Your past achievements are worth nothing because what drives you today is what you’re doing now and after. Today and what will come is the only thing that counts. Use today to prepare for change so you’re well equipped for tomorrow’s world. This is what you do every day: change and prepare for change. This change will make you become an amateur again where you start from scratch.
Accordingly, you have not achieved a single thing (even if you did in other fields). It doesn’t count. Your past version, the one from yesterday or 10 years ago, has become irrelevant.
Starting from zero
They say: „Every day is a new start.“ Take it literally. Make every day a totally new start like being reborn with no successes, no failures, only a pure mind, pure intentions and lovely humanness.
After many years of not focussing on my financial situation (I played the „starving artist instrument“ with only so much income that I survived), I chose this summer 2016 to be the start of a new personal paradigm: the businessman inside me who is earning money. In order to attract and receive money, I’m starting every day with two mantras in mind:
- Focus.
- I accomplished nothing.
You probably don’t like the idea that past achievements are worth nothing since it makes you feel so good and proud to talk about. The problem is the how comfortable you’ve become when you know you managed this or that. You settle because of too much comfort (in your head), and your engine is stuttering because you’re running it on low energy. The „nothing“ mindset goes hand in hand with the idea to make hungry.
Don’t be a Garfield
When you’re (too) comfortable, you think everything is fine. In business, nothing is fine because getting out of business happens in those moments when you didn’t pay attention. When Borussia Dortmund’s Sokratis has one of his few black-out moments in the defense, an opposing team’s forward like Bayern München’s Müller would use it „ice-cold“ and score against your team.
Business is not soccer. That’s true. Business is like a permanent, on-going soccer game because thanks to your effort, delegation, and hard work it’s running. If you don’t nourish the wheels, the game ends. You’re a player, coach (HR person) and referee (CEO) in one person. That’s how business is like soccer but very different as well.
Setting specific goals
Numbers are important as a businessman. So, I set myself weekly and monthly goals. For example, until the end of 2016 I’m making 2,000 Euros a month and accordingly 500 Euros per week (says my plan). August is the first month I’m starting to think and act like that because before I was traveling and living abroad.
Since July I’m in my German hometown (Berlin), where the only thing I’m focussing on is work and money. Germany is great for being productive and making the cash flow. For the next months, this will be my primary occupation because for too long I had no economic goals or something like a regular monthly income. I’m earning my money through three channels right now (avoiding to be an employee):
- Cleaning apartments, houses, ateliers, and offices (~1,000 Euros in 100 working hours per month)
- Writing for a German blog (~700 Euros in 40 working hours p.m.)
- Selling an app managing the entrance management of events (~300 Euros in 24 working hours p.m.)
Every night before a new day I’m preparing my mind for the day so I’m conscious and deliberate in my execution. Every Sunday I’m checking how well I did. I do this every week (4 times) until the end of the month where I review the whole month.
So, I have five checkpoints: the first and last two are the most exciting ones because (like in soccer) a good kick-off gives a great boost for the rest of the month, whereas the last two make sure that you keep the attention, intention and tension high until the last minute. Start and finish with seriousness.
The takeaway from today: You are what you are right now and in the future. Forget your past success so you don’t start longing for them or even miss them. Be in the present, the here and now, so you have the awareness to make good decisions today and tomorrow. You need to be present to anticipate change and ride the wave of change. Otherwise, the wave will drown you and you’ll be out of business in the blink of an eye.
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This was episode 66 of the #weekdaykickoff 🌊. Every weekday (Mon-Fri). Also find me on Anchor so we can talk — literally talk from person to person!
Also published on Medium.