Author: CLFurlong

You are the controller, the dictator and the ultimatum of your own future. Your brand is personal. Your brand is you. Aside from the variables, obstacles, and parameters, which will always be random, but still of Murphy’s law. You only have yourself to either thank or blame. 

I was recently reading an article relevant to the idea of; if only our own human brands existed and that there was nothing more than that to the business world. I mean look at it this way…

What if you could build a brand by living your purpose, setting goals, working hard and proving it. Then measure its success. Based on this, it would generate your income, your legacy, your social status and I guess who and what you are.

The article originally posted by John Buysee goes on to explain his story and why and how he even came up with this whole idea. He further explains that to him, this is what a personal brand should look and feel like:

1. Rooted in purpose
2. Fueled by goals
3. Supported through (habitual) action
4. Proven with evidence

I won’t go into the details, (read here for full article) but the whole point I am trying to get across is; you are you and you should always be you. 

If your personal persona/brand is to live a lifestyle of no work and all play, well then, good for you that you are able to do that and support your living. Or if you are someone who is solving problems day by day and running a small batch of subsidiaries hustles through the night, via your MacBook Pro, then this also is great.

There is no passion to be found playing small – in settling for a life that is less than the one you are capable of living. – Nelson Mandela

Being you, and selling who you are and what you a do will always be better than trying to be something you’re not and trying to sell something you cannot even do. There will always be a need for your hobby/passion as someone else will have the very same interest, but they won’t have spent their 10,000 professional hours focused on that very thing. Hence why you will be successful, following your passion.

So here is a challenge for you. What is your passion? Firstly find it. Secondly, advocate it. Thirdly, see if you can make something more out of it that just an escape or a way to relax.

Photo Credit: Instagram: @godsonsamuel888 | Location: Melbourne

If you enjoy hitting the snooze button for more shuteye, you might want to reconsider and learn the 11 reasons why the early bird catches the worm in the business world.

1. Limited Distractions

In the early hours of the morning, it’s a whole new world. Fewer people around, cooler environments and even faster travel times. Most of all there are fewer distractions. You can own the morning by planning it your way which will lead to some of your most productive work. Works for me.

2. Strategic Planning

With limited distractions, you have the perfect time to catch up on all your daily do’s, your tasks and plan your day ahead. The quietness of the early morning will give you time to even plan for the long-term future. Monday can be used to set the week, even setting aside a few extra 30 minutes a morning, can enable you to work on things for the future. A new business, some self-education, personal admin tasks and so on…

3. Offensive over Defensive

Waking early and starting early will naturally enable you for the day for the better. Having an early start to the day will make you feel less overwhelmed to start the day. You’ll feel fantastic about the work you got out-of-the-way by 9 am, which will lead to a more productive day. You will enter into the day owning it like you have just conquered the first battle of the day!

4. Creativity

Use the morning time and a productive mindset to enable you to focus and work on those creative projects you have. Whether this is a side gig you are running or maybe you like to do some early painting of the sunrise. Whatever it is, dedicating 30 minutes of time each morning to imaginative ideas can lead to some of your best project suggestions. The morning is where your imagination will prosper.

5. A Competitive Edge

Getting to the office before your peers will show the dedication and commitment you have to your line of work. As you know the early bird gets the worm. You may have never enjoyed the early mornings, but you will soon start to enjoy the vibe it brings. Own the passion!

6. Don’t Miss Out

With an early start, you should be able to head home earlier too, leaving more time for the things you enjoy. You will even have more time with friends and family. You won’t feel like you are missing a beat by getting to the office before sunrise, not leaving before sunset.

7. Avoid Traffic

Commuting to work will be quicker and sometimes even cheaper. Giving you more time and more dollars… Brings a whole new meaning to time is money.

8. Better Response

By getting your message out and having it on the top of the inbox pile in the morning instead of the bottom in the afternoon will lead to more people getting back to you.

9. Work It Out

Hitting up the gym before work will make you feel more upbeat during business hours and lead to a healthier overall lifestyle. This all depends on your work as well as your costs. But working out will get the blood pumping for the day ahead. You may not even need to do this to have you jumping out of bed, but it won’t do you any harm.

10. Quiet Time

You’ll come to appreciate the one to two hours in your office when it is peaceful and quiet before the rest of the workforce arrives. Oh, the productivity!

11. Set Schedule

Waking up early requires discipline, especially when it comes to the time you go to bed the night before. By getting at least eight hours of sleep per night and going to sleep earlier, you’ll feel more refreshed in the morning while maintaining a consistent sleep routine.

