How to Write Your New Years Manifesto
MANIFESTO
: a written statement declaring publicly the intentions, motives, or views of its issuer.
Another year is coming to an end. You have to ask yourself how your year went. As far as I see you can only have 2 options. 2010 was either the best year ever or the worst year ever. If it was the best year ever, great! I love it! Let’s make 2011 an even better year! If 2010 was the worst year then it should be easy to have a better year in 2010. We’re going to write our Manifesto’s for 2011. Our manifesto is going to outline our goals, dreams, hopes, and fears and is going to develop a plan of attack to make our goals a reality.
The first step is to get out your word processor or a notebook so we can write everything down. If this is to work it must be written down. If you don’t write it down you will forget about it in 15 minutes. We’re going to have it in writing so we can refer to it daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly so we can see the clear progression we have made.
Next let’s determine what our goals are for the year. Take a little while to brainstorm and write everything down. What is it that has been constantly on your mind this year but you weren’t able to fully make it a reality?
Maybe you want to…
Start your own business…
Get into great shape…
Get better with beautiful women…
Become a more confident person…
Worry less (ideally none!)…
Travel more…
Have a 300 lb bench, 400 lb squat, and 500 lb deadlift…
Do 10 pullups…
Make more $$$…
Get out of debt…
Start a jazz fusion band…
Be a more confident, bold, and determined person…
Now that you have taken some time to determine your goals for the year let’s start writing our manifesto. We’ll call this MANIFESTO 2011. You can write your goals any way you want, it is as simple as saying “my goals are…” but I think the best way to write your goals is to write them as-if you have already achieved them. For instance…
My goals for 2011 are…
I am making more money than I ever thought possible.
I am completely free of debt.
etc..
We’re going to be referring back to our Manifesto’s frequently. The subtle change of saying “I AM” instead of “i want” will work wonders. The mind is a powerful tool and if the mind believes it who’s to say the mind won’t achieve it.
Now that we have written our goals let’s draw up our plan of attack. In this section you will write “my plan of attack for starting my own business is as follows…“. Deep down in your heart you know exactly what you need to do to start your own business, or lose weight, or become a better person. You don’t need me to tell you the details. Do that for all of your goals. I kept mine to 5 broad goals, but you can and should do it for as many goals as you have.
Next we will write our conclusion. We will write our conclusion a little differently. We are going to pretend we’re on the eve of the next year and we’re thinking back about what we accomplished in the previous year. We are going to write something like “2011 was the best year of my life. I accomplished my goals of getting into shape, starting my own business, and getting out of debt. I accomplished these goals by following this plan of attack… It was a great year and I can’t wait to make the next year even better“. Make it as detailed as possible.
Now print out your Manifesto and keep it somewhere that you can read it every day at first, then every week to every month as you begin to realize your goals. Don’t let anyone else read it. This is intensely personal and for your eye’s only. But if someone does read it never be ashamed of it. This is how you want to live and it’s how you will live.
The idea for the Manifesto sounds corny but so what. Living your life on other peoples terms is way cornier.
The start and end of a year is just an arbitrary number but it is a good way to measure progress. No need to wait until January 1st to get started, start NOW! Whatever day it is.
Each passing moment is a chance to turn it all around.
Recommended Reading:
How to Stop Worrying and Start Living
The 4-Hour Body: An Uncommon Guide to Rapid Fat-Loss, Incredible Sex, and Becoming Superhuman
The 4-Hour Workweek, Expanded and Updated: Escape 9-5, live anywhere, and join the new rich
The Game: Penetrating the Secret Society of Pickup Artists
How To Develop Large Forearms
Large forearms are one of the most intimidating and impressive parts of a man’s physique. You can tell a strong person by the size of their forearms. Some guys have impressive forearms without doing any direct forearm work, other guys (like me) were born with toothpick forearms and have to give them special attention.
Forearms are unlike most major muscle groups. They are involved in nearly every exercise you do. Because of that, they can be worked more frequently. They can be worked as often as every single day. Bruce Lee actually worked his forearms every single day, doing wrist curls while talking on the phone or driving down the highway. Lee’s forearms are very impressive in relation to his size. They were almost as big as his upper arm.
Best forearm excercises:
Power Cleans - Power Cleans are actually the best exercise I have found for building the forearms. Not exactly a forearm exercise, power cleans are a whole body exercise that puts tremendous strain on the forearms. If you think about it, power cleans are really just one big heavy ass reverse curl. Power cleans can be performed 2-3 times a week for maximum effectiveness.
