Mike's Mindset
THE WRONG WORDS TO SAY TO SOMEONE WHO NEEDS HELP
When someone is going through pain what most people say is that “I’m here if you need me.” That’s one of the worst things you can say to a person during that time. I know your intentions are good but that may not be the right thing to say at the time. You see when someone is going through physical, mental, emotional pain they may not be in the position to ask. Whether it’s physical destruction like a natural disaster that destroyed all their belongings, a pandemic that’s wipe out all of their savings or a massive heart break that destroyed their will to live, they are the ones stuck or worst sinking during that time and in most cases are not in any mental position to go and seek help. Most of the time people won’t ask for help due to shame or embarrassment. It’s only until it’s too late that they may seek help.
Instead I say be an ambassador of love and go out and find the people who need love the most. It should be our job to say “I’m going to call you.” instead of “call me if you need me.” or “come over to my place for dinner.” instead of “my house is always open if you need me.” They need you but they may not be able to come to you, you need to go to them because that’s what love does. Love will always find you. Until then sending you love and good vibes. Be Great.
3 IMPORTANT C’S IN LIFE: CHOICE, CHANCE AND CHANGE
“Why do you think many people don’t live up to their potential in life?”
Some would say it could be the economy is bad, I was born in the wrong part of town, I was bullied as a kid, my parent’s sucked, i’m not smart enough or I’m too scared. All of them could be great excuses. But that’s really what they are. Excuses. I think it’s much simpler than that. It’s three simple words. Choice, chance and change. All in that order.
You must make the choice, to take the Chance, if you want anything in life to change.
I hear this all the time from people. “I want things to change or I wish things were different. Then what do they do? They complain about where they are without taking a chance at something that could potentially change their life. Decide and take that chance. You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take so you might as well take it and increase your odds. The truth is, you have to make the choice to take a chances if you ever want your life to change. That could be walking up to the girl you like, asking that big client to do business, picking up the phone to call a prospect, calling someone to ask for forgiveness. Whatever it is, if you want change, decide to take that chance. As I always say, Think Big, Be Brave. Live Bold. I’m Michael Siervo. Be Kind, Be Great, Be You.
THE REAL WAY TO SUPPORT A FRIENDS BUSINESS
I’m gonna give you the straight goods here. Real talk. I’ve been in the business world for over 2 decades. During a pandemic, a crisis or any day for that matter, the life of an entrepreneur is hard. People think just because you’re a business owner, you’re wealthy. That’s not the case and least for now. There is a cache to saying you own a business but there are alot of sleepy nights behind that smiling face. Believe me. I know. You have to put on that face because your clients or customers aren’t paying you to hear your struggles. Don’t get fooled by social media. It’s tough. I once read this post that said “Support your friend businesses like you support these celebrities you don’t know.”. That’s so true.
The truth is, sometimes the people closest to you don’t want to see you win. I started a youtube channel and asked some friends to subscribe. They said they did but when I look at the subscribers, they lied. But that’s okay. We have to forgive them. It’s not their true intentions, sometimes the ones closest to us are just clouded by all the emotions. They may not want you to succeed because they don’t want you to leave them. So don’t leave them. Be a real friend. And if your friends open a business, offer to pay instead of asking for something for free. If your friend is starting a business throw them a business warming party where everyone gets together to buy the first products. Make it a celebration that everyone can share the positive vibes. So again, be a real friend. If they are trying to grow their online business maybe like their post, leave a nice comment, pay full price, promote it like it’s yours. Because that’s really what that friend is. Yours. Hope this helps. Cheers to all the hustler and entrepreneurs out there. I feel you. Thank you to all the people that help them along the way. Their success is yours as well. As always, I’m Mike Siervo. Be Kind, Be Great. Be you.
DO YOU FEEL SAFE BEING ASIAN?
