The Charged Life by Brendon Burchard
Brendon Burchard is the world’s leading high performance coach and is also in the Top 100 Most Followed Public Figures on Facebook. Success Magazine named Brendon “One of the Top 25 Most Influential Leaders in Personal Growth and Achievement.” He is the best-selling author of The Motivation Manifesto, The Charge, The Millionaire Messenger and Life’s Golden Ticket.
Rock-Bottom Story:
At 19, Brendon was depressed, miserable, unhappy and suicidal when he had a near-death experience (NDE) from a car accident. Having survived, he felt that life has given him a second chance to turn it all around. He believed it was his “Golden Ticket” to live a fully charged life.
Here are Brendon Burchard’s Tips to Awesomeness:
1. Life’s 3 Questions
Did I live? Did I love? Did I matter? Brendon now meets life daily with the intention of having those 3 questions answered at the end of each day. And at the core of everything he does, the message he wants to share with people is we always get a second chance. It is never too late to start. You just have to decide who you want to be, how do you want to live your life, what mission do you want to serve, and you can begin that now.
2. You’ll Figure It Out
Brendon says uncertainty is one of the pains we will have to go through if we want change in our life. You have to say to yourself, “I’m cool with the fact I’m not going to know what the heck is going on. I’m going for it anyway. I’m going to enter that dark cave. I don’t know if I’m going to be eaten alive. I don’t know if it’s going to turn out bad. But I’m going to go in. I’m going to trust and believe in my ability to figure things out. I don’t know how it’s going to go, but I know that I’m going to show up as the best of who I am.”
Here’s what I want to add to that: You don’t have to figure it out all at once. It is overwhelming to do and that’s only going to scare you more. Once you’ve set the path you’re going in to, know that you just need to take one step at a time and be fully present with each step you take. And the next signpost will appear along the way.
Reaffirm to yourself as often as possible that everything is working out for you. Yes, there will be difficult times, but these difficulties are what will mold you into a person that you were destined to be.
Trust and believe in your ability to figure things out. Show up as the best of who you are to deal with change. — Brendon Burchard
3. Raise Your Ambition
Brendon says many people’s vision is caged in their current circumstances or current competencies. So he encourages us to raise our ambition beyond what we’re capable of now.
Ask yourself where do you want to go and what would be required of you to grow into that. Then build a plan and develop the skills to get there.
He quotes Zig Ziglar, “You don’t have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great.”
4. Be a High-Performer
Often referred to as the High Performance Coach, Brendon found out that there are 5 factors common in High Performers. These are heightened levels of:
a) Clarity — being clear with who you are, what you want and how you intend to perform and interact with other people; this allows you to make better decisions, to focus on what’s important and get rid of distractions
b) Energy — generating and conditioning energy to give you physical vitality and mental stamina through training regimen and habits
c) Courage — being willing to speak up for yourself, take action and take risks; having the courage to put your ideas out there, to express who you truly are, to say no to things that aren’t on their path, to stick to your purpose even when the whole world is judging you
d) Productivity — being more efficient and effective with your time
e) Influence — having better people skills and being exceptionally caring, good and fully contributing human
If we can get good at those areas, Brendon says we can start to experience The Charged Life.
High Performers are not born; they are conditioned by habit — Brendon Burchard
5. Have FUN No Matter What
Have fun while chasing your dreams. Don’t wait for something to happen to have fun. Bring the fun. Be the fun. Show up in whatever way, whatever way you enjoy life, whatever way that fun, joy, zest and enthusiasm sparks for you. Make that happen.
6. Be Patient and Persistent
I think some of the worst components and worst behaviors and vices of human kind comes from hurry, being in way too big of a hurry and wanting that immediate payoff, being entitled to have it right now without allowing that long journey of struggle. — Brendon Burchard
It might take longer than you think it’s going to take. So allow yourself that time to learn. Allow the Universe to align with your desires, your dreams and your focus.
While being patient, you are also not stopping. Be persistent in taking action.
You’re accepting that everything is as it needs to be right now and you are continually taking action. — Brendon Burchard
We have to be persistent towards our dreams and patient with ourselves.
7. Love and Respect Others Playing the Same Game
We’re all in this game of life. We’re all doing the best that we can. Loving and respecting other people is critical not only to our happiness and connection with the people that we care for, it is critical to our destiny.
It’s about allowing people to have their own voice, allowing people to have their own experience and allowing them to follow their intuition. Let them follow their own life and be okay with it.
It’s that great grand connection that ultimately makes us feel, as human beings, fulfilled: because we loved. — Brendon Burchard
In my own experience, as much as I aspire for others what I aspire for myself, I realized that loving them means letting them be. Because sometimes what happens is when we want to push and motivate, we are also the ones getting in their way. And the best we can do is stay on the sidelines, so we can provide that loving space for them to grow.