Barbell Wrist Curls – Sit yourself down on a bench with the barbell at the edge of the bench. Place hands underneath the barbell in a supinated position using a very close, thumbless grip. Use your knees to push your elbows together. Let your hands hang off the bench holding the bar, in a curling motion move the bar up and down using only your wrists, making sure to squeeze at the top. Use just an empty bar at first. Aim for 50 reps and when you can get 50 reps add 5 pounds and go for 50 more reps. After you do your first set with the empty bar, aiming for 50 reps, you can continually add weight to the bar until you wear your forearms out. This can be done every day.
Standing Barbell Reverse Body Drag Curls – Take a shoulder width overhand grip on a loaded barbell. Let the weight hang in your hands and slowly drag the barbell up your body as high as you can get it and then back down again. Remember to keep your elbows back to allow you to keep the barbell as close to your body as possible. Do 3-5 sets of 8-12 reps going as heavy as you can go while maintaining form. This can be done as often as you like.
Farmers Walks – These are killer for your grip, forearms, and traps. Take 2 heavy dumbbells and walk as far as you can while holding the dumbbells. Take a breather and do it all over again. Use the heaviest weight you can manage and going to the longest distance you can manage. Farmers walks can be done anytime you aren’t too sore. Aim for 3 days a week. In addition to building popeye forearms, farmers walks develop entire body strength.
Tips to Remember:
Whenever possible don’t use straps. Straps are great to help you pull some extra weight, but they definitely take away from forearm development. Do all you main excercises without straps unless you absolutely have to.
Use FAT GRIPZ on all your main excercises. Fat gripz are just what they sound like. They are a rubber grip that you place onto a bar to make an extra wide grip. This is killer for forearm developments. You can use these on deadlifts, barbell curls, bench press, farmers walks, and anything else really. Just remember to use lighter weights, the first time using fat gripz will be a shock at how much lighter weight you have to use. I highly recommend these.
Get a pair of Captains of Crush Hand Grippers
and put them in your car. Anytime your driving to the supermarket or to work do a quick set of 10 per arm until you get where you are going. Great for forearm development and even better for grip strength. Grip strength = heavier weights = bigger forearms.
One last tip:
Eat more! It’s hard to put on any size if you don’t consume enough calories. Eat plenty of protein and good fats, get your carbs in the form of fruits and vegetables.
Go Cliff Jumping
There really is nothing like jumping off a 45 foot cliff into a body of water. You walk up to the ledge, unsure of yourself. You look down, you see it’s a long drop, you get scared, your heart starts beating faster. You’re determined to jump. Not because everyone else that has jumped before you, you’re going to jump precisely because it frightens you a little. You aren’t going to let that fear in. You are going to conquer that fear. You are going to conquer that ledge. And you are going to conquer that lake.
You jump. Your heart is pounding as you freefall. You hit the water, you plunge down and swim back up and take that first breath of air. The adrenaline is soaring through your body. Not only did you conquer the fear but the jump was fun. You can’t wait to climb up and do it again. Because now you’re alive. You’re more alive than you were yesterday when you sat in front of the boob tube watching stupid celebrities do stupid things.
The are only 2 rules when it comes to cliff-jumping:
1) Know how to swim. This should be obvious.
2) Jump the biggest cliff first. Face the tallest, baddest, meanest jump you can find and take the plunge. If you take the small ones first you will just amplify the fear of the big boy jump. Do it, get it over with, and have some fun. And it really will be fun.
Thing BIG! And Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff
The things we think about are the things that we eventually become. They are the things that consume us. As long as we’re going to think we might as well think BIG instead of small. Let your small-minded co-workers fret about the small things. You’re on a road to bigger and better things and you now have better things to do than to be drawn into some petty quarrel.
If you aren’t yet self-employed the only thing you should be thinking about right now is how to make that reality. You need to visualize yourself as you want to be and you want to lock that image in your mind and think of it frequently. The things we think about the most more often that not end up true in the end.
If you are self-employed then you should think about the big picture and not the small little details that seem big, but really just sap your creative and physical energy.
If you’re out of shape and want to get in fantastic shape then you will need to imagine your body as you want it to be. Fix that image in your mind everyday and especially while you are at the gym. Know the outcome before you even get there.
