I haven’t been a new year’s resolution kinda person in a long time.

I’m not much of a goal setter writer-downer either.  I have goals, I just don’t feel the need to write them down all the time.  

Some people teach that is wrong.  You’re supposed to write your goals every year.

Every month.

Every week.

Every day.

I’ve even seen some wack-a-doodles who write down their their goals 3 times a day.  To each their own, whatever works for you sweet cheeks.

I’m carrying at least 60 extra pounds on my body right now.  I don’t need to write that down twice a day.

It’s self evident.  It’s my intention to change and it’s gonna happen.  

Admittedly, that’s my style though.

As you enter into 2024, take this advice from Dan Sullivan.

“The present you is always better than the previous you, and the future you is always better than the present you. Compare yourself to no one except who you used to be and who you want to be.” 

The Business Paradigm loves goals because it can pay very well.  Brian Tracy wrote a book on goals and according to his publisher Penguin Random House, it’s sold  640,000 copies.  

Rest assure there’s plenty of other books, courses, and stuff to buy too.

People love goal setting because it’s SO sexy.  

I’m gonna double my income!

Fit in my skinny jeans again!

Trade in my Bronco for a Range Rover SV Carmel Edition!

Look at your goals like a NBA player.  From Magic Johnson to Lebron James, the great players of my generation always talked about championships.  

Why?  Cause championships are sexy!  

But how did those players get there.

Exercising.

Running drills.

Shooting hundreds of shots a day. 

Being the first one to the gym and being the last one to leave.  

Those things are NOT sexy.  You’re never going to see that stuff in the “we’re going to Disneyland” commercials after the championship is won.  

The discipline to be better than you were is what connects you to your future self.  This is why the best time to be a better version of yourself is right now.

Cause the world doesn’t need a successful asshole with a Land Rover.  It needs the best version of you.

Today and tomorrow.

Adam

I have always loved bad guys.  

I was upset when Hans Gruber fell off Nakatomi Plaza.

Darth Vader scared me as a kid, but I was fascinated by him.

Aside from Thanos from the Avengers being an imperialistic murderous scumbag, you just know he’d be fun to have a beer with. 

Well, as long as you don’t ask Nebula or Gamora….

I’m far from a bad guy, I like being nice.  But this Mark Twain quote comes to mind…

“I oppose dictatorships, but it would be dangerous to offer me the position”.

As I got older I realized why bad guys can be so cool to me.  It’s their sense of this one thing.

PUPROSE.

In movies the good guy has to evolve to get what he wants.  The bad guy knows what he wants and he’s determined to get it.  

RIGHT NOW.

As you think about your goals, themes, and wishes for next year.   Remember to think like a bad guy.  

What do you want?  And how can you get it?

RIGHT NOW.

What was the number one thing that drove Voldemort?  

Death.  

He feared it.

He did everything in his power to make sure it could NEVER happen to him.  It took years of planning but his biggest fear was death but it was also his greatest teacher.  

Why? 

Because the goal determines the process. 

If you’d like to make 20% more income next year.  You can do just about anything—including cutbacks.  

If you wanna double your income, that’s a different process.  It forces you to look at the unknown.  What you are NOT doing right now.  

I like to keep it real so here we go…

We’re going to die.  And in 2024 you’re closer to death than you were a year ago.  

But don’t let fuel your fears and head-trash, let it propel you forward.  Allow it to give you the drive to make it happen bigger, better, and faster than you could imagine.

“I found drive in my own insecurities.  That’s the most powerful thing in the world.  When you can find drive in your own doubt, fear, insecurities, you become very unstoppable.” 

David Goggins 

In 2024 figure out what you want?  And how can you get it?

And do it.

RIGHT NOW.

Adam

People can be weird. 

And not weird in the good way. 

We went full-throttle with our animal rescue this year and we’ve been picking up traction nicely.  We’ve been attracting good positive helpful people,  but we’ve also attracted…

Trolls.

Pompous know it alls. 

And Ice Queens that are so pretentious they make my teeth hurt. 

Wanna know why we started a rescue instead of joining an existing one? We couldn’t take the blithering weirdos and control freaks that care more about their fragile egos than dogs. 

Or they run the rescue like the US Senate and spend money like Mike Tyson in his prime. 

Which left him broke by the way…

This reminded me of something Myron Golden said, “Mediocrity scales exponentially but excellence scales incrementally.”

This is why there’s not many Tom Brady’s or Lebron James out there. 

This is why there’s not many Apple’s or Nike’s.

This is why there’s not a lot of Oprah’s or Taylor Swift’s out there. 

Success must be intentional! 

You have to have discipline and intentionally make yourself great. If not you drift your way to average. 

In The Creative Act, Rick Rubin said:

“Look around you: there are so many remarkable accomplishments to appreciate. Each of these is humanity being true to itself…”

I KNOW you want it! 

I’m always saying you need to be the highest expression of yourself. How do you get there?  It starts with being true to yourself. 

