How social media culture cheapens the action of doing a good deed by feeling the need to get validation by doing it. 

Sometimes we get so caught up with the trivialities of everyday life we forget how lucky we are.

This is important it highlights how we should not act impulsively on our feelings right away, but instead assess and make calculated choices moving forward. 

You guys will know this by now, obviously, but Absolute Motivation did a video on Jim Carrey a while back, I think nearly 1 and half years ago. I was 19 at the time and AM was in its early stages, I still remember to this day when I began working on the project, I would constantly got goosebumps as I was editing. It was such an exciting project for me, on a whole the project took less than 24 hours, I think I was working on it for 12 hours in straight, I just could not stop. As much as I wanted to savour the moment working on it, when I get into flow I can't stop and that is exactly what happened working on this project, same thing happened with other videos, but I'll go into that in another blog post. 

Now for me, Jim Carrey always been one of my favourite actors ever since I watched Ace Ventura, so working on this had some sentimental childhood value in there. I, like many others watched speech he gave at the Maharishi University of Management. It blew me away no doubt and in a time where I was struggling to know if going back to University was a good option, it hit me at the right time. 

There were certain things I agreed with and certain things I do not but overall this speech really simplifies things in terms making the choice to follow your dreams but at the same time highlighting that you don't need to put so much pressure on yourself, just enjoy what you do and help others in the process. That really resonated with me. 

So after roughly 12 hours - to my recollection - my montage, inspirational video including this speech was born. 

This video got very modest views in the start, with only 60 thousand views in 6 months. But during the past few months it has become my number 1 viewed video on youtube with nearly 3 million views and including all the people shared it on their facebook (posting it natively) collectively over 30 Million views there. So feel proud that video touched so many people in a positive way. 

I always remind myself of this. We expect so much from people we don't even know and vice versa. Why?  Now of-course there are times when we are counting on people or close friends and family that we have a high opinion of and in certain circumstances yes you should show a certain version of yourself that people expect.

But the problem is that most people let this mentality feed into everything they do. Their choices, what they wear, where they go for dinner, who they spend time with. The image that people set for themselves, be it that 'musician guy' or the 'gym guy' and now lately the 'business guy' gains them something they are after at first. In most cases it makes them feel secure and valued. But slowly before they know it, they become a prisoner of the image the once sought after so viciously. They feel everything needs to be about their image and maintaining it or 'keeping up with the jones', they must do a gym post or they must do a musical post. Now while thats great to share, if you are doing because you feel thats the only way you get value, than it is completely false and you are chasing something that does not exist, while lying to yourself.

Live up your own standard is and that great thing about that is, you choose your own standard, not others. 

As a whole in modern society we want everything and we don't wanna do much to get it. There is always the 6 minute workout or the 10 steps to financial freedom type of thing out there. We don't focus on mastery, we don't focus on the joys of slow progress. We want immediate gratification and we want it now and there will be this balancing act of going through periods of being focused in a great routine and parts where everything feels like chaos, the trick is reminding yourself on a daily, even hourly basis why you are after what you are after. 

It is not easy and with the ever more complex mind of a human you will never get everything right in your understanding. But if you can some build a habit, where everything negative you choose to focus on how it will help and make you stronger, you win. This is not to say you don't feel negative and bad but it means that you are choosing the take ownership of that situation, you are moving forward from it even though your emotions are still there. You get dealt a hand and you have to play that the best you can, life of-course is not that simplistic but sometimes its better for us to simplify things that over intellectualize. The more pain, hardship you feel, the fuller and richer your life in the end. A full life is not one without struggle, I can promise you that. If there were no contrasts of happy and sadness, you would go into a depression wondering if this is all there is. Which happens to many people with extreme amounts of wealth. Feel every emotion.

I love this, it highlights for me that we should always seek out to become better and better no matter where we are in life. Not to be poisoned by ambition and this curse of wanting more. But to remember you have what you have, be grateful, but don't let it stop you from becoming better. For the process of self-actualisation is never ending and it does not matter if you begin at 70 years old, or start 12, you have something to strive for. And in the great words of Tony Robbins, progress is the key. Progress on a consistent basis makes us feel alive. 

It is very important to sit down and have an honest conversation with yourself about the type of life you want to lead and what things will personally fulfil you. Understanding that everyones notion of success is and will always be subjective is crucial. Stay away from social media for a time if you have to. Don't chase a goal because of the validation you might receive from others. Its okay not to know right away what you want to do in life, you can be micro goal oriented, advancing and progressing 1 per cent everyday to becoming a more complete version of yourself, reading the books, listening to the seminars, eating healthy and exercising. Invest in yourself, grow and become better than who you were yesterday.

It is okay not to know, but you can't let the fact you don't know stop you from growing. Take a random trip to country you have never been before, spend some time enjoying your own company. Before you know it you will have a much better idea as to what excites. 

Don't be controlled by what everyone else is doing, you cannot do that. You will get use to being told what to do, this is a type of conditioning that you have to avoid. Get comfortable feeling uncertain, this won't the first situation in life where you will face pressure and you alone are the person who has to deal with it. 

At the same time, remember, don't take life that serious, don't let the pressure of needing know what you want to do in the future stop you from enjoying the present moment. 

As the great Bill Hick's said, "this is just a ride" just enjoy it, I know overly simplistic conclusion, but when you can simplify, simplify. 

