An important first step to pwning life that I tend underemphasize is VISION. It’s something I’ve been blessed/cursed with an abundance of so I rarely think about it. That said, it’s important to cultivate your ability to create a vision unique to you.

How To Create Your Vision

You’re going to have to experiment with a number of ways of creating your vision to find the style that fits you (you might even have to create something new!) I personally like putting my vision in writing, but there’s a thousand ways you could write your vision (a poem, a story, a check list, etc.)

The main component of this vision is that it describes, in a way you understand, what you’re “perfect” life would look like. (Warning: What you’re perfect life looks like is going to change as you change!)

Written -- In the very first post on this blog I gave a description of a few ways you could write down your vision (your perfect day, a conversation with God, you just won the lottery and an “I want” list). Any of those might work for you.

Visual -- Perhaps you could paint something that would act as a reminder. Or if you’re a photographer maybe you’ve captured it in an image. You could even create a video. I think a mind map would fit here as well. I’ve often times drew a circle on a piece of paper and wrote “Life” and then added thoughts about how a perfect life would look as branches.

Audio -- If you’re a musician it might be cool to write a song that would personify this dream life. Or you could just describe it to yourself and capture it on your laptop.

Mix and match Perhaps a combination of things would be best!

Try To Think BIG

I’ve worked with enough people to know that it sometimes takes a little while for people to strengthen their “think big” muscle. I’ve read this quote a few times and, whether true or not, I think it accurately depicts a truth for many:

People tend to overestimate what they can accomplish in one year and underestimate what they can accomplish in five.

Also, I think there’s an adverse effect from the overestimation of 1 year goals in that it discourages pushing forward to what’s possible in 5 (or fewer) years. That said, THINK BIG! This is purely an exercise in fantasy. A fantasy that, with diligent pursuit and work, can become a reality… with time.

Next week we’re start to work on the 1 year goals. If you have any questions, you know what to do.

What You’ll Need To Participate

The only thing you’ll need to participate is an internet connection and a Pwning Journal. If you’re reading this you have the first thing sorted, as for the pwning journal that can be whatever you like. I like using a 3-ring binder because it lets me add sheets that I might have worked on when my journal wasn’t with me, but choose whatever works for you, I graduated to a 3-ring binder after years of using regular journals for the system (before I called it a system).

Actually, one more thing. Commitment.

Whether you decide to use the system I’ve put together or another system better suited to you, the largest determining factor is that you commit to following the instructions laid out and you stick with it. No system brings immediate results or results after minimal time and effort (that I’m aware of, if you find on let me know!)

Subscribe to the Blog

I guess this is the last bit. To get the updates as they come you’ll have to be subscribed to the blog. If you’re more of a techie, you might want to grab the RSS feed, otherwise just throw your name and email address into the box to the right. What you’ll get is 3 posts a week.

Monday will be about the system.

Wednesday will be review day. I’m probably going to focus on books, but I might branch out to movies, websites, blogs, etc. It will always revolve around how and why the resource can help with your pwning.

Friday is going to be my free day to do whatever. I might talk about progress I’m making with my goals, post my thoughts on a quote or perhaps I’ll do some interviews and post them.

This will be fun. Welcome aboard! Post questions/comments below!

That quote hit me like a ton of bricks! It’s a little ruthless, but it might have needed to be ruthless to get the point across. If you want to be excellent and want to surround yourself with excellence, you need to get rid of (destroy) anything in your life that isn’t excellent.

Most People Are Anchors To Success

Almost immediately after I heard that quote I thought about some people in my life that are NOT excellent (and doing absolutely nothing to change that fact). The second thing I thought to myself is “Why do I expend so much energy trying to get them to be excellent when they’re clearly fighting it?”

I haven’t destroyed any of them (yet!) but I have distanced myself from people that aren’t actively bringing positivity my way (and not that hippy-dippy “lets think positive” stuff, more like NOT negativity).

A New Direction For This Blog

I’ve been thinking about doing this for a while and, after a short nap, I’ve realized it’s what I want to do. I’m going to keep blogging my progress with my goals and the pwning life system WHILE delivering relevant and useful content to you, the reader. This content might come in the shape of an insightful quote, a book I’ve read (recently or in the past) or simply linking to content I’ve read online in the form of a blog post or article.

If you have anything of interest to share with me, please do! (In the comments or as an email). And what do you think about this “Big Door” free gamification bar? Thought I’d experiment with it.

The New Focus Of This Blog

Looking back on my old posts makes it clear to me I didn’t know exactly what I should do with this blog. At first I thought I’d write articles about how to “pwn life” but… I wasn’t exactly an expert. Eventually I was determined to come up with a system for pwning life and thought I’d give regular (daily/weekly/monthly) updates. That didn’t last long.

The new focus will be sharing the progress I’m making with the development of the system AND the (worldwide!) offline meetups.

The System

Diagram of the method for pwning life.

