In under 30 days I:

• Helped a creator bring in $30K for his cohort

• Closed 10 out of my 15 sales calls with minimal training

• Signed a partnership deal with a new offer that’s expecting to bring in a couple extra thousand bucks

In my newsletter last week, I explained how I made a move down to Austin Texas from my college home in Iowa with just under 2,000 dollars in my bank account.

You can read about it here.

After reflecting on the trip to Austin, the reason I was able to make a ton of progress was because…

I finally had skin in the game…

Skin in the game is a term coined by notorious entrepreneur, Nassim Taleb.

His model explains that to increase the likelihood of achieving your goals, create some sort of risk to push you towards .

Taking a risk associated with your goals helps you attain a new level of commitment toward the goal itself.

For example, my skin in the game was that I chose to leave my college house and move to a foreign area where I had nothing else to do besides meet new people and work on the launch strategy for the sovereign creator.

And since I didn’t have a ton of money when I left for Austin, if I didn’t fulfill my offers or make anything happen business-related, what was the worst-case scenario?

I work at a coffee shop and meet a ton of new people

It’s a win-win.

Of course, there are always other options than working a 9-5, but at some point, you want to put tactical stress on yourself to start your business or get good at one skill that you can monetize.

And that’s exactly what I did.

As a result, I was able to see more success in 1 month than in 2 years combined with digital entrepreneurship.

"It's not because things are difficult that we dare not venture. It's because we dare not venture that they are difficult." -- Seneca

Difficult things live in our minds more than they live in reality.

• Asking the girl out is never as scary as we make it out to be.

• Quitting your job to start a business will always bring you more joy than staying.

• Sharing your beliefs on social media is easy when you realize that your voice could be changing someone’s life

You might feel resistance to betting on yourself like this because it makes you feel vulnerable.

Accepting you don’t know where life is going to take you is going to give you MORE energy and improve your life rather than living in anxiety.

8 mental models that helped guide my emotions, make better decisions, and increase my surface area luck:

1) Adopt networking as an identity

People like people who:

• Make them feel smart

• Validate their opinions

• Give authentic compliments

Of course, you don’t want to come off as someone who is only saying nice things for the sake of getting something from the other person.

You want to be as authentic as possible.

Because our natural state is to show kindness and appreciation for others.

When we experience positive thoughts and send them out into the world, you can naturally build connections and trust with other people.

If you build a personal brand based on this principle, you’re also able to compound goodwill at a fascinating rate.

First, adopt the identity of someone who networks with everyone.

One key download I had was from listening to a podcast from best-selling author, Robert Greene.

The number one rule of human nature that completely switched my mindset around connecting with others was understanding that at the core, humans at their core are narcissistic.

In today’s society, everyone is caught up in their little world, and selfish about little things that happen in their life that don’t have any meaning past 3-5 days.

This means that it has never been easier to win over a friend or grow your network.

Recognize your inner narcissistic nature, and direct that attention outward so you make the other person feel heard— and develop a healthy, mutually beneficial relationship.

When you become a non-needy networker, you’ll be able to:

• Develop micro-speaking skills

• Increase your surface area luck

• Creates a virtual web of new opportunity

Send 3-5 new messages to grow your digital network each day.

2) Life is play

After moving to Austin I increased my focus, productivity, and energy levels because of this simple reframe:

Life is play.

When we were little kids, everything was enjoyable.

Everyone has a unique “thing” that gives them energy and excitement.

After reflecting on my childhood, I realized whenever I played a sport outside, ran short sprints, or spontaneously ran around the house would get feelings of joy and unlimited energy.

Everyone has an activity that gives them “little-kid” energy.

It could be being creative with dribbling a basketball, learning a musical instrument, or drawing on a blank canvas.

This is where your competitive advantage lies.

The mental reframe I used when learning a new skill became difficult was:

“How can I make this feel like play?” … “How can I use the kid-like energy to make this activity feel the same as if I was running around my childhood home running and skipping up multiple stairs?”

