Geoff, Author at Geoff Blades

focus like a gazillionaire

As the story goes, Bill Gates Snr. asks Warren Buffett his greatest ingredient to success—

“Focus,” Buffett replied.

Gates agreed.

That’s the story from Alice Schroeder’s book, The Snowball.

But you don’t need this to know…

Focus is your snowball

It’s focus that gets you moving.

And focus that keeps you building momentum.

We all know that focus is absolutely crucial to your goals, yet you also know how elusive it can be, right?

How do you rank your focus?

Really, out of 10, how good would you say you are at getting focused on what truly matters?

Getting yourself diving in?

Staying in?

have you tried these masks?

I joked around last week running in my Black Panther mask.

Some people said it was wrong to play around like that, but I’ve just been trying to lighten it up a bit.

All the negatives of this situation are straight up obvious, when it can be valuable to look for a more positive side.

That’s what I did with the masks too.

Have you seen these training masks?

It sends a bad signal to me seeing healthy people wearing medical masks on the street.

And I figured so long as you’re wearing a mask you could benefit from a functional version.

In the old days when masks were like wearing your undies outside, I’d occasionally see people running or at the gym wearing these masks.

I didn’t get what it was all about, but having worn this training mask for a week or so…

Now I do.

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You might enjoy this guided visualization for healing the world

I asked a friend, a well-known spiritual guru, what are the best ways we can help right now?

Well, first of all he said, “Accept the limits of what you can be doing.”

You’re restricted to your home, and are unlikely helpful to the medical community he went on to point out.

“So be your most helpful taking care of those who are closest, and not just your loved ones,” cryptically he said.

“Meaning, taking care of yourself?”

“Kindof,” he said. (as I’ll come back to)

Now is a time of great stress for many of us.

“Even if you’re healthy and secure it’s a time when great stress is most contagious,” he said.

“Mentally, economically, and even just being locked in the same home with those you love stress can build up too.”

“So, first and foremost take care of yourself and those that are closest to you,” he said.

And then he said something that sparked an idea in me…

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How I’ve failed at making getting better creating your best life more fun than wasting your life

Now, first I’ll say, I know this isn’t you.

I doubt you would have been putting up with me this long if you were one of these people this survey says are—

Binge watching TV 8 hours a day during the lockup.

No way that’s you.

But I also know that even the most effective ones amongst us can waste a lot of time, right?

“How you find 2 hours?”

One of my business partners said to me about this short video program for Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger.

I totally get it.

He’s right, even for what I think of as ridiculously valuable content, 2 hours is still real time. (let alone the 8 hours of the core program!)

And that’s coming from him who’s into this stuff…

But still I said, “Then you just don’t want it enough. Getting better and getting what you want just isn’t a high enough priority.”

I realized later that was the wrong way to see it, that actually it was my fault.

But before we get to that, let’s explore this topic of how much we want it.

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Finally, you can wear this mask in public, or take ones off too

“I no longer have to wear my mask,” Gleefully my friend to said me.

She works in fashion, outside is always dolled up, one of those women who even wears makeup at the gym, so I was surprised when she said—

“It feels freeing that I’m not wearing any makeup or stilts.” (meaning high heels)

And then she added something really meaningful—

“I’ve gotten so used to looking at my face without makeup now that I like it, and I’m never going back.”

“I just get to be myself now,” she said.

One upside from this

There are of course plenty of downsides, but we’re also seeing things that might change for the better.

Whether women feel more free to wear makeup or not might not be such a big deal, yet what it means for our sense of self really is.

In some ways we’re stripping away the veneer, aren’t we?

Seeing more clearly some of the superfluous things that you can remove and never put back in your life.

And then there’s the other side too.

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This man had so much impact, he reset time

Lots of people have deeply impacted our world.

We have cities, buildings, other things named after them, and special days we celebrate them.

Many have had such a lasting impact.

But only one man reset time! (at least for many of us)

Who was this Jesus?

Was he even a man?

Meaning, what does it mean to have died and risen?

Was he the son of God? (and what is such a thing anyways?)

Could he do miracles, or was he just an ordinary man with an embellished history?

Did he even exist at all, beyond the stories and teaching tales told of him?

When the going gets hard, get harder, better, faster, stronger… EASIER

Yes, yes, we don’t have to keep going on about how hard it is right now, do we?

Nor the harder times that might be ahead.

That might be true, but as we’ve been talking about for weeks, all that matters is what you do about it.

Focus on what you can control.

Take your best actions.

I know you’re already doing this.

And I wanted to share with you this free video program that might make it easier for you.

