as a 44 year-old entrepreneur I've learned a lot about business and life so I put together the 44 cheat codes that I know now at 44 that I wish I knew back when I was 24 starting with before you can be the king you have to start by being a pond see most people think that they can go straight to the top but they're not willing to do the work what I look at is you got to sometimes get in positions to learn not earn you have to decide to be The Apprentice before you could ever be the master the second cheat code is if it takes less than two minutes do it now I learned this from David Allen in his book getting things done and if I get an email I can respond to I'm doing it now if I have a question asked to me that I can give an answer I do it now if I have an opportunity that I just got to decide on I just do it now because it takes more time to write it down than to actually just get it done number three is you don't manage time you manage energy see a lot of people try to manage the stuff they're doing but they don't realize the energy that you bring to your projects your ideas your creative stuff it changes the whole output so if you want to get more things done and have a better life and have more fun man manage the energy within your day not specifically just the task my morning routine has a completely different list of things I'm going to do than my afternoon so for example all my creative stuff in the morning all my meetings and conversations in the afternoon time with my family at night so you manage the energy you bring to the task not the time and trying to just put everything together that don't connect to each other number four is that some people come into your life for a reason a season or a lifetime you know just cuz you sat next to somebody in high school doesn't mean that you got be friends with them forever and some people that might help you out on a project today it might just be for that season of your life and then there might be a new friend that you meet at an event and you decide this is a person I want in my life forever just know that those are different and you don't have to treat everybody like you have to be friends with them forever number five is you're allowed to cut people out of your life if somebody makes you feel bad about yourself is always complaining not celebrating your wins then by all means don't reply to their texts so quick and don't invite them to anything and choose to just create some space AKA do a friend ventory and have them not be part of your life there are other people that if you create space for will add so much more if you just say no to the people that make you feel bad about yourself number six is to create your community I'm a big fan of creating things like a Founders hike or a dinner or an event and inviting people I meet throughout my life to come join me so that that way I can see if they be a good friend to add it's kind of like putting on a jacket and see how it fits but create your community be intentional about the people you spend time with number seven is what you focus on expands if you focus on negativity and things that are hard everything is going to be hard and not fun if you focus on opportunity and what excites you and good people guess what life will be full of that and it is important for you to just understand that whatever you give your energy to it will feed it so make sure you give little energy to bad stuff a lot of energy to the good stuff number eight is creating a Life by Design not default see most people just kind of like have life happen to them I'm a big fan of looking at what are the things that I want to do that's going to make me money where's the fun in my life what about my family stuff what about my fitness think about the different areas of your life and write down activities or outcomes or goals that you want to achieve and then look at your year and say hey how could I slot these things in so that I can create a life that is full of fun by Design not by happen stance by default number nine is don't shrink yourself to make other people feel comfortable about their situation if you're too much for other people I say cool be too much and if they don't like it tell them to go find less you do not want to dim your light for other people the cool part is people like me We love those people we love people that are extraordinary a little bit too much for other folks just go find your tribe but do not shrink down to make other people feel comfortable about your too muchness number 10 is you got to be willing to go long periods of time being misunderstood because the truth is if you're trying to do something that very few people think you can do cuz you've never done it before then they won't understand what you're doing and why you're doing it get comfortable with people not getting you as long as you have Clarity of your vision and you're executing every day number 11 is never stop learning asking questions or assuming that you know everything at the end of the day success in life is about being incredibly curious I mean if you already knew everything you needed to know then you would have the success that you want so you don't so be sure to keep showing up keep asking questions keep being curious and getting answers to life even if you think you already already know what they're going to say number 12 is don't blame anybody else blame the person you see in the mirror at the end of the day nobody's coming to save you there's nobody else that's going to do it for you if you want more you got to become more if you want to be more successful you got to be more successful as Jim ran says the world doesn't get easier you get better and the only person that's going to help you get better is that person you see in the mirror so don't blame anybody else control the controllables guess what you control how you respond how you act what you do today you're morning once you understand that life's going to get a lot easier number 13 is the happiest people I know are givers not takers see when you live a life where there's abundance and opportunity all around you and there's no scarcity then you just come out as somebody that is always helpful and here's what I've learned you've never been sad when you're helping somebody else if you're not feeling good about yourself it's probably because you're not giving enough of yourself to other people number 14 is get up and be what you expect from everybody else if you want more love in your life be more loving if you want more support in your life support other people if you want people to cheer you on be a massive cheerleader see most people don't do the thing they want from other people and they wonder why they're not getting it you go first number 15 is worry is worshiping the