Nick: Young Entrepreneur Lifestyle Podcast, episode lucky number 13. Hello, and welcome to the Young Entrepreneur Lifestyle Podcast, the show where we help you build a life and a business on your terms. I’m your host, Nick Palkowski, and each episode, we’ll be learning from mentor, speaker, and serial entrepreneur, Peter Voogd. Peter, I just want to thank you again for joining us on this episode of the podcast.
Peter: Thank you, I’m excited to be here. I’m ready to rip it.
Nick: Awesome, awesome. So what do we have going on in this episode?
Peter: So I’m just going to get into it. I need people that are listening to get out a piece of paper or get the laptop out and start making notes. I’m going to talk about something called the decision train, that I promise, when I talk about this, you’ll never forget it. Whether you’re 23 years old now, you won’t forget it when you’re 50, I promise. And it’s made a drastic difference in my early success, so that’s what I’m going to talk about.
Nick: That’s awesome, and that’s definitely a big promise, so I’m very excited to hear what this decision train is, because I have no idea what it is, so teach me what the decision train is.
Peter: The reason that I make that promise, too, is because I know a lot of people have said that this has drastically helped their mindset and their physical results so I know it works. So, most people –I talk about most people a lot, because I’m so passionate about making sure the young generation does not end up like most people. Because most people are broke, and most people are stressed, unhappy, unhealthy, regretful, frustrated, they have bad relationships, they’re confused and unclear and they’ve given up on their dreams. I can go on for hours, right?
Nick: Mm-hmm.
Peter: Here’s a funny stat. One in three Americans believe their best chance of becoming wealthy is the lottery. Are you kidding me? So I’m just so obsessed with helping people be the 5% and lead the majority versus be the majority. So here’s what most people do. Okay, there are three trains and they’re going left to right. The first train, there’s a feelings box. It says “feelings.” Most people in society make every single decision off their feelings. If they don’t feel like working out, guess what? They don’t work out. If they don’t feel like waking up early, guess what? They don’t work out. If they don’t feel like getting their book done or doing their homework, or if they don’t feel like doing what they’re supposed to, they don’t do it.
And then in turn, the next box over is actions. So from the feeling, they take a specific action–or no action–and then at the end of the box…so there are three boxes: the first is feelings, then they make the action, and at the end it’s decide.
They decide to not do anything. So when they feel like not working out, they don’t take any action, and what’s their decision? “I’m not going to work out.” And that’s how they live their life, based on their feelings. And like I said in an earlier podcast, everything that you do based on your feelings, really, there’s nothing at the end of that.
There is always at the end of every value, principle and discipline, is a promise. So here’s what the 5% do. There is a percentage of people, Nick, right now, that are energized, they have clarity, they’re having fun, they have financial freedom, they have a great lifestyle, no regret, they’re confident, amazing relationships.
Here’s what they do. They flip these the other way. So unsuccessful people go feelings, actions, decisions, and that’s how they end up broke, stressed and struggling. What the successful people do is they do decisions first. When they decide something, that’s what they do, period, regardless of how they feel. So then from that decision, they take that action, and how do you think they feel afterwards, Nick?
Nick: I’m sure they’re excited, they’re energized, they’re more confident because they’ve made that decision, they saw their action and they saw the results.
Peter: Exactly. One of the biggest ways to build your self-esteem is to do what you say you’re going to do. And every time you say you’re going to do something and don’t do it, your confidence lowers. So what successful people do is they decide, period, “I’m going to work out five times this week.” “Yeah but-” “No, no, no, no, no. I’m going to work out five times this week. I don’t care how I feel.”
Remember what I said earlier? The biggest key to success and productivity is making decisions not in a moment, and predetermined. So successful people decide what they’re going to do, they take action on it regardless of how they feel, and as a end result they feel exceptional. They build their confidence. They build their respect. They build their income. And it’s a upwards spiral from there.
