3 Universal Lessons I Learned from Naveen Jain and Richard Branson’s “Moonshots”
Naveen Jain is an ambitious philanthropist and innovative entrepreneur who is creating new solutions to the world’s greatest problems. His companies boast pioneering technology that will change the future, such as Moon Express, a space rocket that will be designed to mine the surface of the moon to create abundant clean energy here on Earth. A Moonshot is an “unachievable challenge,” a goal which may be crazy to all others but inspires you. In his book, Jain outlines the mentality, habits and a formula to create a prosperous entrepreneurial mindset and make innovations materialize. While Jain’s book is written for entrepreneurs, the core principles are valuable to all professional backgrounds and can help to inspire you to take your own Moonshot. A Mindset of Possibility is Cultivated Our daily routine is orchestrated by the goals we have set out to accomplish: we forge every new habit to fulfill our primary mindset, whether or not we’ve even consciously decided what our goals are. By examining our actions as a projection of our mindset, we can understand if we are driven by a “scarcity mindset” or one of possibility. A scarcity-driven mindset promotes maintaining the status quo: it will swat away any thought of fulfilling a larger goal by discouraging your dreams as unrealistic or not cautious. Having a possibility mindset doesn’t mean being irrational; it means using your imagination to visualize what the world would look if you accomplished your goal. What would change? What would you feel like? How would others respond to your goal? Practicing assertive imagination allows you to create various drafts of how you could get to your new goal and over time maintain you on course because your mindset is inherently self-adjusting: you can always come up new path to the same destination. Choosing to look at yourself and the world through a lens of beneficial possibility can open your horizon to accomplish virtually anything you can imagine. RELATED: The Mindset of Successful People Unfortunately, my morning routine -- being a human whirlpool of flurry so I can graze my basic checklist before I get out the door -- isn't as harmless as I hoped it would be. These collections of daily unmindful habits intoxicate our lives and cannot be just stuffed away to think about later. Even in just practicing thinking about waking up earlier to improve my morning routine, I was instantly thinking of reasons why that wouldn’t work. Restructuring your mindset to work for you, not against you, is an exercise in and of itself. But by taking control of our mindset, we can be sure we are always working to build our aspirations. Consider the goals you had in the beginning of this year. How many of them have you accomplished? Imagine if this coming year, you had a mindset geared to consider new strategies that would help you persevere and accomplish your objectives. How much more would you be able to achieve? For entrepreneurs: What would your community, your country, and the world look like with your business? Far from blindly jumping into an unwise venture, a mindset of possibility helps you to deeply consider your strategy, prepare for your upcoming projects, imagine future struggles and take precautions without ever having to spend money. Look for Solutions and Be Curious Ventures such as landing on the moon, airplane travel, and even elevators were ideas that the majority of society considered absolutely absurd until the technology gradually became mainstream. Looking at the world as a beacon of opportunities rather than a sea of impossible problems is how inventors and entrepreneurs who have changed the course of history approached issues at hand. Currently in our lifetime, innovators like Naveen Jain and Elon Musk are actively preparing for a world where we could celebrate Christmas on Mars. Instead of thinking how ridiculous that is, they are asking: “How?”. It is important to put into context how ideas that were once disapproved daydreams have become a part of everyday life: computers, electricity, and cars were all once thought to be unuseful and dangerous. Even experts are not immune to close-mindedness. According to Jain, “Once you become competent in a particular domain, you can only improve it incrementally -- you can never disrupt it. Disruption happens when someone who has no idea about your industry begins to challenge the very foundations of everything that the experts have taken for granted.” RELATED: 9 Extremely Motivational Movie Scenes That Will Inspire You to Dream Big An innovator approaches the great problems of our generation by asking how this can be done, how can we as a society harvest abundant clean energy or efficiently produce enough food for our growing population. Even if we are not entrepreneurs or inventors, we can be open to new ways to solve our collective problems and have an open mind to support the new current and future technologies that will help humanity. Merge Different Fields of Knowledge In order to encourage innovations in oil spill recovery technology following the Deepwater Horizon Spill in the Gulf of Mexico, Jain and the team at XPRIZE initiated Women’s Safety, a global competition that challenges teams to leverage technology to empower communities with a transformative solution that ensures women’s safety. One of the teams that made the finals was a dentist, a mechanic, and a tattoo artist. The machine they built, using their respective knowledge of their fields and combining them, was twice as efficient as the existing oil spill recovery technology. Approaching problems by tapping into your own accumulated knowledge can help forge an unique solution. In whichever area you wish to study or work for, knowing you can contribute constructively because of your professional background and hobbies will help you to be more confident in finding solutions. Having a discouraged mindset, that a certain area is beyond your capabilities, not only stunts your growth and self-esteem, but will also rule out the possibility of connecting with others and creating exciting possibilities. Whether you are looking into a career, hobby, or lifestyle, know that you are not starting from scratch but have the opportunity to bring a special informed take that others will also grow on. Get Moonshots: Creating a World of Abundance here.