Every day is an opportunity to make your life the way you want it to be. Anything is possible when you word toward it, one day at at time. Skip a day and you lose momentum. Try to do it all at once, and you burn out. Steadily, consistently work, making everyday count, and you will reach what you are after, now that may not happen 100 per cent, but at least you went after it full force.  today is a chance to grow - to do a little more than you did yesterday, learn a little more and grow a little more each day. Soon, with consistent effort, those incremental advancements forward will add up to the foundations that can amount to huge successes. 

Is there something you want to change? Today is the day to change it.

Is there a new client or customer you want to land?  Now is the time you plan to make it happen. 

Do you need to get into better health? Take a walk, then start to jog, then sprint. Make it a priority, then make it habit. 

This was written by Ralph Marston and paraphrased by me to a degree, I added little aspects of it that I helped applied more. It is so so simple. But at whatever point in your journey you are in, it is always a good reminder. 

But it is very basic it does not take into considerations many of the conflicts human beings mentally face. However, this in my thoughts are a great starting point. If you over intellectualise and overly become skeptical of it, it will do more harm then good. 

Here is a powerful and popular one from his best selling book '48 Laws Of Power'. While of-course it is good to expect the best from people and to think that everyone has the best intentions, it is far from the reality. There are great people in world who celebrate your successes and victories in life but it is always good to take into consideration the other side. 

In a world where understanding and exploring ones psyche through the process of self actualisation IE, reading books, watching documentaries that challenge you and so on. Many people don't understand why they have certain feelings, they simply impulsively act upon them and certain human emotions like 'envy' 'resentment' and like Robert himself says things that stem from 'insecurity' are sometimes uncontrollable and people act on things without really paying attention to why. Therefore it is vital for you to understand this dynamic.

Our culture likes to record and capture things to share with others around the world via social media. In the past our mistakes and failures were never on display for anyone other than those who knew us in the town we grew up in, or even just our families and close friends. This means that if you failed you would be able to deal with it much more easier, you get over it quicker, 9 times out of 10 your family or close friends in your social circle know you well enough to know that 1 failure does not defines you. In short, your self worth is not impacted as badly. But that does also depend on who you are. 

Now with our 'like' 'share' culture, we want our successes shown to everyone and this really helps boost our confidence, feel good about ourselves and have attention. Hey, sometimes human beings need that and sometimes everyone needs a little bit of attention. Of-course everyone would argue that 'they don't give a shit what others think' but everyone to a degree does. While you shouldn't it is an obvious thing that occurs even to me. The trick is to know when to care and when not too and use it in the times where you can build momentum.

Anyways back to my point, this social media frenzy will stop many people, due to the fact they analyze way too much and I mean way too much. In any goal moving forward, it has to be a matter of sheer action. I've found, if you find yourself giving more than 5 excuses about a particular aspect, than you are overthinking and that you need to just do it. It is crucial to know the difference between self sabotage and rationally reasoned points as to why certain things are not practical. Don't overthink, do and then think. Not always, but if there is something you have been pushing back for more than a month then its time to just move forward and take action. 

You don't need to have your own business to understand the value of that quote. I find that is hard balancing the emotional aspect of helping a friend and at the same time knowing that certain choices that advance you require you to work with a great team. The best of intentions can ruin you, you must be careful. Friends offer emotional support and help, someone to talk to and if you are lucky someone you can trust. 

The problem is not society all the time, since humans have existed there have always been different roles and identities placed on men and women. That will not ever change. What should change is your acceptance of this, the mass accept it, the outliers won't. Choose to create yourself not to be a product. 

So my latest video focuses on mindset. I used a vast number of speakers from different fields of work. Cristiano Ronaldo, Warren Buffet, Greg Plitt, Bruce Lee and many more. 

The idea behind this is that regardless of what line of work it is, there are commonalities in their mindset and ideologies. I really wanted to highlight this point by using such a diverse number of speakers in there. All with great things to offer.

 “Always be yourself, express yourself, have faith in yourself, do not go out and look for a successful personality and duplicate it.” 
―  Bruce Lee

​Bruce Lee said this nearly 40 years ago. Such a powerful thought. Especially now we have a social media culture, where everything in our life is presented to a number of people, many of us are always trying portray their lives in a particular way. This is neither positive or negative but the idea of expressing yourself as some made up concept that popular culture has set out is both a waste of time and not helpful in your future.  

The best way to move forward is to always ask yourself, am I trying to maintain an image? Do I care about what others are thinking and are their thoughts influencing my choices? If the answer is yes to all 3, then chances are trying to maintain an image that is not even true and in some shape or form you are lying to yourself. You need to stop that ASAP before that permeates into other aspects of your life, for example your business or creativity. Now of-course there are times where you need forgo other peoples opinions but if you have a habit of lying to yourself, chances are your ego will be dictating what direction you are taking things. And remember, in most cases your ego is weak, hey, so is mine that is why you have to train yourself to be honest, mainly with yourself above all else. 

Hope you enjoyed the videos guys, I was on a creative wave when I was working on that. I had a blast and need to thank some of my YouTube sponsors for hooking me up with some amazing music. 

Few things I have planned in the future. I'm going to be working on 2 other companies in the upcoming months, I won't release the details just yet, but they are a sister company to AM, which means some of the content will be featured on the main channel. 

I've been working on an original album for you guys and will be working speakers to create a motivational album, there are still positions open as speakers to collaborate on this project so please get in touch if you wanna be involved.

The launch of Podcast will be 2 Months time. I'm really excited for this and share with you some of the most successful people in my social sphere in LA and London. Not to mention bringing on incredible guests for you guys. I'll be working hard on this project. And it has always been a passion for me to get into it ever since checking out Tim Ferris' Podcast. 

Thats all from me for today

Have a good one

New video out hopefully end of this month.

- Nav