So I would tell people, I know it’s a shorter podcast, I would tell people to write these down, the three boxes. Feelings, actions, decisions, put arrows to each. That’s the unsuccessful people. And then put three boxes if you want to be like the top, top entrepreneurs in the country, whether they’re 18 or 36, you need to decide who you’re going to be, decide ahead of time what you’re going to get done, who you’re going to be and live and how you’re going to do things, and then take action on those regardless of how you feel in the current moment, and you won’t believe the type of energy and success that you’ll see, really right away because you’re making the harder decision. So does that make sense, Nick? And that’s really what the decision train is, and I know how powerful it is because I’ve done it for years, and it’s made a difference.
Nick: Yeah, it definitely makes sense. Basically what you’re telling us is that most people are driving their decision train in reverse.
Peter: Exactly.
Nick: They’re going at it completely backwards, and the successful ones are the ones who are driving it the right direction.
Peter: Oh, 100%, and I’ll tell you, sometimes I don’t feel like doing something, but I’ve already decided to do it, because I know, A, it’s part of my mission or vision; it helps people. I might be tired, I might have other things to do, but I’m like, “No, I decided, so I’m doing it.” And 100 out of 100 times, when I’m finished, I feel exceptional. So it’s a no-brainer to do this. But once again, it’s hard. It’s not easy. If it was easy, who would do it? The 95% of people who are failing. But it’s hard, which is what successful people look for because they see the rewards on the other side.
Nick: So do you have any suggestions for people to kind of help them remember to drive their decision train in the right direction, how to decide first and not let their feelings control decisions?
Peter: Like I always say, I think the biggest key is just being aware of it, first of all. Second, make sure your goals are written down and one a week or twice a week, plan out your week intelligently. So think through your week with intelligence based on your priorities. Make sure that you’re getting things done based on your priorities versus what you feel like, but the key is looking at your goals consistently and daily.
When you don’t feel like doing something, you have to remind yourself, Nick, that when you actually made that decision, or when you made your schedule, you actually were in an intelligent mindset and you were in a success mindset. Right now, you’re not. What would you rather make a choice on? If you’re being a coward or you’re tired, or would you rather make a decision based on when you were intelligent? So just think about that.
And I would challenge people to think about, wait, when you made that decision, you were thinking about your future self and success. You weren’t thinking about in the moment. So think back when you made that and stick with that decision. So look at your goals daily, and you need to have some type of ritual that makes sure when you don’t feel like doing something, you look at a goal that you have, you put your favorite song on, or you do something that gets you back in the zone. So figure out a ritual that gets you back in the zone and go from there.
Nick: That’s awesome. Excellent, excellent suggestion. I really like that last one about finding some sort of ritual to get you back in the zone. I think that that can be huge for people.
Peter: Oh, for sure. What I want to talk about next, I’m not sure if you even wanted to ask that yet, but how to really get yourself to do what you’re supposed to do. I have a really, really good, three-part formula on how to do that tactically, so I’d love to talk about that next.
Nick: Yeah, let’s dive into that on the next episode of the podcast.
Peter: Perfect. All right, guys, go out there and kill it, and we’ll talk soon.
Nick: Are you committed to being your best? Are you looking to make a difference in your life and the lives of those around you? It’s time for you to become a game changer. The Game Changer System for Excellence is the premier community for young professionals and ambitious entrepreneurs created by Peter Voogd. To learn more about the game changer system for excellence, go to youngentrepreneurlifestyle.com/gamechanger. The world has enough followers. Be a game changer.
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Thank you so much for tuning into this episode of the podcast. It’s time that we really stop letting our feelings control our decisions. It’s time that you decide to take action and let your feelings follow from there. So if you’d like to get show notes for this episode, all you need to do is go to youngentrepreneurlifestyle.com/013 for episode 13. You can get the show notes there or you can leave you a comment below.
Also, be sure to get all the three trains for the decision train, in case you forgot what those were. Go check those out again. And finally, if you have not done so yet, please, please, please go subscribe to the podcast on iTunes because it helps make sure that you get each and every single episode because we’re producing these episodes three days a week. You don’t need to remember to go back to the website to get them; you will just get them delivered right to your phone, and it also helps us get seen on iTunes, helps more people find the podcast so that we can go out there and create more young, ambitious entrepreneurs. So until the next episode, it’s time for you to go out and live life and business on your terms.