What’s going on everyone? I typically don’t do post emotionally charged posts like the one i’m posting right now but I will this time. I want to use this platform today to stand for something. Today I was walking my dog around the neighbourhood. I saw this elderly asian woman walk out of her house. As soon as she walked out she did the sign of the cross. So if you’re catholic, it looks like this. As we crossed paths we exchanged smiles as she said cute dog. I asked her something that I probably wouldn’t ask as I don’t talk about religion or politics for that matter. I respect people’s personal beliefs. However, given our political and social environment I was curious. I asked “Why did you do the sign of the cross?” She said, “Because I’m an asian woman and I don’t feel safe.” I wished her well and walked away thinking. Wow. What is happening to this world. You’d think that all the attention about racism and BLM made a difference but it’s getting worse. I’ve read posts where people are saying all this Stop Asian Hate is fake. It’s not. I’ve experienced a ton of racism personally. The difference is that I believe asian cultures are taught to follow order and not be disruptive. We are taught to be the prototypical subservient minority. I also read posts from other cultures saying, well now you know how we feel? I understand the comment but what that person is doing is exactly what other cultures said when they said their lives mattered. They even said asians are racist. The reality is many people in all cultures are racist. My sister is black, my nephews are half black, my best friend is black and people in my own community had their stupid opinions. On the flip side, I’ve seen dummies like Steve Harvey say straight up racist things about asian men on national TV. I saw post of a middle eastern woman proudly post that she was Canadian. In the comments section, someone wrote you’re not real Canada. Heck even in my culture, Filipinos they are racist against themselves and other islands. It’s crazy. Look, the point I’m trying to say is that the world needs healing. Many are hurt. So how do we fix this? I don’t have all the answers but here’s what I’m doing and will continue to do.
- Acknowledge it. Racism is racism. We all know that. Here’s where I think we need to look inwards. Acknowledge our own racism. Don’t say you’re not a racist when you know you have even a little bit. I’m guilty of it. I’ve said some insensitive stuff when I was younger that if I said it now, it would hurt people. I was a young kid and we thought it was funny. If it hurts someone, it’s not funny. If it hurt an entire culture, it’s a problem.
- Practice Empathy. When one culture expressed their pain. Don’t dismiss it or marginalize it as it theirs isn’t real. It’s real. I have personally had people tell me to go back to my country or spit us while we drove. Worse off don’t compare it and make it about you by saying “Well I got it worse.” . Be genuine and say, I believe you because I’ve been there.
- Call it out. Look, there are some people who will use the race card to cover up for their own short comings. They are insecure lazy people. There will always be people who will game the system but when there is flat out racism, call that shit out and tell them to stop. Often times, people will say it because they don’t think people mind. People will make fun of asian because of that stigma of a submissive culture. And for the asian, I’ll call you out if you say racist shit to other cultures. Call out a bully and most of the time they stop.
- Educate yourself. We are not born racist. Racism is learned. It’s taught by uneducated people who weren’t taught properly. It may not be their fault initially as they see the world through the information that form their lens. Take a look at a black man named Daryl Davis who convinced many KKK members to give up their roles simply by having mature conversations. Learn about other cultures. We eat other cultures food but do we know the beauty in which that food was inspired.
- Be forward thinking. Right now people are afraid. Asian are scared there will be violence against them. Black people are scared they may die in the hands of police officers. Mexicans immigrants are scared their families will be torn apart and deported. White people are scared that they will be blamed for being racist if they say something. Not all Black people are gangsters. Not all white people are racists. Not all asians are trying to take over the world with covid. Just look at your decisions. If we continue doing what we are doing, this will only get worst. Be forward thinking. The only way to fix this is to see a better future, talk about the issues and then work hard to fix them.
To all my brothers and sisters in the asian community. I stand beside and I feel your pain. To all the other cultures out there, I hear you and can’t wait to educate myself. You have a filipino brother in me. And to the politicians and authority. Get your shit together and reach out to the people you serve. I don’t know if this will end racism but my attempt to help.
I’m Michael Siervo. This is what I’m going to do. I hope you decide to do the same. One world, one life, one love. Be kind. Be human. Be you. Till next time. Sending you love and good vibes.
HOW WOULD YOU SPEND $86,400 A DAY
What’s going on everyone. Mike Siervo here.
I read this analogy about time once. Imagine there is a bank that every morning deposits $86,400 into your account. And every day it happens over and over again. The only catch, according to this idea, is that you can’t save that particular deposit until the next day.
The $86,400 you get in the morning is gone at evening. You can’t use any of it in advance and you can’t pile it up.
