is revise your goals and your gameplan, you will get inspiration, ideas and the drive needed to achieve your daily goals.
- Perfection kills momentum - Your metric should be daily progress, not perfection. This is what happens when you take small consistent efforts Vs when you do nothing at all.
- Focus on 80/20 - Energy, time & willpower are limited resources. Focus your effort on high value tasks before you get tired and lose concentration. Always get the hardest parts of your game plan first so you avoid procrastinating the important stuff.
- Be organized - It doesn't matter how much drive you have if you don't organize how you want to tackle things. Set an importance matrix of all your tasks and bullet points of your gameplan.
Urgent and important = Execute quickly
Urgent but not important = Delegate
Important but not urgent = schedule
Not important and not urgent = eliminate.
make your brain perform on steroids
I don't need to do coke to feel on coke, it's a pretty easy thing to achieve if you have the right mindset and enough willpower. This is not for everyone and I don't do it as often as you might think, I actually avoid doing this unless I need to feel like I drank 10 boost cans and did 7 lines of coke.
It's always better to be constant and to keep a healthy lifestyle to always feel like you are executing at 100% of your power level, but some times we need to be at 200% for a short period of time, so here goes my life hack:
- Fast for 72 hours - This will keep your brain and body focus on achieving your goals instead of wasting it digesting, doing useless chores, distracting yourself etc.
- 3 day caffeine break
- 1 hour of aerobic exercise per day
- Cold shower early in the morning, start your day at 6am~
- 30 minutes in nature at the beginning of the day, every day
- Meditating on the actions that made me need this 200% boost, reflect on what I could've done better
- No outside feedback. Tell the fam you won't be around during work hours (usually 16hrs per day for me).
- 8 hours of sleep. This is a must and unavoidable or you will break downIs much more productive than having work/life balance and average performance like a normie
Get rid of toxicity in your life
We all have toxic behaviors, toxic people and toxic habits. If you want to make it in life you need to get rid of all of these, here's how I managed to do it.
- You don't suck at anything - You just haven't tackled the issue the right way. It's easier to say "I've always been bad at math" than to tackled the issue. Some people will say that you should focus in your strengths instead of trying to get better on what you suck. That is true, but having the mindset of being mediocre and that being ok is what is wrong with this. Just because you're not good at something it means mean you'll never be able to master those skills, it just means that you haven't tried different ways of mastering them.
- Don't chase dopamine - As I mentioned above, sharing your goals or dreams is a great way to not achieve them because your brain receives undeserved dopamine. If you live your life chasing the next dopamine rush you will never be happy. Short term narcissim and hedonism has never been the right approach in life and yet, we've all been there. Get rid of short term dopamine releasers - unless it's exercise or working out. Get rid of gaming, drugs, alcohol, meaningless sex and all the bullshit that only distract you from your goals and your frame.
- Don't be risk aversive - Falling into the comfort zone is easy, especially when you have a good life and you have a false sense of achievement from petty stuff, and this ultimately leads to being risk averted. At the end of the line you will regret not taking enough risks and just surviving instead of living. Enjoy the highs and the lows, but go through them.
- You are not a victim - Stop blaming others for your own mistakes and failures. Accept, embrace and assume your errors and lackings, that's the only way you will fix them, fix the behavior that caused them, and eventually avoid them in the future. You are the only master of your fate and the captain of your soul. It's nobody's fault that you are where you are, don't blame the system, don't blame the class way, don't blame anything, it is all your fault and it is under your control to fix whatever is kicking you ass. Of course some circumstances may be out of your control due to timing and outside forces, but the way you prepared for them and the plans you set to deal with these outside forces falls directly on you.
- Multitasking sucks, get rid of it - The best way to achieve something is to focus 100% on the task at hand. Multitasking has never been effective no matter what the old wives tales tell you. Productivity drops way too much to make it worth it for you to execute more than one task at a time - unless you are listening to a podcast while mowing the lawn like I like to, because one task is physical and the other is mental, they don't trump each other and they don't require the same parts of my brain to be done, in fact a lot of people get the best brain activity while doing repetitive tasks.
- Perfectionism is toxic - See above for the explanation, I just had to repeat it because most people think being a perfectionist is everything but toxic. I think the other way. All I can say is that being a perfectionist is the perfect way to lose motivation and waste time on unnecessary tasks trying to find reasons why "it" should always be perfect.
- Stop putting self-care below your goals - Your 100% can only be in power if you take care of yourself. This might contradict my advice of how I get to 200% power level above, but that's temporary and I also stated that I avoid falling into that state. Health and self care is the most important part of being productive. Body, mind and spirit is the trifecta and you should never neglect any of them. Exercise, have a healthy diet, get a good night's sleep, drink enough water, get sunlight and enjoy nature time daily.
- Avoid burn out mode - You will regret this in your old days.
Mindset and approach to life
- Forget about the sunk cost fallacy - The Sunk Cost Fallacy describes our tendency to follow through on an endeavor if we have already invested time, effort, or money into it, whether or not the current costs outweigh the benefits. This one is pretty easy to grasp, the point is, don't think that something is worth holding on to just because you already did in the past, learn to let go, take your loss and move on.
- Learn to say NO - Be comfortable denying your time to other people, be ok with answering No to others. The position you put yourself in, is the position other people will see you in, if you don't say No, the position you are putting yourself in will always hinder your growth and success.
- You are a mix of those you surround yourself with - As simple as it sounds, pick those around you carefully. Surround yourself with like minded, successful, positive people with a go-for-it mentality.
- Rely only on yourself - There is nothing wrong in being able to count on people, but there will never be someone more trustworthy than yourself, learn to trust and count on you alone and you will never have any setbacks.
- Be open minded - If you give people time and a space for them to share their perspectives with you and you listen carefully and open to have your mind changed, you will their respect even if they don't change your mind. It's completely fine to disagree, in fact agreeing with everyone is a dangerous mindset, if you think one way do not bend your mind so easily but don't get married with your convictions, a wise man knows when he is wrong and can change their mind on almost any topic.
- Being humble is key - Arrogance has never been positive, but arrogance plus success attracts hate and will push others away. On the other hand, sharing your wins or your knowledge with the intent of helping other people out is different, and even in those times, you may still be seen as a pompous jerk.
- Be an active listener - I think I have only met like 4 people in my whole life that actively listen, which is a lot to say, but the thing is, most people just hear, they never listen. A great way to skyrocket the respect people have for you is to listen to them with the intent of understanding them, not just hearing them while waiting for your turn to speak once they finish.
I just realized I still have like 5 different topics I want to talk about, but to be honest this post is already longer than what anyone here on Hive reads, so I guess I will have to make a second part for this concept.
I hope you found this post useful, be on the lookout for the next part if you liked this one.