After a long drought in my life, void of happenings, fortune, joy, and luck, I was thrust into opportunity in August of 2016, my first week of college at Florida Gulf Coast University.
Within a few days of arriving on campus, a floor meeting in the residence hall was held. Suddenly, the Resident Assistant started speaking of some “Resident Housing Association” and running for “area council.” He rattled off the positions that we newly-independent college freshmen could run for … “president, blah, blah, this blah, that blah, and blah.” I tuned out after hearing “president” because, in a matter of a split second, I decided, without hesitation, that I was going to run for president. Why? I don’t know, it sounded cool, and I had never been appointed to such a position. How was I going to do it? I didn’t know, not yet at least.
In high school, I had dreamed about being the Rotary Club’s treasurer. I deliberated for months on end, “should I do it??” Can you guess whether I did it or not? I think you can.
This time, running for area council president, was different because there was no hesitation. I decided to run against eight different people and put together a master plan after I had already committed. My master plan consisted of shaking every single person’s hand who walked through the lobby as well as putting up humorous flyers everywhere that people could actually relate to. For the flyers, I divided people up into different camps (namely, Trump v Hilary and Nike v Under Armour) and made flyers tailored to each camp so that I could relate with everyone one way or another. See the flyers below.
I took massive action, and all that was left was to await the results. While the election played out, I decided, without hesitation, to become a student-athlete (joining the cheerleading team of all things!). I had no idea what I was getting myself into, but I did it, and it was awesome. Also during that first week of college, I decided, without hesitation, to rush a fraternity.
In the first week of school, I went from high school loser to president of my residence hall governing over 500+ people, student-athlete, and fraternity man.
The trajectory of my entire life had changed within a matter of days.
A few months later in December of 2016, I showed my friend Steve Jordan a report I had written about health. He told me I needed a website and a blog to share these ideas. Without hesitation, I decided to take his advice and do just that. Then I decided, without hesitation, to lock myself in my room every day during winter break to get my National Academy of Sports Medicine Certification in record time. I completed the course and passed a test that only 39% of people pass in three weeks, first try. Then I decided there was no way I was going to settle for working in a gym, even after I hadn’t gotten any clients for two months. I’ll never forget the time my freshman roommate said to me, “You know Jordan, you might just have to bite the bullet and go work at LA Fitness.” Without hesitation, I said, “fuck that!” I knew what I wanted, and I wasn’t going to give up. That week, I took more massive action, performing an enormous act of guerilla marketing and making myself available on an app called Thumbtack for all types of freelancers. For the guerilla marketing, I followed (on Instagram) multiple thousands of people in the area who I found from the Instagram accounts’ of gyms in the area. It took hours, and I followed so many people that Instagram temporarily disabled the action of following others on my account. Out of the thousands I followed, ONE person visited the website link in my bio, filled out the contact form, and wanted to schedule a session. That same week, someone was interested in my services on Thumbtack. All of a sudden, I had two clients, and I was working for myself. That was all I needed, and I’ve kept those clients to this day (almost a year and a half).
On May 5th of 2017, I decided, without hesitation, to create online programs for my website. I worked 12 hours per day and had my first few up by May 27.
During mid-summer, I posted a Snapchat story of the cover of Men’s Health magazine saying something to the effect of, “Bet I’ll be on the cover one day.” I haven’t appeared on the cover yet, but by September I had appeared in Men’s Health, and by January of 2018 I had appeared on their website on four separate occasions.
On March 18, 2018, I was at the pool when I thought about writing a book … right then and there. Within a second, I had stood up and gone to grab my computer and begin writing. I decided to do this without hesitation, and I shut myself off from the outside world until the 184-page book was completed 29 days later on April 17 of 2018. What a joy that writing process was. I gave myself until May 30 to make sure everything was in order before I released it. I got tired of twiddling my thumbs for that long, so I had a published book available on Amazon by May 17, when a mere 59 days earlier Growth Mindset University was just a concept in my head.
For much of my life, I’ve been a shy guy and a poor speaker who gets nervous by the mere act of raising my hand in class. Nevertheless, I decided, without hesitation, to start the Growth Mindset University podcast because I knew that’s what I needed to do to take my brand to the next level. It was horrible for the first 30 episodes. Now, less than a year later, I interview my role models like David Meltzer, Evan Carmichael, Tiffany Pham, Chase Hughes, and Don Wettrick.
I can credit all I’ve done to one word: LUCK
What?!?
Yes, I must admit that the Goddess of Good Luck has been favoring me all along, albeit with a straightforward caveat:
Those eager to grasp opportunities for their betterment, do attract the interest of the good goddess, as she is ever anxious to aid those who please her … and men of action please her best.
It is true, then, that men of action are favored by the Goddess of Good Luck.
This is a crucial lesson I learned while reading The RIchest Man in Babylon by George S. Clason.
So, here I am today, giving my thanks to the gorgeous Goddess of Good Luck whom I have come to know so well.
“The path to success is to take massive, determined action“
Tony Robbins, and my email signature for two years