Friday is summary day. I wrap up the week and sum up what you learnt in the #weekdaykickoff 🌊 series this week.

Your duty to succeed

For you personal life, your business, your family and eventually your pension you want to have success with tangible results (human connection, interaction, exchange) and intangible results (changing the world, make it a better place, money). This is your duty. You will learn about your duty when you encounter of your moment of obligation.

Be gentle, man

When you’re gentle you differentiate, you pay attention to details, you make little gestures of big meaning. You’re the star without looking for fame. You’re the guy/gal next door but with an impressively shining aura. You’re natural and no actor can beat this. You’re not acting as your best because you want a “Thank you!”. You do it unconditionally. You don’t expect anything in return.

Writing therapy

Writing heals. Writing keeps (your memories alive). Writing sells (making a living from it). Writing allows a dialogue with yourself (hey buddy, how are you doing). Writing kicks off your engine called brain. In short: It all starts with writing and you should write, too.

When you “want” an “and”

I’m a fan of playing with words. It’s one of my favorite playgrounds. However, this is another topic. You learnt that using “want” and “and” functions as catalyzers for your communication. You avoid “must” and “but” because they are what I call “terminal words”. I’m hyberboling now and will call them “cancer words”. They end things. “want” and “and” extend, amplify, prolong things, keep things alive. They are “dancer words”. Rhymes well, right? With this magic duo you’re encouraged to move your hips, dance along the conversation and make it a musical.

The take-away for the weekend: If you succeed in life you have the guarantee to create your own legend and be somebody instead of a nobody. Pursue it. Stay, nevertheless, gentle and humble in your actions, meaning: act like a star but only in the process. Be a celebrity while you work but be Mr. Nobody before and after it because before your action you haven’t achieved anything and after you’re up for your next thing to succeed in (and in your mind you still haven’t achieved anything).

Write as a therapy so you know yourself best by chatting with your self, memorize your life and know where to go. Be brave to also encounter your dark parts, very dark. Black. And when you do that writing avoid “but” and “must” because everything you do from now on will be directed towards what you want and what other people need. And. Want.

Done.

This was episode 25 of the #weekdaykickoff 🌊. Every Monday-Friday morning. Colombian time. Until episode 5 I also audio-recorded on Anchor, you can find me there as “Alexander Kluge”.

Hahaha. You’re a funny person. First you give me inspiration and a kick in the butt and now you want me to not use particular words. Who are you? Some kind of weirdo?!

Before you jump off, let me explain.

I’m here to get you into a mindset that pushes you, makes you move and puts you into a position of being self-responsible for every action of your day. Also, right now when you’re chewing your nails, drinking that 3rd cup of coffee and scrolling aimlessly through the Facebook stream that anyway doesn’t reflect your interests anymore.

You’re looking for distraction, you think, but what you’re actually looking for is having a rich, meaningful life. Ah, you’re one of those selling the dream and living from selling the dream to others who fall into your trap? Ehm, nope!

I’m the one who’s potentially your best friend although we don’t know each other. I can help you elevate up, up, up without selling you something. If I care about you (and/or your business) I will provide a massive amount of value for you.

Get back to the point. Why no “must” and “but”? Ok, there you go.

If you must do something, you may not want to do it. It’s something/-one else telling you to do it. You have zero motivation, zero spirit and drive to do it because you do it for someone else.

Ok, now the “but” part! Ok ok, Mr. Impatient.

When you “but” something you potentially end a conversation. You can kill a stream of thought and make the person you’re responding to with a “but” feel uncomfortable. If you “but” it, you close the door right in front of your conversation partner’s face.

I suggest to use “want” and “and” instead. If you want something, you do it. No questions asked. You go for it. When you “and” something you keep the conversation alive, adding another aspect or even gently disagreeing with that other person’s opinion. And you do it smoothly. But you do it smoothly. You felt the difference of both?

The take-away from today: Observe how “want” and “and” change the way you communicate. Try it today, and if you like it, continue using them. It takes some time to adjust your way of speaking and you’ll feel obstacles doing it (because it can seem not natural), but give it a try and let me know if it does something for you.

This was episode 24 of the #weekdaykickoff  🌊. Every Monday-Friday morning. Colombian time. Until episode 5 I also audio-recorded on Anchor, you can find me there as “Alexander Kluge”.

Thinking is fine but thinking too much kills your ability to act: it numbs and paralyzes you. Overthinking is the keyword here. You’re such a thinker. You’re so intelligent that you think about all those things.

Guess what? There is a time when thinking is only the start of your quest, when thinking is only the vehicle that drives you towards your destination, when it’s just a mean not the outcome.

Of course it hugely depends on your personality, context, relations and your whole concept of life what role thinking does take in your endeavors. I’m a fan of practicality (I hear my younger self laughing out loud now since as an 18 year old I was far from that mentality). Putting things into action. Moving wheels so it gets rolling and pushing myself because you can always go further. That’s my world today. It may change.

If you can still ask yourself “Have I reached my limit?” you haven’t reached your limit. Continue. — Twitter

Thinking is not the absence of being practical. It’s just another expression of it. The problem with thinking is its inherent abstract nature. It’s just not very tangible to have a thought. Writing it down makes it more tangible, at least legible or readable. Writing puts you into a clear mindset, makes your thoughts make sense.

What I’m doing here with my #weekdaykickoff series is writing every week-day so I stay sharp-minded. It’s my personal therapy. And since I have things to say to this world (so much), I share my personal therapy process.

I’m not insane. I’m preventing myself to become like that. Writing is a big instrument, very powerful. Writing even sells, as I will explain in my next workshop on a cruise crossing the Atlantic. Writing makes you move because moving your fingers is the primary physical expression of writing and therefore your direct connection to your thoughts.

You could say: Fingers are the instruments to play your thoughts.

The take-away from today: Stay mentally sharp and write every day. Yes, every day. In the great book “The Artist Way” I learnt about having morning pages where you brain dump what’s inside your head. “Shout, shout, let it all out” I hear Tears for Fears singing. Exactly. Write, write, let it all out. “I’m talking to you, come on…”.

This was episode 23 of the #weekdaykickoff. Every Monday-Friday morning. Colombian time. Until episode 5 I also audio-recorded on Anchor, you can find me there as “Alexander Kluge”.