yann girard - rethinking the now

Don't ask for advice

Or for help.

Or for someone to mentor you.

And instead just start doing.

Because once you start doing, 99% of your questions will be answered.

And you'll realize that most of your questions don't really matter.

That most of the things you're worried about don't matter.

So don't waste your time looking for help, advice or mentors.

And instead just get started.

Because doing is the best help, advice and mentorship you'll ever get in life...

Something incredibly hard...

The problem is that without momentum, credibility, a reputation, experience and some sort of mastery you won't be taken seriously by anyone and you'll probably end up nowhere. 

Like it or not but that's the reality we live in.

You'll only get noticed and be taken seriously once you've done something that most people would never be able to do.

Something incredibly hard.

And all of the above things are incredibly hard to achieve.

That's why we tend to start the other way round.

We try to skip the hard part and go right to the change the world part.

We put ourselves, our ideas and our work out there before we've done the really hard stuff.

And then we get frustrated when no one seems to care.

When no one even seems to notice.

But if you haven't done or achieved something incredibly hard yet, something that most people will probably never be able to achieve, then no one will ever take you seriously.

Then no one will ever care.

So if you want to be taken seriously you've gotta do or achieve something incredibly hard first.

It's as simple as that.

But not easy...

it's a lot easier to start dating someone than it is to keep dating someone

It's a lot easier to start a business than it is to keep running the business you started.

Just like it's a lot easier to start dating someone than it is to keep dating someone.

Just like it's a lot easier to start writing that book than it is to finish that book.

Or that blog post.

Or that song.

Or that painting...

Starting isn't the real challenge anymore.

The hard part is to keep putting in the work it takes to keep the show running.

To bring it to the next level.

Here's the thing...

Today you can easily just move on to the next idea, project, friend or partner whenever it starts to get difficult.

And it will always get difficult.

Sooner or later.

And that's what makes it so difficult to keep the show running.

To bring it to the next level.

Because it has never been easier to just give up and move on to the next show...

The difference between

What's the difference between being able to sell $15 ebooks compared to barely being able to sell 99 cent ebooks?

It's the same difference between being able to sell $1000 online courses compared to barely being able to sell $10 online courses.  

Or being able to sell a coffee for $6 compared to being able to sell a coffee for just $1.

The difference is trust.

It all boils down to trust.

If people don't know you, don't trust you and don't believe that you'll be able to deliver what you promise, then you'll always struggle.

So the best investment you can possibly ever make is to invest in trust...

The Internet trap

With the help of the Internet we can now all reach billions of people.

That's why it sometimes feels like we're doing something wrong if we don't reach tens of thousands of people right away, if we don't get hundreds of likes and don't get dozens of comments with each and every piece of whatever we put out there.

But the truth is that even though we can now all reach billions of people with whatever we put out there, there are billions of other people trying to reach those other billions of people.

So what happens is that even though it's now easier and cheaper than ever before to reach pretty much every person on planet earth, it's gotten so much harder to reach your first 10, 100, 1000, 10,000 or more people.

It seems almost impossible.

Every step of the way.

The noise has just gotten way too loud.

That's why the only thing that will ever get you noticed is still the exact same thing that got you noticed 5, 10, 20, 30 or maybe even 40 years ago.

Persistence, patience and showing up longer and more often than anybody else is what gets you noticed...

Setting yourself up for failure

When you expect that new thing to be perfect you're never going to finish it.

And you're going to end up nowhere.

You're going to write dozens of drafts and publish exactly none of them.

You're going to shoot dozens of videos and publish exactly none of them.

You're going to record dozens of songs and publish exactly none of them.

Here's the thing...

When you expect to create something perfect the first few dozens of times around, you're going to set yourself up for failure.

Simply because you're not going to be perfect.

Nothing you create is going to be perfect right away.

Probably not even close to it.

It's going to take a hell lot of time, effort, blood, sweat and tears to be able to create something perfect.

Most people will never create something perfect in their whole entire lives.

And that's ok.

I've published more than 1100 blog posts.

Self published 10 books.

Recorded hundreds of videos.

And none of them was perfect.

Still, you've just read this right here...