problem see a lot of you guys ruminate in your mind you you literally make little things massive things by worrying all the time crazy part is is about the same probability that something bad happens as something good happens and the way I think about it is worrying is a wasted use of your incredible imagination number 16 is you receive what you desire for other people if you want to be healthier help other people get healthier if you want more money help other people make more money if you want more loving relationships crazy idea why don't you help other people get more loving relationships and by doing that you're putting that energy into the world and it'll come back to you 10-fold number 17 is you can't work yourself out of a flawed strategy see some people think they want to be successful but the vehicle or the approach or the people they're spending time with it's flawed so if you don't understand the sequencing of what steps going what order that's going to have the potential for you to be successful you might have the steps out of order and it's going to cause you to go long periods of time maybe years and never win number 18 is because I don't want to is a completely valid reason for saying no some of you guys feel like you have to have like magical meaningful reasons to say no I'm telling you not want to do something not feeling it without any proof for any reason is a valid reason to say no if you just allowed yourself to only do things that actually lit you up and that you wanted to do that aligned with your goals you'd be surprised how much more you can get done in a year and how much less emotional shrapnel you'd have to be around cuz you already know why you shouldn't do that thing in the first place so just say no number 19 is to lose arguments on purpose so you can go along with your day this isn't a ninja move this is advance but I think you can handle it see if somebody comes up to me and they're like oh the weather is horrible I'm like yeah you're right crazy regardless if I'm super pumped cuz I have a garden it's raining outside that my plants are going to get fed it doesn't matter at the end of the day let people have their points of view so you can move along with your day and keep your energy High number 20 is you get tested the most when you're about to level up in the book the big leap he talks about this all the time when you're about to get to your upper limit there'll be things like you get the flu you get in a major fight with somebody on your team or your partner or whatever in life and it's in those moments where you're about to have a major breakthrough that some of the worst things can actually happen to you you just need to know that so you don't break number 21 is peace begins when expectations end all disappointment all frustration comes from an expectation of somebody else or situation for yourself and the truth is if you could just get rid of expectations is if you just assumed everybody wasn't going to do what they were going to do on time wasn't going to be done the way you wanted done didn't support you the way you wanted to it turns out that with that anything they do is awesome and that's where the peace comes from so give up the expectation so you can live a more peaceful life 22 nobody cares about your story until you win massively see a lot of you guys are like oh but this happened to me or this happened to me or I did this at the end of the day until you win until you create something that other people admire until you feel like you've accomplished something worthy nobody's going to care about your story unfortunately so just get over it get back to working and create something that makes the story the Triumph worth it number 23 is you want to spend money to save time see most people do it the opposite where they spend a lot of time to try to save money the problem is is that you're always capped by the amount of time you have which is fixed whereas money the more valuable you get the more money you have the more you can then invest the buy back more time to free up your calendar and it turns out it's a great way to build your life so you don't get to a place where you grow to hate what you've created number 24 is the freest person in the room is the person with no secrets see a lot of you guys are struggling because you're keeping stuff to yourself you don't want anybody to know who you are you don't want them to see your true self so you wear a mask but the problem is that mask is inauthentic so then it feels heavy to act that way if you truly want to build a life that is successful and fun and comes a love fulfillment you're going to have to get rid of all the secrets number 25 is that 90% of your life your results are going to come from the last 10% of your effort see most people don't realize how hard it is to do something because if they did they wouldn't do so many things because that last 10% where you're doing the refinement and the integration and where the rubber really meets the road that's where that 90% of the output in the results are going to come from number 26 very simple only eat between 6:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. most people make horrible food decisions after 6:00 p.m. truth is is if you get up early just fast until 6:00 a.m. and then that way you have this 12-hour window to get your fuel in you and then faster the rest of the time it's good for your body it's good for your mind number 27 is only ask people that have gotten the results you want in life for advice and nobody else see most people make the mistake of asking their parents for advice and then they wonder why they get the same life that their parents got well it's a flawed strategy find people that have been to the Mountaintop who've accomplished those results that you're after and try to find time with them so they can give you the strategy that's going to get you there the fastest 28 is who you are is way more important than what you have see some people chase the possessions to give themselves permission to feel a certain way to feel enough and the truth is is that if you become enough then what you have doesn't Define you you can be happy with nothing or a lot and I think that the process of becoming more and actually using life to show you where you have work to do is actually the best process for living a fulfilled life number 29 is your new life is going to cost you your old life some people have a hard time with this cuz they're like I like who I am I think some of your bad habits got to go I think your inconsistency has to go I think your lack of being determined and having Drive probably needs to be present so take all the worst parts of you and clean that up take all the best stuff and shine that that's what you got to give up