Photo Credit: Instagram: @godsonsamuel888 | Location: Melbourne

Habits and character are key to thriving, growing and learning. Advice won’t always come for free, so when a chance comes to learn, grow and to gain insightful information that will potentially enable me to step it up, I am always ready to listen. So should you!

I don’t know about you, but when I was younger I had this idea that as you grew up things would just seem to fall into place like everything would figure itself out…

Well, I was wrong.

There is no point in life where we can just hit fast track and zip forward to when we would like it to be, let alone how we would like it to be.

To build a successful future for now and beyond, forget about comparing your life to others, and start putting your energy into mastering theses 15 habits. They will grow your character.

1. Self-Validation

Finding validation from within means that you are freeing yourself to trust in your life’s purpose when no one else does. Once you begin to trust yourself, more people will want to hear what it is you have to say.

Successful people seek self-validation by:
– Embracing their own self-worth, even when someone is trying to tear them down.
– Remember their life purpose and they always believe in their abilities.
– Don’t take negative comments too seriously

2. Body Empowerment

As you get older, your body can start to slow down. One thing that you should always stay true to, is looking after your body as if it is a temple.
– Don’t let physical limitations determine the rest of your life

3. Living In The Now

You want to live in the present because you can’t change the past and the future is yet to come. Anything can change instantly, which means you will need to adapt and be prepared to take multiple paths to success.
– Don’t believe there is only ONE way to success

4. Organisation

Routine, structure and a good schedule will enable you to have things in order, things simplified and set on a productive track. Starting each day with goals and objectives to complete, can really give you something to work towards.
– Do make time for hobbies, reading, traveling, and relaxing (this is important for your creativity and well-being)

5. Time Management

As you age, time gets shorter. Meaning time is becoming more valuable each day. To use your time wisely ask yourself, “Am I doing anything right now that is amounting to my life goals?” If not, ask yourself, “What can I be doing right now to help myself succeed?”

6. Separation From Technology

It may be a convenience, but it does not bring success being held captive by a small device.  The trick is to find balance and to not forget the reason why you began your path to success in the first place. This one is a hard one!

7. Selecting The Right Relationships

It’s not about cutting everyone out of your life who has ever done you wrong; it’s about surrounding yourself with like-minded people who will put in as much energy as you.
– Don’t think that you owe anyone your time if they stump your growth or drain your enthusiasm.

8. Open-Mindedness

Being open-minded allows to you take criticism and apply it in a positive light. Successful people are accepting to new ideas and by keeping an open mind they put more energy into their self, rather than the business of other people.

9. Supporting Others

Inspire, encourage, motivate… these are what the successful focus on, when trying to build unity and working as a team to become successful together.
– Don’t lead someone for solely your own benefit, be respectable

10. Getting Uncomfortable

Step out of your comfort zone. In order to take risks, you need to stop worrying about what might happen if it doesn’t work out. The key is to: don’t stay stagnant if you are not growing.

11. Letting Go Of Perfection

The main ingredient to success is a failure, so it’s no surprise that most successful people have the capacity to let go of perfection to take their first steps. They know that success is ongoing and learning never stops. Success consists of going from failure to failure without the loss of persistence and passion.

12. Addressing Problems

Before anything gets out of hand, successful people like to source the root of their problem as soon as possible. This helps them bypass hours, days, or even weeks of troubleshooting a situation. There is no point hiding these things under a rug… soon enough they will make a bump and you will end up tripping over these…

13. Being A Leader

Look at it this way: Most successful people are successful because they lead and encourage, rather than bully others around with their “superior” status.

14. Working Hard

Work hard. play harder. But work smart. Successful people don’t always know what they are going to be successful at, but with healthy lifestyle habits, anyone can find success in new or old passions. Keep on keeping on!

15. Perseverance

The goal is to not let any hiccup or roadblock discourage your passion for dreaming big. Turn that dream into reality and never give up on yourself. The only limit is you and what you say there is. Get out there and make your failures launching pads into something better and greater than before.

*** Inspired by lifehack.org

Photo Credit: Instagram: @godsonsamuel888 | Location: Melbourne

Yesterday I mentioned that we are our biggest critics and worst enemies. Some of you may know this from a first-hand experience, however, there is an escape! Believing in yourself and choosing to.

4 Reasons Why You Should be Believing In Yourself:
– You were created to be successful.
– You’re better/stronger than you think.
– You’ve been lied to about yourself.
– You are in charge of your experience.

