Do you have trouble falling asleep and taming the mind?

I can fall asleep within 10 minutes, guaranteed.

It wasn't like this as for years I’d toss and turn trying to fall asleep as my mind wandered with endless mental minutia, from things that I needed to get done to memory reruns to random ideas, my head would not STFU.

Everything changed when I started doing THIS, and had you told me this would be effective at getting me to sleep fast, I would have laughed at you.

Here’s what I did:

1) I found earbuds that I could sleep comfortably with.

2) I find audiobooks on Audible that aren’t terribly mentally stimulating or thought-provoking, something like “cozy mysteries” or other fictional writings. I avoid non-fiction educational books during this time as I’m not trying to stimulate the mind; I’m trying to lull it.

3) Make sure the narrator of your book has a soothing, calming voice.

4) I listen to the audiobook, set to go off at 30 minutes (Audible has this function.)

5) Like clockwork, I’m out usually within 10 minutes. Worse case, 20. The earbuds tend to stay in all night promoting total silence, and a weened myself off the need for white noise (which can damage hearing).

Why does this work, and will it work for you?

Apparently, listening to novels that require low mental bandwidth narrows the mind into a subtle focus, silencing the scatterbrained chaos that keeps us up at night. I’m no longer thinking intensely about 30 different things but thinking lightly about 1 thing.

For years, I thought this was crazy.

And now it turns out, this strategy is not unusual as CNBC just reported that many women listen to true crime podcasts to help them fall asleep. While I wouldn’t recommend such a heavy, tragic topic like that, listen to whatever works for you.

Of course, I’m sure this won’t be effective for everyone, however, if you struggle with getting to sleep, give this a try.

Your sleep and your health may thank you.

Article: https://www.cnbc.com/2023/10/13/why-are-women-falling-asleep-to-true-crime-podcasts-and-tv-shows.html

Details matter, especially if you're in the business of details.

I won't post the flyer, but I received a "Car Detailing" flyer on my windshield.

The flyer itself was poorly done, from layout, fuzzy low-res design, and even unwanted printer marks that should have NOT been visible.

If these are the details you put into your flyer -- your only representation of your business -- how well will you detail my $150,000 car? (The flyer had a picture of a $150K Mercedes.) Why would I trust you with it, when you can't be trusted to do a simple 8.5 x 11 flyer?

Details matter, especially if you're in the business of details.

In a follow up to the previous post about DETAILS MATTER, here’s another example and a response to the assertion that some new businesses simply don’t have the budget for details.

Bullshit.

Stop making excuses.

There is a difference between a quality flyer that pays attention to detail and a poor flyer that does not.

Does it cost money to fix a spelling error?

Does it cost money to remove the printer lines that should NOT be there?

No.

As a potential customer, it is not my job to be a guinea pig for a new business, especially regarding expensive assets.

Here’s another example from last month…

I had a window washing company (kid) cold-call me on my home’s front porch. The guy was completely unpolished, and I immediately could tell this kid had watched a few youtube videos and was trying to make quick hustle bucks.

When I asked him for a quote, he verbally said $800.

Then I asked, can I get that in writing? He looked at me, completely dumbfounded. He had no estimating paperwork, no mention of guarantees, insurance, NOTHING!

While I sympathize with anyone trying to start a business, I’m not interested if your initial effort clearly demonstrated that you cut corners. If you lack detail in your presentation, I don’t trust you to do the job. YOU ARE NOT WORTH THE RISK. And most people would not either.

Here’s the backside of my home—hundreds of windows, some of which are 30 feet tall. Would you trust a 19-year-old kid who NEVER washed windows—and already demonstrated a lack of attention to detail—to mess with any of them?

Hell no.

Sorry, when it comes to high-dollar assets, I’m not risking those assets with low-detail partners.

I'm going to reiterate the power of using this simple $2 tool. Or to fit into cultural slang, "life hack."

Here's the full article...

https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/community/threads/how-a-2-life-hack-changed-everything-thank-you-mj.108923/post-1069524

For the last 6 weeks, I've been having muscle tightness/stiffness in my IT-band and piriformis muscle. For those who don't know what that is, that's the lateral muscle/fascia group down the side of my leg, from my upper hip down to my upper knee. It forced me to downgrade from Healthcon5 to Healthcon4.

The thing is, this thing only flared up while I slept, waking me up at 3AM in severe discomfort.

I figured it was a misalignment since I have pretty poor posture so I paid to see a chiropracter.

After x-rays, 12 treatments, and a $350 pair of orthotics, NOTHING changed. In fact, I'd say the pain got worse.

During this time, I was also doing a lot of stretches to loosen up my hip and glute muscles.

I tried to use my acupressure mat on the area (which fixed another issue) again, it didn't work.

Nothing changed.

But all of is was recorded, and documented in my little blue book.

For the last 6 weeks, this muscle ache/stiffness/pain thing has fucked up my sleep.

Then my wife suggested I try a new series of stretches before bed.

I did them to appease her suggestions, thinking it wouldn't change a damn thing.