The difference between a job and being a freelancer (or entrepreneur)

Like it or not but when you're a freelancer or (an entrepreneur) you're essentially the IT department, the design department, the marketing department, the sales department, the biz dev department and the CEO all at the same time.

Until you have enough clients to pay someone to do stuff for you.

But to get to the point where you can hire someone to do all of this for you, you'd essentially have to do all of the above.

Even if you want to raise outside money you'd essentially need paying customers already.

Unless you want to flush your friend's and family's money down the toilet or want to raise dumb money from people who invest in ideas with zero proof of concept and zero market validation.

On the other hand when you have a job, then your only job is to do one thing and one thing only.

The thing you're good at.

The thing you were hired to do.

Your job as an employee is to be as productive as possible doing your thing.

That's what you're essentially getting paid for.

And that's something a lot of people tend to forget...

People don't click on stuff anymore

It doesn't matter whether you post on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn or any other platform.

People don't want to click on links anymore.

They want to read the stuff right where they are.

Without having to click on anything.

People are lazy. 

People are sick and tired of switching from one app to the next.

People don't want to be sent to websites anymore they don't know and trust.

Mostly because they will be bombarded with ads, popups and requests to disable their popup blockers on almost every website out there.

People are sick and tired of it.

And that's why clicks are constantly going down.

And will keep going down.

Which of course is also reinforced by platform owners that don't want people to leave their platforms.

Because the more time people spend on a platform, the more valuable that platform will be for advertisers, publishers and ultimately investors and owners.

So what does that mean?

It means that each and every platform needs its own type of content.

Content that can be consumed on the platform itself.

Without having to go anywhere else.

So if you want your content to be seen and to be consumed, then you've gotta make sure that people can consume it on the platform itself.

Without having to go anywhere else.

Without having to click from one link to the next.

And without having to switch from one app to the next...

So what does that mean if you're consuming content?

It means that your attention is worth a lot of money.

A hell lot of money.

But the good news is that you can decide who's going to get your attention by allocating it to the things you really believe in.

So don't waste it...

The problem when you're starting out.

Is that you're not yet the person you want to be.

What makes it even trickier is that to become the person you want to be, all of your actions have to get you closer to the person you want to be.

And the second you start doing things that turn you into someone that someone else wants you to be, then you're at risk of losing your way.

And that's what makes it so hard.

Incredibly hard.

Almost impossible.

So how do you do succeed?

How do you ultimately become the person you want to be?

Well, essentially you'd have to find a way to do work that you're proud that gets you closer to where you want to be and at the same time you'd have to somehow satisfy your boss, your clients and pretty much everybody else.

You'd have to find a way to stay on track to becoming the person you want to be without having to starve.

Without losing your way.

And that's so hard that it's almost impossible.

So how exactly do you do that?

Well, that's the secret sauce.

That's the difference between success and failure.

And that's what only you can find out.

And no one else...

The end of productivity

Productivity is a concept that was developed back in the days during the industrial revolution.

A time where everybody was doing one thing and one thing only.

So people were trained to do their tasks faster and faster.

To increase productivity.

And then once peak productivity was reached, machines were introduced.

And we moved from the factory floor to offices.

At first most of our tasks resembled the tasks of the factory worker.

Doing the same things day in and day out.

And then these more or less simple tasks were outsourced to machines, software and algorithms. 

What was left for us were more and more complex tasks.

And the more time passed, the more complex our tasks and work got.

Because the less complex tasks were now done by software, machines, robots and algorithms.

So we're now left with the work that can't really be optimized anymore.

At least not by us.

We're now left with the tasks that don't require productivity anymore.

The tasks that require something else entirely.

Tasks that require creativity.

Tasks that require finding new problems worth solving.

Tasks that require coming up with new solutions to new and old problems.

Because the rest will be optimized by algorithms and machines. 

So today and even more so in the future our tasks and work will be more and more complex and all about finding new problems worth solving.

And then how to solve them.

And that has nothing to do with productivity.

And everything to do with creativity, wasting time, thinking, not being productive, pondering, experimenting, failing, adjusting and trying again...

Do what you love is stupid advice

It's just not practical.

