Escape From Average

If you follow this plan as I have structured it, you will save yourself a lot of time and possibly failures along the way. I learned the hard way, and I don’t want that for you. I’m being brutally honest when I tell you that I found myself in the backseat of a car as a homeless man with no job, no food, no money, and—in my mind—no future. However, when I literally woke up in that car, I figuratively woke up as well and took a close look at my life. I wondered how I got there. There was only one answer: I got there because of the choices I’d made throughout my life. The law of choice is the first one we’re going to address, because when you disobey this law, you aren’t able to make the decisions that allow you to become your best you. The choices you’ve made in your relationships, your business, your career, your finances, and even your health have determined where you are in your life right now, whether you’re wildly successful, barely successful, or not successful at all. The choices you’ve made have brought you to where you are now. Let that be an awakening for you. It was for me, and because it was such an awakening, I had to explore it a little bit further. Over the years, I’ve put that one muscle—that one law, choice—under the microscope. Choice led me to other understandings about myself and where I was headed. To me, this meant that the next choice I made had to take me somewhere else and out of that broken-down car. We’ll be discussing how the mastery of the five immutable laws of personal leadership strengthen your muscles and literally change the trajectory of your world. The second law is the law of commitment. Commitment is important because once our decisions have set us in motion, commitment keeps us in motion—particularly when we face obstacles that could derail us from our goals and focus. If you don’t have a commitment that allows you to get past certain barriers, it will be easy to give up and do something different or make another commitment, only to run into another barrier. As humans, we have the gift of creation. We are naturally creators. You have the capacity to think of an idea, and when facing a challenge, you have the ability to problem-solve or come up with a new idea. But when there is no commitment to an idea, you may find yourself bouncing from idea to idea, creating uncertainty and instability in your business and life. It’s important to make a commitment so you don’t get knocked off your game. We’re going to explore that in a way I think will absolutely nail it for you. From commitment, we’ll move to the law of courage. Courage is your secret weapon against fear. We’ll discover not only how fear can stop you from reaching your potential, but also how it is a necessary component of your survival. Fear keeps you safe by allowing you to be aware of what might hurt you. However, when it’s internal fear, like the fear of embarrassment or failure, rejection, criticism, or shame, that’s when the instinct to keep yourself safe may also keep you from success. Next is the immutable law of confidence. When you have mastery or exceptional inner strength, you will find it literally opening doors of opportunity for you. There is an energy when a confident person walks into a room. People feel it and know it. In fact, confidence invites opportunities. When I think of confidence, I see it as a two-sided coin. One side is self-doubt. If you doubt yourself, you have a low level of confidence. The other side of the coin is belief in yourself. How much do you believe in yourself? We’re going to get to a deep level of understanding about what confidence is and how to create a higher level of confidence in yourself so you can move forward without allowing self-doubt to stop you. I’m going to share more than just information with you. Each chapter will give you an opportunity to study it, experience it, and write down your thoughts and ideas with an action plan to strengthen that inner muscle. Remember, knowledge is not power; wisdom is what really counts. Once you discover the key to confidence, you will have a key that opens doors for you the rest of your life. The fifth immutable law may surprise you: the law of celebration. What does it mean to celebrate? To most people, celebration means popping the champagne cork and receiving accolades or congratulations. But in this book, you’ll discover another side to celebration that is equally as important—if not more important—as the traditional meaning we attach to the word celebrate. Celebration goes beyond the spirit of accolades and congratulations. Celebration is about you giving. Yes, giving! Giving is a powerful thing. You will learn that celebration is a unique opportunity to create an upward spiral of giving and receiving. If you commit to working on these five immutable laws, you will experience a life-changing shift in your leadership. I experienced that shift by mastering these laws. Strengthening these inner muscles has allowed me to move from the backseat of my car into the boardroom of some of this country’s largest companies.