Now, if I had to rebuild my life from scratch, there are just a few things that I would do from the beginning that I think would make the biggest difference. Now, maybe these are not things that you've heard before. And so I thought I would take a minute to share some things in 2021 that I would do differently to rebuild my life from zero. What's up you guys, Alex Hein here. So I've included a free journaling worksheet right beneath this that will help you figure out how to get your life together and plan it out going forward. It'll give you a simple exercise you can do today to figure out what exactly you want and how to actually make it happen. So that's right below this video. So the first thing is this idea of the lion tracker. I heard this idea of just choosing the next best track from a guy named Boyd Vardy. Now, Boyd Vardy runs, I think, actually a safari company in South Africa. And he had this book that I believe is called A Lion Tracker's Guide to Life. And he said something that I thought was very wise that I thought can help you. And I think he did a great job of encapsulating this idea in a way that really makes this subjective feeling very clear. So what he said was that the job of the lion tracker is just to track the next step, right? You just track the next track because right now you may not know where that track will lead. Is this track gonna go to the watering hole? Is this track gonna go deeper into the jungle? Is this track gonna bring you to the carcass of a gazelle just killed? Your job as the tracker and for you, the tracker of your own life is to just find the next track. And that next track will lead you to the next track. And you can't always know where the track is going to lead. And in the same way, the lion tracker eventually always loses the track, as Boyd says. But that's just a piece of tracking. And I thought this was a great analogy because the way that I have framed it for people is there's a whole chapter in my book, Milk the Pigeon and it says the drunken staircase analogy. And the analogy I come up with is that trying to figure out what to do with your life is a lot like coming home from the bar at 3 a.m., hammered, trying to go up steps at night. You turn on the flashlight on your phone and you're shining it on the steps and you're just trying to get that first step. And you know that if you can drunkenly get the first step then you can probably get the next step. And if you can get that next step you can probably get the third step. You know what I mean? So if you can figure out how to get those furry first steps with your flashlight in the middle of the night you know you're gonna make it into your bed safe and sound. But you don't have to see the whole staircase at least for the time being. You just need to get on the drunken first step. So in the same way, the lion tracker just tracks the next best step even though you don't know where your whole path may lead. And let's be real, if you're trying to get your life together or rebuild it, one of the first things you wanna do is figure out what makes you feel good feel well on a daily basis. The second thing I would do if I was trying to get my life together is I would follow Susie Bates, the CEO of Pupere's advice on resonance or dissonance. So Susie Bates, if you don't know her is the founder of Pupere, the CEO. She has an incredible story of how she went from suicide attempts, double bankruptcy, divorce thinking she's the worst entrepreneur in the world and in general really feeling and kind of externally seeming like she didn't really have her life together that much. She struggled a lot. And now Pupere is a $500 million company. And she likes to share the story of because how was it possible that this woman could go from being so not together to being so together now? And she shares this idea of resonance and dissonance because she said that, you know, after her second bankruptcy she would have attempted suicide again, but she had kids. And so she dedicated the next few years of her life to healing. And the main thing that she began doing as she healed was she promised herself she would never ever do anything in business that didn't feel good. So she started applying this idea of resonance or dissonance to her whole life. Meaning if she went out to dinner with somebody did she feel elevated, energized, turned on, excited by that conversation and that person, that relationship, was it neutral or was it repulsion? And then she started applying that to everything in her life. Does eating that meal make you feel more excited? Does doing that work make you feel more excited? Does being with that person make you feel more excited or more drained? And as you begin practicing this exercise you become very dynamic or very fluid because you develop this antenna or this sixth sense for experiences and people and dates you go on and foods you eat. And you begin to understand which of the things will make you feel better after the fact and which of the things will make you feel worse. And sometimes it's not what you would have expected.  