When someone tells you to do what you love, you'll automatically assume that it means to only do what you love.

Which is stupid.

Because succeeding at anything requires dozens of micro skills.

At least when you do it on your own.

It's very different from a job.

Because when you have a job you only do the things you're good at.

Everybody does what they're good at.

Not necessarily the things they love.

But the things they're good at.

Because that's what you get paid for.

That's how businesses make money.

So when you work a job you can focus on the things you're good at.

And because everybody does what they're good at the whole thing works.

You're paid for doing the things you're good at just like your colleagues are paid for doing the things they're good at.

So maybe you're a programmer, then all you do is programming.

And someone else who's really good at sales does sales at your company.

So you never really have to worry about sales. 

Because someone who's really good at sales will take care of sales. 

So the entire system works because everybody can focus on what they're good at.

But when you're out there on your own doing what you love it's a whole different story.

Because you're the sales department.

The public relations department.

The marketing department.

The design department.

The finance department.

The business development department.

The IT department.

And you're the CEO...

This is true especially when you're just getting started.

Sure, once you have enough money to hire people, then things will change.

But to make enough money to hire people, you'd have to find customers first.

And to find customers you need to be able to do all of the above...

So maybe you love helping people.

Maybe you love writing.

Maybe you love singing.

Maybe you love dancing.

Or whatever.

But to be able to succeed at anything on your own, you'd have to master dozens of micro skills.

You'd have to be the marketing department, the sales department, the business development department, the finance department and on and on and on...

Like it or not, but that's the reality.

And that's why do what you love is stupid advice.

Because to be able to do what you love you'd have to do a lot of things you probably don't love.

Things you might maybe even hate.

For example I love writing, giving talks and all of this stuff.

And I hate marketing, sales and all of this other stuff.

But I have to spend a lot of time doing all of this other stuff to be able to keep doing the stuff I really enjoy doing.

I probably have to spend more time doing the things I don't enjoy that much so I can keep doing what I enjoy doing.

So how do you know if you really and truly love doing something?

How do you know if you should really do what you love?

I think this does the trick...

If you're willing to learn what it takes to become the marketing department, the sales department, the finance department, the design department, the IT department and on and on and on just so you can keep doing what you love...

That's probably a pretty good indicator.

Or you just keep your day job and do what you love on the side.

Nothing wrong about that.

No one has to turn the things they love into money.

Because money can be the ultimate love killer...

One or two?

The thing you didn't do but said you'd do just turned into two things you now have to do...

The execution economy

Everybody is talking about how we live in an information economy.

But information is now abundant.

Information doesn't really cost anything anymore.

It's everywhere.

And accessible 24/7.

Within just a few seconds we can get all the information we want.

And before that we had to go to the library where we might or might not have found the information we were looking for. 

Or we had to get a very expensive degree.

Back then information was the difference between success and failure.

And only the ones who had the time and the money to afford "acquiring" that information were able to succeed.

But today it's different.

Which is a good thing...

Today everybody has access to information at almost zero cost.

So the value and the competitive advantage of information is pretty much zero.

Because everybody has access to the same information.

At almost zero cost.

24/7.

So what's really valuable these days is to be able to execute on that available information.

To act on the information that's out there.

What makes this very tricky is that the information will never seem to be 100% complete.

Even though we now have more information at hand than ever before.

And there's always more information you could gather.

And the data will always be missing an important point.

So the only way to find those missing links is to get out there and do stuff.

To execute...

And you can't really find that missing link anymore by reading books about it or by getting a degree.

The only way to find that missing link is to execute.

To get out there and do stuff.

To act on available information, to see what works and what doesn't, to readjust and then to try again.

And this is what's scarce these days.

And it probably will always be scarce.

The ability to execute is what's scarce.

It always has been.

But today even more so than ever before.

And whatever is scarce increases in value over time.

A lot.

Maybe even exponentially...

And this is something that probably no machine will ever be able to do.

But then again, who knows?

Maybe we've already started entering the question economy...

On going viral

The problem is that you'll only be able to go viral once you already have a big enough audience.

Because those people in your audience will help you to to reach even more people.

They'll be the ones to initially share your stuff.