I mean, why would it? I've already been stretching and paying a fortune for various other treatments to no avail.

And then, for the first time in 6 weeks, I've had 3 straight days of zero aches/pain, and slept again soundly.

Healthcon5 .... is back!

Life is all one big experiment. If you're not paying close attention, you could miss out on problem solving conclusions.

Act.
Assess.
Adjust.

This is a concept I hit hard in Unscripted and Rat Race Escape (not TMF) -- it truly is the reiterative secret to your best life.

This is my email inbox for my email address I specifically use for NEWSLETTERS. (Image at end)

It will take me to 2027 to read every one of them, of which, I'm guessing 50% of them are trying to sell me something.

This is why if you're not in front of the trend and selling courses and "make millions" on the trend, you're fighting a natural unsustainability and a saturation point.

This is a classic shiny object syndrome and a general misunderstanding of business models and the tools to support the business model.

This NEWSLETTER trend is nearly identical to that of blogs from 2010.
It is nearly identical to that of podcasting in 2018.

Back then, everyone was on the hype train for blogs and podcasting.

Back, then, the blogs that sold for $X millions made news and headlines. Same with podcasting.

The thing is, your blog should NOT be the product.
Your podcast should not be the product.
Your newsletter should not be the product.

These all share the same business "hype train" cycle.

1) Early adopters make millions and sell to those who understand these are TOOLS, not BUSINESSES.
2) Early adopters sell courses to the gold miners.
3) Saturation and massive attrition, 1 out of 200 succeed.

Trying to make "newsletters" YOUR BUSINESS might work out in the short term, but it won't in the long term.

Please don't construe this a completely binary statement...

Some newsletters can stand alone, like Morning Brew...
Some podcasters can stand alone like Joe Rogan...
Some blogs can stand alone like Seth Godin.

So unless you plan on being in the top 10% of the 1%, frame these "trends" as just awesome tools.

Not awesome businesses.

My inbox full of newsletters, 10 days.

So tired of hearing people complain that they don't have ideas, or money to start a business.

Here's a business idea you're welcome to to steal, one that can be pursued with nothing but a few phone calls.

In other words, you can find your customers before spending a dime on business costs. So the risk is completely removed.

Here's the business...

I was just thinking that I love entrepreneurship so much (and running my own show) that I could own a business scrubbing toilets and mopping floors soaked in urine. And I'd be perfectly happy with it.

Offer a service to clean public bathrooms in stores, restaurants, and other public locales, like Home Depot. Every restaurant bathroom I visit is usually filthy; there's clearly a need which is not being solved by internal employees or management.

Management gets a clean bathroom and can focus on critical business operations.
You get a business with low labor costs.

Start cleaning yourself and devise the systems and processes while you learn the ropes and operational efficiencies, then hire labor to scale.

Good idea? Maybe, maybe not.

The thing is, it will cost you nothing to find out, other some grindstone work selling to business owners with public locations.

A harsh message that some won't want to hear, but...

If you're waiting for someone to tell you EXACTLY what to do in starting a business, please STOP fooling yourself.

You're don't have the grit to be an entrepreneur, you have the mental makeup of an employee where you will get exactly what you wanted: A boss who will tell you exactly what to do...

Time waits for no one. After 6 years, people are still "waiting" for their big break in while others have already changed their lives—no hope, no pray, no waiting.

Please don't waste another 6 years.

https://www.thefastlaneforum.com/community/threads/time-waits-for-no-one-including-your-crypto-investments.111412/

If you read Unscripted, you can instantly see through BS like this... a $15 book will likely save you $1000s of dollars and much more heartache...

The ad leverages 5 of the 8 cognitive scams I expose...

The Money Scam
The Shortcut Scam
The Consumption Scam
The Event Scam
The Special Scam

There is no secret formula to wealth and expecting to find it an "Instant Training" is quite possibly the most laughable thing I've seen this year.

CLOWN WORLD, PART II: What is this trend of 20 year olds with no life experience coaching other 20 year olds with no life experience on how to be coaches?

In the 90s, we called it the Envelope Stuffing Scam where you taught others to repeat the grift, with no real value created.

I wish I saw these charts 30 years ago...

You don't want to miss this week's newsletter.

https://preview.mailerlite.io/emails/webview/364132/107473832993883815

Poor decision making and life choices are often the result of poor premises, incorrect information, or untamed biases. Often these are given to you by your culture, family, or media.

If you believe X and X is incorrect or based on a false belief, your decisions based on X will also be incorrect.

In the end, you live a lie. Opportunity, missed.

Examples: "Starting a business is risky" or "You get rich investing in the stock market"

So, holding a job with a corporation who can FIRE you at any moment, for any reason, is NOT risky?

You let the whims of the stock market dictate your entire financial life? That isn't risky?

Astounding.

Every year is a new chance to evaluate your goals.

As a teenager, I had the goal for courtside seats at Chicago Bulls games, next to Michael Jordan. By the time I hit my twenties, this goal disappeared. As I built a better life for myself, the soap-operas of pro sports was no longer worth my time or the mental bandwidth.