My favorite program

I’ve built a lot of tech in the last 20 years, but this one program is by far my favorite.

That’s because it’s so simple, easy to put to work, and ridiculously powerful.

In the last few weeks I’ve listened to it a couple of times running and it’s been lightning for me.

Coz that’s what it was built to do.

It was built with one goal in mind that is particularly valuable right now.

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Quarantine survey: 3 in 5 adults self-improving during lockdown, and 3 things I’m seeing

Beautiful roses grow in manure.

And there are lots of positive things that are coming out of this situation too.

We are spending more time at home with our loves ones, and pets.

“It gets you more focused on what truly matters,” people keep telling me.

Also you see we adapt fast, and as this survey suggests…

We are getting better!

“It would be so easy to give in to the bad mood, worry all day, and focus on all the things you can’t do,” the survey said but “Many adults are choosing to use the time wisely, and in a really encouraging way.”

3 in 5 adults said the lockup “represents an opportunity to catch up on long abandoned goals, ideas or hobbies.”

And they were “Planning on, or already started, self-improving and becoming ‘super human’ during lockdown.”

Pretty cool, ha?

Out of this tragedy might we see a new wave of human development?

Could this be a phase of creative destruction that forces us and our society to evolve?

So we’re not just making it through but coming out of this more super!

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So long as ur home, you might as well swing from the chandelier

This song started playing randomly on my phone this am.

I don’t know if you know it?

By Sia, in the chorus she sings—

I’m gonna swing from the chandelier, from the chandelier

I’m gonna live like tomorrow doesn’t exist

There’s some bad “teachings” from this song I’ll talk about in a bit.

But there’s much good to get from it too.

Lemons from Lemonade

There’s of course lots of bad sh*t going on right now.

People are sick and dying.

Our economy and financial futures look bleak.

For the greater good we’ve given up all of our freedoms, uncertain what we’ll get back.

Yes, we can sink in this.

Spend your days and nights filled with terror, fear, worry, anxiety, depression.

Or you can use these hardest times to get stronger.

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Advice from the ER—Especially now this 1 principle matters most

Now is obviously a hard time for many of us.

First and foremost all of our hearts go out to those who are sick and directly impacted by the virus.

For many others on the frontlines, in our medical and emergency services, it’s harder than ever.

Yet fortunately, this is what they are trained to do.

“It’s always chaos around here”

A friend in emergency medicine said to me.

His business is emergency, and he’s been conditioned to deal with it.

“You can’t know whether you can save the patient, or often even what surgery they need.”

But that’s when you fall back on your most basic training, he says.

“You do the most important thing right now that the patient needs, and go from here.”

It’s simple, right?

But especially in our hardest times, this can be very hard to do.

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This is my home tie, and 2.5 other devices for best working from home

Meaning it’s the tie I wear when I’m working from home.

You know, like your favorite sweats that you might only wear indoors.

This is my tie version.

Dress to impress YOURSELF

Home tie is just one of the “devices” I’ve developed over the years for working from home.

See, as many more people now know, it can be hard to work from home, right?

You have lots of distractions you don’t have in an office, don’t you?

Like this Kat sitting right next to my keyboard.

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How you stop the virus killing your life, by focusing on these 3 things

When I worked on Wall Street I never understood why busy people wasted so much time.

Much of the day in fact gets slaughtered in things that have zero bearing on your success.

Just chopping things out.

And focusing on what truly matters, you can massively amplify your success in far less time.

Thinking is the same.

70,000 mostly negative redundant thoughts

As I’ve written about lots of times—like here, here, here—the brain is a hellish machine that ruins your life.

Killing your seconds.

Killing any chance you have of living in a positive mindset.

Killing precious moments you could be focused on valuable things.

Killing your life.

Such is the plight of humanity.

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A thought experiment from a former intelligence officer with a chilling scenario

A buddy is a former spook.

If you met he’d seem very much like a regular guy.

Interesting background, fun to hang out with.

But if you get him talking on topics that some might call conspiracy, well, he’ll go to town with you.

Not in a David Icke crazy kind of way

But in the way that intelligence officers are paid to think.

Potential scenarios.

What risks we might face.

How to thwart them.

Best respond in some worst-case scenarios.

Over the years he’s thought through many such cases that most of us never want to imagine.

“And you wouldn’t be surprised to hear how many of them have been cooked up by someone,” he says.

“Movies like Contagion and Impossible Mission 2 give bad actors good ideas.”

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Feels like America is getting back on the horse, just like we’re still having sex

“We’re still having sex,” my friend said to me.

“What?” I blurted.

