Today we’re going to talk about the truth about procrastination. This is the stuff nobody talks about. And I got to tell you, I’ve been studying procrastination since I was a kid, because I’ve always been having a hard time figuring out what to do, and how to make myself do it. I’d rather do nothing. I’d rather relax. I’d rather hang out in the jacuzzi or go on vacation. But let’s talk about what procrastination is really about, because I’ve heard some doozies and some things that actually might be harmful to you actually being more productive, and getting the things done that you need to do.
So let me ask a question. How many of you guys struggle with any form of procrastination, whether it’s getting stuff done or not doing what you know you should do, or getting yourself lost in endless seas of videos, maybe like this one, and not actually doing what you need to do? Now, what we’re going to talk about today is how to end procrastination for good because this is something very interesting, this is something I have personally struggled with, almost to like the end of my days, because it got really, really bad. And we’ll talk about that.
But what we’re going to talk about is how most people are going through and not getting the result they want, because they’re not focusing on the right thing. They’re not getting it. And this is going to be earth-shattering. This is not some mind hack, this is not some tactic or trick or pseudoscience. This is the real deal. This is what took me from being a procrastinator, not getting anything done, and having a business. Luckily, I was good at what I did and I could half-ass it, and I still don’t do as much as I could, but I do a lot more and I’m able to get a lot more done. And we’re going to talk about how that works.
So if you want to end procrastination for good, you need to listen to each of these steps in order. This is going to build and it’s going to grow. And at the end, you’re going to be glad you spent your time here today, because then you’re going to get past your procrastination. Part number one, if you’re part of my end crew, type end crew, because you stay to the end. Part number one, we’re going to talk about the bad advice about motivation and procrastination, and why Western culture screwed this up.
Part number two, we’re going to talk about the real root cause of procrastination. If you think you know what it is, you’re probably wrong, because all these people out there have the answer of why you procrastinate. But it wasn’t until I was about 34 years old that I learned this, and it bam, smacked me on the head like crazy. And I was like, “Wait a minute. You mean it’s not about pulling myself up by my bootstraps or reading another self-help book, or attending another seminar, or watching another YouTube video with a guy yelling at me about why I procrastinate? This guy on YouTube doesn’t know much about me, how is he going to know how and why I procrastinate?”
So we’re going to talk about that, and this will work for you if you get it, because this just kind of works for everyone. Part number three, why you don’t do what you know you should do. How many of you guys get mad at yourself? And you’re like, “Why am I not doing what I know I should do?” Marcus says, “If you do this stuff, you’ll make some money.” Okay, it’s not a guarantee, but if you do it long enough and don’t give up, you should get some results. So why am I not doing it? Or I know that if I go to the gym every day, I’ll look better than I look now. And I’ll feel better, and I’ll be more healthy. Why don’t I do it? Why do I sit on the couch and eat chips and candy, and this and that? Why don’t I do what I know I should do?
It’s not that hard. You bend down and you pick up a weight, if you’re physically able to do that, of course. And you look at it, you got to understand this. So why don’t you do what you know you should do? Part number four, you’ve lost that loving feeling. I will spare you the singing, but we’re going to talk about why you lost the feeling and why that could be a struggle. Part number five, solved. Here’s your success plan, go do it. Now let’s dive in. If you like this kind of stuff, make sure you smash the like button and make sure even if you find me utterly annoying, that you watch this because it might have something that will help you.
One thing I learned is don’t be picky about where you get your truth. Sometimes someone you might not agree with or like, might have the truth that you’re looking for. But you can’t get past the superficial stuff to actually get it. So let’s talk about this, let’s dive into part number one. The bad advice that I hear about motivation and procrastination. There’s a lot of pseudoscience, there’s a lot of gurus in the personal development space, all kinds of stuff. And they’re talking about motivation and procrastination. And just today, and a couple days ago, and I watched this video like 15 times because I’m like, “I don’t even believe this.” There was this lady that was talking about, “Oh, procrastination isn’t what you think it is, it’s actually just a habit. And if you get rid of the habit, your life’s going to be better.”
And it’s like, “Okay. Is that really what this is about? Is it really just a habit?” Well, that same person also said that me being an alcoholic was a habit, which is very dangerous. That’s a very dangerous thing to say. And I’m like, “Wait a minute. We got to look at these things.” Now, obviously, procrastination and alcoholism is a totally different thing. You don’t go to the doctor for procrastination, but you do for alcoholism. And if you struggle with alcoholism, check out Talk Sober here on YouTube. That’s my channel where we talk about my addiction. Now, she said procrastination was a habit, I disagree with it. How many of you guys think that? You’re like, “Hey, procrastination is a habit. If I just get rid of the habit, stop biting my nails and procrastinate, and then stop doing this, then everything will be solved.”
That is not the case. We’re going to talk about that. Also, some other people say that there’s little brain hacks that can fix your procrastination. All you got to do is hack your brain. Count. Do this, do that. Does it fix it? How many of you guys have tried this stuff? How many of you guys have watched the videos and it’s not working? It’s not working, and we’re going to talk about why it’s working, or why it’s not working and what you need to do to get it working. Another one, procrastination doesn’t have to do with your work. Wait, what? So you’re telling me, I don’t want to do this thing so I procrastinate, and it has nothing to do with the thing I’m doing? I disagree with that. Procrastination does have to do with the work, but that doesn’t sell books, because what sells books is, “Hey, I got a secret to the procrastination. It’s just a habit. Just get rid of the habit. That’s it. That’s it.” It’s not. Let’s take a look at this.
