Ambitious people have drive. Drive is a deep motivation to have a better life, do bigger things and achieve all you desire. Drive makes you do stuff. And that’s good. You make progress by doing stuff.

But here on planet Earth, you’ve surely discovered by now that stuff doesn’t always work out how you want it to. But you have to keep doing stuff anyway because doing stuff is how you get a better life, do bigger things and achieve all you desire. You even have to keep doing stuff that doesn’t work. Not the same things (that would be insanity), but different things; all along knowing many of the things you do may not work out how you want. This part stops a lot of folks.

When folks hit those roadblocks (things not working out), they either:

• Become angry and frustrated.
• Quit.

Quitting is no good, so let’s talk about how to deal with those things that inevitably will go wrong without getting frustrated or angry.

1. Just be cool with things going wrong

Things go wrong. They just do. People who accomplish things don’t live in some alternative universe where nothing goes wrong, they live here on planet earth just like you (well, most of them) and they too deal with things that don’t go the way they wanted. It’s just pretty much how it is, so be OK with it.

2. Push past the obstacles

This one is simple, yet it’s not easy. But nobody has ever figured out who to deal with obstacles other than to put your shoes on and march over, under, around or through them.

Be aware that your action in this moment right now — staring down that big, ugly obstacle in front of you is where your success or failure is determined. Whether you figure out a way past it, or let it defeat you is the determining factor. So, when that obstacle is staring you in the face, be excited about getting an opportunity to defeat it.

3. Commend yourself

Congratulations. Whatever that obstacle that arose was, you pushed past it. Great job. It sucks that you didn’t get to do the other things you would have rather done while you were pushing past that obstacle, but you did something better. You got over an obstacle, which is how all successful people become that way. Remember they live in the same world as you do.

When things go your way, it’s easy. When they don’t, it’s a crossroads. How you deal with the obstacles you inevitably face in life determines your ultimate result. There aren’t many guarantees in this world, but if you like promises, here’s one: Things are always going to go wrong and obstacles are always going to arise.

How you handle the obstacles will always determine your result. So get out there and get over some obstacles.

For more free video training on this topic, click here or watch below:

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Everybody has that friend. That guy or gal who never keeps a commitment. You ask them to do something, maybe they offer to help you with something, come out for a drink or send you an email with some information. They NEVER do it.

We humans are pretty smart. We quickly learn that this person cannot be relied on. It doesn’t take long until you completely quit relying on this person for anything. You may even chuckle to yourself when they make a commitment because you know they are never going to do what they said they are going to do. You quickly lose all trust. You no longer have any expectations.

The same thing can happen with yourself. When you constantly procrastinate, or put off doing the little things (and the big things) you know you must do to become successful, you lose trust in yourself.

When it comes time to do something, you say to yourself, “Meh, I’ll do that first thing tomorrow.”

Tomorrow comes and you say, “Maybe I’ll get to that next week.”

Next week you don’t do it. You quit even recognizing that you’re failing yourself. You become a habitual procrastinator. Just like with that friend, you lose all trust in yourself. You no longer believe that you will get anything done. You no longer trust yourself. You lose hope that you are going to achieve your dreams.

That sucks.

When it’s somebody else, you can’t control their actions. But you have complete control of yourself. Here are three simple steps to stop procrastinating so you can trust yourself again and become the person you want to be and achieve everything that is important to you.

1. Make a list

This is pretty simple, but critical. If you don’t have a clear list of the things you need to do, you won’t even know what you’re procrastinating. Use any of the billions of apps (it doesn’t matter which one, they all get the job done), a sheet of paper or an ink pen on your arm (or your leg if you have a really long list). Use a simple method to get that list down.

Don’t think too much about the logistics, just do it. Don’t spend hours researching the “best productivity app.” Spending hours researching apps is another form of procrastination. Then you’d be procrastinating stopping procrastinating and that’s really bad. Pick a method as quickly as you can and put down everything you need to do.

You’re tracking system only needs three elements:

• A brief description of the task

The date by which it needs to be doneA way to “check it off” when it’s complete

2. Do the things on the list

This seems pretty obvious — and it is. Just get the things done. Don’t worry about this or that. Don’t try to make everything perfect. Just get the things done. There’s no big secret to be revealed here. You just have to get the things done.

Life is going to get in the way. It always does. If something comes up that needs your attention, maybe a kid emergency, a work emergency or some leaky plumbing, you’ll have to move away from your to-do list and address it. That’s OK. It’s perfectly fine to address the real issues that we all face in life that need to be placed ahead of the items on your list.

