So it has now been exactly two years since I made my version of the Permanent Portfolio public and it has outpaced the DOW and the S&P. The net return has been 79.4% while the DOW has had a return of 31.9% and the S&P 23.2% during the same time period. And, for the naysayers regarding my small investment in Bitcoin for the portfolio then one would have to say the same about NVR and PYPL, etc. But if one was to remove Bitcoin from the mix completely, the investment would have been within a point of the DOW’s return without any of the risks in holding just 30 equity stocks or a single ETF for the DOW. This portfolio is eclectic, to say the least, but is designed to weather some heavy financial storms as well. It also has a minimum 10-year horizon, so at two years, it is still in its infancy.
IS IT POSSIBLE TO BEGIN THE 100DAY CHALLENGE TODAY with nothing more than a big goal, a bold ambitious idea and crush it in 100days…by May 12th?
I’ve been studying that question for more than 20 years.
And the answer is unequivocal: YES, IT IS!
I often say that there are basically two ways to achieve a goal:
1. Slowly through small, incremental steps.
2. Quickly by following the rapid execution strategies in the 100 Day Challenge.
THINK ABOUT IT….
If the goal is to become debt free…why perpetuate the pain and do it slowly?
If the goal is to get in great shape…why on earth should it be a long draw out process?
If the goal is to become the sales leader in your company…why should it take until next year when you can wear the crown next month?
If the goal is to get rich…then you might as well get rich fast, and while your young for that matter.
The fact is…any goal, plan, intention or idea expands so as to fill and reinforce the unnecessary amount of time you’ve made available for its completion.
EXPERIENCE TELLS ME…that if you have a burning desire fueled by an indomitable will…if you’re willing to go all in for 100days…and if you follow the proven principles of rapid execution as laid out in the 100 Day Challenge, that you can rip the knob off of 2017—and completely transform your life or business.
Michael Wilcox of Boulder Colorado did just that and accomplished the goal of paying off his $192,000 mortgage balance in get this…100days.
This message exists to show you how, and we’ll begin by focusing on the…
THE BATTLE FOR YOUR MIND
I have come to the understanding that you cannot change your behavior nor improve your results until and unless you change your beliefs…and that the most important element in your strategy to win the battle for your mind and productivity is your own psychology.
Consider the ramifications of this next question slowly and seriously….
“What’s the point of having a belief system if your thoughts and beliefs do not embed feelings of high self-esteem and supreme self-confidence…if they do not embolden you to dare mighty things…if they do not empower you to make your mark on the world.
You’re not here to merely exist, to conform to weak will of the majority, to settle for mediocrity…to live small nor to break even.
You were fearfully, wonderfully and uniquely made to make a difference. You’re here to break rules, break records and to create breakthrough performances.
To do so, you must breakthrough any self-imposed limitation and resistance force that is holding you back from unleashing your greatness.
You do that by building…
A FORTRESS OF BELIEFS
When you think of a fortress….a heavily protected, impenetrable building probably comes to mind. It’s purpose is to keep you safe and secure inside the walls of the fortress, while keeping the bad guys and any harm outside.
A fortress of beliefs serves a similar purpose. It’s designed to protect you…by protecting your self-esteem…your focus, time, wealth, health, mental well-being, productivity and your reputation.
A strong mental fortress ensures that you are not susceptible to outside negative influence or mental disturbance in any way.
And, when it comes to success, the attraction of wealth, maximizing productivity and FAST TRACKING YOUR GOALS…nothing else really matters.
Why? Because…if you can’t protect your thinking, if you can’t keep negative or limiting thoughts at bay, if you don’t build a fortified wall to protect your productivity…your results and peace of mind will ALWAYS be compromised.
You cannot afford to be delusional nor naïve about this truth: hostile forces constantly attack – with an array of weaponry including negative self-talk, pity, fear, false assumptions, accepted societal norms, other people’s opinions, all forms of media, along with the constant disruptions of email, phone calls, text and social messaging, and more.
These REAL weapons of mass destruction… stop productivity dead in its tracks.
Precisely because people have not learned how to diligently built a fortress of beliefs to protect them against their deadly influence…they find their hopes, dreams, ideas, careers, finances and even their marriages in serious disrepair and ruin.
When it comes to this attack against your mind and productivity, however, you don’t have to accept defeat…but you do have to accept the idea that building a fortress of beliefs is a LARGE PART of the solution.
So how do you do it…what’s the brick and mortar needed to build a strong, powerful, healthy fortress that protects you from the people, places and things that are aggressively determined to win the battle for your mind?
