As you operate your business, you realize that changes are necessary. You have to adapt in order to survive in an inconsistent world. The thing becomes an issue when everyone wants these radical changes, and people either love them or hate them. The crucial way to survive this is to set up wins along the way.

People obsess over this model idea of sitting on the beach, cashing in on millions with your phone while your company pulls in millions a year. They see these dreamboat stories on Snapchat or Instagram and it’s suddenly the American Dream of this century. It’s also a great big lie.

Human beings are technically an animal species. Maybe that thought hasn’t occurred to some of you before, but we’re an animal. We may be vastly different that most animals you know, who either swim or walk on four legs, but for the most part we meet all the criteria that make animals animals.

As a businessman, looking into the future is an absolute must. The long term goal is something that weighs heavily in my mind at any point in time. With people relying on me for my trade and my business with employees and their families, I have no choice but to focus on how to keep my business afloat and sailing. Instant oatmeal businesses go as quickly as instant oatmeal.

No matter what profession or situation you find yourself in, one of the hardest things for us to do is tackle something by ourselves. It’s one of the unspoken difficulties of being a leader, in fact it’s something most people gloss over, but a lot of the time you are looking down the barrel of a gun at whatever challenge is coming up all by yourself. You don’t have the luxury of taking it on with a well-assembled team, you’re out there fighting all by yourself. You have to learn to be okay to do it by yourself.

I like to stress the importance of having people around you who support you and elevate you while pushing you to do your best. By surrounding yourself with people to help you maximize your potential, you’re creating a safety net. I’m sure you’ve seen in a movie or heard someone say “I’ve got your six” or “I’ve got your back.”

You’ve been told by coaches, teachers, friends, instructors, generally anyone with a pulse that “winners never quit and quitters never win.” As cliche as it sounds, it’s important to remember that losing and quitting aren’t the same. Losing is a type of situational criticism, as loss can be our greatest teacher. Sage wisdom doesn’t come from a place of overinflated self-importance, it’s a humble understanding and acceptance of your flaws, your weakness, and the revelation about how to do it better.

As much as you may want to strangle the snot-nosed brat with a beret ordering a 16-syllable drink at Starbucks, you have to realize for every one of them, there are three others who are hardworking and willing to see what the world has to offer. They don’t know the struggles of the past and how the world has changed, to them the world is inconsistent and equally full of threats and wonder.

Hesitation is the most crippling human affliction, it prevents us from taking the chances we need to seize to move forward. Especially in business, people are harmed by their inability to make a decision. For better or worse, the choices you make are more crucial to your business than staying still.

Something taught to me by a business owner I had the pleasure of working with years ago. He said, if you want things to get done, inspect what you expect. What he meant by that is how we should check up on the things we care about. Physically interact with every facet and joint of the business.

Technology is something that simultaneously demands awe and fear. The advancements in technology are nothing short of incredible, and the capabilities of our modern amenities and comforts would have shocked people even a few decades ago. With the advent of the ATM I wondered how banks planned to cope if you could withdraw, deposit, and cash checks at a small machine hooked into a wall

Attitude and gratitude are two uniquely human perspectives that, for the most part, result in us having to make strong adjustments to what many consider to be a natural human reaction. When something doesn’t go our way, we tend to lash out in bitterness and blame ourselves, God, the universe, whatever is close at hand.

Learning something and applying that knowledge is something, but to understand requires an empathic connection with that experience that is necessary for growth. A growth mindset is what enables people to develop skills and mature in a way that is unique to our species. To dwell in the past is to reject that growth, but a forward lifestyle that values progress over stagnancy tends to reward us with greater personal development.

Everything in life requires some degree of effort. Sweeping a porch doesn’t require the same amount of effort as building a porch, but both require the motivation to get the job done. A lot of us coast off of motivation, others have moved past motivation into discipline. Regardless, there’s a lot of thinking that centers around the idea that being lazy requires no effort. I find this funny, because often enough, trying to get out of one’s duties and shirk on your responsibilities often means putting in more work just to escape the obligations or commitments.

The nature versus nurture debate is an ongoing battle that has been raging for centuries. Within this intellectual war, lies a cold hard truth that we’re going to touch on for just a brief moment, if you’ll bear with me. In thinking about the phrase, “a product of your surroundings” we typically wonder about how people are influenced and changed based on their environment.

When I started in the industry, 40 hours a week was a bare minimum. Suddenly, it seems like 30-32 hours is the official part time company line. Statistically speaking, the people who are bringing in the real money aren’t working 40 hours a week. They’re working 10, 12, up to 14 hours a day for 7 days a week.

People will race to beat the red light with every ounce of strength they can muster. They will do so with little regard for the safety of others. It’s almost as though the instant they shut themselves off in their car or minivan, everyone else outside of that little met

If today is the last day on Earth, what would you do? Apply this train of thought to your day-to-day activities and see what happens. As I’ve drilled into your head by now, you are the only you that will ever exist. There may be people with your same name, there may be people who could be your twin, but your capabilities, interests, and choices will always set you apart from anyone and everyone else. That makes you unique.

Fortune is defined by a culmination of wealth and resources or simply luck influenced by external sources. Well, it doesn’t take fortune to make a fortune. It takes hard work, so when I tell you to make your own fortune, I’m telling you to make your own luck--that’s what will bring you success.

Life beats you down, you need to dust yourself off, shine your shoes, and get back out there. You take enough punishment from others and life itself, so even if you distance yourself from your naysayers, you can never outrun yourself. Take a moment each morning to look in the mirror and realize that you make a difference.