“Do you know that some 75 million people have been infected with AIDS and 32 million have died?” She said.

“Yet we haven’t stopped having sex, have we?”

That’s a reason I got good with this shutdown

I accepted it won’t last long.

It’s inevitable.

Just a matter of time before Americans say—

OK, so there’s a threat… we’re getting back to work anyways.

“When haven’t we faced threats?” A military buddy said.

After the most devastating attack on American soil on 9/11…

When we still faced a real threat of terrorists blowing up sporting events, public gatherings, planes, and everything else…

We didn’t just shut down.

Hide in our homes for the next decade.

We got on with it, and for better and worse we kicked back.

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Forget about Mad Max, Dark Knight Rises, becoming a virologist

I’m pretty good in the mind.

Tens of thousands of hours researching these topics.

Hours a day of mental conditioning does this for you.

But I’m still human, and sometimes still need a bailout of my own thinking.

Fortunately I’m surrounded by pros

Some of them are experts in the mind.

Others are my friends and clients who I’ve helped over years on these topics…

Who can then help me back when my mind starts to run on.

Such as yesterday.

When Cuomo announced we were locking down New York.

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Again this is only for bankers who especially now must be more commercially effective

Rainmaking Bankers

Hi there.

I hope you’re doing as well as can be expected.

I don’t know if you checked out this free video program for winning in banking I sent around a couple weeks back.

I’ve been getting a ton of great feedback on the program.

And people keep telling me it’s even more valuable now.

It’s of course gotten harder to win

The markets and economy are in tatters.

And it’s of course a much harder time to drive your banking business.

Less meetings.

Capital markets are closed

Fewer companies will transact.

It’s harder to connect with your clients but also a time when they need you even more.

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How to focus on crucial goals, without any clue where the future is headed

“How are your 2020 goals looking?” I asked a client I might take on.

“A complete disaster, “ she said.

Not surprising.

Her business is directly tied to public appearances, which in a world of social distancing is equivalent to leprosy.

“Just the last two weeks our business is 90% off forecast,” she added.

That’s why forecasts are useless…

Now, don’t get me wrong, of course there’s real value in long-term planning…

And all of my methods are built around projecting out your Grandest Reality.

The problem is we fool ourselves into believing we have any clue what the future holds.

The human brain HATES uncertainty, and does anything it can to “create” stability.

Yet as I say in this video, I can’t know if my heart will be beating by the time you’re watching this!

Still, how much time do we spend thinking we can plan our careers, businesses, lives?

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Now is your time… to show whether you’re forged of butter or steel

How quickly the world can change, right?

Just a few weeks ago it was business as usual and now…

Well, what is it?

Do we even know yet?

Certainly not the usual

Things aren’t just carrying on as they were.

There’s been a massive shock to the system, and we don’t know what it means.

It certainly looks like we’re headed into some tougher times.

Like after 9/11 and the credit crisis, many industries and businesses have already been massively hit.

Many people too.

It’s a time when we can fall over.

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Calm is more contagious than any virus or meme

You’ve certainly seen the Keep Calm and Carry On meme but do you know where the phrase comes from?

In 1939 in preparation for World War II the British government printed Keep Calm and Carry On posters they pasted all over London.

The purpose was to keep up British morale ahead of the imminent Nazi bombings.

And also to ensure when the bombing started, the Brits remained strong.

“Your buddies die when you panic”

“In the SEAL teams,” my shooting instructor said to me…

“The first and most important lesson you’re taught is that calm is contagious.”

Calm breeds calm.

“And that’s most crucial in a firefight,” he said.

If as soon as bullets go flying operators start running around like headless chooks of course more die.

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1 thing 5X+ more terrifying and contagious than Coronavirus

There are some things we just shouldn’t say in our modern world.

And more personally, I shouldn’t say.

Since I was a kid I’ve been told to keep my mouth shut.

But often I’m too busy jamming my foot in it saying stuff like…

$850,000,000+ COMPLETELY wasted

By just two candidates running terrible campaigns.

One of the smartest investors on the planet, Tom Steyer, invested $253,718,074 to “buy” zero delegates.

Imagine what social impact that money could have had invested in the sad, rampant homelessness in Steyer’s hometown.

For his $600,000,000 Bloomberg at least bought himself double the delegates of mayor Pete and nearly 10% of Bernie’s count.

If only he’d spent another $5,400,000,000 he might have had a chance.

In the pursuit of social justice more money has been “invested” in cheesy advertising by two dozen Dems than any other campaign in history.

Yet we’re still looking at a near certain Trump victory.

Maybe it’s OK to say that, but not so sure about this…

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