Photo Credit: Instagram: @canva | Location: Unknown

The hardest limitations you will face is you and you will always be your biggest competition. Why? Because you are your biggest critic.

Once again I am here to remind you of just how important today is (regardless of the day when reading this). This is important not only for your mindset but also for the expectation and tone you set for the next days to come.

Regardless, I can not empathize with you enough of how important it is to get up, get out there and give it all you’ve got. You will be so amazed by how capable you really are and once you realize this and experience it for yourself you will think, why did it take you this long to see you’re so much greater than you thought. All you need to do is be willing to get out there and push that little harder.

We doubt our limitations simply because we never give it a go. 

Don’t get me wrong. Today or even tomorrow you might get out there and fail. But you get out there the next day and fail a little closer to where you want to be. Then you get out there again the following day and you do that until you don’t fail anymore and until you make it to the level you have been aiming for. Then you start again. Sometimes it will be quick. Sometimes you’ll shoot right up… sometimes it may take multiple attempts before you even get close to making it to the next level.

The point is. The more you get out there and give it a shot, with the intention to get to where you are trying to succeed, you are more likely to get there sooner than later.

Don’t be overwhelmed, consumed and hindered by the voice that tells’s you that you’re not good enough, strong enough, fast enough or whatever it may be. You can overcome that voice by simply choosing to prove it wrong. It might take a couple of proving points or attempts, but you will prove it wrong, and soon enough you will be good enough, you will be strong enough and you will be fast enough.

So will you pick yourself up today and get out there to conquer the week? Or will you sit around, lay around and choose to let another day slip by.

This one is on you.

Photo Credit: Instagram: @canva | Location: Unknown

Life is determined ultimately by you and your mindset. Yes, there are factors, variables and things we cannot control, but how we decide to react is on you.

What separates us from the pain of discipline or the pain of regret is our mindsets. Basically a fixed vs. growth mindset.

Ultimately: 

A fixed mindset: Minimal effort and when things get tough, it is time to give up

A growth mindset: Extra effort and when things get tough, it is time to step it up and push forward

Photo Credit: Instagram: @_clfurlong_ | Location: Melbourne, Australia

When we strip away everything, down to the bare minimum of who and what we are. We are left with character. A character can be defined as:

• the mental and moral qualities distinctive to an individual
• strength and originality in a person’s nature
• person’s good reputation

The question you need to answer is which one above definition defines you. Then you need to redefine each element of what signifies the mental and moral qualities distinctive to an individual. What signifies strength and originality in a person’s nature or a person’s good reputation. 

Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away. – Antoine de Saint-Exupery

I am always challenging myself to up my game. To stop kidding myself and to redefine what it is I am chasing. I did this not just as an individual but to all the things I own and control or that I have influence over. If we redefine the character or the brand we are trying to represent ourselves, our businesses or our online alias’. Whatever it may be… if we redefine it with the idea to have a pure raw character transparent and exposed. We will enable people to see us or whatever it may be for what it really is.

As without character, we really are nothing.

Which one is it that you will be when there is nothing left but the raw version of you?

Photo Credit: Instagram: @_clfurlong_ | Location: Melbourne, Australia

If every day you do 1 little thing which scared you, imagine your growth over a period of 6 months or even a year. It would be exponential! It all starts with the something small, but even if that one small thing seems impossible at the time, you are still conquering your fear.

Sometimes the smallest things take up the most room in your heart. – Winnie the pooh

Setting yourself a daily quota to do something will enable you to more likely stay dedicated. Examples:

• “Do 20 math exercises a day”
• “Read a textbook chapter a day”
• “Write 500 words a day”

Or if it was something that scared you:

• Talking to one new person each day
• Asking for a discount whenever you make a purchase 
• Telling someone new each day that they look beautiful

Make this a priority for each day for 365 days. Or even for the next 6 months.  Then you need to just evaluate what this can do for you. Remember to make sure you pick something realistic.

I say keep it smaller to enable consistency. Growth doesn’t need to be BIG. Small counts too. 

My question to you is… what are you going to do about pushing, challenging and training yourself to further stretch and grow? Put it this way… As I have blogged before if you increment by 1 each day for 365 days. By the end of the year, you have done 66,795 push-ups in a year. Now that seems quite intense. But how about pushing yourself just to the end of the year.

Think of it like investing your dollars. The more you put in over time the more it grows in the long run.