Do the work you’re passionate about. The work that moves you. 

And when you’re uber true to yourself they will notice. 

They have to. 

Adam

Most people don’t like sales.  

When I was in my teens and early 20’s, being 100% responsible for my income seemed just a little sketchy to me. 

I eventually saw the light.

Most people don’t though.  The average person would rather drink a nice frosty glass of Strychnine than work a sales job.

But what if it’s not high pressure sales?

That’s like saying Gonorrhea isn’t so bad if it doesn’t burn when you pee.  

You don’t like sales.  Cool.  Nuttin wrong with that.  

Until you want to sell your art….  Now you have a problem.  

So what do we do?  Get educated!

We go online and see the successful people who tell us how to do it.  ‘Easy for you with your “best-selling” everything and fancy Louboutin shoes.’ 

There’s nothing wrong with this but these successful people are usually speaking from CONFIDENCE.  This is hard to swallow when you’re starting out. 

Some people have more confidence naturally and these people are generally regarded as…

How do you say?  

Annoying.

I had a friend in college that I considered average looking at best.  But he was always preaching about the hot chicks he was going to date.  

I thought he was punching well above his weight class but holy sh_t!  He landed many of those women.  

My sister went to high school with Gold album recording artist CeCe Peniston.  She said Cece used to drive them all crazy cause she sang all the time.  

Cece recorded her album Finally when she was 21.  Her hit album by the way…

So, what do you do if you don’t have that kind of confidence? 

Instead of confidence, you have to use what I call FAITH.  Most people think faith is a religious thing but it’s not.  You don’t have to have confidence to be successful, but you do need FAITH.

“Confidence comes when you have a proven track record.  Oh, look what I did I sold these things online and I made  $1000…  Courage is I believe that I can have something different.  I want something different.  And getting clear about  what you want.  What genuinely ultimately do you want? And then saying I want that bad enough that I will take a leap of faith.

– Amy Porterfield

Neville Goddard has a book called, Your Faith is Your Fortune.  This title is as real and true as Chlamydia!

Just when you thought there was NO WAY I could fit in any more STD humor…

Why is your fortune connected to your Faith?  

Cause number one, it’s the Law of Belief.   The Law of Belief says that whatever you believe, becomes reality. 

Second, your faith is connected to your imagination.  If you have faith in who you are and what you do, you’ll KNOW you can sell your art.  It may not be today, but you know you will and it will be awesome.

If don’t have faith, your imagination will go dark on like when Dementors entered the courtroom in Harry Potter.  Your imagination will tell you that you can’t do it and how no one will buy your stuff  or hire you.    

The same “Success Mechanism” that Maxwell Maltz talks about in Psycho-Cybernetics can push you down just as fast as it can pull you up.  

This is why YOU need to tell YOU what you want and the kind of person you want to be.  

“Adam, I’ve tried affirmations and they don’t work.” 

That’s because you did them without faith.  With no love or passion.  No belief.  

I love what President Trump told his former White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham.  She said she was told, ”As long as you keep repeating something, it doesn’t matter what you say.”

“If you can see it, and you have the courage enough to speak it, it will happen.  A lot of times people believe in certain things but they keep to themselves, they don’t put it out there and truly believe in it.  If you become vocal with it, you are creating that law of attraction and it will become reality.”

– Conor McGregor

Believe and say it enough times with faith and you will build your confidence.  And in the end what you thought was so impossible will be possible.

Adam

I spoke to a friend before Thanksgiving and asked what her plans were. 

She said she didn’t really celebrate the holiday.  In part because her ex husband was Native American and he wasn’t a big fan of the holiday.  

I get it.  

I have mad issues with Columbus day.  

The fact that that’s a federal holiday bugs the crap outta me like casting Jerry Seinfeld to voice the main character in Bee Movie.   

It’s easy to look and judge the roots of some of our current traditions. But now that we’re older and wiser as a civilization, it should all come down to intention.  

In my family, the intention of Thanksgiving isn’t about pilgrims and indians.  It’s about enjoying food and being thankful for each other.  

Your intention is YOUR choice.

Not your parents. 

Not the Fed.

YOU.

I loved this passage from Gary Zukav’s the Seat of the Soul.  

“Your intentions create the reality that you experience.  Until you become aware of this, it happens unconsciously.  Therefore, be mindful of what you project.  This is the first step toward authentic power.”

Before Stephen Colbert started his show his intention for it was to be about love (e.g. country, faith) something most people would think have nothing to do with late night shows.  

Oprah Winfrey transformed her talk show when she changed the intention of her show from tabloid to personal development.  

When I became a full-time artist my intention was to make a difference in the lives of people.  When I started caricaturing I wanted to focus on creating higher consciousness art.  

When you’re authentic to who you are, you move in the direction to your authentic power. 

And when you think how you need to think, and feel how you need to feel to feel…

No one can stop.

Adam