Mark Cuban's Daily Routine Includes Waking up at 6:30 a.m. to Tackle This Surprising Task
For most of us, the usual wake up morning schedule is designed for us perform at a basic level of accomplishment: where we grovel out of bed, fuel ourselves up with some coffee, and go out to face the tasks we need to get done for the day. We find ourselves putting off the truly difficult tasks, and sometimes even canceling time to pursue our personal goals, in the name of it just couldn’t fit in the schedule. What does it look like to start and schedule a day geared towards success? We've covered Mark Cuban's daily habits in the past but in a recent collaborative interview with Vanity Fair, Cuban shared an in-depth look at the details into the daily schedule of being one of America's most successful businessmen. The Shark Tank investor and self-made billionaire worked his way up from selling garbage bags as a 12 year old to acquiring an estimated net worth of 3.9 billion. The proud owner of the NBA Dalla’s Mavericks knows how to maximize his time for achievement. Getting an early start on email "The first thing I do when I'm laying in bed still is, I'll grab a phone and start going through my email, whatever the stressful things are, I try to get those out of the way in the morning." Self-development author Brian Tracy wrote about this practice in his book “Eat that Frog!” ”Mark Twain once said that if the first thing you do each morning is to eat a live frog, you can go through the day with the satisfaction of knowing that that is probably the worst thing that is going to happen to you all day long. Your 'frog' is your biggest, most important task, the one you are most likely to procrastinate on if you don't do something about it." RELATED: 15 Motivational Mark Cuban Quotes on Hard Work and Success "The key to reaching high levels of performance and productivity is to develop the lifelong habit of tackling your major task first thing each morning. You must develop the routine of 'eating your frog' before you do anything else." Getting the hardest tasks done first thing not only makes the day go smoother, but gives you a boosting sense of accomplishment to start your day. On top of getting nagging messages out of the way early on, Cuban practices a strict e-mail only policy, to deter unproductive meetings: "I get 700 emails a day. You may think that's a lot, but you know what I'd rather do? I'd rather do 700, even 1,000 or more, emails than sit in long and tedious and boring meetings." In an interview with Huffington Post, Cuban added "No meetings or phone calls unless I'm picking up a check. Everything is email." Before going to bed, Cuban punches in one more time through his emails and goes to bed at around 11:30, before waking up and starting another day as an American billionaire.
5 Key Ways to Stay Sane While Working Toward Success, According to Hollywood's Top Pop Manager
Scooter Braun is the founder and executive owner of one of the most successful entertainment and media management companies in Hollywood, boasting international sensations such as Justin Bieber and Ariana Grande and has “broken more new artists than any other music executive in the last decade.” </p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">From his star-studded clientele and Hollywood empire to his lucrative investments in Spotify and Uber, it seems that everything Scooter touches turns to gold.</span> </p><p>What is at the center of this Hollywood empire is someone that speaks up for valuable life lessons such as honouring integrity and family, and looking at a wholesome life not through a bank account but through a loving community. </p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Being grounded in a glitzy fast-paced world is integral to Scooter’s success in Hollywood. Here are five ways he manages to stay sane and hold onto his integrity throughout life on the red carpet, according to his set of values listed on <a href="https://scooterbraun.com/about">SB Projects</a>.</span> </p><h3>Family is everything</h3> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">To Braun, family is the cornerstone that holds the ultimate value in his life. The monetary success and fame are not comparable to what he shares with the company of his loved ones.</span> </p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“We should be looking at success as a very different thing. Are we happy? Do we have quality of life? Are we surrounded by loved ones?” Scooter asks in a recent interview, “Are we able to take time to actually enjoy the victories? Do we even know what the victories are?”</span> </p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“I can tell you with all the monetary success that I have that if it wasn’t for my wife and children, I would be so lost. Family and friends, that’s your real value. Each birthday I have, I don’t look around and say gosh, I wonder how much money I got. No I look around and think, ‘God, look at the people I’ve collected in my life, look at the family I’ve collected.’”</span> </p><h3>Do well by doing good</h3> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">When Scooter was younger, he had a conversation he had with his father after he had been grounded for lying. His father told him that he was a liar and that even though he had no doubt that Scooter would have success in life, he would always be a liar. It was these words provoked a deep transformation in Scooter, and making him determined to draw a new moral high ground for himself.