But the more you train that faculty, the more you can recognize it throughout your life. The third thing I would say if you're trying to get your life together is to keep a daily log to make sure you are not BSing yourself. So I coached hundreds of 20-somethings throughout my late 20s, primarily with life coaching and career coaching and that kind of thing. And I was often surprised to see, first of all, these were ambitious people because they were already willing to pay someone to be a coach and most people would not do that. But even these small sample of ambitious people, they were often not taking as much action as they thought.    There is no way around actually doing things if you wanna be great at what you do.  So what I recommend is keeping this journal to track the amount of action you are taking because just like I found with the hundreds of people I had coached, very few people are taking that much action. They all say they wanna write a book, but in the last week, can they even point to three hours they spent writing the book? Most people cannot. You wanna build a business, can you point to even one hour per day building your business on paper? If you wanna program an app, if you wanna be in a relationship or make new friends, can you really objectively show to yourself you've actually done some work every day? You've done something to make that happen. You've done a ritual. So I think the third step is not to fool yourself because we are very, very easy to fool and we like to think we're doing our best. Maybe you really are and maybe we aren't and we have to be honest with ourselves about that. Now, one of the most useful things in my self-growth journey has always been audio books and self-growth material. And one of the best sources for that these days is a company called Skillshare that actually has courses and classes and is an awesome community for people that wanna get better. Check out all of the online learning communities and programs that Skillshare has with thousands of inspiring classes for creative and curious people on topics like illustration, design, photography, video, freelancing and more. So take, for example, this course called DIY Filming that I went through. It really helped me, number one, figure out how to really storyboard my video in a much more strategic way versus just being a teacher, as well as how to properly prep a short but sweet kind of highlight reel, as well as edit it, put it together and really polish it to be a much, much better presented piece of content. So Skillshare has classes to fit your schedule and your skill level. Members get unlimited access to thousands of these different kinds of classes with hands-on projects and feedback from a community of millions of people. Now the classes are usually under an hour and they have short lessons to help you fit any schedule. But I would definitely go ahead and check out some of the topics that you might like. Like, for example, there are courses on journaling and design. There are courses on the fundamentals of DIY photography or even cinematography and low-budget filmmaking. You can even learn how to make your creative side gig your full-time job. And for a lot of these online ways to learn, you can have access to all of these in a limited amount. Now before you guys go, make sure you check out the special package Skillshare has put together just for you, for the first viewers watching this video. The package is listed right below this video and the special offer for those of you that wanna check it out, it's right below. All right you guys, so make sure you check that out. Before you go, I have two other related videos for you there.


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Something done went down already and now we just officially waiting to hear exactly what it is But something has happened already Because Jameson Hensley about ten minutes ago. He tweeted out just got a text good news on the way for the Ravens and Just in case you may have doubted Jameson Hensley somebody asked Jeff's re big they said oh any word on this and Jeff's re big replied He said yes got the same text. So they all on the same boat with that same text Maybe they're in a group chat or something like that. I wasn't invited to that group chat Jameson Jeff What's up? Anyway, we could talk later, but this this is exciting man Because in the next maybe hour, I would say within the next hour Maybe we're even within the next 30 minute. Maybe even by the time you see this video Whatever it is that they talking about it will have been announced It will be official and it'll be out there to the public if I had to guess I Would assume that while I would guess that it's the Lamar Jackson contract. I Think that's what it would be especially based off for what Jack settlement put out there earlier that the Ravens will need to It would work on a Lamar Jackson contract and then that could help them bring in Deandre Hopkins But that's what I would guess it would be Because the Lamar Jackson contract that can clear up a lot of things. Oh, man, just this off-season alone Remember all the oh, does he want fully guaranteed? We heard he wants fully guaranteed. Oh, no, we he doesn't want fully guaranteed We didn't hear he wants fully guaranteed. They said he wants something else What's the average per year does he wanted to be a shorter deal? Does he