If you’re bad with women, imagine yourself as the suave James Bond type you know you can be. Don’t fret about getting a girls phone number, think about getting a thousand girls’ phone numbers. If you worry about getting one phone number and don’t get it you will be sad and frustrated. If you aim for a thousand number and only get a hundred, well that’s a pretty good deal in my book.
Always view the BIG picture.
The small picture is for the small-minded. Let them keep it.
Contentment in Slavery
Slavery has existed for a very long time. Since man first built communities. Slaves have always, and will always, work and toil to make the rich richer. The rich cannot exist without the middle class. The best slaves are the slaves who don’t understand that they are slaves. The best slaves are the ones who toil for their rich masters, doing all the work and paying all the taxes, and think that they are working for themselves – working to make their own lives better.
There isn’t necessarily anything wrong with one giving up his power and working for someone else. The world needs worker bees. However, if YOU have ever had the feeling that you’re wasting your life working a job you hate to make someone else rich then maybe it is time you do something about. If YOU have ever had the feeling that you’re underpaid and that you’re salary isn’t enough then maybe it is time you do something about it.
There aren’t many rules to life, but one steadfast rule is this: YOU CANNOT BECOME WEALTHY BY BEING PAID A SALARY. What you are when you are paid a salary is easily subjugatable. A salary is nothing more than your parents giving you an allowance when you do your chores. If you do your chores at work this week you get your allowance, it will give you enough money to go have fun on the weekend, then you get to go back to work and do it all over again. Maybe if you save long enough you can buy that new entertainment system to further take your mind off of anything important. Just be sure and not show up more than 6 minutes late, more than a few times being tardy and you may be fired.
Wouldn’t it be so much nicer being the one with all the power instead being the one with no power? The answer is yes. To accomplish anything worthwhile in this lifetime you have to do it yourself. You have to start it yourself, build it yourself, and make money by yourself. At some point you will need a team around you to handle operations but when you first start your own business it isn’t necessary.
Take life into your own hands.
Ask yourself one question to determine whether or not you have what it takes to live your life on your terms:
Are you content in your slavery? Pick one.
YES: Cool. You should head on over to another site and read some celebrity gossip.
NO: Excellent. Now do something about it. The world is yours for the taking. Get off your ass and take it.
How To Create Your Own Reality
Would you like to create your own reality?
Would you like to become someone else, someone better, someone who doesn’t take orders all day, someone who lives life on their terms?
Would you like to live your dream?
Would you like to hear the secret about how to create your own destiny?
Well, the fancy secret is that you DO create your own reality. You do create your own destiny. As you are reading this right now you are creating your reality. If you aren’t living up to your potential it is because you chose not to. Make the choice to live life on your terms, your own way. Forget about societies rules how things should be done. Societies rules are meaningless to you. Make your own rules and only follow them.
Everything you see, do, hear, see, and feel exists because you created it. The computer screen you’re reading exists because you created it. The job you work exists because you created it. This article exists because you created it. If you hadn’t come across this website and this article would it still be here? In your world, no, it would not, cannot exist.
Create for yourself a life of abundance. All it takes is the decision to do so. Make the choice. Live life as a slave, following others (who don’t even exist) or live life as the king of your reality.
Whose to say we are all not just dreams of ourselves and that nothing really exists. As long as you are dreaming the dream, LIVE THE DREAM! Don’t let the nightmare become your reality.
Why You Shouldn’t Have a Back-up Plan
Back-up plans are an excuse to fail.
Say you want to be a movie actor. With all your heart you want to be an actor, it’s all you’ve wanted to do. What would you do? Would you move to hollywood as soon as you can, take acting classes and start auditioning right away? Or would you go to school for a degree in whatever just so if you fail at acting you can fall back on something?
Conventional wisdom says you should have a backup plan, just ‘in case’. That you need insurance against a lifetime of failure. Conventional wisdom is for conventional people. They accept their choice of backup plan because they know they are going to fail and apparently they are ok with that. The reality is that if you accept your backup plan and live that life you are a monstrous failure. You are a failure because you gave up on yourself, because you didn’t believe in yourself, because you refused to let yourself succeed.
When you have a burning desire and you put all of your energies into making it a reality the truth is that you cannot fail. Failure is impossible, beyond impossible. It isn’t even a thought. Ah, but when you have that back-up plan still lingering in your mind you aren’t truly giving 110% to achieve your goals. Maybe you’re giving 75%, even 95% but that isn’t good enough. It takes 100% minimum.