Don’t ignore the list and don’t get frustrated. Take a look at the list and move the date to the next day, the next week or whenever you can fit it in. Be totally OK with the fact that something happened and you addressed the issue according to your priorities in life. Then just reschedule your tasks. It’s not a bad thing, it’s part of living life as a human being on planet earth. Things come up, you address them, and then you get back to your list.

3. Recognize your accomplishments

At the end of the day, look at all the items you crossed off your list. Look at your list and celebrate how much you got done. Look at the list and know that you were a productive person; not a procrastinator.

If you had “life stuff” come up, recognize that too. Be glad that you addressed the circumstances of life according to your values. If you had a sick kid, you took care of her and that was the right priority.

The most important thing is to go to bed feeling like a person who gets stuff done. Go to bed every day knowing that you had a good, productive day and you will very quickly stop feeling like a procrastinator and you’ll be more confident. You’ll regain trust in yourself, which is critical for success in business and life.

You can stop procrastinating. Just decide today that you are no longer a procrastinator and follow these three simple steps to become a productive person who gets stuff done every day.

For more free video training on this topic, click here or watch below:

Photo by Magnet.me on Unsplash

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Everybody’s been there. You’re standing around the water cooler talking with your coworkers, talking with friends over drinks, or maybe just taking a shower. Then it hits you — a brilliant business idea.

Everybody will want this!
This will sell like hotcakes!
I can’t believe nobody thought of this before!

Then you start talking about it with your friends and family. No surprise — everybody has an opinion. Your mom thinks it’s a great idea. Your brother-in-law sees lots of problems. Your best friend isn’t so sure. Who’s right? Who actually knows if the idea is going to work?

None of them — and neither do you.

If you’ve ever watched ABC’s Shark Tank, you’ve noticed that one of the first questions the sharks ask contestants after their initial pitch is: “How many have you sold?”

The “Sharks” know that the only people who can tell you if a business idea is going to work is the customers. The people who actually pull out their wallets and give you money are the only ones who can answer the elusive question: “Will it work?”

Here’s how to find out if your business idea will work. The great news is that you don’t have to go on Shark Tank or bump into Mark Cuban at the grocery store. You can figure this out yourself.

1. Get really good at explaining it

Sometimes an idea makes great sense in your mind, but it may not make sense to other people. People may not think your business idea is good, but that may be because they don’t understand it. Everyone has a different view of the world and different filters through which they understand and process things. Maybe you aren’t getting through their filters. Maybe they assign different meaning to the words you use. Maybe they have a fundamental belief that is different than yours — which you may take for granted.

Or maybe you just suck at explaining it. That’s OK. You just have to practice until you get it right. It won’t happen right away and it will be clunky as you figure it out. Put yourself into your customer’s brain and think like they do. Think about how they would think about it. What would it do for them? How would it make their life better? What problem do they have that it would solve? How would they feel if that problem was solved?

Watch infomercials. Whether you find them annoying or addicting, they know how to do this well. Watch an infomercial for a product you don’t care about and would never buy. Then you can watch it unemotionally and observe how they connect with their customer as they pitch their product.

2. Listen to what people say when you explain it

First off, accept the fact that at least half (probably more) of your initial conversations about your product idea will be awkward, clunky and you’ll be face-to-face with an either confused or uninterested person. Be cool with that. It’s part of the process and embrace the fact that these initial, awkward conversations are not only part of the process; they are also crucial to learning enough about your customer to create a product they can’t wait to give you money for.

Business ideas developed in this way start with the customer, instead of starting in the aspiring entrepreneurs’ mind. Since the customer is the one who is ultimately going to make the decision of whether or not to buy (and whether or not the product is going to be successful), it ought to start with them.

3. Identify who really wants it

I recently talked to the inventor of a children’s learning game. He was working to get it into toy stores and websites that sell educational products. But as he was having conversations with potential customers (using this very process), he learned that senior centers were very interested in the product because it allowed older folks to remain active with their hands and it challenged them mentally. Now he has another market for his product.

Human beings are complicated creatures and there are a lot of us. Get out and talk to as many people as possible, so you can understand who is interested in this brilliant idea you have. People of various walks of life have different problems, needs and are seeking all different sorts of solutions. Keep your ears and your mind open for possibilities that you never would have thought of.

The great thing about following a simple process like this is that if you approach it right, it makes failure nearly impossible. If you listen to your market closely enough and evolve and change your business idea enough, you’ll eventually find that million-dollar product.

It won’t happen overnight, but persistence will get you there every time.