But when you don't have anyone who is initially going to share your stuff, then not a whole lot is going to happen.

And this is probably one of the hardest things to understand about the Internet.

It also took me a while...

You need to do the leg work first.

You have to get your hands dirty.

BEFORE the power of the internet will start to kick in.

So how do you build your initial audience?

That's where it gets tricky.

Because most of the time you don't really find your audience online.

Because it's just not intimate enough anymore.

It's just way too crowded out there.

Sure, it's not impossible.

Just really, really difficult.

I'd say that the best way to start is probably person to person.

To shake each and every person's hand individually.

Here's the truth...

The real world is already big enough for you to build your audience.

Your hometown is probably already big enough.

And then you go on from there.

Believe it or not, but I got my first 150 email subscribers by using a small piece of paper that I handed out after each talk I gave to promote my first book...

This is why the rich are getting richer

It's not because business and factory owners got better at "using" and "exploiting" people on a global scale.

Even though this might have been true for a while.

No, they just got a lot better at "using" and "exploiting" less and less people.

Simply because they now need less and less people to manage and run their businesses and factories.

And those numbers are only going to go down over the next couple of years and decades. 

Less and less people are now needed for businesses and factories to be more and more efficient and profitable.

And instead of employing people they now employ robots, algorithms and artificial intelligence.

And as sad as it sounds, but all of these things are a lot cheaper to hire than we are.

And that's the real reason why the rich are getting richer and why the middle class and employment are disappearing.

So what can we do about it?

Well, we can do the exact same thing that business and factory owners are doing.

We can start to think about how we can all use and leverage available technology to benefit from it instead of getting crushed by it.

Because if you don't do it, no one else will do it for you...

The most important project of my life...

For the past five years I've been trying to make sense of the world we live in today.

A world that's constantly changing.

A world that seems to be getting more and more complicated and complex every single day.

While a lot of the people and the media are out there complaining about how things are changing, about how everything goes from bad to worse, I've tried to make sense of it all.

I've tried to figure out how to live a more or less meaningful life doing the things I enjoy doing.

I've tried to figure out how I could work on and live off my ideas.

Without having to work for a grumpy boss or shitty clients.

Without having to constantly worry about getting fired or being replaced by an algorithm or artificial intelligence.

It wasn't easy, to say the least.

As you probably know already, I always talk about the importance of doing.

Because that's what I've learned works best in the 21st century.

The only way to figure out what works and what doesn't is to do it.

There really is no other way.

Learning without doing is pretty much useless.

But the problem is that trying to figure out what works and what doesn't takes a lot of time and energy.

And 99% of the things just don't work out.

I've done hundreds of different things over the past few years.

And most of them didn't work out.

Some of them did.

But most of them didn't.

I've started more than 20 websites.

I've mentored at dozens of startup events and gave talks all over the world.

I've written and self published 10 books.

Published more than 1000 blog posts.

My content was consumed by millions of people online.

I've lived and worked remotely from more countries than I can remember.

I've lived in countries such as Thailand, Spain, Portugal, Malaysia, Myanmar, Cambodia and occasionally went back to Germany to visit my family.

I fell in and out of love dozens of times.

I feel in love with ideas, projects, cities, countries, food and people.

For a long time I've been thinking about how I could make sense of all of the things I've learned along the way.

All of the things I've experienced.

All of the things that worked out.

But also the things that didn't work out.

I've been thinking about how I could put it all together so that more people can benefit from my experiences and the things I've learned over the past 5 years.

And a lot of people have asked me how I'm doing all of this.

How I'm able to live and work wherever I want to.

How I'm able to live off my ideas.

How I'm able to afford to live and work wherever I want to, while the majority of people seems to either be paralyzed, afraid of the future or just simply ignores the change that's already happening or about to happen.

And it's true.

The future looks scary.

Everybody is talking about how technology, algorithms and artificial intelligence is going to kill hundreds of millions of jobs.

But you know what?

I'm more bullish on the future than I've ever been before.

Because these changes are the exact same changes that have enabled me to live my life the way I do.

Let's face it...

We all have a choice.

We can either be scared of the future, remain paralyzed and keep ignoring the facts or we can act.

