The Power of Empowering Vs. Diempowering Questions.

I am currently re-reading Awaken The Giant Within by Tony Robbins and today I read something in the book that really spoke to me.  This is a problem everyone has and most of us don't even realize we are doing it until we consciously think about it.  We have the power to change our outlook on any situation just based on the questions we ask ourselves during certain situations.

The problem is most of us (me included) can get stuck in a loop of asking ourselves negative questions or questions that aren't really too meaningful.  The funny thing about why I am even writing this blog right now is that I switched my focus and asked myself a great question.  I asked myself "what is something I learned today that I want to share with the world to help spread this message to you?"

I could have sat here and kept saying "I wish I could come up with a blog post that was good to share with the world!"  Which is something I do pretty often if my mind is blank and I don't feel like I have anything to share.  It gets pretty frustrating, but as you can see here, just by changing the question I asked myself, I am here sharing this blog with you right now!

Some problem solving questions from the book that Tony says to ask yourself are:

 - What is great about this problem?
 - What is not perfect yet?
 - What am I willing to do to make it the way I want it?
 - What am I will to no longer do in order to make it the way I want it?
 - How can I enjoy the process while I do what is necessary to make it the way I want it?

These are just some broad examples of questions you could ask yourself about a tough situation you are in right now.  Obviously you can make questions of your own that will empower you and make you think of actual solutions for the situation you are in.

Using my life as an example for how you can use one of these questions.  Being a hard gainer I can complain and ask questions like "why is it so hard for me to gain muscle fast?" or "why can so and so put on muscle faster than I can?" These question won't get me anywhere except for where I don't want to go.

On the other hand if I ask myself "what is great about being a hard gainer?"  my mindset shifts and I actually become inspired.  Even as I write this I feel my mind saying things that are actually blessings about being a hard gainer.  There are many other hard gainers out there who are having the same trouble I am having.  Being a hard gainer is a blessing because as I gain muscle I can share what is working as well as what isn't to make the path easier for other hard gainers.

Closing Thoughts

Using empowering questions most likely isn't easy for most of us.  Most likely you are not where you want to be, and part of it is because of the language you use on a daily.  Most of us don't even realize the questions we ask ourselves are kind of ridiculous and not bringing us to our full potential.  The second we decide to ask ourselves empowering questions our life starts to change more and more each day.

What are some empowering questions you are going to ask yourself from now on?

If you gained value from this blog be sure to share it with a friend that would also gain tremendous value.



Thank you so much for reading, as always,
Make the best of today,

Brian

Retail Arbitrage Side Hustle.

If you have read my side hustle blog post you know that over winter I made a little under $500 shoveling snow.  Although an actually pretty fulfilling side hustle, it is one I cannot do until next winter unless it snows a good amount before then.  I leaned a lot of lesson and hard work lessons from doing it but now that shoveling snow probably won't work to earn money till next year, I will have to do something different.

I have decided to go into retail arbitrage.  My current plan is to use Amazon FBA for retail arbitrage.  The reason I am using FBA is that the process is pretty straight forward to get started and that I don't have to deal with returns since Amazon does all that.  Also learning is very easy since there are tons of videos on youtube teaching ways to profit from retail arbitrage through FBA

I have already started doing this, however haven't had much luck with it yet.  It seems to be the biggest problem is finding the products at stores to flip for some cash.  With the FBA fees and not being eligible to sell some items on Amazon it can be a real pain.  Sometimes you will find a product with a great rank that would have a good profit margin but that you aren't eligible to sell on Amazon for whatever reason.

The next couple of months are going to be more of a learning process of whether or not this will work for me or not.

I also want to do some videos of when I go shopping at stores and the products I find, or even if I have days I go and I find nothing.  I want to be 100% open about my experience with retail arbitrage. Hopefully this will be motivation for you to go out and try this for yourself, and even make it a big stream of income for yourself.

Closing thoughts

As I stated above this is going to be a test to see if this is a form of income that I like or completely despise.  From my little experience so far retail arbitrage seems like a pretty hard way to make money through Amazon.  However I am not too experienced with it, and many others have had massive success with retail arbitrage through FBA.  I believe any side hustle is what you make of it, so if you want to spend a few hours per day in a store scanning items, I am sure you will have massive success.  It is time consuming but if you find a good selling item with a good profit margin you will make money.  I wish the best of luck to you if you are going to try out retail arbitrage.  I am also looking forward to sharing my journey and shopping hauls from stores with you so stay tuned for that.

Thank you so much for reading, as always,
Make the best of today,

Brian

A New Workout Experiment for Hard Gainers. (Split Workout)

If you are new to the Ganifit blog, you may be just clicking on this if you are a hard gainer in the gym and would like to build muscle.  If you already have been following the blog, or know me you know I have been experimenting over the past few months with gaining muscle as fast as possible as a hard gainer.  And let me tell you, this is one tough thing to do.