Another one, “Just trick yourself into doing the work.” This reminds me of the old Seinfeld episode, where the dad walks around and he goes, “Serenity now. Serenity now. Serenity now.” Insanity later, because he found a quick fix to his problem that’s limping him along. It’s like when you get a crutch after you break a bone, the goal is not to have the crutch the rest of your life, the goal is to use the crutch until you start walking again, and then you use that. But a lot of people are using these crutches throughout life, as if that’s the answer. It’s not the answer. Another one, they say, “Just work for five minutes.” That’s all they do. “Just work for five minutes, and then your life is solved. Or just get started.” How many of you guys hear this? They’re like, “Just do it. Just get started. That’s all you got to do is just do it. Just do the work.”
And you’re like, “Yeah, I’m going to do it.” But why the flippity flank, I got to keep it censored so we get paid for this video, right? Why the flippity flank do we not do it? I sound like Ned Flanders? Maybe I’ve been watching too many Simpsons. And these are the things that they tell you about procrastination, and it’s like, “Wait a minute. I know all this stuff. Maybe it’s right, maybe it’s wrong. But pragmatism, is it actually working? Is it working?” Let me ask everyone on this call, I want you to answer in the comments, I want you to answer in the chatbox. Is it working or are you still struggling? If you’re struggling, type it in.
The name of my sobriety channel is Talk Sober. So there we go. We got to look at it, and we got to pay attention, because a lot of people are still struggling, and if you’re struggling, check this out. Part number two, drum roll please. How many of you guys are ready for the real root cause of procrastination? The real deal, this is what will solve procrastination if you get it. And I got to tell you, I got books on the shelf. I got more books than Tai Lopez has here in his garage. I got a lot of books, and I even got some in my garage. And it didn’t help. All the books, all the stuff didn’t solve my procrastination.
Tony Robbins told me, “Well, you got to look at pain avoidance and pleasure seeking, because that’s all there is to the brain is avoid pain and get to pleasure.” Well, I think we’re a little more complicated than that. Although, Tony Robbins had some good stuff, although I think the people who founded what he talked about, have the real deal, some good stuff, but they’re a little nutty. But at any rate, I digress. The real root cause, I looked everywhere, I looked everywhere. I wanted so badly to be one of those guys who’s just consistent. I wanted to be that guy who goes to the gym at 5:00 AM. I’m still not that guy. I’m in bed at 5:00 AM, I wake up at like 6:00 or 7:00, and I start working. But we got to look at this because I wanted that life bad, but I didn’t get it.
Now the real root cause of procrastination is number one, avoidance. And I’m going to back this camera up [inaudible 00:09:52] a little bit. There we go. Okay. The real root cause of procrastination is first, avoidance. That’s pretty easy. You’re like, “Marcus, did I really join this call so that I could learn that it’s about avoidance?” No, no, no. We’re building on this, and we got to build this case brick by brick. Otherwise, if I tell you the top brick, it’s just going to fall on the ground because it has no other bricks to support it, so you got to get all the bricks. All right. So the first thing is avoidance.
The second thing is, and people don’t talk about this. You ready? Anger Management. “Wait, what? Marcus, did you just say my procrastination is about anger management. Do I need to like go take an anger management class? What are you talking about here?” Well, follow with me. Anger management. “What does this even mean? So I procrastinate because I’m angry? But I don’t feel angry, I feel lazy. I just want to watch the TV or eat some chips, or have a hot dog or whatever it is.” Those are pretty unhealthy things to do. “But why does this have to do with anger? I don’t feel angry. So what does this even mean?” Well, let’s talk to our old buddy farmer, Ted. This is farmer Ted. All right, farmer Ted’s here, and in addition to these stylish pants, these beat the YouTube Shorts like crazy. I had YouTube Shorts, but I don’t know, these YouTube roll up pants here are where it’s at.
This guy is sitting here, and he’s got a farm, and he wants to deal with this farm. He’s like, “Hey, man. I want to deal with this farm.” Now he is dreaming about what he really wants. So he’s got his farm, and his bushel is empty, his fork ain’t got no corn to go in, and he’s like, “What the heck, dude? My farm sucks.” Here’s what he wants. He wants the golden cow that moves the money, something like that. The jokes are free, so don’t get mad. So here’s what we got. Here’s what he has, here’s his life. Here’s what he wants. Therefore, even if he’s not yelling and crazy, he’s desiring something more, which makes him angry.
The root cause of your procrastination is anger. Why? Because you say things like, “I want. I should have. I deserve more.” And our current culture in the Western hemisphere of the world, is to focus on what you want. This started in the 1920s, big in America, where they transformed us from like an agriculture, like this guy, this guy here. This guy was the agriculture guy, into a consumer culture. Instead of being someone who does something, you’re now someone who buys stuff. “Well, wait a minute, Marcus. What are you talking about here? I’m angry, and I procrastinate, and I buy stuff. And what are you talking about? Don’t we just want like more money?” “Yeah, why? So you can buy stuff?” “Oh, wait a minute. Maybe Marcus is on to something. I don’t know. This guy sounds like he might be on to something. He also sounds like a lunatic, but let’s keep going.”