The four criteria for building, measuring and nurturing your fortress of beliefs are the following.
1. Your beliefs must…create positive, consistent and sustainable results.
To determine the strength and utilitarian value of your beliefs, simply look at your results as they serve as judge, jury, and executioner of your performance.
The purpose of your beliefs is to drive results…not to deflate them…to confront fear….not surrender to it.
Behavior is the physical manifestation of your beliefs and behavior never lies…which means your results tell you and the world everything you need to know about the quality and value of your beliefs.
2. Your beliefs must…bring you peace of mind.
Low self-esteem, anxiety, insomnia, chaos, depression, guilt, and shame are the result of a corrupted belief system.
If these beliefs dominate your thinking, then you have in effect built a mental prison and condemned yourself to living a small, fear-filled life…not a fortified belief system that allows your spirit to soar.
There is zero upside to self-limiting, negative beliefs…ONLY clean, pure and positive beliefs help you to fast track your goals and live the bold, ambitious and beautiful life you’ve always imagined.
3. Your beliefs must…make you feel safe and secure.
A mental fortress just like a physical fortress is meant to protect you and make you feel safe.
If your fortress contains elements of fear, doubt and worry…if your belief system says that lying, cheating and dishonoring commitments is acceptable behavior…I assure you that your belief system has been seriously damaged.
4. Your beliefs must…unleash your full potential.
It’s actually pretty simple. Your beliefs either empower you to rise to meet the mental demands and physical rigors of big challenging goals, or they undermine your ability to do so.
Precisely because victory or failure ALWAYS begins in the mind is reason enough as to why you need to build a strong, healthy fortress of beliefs.
To reinforce what I said earlier…the most important element in your strategy to win the battle for your mind and productivity is your own psychology.
Therefore, allow me to share the fortress of beliefs that serve as the foundational core of the 100 Day Challenge…and which will allow you to create a series of performance explosions.
If they don’t inspire you to question and liquidate any counterproductive attitudes, approaches, superstitions, or beliefs that are holding you back from unleashing your greatness…than nothing will.
To receive maximum value from your participation in the 100Day Challenge and to make 2017 the best year of your life…
You must believe that no matter how successful you or your organization has been in the past…that you have far more to offer the world than what you are currently displaying.
You must believe that you have the ability to multiply your performance, dramatically exceed your best expectations, and achieve goals on a scale that in the past seemed impossible.
You must believe that you have no legal or moral obligation or, for that matter, logical reason to settle for small, marginal…incremental growth.
You must believe that you were fearfully, wonderfully and uniquely made to make a difference…and that destiny is calling in 2017.
You must believe that in order for you to create a performance explosion, that you need to give up a few things to include false assumptions about how fast you change your life, self-limiting beliefs that undermine progress and the comfort zone that holds you back from unleashing your greatness.
The 100 Day Challenge was created to show you how to fend off ALL the enemies of productivity and how to get more accomplished in 100days than most people do over the course of ten years.
Your mindset for the moment may be flawed by doubt and skepticism. I completely understand.
The idea of making huge performance leaps, jumping from your present level of achievement to one several stages higher in 100days is an alien idea.
You have not been trained to think that way…and you may very well have definite reservations about the possibility that you can make such exponential improvement at all in such an abbreviated time frame.
However, I assure you that your doubts and skepticism are rooted in mental limitation. Your doubts are NOT the product of accurate thinking but habitual thinking.
My advice at this moment is that if you want to be skeptical of some ideas that truly deserve to be called into question, challenge the thoughts and beliefs that have argued against your taking big, bold and audacious moves.
Doubt is the enemy of hope; it does the majority of damage. Therefore, don’t give it any mental space.
From the moment you begin the 100 Day Challenge…I encourage you to proceed boldly…to act as if it is completely inconceivable that you will experience anything other than a significant leap in your performance.
And, if you still feel like doubting something, doubt your self-imposed limits…because you are here to unleash your greatness, and it would be my honor to show you how.
This post is a follow-up to a blog post I made in September titled “My two days as a Lyft driver” detailing my initial experiment driving with Lyft (similar to better-known Uber). That post resulted in my receiving many inquiries focussed on the question of how much money someone can realistically make wth a ridesharing tech company such as Lyft or Uber. So I decided to try and go one week being in “driver mode” for 40 hours in to mimic a “normal” person’s full-time work week.