For more free video training on this topic, click here or watch below:

Photo by Torsten Dederichs on Unsplash

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How do you live an exciting life without regrets? You decide what you want and then go get it.

That’s what Sara Hastreiter, Team SCA sailor, did.

Sara grew up on a farm in Wyoming. Her dream was to be a rodeo princess. That didn’t work out, but because she’s been open to opportunity, she’s found something a little bit more exciting.

“If you don’t do things that scare you and push your boundaries, you’ll never know how far you can go or what you can achieve.”

It all started when she jumped at the opportunity in college to visit Africa to raise awareness about HIV/AIDS. While there, seeing the impact this disease had on the people of Africa made Sara want to do more. This lead her to an internship in the Caribbean doing more work with the disease and also exposed her to sailing while working as a deckhand on a day-charter catamaran.

When she discovered you could race big sailboats on the ocean, she knew she wanted to do that. She found a boat that was looking for sailors and was willing to train and sailed 6,000 miles with them. Sara found out that if you are serious about sailing, you go to Newport, Rhode Island. She did and eventually logged 40,000 miles sailing, breaking into the sailing scene, including the Cookson 50 Privateer and other top teams.

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In August of 2012, Team SCA was looking for a crew.

By now, you know what Sara did. She applied right away, but shortly after, she broke her ribs. If she couldn’t recover in time, this would be the end of the road. But fortunately, she recovered and was called back to training camp — but there were no guarantees they would keep her.

“I just knew I had to show dedication at all times,” Sara says.

Sara got what she wanted. She eventually got word that they wanted to keep her. Now, as a member of Team SCA, she is currently racing in the 2014-2015 Volvo Ocean Race.

When I asked Sara why she doesn’t just work a job and come home and watch TV, she said, “Honestly, I couldn’t think of anything worse. There’s so much to do in life and I love the experience of doing different things.”

Sara believes we shouldn’t let other people tell us what we need to be happy. Each person should determine what they need to be happy and then go after it.

Her biggest piece of advice is to just be nice. She says it’s amazing how far that will get you in life.

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What does tantric sex have to do with being an entrepreneur? My friend and colleague, Aprille Trupiano, explained it to me. She is an international expert on business and leadership and she’s really passionate, in both life and work. So when she explained how sexy building your business can be, her analogy of tantric sex with entrepreneurialism made perfect sense.

We have to start with what “tantric” actually means. It’s a Sanskrit word that revolves around the concept of weaving and expansion. It’s a derivative of the word “tan” which means to expand, spin out and weave.

Free Dictionary explains it as “concerned with powerful ritual acts of body, speech and mind.”

Isn’t that what our businesses are all about?

As entrepreneurs, our business is a reflection of who we are, how we think, what we say, and how we behave. Here are the basic tenets and how they weave into being a Tantric Entrepreneur.

1. Honor what’s sacred
Your business is an extension of who you are; both as a human being and as a contributor to the world. But too often, entrepreneurs run their businesses as if they are an employee. An employee who is in constantly trying not to get fired – by our clients, by our vendors, and by our landlord. We have to understand the areas in which our business is sacred. In other words, know the values upon which you built your business. The values of your business drive everything.

When you know the values of your business, you treat your time as sacred and stop wasting it on things that aren’t productive, don’t generate revenue or don’t fire up your passion. When you honor what’s sacred in your business, you stay true to the heart of your business goals, objectives, mission and vision, rather than changing course every time a client or customer wants something that isn’t the core of what you provide in your business.

2. Breathe
In tantric sex, you pay close attention to your breathing and get really in tune with how you’re engaging with your partner. In business, Aprille says “how you do anything is how you do everything.” It’s critical to notice how you’re doing things — even the most basic things that are like the act of “breathing” in your business. When you notice how you’re “breathing” in your business (as in sex) you stop and think before you make your next move.

In business, you have to think first and reflect on your actual plan. This is a critical step to assessing where you are, how it’s going, what your original intentions or goals were and then to pace yourself. Finally, you can “true up’ the course when you find yourself off track. But you can never do that, unless you were paying attention in the first place.

3. Vary position
Obvious right? Well, maybe during sex, but in business, it’s not so obvious. Entrepreneurs tend to do things the same way over and over – even when it’s not working. Sometimes it’s because we fear knowing the truth and where we really stand. (And don’t we all want to think we’re the world’s best lover…ehem, business owner?) Sometimes it’s because we don’t know how to do it any other way. (Who wants to admit that? — whether in the bedroom or the board room.)