“I want. I should have. I deserve more.” Look at all the pseudoscience in our culture. “Go get what you want. Grab the bull by the horns. Fake it till you make it. Work your butt off. Do this, do that. Do this so that you can.” And we’re sold this bill of goods, that if we go to work long enough and hard enough, we’re going to get the life that we ultimately want that’s going to make us happy, yet the Constitution says, I think it’s the Constitution, says pursuit of happiness. It might be the bill of something or other, I don’t know. I didn’t go to school. I had to ask my kids how to do square roots last night because I was working on a YouTube thumbnail that involved a square root. But at any rate, it says the pursuit of happiness, not actually getting happiness. Interesting.
So now they’ve sold you that the pursuit of happiness is in buying things and getting stuff. And now you sit and you think, “I want. I want that car.” I see that fancy car. The YouTuber has that car. I see the views, I see the money, I see the checks. That’s what I want. And Rickard says, “Don’t forget that if you can think it, you can achieve it.” We’re going to talk about that. I started reading, Think and Grow Rich when I was like 15, and I actually disagree with a lot of it now. We’re going to talk about that, so sit tight.
So we’re going to go through and we’re like, “Wait a minute. I want, I should have, I deserve more, do you know who I am? Hey, wait a minute, I owned the best farm in the 1960s. And now in the ’70s, you want me farmer Joe, to start over?” It’s like the, what was it, Laurel and Hardy episode. “You want me PhD, go around?” You got to watch Laurel and Hardy, otherwise you’re not going to get that. So this guy, he doesn’t want to start over. How many of you guys are like, “Well, don’t want to start a blog, because I’m starting with no one. I don’t want to start a YouTube channel, because I’m starting with no subscribers, and no views and nothing.” Guess what? Everyone does. Everyone does.
Another one. “I shouldn’t have to start from zero. This should be easier for me. It should be easy.” No one said life was easy. But there’s another caveat we’re going to get into. And if you’re enjoying this, smash the like button, because this caveat is going to show you that the work that you think is hard, you were programmed to think it was hard. It’s actually not hard. Like I come in here, I turn this on, I talk into a microphone, act like an idiot, and do some movie quotes, and I get paid pretty decent money for it. And we got to understand this and look at it and say, “Hey, wait a minute. This is how it works.”
Now, there’s a lot of people who go seeking the gurus and the Law of Attraction. I got a beef with the Law of Attraction. Sorry, I do. I know a lot of you guys like it, I know a lot of people are trying to convert me and say, “Oh, well, Marcus, you don’t really understand it.” Yes, I do. I met the people who came up with it, I read the Think and Grow Rich, which is where it came from, and see, I do understand it. But at any rate, take a look at this. I want you to look at two successful people. Take someone, I don’t know, Mark Cuban and someone else, Tony Robbins or whoever. Both of them got successful, because of what? Because of what? Because they got the Law of Attraction? No, it actually wasn’t even around when they started their stuff. Like, there you go.
But both of them got successful, because they both went to work. They went to work. They were like, “I’m going to do this stuff every day. That’s what I’m going to do, and I’m going to be successful. That’s what I’m going to do.” Law of Attraction, if it didn’t exist, if there was no Law of Attraction, they both still would have got successful, because they both went to work. “Wait a minute, wait a minute. So they both went to work? Like that’s the key, that’s the big thing?” Yeah, pretty much. But this is not just about work, because we’re talking about procrastination. And if you procrastinate, you’re not going to get any work done, so keep listening. I’m telling you, there’s a payoff here. There is a payoff. And if you stick around, you’ll get it.
Part three. Why do you not do or why you don’t do what you know you should do? Why you don’t do what… I used to beat the heck out of myself metaphorically, and it was because I didn’t do what I needed to do. I was like, “I know I can make money to put in my bank account and I know I need money for my bank account, but I’m not doing what I know I should do.” Why not? Why don’t I just like, if you set up a blog, and you work your butt off, and you do what I’m going to teach you in this, there’s a key that you’re going to get, you will get money. If you start a YouTube and you work your butt off, and you learn how to do it, you can get money.
Here’s the secret. Even the crappy stuff works. Like some of the crappy stuff does… There’s people that are like, “Just comment on Reddit.” Okay. I guess if you comment enough, you will make some money. Obviously follow the rules and everything. If you do something enough, it will make money. Now again, it’s up to your ethics what you want to do, but why aren’t you doing what you know you should do? How many of you guys right now, if you’re honest, you’re like, “Marcus, I’ve watched a lot of your videos, I kind of know what I should do. I mean, I pick a date, I start a blog, I get some affiliate offers. I know what to do. I might need some help along the way, which is why you got courses and stuff and other videos, but for the most part, I kind of know what to do. It’s not that hard, and I could figure it out.”
Like a lot of people that come to me, “I’ve been stuck on blogging for five years. I don’t understand it.” And I’m like, “Dude, you could have just set up a blog like, okay, maybe you’ll ruin it, maybe whatever. Who cares? Try it out. See if it works. So you got a look at this, and this is the key. Are you ready? Here’s why you don’t do it. You’re like this guy here. And I’ll tell you a story. My brother is a good guy. But when we were kids, my brother was the king. We had a joke and I would call him King Midas because he was allowed his voice and he got whatever he wanted. And so he did this and he was like, “I’m going to get all this stuff. I’m going to get all this stuff.”