What would you do? Would you think carefully about how you’d use it every day?
The thing is, we all have this account available to us— rather than dollars, it’s time we get to use. We all have 86,400 seconds to spend every day, and at the end of the day, they’re gone.
Does that stress you out? Can you see the seconds blipping away? Well, the seconds will blip away. You can’t hold on to them, but you can use them wisely. And by “wisely,” I am not talking about producing stuff. Well, at least not all the time.
Perhaps you can change how you look at your life when you see it in seconds. Think about having this account with a limited time deposited every day. Does it make you think of living differently?
You see, you can’t live in the future; you can’t live in the past. You can only live in the present. So it’s crucial to use the seconds available to you right now.
Now, the secret is to invest your time wisely so that you get the best possible return in terms of health, happiness, and success.
How you do this is up to you. Here are some of the things you could do throughout your day to maximize this time:
- Look after yourself. whether it’d be by exercising, eating healthy, meditating, practicing yoga, having fun, or all of the above.
- Spend time with people who matter to you and those who build you up. When you have meetings at work that seem pointless, see if you can make them more effective or more meaningful.
- If you are in a job that doesn’t make you feel warm and fuzzy—a job that doesn’t sing to you, that isn’t your dream job—see if you can take some steps getting closer to your dream. Start now!
- Stop dwelling on the past; now, this is really a waste of time. Yes, learning from our past is a good thing, but don’t dwell on it.
- Think about this, If someone took $10 would you waste and throw away the other $86,390? NO. So if something upsets you don’t allow a small moment of negativity deprive you of the other valuable seconds you have left.
- Become friends with the things that scare you. Invite the fearful moments and see how the scary stuff disappears, or you realize they weren’t that scary in the first place.
- Stop stressing or trying to be perfect all the time.
- Be you.
Think about the seconds every morning when you wake up and ask yourself: How will I use my time dollars today? The great Steve Jobs once said “If today was the your last day on earth, would you be doing what you’re doing?”
Look, Time passes regardless of how you use it so Use your account wisely.
I hope this time that we spend was a worthwhile reminder. As always, I’m Michael Siervo. Sending you love and good vibes. Till next time. Stay Awesome.
3 LIFE LESSONS FROM RAILWAY TRACKS
What’s going on guys it’s Michael Siervo. I’m just here at our office and I decided to get some fresh air. I walked around the building andI noticed these really cool railway tracks. These tracks inspired me and made me think of 3 life lessons.
I once heard the great Tony Robbins say “The only impossible journey is the one you never begin.” You see many people travel along trains that ride along these railway tracks. They go from A to B taking people from a starting point to their destination. There are trains all around the world that take people from city to city, country to country. In fact, some trains travel more than 320kms/hr or almost 200 miles per hour like the bullet trains in Japan. Whether your rocketing across a railroad track or putting along a choochoo train, it doesn’t matter. The point is that you are on that train going somewhere. Well that’s like life. Many people see others going somewhere and wonder “why can’t I do that?”. Well one reason is that those people decided to get on the train while you are on the ground watching them zip by. Just decide to get on that train of life and pick a destination where you want to be. We call those goals. So Start that journey. Write that book. Talk to that girl. Get in shape. Whatever it is, decide to be on that train going forward in life rather than watching it pass you by.
The second lesson is a quote from Will Rogers, an old American Actor. He said “Even if you are on the right track, you’ll get run over if you just sit there.” That’s true in life. You have to keep moving. You can start that journey. Buy all the great workout gear, get that gym membership but if you do move you won’t accomplish anything. I know it’s hard but how many of your started the year off with good intentions and dropped those resolutions. If you stand still you’ll get run over. So keep moving forward no matter what.
The last lesson is one that I think about regularly. I look at the tracks. Did you know that the standard US railroad gauge which is essentially the distance or spacing between the tracks is 4 feet 8.5 inches. This has to be exactly this amount all long the way for miles and miles. Even as small a an inch off can throw a train off the tracks and potentially harm the valuable cargo on board. What does this have to do with life? Well you can decide to move forward, you can have the speed and momentum to move forward but small fairly insignificant decisions or mistakes done over time can throw you completely off course. That 4 feet 8.5inches represents your decisions. Your life is made up of many 4ft 8.5 inch decisions over the span of miles or in life terms, years. Compound poor decisions and you can seriously lose course or worse harm yourself and others on the journey with you.
