Justin Goff

I’m really excited right now for this project I’m working on with Ben Bleikamp.  If you’ve never heard of him, Ben is the mastermind behind the designs of Darren Rowse’s Problogger.net and Tim Ferriss’ Four Hour Work Week.

We’re working diligently right now getting the site prepped for launch.  The main idea of the site is to sell high quality Wordpress themes, custom designs and also a few other goodies that I can’t reveal yet.

Everything is going great and we’re both really pumped to get this rolling.  However, we’re having a major brainfart and can’t come up with a name for the site.  So I’m reaching out to everyone who reads my site, and offering $100 to the name we choose.  Even if we come up with someone similar to yours after your suggestion, I will still pay you the $100.

Just post your ideas in the comment box, and I’ll be checking in frequently to see what everyone has come up with.  Get those creative juices flowing!!!

-Justin

“It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows in the end the triumph of high achievement; and who, at worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.”

-Teddy Roosevelt

So money…

I just got done re-listening to The Dip by Seth Godin.  It’s such a simple book, with a profound effect that’s changed my views on many things in life.

Summarized very shortly, the dip is the hard part, the non sexy part of whatever you’re doing in life, business, whatever….  It’s the part where most people give up and quit.  But the ones who push through the pain that is the dip, are the ones who reap the most benefits.  Quitting isn’t bad, but quitting when you’re right in the dip is.

As I referenced in a post a few months ago, I haven’t been myself lately.  I’m going through multiple dips right now that are really affecting my life.  One dip is hard enough, but multiple ones make you want to give up on everything.   I’m in the post relationship dip with my former girlfriend, trying to fight through and move on.  I’m in a dip with developing our fitness site.  We can’t find a good developer to save our life, and it’s dragging the launch out much further than we intended.  It’d be easy to give up now, but we won’t.  We have too much potential.  I’m in a dip with what I want to do in life…what I want my life to be about.  I’ve made a major step by getting into some projects that I’m actually excited about and that I know will help people.  I’m in a dip with some of my friends.  I’ve had a bunch of new stuff come to light with these friends that I need to think about and address.  I’ve also had some revelations lately, and realized I need to add more people to my social circle who are better than me.  People I can learn from.  People who’ll help me develop as a person.  People who I can talk business with and we can all push each other past our comfort zones.  People who will enrich my life and I enrich theirs.  I haven’t significantly added to my social circle since high school, so this needs to be done.  I’ve taken a small step towards this with my roommates for next year.  Both of them are really cool guys who are extremely motivated and fun to hang out with.  I feel like my work and living environment this year were toxic to me developing as a person.  I lived with people much younger than me, and it was like we were in two separate worlds.  They all left for the summer, and now I’m working at home all by myself.  If you work from home, living by yourself is absolute hell, especially if you work in the same room that you sleep in.  I move out in less than a month and it can’t come soon enough.  I know my mindset and business will do much better in the new environment.

This might just sound like a lot of petty bitching to you.  And some of it probably is.  I’m sizing up everything in my life right now and analyzing it.  Figuring out what adds enjoyment to my life and what’s detracting from it, and making adjustments.

What dips are you currently experiencing?  If you’re not in one now, what dips do you see coming up in your life??? And are you the type of person who gives up, or do you really bare down and push through the dip?

I’m out in California right now for a part business/part fun trip.  LA is a lot different than what I thought it would be.  I had thoughts of this upscale glitzy town, but from what I’ve seen so far it’s like a crazy hybrid of Las Vegas and Myrtle Beach.  It definitely has a very cool vibe though….lots of different people from all over the world.

Later this week Im heading to San Diego to hang out with my 2nd cousins.  I’ve wanted to surf since I was like 10 and have never gotten around to it.  I’m hopin to get out a few times while I’m there.  Definitely pretty pumped about that.

I’ll post some pics when I’m back!!!

I’ve been doing a lot of reading recently, and have really dove into Thick Face, Black Heart.  It’s a great book about finding your way and succeeding in the world, and one of the main ideas they address is fear.

Everyone has fear in their lives.  It’s a necessary part of the universe which helps to separate the winners from the losers.  Understanding your fears, addressing them, and learning to push through has always been the key to succeeding in many different aspects of life.  The biggest thing when dealing with fear in most situations is understanding that it’s not real.  It’s not based on actual solid facts.  Fear is a state of emotional uneasiness.