1. Confusion. You’re not sure what you should be focused on.
2. Goal writing. This helps you clarify what you goals are.
3. Goal selection. You choose the one (MAYBE two) goal(s) to focus on.
4. Brainstorming. Come up with ideas as to how you can achieve the goal.
5. Action plan. Create a detailed plan based on your brainstorming.
6. ACT! Take steps every day which bring you closer to achieving your goal.
7. Complete, change or refocus goal.
8. Start the process again to choose a new goal!

I have a lot more details, but those are the basics.

The Meetup

I had my first of many to come Pwning Life meetups last night. I would like to see hundreds (one day thousands) of Pwning Life meetups being help around the world loosely (or tightly ) based on the system I put together. I’ll have more information about how to organize a Pwning Life meetup on this website really soon, but if you would like to dive right in go to the Pwning Life Meetups Everywhere page and start a local group. Here’s a photo from last night’s meetup:

First Pwning Life Meetup

What’s To Come?

As I said, I’m going to make the focus of this blog on the development of the pwning life system. I’m going to start with sharing the steps as they are now, tips for organizing meetups and new developments as they arise. This blog will naturally flow into updates about the book (when it’s getting written) and the Andriod/iPhone app when that time comes.

Step 1. Write down (at least) 10 goals in the first person present that you would like to complete in the next 12 months.

Step 2. Pick out the one goal that would have the largest positive impact on your other goals and brainstorm how you could accomplish it on another sheet of paper.

Step 3. Repeat step one and step two every day.

That’s it in a nutshell. The only thing that fluctuates is Step 2. Sometimes you might write a list of things to get done for the day, sometimes you might brainstorm and sometimes you might have a little dialog with yourself about progress you’re making.

The only thing to add to the above is to make sure you do at least one thing everyday to move your main goal forward.

Transitions In My Main Goal

Since the end of January my main goal has been “I make $5,000/month from E.LF. (easy lucrative and fun) businesses and work.” After doing a brainstorming exercise one day in late January I came up with “Get a commission based sales job.” Then my main goal transitioned from making $5,000/month to getting a commission based sales job.

In March I found a commission based sales job and started working. Once I landed the job my main goal went back to making $5,000/month. During the three weeks of training I kept up my daily goals (as best I could) and after brainstorming the $5,000/month goal one day another main goal popped up.

“I am a masterful salesperson.”

After getting the job and continuing my brainstorming about how to make $5,000/month I realized that in order to make that happen I would have to be an outstanding salesperson. So now THAT’S my main goal. It’s interesting how obvious this all seems looking back at my notes (get a job, master sales, etc.) but… it took me writing out my goals on a daily basis and brainstorming regularly to uncover those new goals and stay focused on them.

Mastering Sales

I wish I could tell you mastering sales has been and will be easy, but I can’t. My first week on the road alone was TOUGH. I seriously wanted to quit three or four times. I recovered on my off day, continued to study and was ready to tackle another week. Got my first sale that week on my own. It felt good, but there’s still much to learn.

The good news is, even though I can’t tell you that mastering sales (or any discipline) will be easy, I can tell you that it’s simple. Constant practice, constant refining of basic skills and constant growth. Plus it’s a lot easier to stay focused on your main goal when you understand how it relates to other goals you’re trying to accomplish in the short and learn term.

In my next post I’ll explain one of the brainstorming techniques I used for my current main goal of mastering sales.

• Sign up for the pwning life meetings here.
• Here’s the Hundred Push Ups website.

Since I like making videos and I like pwning life, I should do a video about pwning life every week. I’m going to start working on tomorrow’s post. It’s going to be epic!

Everyone’s Goals For The Week

A couple meetings ago we decided to each make a personal public goal for the week and the following week tell everyone how we did.

Here are the goals for this week:

• Me -- Start the hundred push up program and make a sales page for Social Milwaukee.
• The Music Bucket -- Write lyrics, finish goals from last week (record 4 songs), research and maybe buy software and equipment for making better videos.
• Astrum -- Upload a video and learn a new song on the guitar.
• Kweku -- Find or buy charger for video camera and upload a new video.
• Tally -- Start 100 Push Ups, create and start a weekly exercise plan.

Mass Effect

I got back from my trip to San Diego January 25th and all I’ve done since then was play Mass Effect and Mass Effect 2. I didn’t just wake up and decide to check out of life for a week and play video games. No, it was a series of steps that led me here.

Step 1: Break The Habit

The first thing you need is something to throw off your routine of pwning. My trip to San Diego was perfect for that (keep an eye on miltownkid.com for the trip update). I want to say I did my best to maintain the habits I built up before I left but… That wouldn’t be true. If I tried my best I wouldn’t have broken any habits. All it took was a few days of no writing or “fake” writing (writing like 2 sentences) to mess that habit up.