Consider this. Doing things the same way all the time leaves little room for exploration and play. Entrepreneurs don’t like to get bored. When you take calculated risks, varying your position, your practices, your strategies or your methodologies, you see quantum growth. This is what happens when you have an intimate knowledge of your clients, customers, industry, business financials and business capacity.

The tantric tenet of varying position also assumes that when we do what brings us most pleasure and build on that, we make our partners happy too. The same thing applies in your business. When you do things that fuel your passion, like working with clients you love, doing the things you love and delegating the rest, not only do you have more fun, your partners, team members, customers, and clients also have more fun.

4. Make sound
Yeah, it’s getting a little weird, right? Wouldn’t you love it if your customers and clients had that “satisfied ruckus” after experiencing your products and services? And then if they told everyone else about it? It’s all about making some noise. Noise is communication to your customers and clients as well as your prospects. In fact, Aprille says you should be focused on three things:

a) letting your prospects know you’re here, you understand, and you can fulfill their needs;
b) letting your partners (prospects, clients, and team members) know you’re engaged with them and that you welcome open dialogue; and
c) letting your partners (both internal and external) know you’re enjoying them by celebrating, acknowledging and rewarding them.

5. Pay attention
In tantric sex you always maintain direct eye contact. It creates a deep connection that intensifies the experience and makes it memorable, so your partner can’t wait to have that again with you. That’s what you want between you and your customers and clients, too. You want them to think of you as the “best they’ve ever had,” right?

To have this kind of tantric entrepreneurial experience between you and your clients, visit Aprille’s website for five secrets to tantric entrepreneurialism.

Too often, we believe that business has to be boring, stuffy and confined to the daytime, so we can spend our evenings doing what we are really passionate about. As Aprille showed us, your business can be filled with the same passion and excitement as a good old-fashioned roll in the hay.

Photo by Ale Romo on Unsplash

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After serving the military and dipping his toe into a few different professions, John Lee Dumas couldn’t figure out what career was “right” for him. Until he discovered that no career was right for him — he’s an entrepreneur.

Once he started his business, he not only figured out how to make money in a way he actually enjoyed, he also discovered seven things he could never have done if he had kept living the life of mediocrity that a nine-to-five job keeps you trapped in.

1. Made over ​$2.5 million bucks in ​2014 with unlimited upside potential
Making lots of money is great, but it’s not the best part. As an entrepreneur, there’s no limit to the amount of money you can make. Hard work goes in and money comes out. Your paycheck is determined by your effort instead of the pay scales that human resources creates to make sure you get paid as little as possible.

2. Traveled to exotic locations like Paris, Prague, Barcelona​, Cinque Terre,​ and Puerto Vallarta
When you start a business and structure it right, you get the freedom to walk away at times and pursue other things that are important to you. Whether it’s visiting relatives in other parts of the world, traveling to do social good, or just laying on the beach, you get to make the choice, not your boss.

3. Work 12+ hour days and not notice
If you don’t love what you do, success is harder. But if you enjoy it, you’ll find that time passes without you even realizing it. John credits his success with being absolutely in love with what he does so that he’s never watching the clock or waiting for “quitting time.”

4. Wake up to a beautiful sunrise every day​
John and his partner in life and business, Kate, live and work in their dream city of San Diego in a home with an ocean view. This makes it hard to be in a bad mood when you get out of bed. Designed properly, a business can give you complete location freedom.

5. Interview over ​900 successful entrepreneurs
The centerpiece of John’s business is his Entrepreneur on Fire podcast, where he interviews successful entrepreneurs seven days a week. As a fan of these stories himself, John gets to have stimulating conversations with people he enjoys talking to — every day. Not a bad way to make a living.

Podcasting has provided me the platform to connect with people I never thought I’d be able to connect with, and build powerful, lasting relationships.

6. Inspired ​over 10,000 people to pursue their dream of entrepreneurship​
Helping other people to live a better life through entrepreneurship is one thing. The ripple affects is where it gets really cool. When one person leaves their job, they open up that job for someone else and start a business that has the potential to employ an unlimited number of people.

7. Never dread the alarm clock again
Like too many people do every day, John used to dread the sound of the alarm clock summoning him to get out of bed and do work he doesn’t like. When you design a business around something you love, you no longer dread the alarm clock and are excited to get out of bed and get started every day.

You might think John is ready to rest on his laurels and enjoy his success, but not even close. He is still “on fire” and continuing to build his business with a goal of ​inspiring one million people to take their entrepreneurial leap by 2016.

Photo by KAL VISUALS on Unsplash

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