Now I was trained as Marcus, I just do what I need to do, and I do what I got to do, and take care of myself. That’s how I was trained. But the king got everything. And a lot of people look at this, and we are like them. In America, in Western culture, we got pretty much everything we want. I got coffee, I didn’t have to like go and churn the butter this morning for my toast, I get whatever I want, whenever I want. I go to the grocery store, I get it. Most of us are not in destitute. For those that are, I mean, hopefully you can get help and understand things, and hopefully the government does more help at some point. But at any rate, I think there’s a way to help yourself as well.
Now do I think it’s government responsibility to help the poor? Absofrickinglutely. Absolutely. But there also for those of us that have the means, we can do this. But why don’t we do this? Why do we sit there and not do what we know we should? Because we think we’re King Midas. We think we should get whatever we want. We think it should be easy. “Well, Marcus did it. This other guy did it. This guy here in his garage has a Lamborghini, and this other guy posted one thing on Facebook and apparently made $8,000 yesterday.” All right. That’s probably not the truth, but that’s what he tells you at least. So we look at this, and we’re like, “Why is this the thing? Is it because we can’t motivate ourselves? Is it because we can’t get past this stuff? Or is it because we want something handed to us?”
In some way, this is where the anger comes into play. And I hear it all the time, “Marcus, I’m not greedy. I just want to make 100 grand a year. I’m not greedy. I will work five minutes a day. I’m not greedy. I’ll even give you a 10% of it. Yeah, Marcus, I’m not going to pay you anything, but I’ll give you 10% if you make me 100 grand a year, and I’ll give you a little bit of it. And I only want to work five minutes a day.” Like literally people come to me every day and say this, “I’m not greedy, I just want 300 grand, and I’ll work an hour a day.” And I’m like, “Well, why don’t I just work myself the hour a day and get my own 300 grand.” I think that’s a good trade.
But this is how people think, and it’s not your fault, you were trained to think this way. Let that sink in. You were trained to think this way, because it sells a lot of books. If I tell you that the solution is easy, “Here’s a magic thing. It’s going to be magical. Just take this, read this, do this.” Then you think you don’t have to do anything. Very important. And on top of that, you’re also struggling with something else. These questions that come in your brain. “What if I do this and it doesn’t work? What if people laugh at me?” We’re all hardwired for acceptance. Acceptance. “Please accept me.”
I got a comment today. This guy was telling me that my hotel video doesn’t work because hotels are now out of business, and it’s all Airbnb. And I’m like, “Yeah, well, I drove by like six Hiltons the other day. I mean, maybe those are all farms. I don’t know. Maybe they have cows instead of people in the hotel rooms, and they’re actually running a bee farm. I don’t know. Maybe not.” But the fact of the matter is, even though the hotels did struggle last year, they made money. Now notice how my mind went to what that guy thought. Not the 100 people who said, “Dude, your videos are helping me and giving me good stuff.” No, I focus on the bad. “What if people laugh at me? What if I waste my time and get no reward? What if I look like a failure?”
This is what’s going on. This is why you don’t do it. This is why you don’t do it. Not because it’s a habit, or you need to count backwards from 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, and poof, you’re not a [inaudible 00:23:59] bullshit. I’m sorry, it doesn’t work that way, in my opinion. Everyone can have their own opinion. But think about this. If you understand that this is where procrastination comes from, because I think I should get more than I have, because I think this should be easier, because I think I should be able to set up a business with no one laughing at me, no one questioning me, everyone hoisting me up on their shoulders and singing, “He’s a jolly good fellow,” and that’s how it should be. Why? Well, everyone worships Elon Musk. Well, some do, some don’t.
Everyone worships this guy. Some do, some don’t. Who cares? That’s the magic. And if you look at this, pay attention, pay attention. Number four, you lost that loving feeling. Here’s our lover. I don’t know why his tie is so big. But remember when you first started with your significant other or a romance relationship, and all those feelings came up and all you wanted to do was spend time with that person? It’s all you wanted to do. And then as years went by, you’re like, “Okay. Yeah, I’m totally fine looking like a slob and I don’t need to do my hair. We’ve been married for 30 years. we’re fine.” I just sit on the couch, and I look like Barney from the Simpsons.
But here’s the deal. Here’s the deal. Everyone is telling you to wait for a feeling so that you can do what you need to do. So they say, “Wait for the feeling.” And guess what? Their feeling comes at the low price of 1999. Or, “You could join our course for $2,000, and we’ll get you that feeling, and we’ll motivate you.” Here’s the secret. Motivation is not a feeling. Motivation is just saying, “I’m going to do this because I know I’m going to get the result.” And let’s keep going here, let’s keep going. And we look at this. Chris says, “Just the feeling of putting 200% into a method or strategy to earn nothing.” I’m going to show you how to safeguard yourself against that.