So the other day I came across a comment on a video where I went in depth on my bulking workouts.  The viewer gave me a suggestion to try a upper/lower body split.  This is something that I have heard of but have never thought to try.  But since a viewer suggested the split I am going to give it a shot.  

I know that there is a ton I can learn and experiment with, and you should have the same mindset even if you are new or advanced.  I really like where I am headed right now with my workout routine so moving away from is it kind of hard, but I am going to trust the process of this split routine for building mass.  

Click here to view the mass building split routine to try it for yourself.

The program is 8 weeks long and I am hoping to gain at least 2 pounds of muscle over the next 8 weeks while following the program.

If you are a hard gainer let us work together to grow as much muscle as possible over the next few weeks.  I know that you can often feel discouraged as a hard gainer when you aren't seeing growth as fast as you would like, but there is something I learned and this mindset will keep you motivated while starting out with barely any muscle.

The mindset you should have while starting out is being honest with where you are right now and where you would like to be.  There is nothing wrong with starting even if you are skinny right now you must not let that stop you.  Picture where you will be in 5 years if you start today.  

Another thing skinny guys as well as people who are overweight will think is that "everyone is going to judge me when I am working out".  This is also total BS.  Everyone who is at the gym is there to work out and get to where they want to be, they could care less if you are the skinniest guy in the gym and can only do 5 pound curls.  In fact what will likely happen is people will encourage you to keep going because they want to see you win.

Closing thoughts.

If you are a beginner I really hope you focus on the mindset portion of this blog, as it is a huge factor in staying consistent in the gym and with you workouts.  The rest will fall in to place but it will take time, nothing great will happen overnight.  You body isn't a lottery and shouldn't be treated as one.

Thank you so much for reading, as always,
Make the best of today,
Brian

The Top 5 Key Lessons To Master Life From The Book Mastery By Robert Greene.

1. Choose your vocation wisely.

Robert suggests that you early in life you choose a job that corresponds with your inclinations but isn't a big deal of a job.  This way you can maneuver and gain knowledge as well as find out what points suit you and what points don't about whatever field you are going into.  It will help you dive in depth and learn real fast whether or not you should continue down this path or choose a new path of inspiration.

A tip of advice that I would give as an exercise is to write down what you believe your vocation is, as well as your strengths and weaknesses.  By doing this you will be able to find out where to start off in your path to mastery.  It will also help you realize how to use your strengths and improve on your weaknesses.

2. Break out of shyness.

Robert says "Mingle with as many different types of people as possible, those circles will slowly widen,  any type of outside schooling will add to the dynamic.  Be relentless in your pursuit for expansion.  Whenever you are feeling like you are settling into some circle, force yourself to take things up and look for new challenges...  With your mind expanding you will redefine the limits of your apparent world.  Soon the idea's and opportunities will come to you, and your apprenticeship will naturally complete itself"

This point right here is huge if you are someone who has been shy all their life and has trouble talking with 99% of people.  What has helped me so far in my journey that will help you is, if you work in a job where you constantly are dealing with customers, make it fun.  If the customer has an accent ask where they are from.  That alone will build a good relationship most of the time and even start a pretty long conversation.  It is an easy way to break out of your shell of being shy.  Another great thing you can do that is still kind of a challenge but simple to do is to complement at least one person every time you go somewhere, whether that be the store or a restaurant or wherever, make it a habit to complement someone.  It will be scary at first but will really help you to build social connections and or make someones day.  Too be honest I am not doing this as much as I use to, so lets do this one together as a team! Give it a try and learn about others, I know you will feel awesome after doing it!

3. Always be learning.

In "Mastery" Robert talks about how some professional boxers would start to think they know everything, and even go as far as to not really listen to their coach that much.  This lesson is HUGE, it really impacted me and I think will impact you as well.

Sometimes we all start to think we know it all.  I was certainly coming from this frame in the past for weight loss.  I already lost 25 pounds of fat and I thought I knew everything and wouldn't really listen to most people that would talk about it even if they had valid points and if they actually were right and knew more than I did.

The lesson of always be learning has been so impactful in my life, because I realize that I can literally learn from anyone.  You will never know everything, others will know more than you do in certain areas and that is ok.  Even if you already accomplished something great in your life, you will still need to learn from others who have done the same thing, are on the journey to do the same, or who have done more than you have.

4. Staying in your comfort zone will drive you insane.

I believe this is such a great point that can help anyone in life.  Staying in your comfort zone can lead to a life of no excitement and no fulfillment.  Now although I still have a long way to go with this one as far as breaking out of my comfort zone, I have still done things to break out of my comfort zone that I think will give you some inspiration.