The main fear most people have is a fear of failure.  They’re scared to be seen as a failure.  They’re scared to experience the feeling of failure.  The fear of failure is a very tough thought for most people to get over.  The truth is, there’s really no reason to be afraid of failing.  Because every failure is just a learning experience.  Let me repeat that again.  Failure is not a bad thing.  Every failure is a new learning experience.  The BIGGEST difference between winners and losers is how they look at failure.  Losers see failure in a negative light and they think they did something wrong, and they let it take over their mind.  Winners understand that failing is part of the game.  It’s what builds confidence and fearlessness.

Michael Jordan, the greatest competitor ever, said it best…

I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career.

I’ve lost almost 300 games.

26 times, I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed.

I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.

I have that quote pasted on my wall and I want to try and apply it to every aspect of my life.  Fear holds more people back from achieving their dreams and goals than anything else.

So what’s holding you back?   For me, sometimes the thought of success scares me.  I have some big goals in life and the when I realize that someday I’ll achieve them, it scares me a bit.  I sometimes wonder if I’ll be able to handle it when the time comes.  I wonder if I’m good enough to deserve the things I want.  I think a lot of this stems from me being born in a small town and growing up in a middle class family.  There’s a general outline in your head of what you deserve in life, and most of my goals in life far exceed what I “feel” I should be able to accomplish.  Dealing with this fear is a daily task.  I constantly have to remind myself that this fear is unjustified.  It’s not grounded in any real possible scenarios.

Think deep down about your biggest fears.  What are they, and what are they holding you back from?  What could you be doing right now or down the line if you didn’t have this fear?

I’ve been in a weird state of mind for the past month or so.  Between the selling of my MMA site, working on my new sites, battling ringworm and me and Lyndsey breaking up, it’s really starting to take a toll on me.

My sense of focus has gone completely downhill in the past 2-3 weeks.  Last week I got nothing accomplished.  Literally, nothing.  I don’t seem to be as amped about working out as I used to be.  I’m still battling ringworm from 6 weeks ago, so I can’t train at the MMA gym.  I think it’s making me depressed and killing my energy.  As for my business, my MMA site was one of the main occupants of my time, and right now I just feel like I have no direction without it.  Putting together a plan for two new sites is fun and exciting, but truthfully there’s nothing there to push you everyday.  You don’t have to keep up with other sites, or crank out content, or get something posted by tomorrow.  If everything gets pushed back a week, there’s no significant damage like there would be with a live project.

Does stress like this affect self employed people (or anyone who works alone) differently?  The more I think about it, the more I believe it does.  I sit in my room, by myself,  for the better portion of the day working on my projects.  There’s very little communication with other people.  Once in a while I’ll talk with my roommates, but other than that it’s mostly just talking to people online.  Your mind really doesn’t HAVE to focus on anything.  I could just sit around all day, and it wouldn’t be the end of the world.  I wouldn’t get fired, or mess something up.  Being self employed gives you a LOT of time to think, and I feel that if you’re not in the greatest state of mind it’s easy to let your mind wander and think about the wrong types of things all day .  As great as it is to work on your own, it has its drawbacks as well.

So what are some solutions to this?

• My plan is to change up my routine a bit and see if I can get out of this funk.  I’m going to start doing some work at Starbucks/Panera for most of the days this week as well as working outside when it’s nice.  Some new scenery would be good for me.  I plan on really trying to be as productive as possible for 2 straight hours each day.  No distractions, no IM’s, no Youtube.  I just want to write one thing down on a note card and say “If I get this done today, it will be a successful day”.  I’m sick of trying to do 4 things at once and not getting any of them accomplished.
• I’m also going to start meditating again.  I did this for a month or so awhile back and it really did help with my focus.  Whether its in my room, or in a random park somewhere, I think it will help calm me down and increase my productivity.
• Do something completely random.   I have no clue what this is, otherwise it wouldn’t be random.  But I’ll let ya know soon.

If you have any suggestions or ideas for dealing with stress let’s hear em!  Everyone has problems that cause stress so let’s help each other out…

Three years ago I was a bum.  I hated to read, I wasn’t into learning new things. I had no reason to. I watched 5 hours of mind numbing TV everyday and had no idea what I wanted in life. I was extremely self absorbed, NEVER thinking of anyone besides myself. I found myself in a gym maybe once a month if I was lucky. My post college plan was to just grab a job in sports, which would hopefully make me a lot of money. I was materialistic. I tried to find happiness in the wrong places. Thinking that if I only had more money, a better car, a better apartment, my happiness would somehow improve. I had no big goals, no big dreams or anything of the sort. I didn’t need anything more than what I had at the time. I was content.

