Your subconscious is a powerful problem solver.

But it stays quiet while your conscious mind is engaged. Sometimes the answer to a difficult problem comes to you out of nowhere. It just seems to appear in your mind. This is the subconscious giving you the answer.

Here is how you can tap into your subconscious more regularly.

Go to sleep.

You may have heard the expression, “You need to sleep on it,” when it comes to a hard problem.

Sleeping puts the conscious mind to the side and the subconscious takes over. It works thru the problems you have been keeping in your mind. Often I have worked on a problem for hours, go to sleep and almost instantly when I look at it again the next day I see the solution.

When you are facing a difficult problem, make sure you get a good night’s sleep for your best chance at solving it.

Go for a walk with no distractions.

The key here is no distractions.

Ideally this would be a walk thru nature. This takes you away from the stress and pressure that is keeping your mind from being creative. It is important that you do not engage your conscious mind and allow it to rest. No phone, no music with words, just good breathing and walking.

Something about a nice walk lets you access better problem solving.

Meditate.

I am not talking about the “clear your mind of thoughts” kind of meditation.

We are not going for spiritual enlightenment. We are trying to access the problem solving power and speed of our subconscious. The best way I have heard it described was by Tom Bilyeu saying it was like “hanging your body in the closet” while letting your subconscious work.

The idea is to sit with your eyes closed in a quiet or white noise filled room and let your mind sift thru the thoughts cluttering it. If you have not engaged in a meditation practice regularly this may take some time to become effective.

I recommend the method described in the book “Stress Less Accomplish More” by Emily Fletcher.

The 3 books are:

• The Richest Man in Babylon by George Clason
• I Will Teach You to Be Rich by Ramit Sethi
• Millionaire Fastlane by MJ DeMarco

Classic wisdom paired with complete mindset shifts on money.

The Richest Man in Babylon

This book was first published in 1926 and it still holds up.

An easy read and a great place to start, it is written as a set of stories about fictional families in ancient Babylon. The “cures for a lean purse” that it teaches are timeless however.

This is a great book for learning financial basics.

I Will Teach You to Be Rich

Two words that capture the power of this book, perspective shift.

You will not look at your bills the same way ever again. Apartment trying to increase your rent? Ask them not to. The worst they can say is no. Too much month at the end of the money? Look for ways to increase your income.

The 2 key takeaways for me were:

• It is easier to make more than to cut back.
• Look for big wins first (i.e. 20% raise or 5-7% rent reduction)

Millionaire Fastlane

Don’t you want to be a millionaire? Get in the fast lane.

The sidewalk is people who are saving nothing. In fact, they are probably accumulating consumer debt. The slow lane is putting money into a 401k or something similar to be able to retire. The fast lane is building a business.

If you want to be a millionaire before you retire, you should probably start a business of some kind.

Too many poker players are just gambling.

They play low percentage hands. They don’t think about their position at the table. They don’t prepare or practice in any sort of way. This leads to poor overall performance.

Doing the opposite of these three mistakes will put you on your way to cashing.

Only play high percentage hands.

Most beginners play too many hands.

Until the final table you should basically only be playing very high percentage hands. This means AA, AK, KK, QQ, AQ, JJ, and maybe TT. This is especially true from early positions.

It might be boring, but the majority of the time you will be folding.

Always consider your position.

Many beginners don’t think about their relative hand strength.

Your hand gets stronger the more players have folded before it gets to you. And your hand can be relatively weaker if there are many more players acting after you. If someone raises before it gets to you, take that as a warning.

Always think about who has already acted and who still has to act.

Watch a lot of good players.

Absorb high level play.

There are a ton of professionals who stream their gameplay regularly. I learned a ton from Jason Somerville before my first tournament cash. Three Twitch streamers I recommend watching for both entertainment value and quality of play / commentary are:

• @EasyWithAces
• @LexVeldhuis
• @spraggy

Take these tips and improve your game.

Live off of no more than 70% of your income if possible.

The other 30% should be split as follows.

• 10% For Charity
• 10% For Savings and Passive Investment
• 10% Active Investment

This is the basic foundation for building wealth.

Give 10% to those in need.

You have to start being generous when you don’t have a lot.

If you build the habit early, it will stick with you when you become successful. One of nature’s laws is “Give and you will be given to you.” If you give intelligently, you are bettering your community.