If you can make everything feel like play, no “task” feels like “work”.

3) Consciousness is everywhere

You are a conscious being made of atoms and electrical energy.

The same consciousness energy is living in water, trees, birds, plants, and humans.

Viewing life through the lens of consciousness opens your mind up to the idea that no 1 person is superior to another.

I found this frame helpful whenever a judgmental thought popped into my head.

I would repeat myself “It’s okay they are the same consciousness as you”.

Once I was able to view the world through the lens of consciousness, I realized that I’m no different than every other human on this planet.

I was able to re-wire old thought patterns because instead of being judgmental, I could reframe my initial thoughts.

Rather than affirming the old thought patterns that were programmed in my brain throughout my lifetime, I brought constant awareness to why certain thoughts popped in my head.

4) Program yourself for abundance

Whenever we pay for an Uber, buy quality foods, and act out of abundance, it develops a healthy relationship with money and also our attitudes around making investments in ourselves.

Holding onto an extra dollar is preventing you from making money…

Crazy right?

I’m not perfect ( 21 years old with little spending money), but here’s how I programmed myself for abundance the past 2 months:

• Buying Ubers on occasion for friends

• Spending $5-10 on coffee & sports drinks every day

• Investing in high-quality foods that benefit my health (steak, bison, elk, and high-quality fruits and vegetables)

You are an infinitely abundant being.

Why would you think twice about stressing over little expenses?

There are always other ways to make money.

Trust that you are the type of person who is capable of attracting money, and you won’t regret spending it.

5) Set boundaries

You can set boundaries for things like:

• Going to bed early when you know you have a busy day coming up

• Responding to texts only when you can give them your undivided attention

• Not allowing gurus, family, or social media influencers to influence your thinking

You are a free thinker.

A free-thinker performs his best when his undivided attention and focus is on the present moment.

Letting distractions influence your decision-making can knock you out of alignment—- Fast.

Set intentional boundaries when you feel your focus is being stolen.

6) Understand intentional stressors are impermanent

For the last 30 days, I pushed my limits to the maximum.

There were times when I was having 100 conversations every day, and taking multiple sales calls.

In that season of life that I was in, it was what was required.

To reduce the stress and keep my mindset, I reminded myself that the project I was working on was temporary, and that soon I’d be able to rest.

If your work isn’t aligned, you may find that you’re telling yourself this phrase often.

That’s a sign it might be time to pivot and curate new opportunities that bring you joy.

But during the heat of a 30-day launch, I knew that the workload was going to be temporary.

Once a week, I reminded myself that the launch was temporary, and gave myself Sunday to recover, realign, and relax.

7) To master your mind, understand your mind

I meditate in the morning for anywhere between 20 and 40 minutes and focus my energy on curating presence in the moment.

Acknowledge that any negative thoughts you may have are not you, but do analyze the root cause of why you think those thoughts may be potentially entering your energy field.

I’ve noticed that most of my problems arise from family, the mating instinct, money, and food.

Analyze how they affect outcomes, your energy, and your emotional state.

8) Play positive-sum games

The main reason I packed my bags and moved to Texas was because the launch strategy for the sovereign creator cohort was a positive-sum game— Both parties benefited from working together.

A few examples of positive-sum games you could play via the creator economy might be:

• Partnering with a creator to implement a marketing strategy

• Ghostwriting for a CEO who doesn’t have time to write his content

• Hosting a podcast where the guest can talk about his new product/service

Before you take on a new project, start a business venture, or just want to team up with a friend, ask yourself— Are both of us going to get something out of working together?

If yes, you will both be tied to an invisible agreement which helps keep the team working together and interested in the end outcome.

These mental models are things that I use to guide my decision-making, and they have helped me approach both life and business from a holistic perspective rather than having one foot in the door and the other on the outside looking in.

I plan to move back to Austin ASAP, keep learning skills, and continue on my growth journey.

I hope you enjoyed reading.

See you next Tuesday morning.

Thanks,

Tyler Remez