It’s funny that something as simple as steel laid out perfectly over many miles can remind us that life is a journey. Make the right decisions, create positive habits,have an end in mind and last but not least get a window seat to enjoy the view along the way.
As always, I’m Michael Siervo. Sending you love and good vibes. Travel safely and enjoy Your journey!
3 SIMPLE STEPS ON HOW TO THINK BIG
What’s going on everyone, it’s Michael Siervo. I once read a quote “If you think small, your world will be small. If you think big, your world will be big.” I totally believe this. So how do you think big?
Simple. When you think BIG. Think B. I. G.
Books, Influences, Goals. What are the BOOKS you read to feed your brain, who are your INFLUENCES to to feed your soul and What are your GOALS that feed your drive.
Let’s go through this.
Books – leaders are readers. Start being a leader of your life. If you want to get ahead in life you need to have more knowledge than you did yesterday because new shit is coming out everyday. So don’t fall behind by not feeding your brain. Reading opens your mind, improves your perspective, increases your vocabulary and allows you to download knowledge from people who have dedicated their lives on the topic you are reading about. It’s like Neo in the movie The matrix when he sticks this thing in the back of his head and downloads Kung Fu. That’s what reading is. Not a reader? It’s not as hard as you think. The average person read at a speed of 250 words a minute. Read 10mins a day, which is 2500 words a day for 30 days, that’s a total of 75,000 words which is equivalent to a 150-200 page book give or take pages for images, chapter, diagrams etc. That’s one book you just read. Multiple by 12 and you’re reading more than the average person. Still not convinced you’re not a reader? Download an audiobook! You have no excuse.
Influences – Napoleon Hill says you are the average of the 5 people you most closely associate with. Who are you hanging out with. Do they inspire you? Do they support you? Do you bring out the best in them? Human beings are wired to connect with each other. We are a communal species that survives mainly through collaboration and cooperation. Humans are hardwired for connection. Neuroscience suggests that we are neurologically wired to connect with others; mirror neurons in our brains are stimulated when we’re interacting with other people. For instance, if the people we associate with are negative, we become negative. If they are positive, we become positive. If they are ambitious and think BIG, so will be. So surround yourself around great influences. One of the best influences we can have are mentors. They can guide you as you learn from their experience. YouTube, ask someone, hire a coach. There’s no excuse not to find the right influences in your life.
Goal – think defined goals. Don’t be vague like New Years 20 list. Find a goal that you really want. Then list 20 items that would help you get that goal. For instance, if you want to learn a language write 20 things you can do to get you closer (listen to music, read book, meet native speakers, write post it notes around the house, write in Spanish, download an app, read a dictionary, record your voice, watch movies, watch TV shows, teach someone, go to Spanish restaurants, recite words before bed, change the language on your computer, surf websites, watch YouTube lessons, try to think in Spanish, look at everyday items and remember the words, go on vacation, hire a tutor). That’s 20 items just for learning a new language. Do that for your goal. Nelson Mandela once said “there is no passion to be found playing small.” So you might as well think big of you want a life full of passion and purpose. Hope this inspires you. Think Big. Be Brave, Live Bold. I’m Michael Siervo. Till next time, sending you love and good vibes. Peace.
HOW I DIED DURING THE PANDEMIC
What’s going on everyone it’s Michael Siervo. This month is my birthday month. Now historically I never celebrated my birthday. I never bought a cake or had a party.I never blew out candles or got a bunch of gifts from people. I can count on one hand the memories of me celebrating my birthday. To me, I didn’t want to put a spotlight on it as if today was my day. I don’t own that day. I’m not special enough to have people celebrate me. Or so I thought. That mindset has changed. You see we have just endured one of the toughest times in the world’s history. Millions of people have died due to COVID-19 both physically, financial and emotionally. This pandemic push many of us to the brink and for some beyond the point of no return. I was one of them. During this pandemic I died. I didn’t die the way you might think I died. What happened was that many of my old philosophies on life died. My constant drive for perfection died. My definition of living a happy life died. My insecurity and need for social acceptance died. My expectations I unfairly placed on those I cared about died. Most importantly the person I didn’t want to be, died.