Invest in the area you live.

Save 10% in steady, compounding investments.

Pay yourself.

You should do this after you have paid off any debt, especially high interest, and created an emergency fund. I recommend dollar cost average into the stock market. This is the slow but surefire way to build wealth.

This 10% may eventually become your retirement or an inheritance for your family.

Actively try to grow 10%.

Take 10% of your income and try to grow it yourself.

Start a business or buy one. Invest in real estate. Take a course to improve your earning potential. Pick some way to multiply this third 10%. It could even be hiring someone to make a website or app for you.

Don’t be afraid of failing a few times trying to multiply this portion.

Bonus: It’s ok to start smaller.

If you are really stretched, start with 1%, 1%, and 1%.

Then look for ways to increase your income so you can increase those percentages. Do a quick pass over your expenses and cut anything you aren’t using or that is dumb. But it is easier to expand your income than to shrink your expenses.

You can get some more ancient wisdom regarding wealth from a great little book called “The Richest Man in Bablyon.”

Are you only treating the symptoms of your problem and not the root cause?

This seems like a ridiculously common approach. People who are tired reach for more coffee. They don’t try to correct their bad sleep habits. People with headaches reach for ibuprofen or aspirin. They don’t make sure they are hydrated, well rested, and have good posture.

A bad lifestyle is harder to change, but the results are worth it.

What problems in your life are you treating but not solving?

There are many areas people have pain left untreated.

A few common examples:

• Finances: unchecked spending bandaided with debt.
• Physical pain: poor lifestyle symptoms treated with pharmaceuticals
• Stress and Anxiety: not making changes that they could, coping with escapism or drugs/alcohol

If you examine your life, do you find you are kicking a problem down the road treating only the symptom?

Identify the root of the problem.

You probably already know what it is.

But if you don’t, the wisdom of the world is available via the internet. There are very few problems (for individuals) that someone doesn’t know the root cause of. Some take a little experimentation on an individual level, especially diet related issues.

Seek and you will find.

Do the work, make the change.

The problem won’t solve itself.

You have to do the exercises, change your habits, confront the source. Whatever the root is, you are the one who has to take responsibility and make the changes. No one else is going to make your life better.

When are you going to step up and solve the source of the pain?

One of my fitness goals is to dunk a basketball.

Before this year, I had put that goal on hold. The reason was every time I started jumping, or playing basketball for that matter, the next day I would be in pain. My knee would feel weak, damaged, and fragile.

This year I found out about Knees Over Toes Guy (KOTGuy) and it has changed my life.

Walking backwards.

The foundational exercise he teaches is walking backwards.

Very simple. You find somewhere with nothing to trip over, or get good at looking over your shoulder, and walk backwards. Make it a slight incline for extra benefit.

I pull my son backwards in his stroller in the mornings before work.

Tibialis raises.

If you don’t know what your tibialis muscle is, neither did I.

It is the muscle on the front of your lower leg. To do this exercise, you lean your rear end against a wall with your legs extended at a 30-45% angle. Keep your heels planted and lift your toes towards your head.

Three sets of 25 is the starting point.

Extra long lunges.

KOTGuy calls them “ATG split squats.”

Basically you do a lunge, but you knee will end up above or past your toe. Your upper leg will be fully pressed against your lower leg. For beginners, you often need the front foot elevated and some sort of balance assist.

Check out his youtube channel and/or instagram for guides on the above three exercises.

• https://www.youtube.com/c/TheKneesovertoesguy
• https://www.instagram.com/kneesovertoesguy/

A small step everyday is the recipe for success.

The first step makes the second step easier. If you put on your shoes, going for a run becomes that much easier. The laws of physics apply in a sense to motivation and getting things done.

If you take the first step you are likely to take the second.

Make the steps small and easy.

Each step should be almost ridiculously small.

It becomes almost embarrassing that you didn’t do something that takes less than 5 minutes. Then it compounds. You do the next one and the next one and the next one.

Before you know it you have achieved something great.

You will underestimate the compound effect.

A small step everyday is the recipe for success.

For example if you were to write only 500 words a day, in a year you would have written 182,500 words. That’s about 2 novels worth of writing. Or if you were to learn 2 words in a new language per day, you would know 730 after a year. That’s enough to have almost all the conversations you will ever have. (see fluentforever.com for a list).