want it to be a long-term deal is all the rumors the reports the stories the articles the Tweets the threads the everything That would all officially come to a close and We wouldn't have to wonder. Oh could Lamar possibly get traded here. Could Lamar possibly end up here Is Lamar gonna stay with the Baltimore raid? What's gonna happen with Lamar Jackson? Is he gonna continue to be our quarterback for the foreseeable future? Or is he gonna play quarterback elsewhere? All that will be done That would be a rap man That would be a Oh man, hey, man, this This whole thing is crazy, man All right, and now Jake laser just put it out there, too. He said I'm hearing there's been major major Major progress between Lamar Jackson and Ravens so as close to Jackson told me if no hiccups could be done very soon Any day now? Oh man Love it. Oh We get in there we get in there So this is like oh man so close man So close so close to Lamar Jackson deal is so close to being done And that that like literally Literally just saw that I literally just saw that tweet from Jake laser. This is great, man. This is great Because this Man, I'm happy man. I'm happy. This is this is nice man This this this would be nice, man because if y'all remember like years ago Thought it'll be a no-brainer that this would get done even before his contract run out ran out didn't happen Then last year During training camp. So I like oh is this sound like a sound like they close to getting a deal done Didn't happen heard that they were close to after we had thought that heard that they were close But nothing ever happened from that and then as this as the season went on Was thinking okay Stuff seems a little bit off stuff seems a little bit kind of weird in the report came out from skip that Lamar ain't happy Cuz he ain't been paying Like So we could tell the vibe ain't really they ain't been the same but still I don't know and Then once we reached the offseason. I was thinking ooh This only makes stuff harder. You put that franchise tag on ooh the franchise tag is ugly And I did not think he would play on the franchise tag. I did not see that happening and then we went to free agency And my thinking was like no all this ain't looking good I don't think this is gonna end well for the Ravens and Lamar Jags. I think they're gonna go their separate ways And my thought process to I was hoping Lamar would stay but then at the same time like I just don't see it happening But my thought process was Whatever happens if he's gonna stay or if he's gonna go This this guy's whatever's gonna happen has to happen this offseason Because Ravens can't just Ravens and Lamar. They just can't keep dragging this thing along They need to come to whatever the resolution is gonna be Hopefully it'd be a nice resolution between both parties or if it's a resolution where they go They said okay, but then the whole Lamar Jackson at the tweet. We said oh, I requested a trade on March 2nd Oh that it hurt But then where everything really turned around for me yet Was as y'all know when they signed Odell Beckham, Jr. And they showed them on FaceTime with Lamar That's when that's when everything turned around for me. That's when I really felt like okay This thing could get done this thing is gonna get done Lamar is gonna stay happily with the Baltimore Ravens not begrudgingly and now We're close We're close So Now a now this is coming out to more and more stuff coming out from Dan Graziano Per multiple sources the Baltimore Ravens and QB Lamar Jackson have had productive conversations in recent days and there's optimism That they are making progress towards a long term We getting there baby getting there baby we right there Now now in rapper port the Ravens and star quarterback Lamar Jackson have made progress on a mega deal sources say It's not done, but Baltimore may keep their star and Lamar should get paid We so close man. We so close man. Let me let me let me let me check another one, man. Let me check another one, man Wow, this is great man. This is great, but it's it's obviously being widely reported now and I love it Mike Garofalo or Garofalo said the saga is almost over My sports updates and negotiations between the Ravens and Lamar Jackson have been unpredictable over the last two years But this is the first time there's been any sense of things going in the right direction Jeff Zrebek our own guy now Not the outside guys not the national media guys, but our own guy now Jeff just said nothing finalized yet But the Ravens are working toward a long-term agreement with QB Lamar Jackson according sources a year-long process has gathered some momentum in a lot of optimism So we are right There we are so close very very close So this is a beautiful thing Timing is everything Deadlines create action. They spark action and even though this isn't necessarily a deadline before the draft This could be something that could help because maybe Maybe and you know what sometimes I'll be talking so much. I forget some of the stuff that I say After last year after last season I was thinking Because there were people that was saying oh man Lamar Jackson should take he should take less He should take a lesser deal so they can really build around him And I'm thinking