Hola Amigo,

Is your coffee hot? If so, let’s get rolling.

Mike’s Mailbag is up & running in 2019 under the notion of giving more 7/10’s. More on that below…

But first, just one clip for the week, some background on the “Foundational Five” pillars behind Mike’s Mailbag, and my opening thoughts for the year in a new section called “What I’m Pondering / Grappling With / Grown From“.

• “If you can’t think greater than how you feel, or feelings have become the means of thinking, by very definition of emotions, you’re thinking in the past. And for the most part, you’re going to create the same life.” – Dr. Joe Dispenza on Impact Theory. Whether you call them resolutions, goals, systems, if you are committing to change yourself in 2019, this video is unbelievably thought provoking.

What I’m Pondering / Grappling With / Grown From:

I’ve never been more content to put a calendar 365 days in the rear-view mirror. 2018 was a year of struggle, pain, difficulty caging my monkey mind, and learning a lot of life lessons the hard way (entrepreneurship & business, personal relationships, mental health).

As the year progressed, the tides started to turn when I started down a new career path. I tried to mentally prepare for the step up in responsibility joining a fast-growing, disruptive start-up making waves on a national scale. Like a lot of challenges in life, you can never really fully prepare yourself and just have to learn to swim amidst the chaos.

It has been a very enriching experience but up until now, the rigor of getting up to speed in the business forced me to sacrifice a lot of what I dub “Mike Time” – sacred time where I dive into building knowledge and exploring creative outlets. Namely, writing Mike’s Mailbag.

I recently had coffee with my mentor and was running him through a laundry list of things ruminating in my mind. I’ve always maintained that I would only write my Mailbag if I could give it 100% effort. He challenged me on that notion within the context of the increasing demands on my schedule. His message went something like this, “Mike – as you grow older, your life becomes less and less about you. There are very few things that you’ll be able to allocate 100% effort and dedication to. You need to become more comfortable giving more 7/10’s on effort — it’s the cost of participation. Otherwise, you’ll end up doing very few things in life outside of work if you’re only willing to engage at 100%.”

Before you say, easy Mike, that message wreaks of mediocrity. Hear out the rationale – the point is not to diminish your standards or quality of work (nor reduce effort on the primary activity(s) in life -> spouse, kids, career, whatever it is for you). It is to learn to scale your time more effectively, cut out the slack and bullshit (social media, aimless nights of drinking, Netflix, etc) in your life to focus on enriching elements that pay personal dividends.

In turn, the benefit of you participating in more creative, athletic and social outlets will lead to your new 7/10 becoming better than your previous 10/10. The net effect of not doing an activity because of only engaging at 10/10 effort is ZERO.

Hopping back in the saddle and writing this Mailbag is my 7/10. Feels a lot better than zero and I’m not going to lie to you, it feels pretty damn good…

My question to you – what is something in your own life that you’ve stopped engaging in because of life getting in the way? If you could muster up a 7, participating would feel pretty good, wouldn’t it?

Song of the Week: “The Gaudy Side of Town” – Gayngs

Quote of the Week: “I don’t think you can find peace without going to war with yourself. You have to figure out who you are. People want to jump to peace before they go to war.” – David Goggins

With Gratitude & Eyes Ahead,

– Wilkesy