You want a way to guarantee that something’s going to work? I can’t guarantee it, but you might be able to. And I’ll show you how that works. Here’s the thing. The world does not care about your feelings. I’m sorry. They don’t. They don’t. There’s 8 billion people on this planet. How many of them do you think are thinking about you right now? “I don’t know. I have a show and there’s only like a couple hundred people here. And I got a show, I do this all the time. Why isn’t everyone thinking about me?” Out of 8 billion, you would think that the great Marcus should have at least these many. Nope. Does it matter? To some people, it does. To me, it doesn’t. Why? Because I said to myself, “I’m going to do this stuff I know I should do, because I want the thing that I know I can get. And I’m going to do it every day. And I’m going to do it regardless of what result I get in the short term, because I know I’m going to do something bigger.”
Now, here’s another key. This is something we lose. We go to school, and in like kindergarten and preschool, they’re like, “Hey, that’s really good that you’re curious.” And then in first grade, you’re like, “Hey, I’m curious about this,” and they’re like, “Well, what that is, is the equation 556, and you don’t need to be curious about it, because this is just the 556.” And you lose your curiosity. And you’re taught that everything’s in its box, and everything’s always figured out and everything’s solid and done and ready to go. This is what you’re taught.
Like you talk to people who go to art school, they strip the desire to do art out of students. Why? Because they say, “Well, you need to use the crosshatch stitching paint method that we use.” And they’re like, “I just want to glue things to this paper and then paint it.” And they’re like, “You don’t glue. Us painters with our caps, we do not use glue. What is the matter with you? We are not glue people.” And yet the guy who does the glue and puts it on the wall, sells it for like $9 million, and everyone else is like, “But the cross-stitching hatching method.” And it’s like, they didn’t do it like if you look at Picasso’s paintings.
If you took that to art school and people didn’t know it was a Picasso, and they didn’t know who Picasso was, they’d probably just, “Oh, well that. It’s good, but you have a lot of learning to do son.” But Picasso was one of the greatest painters ever. And we look at this and we’re like, “Why? Why do the rules that I subscribe to and the rules that I learned, not show what other people are thinking?” Is everyone getting an aha moment here? Let me know. Think about this. We lose the curiosity. You lost the curiosity. You were told that if you do this and it fails, you’re bad. That’s you. You shall never fail. Never. You’re perfect.
Not me. I fail all the time. All the time. But what do I do? I learn from it. People lose the curiosity. “What if I’m just curious?” “Hey, I’m going to set up this blog, and let’s see if it ranks. Hey, look, it ranked.” “Cool. Why? It’s only number 70.” Well, I could go home and say I failed, I’m only number 70, and number 70 doesn’t get traffic, whatever. Or I could say, “Hey, I’m number 70. How do I get it to number 10?” All right, think about this. So you lost the curiosity. Curiosity is what makes the entrepreneur successful. That’s it. What’s going to happen if I do this? Not if I fail. “Oh my God, people are going to look at me. Oh, no. What if people look at me?”
No one’s looking at you, no one cares. They don’t care. You care. You don’t want to go to the dinner and be like, “Oh, well, I tried to do this and I failed.” What if you just say, “I tried. That didn’t work, and I learned something from it.” Pay attention. You lost the curiosity. Also, here’s our football player. Here’s something interesting, I found out this morning. Did you know that stress-related illnesses, not because like they broke their leg or they fell, no, stress-related illnesses are extremely common in professional sports.
“Wait a minute, Marcus. So the guy that everyone wants to be, the quarterback, Joe, whatever, making millions of dollars throwing the pigskin, that guy is more susceptible to stress-related? What’s he stressed about? He goes for an hour, throws a football, practices football which he says he loves, and now he’s stressed? Wait.” All right. Shout out to Alabama people. My family is from Alabama. Stress-related illnesses are extremely common in professional… You guys probably didn’t think about this. Think about this for a minute. Why? Because they used to play football, and now they work football.
“Wait a minute, Marcus. Are you saying that there are people on the planet that play at what other people consider work? Wait, what? I thought this was about procrastination, now you’re talking about playing and working in football and Picasso, and what are you talking about here? Wait a minute.” So there’s people out there that go and deliberately play football, deliberately play football for fun. And there’s people who hate their job and go play football. Interesting. Now let’s dig this a little bit deeper. Procrastination is about anger management and it’s about perspective. “Wait a minute. Give me a mind hack. Give me this, give me that. Don’t tell me it’s about…” It is about perspective.
See, while you’re looking here saying, “Oh my God, making a blog post is such hard work. That’s insane. You literally want me to sit and type? There are other people that do it for free.” Like there’s bloggers out there that just blog because they like it. That’s it. That’s all they do. Procrastination is about perspective. And if we look at this, some people say, “Well, Marcus, you talk into a microphone, you’ve got this show, you’ve got these computers, you’ve got this stuff.” This ain’t work. I’m having fun. Because I know when I talk to you about this, it helps me because I still procrastinate sometimes, but I’m actually very self-disciplined in some areas. And we’re going to talk about that in just a minute. But procrastination is about perspective. Change your perspective.
Listen up. You’re here. You’re on the planet. You got food, you got internet access, you have a vast knowledge where you can learn anything you want for free. That’s right, ladies and gentlemen, you do not have to buy my courses. You can if you want personal help, but you can learn anything you want from how to fix a faucet to how to do this, to how to do that, here on YouTube. It’s free. They’ll teach you how to do whatever you want. It’s amazing. I love YouTube for that. And you got pretty much everything you need. Right now, we’re doing all right. The perspective is that you’re unhappy that you don’t have more, and you’re mad about it. You don’t have more and you want more.