As a rule, continuously evaluate your goals that extend beyond one year: As you grow and chisel yourself into a newer you, your goals and values change. There's no failure in dropping a goal that you no longer value.

Build a NEW you, and the goals of OLD you might disappear.

Wishing everyone happy holidays!

I'd like to reiterate that social media is a TOOL.

A thread on the forum advocates deleting social media.

My agreement depends on how the tool is used.

You can use social media to hammer you over the head and make you stupid.
Or you can use it to hammer you a better life and a better business.

At the end of last year I've been having some hip problems which I am 99% sure is due to too much sitting; it dropped me to Healthcon4. This particular issue only flared up during my sleep so I was started to sleep poorly due to hip pain.

I spent nearly $1K on a chiropractor who did nothing to fix the problem.
I spent more $$ on massage.
I stretched daily the area.

Nothing really changed.

My wife started following a bunch of exercise physiologists, kiniseologists ,and physical therapists on IG. She sent me a bunch of stretching exercises as recommended by these people. I started doing the stretches 5-6X a week. Within one week, the problem was reduced in severity.

Today, the pain is virtually gone and I can once again, get a good nights rest. HealthCon5.

And the exercises exposed some really interesting mechanics in my body that likely have been caused by YEARS of sitting in a chair during work hours.

Social media solved these problems for me. And for FREE. Or I could have spent countless hours and dollars trying to find someone to help me, which was already proving fruitless.

Social media improved my health.

It didn't destroy it.

You decide how to use the tool.

Happy New Year!

New Year's Resolutions are for losers.

I haven't had one in decades.

Here's why.

If you're making New Year's Resolutions, it tells me that you don't have a habit of making goals, but only once a year, at the end of December or the beginning of January. 😔

We're already one week into the New Year. Have your goals already started to crack through the seams of life?

I make goals every week of the year—not just January 2nd. Not only do I set goals often, but I also have a STRATEGY and a SYSTEM for achieving them.

Both are needed to succeed.

🎯THE STRATEGY
If you read The Great Rat Race Escape, my 1/5/10 Planasy is my strategy to achieve goals. If you aren't familiar with this strategy, it is based on the goal-setting concept of Backwardation.

Backwardation is visualizing your end goal—selling a Fastlane business for $10M— and reverse-engineering that goal into shorter, segmented goals, narrowed down to the week and the day.

Backwardation is a phenomenally effective concept that has stood the test of time. The most timeless application is in Stephen Covey's work, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, where Habit #2 is "Starting with the End in Mind."

Without Backwardation and a strategy for achievement, New Year's Resolutions are mere fantasies—or, as I like to preach, "A fantastic goal without a fantastic plan is a fantastic fantasy."

🎯THE SYSTEM
One of James Clear's most profound pieces of wisdom in Atomic Habits was, "You do not rise to the level of your goals, but you rise to the level of your systems."

I used a simple pen-and-paper system for decades to plot my Backwardation plan. I futilely tried moving my backwardation strategy to online tools like Notion, Clickup, or MS To Do. It resulted in failure every time as I found these tools bulky, complex, and not "big-picture" focused. I'd always revert back to pen and paper.

As such, last year, I cofounded GoalSumo.com to solve my own problem, or, as they say, to scratch my own itch. I also added in a mentorship, knowledge acquisition, and Kaizen angle as well, a function that other task systems do not have.

I'm happy to say this powerful system has officially replaced my trusty 1/5/10 paper planner. I can say unequivocally that this system has leveled-up my life, with the most notable improvements in my physical fitness.

I use this system daily to set, plan, and achieve goals.

I would use it even if I wasn't associated with it.

If you want to level up your life and make 2024 the year everything changes, I invite you to start using Backwardation for your goals.

1️⃣ Set an ambitious goal
2️⃣ Segment it into smaller, bit-sized goals. Years, months, weeks, day.
3️⃣ Task and habit it to your day.

You can do this at GoalSumo easily, or you can download my free planner. Or write it down in your own journal.

You are the CEO of your life/

Back in the mid-90s, I spent 20 minutes visualizing my future and penned it down in a journal. Years later, I stumbled upon that old visualization in a dusty crate while moving to a new home. EVERYTHING I WROTE DOWN, I ACHEIVED, thanks to Backwardation.

You can read the story listed below.

Win the day. Win the week. And you'll win the year, followed by life.
Cheers, MJ

⚡RESOURCES
▶️ My FREE 1/5/10 Planner: Put Backwardation into Immediate Use.
▶️ My personal Backwardation success story.
▶️ GoalSumo Backwardation Tutorial.
▶️ Get a Free GoalSumo Trial; We have 25 "WIN-2024" subscription discount vouchers; as of now there are 19 left.

PS: If you tried GoalSumo months ago, I invite you to check it out it again as it was totally redone and improved in accordance to my specifications and use model. I stand behind what I personally use.

PS2: The crazy picture of me is after suffering through oral surgery, thanks to GoalSumo, I put on some muscle! 💪💪