The military saved my life. Literally. My mom died when I was 17. I didn't have a father around. So that led to me getting in trouble. The judge gave two choices:
“Go to jail”.
Or “Join the military”.
I chose the latter… and it completely changed the trajectory of my life. Fast forward 20+ years later and I’ve now coached over 3,000 investors. I can tell you that the single biggest obstacle to an investor's success is their own mindset.
I don’t want this to be another “woo-woo” mindset guide. But real actionable things that I personally learned from the military. And those things transferred over to me finding my own deals, buying apartment buildings, building teams, building 2 multi 7-figure businesses.
Without these disciplines… I wouldn’t have done it.
So, I laid out 15 Mindset Points that I learned from the military:
(and if you want to listen to an audio version… check out my podcast interview here)
1. “Are you a victim right now?”
Most get into victimhood without realizing it. This is a DAILY battle for you most likely. It was for me; Everything was something/someone else's fault. But it doesn't matter the circumstance, start saying YOU can do something today, right now, this very minute. This is as little or big as you want it to be but it starts with small actions. If you screw up.. That’s ok, but take ownership of it, so you can fix it later. Don’t blame the circumstance. I know that kids get in the way (I have 2). I know that there are things you just can’t control (like accidents). But that’s only 10% of the time… the rest… you can control.
2. “Nothing is too small”
In the military even cleaning toilets is an important job. There is no job that doesn’t contribute to the overall good. Start thinking of everything you do as a BIG contribution to the overall society/org/etc.
Which leads me to the next thing…
3. “Someone is relying on you”
Regardless of it being a small job or big… there is someone relying on you to perform. That's obvious but if you don’t think about how important YOU are to someone else, you're going to fail or in the best case, do a bad job. The thing you’re doing is BIGGER than you. You’re supporting a family, you’re showing up early so the other person trusts you more, you’re keeping others employed (by doing a great job in your role).
4. “It’s way bigger than you”
Most of us are self-centered. Constantly thinking, “what do I get?”. Stop… step back and say to yourself: “It’s not about me, it’s who and what I am serving”. Who and what you are serving is WAY bigger than you. Sorry if this sounds crude but it’s the truth and it’s the only way to pull you into a WINNING mindset. You are serving a greater cause. Get on board and do your part, not only because you get something out of it, but more importantly your role directly affects someone else -- even if it’s cleaning toilets.
5. “Reliable is a non-negotiable”
Start here. If you’re constantly late you need to change that immediately. I told you mindset starts with actionable things… it’s not a “woo woo” checklist. This starts with appointments. Lunch. Dinner. Etc. Everything that has a schedule, start arriving early (EARLY, not on time). If you’re in the middle of working on admin stuff and something on your calendar is coming… you don’t try and squeeze in a few extra seconds. You drop what you’re doing, and go show up. If you said you’ll turn something in by a certain date… you work extra hard to make sure you do. That could mean working extra hours, into the night, prioritizing, etc.
6. “Accept failure as a part of it”
Experience compounds even when outcomes don’t materialize. You’re going to fail in some way. Don’t fear it. Face it, accept it, then take it with you as lessons and confidence for the next round. The man who fears failure won’t succeed.
7. “Eliminate negative environments aggressively”
I don’t ever talk about negative stuff. If negative conversations start coming up at the table, I get up and walk out. Protect your mindset from negative -- or else THAT'S what you’re feeding your brain on how to think.
8. “Audit your circle relentlessly”
The people around you either drain or recharge your energy. Are they draining your energy battery or are they keeping you energized?
9. “Make hard decisions about relationships if necessary”
If those in your circle are constantly draining you have some hard decisions to make. It’s not fun or easy. And it sucks. But look at it this way: if you want them to be great, you need to set an example and be great yourself… and you can’t be great if you’re constantly being drained.
10. “Focus on being great where you are right now”
When I’m in the Marine Corps, I am still trying to be the best guy… I allocate my time. If you're with your kids then be great at that -- focus on them -- don’t start going on your phone and doing other things. Or else, someone else controls your time. Control your time, by being super intentional and GREAT at what you’re supposed to be doing at that moment.
11. “Control only what you can control”
Energy wasted outside your control is useless. You only can control what you can control and what you can control is you, first. You can’t control getting a deal directly… but you can control how many offer you make, doing the Blackbox method daily, tweaking your scripts, measuring and tracking weekly your KPIs (even if you’re solo you should have KPI’s), etc.
12. “Reinforce goals every single day, not just once”
Why do goals fail? Because we don’t tell ourselves every day we’re going to do it when life gets messy. Motivation for doing things WILL face. So you have to reinforce your goals every single day. Go through your “whys”.
13. “Define personal themes to guide behavior”
Simple guiding principles keep actions aligned. Last year I had two words… intentionality and consistency. For example, if you’re struggling with focus and sticking with one thing, then that might be your theme for year.
14. “Know your limiting beliefs”
Everyone has them but your mind is often the only real constraint. For example, I meet so many people who learn about my BlackBox method and they immediately spit out: "Wholesaler and agent deals are ALL garbage!!”. Really? So how come my team are grabbing GREAT deals from them every week?!?! The truth is you don’t know everything. And your perspective (or what you or someone else has trained you to believe) is keeping your from doing something great.
15. “Study extreme examples of human capability”
Finally… expose yourself to possibilities. Go read a Medal of Honor citation, or incredible feats that people thought were never possible. Did you know that for decades EVERYONE believed that it is impossible to run a mile in 4 minutes. But then after one person broke it, 45 days later someone else did it… then the next year, hundreds! Limiting beliefs is what’s keeping you. Go study what people have done to change your limiting views.