Think about this. I’m going to show you a screenshot in a minute. This is a screenshot where I practice what I preach. Here’s where I started, here’s what we had last week. A lot of things. So last week, I was sitting there, and I said a couple of about nine months ago, I said, “I’m going to do three videos a week. Monday, live on Wednesday, and Friday.” It’s a lot of work. Is it hard work? If sitting in front of a camera is hard, not really. If it sucks, I delete it. Big deal. So we look at it, and we’re like, “I’m going to do those three things.” And I did them. In the beginning I was like, “Yeah, I’m not really seeing much from this, but I’m going to learn, I’m going to grow. I’m going to shut off my pride, and I’m just going to do it.”
And last week, we had a video. It started hitting like 15, 20,000 views a day. And I’m like, “Well, wait a minute. My goal was to get to 10,000 views a day, and we hit a day that was 37 or 39 or something like that.” I was like, “Whoa. Holy crap. I wanted 10, now I’m getting 39,” because I know how much that makes me off all the stuff I do. And so we look at that and I’m like, “Wait a minute. I’m at 39 and I’m happy.” And then I saw a guy who got 100,000 on one video in one day that’s in the same niche. I was like, “Oh, that sucks. I’ve been working my butt off and he’s got 100.” Why? Why do I give a rip? Why does everything change when I see a guy with fancier shoes, or a fancier car, or a fancier… Why does it matter?
Here’s the secret to life. Who gives a flippity flank? Who cares? Who cares what everyone else is doing? Who cares what everyone else thinks and gets? Now we can use what they think as a barometer, if everyone thinks I’m a jerk. Maybe I’ll look at it and be like, “Hey, am I?” Maybe, maybe not. But who cares? Who cares? I bought into this, and I bought fancy cars, and I got a new car every year. And now I’m like, “Wait a minute.” I’ve had a car, we drove to Florida in the car from California, because we had a dog and we had to have the van, and we got here and I’m like, “I’m just going to keep the van.” I don’t care if it goes. We got here, it had 62,000 miles on it. Five years later, it has like 68,000 miles on it. I’m like, “I don’t go anywhere.”
What would be the point of buying a fancy car? I mean, if you want one, that’s fine. But get the life you want, not the things you think will make you happy. Get the life you want, not the things you think will make you happy. Procrastination is about perspective. If you change your perspective, and you learn that the world doesn’t owe you anything, like you’re sad about your position, there are people with things way worse. There’s people that don’t even have the opportunity to think about how bad your stuff is that’s way better than theirs. They don’t even have time to think that. They don’t have it.
Yet, here we are in cushy America saying, “Hey, I got it real bad.” And granted, some people do have it bad in America. I understand that. Terrible. I think there needs to be stuff done about it. It’s a different video, though. But when we look at this, and we look at perspective, everyone here has got internet access. Everyone here has the ability to learn whatever they want to learn. Everyone here has the ability to do what they need to do. But you’re angry about what other people have. You’re angry about what you don’t have. And I’m not talking angry, yelling, going crazy. I’m talking like a deep-seated, underlying, “I deserve more than I got. I deserve more than I got. It’s what I deserve. I should have more.”
No, you don’t. We all deserve what the least person on earth has. That’s my life philosophy is that that’s what I deserve. I didn’t choose where I was born, neither did other people, so why should I deserve anything if I can’t choose where I’m born, and I don’t have any inkling to my upbringing? And guess what? My upbringing does have a lot to do with it. My dad provided a better life than his mom provided for him, and so on and so forth. And I had opportunities that other people didn’t have. But the fact of the matter is, what am I going to do now? What am I going to do now?
And here’s what you’re going to do next, part number five. Here’s the secret. You are not a victim. It took me 34 years to realize this. I was a victim of everything. Everything. I was a victim, victim, victim. The key is you can do anything in life that you want, if you’re willing to pay the price. I’ll say that again. You can do anything in life you want, if you’re willing to pay the price. Most of us are settling for half-assed rewards. It’s what we’re doing because we don’t believe we could have anything… You can have anything. You can be the president. You could be a billionaire. You could do whatever you want, if you’re willing to pay the price.
Now the price might be immense. It might be ridiculous. It might take everything out of you. But what is it you’re willing to do to get what you want? I could do anything. I could go and do something bad. I got to pay the price for it. The legal system is going to come down on me. I can go and I can eat grease all day. I’m going to get fat. Now, a lot of people are willing. I used to eat sour Skittles and drink cokes and diet cokes, and I felt like crap all day. And I’m like, “Why?” Well, I was paying the price for what I was willing to do. I was willing to do that, because I didn’t see a different opportunity. I didn’t see a different option.
Here’s the key. What you learn, gives you options. What you do, changes your life. What you learn, gives you options. People have it backwards. “Well, what I learned is going to make me rich.” No, it’s not. There are people with PhDs that are broke. So there goes that idea. It’s what you do with what you know, that makes you rich. It’s what you do that gets you a different life. It’s what you do that makes you healthier. Not the books you read, none of this stuff. You got to go through and look at it.