like why would he do that that would not be smart because the Ravens could have built around him already When he was on a lesser deal, why would he do that and people like oh because if he takes a lesser deal Then Ravens can really build around him. I know they should have done that already But I also said that Lamar if he were to do that It just wouldn't be smart finna take a lesser deal But then at the same time we had also said that he should see about the Ravens first because there were some people that suggested Oh, if Lamar signs a lesser deal, then the Ravens can go get a receiver But I was like oh, what if Lamar signs a lesser deal and then he gets trapped and they do the same thing that they've been doing but now They went out and got a guy Odell Beckham, Jr. They also got Nelson Aguilar who a lot of us forget about too And then if Lamar signs now, it's like all right, you wouldn't got Odell Beckham, Jr. You in the process of getting the Andre Hopkins, maybe we'll see it ain't official yet, but That could be great But that would be smarter of him to do it this way rather than oh take lesser and then hope that they get a receiver No, put that pressure on to make them go make them work Make them work and make them make it happen. Don't make them do the almost stuff like with you No, no, no, no, no make them close the deal. They close the deal with Odell Beckham, Jr. It sounds like they're getting ready close a deal with Lamar Jackson soon and hopefully They can close one more deal before the draft starts tonight But we gonna see team keep it clean Hey, y'all already know what time it is. I see y'all soon. Hopefully when things are official. I love you


So I think we have a tendency to personalize power, to see power in the manifestation of individuals. And I believe that the concept is much deeper, much more abroad than that. For example, there are many kinds of power. There's economic power, political power, military, moral, and so forth and so on. I think that we try to often simplify these ideas. And again, this turning power into a person or seeing a person and making that emblematic of power. So power has not changed. Power is the capacity of one individual organization to get another individual organization to do or stop doing something. So that has not changed. What has changed deeply, profoundly, is the sources of power. The way power is exerted, the way power is constrained, the way power is gained and lost. In the 21st century, power has become easier to acquire, harder to use, and easier to lose. And you see a lot of examples. But do you think that this guy of Facebook and those Google boys really think that they can lose their power? You know, if we had this conversation five years ago, we would not be talking about Microsoft. We will be talking about Microsoft rather. Now we're talking about Google and Facebook. Five years ago, we would be talking and everybody was worried about Microsoft. So all I'm saying is, of course, these are very, I'm not denying that they are very powerful centers of power. All I'm saying is that power is becoming more fleeting. Is that there's more constrained. And, you know, we see constant rotations in those who have power. Power is becoming less permanent. And so you asked, where is power today? And it's everywhere. There is far more centers of power, centers of veto, that limit what the main players can do that in the past. My position is much easier because the best ways to define power is when you don't have it. And from this point of view, the Bulgarian position is good. We never abuse power. But I'll try to make just three very brief points. First is on what you were reading in War and Peace because this is part of the Western dilemma. You have Knyaz Bulkowski being there, somebody who is fascinated with the idea of the French Revolution and Napoleon, but he is fighting him being a Russian officer. So from this point of view, the fact that somebody is going to be influenced by you does not mean that he's going to be on the same army with you. And from this point of view, the very idea that democratization of the world is going to end up in the pro-Western world. In my view, it was one of the major illusions that people were talking about. Everything that you see in a certain way is the result of the democratization of the world. But different people. Secondly, and for me, this is also quite important. You have two different ways to try to deal with power. One is to pretend that you are more powerful than you are. And it's a classical authoritarian game. You pretend that you control everything, knowing very well that you don't. But now you start to see in the democracies the opposite game. Now the democratic governments govern by pretending that they are much weaker than they are. If you basically talk to the democratic politicians these days, they are competing to tell you that they cannot do anything. I cannot do this before the market. I cannot do this before the courts and so on. And to be honest, part of the support for the populist parties come to the fact they said, we want something quickly, says that he can do something. And I do believe this is quite important because this also explains, and this is my