The first step is to sit down with pen and paper or a laptop and write.

Life will try to derail you.

That is why keeping each step small is important.

If it is easy to get started again, you are more likely to regain your momentum. Feeling overwhelmed by a task is what makes you avoid it and causes you to quit.

Keep taking the small step everyday and hop back on if life tries to kick you off.

Wisdom is often overlooked in life’s pursuits.

Don’t confuse wisdom with intelligence. Intelligence is more about theory and head knowledge. Wisdom is practical knowledge, often from experience. It is embodied.

Make a regular part of your life something that increases your wisdom.

Pick an area you are interested in.

You want something that piques your curiosity.

Many times this will be unrelated to what you do for work, and that is a good thing. Do a deep dive into the subject. There is likely a community of people already passionate about it somewhere online.

Find the community and learn from them.

Learn thru doing.

Try to find something where you don’t just passively learn (reading, watching), but actively learn.

Learn more about how the world works. Some examples:

• Build websites and computer applications.
• Take apart and repair appliances, computers, phones.
• Restore cars, tractors, or other machines.
• Flying model planes.
• Gardening and growing various plants.

Not only will you have a useful skill, but you will understand more about how the world you live in works.

Record what you learn.

You can use this to teach others.

It doesn’t matter if you write it down, make a video, or just record yourself voicing your thoughts. Make sure you capture it. The time right after you learn something is so valuable for the next person.

We often forget what it is like to learn something new.

You should have a hobby that helps you stay fit and healthy.

Fitness is essential for quality of life. There are a lot of different ways to exercise to maintain physical fitness. Choose one you enjoy and make it a hobby.

Make it a part of your lifestyle.

Find something enjoyable.

A part of your day you look forward to that also helps you stay fit is a huge win.

Some people enjoy solitude, others enjoy groups. While I normally enjoy working alone, I find exercise with others is more fun for me.

• Basketball
• Tennis
• Soccer
• Volleyball

The sport doesn’t matter too much as long as it involves movement and a little competition. You may find a solo bike ride or hill climb more to your liking.

If you enjoy it, you will stick with it longer.

Design it into your lifestyle.

If it is a regular part of your routine, it is easier to maintain.

Maybe you take a bicycle to work.  Maybe you push your kids to the park in the afternoon and play with them.  Could be pickup basketball in the evening. A simple hour long walk at any time of day is a winner.

Take the decision making out by making it a habit.

Take care of your body.

Age and time can be a limiting factor for some hobbies.

Some exercises are a bit rougher on the body. It is unlikely I will be playing pickup basketball in my 80s. Make sure that you are taking care of your joints and taking at least one rest day per week.

Health is wealth. Invest in your health.

Thanks to Naval Ravikant for the idea of the 3 habits.

Start by applying the 80/20 rule to the top 20%.

The 80/20 rule is fractal. For you as a business owner, this means it applies to your whole group of customers and also to the top 20% and the bottom 80%. If you have a thousand customers, then 80% of your revenue will come from 200 of them. And 64% of all your revenue will come from just 40.

This only works if you offer them a way to pay you.

Create more than 1 product.

If you only have 1 product, you are missing out on at least a 50% increase in revenue.

To capture the extra revenue from the top 20% and then the top 20% of the top 20% (the top 4%), you need more for them to buy. If you have 1 product and 1000 customers, odds are 200 of them will buy your second product, even if it costs twice as much or more.

Add a third product and you got 40 more sales just like that.

Create special high end products.

You will have some number of super fans that will buy everything you put out.

For these customers they will spend oddly large sums of money for various exclusive experiences. Some examples:

• Various levels of access to VIPs who can help them
• Going to the front of the line
• A personal visit from you, the business owner
• Access to experimental or test versions of products first

Look at what people pay for backstage passes and dinners with celebrities and you will understand.

Check out 80/20 Sales and Marketing

I originally got this idea from a book by copywriter Perry Marshall, called “80/20 Sales and Marketing.”

The idea was so simple yet so strong it has stuck with me for at least 8 years without ever having picked up the book again. I recommend you pick up a copy and implement the ideas. Especially as a business owner.

Follow for more insights into marketing, business, and success.