One of the things I do, my doctor told me, he’s like, “Hey, you know what, you got heart problems in your family. Eat an apple every day.” I said, “Okay. I’ll eat one every day.” Now, I’m not consistent. I haven’t eaten one thing every day for like ever, except for bad stuff. I was always good at that. But I said, “Yeah, I’m willing to do that. I’m willing to eat an apple every day.” And for almost, I think it’s about a year now, I’ve had one every day, and actually found out it’s more satisfying than candy and coke and junk. It’s actually very satisfying and I feel good instantly. And then I started, I went and saw my dad who’s really sick, and he was like, “These are the things I do.” And I’m like, “Well, let me try. I’m going to move my diet around, because maybe we’re supposed to eat like that before things happen.”
I was like, “Okay. Yeah.” Started feeling better. Now, is it a guarantee? No. Nothing in life is guaranteed. Nothing. But you can have anything in life you want if you’re willing to pay the price. What are you paying the price for right now? What are you paying the price for? Laziness, TV, junk food, convenience? What are you willing to do? And here’s what you want to do. One of the things I learned with the apple thing is set a time to do what you… I have my apple at night. Now before bed, I eat my apple every night without fail. Without fail. Even if I go to hotels or wherever.
[inaudible 00:41:57]. I go to the grocery store at the hotel. It’s easier to just sit and go hang out with people, but no, I’m going to go get my apples and I’m going to do it. And we got to look at this and understand it. Because if you can change things, one thing, one thing, change one thing, but do it every day. Banana, apple, whatever, every day. We all drink coffee and stuff every day. You have something you do every day religiously. That’s a habit, right? And you talk about procrastination? No, it’s not. That’s a habit. Drinking coffee is a habit. So we got to look at this. Then what we’re going to do is we are going to make decisions based on solid data.
Now I was reading last night because I was curious about it, and there was a ton of health benefits to eating an apple a day, like way more than I ever thought. And I was like, “Wait a minute. That’s pretty cool. It’s all you got to do? Eat an apple?” And my excuse used to be because I hate apple skin, it does something weird to my teeth. It’s like a chalkboard thing. But I’m like, “Whatever. I’m going to get past it,” and after like a week it went away. And I made decisions based on data. The data said, “This will help you be healthy.” And then I stacked it and I was like, “I’ll do this and I’ll do this, and I’ll do that.”
If you don’t know how, learn. If you don’t know how to do something, learn to do it. Then when I sat down, six or eight months ago, something like that, nine months ago, I sat down and I said, “I’m going to do three videos a week, no matter what.” Now most of us say, “I’m going to do three blog posts, but if they don’t rank, I’m going to quit.” I said, “You know what? They don’t do what I think they’re going to do, I’m going to learn from them. I’m going to learn from them.” I was like, “Wait a minute. Here’s what I can do.” It was a lot of work doing a video. Like my videos, I put a lot into them, I work hard on them, I try to make them entertaining. I look up my facts. I only teach things that I either know work or I have personally done. I put a lot into my videos.
So they take a while. Like Monday, I don’t do anything but my video. Wednesday, I prepare for this Tuesday night and then kind of do it live on Wednesday. And then Friday, all day, I make that video. Sometimes it takes me a day and a half. And I said, “I’m going to do it hell or high water.” I missed one day out of the last nine months, and that was a day that I was traveling with family and stuff. I made up the video though. I said, “Hey, I’m going to make it up.” I said, “I’m going to do three, I’m going to do three.” And I did it like clockwork. Now, if I just made videos and that was the end of it, or I just put blog posts up and that was the end of it, then I wouldn’t have learned it.
So you have to look at sentence too. If it doesn’t work as planned, I will look at the data and make it work. Make it work. Make it work. Make it work. Make it work. I’m going to keep saying that, because you can make it work. What are you going to do to make it work? All right? Take a look. Now I could look at other people’s channels, and I could say, “Oh, I’m not doing that good. Oh, I work real hard and I only got 2 million views in the last year. My blog is not that great.” But I’m making a good living. Sometimes I’ll admit, that little anger of procrastination demon comes in my head, and he’s like, “Your life sucks. You’re not as good as you could be. You’re not doing this.”
And then I walk outside and I’m like, I literally live in my backyard office and work, and I make videos and I have fun, and I’m home with my family. I get to cook dinner every night, I get to do whatever I want. My family needs me, I get on a plane and go. I’m not going to ask for time off. I don’t have to budget it, “Oh, I need to get a flight.” What am I complaining about? What the hell is the matter with me? It’s that little bug, that little bug. And instead I said, “You know what, I’m just going to be consistent. I’m going to do what I want to do.” And made a lot of money, too.
And when I do this, I ask myself, “If something doesn’t work, why didn’t it work?” Then I ask myself, “How can I make it work?” And then I say, “How can I reuse the work?” Because if I did a video, maybe I’ll turn it into notes, maybe I’ll do this, maybe I’ll do that. What can I do better next time? Because here’s the deal. You can have perfect. Take perfect, and you can have it. What do I want? I want consistent. I want consistent. If you’re consistent and you learn, you will get results. And funnel sweets, your site says, “We all want to be better. That’s human nature.” And see, here’s the thing though. The fact that you want to be better, is the reason you’re not. It’s like trying to seek calmness or trying to meditate.