third and last point on this, why the conspiracy theories are so spreading all over. People don't have the feeling that they know where power is. Because power is not where it used to be. So you say, okay, if the governments are so weak, where is the power? Is it Facebook? Or is it something else? And from this point of view, there is a strange story. The world is more transparent than it used to be, but as a result of it, the conspiracy theories are basically spreading better. So probably there is nothing more suspicious than transparency of power. The individual is more powerful than it was, but exactly because he is more powerful than it is, at least in the Western world, the collective action is much more difficult because you have the feeling that you can make a change without needing others. And this is why people whom you're going to see on the street protesting against something are not the same people who are going to vote on the elections. Paradoxically, we have this big protest in Bulgaria some years ago and the major demand was new elections, but 60% of the people who asked for new elections, they said they are not going to vote for them because there is nobody to vote for. And this is part of this paradox of empowerment, which is not producing a kind of a much more democratic society. I feel that the Europeans have limited themselves, both politically and militarily, and they have had a relationship of dependence with the United States. I do believe that they can lead again. I'm with you on that one. They can lead again and they must if the United States is where it is now. But I want to move from here to actually the Middle East and talk about power over there, where those who govern are scared of those whom they govern and those who are governed are scared from the people who govern them. So who has power?  It has no trust in itself or confidence in the others. It's basically the result of many years of colonialism, but also because after being brutalized under colonialism, they were brutalized by their own leadership. It's a leadership that is brutal but not powerful. In fact, their weakness is translated into brutality. But I think the uprisings have, at least for people from the Middle East and the Arab world, it has, we had no hope. At least now we have hope. When you talk about this uncertainty about the power in the West, it indeed has to do with the shift of power in the world, from the West to the rest, notably China. And if we talk about the power in terms of soft power and hard power, what you see is clearly what I call a shift, a paradigm shift from the so-called democracy versus autocracy to good governance versus bad governance. That's what China advocates. Good governance can take form of Western political system. There are some cases, not always. Good governance can also take form of non-Western political system. Chinese is an example where many problems, but overwhelming speaking, it's far more positive than negative. Mr. Levy, today you said something that, first of all, again, you inspired me to look at behaviors in the world and to think about what we have done, failed to do, and could do. But you used the term many times. And you said, everyone knows. I have to relate a personal experience. When I retired from the military and I spent a year in academia, I was struck by a similar term being used by a number of professors or lecturers. And the term that I heard quite frequently was, you know. And after hearing this for a while, as soon as I heard the term, I used to tense a bit because often what followed wasn't what I knew. And it wasn't what I had seen. And in some cases, I'd actually been there and seen that in some cases, done it. So I was very a little put off by this, but the point is that I believe we have our own visions, all of us, each of us as human beings, of what's going on. And one of the challenges for those who would aspire to power, to use it in good ways, is the reality that you need to, in my opinion, get people to buy into the idea that you're trying to do something and hopefully you're doing it for the good. How about the number of source of powers? This is the real question. There is the power of Mr. Zuckerberg and the power of Mr. Trump. But what the modern philosophy, the philosophy of the last decades, did teach us? Michel Foucault, for example, the name is familiar, everybody knows. I'm sorry, can I say that? Nearly everybody knows that Michel Foucault said that the power has no place. No place. That there is no single source of power. That there is something which he calls bio-power, bio-power, and which is spread, disseminated all over the society, embedded in the very flesh of the language, in the very flesh of the society, in the very blood of the desire uniting or creating misunderstanding between human beings, men and women, women and men and so on. So the source of power is absolutely disseminated. And you have a great book of a man who is not my political friend, called Tony Negri and Michel Art, called Empire, where he said common, he said to the anti-imperialist. Common, American imperialist joke. China, new empire, joke, no. The real empire is a sort of network of micropowers which makes the real empire.