</span> </p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Scooter describes his choice to live with integrity as being what makes his victories fulfilling, and is what keeps a person completely at peace with all the success they have attained, especially for someone in the star-studded world of celebrities and scandals.</span> </p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">His decision to be a better person and do good for himself and others around him has manifested not only in his character decisions, but in his numerous philanthropic endeavours: Scooter Braun’s organization has reportedly granted more wishes for the Make-A-Wish foundation than any other organization in the history of the charitable foundation, and supporting </span><span style="font-weight: 400;">Pencil of Promise</span><span style="font-weight: 400;"> foundation which has built more than 200 schools in Latin America, Asia and Africa.</span> </p><h3>Always maintain an underdog mentality</h3> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The underdog mentality is about being humble enough to know the odds may be against you, but knowing that through hard work and perseverance you can achieve your goals.</span> </p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“Homes of success and failure were right next to each other,” Scooter says of the turbulent times early on in his career, “If I would have given up, I would have never known that success was waiting for me next door. And to me, that is success. It’s who’s going to keep swinging.”</span> </p><h3>Empower others, make leaders</h3> <p><a href="https://rebelmouse.goalcast.com/media-library/image.jpg?id=51987395&width=980"/> </p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">While Scooter Braun’s formal title is manager, he insists his role goes beyond a rigid corporate title and instead considers himself partners with his clients. Scooter’s approach to managing is nurturing a close knit, emotional relationship with his clients, and by doing so, he can gain his client’s trust and work towards ensuring their wellness.</span> </p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“I think ‘manager’ is a stupid word,” he told Variety magazine, “It’s an old model that shouldn’t work today. Why so many huge artists die and go through hardships is because they don’t have people around who can have an honest conversation with them. We actually just care. I’d rather use the word partner -- someone you can trust, that you can turn to. I’m the majority shareholder of the company, but Allison Kaye is my partner. Scott Manson is m</span><span style="font-weight: 400;">y partner. Justin Bieber is </span><span style="font-weight: 400;">my partner.”</span> </p><h3>Why be normal?</h3> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">What was the considered a normal relationship for manager and client was a professional centered, arms-length relationship. Braun decided that the normal relationship others boasted wasn’t heading towards success for either party.</span> </p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">It was more important to be open and vulnerable to others in order to completely invest in each other’s success. Choosing the best way he could attain success, rather than the normal way, lead to a career that fulfilled more than just financially, but cultivated meaningful relationships for life.</span></p>
Will Smith Shares Story of His Father Confronting a Murderer, Blows Us Away With His Raw Emotion
Celebrated for both for his talent on-screen and his genuine down-to-earth spirit off-screen, Will Smith continuously draws us in with his kindness, openness, and great sense of humor.The Prince is known for sharing inspiring messages and personal life lessons with his 21.8 million followers on Instagram, often making videos that feel more like 1-on-1 sessions with a friend.RELATED: 20 Will Smith Quotes That Will Inspire YouSmith’s latest post shares a powerful lesson that he learned by watching his father handle a situation that is every parents worst nightmare.The video begins with a shocking revelation, “It’s a long story, I’m not going to go through the whole story, but a gangster was coming to my house to kill me.”Smith explains how the man parked in front of his house, and placed a gun on the dashboard. It was then, that Will Smith’s father walked out of his house and walked up to the car.At this point, Smith recalls he was peeping through the mail slot, and heard his father speak the man that came to murder his son. “Can I help you?” were the first words his father said to the man.“Tell that motherf*cker to come out here,” the man responded.Smith acts out his father’s response, spoken both calmly and firmly, “Well, if the motherf*cker you talking about is Will, he’s in the house. But if you kill Will, you’re going to have to kill us all, we ain’t accepting no f*cking threats from you.”Smith then described his father turning his back to the man in the car, and walking back into the house. To Will Smith’s surprise, the man drives off. “That was some real ghetto mind trick,” he joked.This incredible moment provided a profound life lesson for Smith; a principle which was chiseled by his father’s brave and bold actions:“What penetrated me in the moment is there’s nothing worse than walking around scared. My father knew the dude might shoot him in the back, but we are not going to be scared. It was powerful lesson about the complete rejection of fear.”