We are 2 days into the second half of the year. What will you do to push yourself?

Photo Credit: Instagram: @_clfurlong_ | Location: Melbourne, Australia

It is official. We have past half-way. Which makes today the first day of the rest of your life. Well, each day is that day, but going into each day with this attitude can kick-start you into an active mindset.

I SAY START TODAY!

So today you have 5 months and 29 days.

• 15,724,800 seconds
• 262,080 minutes
• 4368 hours
• 182 days
• 26 weeks

Yesterday we touched on some of the smaller details, which alone seem like nothing, but together through consistency, they stand out and actually make quite the impact on your life.

I gave some examples yesterday of what you can apply daily, however, with this being the half-way mark I have some more small changes you can make that can completely transform your life…

Daily:

• Read 10 pages of a good book (15 minutes)
• Listen to 30 minutes of an instructional CD
• Eat 125 calories less each day than you normally eat
• Drink two bottles of water a day
• Walk 2,000 steps a day, roughly 1.6 km
• Make date night with your significant other a priority

Now for no reason at all, let’s ask ourselves where would we be in 27 months… (6 months)

• Read 47 books (7 books)
• Listened to 465 hours of audio on success and improvement (69 hours)
• Saved 117,500 calories = lost 15.2 kgs. (17,407 calories, 2.25 kgs)
• Drank 3,720 gallons of water (551 gallons)
• Walked 1448 km’s = an additional 13.6 kgs lost (170 km’s, 2 kgs)
• Had 124 dates with your partners = a better relationship (at least 18 dates)

Now, these may seem like a lot or not a lot at all, but these are only examples. Imagine if you add your finances, your actual time spent in the gym and other areas of your life. These things start to add up quickly over time, and in the short term things might not seem like they are progressing, but the routine of consistency will IMPACT you more so in the long term.

I want to leave you with this thought the next time you think success isn’t within reach: consider implementing these small steps, they will leave you living the life of your dreams.

“He who refuses to embrace a unique opportunity loses the prize as surely as if he had failed.” William James.

Photo Credit: Instagram: @bzeng92 | Location: Sigiriya, Sri Lanka

There is no cheat to live. No easy way, no shortcut or nothing to skip a few years. The only thing there is is you and the other billions of people.

What about an advantage?

Well, you are the advantage.

No one else is you. Therefore you will be unique and can be unique in all that you do.

‘ But, But, But I don’t have what it takes…’

What does it take? Why does it take something to be something? You are something. You are you. What more could there be?

You need to define what you will be and how you will be it.

Let me ask you some questions… have a read and see what applies and see what doesn’t. Reevaluate them, redefine them. Apply them or make them yours. Do what you got to do.

• If you don’t know who you are, then find it. Once found, be that person and be it well.
• Do what you want to do. Work your passion. If you’re not waking up happy ready for work, or ready to face what it is you’re doing. Maybe you’re not doing what you enjoy…
• Are you doing anything which makes you and people around you happy?
• Your smile can light up a whole town. So smile wherever you go.
• Show love, be love and embrace love.
• If happiness was a currency, how rich do you think you are?
• Remember people aren’t against you, they’re for themselves.
• Every morning you start with 86,400 seconds. How are you spending them? How are you going to spend them?
• If you could clone yourself, which of your characteristics wouldn’t you want to be cloned?
• Don’t let fear stop you: use it as a learning tool to show you what you need to do in order to succeed.
• If you viewed things from another person’s point of view, what new information would that perspective give you?
• Don’t feel bad if someone rejects you. People usually reject expensive things because they can’t afford them.
• Live life king size!
• A key tip to success is to ‘stay ahead and stay active!
• Budget and diet at the same time! Together they become great motivators. Make both short and long terms goals!!
• The only person that can really motivate you is you. Find your goal. Ask yourself how much you want it. Then do it!
• Mornings give you the opportunity to set a positive tone for the day. You set the tone for a happier and more productive day.
• Want to lose weight? What’s stopping you? Can’t get to the gym? No motivation? Start a routine & a diet. See the results. Now repeat. Go!
• Don’t work harder, work deeper. Work hard then play hard!
• Always remember: You are the only person responsible for your success.
• Positivity fuels productivity! Stay happy, smile boldly and supply synergy to the ones around. Be a booster!
• Productivity is a key performance indicator in a personal and professional life. Find efficient and proficient ways to quicken your tasks.

Photo Credit: Instagram: @_clfurlong_ | Location: Melbourne, Australia