The Top Of Your Game

What does success mean?

What does it look like?

How do you know when you are on the top of your game?

Ironically, I have the perfect example of individuals being on top of their game.

In fact, they are on the top of the top of their game.

And not ironically that I have an example, ironically because of who the two people are.

Gary Vaynerchuk & Bill Belichick

Uh, me squeeze me?

Uhhh, a baking powder?

Gary Vee and Billy Bee?

Oh yeah.

Gary Vaynerchuk (@garyvee) and Bill Belichick are one and the same.

One does football.

One does business.

(I don’t need to explain which is which do I?)

Both are extremely successful.

Both are machine-like in their work ethic and study.

Both focus on getting better and stronger.

Both leave failures or shortcomings in the past where they belong, focusing on the future.

How Did This Even Cross My Mind?

Good question.

I am a huge fan of Gary Vaynerchuk (who, ironically is a Jets fan. Sorry bud). I read his books, listen to his keynotes, and study his social media strategies. His knowledge of business and consumer behavior is so on point, he can take situations at random, and be able to pull out a comprehensive plan for success on the spot.

He loves Q&A at his keynotes. Why? Because he doesn’t need to plan out an entire speech to bring immense value to a room full of people. He studies the group he is going to be speaking to, uses his foundational knowledge, and is able to change lives one question at a time, one person at a time, at random, in every room he walks in to.

Total flexibility.

He takes what you have, and can use it.

He takes what you don’t have, and uses that too.

His ability to maneuver is not unlike a football coach, without his Hall Of Fame QB, or his backup QB, or his Hall Of Fame tight end, and still going 3–1. A situation where other teams implode, he continues to thrive.

Total flexibility.

He takes what you have, and he manipulates it with what he has.

He takes what you don’t have, and exploits it.

The only difference between these two is Gary Vee uses his powers for good. Billy Bee uses his powers to dominate the NFL for the last 15 years. I’m not saying he is using his powers for evil, but there are a lot of people he makes unhappy every season, Gary Vee included.

Both show you how to do it.

Both have been doing it for years.

But no one can do it like them.

Belichick does the same thing on the field that GaryVee does in meetings, during Q&As, and with his clients at VaynerMedia. When you know something inside and out the way these guys do you are able to adjust and adapt it to various situations and scenarios, never being out of the game. It doesn’t have to be pretty, it doesn’t have to be perfect. Like the John Lennon quote in The Departed, “I’m an artist, give me a fuckin’ tuba and I’ll get you something out of it.”

Bill Belichick and Gary Vaynerchuk are artists.

All you have to do is give them a fucking tuba.

Joey

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The Adapt Or Die Economy

Jobs, jobs, jobs.

Such a huge part of every election is jobs.

We need more jobs!!

“They took rrrr jobs!” — South Park

We need a leader that will help create jobs!!

Aaahhhh, silly dreamers.

Taxes and Tariffs? Do you really think that is going to bring jobs back?

They are gone because they are no longer necessary.

You may no longer be necessary.

It’s sad, but painfully true.

There are two options: cry, or learn/do something new.

The reality is your jobs are gone because they are obsolete. It’s either that or money. No matter what the taxes are, it will always be cheaper to have workers in South America or Asia, always.

You think a company is going to keep it real? Keep it American?

Please.

It’s all about input and output. How much does it cost to make our crap, and how much can we sell are crap for? Period.

The only jobs you can count on are the jobs that they can’t do anywhere else. The jobs that need to be here. The jobs of today. You know it is a “yesterday” job when it isn't’ here anymore. That’s hint #1.

Blue collar work? Tech from yesterday? Come on. Just because you had a job doesn’t mean that job should always be available. Be reasonable here. What did you tell your kid when they wanted to stay out later on a Friday night? Not an option. Same thing here, except the economy is your daddy.

Pretty sure cart making diminished after Henry Ford’s assembly line.

“They took rrr jobs!!”

I bet a lot of CD player companies hated the iPod.

“They took rrrrr jobs!”

Waaaaah!

Can you imagine if cart companies and CD player companies demanded that the government created more jobs in their sector? It sounds ridiculous, but it is exactly what’s going on here.

The Land Of Opportunity

What happened to us?

This is the land of immigrants.

The land of opportunity.

The land of inventions.

The land of hitting a dead end and finding a new route.

Thomas Edison, George Washington Carver, Rockefeller, Steve Jobs, Gary Vaynerchuk, Ben 

Franklin.

That’s us. Those are our people. Always keep moving, keep learning, and keep pushing.

Now we are the land of excuses.

The land of entitlement.

The land of waiting for someone to help us.

A reality check:

There are jobs that just aren’t options any more. Companies either don’t need them, or they need less 

of you to do it.

There is nothing wrong with that.

It is the way it has been since the beginning of time.

Mike The Caveman lost his job when Jenny The Cavewoman learned how to make fire easier. Jenny lost her job to Marco, the caveman that never let the fire go out. Innovation. Adaptation. It’s a wonderful thing.