I already talked about a couple things above such as breaking out of shyness challenges and being overweight.  Both of those things took me getting out of my comfort zone.  Some other things include writing these blog posts, making youtube videos, and making videos in public.  None of this stuff is very comfortable.  The blogs are uncomfortable because I am not the best writer in the world.  The youtube videos are uncomfortable because I have to put myself on the internet where its (highly unlikely) but possible for billions of people to watch my videos.  And as for making videos in public, this has to be the hardest, people will stare at you and even try to distract you or wave at the camera as you are talking.

Where are you staying in your comfort zone and what are some small steps you can take today to get out of it?

5. To a hammer everything looks like a nail.

You could have the most brilliant mind, teamed with knowledge and ideas, but if you choose the wrong subject or problem to attack you could run out of energy.  In such a case all of your brilliance will lead to nothing.

Let us say for a second that you don't want to workout and get strong and buff but you force yourself to anyways.  This will lead to you hating every single second of working out and will most likely be an escape to avoid doing what you really want or need to do just because you think it is the right thing to do.  Think of it as using a hammer to cut a piece of wood instead of using a saw.


Closing thoughts

I hope you gained a ton of value from reading this blog, if you did and would like to learn more and support this blog, please click the link below to purchase your very own copy of the book "mastery" by Robert Greene.



Thank you so much for reading, as always,
Make the best of today,

Brian

The Results of my Winter Side Hustle. (A Lesson You Can Learn From)

What can you expect?

Over the winter I decided to do something to earn some extra money.  I didn't think it would be a huge deal, just something to earn a little bit extra money over the last few months.  It ended up working better than I thought it would.

I started to put up ads for snow removal on Craigslist and even knocked on some doors.  However most of my luck came from the craigslist ads.  Currently having a job, I didn't want to invest into a truck and snow plow so I decided to just use the family shovels that we already had.  Sure it took longer to remove the snow, but it didn't cost anything, and paid pretty well.

I believe the most important part of getting people to call me from Craigslist was my ad.  I forgot where I learned this technique for writing my ad, but I wrote it in a way to trigger peoples feelings.

I wrote a few bullet points saying things like give me a free call if:

-You would like to spend more time with your family this winter.
-Stay warm in your house instead of freezing outside.
-Imagine how much better your back will feel when you are able to relax by the fireplace.

These all trigger feelings in the brain.  Maybe you are someone who hates to shovel and you probably felt like "yeah you know what, being able to spend time with my kids this winter would be amazing! I'm going to give him a call right now."

Whatever kind of ad you are writing for a side hustle should tap into peoples feelings.  It shows you care about the people reading your ad, and helps them visualize how it will feel to purchase your product/service.  Your customer must have some sort of great feeling when visualizing your service in order to call you and decide to choose you over the next guy.

There is a lot of competition but you shouldn't let that stop you.  You will still find the right customers, or they will find you.

My results

To be honest I was happy with the result.  I ended up getting a few customers that call me whenever they need their yards shoveled.  It helps them and me, they don't have to worry about shoveling their walkways, and I get to worry less about finances.

I ended up making a little under $500 which may not sound like very much, but it was a nice chunk of extra money for mostly relying on an ad on Craigslist, and waiting to get some snow.  It was a pretty simple stepping stone to get closer to saving up the $5000 I want to save by the end of this year.

Closing thoughts

I am sure if you put in just as much effort as I did you have the potential to make way more than I did and help even more people with whatever your service is.  If you would like to have some extra money in your pocket starting a side hustle is a great way to do so!  A side hustle is whatever work you decide to do and is pretty relaxing.  You are your own boss and you decide how and in which ways you work.  The downside is that you have to take some extra time and effort to get customers, but it really isn't much extra work and the time and effort you spend is worth it.  If you need extra money I would recommend it because it is more fulfilling than a job and gives you a sense of accomplishment every time you make your customers happy.

Give it a try and comment your side hustle below and why you are starting it, I would love to hear your unique journey!



Thank you so much for reading, as always,
Make the best of today,

Brian

The Easiest Way to Defeat Shiny Object Syndrome.

My story.

Over the last few days I have been really wanting a new laptop and new headphones.  A little background here is that I already have a great laptop and a pretty good pair of headphones.  The only thing about my laptop is that it starts up slower than it originally did (oh no, it still is an amazing laptop).  My headphones aren't bluetooth and have a long cable that always seems to get stuck on stuff whenever I walk by, and the leather ear cups are pretty much all the way cracked through.  I was looking at the Bose Quietcomfort 35 ii as my go to choice.  They are bluetooth, noise cancelling and they sound insanely good.  I was actually pretty close to buying them, until I watch a video.  It was a interview with Tony Robbins and Ed Mylett.  I literally clicked on the video just to learn more and improve in life, I had no clue they would be talking about "my situation".