so that you can get the future you've been asking for big number 30 is a person without a vision will always return to their past and the reason why is because you need something to pull you forward if you don't have something to pull you forward then the power of pulling you back into your old life bad habits Etc it's going to be too strong so you need that Vision to keep pulling you forward it's a positive light and it's a light energy number 31 is don't make the mistake of getting great at something you hate see a lot of people end up leaning their ladder of success against the wrong wall and they climb it cuz they can then they get to the top and they realize that's not the life I want to live so actually plan for Success cuz you might have to then take the ladder back down and change at walls or change at houses and go lean it up a new wall so that you can have a chance at living the life you actually want to live number 32 is life actually gets easier when you try to make it harder see most people try to avoid suffering pain frustration physical strain because it hurts the crazy part is the more you opt into that the more you put yourself in situations for that the easier your life is going to get number 33 is the results you've been looking for are found in the work you've been avoiding one of my favorite questions ask people is what are you pretending not to know many of you already know what you got to go do to be successful but you're acting like that's not the strategy so it gives you a reason not to do it cuz if you actually knew what you had to go do and somebody made it like this is exactly it then you would know you're not doing it so stop avoiding it start doing it and you'll get the results you want number 34 is stay close to the people that want more for you not more from you see as you become more successful people are going to come out of the wood works I mean I have high school friends that I sat next to 20 some years ago that are asking me for money and it's funny because I have friends that want nothing from me and they want everything for me and those people make me feel good about myself so I spend all my time with them and no time with the others number 35 is that health is wealth and see most people get it wrong because they think well of course the healthier I am the more energy I have the more wealth and money I'll be able to create but it's because of this if you are healthy you have a hundred goals but if you're not healthy you have but one and you would trade all of your money to be healthy so focus on your health first and then the wealth will come number 36 is that if you avoid having difficult conversations and you're probably going to have difficult relationships see I believe that most people's Next Level sits on the other side of having an uncomfortable conversation with a key person in their life from a business partner to their life partner but somebody has things that need to be cleared and if you don't create the space board or if you don't do it yourself it's going to make for a really tough relationship number 37 is if you're not losing at all you're not taking enough risks winners lose more than losers if you want to win big in life it means that certain things are not going to work out because that's how we learn and the people that are most successful learn the most it's why they're at the top so be sure to understand that losing doesn't mean failing losing is feedback learn and move forward number 38 is humility isn't thinking less of yourself it's thinking more of others see some of these full of themselves think less of other people they think they're less than them but true humility is actually saying no I actually see the genius in other people I think everybody around me is amazing and that is true humility because you're not diminishing Yourself by acknowledging other people being incredible around you number 39 is don't compare your chapter 1 or even chapter 3 to somebody else's chapter 27 in the world of business there's entrepreneurial ages I'm 27 years old in the entrepreneurial game because I've been doing it for 27 years you might find somebody that's younger than you might be 20 and 10 times further along but they might be on their chapter 10 or 10 years old in the entrepreneural game so if you're just starting even if you're 50 know that it makes no sense to compare and the truth is is comparing yourself to anybody else is a thief of Joy number 40 big number 40 is your work ethic is a reflection of your gratitude people ask me all the time Dan why do you work so hard if you don't have to work very simple I'm so grateful for this life that I get to live that I don't want to ever dishonor it or show anybody that they don't appreciate it by starting to be lazy lack consistency or not follow through with my commitment specifically the ones I make to myself cuz that's actually where confidence gets eroded so be sure you show up and do the work to tell the world you can handle what you've created so it can give you more not less number 41 is the world is a mirror not a window see I believe the more I give the more I get it's why I have bags of money in all of my cars that I use to bless people no matter what I have cash on me sounds weird but I know that if I'm generous and I'm giving the world's going to be generous and giving back to me it's going to be a mirror so think about the energy you put out there because it's going to come back to you a lot number 42 is some people are so poor all they have is money so have things that money can't buy money can't buy love Rich relationships trust your health and I love when people have things that other people can't have because you can't buy them you just have to show up and do the work number 43 is your trauma is like a book most people get this book and they put it on the bookshelf never to be read I'm going to encourage you to get the book and instead actually read it study it understand what's in there because your stories is what makes your current reality and how you feel and you want to understand how you became who you've become so that you can become more and finally number 44 and it's a big one essentially I think your life's purpose sits right next to the worst thing that's ever happened to you ever and I know that's crazy some people are like Dan why would that be I believe we're all here to help other people heal first we heal ourselves then we help other people heal and the thing that you you're avoiding is actually what could give you the biggest sense of purpose in your life so these are the 44 cheat codes I've learned at 44 years old that I wish I would have learned when I was 24 but if you want to learn my 15 Laws of Success click the link below and I'll see you on the other side