Step 2: Rationalize

The next step is to talk yourself into thinking it’s OK to break your habits. I participated in a competition while I was in San Diego so one day I told myself “You’re tired and deserve a break.” The next day I told myself “You did such a good job yesterday, you deserve a day off.” The third day was “Well… The trip’s almost over and you are on vacation. You’ll get started up again when you’re back home.” Which brings me to the final step.

Step 3: Tomorrow Tomorrow, Always Tomorrow…

Now that you’ve missed a couple days in a row when are you going to get started again? I know when… later. You know what, tomorrow would have been better than later. With no specific time or plan to start pwning again, nothing happens (which is funny as I just mentioned that in my last post.) If I had told myself “As soon as I land, I’m back to pwning life!” that’s what I would have done. Instead I landed and told myself “I’ll get started this week sometime…” Sometime never came. Now it’s NEXT week! lol

The Gaming Begins

Once the habit is broken and you’re “weak” that’s when something can creep in and take up the space (it was video games for me, it might be something else for you.) When I landed, I started playing Mass Effect. And when I finished playing Mass Effect I started playing Mass Effect 2. And since the only “plan” I had was “I’ll start with the pwning once I beat this game,” I never started. Mass effect took me about 20 hours to beat. I’m at like 33 hours with Mass Effect 2 with who knows how many more to go! (Note: I started Mass Effect 2 last Saturday and I’ve been playing like it’s a full time job! lol)

The Plan

I woke up this morning and decided to write my goals IMMEDIATELY (like I was doing before my trip). Once I was finished, I decided to make a plan for the day and for how I was going to get back on track. I gave myself a couple tasks to complete (this post being one of them) and gave myself the rest of the day to play the game. Tomorrow I’m capping my game playing to 2 hours (I usually do 2-4 hours a day, I’m at like 8 or more a day right now… lol)

Time to make breakfast and go beat this game!

• Finish the Black Horse Tai Chi redesign.
• Get the New Loud’s new website ready to go live.

Are also the same two things that I set a completion date for. That’s no coincidence. Actually, I only had a date set for one of them (the Tai Chi site). On the day I was suppose to finish the Black Horse Tai Chi website I told myself I wouldn’t start it until I finished The New Loud’s website (since I already got paid for that).

I thought about the other two things a lot, but never sat down to do them.

• Create a detailed plan for launching Social Milwaukee (my social media consultancy)
• Brainstorm a way to get “founding members” for the MilTownKlan

I didn’t do it for the plan I posted yesterday but, moving forward, I’m going to set a date for everything I’m planning on getting done for the week.

I made another slight change. I’m going to post the plan for the week on Mondays and the results from the previous week on Tuesdays. Since I’m still on vacation I’m going to make this short and sweet.

Main Goal

“I make $5,000/month net after taxes from marketing, selling, teaching, coaching, consulting and organizing.”

I’m going to be doing something EVERY DAY to bring me closer to this goal. Things for this week are:

• Find commission based sales jobs
• Apply to commission based sales jobs
• Interview at commission based sales jobs

I’m going to do one of those three things every day this week. I have my first interview this Thursday, I’ll let you know how that goes next Tuesday.

Other Goals For The Week

I should have had this done last night but… I’m on vacation! Plus I won’t be back until Wednesday so… I only have a few things that I came up with.

• Contact Robonutz and KuMays about getting the Xbox shooting video edited.
• Research doing a podcast (for this blog! )
• Research engagement rings (she doesn’t read my blog posts )lol

I know there’s more but that’s good for now. I’ll do a better job planning next week when I don’t have 70 degree weather and beaches calling my name… lol

Brian Tracy is awesome. The exercise in the video awesome. Do the exercise above and investigate Brian Tracy to see if his style of pwning life resonates with you. It resonates with me!

I discovered Brian Tracy through an interview he did with Joe Polish and the above goal setting exercise has been the single most useful thing I’ve found to date for achieving your goals. I even have a story to share from this morning!

Any One Goal In 24 Hours

On Elvalentino’s suggestion I picked up the “No Excuses” audio book to listen to on my plane ride to San Diego. One of the topics I scribbled notes about was the “any one goal in 24 hours” and I was SUPER excited to try it.

The goal I chose was “I make $5,000/month (net, after taxes) selling, teaching, coaching, consulting and organizing.”

Take Action Immediately

As soon as I got done with the mind/brainstorming exercises I… TOOK ACTION! I figure the best thing for me to do right now is get a job in sales so that I can:

1. Increase my income.
2. Become a selling NINJA!

Even though I’m “on vaction” (I’m never on vacation ) I hit some job boards, saw a job that seemed like a good fit and applied. 30 minutes later I got a phone call and now I have an interview next Thursday. Bam.

Suggestions For Next Friday?

I’m going to profile or highlight someone pwning life (or who was pwning it back in the day) every Friday. It might be something short like this, long that goes in depth or an interview if I can get one. Let me know if there’s anyone you’d like to see.