This marks the first episode of a new series here on the podcast: Meaningful Mondays. These new Meaningful Monday episodes will usually be shorter and faster-paced than my interviews and audiobook summaries. I decided to start Meaningful Mondays because I thought about how de-motivating Monday mornings can be for so many people... Especially if you're punching the clock every morning at a job that doesn't fulfill you. My hope is that this new addition to the show can give you something positive, powerful, and inspiring to start your week with. Here's the first of what I hope to be many Meaningful Monday episodes, and it's inspired by an old Jim Rohn speech I used to listen to whenever I felt like I might be making excuses for not bringing my best on a daily basis; whenever I was faking it, and perhaps not being the best "me" that I possibly can be (at work, at home, at the gym, anywhere). I hope you enjoy listening to this episode. But more importantly, I hope you *do* something with it. This episode of the podcast is brought to you by Audible Audiobooks (by Amazon). Get a FREE audiobook download and 30 day free trialat www.audibletrial.com/dean. Over 150,000 titles to choose from for your iPhone, Android, Kindle or mp3 player. This episode is also brought to you by GetFlashNotes Book Summaries. Get top Business + Self-help Book Summaries you can read or listen to in under 20 minutes. Hundreds of titles to choose from for your iPhone, Android, Kindle or mp3 player. Get started for just $1 at getflashnotes.com Also listen on: YouTube Transcript *This transcript may contain grammatical errors, because it was transcribed directly from my recording... so please be gentle on me if it's not perfect :-) How easy is it to get up in the morning when you know you're not doing all that it takes? Not very easy at all… You can just lay there awake thinking — oh "what’s a few more minutes in bed, it won’t matter much anyway" WRONG — it does matter. It will matter. NOW, how easy is it to get up in the morning when you're pouring it on, doing the best you can, anxious to get going to make progress toward your dreams. it's a whole different story. when you're resting to renew your reserves it's much different than resting to avoid your day when your psyched up and excited for your life, when you're excited for what you plan to accomplish for the day, it's amazing you'll wake up before the alarm clock even tries to startle you awake your successes fuel your ambition your successes give you extra energy your successes pave the way for more success it's the snowball effect with one success you're excited to meet another and another and another… and pretty soon the disciplines that were so difficult in the beginning, the disciplines that got you going are now part of your philosophy. How do you know when you're successful? Do you have to be a millionaire? NO, all we ask of you is that you earn all that you possibly can, if you earn 10,000 a year and that's the best you can do that's enough... God and everything else will see to it that you're OK the key is to just do the best you can if it's ten thousand a year — wonderful. if it’s a hundred thousand a year — wonderful. if it's a million a year — wonderful. it doesn't matter if it’s $10,000 a year or a million a year it doesn't matter — as long as you've done the best you possibly can... EARN the most you possibly can, BE the most you possibly can, and here's why: the essence of life is GROWTH, the essence of life is growth--to do the best you can! … and here's what's interesting — humans are the only life form that will do LESS than they possibly can, humans are the only life form that will settle for less, every other life for me except human beings drive to its maximum capacity... how tall a tree grow? as tall as it possibly can! you never heard a tree growing as half as high is it could, no, trees don't grow half, trees send their roots down as deep as possible, stretch their limbs up as high as possible, produce every leaf possible, and every fruit possible, as a matter a fact... you never heard of the human physically growing half... we keep growing until we’re done... now that's a part of life we can't control, it's genetically coded and that's probably why we keep growing 'til we’re done, because we can't control that part, it's the rest of the growing that we control, the growing of our minds--the expansion of our minds that we CAN control, and that's what tends to get away from us. All life forms inherently strive to their MAX EXCEPT for human beings... Now why wouldn't human beings strive to their maximum possibility? Here's why: because we've been given the dignity of *choice*. Choice makes us different than alligators and trees and birds. The dignity of choice makes us different than all other life forms... .. and here's the choice —— to become PART of what we could be; enough to get by... OR to become ALL that we can BE... my best advice for you is to CHOOSE the ALL. Earn all you can, make all the friends you can, read as many books as you can, develop as many skills as you can, see as much as possible, DO as much as possible, make as much fortune as possible, give as much away as possible... THE MAX — there’s no life like it! — I'm telling you, once I got on track I've never looked back. Pick up the challenge, go for it, take the best of the two “easy’s" take the route of "it's easy to get ahead”, "it's easy to do all you can”, “it’s easy to succeed”, “it’s easy to have financial freedom" the more you do, the more you get. So the two primary benefits of positive reinforcement are: #1: to build good habits, and #2: to create more energy to fuel your ambitions, your desires, your achievements. How can you isolate what's working for you, and what isn’t? how can you make sure that you’re reinforcing your positive disciplines? Well if it isn't apparent — easy to see right away, if what you're doing is happening in such small increments that you're not sure if you're on track, then you need to be writing it down, you need to keep a journal anyway, but if you really aren't sure that what you’re doing is making measurable progress, you need to keep a written record, you need to write down everything that may be relevant in your day--what you did, who you saw, what you felt; how it may or may not affect you now and in the future... The best way to track your activities at the day is to write them down the best way to track your activities of the week is to write them down, the best way to analyze your progress through the year is to have written it down… WHY? So you can look back on it. Because by keeping a written record of your life you will be more accountable, by putting into writing the action steps you have planned you will easily see what works and what doesn’t. Most people just try to get through the day— never writing anything down, never really keeping track of their progress along the way never really knowing if they are doing all they can to reach their goals, to drive their ambition. But gifted people learn to get FROM the day, they don't let a day end without picking up some valuable experience, some emotional content, Some idea that might positively affect their future to get the most from the day. To learn the most from a day you need to be able to reflect on the day. in order to reflect on the day you need to do something that day that deserves to be reflected on, pablo picasso said that “Action is the foundational key to all success.” Bob Dylan said “A man is a success if he gets up in the morning and goes to bed at night and in between does what he wants to do.” So, how do you know when YOU are successful? The day you get up and spend most of your time taking action towards something you’ve decided on your own is worth pursuing for its own sake —and then the very same evening of that very same day—climbing into your bed with a pen and a pad, ready jot something down worth reflecting on tomorrow. ###- Dean Bokhari Listen on iTunes LET'S BE FRIENDS: Get inspiring insights in your inbox (100% bull-shit free) On Twitter: @deanbokhari On LinkedIn On Facebook CONNECT WITH ME: Get your self-improvement questions answered on the podcast! Email: questions [at] deanbokhari.com Optimize your life. Join 18,000+ members of the Meaningful Movement SUBSCRIBE TO THE PODCAST: On iTunes On Stitcher Get fresh, new episodes delivered to your inbox MUSIC CREDIT: Produced by Marc DtwoSoundCloud: @point-blank20YouTube:www.youtube.com/channel/UCJZrezTwT7Wb4du7cZiZriA"

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“What did the council decide on item 42?” — answered with the speaker and the moment.

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