As long as you are in the right mindset.

What mindset is that?

The Lifelong Learner

The world can only pass you by if you let it.

Can you imagine someone in a race just stopping? Then getting mad when they start losing?

That’s us right now.

It may not be you specifically.

Or for people with horrible grammar, pacifically, but there are a TON of people out there that are just chilling in the middle of the track, getting mad because they are losing.

Suckers.

You need to open your eyes and stop trying to hang on to what is comfortable. Is it easier to just stand there? Hell yes. But you are going to lose. It just happens.

Learn how to take your skills are reapply them. If you like renovation shows, you can re-purpose your skills. It’s a big job. It’s scary. But what are your options? Exactly. None.

Trumps is not going to save jobs.

Hillary is not going to save jobs.

There is only one person that can do that, you.

How?

The same way Americans have always done it.

Learning something new.

Developing skills.

Out thinking your competitors.

Busting you’re a**.

Move/relocate/migrate.

Remember, the goal is survival. Put your family in the best position to win. If that means moving, move. It is means going back to school, go back to school. Get your edumacation on.

This is the land of opportunity.

It’s manifest destiny.

Things are out there, and they are just waiting for you to go get them.

So go.

Stop being a p***y and get out there.

Now.

Joey

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What Are You An Example Of?

Whether you like it or not, you are an example to someone.

What exactly are you an example of?

That’s a great question.

You tell me.

Biographies and Autobiographies

James Altucher says, “advice is autobiography.” I totally agree, but it is also biography. I can give advice based on other people’s stories, and I do. When I am answering questions on my podcast/vlog, Just Ask Joey, I only answer things that I know about. The only way I can know about anything is if I have lived it or seen it lived. Do my friends and family know I am talking about them? If they are self-aware enough they know. And to be honest, if they are self-aware I am probably saying good things about them. If they are not self-aware, I am probably saying something negative about them. Not in a gossipy sort of way, just a statement of fact.

So What Kind Of An Example Are You?

To make this easier, let’s look at the major aspects of your life: work, home, and friends.

Work:

What kind of an example are you there? What do people say about you? What would they say if they were asked?

Are you nice or mean? Hardworking or lazy? First to arrive and last to leave, or last to arrive and first to leave?

Be honest.

Are you the best, the worst, or somewhere in between?

If someone were writing the story of your company or your office, what character are you?

Are you the type of person that brings the office up or down? Is the quality of the work better when you are involved? Is the moral higher when you are on a team?

The big question is, when they are training a newbie, are you the example of what to do or what not to do?

Ask yourself that.

And if you are anywhere on that spectrum other than the top, why are you ok with that? Mediocrity, or laziness, sloppiness, never going the extra mile. How have you allowed yourself to be okay with that?

Recognize your example for what it is, and make it better.

Home:

What kind of a spouse are you?

What kind of a parent?

When your kids grow up, are they going to want to be like you, or the opposite of you? Where are you strong? Where are you weak?

If you don’t have kids this is even better. You can think about the type of parent you want to be. Are you going to be the example that your kids emulate? Or the opposite?

Look at your parents. Do you do the same thing as them or totally different? Why? What type of an example are you going to be for your kids?

These are the kinds of questions we need to ask ourselves.

This is an even bigger one to ask yourself: if you think you are a good example as a parent, would your kids and spouse feel the same way if they knew everything that they don’t know? The things you don’t tell them? That they don’t see?

This is a huge question, and one that many people get caught on. If they don’t know it can’t hurt them. That is poisonous thinking.

Everything effects everything, whether it is known or not.

Whatever you are hiding, either knock it off, or tell them so it forces you to knock it off (I suggest this, the truth really can set you free).

Friend:

Do your friends look at you as someone who adds to their life, or takes away?

I am not talking entertainment value, I am talking about real value.

What do you bring to the table?

Do you find yourself with the same friends as you always have, or do you cycle through friendships?

What does it mean to be a good friend?

Are you there for them?

Do you keep track of favors to make sure you don’t do too many without getting some in return?

Can they count on you?

Can you count on them?

Are they good people to have around? Are you good for them? Do you fight? Do you argue?

If they were making a list of the “best” (as in best person) friends, where you on that list?

Purpose

What I am taking the long way to say is, you need to live with purpose.

You need to audit the hell out of yourself to make sure you are actually living the life you think you are. Don’t fool yourself. Don’t ignore the questions because they are too hard to answer. Get in there. 

Clean out the wounds, and be stronger than ever.

Work with purpose.

Be a part of your family with purpose. Be a child with purpose. A spouse or partner with purpose. A parent with purpose.

Be a friend with purpose.

Any time you get in to a situation where you need to question what you are doing you can ask yourself, what example am I setting? Why? Because it is not only about you. Someone, somewhere is watching. They will either use you as an example to, or an example not to.

Choose to live better.

Choose to be better.

An example that we can all follow.

Joey

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