Unfortunately, because I have many other activities on my plate, I did not make it to 40 hours but did make it to 30 hours. There are two ways to look at earning money as a ridesharing driver, one as a worker bee (earnings by the hour) or from a business perspective (net profit). Let’s explore the financial end before getting into a few memorable ride experiences for the week.
First, let me suggest I could have made far more money if I didn’t have other obligations in my life and if I had focussed on making as much money as possible (see below). I also only drove for Lyft and not Uber for the week. I also focussed the week on Lyfting mostly in the Boca Raton/Delray Beach region during the day. One can make much more money driving at night and in more population dense areas like Miami Beach for example.
Another aspect of the ridesharing experience I would like to mention is how Lyft and Uber are self-regulating. Although most passengers realize they have the ability to rate the driver, most do not realize the driver is rating them as well. With Lyft, if either the passenger or driver gives a rating of 3 stars or below (out of 5), then those two will never see each other again. The purpose is to have a great experience for both the passenger and the driver, so if one is not happy with the other, then there is no purpose in matching them up again. If there is a driver doing something wrong, inappropriate or just giving poor service, that driver will not be on the driver platform very long, thereby not picking up any passengers. The same regarding the passengers. If a passenger is consistently unruly or bad-mannered, then they are going to get a poor rating and will find it hard to get a ride. Based on convos with some of my passengers, this has happened to a few of them on Uber, which is why they are now trying out Lyft. They could no longer get a ride on Uber because they’d been too drunk or whatever the reason. I can say, not one ride I gave was a bad experience.
What was my net profit for the week?
I drove a total of 30.8 hours, gave 37 rides and netted $329.31 after car expenses. That comes to $10.69 per hour. Not overly exciting, but pretty good if you’re out of work or looking to pick up some extra money for the holidays. My prior blog post showed me earning $13 per hour for my first two days. That said, I truly believe that if someone did this full-time and didn’t mind working nights and putting in a minimum of 50 hours per week, you’d make $20-25 per hour after car expenses.
Now when I say, “I drove a total of 30.8 hours,” that simply means I was on the driver platform (on-call) for that time period. I was not driving rides to their destinations and may not have necessarily been driving around.
I did not factor in the tax savings because as a driver your phone, cell, data, text service, much of your car expenses, etc. now become tax deductible. I did not factor that in because that will affect different income level people differently, but it is not something to ignore.
How could I have made more profit and earned more per hour?
One way would have been to drive more. This sounds counter=intuitive, but Lyft (and I believe Uber on some level) gets a commission for each ride you do. After all, they developed the technology (it’s their platform) and are making it very simple to acquire rides, so they deserve a cut. The standard is commission Lyft takes is 20% of your ride total (minus tips). This is reduced to 10% once you are on the driving platform for at least 30 hours and is eliminated COMPLETELY if you are on the driving platform for 50 hours or more during the week. This is a great incentive as my income for the week could have been given another boost had I stayed on longer as I would with any normal full-time job. Although I do not look at it this way, an hourly employee’s mindset may consider that overtime pay.
As I mentioned earlier, another way to earn more would be to focus more time in Miami Beach, Miami, Fort Lauderdale. It goes without saying that the more rides you make, the more money you’ll make. Spending time in a more suburban area as I did this past week is good, but without that population density, a driver is traveling farther to get to the person requesting the ride and there are fewer people looking for a ride.
Referrals are also another great way to increase your weekly income. Both Uber and Lyft offer this incentive and it is truly a win-win-win scenario for all involved. I will focus on Lyft because that is what I have experience. If you become a Lyft passenger using my link code then I will get a referral fee and you, as the passenger, will get some free rides so you can experience Lyft without any risk. If you become a Lyft driver using this link code then both you and I will receive a financial benefit. The incentives change frequently and it depends on your city, but you could get a $250+ “signing bonus” for becoming a driver. This is on top of your regular income driving.
Another way to make more money is to make sure you are available for prime time, which so far, is almost always in the Miami area. Lyft will pay you anywhere from 25 to over 100% more than your average ride income during certain hours of the day in certain areas. They call them “heat maps” where there is a need for more drivers due to high demand. This can be during rush hour during the day, rainy evenings, or recently most anywhere in South Florida during Halloween evening.
One could also have a more fuel efficient vehicle to net themselves more cash. I was using a BMW X5, but it would seem to me that a Toyota Prius would be the ideal vehicle for a ridesharing driver. I have owned a Prius before and they are very low maintenance while getting 50+ miles per gallon. Buying your fuel for less money obviously, would net you more profit with each ride. It is important to note that one can be a driver in a Toyota Corolla or a Bentley, it doesn’t matter. Though you will earn a bit more money if you have a larger vehicle. And with Uber, if you have a high-end vehicle, then you can earn even more.