The truth is that the same technological advancements that people are scared of right now can be leveraged.

They can be leveraged by regular people just like you and me.

So that instead of getting crushed by these changes, you can benefit from them.

And this is exactly what I've been doing over the past five years.

I've been trying to understand the change that's coming and how regular people like you and me can benefit from these changes instead of getting crushed by them.

How people who don't live in Silicon Valley, who aren't programming wizards and who don't have a lot of money can benefit from technological advancements to spread their risk, build multiple streams of income and live a life they truly care about.

That's why I've decided to start a new project.

A project where I help you to understand, leverage and benefit from the changes we're all experiencing instead of getting crushed by them.

This might be the most important project I've ever worked on.

To find out more about it, just click the link below...

CLICK HERE to find out more about Yann's Secret Report.

You just have to look long enough

A good reason is one that's satisfying because it matches our view of the world.

You lost your job because of the economy.

That's a really good reason.

Your girlfriend cheated on you because she's a cheater.

That's a really good reason.

No one notices you because people just don't notice people like you. 

That's a really good reason.

A good reason matches our view of the world.

A good reason lets us off the hook.

A good reason protects us from the real reason, which is usually a lot more uncomfortable than the good reason.

The good reason is rarely the real reason.

The good reason keeps our view of the world limited.

And it usually puts the blame on others. 

It robs us of the opportunities to learn the things that will help us to avoid making the same mistakes over and over again.

You just have to look long enough to find a good reason.

And you have to look even longer to find the real reason.

But the real reason is the only place where growth and improvement can be found... 

The trap of doing things that work

Is that we put on blinders for all the new things out there.

Because those new things might not work.

So it's a lot better to focus all your energy on the things that work.

But the things that work today are most likely not going to work anymore tomorrow...

There's no such thing as sales.

There's only that moment when people trust you enough, believe you enough and are confident enough that you'll be able to help them solve some of their biggest problems. And once that moment comes, they'll end up buying from you (hopefully a product or service that doesn't abuse their trust). This is the only thing that really matters. Everything else doesn't really matter...

 

What's left?

What's left when we're not needed anymore to give answers?

What's left for us when technology, algorithms and AI are able to give us all the answers a lot faster, better and cheaper than we will ever be able to?

The thing that's left for us are questions.

The right questions.

The really important questions.

The questions worth asking.

And the questions worth answering.

So what's left?

When to quit and when to stick

There are only two possible scenarios...

Scenario 1: you do it for the money.

Scenario 2: you do it because you love it and genuinely enjoy doing it.

Nothing wrong about either one of the scenarios.

And both scenarios are pretty straight forward to answer...

In scenario 1 you quit and give up once you've done everything you possibly can to make it work, but the money still doesn't come.

Because if your number one goal is to make money and it doesn't work, well then you just do the stuff that does work.

The stuff that pays money.

For example working a job that pays you a salary.

On the other hand, in scenario 2 you basically never quit.

You might just have to change your circumstances and do something else at the same time. 

Maybe you get a job.

Because that thing you love, that thing you genuinely enjoy doing, you should never quit doing that.

No matter what.

Even if it doesn't pay anything,

So the tricky part here is to figure out whether you're in scenario one or two.

Whether you do it for the money or because you love it.

So the real question is this...

Do you really and genuinely enjoy doing what you're doing and would also do it if you had to clean toilets to be able to keep doing it or do you do it for the money.

And that's the real question you have to ask yourself.

And once you've been able to answer that question, act accordingly...

We all know that person.

There will always be that one person who will doubt everything you do.

That one person who will always say that this is never going to work out.

That you're going to fail and never succeed.

That you'll never be able to make it.

That the competition is just way too big.

There will always be that one person that will say that it's just way too much for you.

And we all know that person.

Because that person is you...

 

I have no...

I have no morning routine.

I wake up whenever I wake up.

I don't have to do lists.

I switch from one thing to another.

I barely finish stuff.

I don't use a smartphone.

I procrastinate. A lot.

I've lived out of a backpack for more than 7 years.

And I own nothing and everything.

So what does all of this even mean?

Nothing.

And everything...

How to live your dream...