Kill your back-up plan and put all your energy into becoming what you truly want to become. If you’re burning desire is to be a Doctor, great, go for it. If you’re burning desire is to be a traveling fashion photographer, great, go for it. Is your burning desire to be a salesman or an office drone or a substitute teacher? Probably not.
Burn your bridges. Pass the point of no return. Give in to your desire with all your heart. You cannot fail. It’s impossible.
There Is No Such Thing As Tomorrow
Tomorrow doesn’t exist. Yesterday doesn’t exist. There is only the now. The right here and right now. When we wake up ‘tomorrow’ it becomes the now. Because there is only the now we have to make the most of it. We cannot rely on ‘doing it later’. It must be done and it must be done right now.
The past is the past. We cannot live in the past, it’s over. Let go of it. We have to look back on our successes and mistakes and we have to learn from them, so that we can do the right thing right now. The future doesn’t exist. We can’t rely on the future. No one is guaranteed a tomorrow. If you say “I’ll do it tomorrow” you might as well say “I’ll do it in 7 years”.
Learn this phrase:
“I’ll do it now!”
The most successful, happiest people in the world get that way because they don’t put anything off until later. They take care of business right here and then. You won’t hear a top CEO say “oh, I’ll take care of it next week. I want to watch this tv show now”. You won’t hear a top bodybuilder say “Oh, I’ll work out in a few days”.
Are you living in the now? Are you TRULY living in the now or are you just going through the motions? Do you love your work? Or are you filled with dread every day?
We only get one shot at this life, just one chance. We have to make it count.
Is there a girl you like but you’re too scared to call, or you think you’ll call later? Drop everything and call her this very moment! Maybe this very moment she is waiting for you to call.
Is there a business you have been dying to start but “it’s just not the right time”? There is only ever one right time and it’s right now!
Are you sick of your flabby gut but you’re waiting to go to the gym? Get up off your ass and go to the gym right now!
Quit your soul-stealing job now!
Paint a picture!
Make a movie!
Write a book!
Do it right now!
Go out for a jog!
Go talk to the pretty girl that works at the coffee shop!
Change the world!
Change your world!
Sell all your worthless electronics, sell your house, buy an RV and drive across the country!
Go to the airport right now and book a flight!
Take your dog for a long walk, get your thoughts clear and figure out what you really want!
Figure out who you really are and what your life’s purpose is! It certainly isn’t to work for someone else, come home to watch the idiot box, eating chips and soda pop.
Your life has a purpose, a meaning. You have goals and dreams.
Quit whining and complaining, quit procrastinating, don’t give in to apathy – go do something this very instant!
You are ALIVE!
Get out there right now and live your fucking life!
……if you don’t do it right now, when will you?
Determination at it’s Finest : The Story of Rocky
Rather than spoil the audio for you, I urge you to just listen to it. This is the most motivational story I have ever heard.
5 Must Read Books (and how they will help you live the life you want)
#1) Think and Grow Rich
– If you only read one book in your entire life make it this book. This book is about the power or motivation and visualization. If you want something bad enough and you visualize it enough you WILL get it. All current motivation works have borrowed or completely plagiarized from this book. This is the end-all, be-all book for living your dreams. Highlight your favorite parts to go over again and again. Write down your favorite parts and tape them to your walls to recite daily. Sounds crazy, but it works.
#2) The Richest Man in Babylon
– This book teaches you about money. Specifically about the need to save money and about the power of leveraging your money.
#3) How To Win Friends and Influence People
– How can you get what you want if you can’t get people to do what you want. This is an oldie but goodie and the lessons hold up in today’s world. Maybe even more so because we are all so disconnected.
#4) The 4-Hour Workweek. – The newest book on my list. Don’t let the title fool you, the book is all about using your time wisely and becoming hyper productive. Whether you put in a few hours a week or many hours, make sure you are actually doing stuff and not being a time waster.
#5) Arnold: The Education of a Bodybuilder
– This is the most motivating, inspiring book I have ever read. Arnold went from a tiny town in Austria to the #1 bodybuilder in the entire world, making millions as a businessman before getting into the movies, then getting into the movies to become the highest paid movie star of all time, then getting into politics and becoming the governor of the 3rd largest economy. This book details his life up until the end of his bodybuilding and the very start of his acting career.
These books have changed my life so much that I now use hundred dollar bills as bookmarks =)
Nick
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