One random day, I was reading some article online and it referenced the book Fight Club. I had never seen the movie or read the book. It sounded cool, so on a whim I went out to Barnes and Nobles and picked it up. A few days later I pulled it off my desk, laid on my bed and read the whole thing. I was completely blown away. I remember lying there after finishing, and just trying to grasp everything I just read.

Here it was, a paperback theme song for my life. I was Jack. Everyday was just another monotonous step in my life. No challenges, no moments of triumph, no realizations, no learning, no progress. I was slowly striving for mediocrity.

In the three years since, my life has changed more than I could have thought. I’m much more self aware now. I understand people and situations better. I know what I want in my life when it comes to business, relationships and friends. I just a bought a new Jeep this weekend. A couple years ago this would have been a huge deal to me, but now it really doesn’t hit me the same. Don’t get me wrong, I love the way I feel when Im in it and I like the way it looks, but beyond that it’s just a vehicle to me. A couple years ago, I’m not so sure that would have been the case. To me it represents small progress in my life ; a slight reward for going out and continuing to push myself when it comes to my business.

It’s crazy to look back at posts I made on this blog even last year. What the hell was I thinking? I’m sure I’ll feel the same way when I read this a year from now as well. But I think that’s a good thing. It shows that I’m still learning and making progress. As Chuck says in Fight Club…

May I never be complete. May I never be content. May I never be perfect. Deliver me, Tyler, from being perfect and complete.

Looking back I can tell I’m making progress. Will I ever get to where I want? Probably not, but that’s not the goal. There is no end game. No final stage to pass through. I hope I’m always striving for more ; always pushing myself past what I think is possible. That’s the end goal.

My host transitioned my site to a new platform, which apparently didnt support the version of wordpress I was running.  So everything got reversed, and all of your RSS feeds probably got loaded up with old posts (I know mine did)

I apologize to all of you for that.  Im not a tech guy, so it took me a bit of time to find someone to update it for me.  It’s all better now, and I’ll be posting this upcoming week… Some cool things goin down!

-Justin

Edit - Site sold

So it’s been about 1.5 weeks now since I’ve returned from San Francisco from the Elite Retreat. When I was done with the conference, I had hundreds of ideas literally flowing in my head. I was itching to get home and get cracking on them. I sat down and talked with my partner for the fitness site last week and we mapped out some plans for what we need to do to get our site at least to a soft launch. I erased all the details and whittled the site down to the core of what’s needed for a launch. I’d rather launch with all the gizmos and gadgets, but I guess it’s also beneficial to get going and work out bugs.

Ever since that sit down, I’ve just felt a bit overwhelmed and can’t really find one thing to concentrate on. Getting content ready, organizing designers, programmers, logo makers, contracts and everything else that goes into making a new site is extremely time consuming and taxing. All I want to do is get this thing up and start putting content on it, but our designer is taking longer than expected, and producing high quality articles/videos is not easy. I’ve been discouraged a few times this past week and got nothing accomplished for about 3 days. I jumped back into the saddle today and we knocked out some solid videos, and plan on doing some more this weekend.I really just feel that conferences can be tough on you cause they’re like a ramped up energy drink. You have two days of nothing but business talk and you don’t care about anything except absorbing as much information as possible. Everything else in your life becomes a detail. Then when it’s all done, you make the trip home, organize everything you learned, catch up on email, other problems, laundry, rent etc… It’s really a ton of crap all coming at you at once. On top of all that you have a boatload of ideas running rampant through your head and you just want to start implementing them as soon as possible.

You really go from one extreme to another. 10 days ago I was in a room getting personal help from Brian Clark, Shoemoney and Aaron Wall…… now I’m sitting in my room all by myself trying to crank out content and organize business plans. Quite different.

My plan for this weekend is to really focus on 1-2 major things that I want to get done. I’m trying to come up with a new name for another membership site/product site that I’m going to be starting, and also I’m looking to get everything straightened out with the designer for our fitness site.

Conference hangovers - Have you ever experienced one? If so are there any good ways to go about dealing with it??? Or am I just too drunk to be writing this post?