Break the 9-Year Curse - Insights From a Motivational Speaker

Success leaves clues.

Like a little trail of breadcrumbs

Just keep following the trail of clues

and you find some common truths

some characteristics successful people share

 

and to be clear

I’m not measuring success by the number of zeros

on your bank balance

 

The metric I’m using is the  ‘life’s good mate’

I measure it by a general sense of fulfilment

this is art

not science

 

and I want to share with you   

a realisation I came to

over decades of watching people

 

 

I spent over a quarter century

as a cameraman travelling around the world

and I had

what I call 

a ringside view of life.

 

and because I worked mainly in

long form factual TV

‘documentaries’

I got so close to a lot of people

for extended lengths of time

sometimes days

weeks

months

and I saw,

in many cases,

intimately,

what makes them tick.

 

I met many successful people

and many unsuccessful people.

 

Over time I began to notice patterns

in both successful and unsuccessful people.

 

patterns like these

It wasn't money that made people successful;

I met many rich people who were unhappy and confused.

 

It wasn't intelligence;

I met PHD graduates who were stocking supermarket shelves at night.

 

It wasn't the ability to be a team player;

I met more than one top level sports player with a substance addiction.

 

Of course all these things played a part

and I acknowledge I’m trying to distill the complex nature of 7 billion people

into simplistic truisms

 

but there is one thing

 

above all ...

and this is going to sound very odd …

but through my eyes this is what I saw

and I’ll report it here now

 

successful people collectively watched relatively little TV.  

Successful people couldn't tell you who won Survivor or Americas Got Talent.

yes, a very general statement

I’m sure you’ve already thought of 5 people you know who are exceptions to this

but there is a truth to it I experienced.

 

and I held this view to myself for years

because frankly

it sounded a little flaky

 

but then I saw a quote by Jim Rohn

the entrepreneur and motivational speaker

he said

'Successful people have libraries. The rest have big screen TVs’

and I thought

it’s not just me

 

What I'm saying

is that successful people continually used

any spare time and turned that into productive time.

Successful people apply themselves

and keep their nose to the wheel.

 

So when I hear people say I just can’t find the time

I at least can offer this explanation to them

of a simple way to find more time

 

I’ll take you through my thinking on this

and if you agree that this is useful

please share it

and enlighten another person

 

 

 

 

Time is the great equaliser.

No amount of money or intelligence or connections

can give any person any more time than any other person.

You and every great president

and great artist

and captain of industry

are on a level playing field when it comes to time.

we’ve all got the same 24 hours

 

 

 

Consider this:

There are 168 hrs in a week

We work approx 40

If you follow doctors orders

and get 8 hrs a night, you sleep 56

That leaves 72

Mealtimes, showering etc ..

allow 3hrs for those, so 21 hrs there

Which leaves us with 51

Got to catch the bus, buy some food, allow 10 for that

That leaves 41 hours

What do you do with those 41 hours

 

 

Well the average western TV viewer watches 3-4 hours a day ...

A beautifully benign statistic because it doesn't sound bad does it ..

It sort of sounds even ... fair

 

Let me repackage those figures for you

That’s 52 full days

by that I mean that’s 24 hours a day

of non stop TV viewing a year

 

By the time you are 65

you will have spent 9 whole years of your life

thats 24 hours a day for 365 days times 9 years

sitting watching  something that at best can be described as average.

 

This is the nine year curse as I like to call it

 

Now here’s my question for you:

 

If you were designing the perfect life f

or your child

or grandchild,

would you include 9 years sitting on the couch?

 

I’ve never heard one person answer yes …

 

Then why do we

collectively as a society

barely raise a whimper?

 

and if it’s not ok for your kids

or your grandkids

why is it ok for you?

 

We are standing by

and watching our potential go down the plughole.

And it’s only when we get off the couch

and start reclaiming this lost time

that we are going to reach our potential.

 

I think this potential drain

is magnified in the over 50 year old demographic.

 

Jaded outlooks

a loss of physical zest

these things compound to make TV

an attractive and easy out.

 

If you were to spend 3 hours a night, 2-3 days a week

applying yourself to this

you could start to shape your tailor made career

that’s 300 hours over a year

you would possibly already be earning some income

you would definitely know so much more than you know right now

you would be taking steps to future proof yourself

because this knowledge can repurposed in so many online areas

your head will start to fill with ideas and possibilities

and best of all is that you start to wake up feeling ‘opportunity’

 

If you know anyone suffering the 9 year curse

please share this episode

 

 

A lot of people have trouble taking the first step.

Are you stalled starting because you look at others and think you’re not as good as them and feel intimidated? I’m going to introduce you to Morgan and Cynthia in the next episode …

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