Lastly, before I get into some of the rides, you can earn more money by keeping your car clean and even more importantly not getting lost and knowing your way around. Nothing irritates a passenger more than you showing up at a different location or not showing up at all. Although the Lyft experience is meant to be a bit casual, that is not to be at the expense of getting from point A to point B safely and efficiently.
The Rides
As mentioned earlier in this post, I gave 37 rides this past week. The most memorable was picking up two young girls from a college campus on their way to a popular mall. The girls spent the morning getting stoned in their dorm room (I know, that never happens because weed is illegal, especially on campus) and one was on her way to a job interview with an high-end store. They were laughing hysterically and having a good time, but what was the one girl thinking??? I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall for that job interview.
One thing I have heard from multiple young single women who I have given rides was how safe they feel with Uber and Lyft. Some said their experiences taking traditional taxis was one of dread. The most common complaint cited was the leering of the taxi driver. Single women rightfully feel that Uber and Lyft drivers are not going to harass them and they told me are more professional. This is funny to me because the taxi drivers are supposed to be the professionals in this industry.
I picked up one girl who had spent the weekend with her on again, off again boyfriend. I took her to the airport and we had a great conversation about life in general and how much she loved her first-time here, though had no intentions on moving here.
Another girl was in town for her friend’s 30th birthday party. She commented on how terrible the taxis are in NYC and how much better Uber and Lyft are. She even takes Lyft and Uber instead of her company provided black car service.
One gentleman has been through hell and back and this past week got another dose of hell. Although clean, he has had serious issues with addictions in the past, which is why he uses Lyft regularly. The government took his drivers license away. Within a day of losing his job late last week, his girlfriend left him. He had a positive outlook and I am not sure I would have been in his positive frame of mind. He’s an impressive guy and if you have a job available let me know.
I had a great conversation with a young guy on his way to a church function. He is an impressive person who I think is going to be doing some great things with his life.
There is also some confusion with some people who are new to using the Lyft app. One guy’s first ride with any ridesharing service was with me to PBI and he ordered it up well in advance because he was afraid he wouldn’t make his flight. I got to him in 3 minutes and he was stunned. He thought he’d have to wait 45 minutes like a regular taxi. We had a great time talking about his move back to his hometown.
Conclusion
All in all, I have not had one bad experience carting people around town. It is actually more enjoyable than I would have thought! None of the time did it seem like a job and would highly recommend the service, either as a driver or passenger.
The passengers and drivers come from all different backgrounds. One day you may be picking up someone at an oceanfront mansion and another in a low-income area — all are welcome rides in my car. And you never know where you’ll end up which is part of the fun.
There is so much more I could say about this past week and none of it is negative. Lyft is a great service for our community, one that should be embraced.
Below are some comments passengers made to Lyft about me. I do not see comments until the next day when Lyft sends me a summary of my day’s activities, nor do I know who made the comments.
“Awesome guy! One of the most comfortable rides I have had”
Some of the best opportunities in life are the
ones that we create, and I wanted to share an
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Here are the cliff notes of what I have to share:
The FIRST HALF of the year is about to come to an
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They’ve had SIX FULL MONTHS to showcase their stuff,
and if they are below target or unhappy with the
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Gary believes that the importance of how you execute
the third quarter cannot be overstated, and expecting
to get better results from the same old behavior will
only succeed in perpetuating your current situation.
He has created the most extreme goal setting and
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it’s called the 100 Day Challenge.
The message is so simple, so powerful and extremely
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What do you think would happen if I were to follow you with a camera crew 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for the first 100 days of the New Year?
I bet 3 things would immediately take place…
1. You would START doing the things you know you need to do.
2. You would STOP doing the things you know you shouldn’t be doing.
3. You would build MASSIVE momentum and make monumental performance gains.
THIS IS ALL possible by raising the stakes and enforcing greater levels of accountability.
Accountability serves and protects your character, credibility and commitments. It ensures that what you want to accomplish gets accomplished.
With that reality in mind, I wanted to share with you an exciting opportunity to achieve every goal you set, to enforce ultimate accountability, and show you how to start the New Year fast, focused and fired up.
Gary Ryan Blair, otherwise known as The Goals Guy, has put together a 22-page Manifesto which contains a radical approach to goal setting and performance enhancement that is in a word…OUTSTANDING!