You ever tried to meditate and you’re like, “Oh, here we go. I’m going to meditate, I’m not going to think about anything. Here we go, we’re not going to think about this. I’m not going to think about… Oh, dammit, I’m thinking about meditating. I’m not going to think about that. Oh, look at that tree. Oh, a plane went… I’m thinking again.” You’re trying. But the key is, relax. Just do what you got to do. You could go and you can plow the farm angry, and it’s going to suck. And you’re going to, “Oh, this is work.” Or you could say, “Hey, I’m plowing the farm because look at this food? I literally put seeds in the ground for free, and food comes up out of the ground. What the hell?” If that doesn’t make you happy, I mean, reconsider some things. Think about that.
You could literally change the way you look at this, and say, “Wait a minute. I could just look at this as fun. I could look at this as an enjoy…” I love this. I love talking to you guys. I like listening to your comments. I like hearing what you guys have to say. And you know what? I’m not the be all end all. I used to think I was Marcus the internet guy, and everyone needed to get out of my way and listen to me. Now I realize there’s lots of answers out there. I’m just a guy doing what I do. And I’m going to do it regardless of whether you listen or not, because that’s what I do. That’s my jam. And if you find your jam, and you like it. Find a niche you like. Maybe you like talking about some stuff, health or bicycling or eating grapes, or whatever it is. Think about it. And you look at it and you find exactly what you need to do.
And you have fun. Start having fun. This is fun. I make a video, people watch it, I get paid. I make a blog post, people read it, I get paid. That’s pretty cool. That’s a gift. And if you’re willing to take the gift and say, “I’m not going to procrastinate, I’m just going to do it. I’m going to do this.” Are there going to be problems? Are there going to be setbacks and issues? Totally. 100%. I guarantee it. That I can guarantee you. Not everything is going to work exactly like you plan. If it did, everyone would do it and everyone would have lots of money, which would mean that we all had the same amount of money, which would mean we’re all pretty much broke.
And if we look at this though, if we look at it the right way, and we say, “Hey, wait a minute. I’m just going to do it because that’s what I do. It’s what I do.” That’s it. Funnel sites. Go after your competition, keywords you know you can get. Make a video on the data you know you can get. Make this stuff on what you know you can do. And then watch it and learn. And when you look at this, it all comes down to if you don’t like that, like if you can’t handle that, if you’re like, “Oh no, Marcus, I want a guaranteed way to make $100,000 a year without doing anything. Maybe I’ll work a little bit.” Or, “You know what, Marcus? I want to give you 1000 bucks. I’m going to give you $1,000, you just give me 100 grand a year. I’m not greedy.”
Wait, what? Are you kidding me? What bank do you go in and be like, “Here’s 1000, give me 100.” I haven’t seen that bank anywhere. It doesn’t exist. And this is not investment advice. But if you look at that, and you don’t like what I’m saying, go get a job. A lot of people talk down on jobs. I don’t. I’m glad there’s like chefs that love their craft and make good food. I’m glad there’s people that build houses. Jobs are great. Some people like to be an entrepreneur, some people like to be a job. And now, culture might have also taught you to hate your job. That’s what we do. We go to the bar on Friday, and we talk about what we hate about our job.
It’s like maybe you don’t. Maybe you don’t really hate your job. Maybe you’re just trained to hate it. Maybe you’re like me, and you’re like, “Hey, I’m glad.” Here’s the funny thing. I disagree with certain people that talk about like using stuff, so like, “Oh, we made money and we used it all,” or, “We spent it all.” That’s a good thing. If you’re spending money you make, that means you’re making money that you get to live on. It’s cool to have extra, that’s great, but if you’re making enough and you’re living, you’re providing for your family, which is a good thing. I think that’s good. Providing for your family, that’s a good thing.
But there’s lots of things you can do, and you can be happy about it, and you can understand that life is all about perspective. Procrastination is about anger and perspective. That’s what it’s about. But the problem is, we have to let go of false self-importance. We all think we’re like, super important. “I am so important that when I get a job, I need this. I’m so important that I need this.” I’m not important. I’m one of 8 billion people. That’s it. That’s what you look at. You make it work. And boom, there you go. Pretty cool stuff. And if you look at that, you can make this work. You can make it work. It’s super, super easy.
And you just got to let go of false self-importance, false self-importance. And when you look at this and you understand it, it makes it very, very easy to look at. So if we stop waiting for the feeling fairy to come make us feel happy so that we can do what we need to do, then we go through and we just start doing it. Stop waiting for feelings. Our culture is obsessed with, “When I feel like it, I’ll do it.” Which what is that? That’s self-importance. And that’s thinking you deserve something. “I think I deserve this. I think I should get this. I think I should get that.” Instead, stop waiting for the feeling. Go do what you got to do. Until it’s too late, and you’re like, “Oh. Well now it’s too late to start a business,” or, “It’s too late to do this,” or, “It’s too late to do that. I should have done it before when I didn’t feel like it.”
And when we look at that, we understand exactly how the stuff works. And when we look at it, we can make it work. If you like this, subscribe, smash the like button, get my notes over it, downloadmynotes.com. If you want training from me and you want to do blogging and make a living with this stuff like I do, go to blogprofitnetwork.com. If you got any other questions, let me know. Check out my other videos. Binge watch my stuff. There’s a bunch of videos to teach you how to do this, and I’ll see you next time. Have a good one.