You have to wake up and stop dreaming and start doing...

Can you "afford" to be patient?

Everybody says that you've gotta be patient.

That you've gotta put in the work and be patient.

And it's true.

But what it misses is the fact that you've gotta be able to somehow "afford" to be patient.

So if you feel like you can't really "afford" to be patient, then you somehow have to put yourself in a situation where you can "afford" to be patient. 

Because if you don't, then you will never be able to be patient.

And if you will never be able to be patient, then it's just never going to work out.

It's as simple as that. But not necessarily easy.

So before you start something difficult, something challenging and something that might not work out right away, try to somehow put yourself in a situation where you can "afford" to be patient.

And when I say you, I'm really talking about myself and what I did...

Filtered

In a world where more and more content and information is hitting our screens, we need really good filters.

Because without them, we would just drown in information, content and useless stuff.

We need filters that help us to navigate through all of this madness.

But we don't need just smart filters.

We don't need filters that only show us the things we already know.

The things we already believe in.

The things we're already reading, seeing and watching.

Because that's dangerous.

Because if the things we believe in are harmful to us, the people around us and society in general, than that shouldn't be amplified and reinforced through "smart" algorithms.

And instead we need filters and algorithms that challenge us.

That challenge our way of thinking.

That challenge our view of the world.

That help us to learn new things.

That force us to think outside the box.

Instead of putting us and everybody else around us into a box and creating a bubble around us that gets tighter and tighter the more the filter knows about us...

The real reason why you have to love what you do...

Is that it's going to be so difficult, so hard, so painful and almost unbearable at times that the only possible way you're ever going to be able to go through all of the ups and downs, the doubt and the fear is that you absolutely and genuinely have to love what you do. Because if you don't, then you'll just give up. Or go crazy. Whatever comes first... or you just keep working your day job...

Or they come from a rich family...

Is what a lot of people say.

Which of course is an excuse.

An excuse for not putting in the work.

An excuse for not trying.

An excuse for not getting your ass kicked.

If you've ever tried building anything, then you know that capital is the last thing you actually really need.

As a matter of fact, the more money you get early on, the more money you'll end up wasting and flushing down the toilet.

What you need first is to figure out what works and what doesn't.

Then you need to figure out how you can get that thing that works in front of as many people as possible.

As cheaply as possible.

And once you've done that, once you've got a proven idea, business or whatsoever and paying customers or thousands of users, then money might make a difference. 

But before that, not really.

So here's the thing...

A bad idea is a bad idea.

No matter how much money you have.

And you can figure out whether an idea is a good idea or a bad idea with $1000 or $1 million.

One needs more hustle while the other needs more money to be flushed down the toilet.

And if you don't know how to figure out whether an idea is good or bad, then no money in the world will ever help you anyway.

Whether you have $1000 or $1 million doesn't make any difference.

The only difference is the magnitude, the size and the money you'll end up spending trying to figure out if it's a good idea or a bad idea. 

But the results will still be the exact same.

And the more money you have, the more money you'll end up spending.

So in most cases coming from a rich family won't do a whole lot.

What will do a whole lot though is whether you have a good idea or a bad idea.

And whether you can figure out if it's a good idea or a bad idea.

And whether you know how to execute your idea.

And that has nothing to do with money and everything with you...

Never...

Never listen to anyone who has never done what you're doing or want to do.

Ignore your parents, your friends and pretty much everybody else.

But then again, you should probably not listen to me either.

Because it's very likely that I've never done what you want to do...

You'll get ideas once you start...

The only way to get ideas is to start.

To start writing.

To start singing.

Or to start creating.

There really is no other way.

You've gotta get started. 

Because once you've started, you'll come across hundreds if not thousands of other things and perspectives you've never thought of before.

And these are all seeds for new ideas.

New ideas for things to write about, songs to sing, art to create or businesses to start.

Most of these ideas won't be that good.

But that doesn't matter.

What matters is that you start doing.

And that's why most people don't have ideas.

Because they never start...

And instead they wait for the ideas to somehow magically show up.

But the truth is that you have to show up for the ideas to show up.

You have to sit down and start.

Every single day.

You'll get ideas once you start...