Tony said a point that just really stuck with me.  He said something along the lines of "unhappiness stems from thinking you always need more instead of being grateful for what you have right now"  This really made me start thinking about "do I really need these headphones, or are the headphones I have right now still great headphones?"  The answer was obviously yes, I have a pair of Bose AE2 headphones, which I have had for about 6 years and they still work great.  What I decided to do was order a new pair of ear cups so I could wear them comfortably, which also saved me $300 from buying a brand new pair of headphones when mine still work like they are brand new!



This also made me realize to think long term.  For months I have been wanting a pair of Audeze EL-8 headphones.  I promised myself that if I made $2,000 online that I would buy them as a treat to myself.  Tony Robbins even did say in the same interview that it is ok to want stuff and have goals but don't base your happiness outside of yourself.  The difference between me buying the Bose headphones right now and earning money to buy the headphones that I truly want, is that one is an impulse buy, the other one I would have a sense of accomplishment.

How can this mindset impact your life?

We all live in a society that teaches us that we must have the newest things.  whether that be a new car, a house, or the newest phone.  I hope what Tony Robbins said speaks to you as much as it does to me.  Maybe you want the new MacBook Pro.  Yes it is a cool computer but if you base your happiness off of getting that computer you will not be happy.  You may get tons of use out of it and even love it but it won't make you happy if you feel that you NEED it right now.

Maybe you are like me and have a MacBook that is a few years old but want the new one because its faster and looks a little better.  If you make the impulse decision to buy the laptop it will be a way different feeling than if you buy it because you are truly inspired to and aren't lacking anything.  If you are grateful for the laptop you have now having the new MacBook will be a bonus.




Closing thoughts

Nowhere in this blog am I talking about being lazy or having no goals.  I think goals are awesome and give us motivation.  Exotic cars, big houses, travel, and technology is all cool stuff and I believe its unhealthy to act like you don't want to achieve your goals.  But are you searching outside yourself?  Do you need the Gucci apparel to be happy or the new phone every time it comes out?  Or are you grateful for the car you have, the roof over your head, the clothes in your closet?  Your car may not be the best, it may have rust, may not be comfortable and so on, but does it get you to point A to point B?  Be happy you have a car in the moment, its ok to work towards buying a Lamborghini or a Bentley, but right now you must be grateful for what you have in your life.  If you aren't grateful in this very moment how will you be grateful when you have the Lamborghini?

I hope reading this helped you out in your life, if it did comment your thoughts below and how this mindset did help you!

Click here to watch the full interview of Tony and Ed where they go way deeper on this subject.


Thank you so much for reading, as always,
Make the best of today,
Brian

The Importance of Taking Advantage of Opportunities When You Have The Chance.

Some backround

Over the past couple month or so I have been lifting heavy in the gym.  All was going well, I was hitting new PR's and feeling really good about it.  I did start to notice some minor jaw pain but nothing too serious and it went away pretty fast.  But about 2 weeks ago it started to get worse.  Now I don't know if my jaw pain is linked to lifting but the other day after working out my jaw didn't hurt until the day after, and the pain was pretty severe for the next couple days.  And I was lifting light for high reps.

That was the last time I worked out.  As I write this my jaw isn't too bad but I don't want to push it and end up worse off than I am.  My plan is to see what the doctor says when I go to get it checked out and hopefully be able to lift within the next week.
Luckily my jaw pain isn't super serious and life altering but it did bring me to the realization big time to take advantage of opportunities when you have the chance to.  I am thankful this is just a learning experience for me.

Have you ever felt like doing something but when the time came to do it you were tired or didn't have energy?  This has happened to all of us, but for a second imagine you had the chance to do something and didn't just to end up the next day not able to do it.  You got into a car accident and ended up with a broken arm or leg, or worse even part of your spine, and you wouldn't be able to recover for over a year, if at all.  Chances are you would probably feel like you should've taken advantage of all the times you could've done what you wanted to do.  And sadly so many people only realize this after a catastrophe or on their death bed.  Myself, I wouldn't have barely even thought like this as much as I do now if my jaw didn't have pain.

I know this may sound pretty dark, but it is important to realize that most excuses are pretty ridiculous.  When you have the chance to live up to your dreams you should do it.  Nobody wants to look back at their life at 80 years old and think to themselves "I should've done everything differently".




Closing thoughts

I really hope reading this was as much as a wake up call for you, as it was for me.  Really start to think to yourself and realize what stupid excuses you are making right now for not tackling tasks you know you to to accomplish to get to the next level in life.  It can be very easy today to say that you are too tired or don't have energy, but down the line that choice, compounded can be one of the hardest things you could ever do.

Make the best of today,
Brian