‎”The reality of a hero’s journey is intense. And at the same time, it’s just the nature of life. When you take a path never taken before, you have to learn to trust yourself. You fight demons and dragons. You get wounded. You face hardship and doubt. You have to face your conditioning and the potential of failure. And you keep on learning and growing stronger along the way.” – Brian Johnson

Hawaii Sunrise!Fresh from my Gary Vaynerchuk challenge, I composed a memoir mentioning my most valuable lessons learned while following my heart on the hero’s journey. Here you have it:

1. Listen To Your Heart

No, I’m not talking about an 80s Roxette song.

It’s actually a pretty good song, but, COME ON! I’m speaking about muting those malicious mind-mangling automatic “it can’t be dones” and “it’s just not realisitics”.

Tap deep into your intuition and ask yourself, “what one great thing would I dare to dream if i knew i could not fail?” Then hold it lightly. Massage the idea. Journal about it. Visualize it, and don’t tell anyone who hasn’t done something similar in some respect! Don’t fuel the dream-killer’s fire.

If I would have told all of my closest friends about the Gary Vaynerchuk challenge and listened to their feedback, it probably wouldn’t have happened. Not because they don’t want me to do great things, just because it’s sooooo far from realistic for them. I only spoke about it to people who were big dreamers and had done similar sensational things.

2. Do It Diligently

Following your heart is not all fun and games.

You better believe that you’re gonna put yourself out on the line and it will most likely require you to work harder, and smarter, than you ever have before.

If you’re doing something that truly touches you, not only will the work be worth it, but it won’t feel like “work” in the traditional sense. It will be stimulating, exciting, and the smallest steps forward will be wildly rewarding.

This challenge took a lot of strategizing, reading, researching, and brainstorming. Not including the 30+ hours it took me to create the blog postings about it, I probably spent another 30 hours thinking about and acting on ways to rock this. That doesn’t account for the near 20 days it took to complete.

3. Be Patient And Persistent

Be prepared. No, screw prepared — be pleased, be ecstatic.

Even when things don’t go the way you expected them to. It just means that you took on a challenge worthy of hard work and fully disciplined dedication.

Keep with it and will your way to what you want. Don’t let the lack of immediate results intimidate you. Don’t allow the “instant gratification” social programming of mainstream society to defer your dream.

Most of the times that I threw myself to Gary, I got zero response. Even after not hearing from him for 10 days, I still went on strong, and that was what made all of the difference. Surrender to your soul!

4. Stay Playful

Socrates once said that “the unexamined life is not worth living.”

Allow me to expand on that, Sensophy-style in 2010, and say “the playful life is not worth living.” Have fun enjoying the process.

Out of everything in the world that you could be doing, you are engaging in and embarking on the journey of your dreams. If that’s not fun, what is?

If you look at the email I wrote to Gary, I really push the line and play with him like we’re old-school homeboys. I say some wild things like “Gary, do you give a fuck?”, I said “screw realistic” (in a real tuff voice), and “One of my readers called out my chutzpah card.”

Sure — the email was direct, authentic, and heartfelt, but it was also playful… almost as if Gary could tell I was having fun doing this. That playfulness had to seep deep into his mind, whether consciously or not, when he committed to spending 3 hours sitting (okay, standing and screaming) next to me at a football game.

5. Master Your Mindset

Daily meditation is a magical way to sculpt the substance in your skull.

Having control of what you think may ultimately be the most personally empowering and wildly rewarding thing you can have. Everything starts with your mind!

Here are three of my favorite mindsets to maintain. They are the mindsets of a master and I strive to live my life in accordance with them.

“I am on a journey that most will never take. I am going to learn things that most will never know. That will require me to fail a lot and look dumb. But who I am is bigger than the need to protect my ego. And, at the end of the day, I get stronger and further down the path at things that most will never do.” – Unknown

“Every experience is a positive experience if I choose to view it as an opportunity for growth and self-mastery.” – Brian Tracy

“You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future. You have to trust in something — your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.” – Steve Jobs

When I took on this challenge, I didn’t imagine the dots connecting in any of the million ways that they can now connect. I just trusted. In the process. In the learning associated with the experience. In the path with the heart.

6. Keep Good Company

Consciously choose who you surround yourself with.

I believe that you are the average of the five people that you spend the most time with. I can’t stress enough how important this has been in my life. Allow me to elaborate:

    • Gary Vaynerchuk. Sensophy wouldn’t exist in the style it does if it wasn’t for Gary. Let’s take a monumental moment to really recognize and acknowledge that GARY IS THE TRUTH!!! He is walking his talking. He is a homey with a HUGE heart and sharp skull. He’s passionate, authentic, innovative, and is one hell of a hustler. Vote Gary Vaynerchuk for US president in 2012!
    • Philosopher’s Notes. In the last year, there have been some radical revelations in my life that have enabled me to become the person I am. None were as empowering as finding Philosopher’s Notes and immersing myself fully in them. This virtuous, simple, practical product has instilled more wisdom and courage in me than any other product — ever. There is no affiliate link involved here — it’s worth every cent!
    • My Mastermind Group. This was a long time coming. The passionate people in my inner circle not only pushed my edge and supported me while taking this challenge, but they gave great guidance and flavorful feedback each step of the way. The weekly calls with them held me accountable when I otherwise would have played with the idea of giving up. This challenge probably wouldn’t have been completed, and definitely wouldn’t even have existed if it wasn’t for them.

7. Have Some Fun

Damn it, this is your life we’re talking about. LIVE IT!

It’s rare that a day passes by when I don’t ask myself a question Steve Jobs once asked me:

If today were the last day of your life, would you want to do what you are about to do today?

Then I ask myself a sneakier, more subtle question:

“Am I REALLY alive right now?”

Steve says this:

“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma, which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”

Sniff Sniff…  Now What?

Firstly, if my Gary Vaynerchuk challenge inspired you to follow your heart in any way, please let me know — I’d love to hear about it!

Secondly, sharing really is caring. I took this challenge on to inspire people to follow their hearts and live an extraordinary life. I’m ecstatic with how it turned out, except, people won’t be inspired if they don’t know about it. If you can share this with your favorite social network, or two, that would mean the world to me.