In death, what was reborn from the pandemic was something better. I replaced perfection with progress knowing that perfection is impossible. I thought by now I would have everything planned out perfectly. Shit will happen. Life will happen and things will never go as planned. So instead celebrate the many wins along the journey of progress. Life might not go as perfectly as planned but remember that plans can always change for the better. My plans today are so much better than my plans of yesterday. Focusing on progress is always better than perfection because you cannot life a perfect life. My old definition of happiness died. I like nice things but I once put such a high value on fancy things and exotic experiences. Being locked down for more than a year reminded me that material things don’t provide me with as much happiness as I once thought. Instead my definition of a happy life was reborn and redefined as living a life on your terms without the care or worry about what other people think. Don’t get me wrong, I still work hard to enjoy nice things but it’s not the main definition of happiness to me. My insecurity and need for social acceptance died. I’m not saying that I lacked confidence. I’m just saying that like many I suffered from imposter syndrome. I wasn’t sure if I was enough. That died and was reborn in the form of self acceptance, self confidence and self love. My impossible expectations of others died as well. Empathy reminded me that like me, they might be going through something that I know nothing about. One strategy that I do on a regular basis when I see people is repeat in my head “Just Like Me”. Just like me, this person has their own goals and dreams. Just like me, this person has doubts and wants to insecurities. Just like me this person deserves to live safe from judgement. Just like me this person deserves love.
You see, the old me died. The old me never celebrated his birthday. The new me says, why not. Celebrate the fact that you’ve come along way. You’ve gone through hell and back and you’re still standing. So yeah, I hope this reminds you to celebrate you and all your perfectly imperfect awesomeness. Maybe you died just like me. But just like me, maybe you’re more alive than ever before.
Again this is Michael Siervo. Take care. I love you and remember how awesome you are.
WHY NIKE ALWAYS CRUSHES IT AND SO CAN YOU
The other day I was watching television and this commercial came on. It starts off by saying “Know what. Here’s to going for it and being terrible.” It then shows a bunch of athletes doing things they suck at. Like World Champion sprinter Dina Asher-Smith horribly swinging a golf club. Or WNBA star Sabrina Yonescu Ionescu giving it a go at tennis. Or eight-time Paralympic international medalist Blake Leeper stepping up to the plate only to swing and miss a baseball. Or Award-winning artist Rosalía giving he best Katness Everdeen impersonation as she takes aim in archery. The premise of the commercial was that Whatever it is you want to do, go for it. Sure, it might not be pretty but do it anyways. The commercial ends by saying “trying something you’ve never done before doesn’t suck at all. Not even a little.” and then a slogan comes one that says “Play New” with a very tiny Nike logo. It was brilliant. Nike’s new marketing campaign promotes that if you have a body, you’re an athlete. I love this so much so I ended up booking a horse back riding trip up north just to try something new!
Then I thought, you know what makes Nike such a great company and why they continue to crush it. They continue to get us to just do it. Or if you were a kid who loved basketball like me, attempt to do the Air Jordan dunk because of the Nike Air Jordan commercials. As a professional salesperson, author and public speaker, I want to crush it as well. I had to know. So what makes Nike such a great company is that they know how to tell a great story. It’s never about a shoe. It’s always much bigger than that. They tell a story and guess what, they put you as the hero of that story. Why is this important today more than ever. Because if you want to crush it like Nike and succeed, you need to master the art of story telling. If you want to make more money, become more influential, expand your network and build a personal brand, you must master this. You don’t need to have the best product or the best features and benefits. That’s old school. The person who can tell the best story will influence and convince the listener to do what they say. This is true influence and this ultimately leads to success. Why does this happened? When you tell a story a few things happen. You create dopamine in your audience and two you create oxytocin. Oxytocin is this sense of warmness, calmness, excitement and happiness. It’s actually what mothers get with their babies when they connect with them. This is the cool thing. You can create oxytocin through story telling which creates this warm bond with the audience. If you can master this, you can connect with anyone you meet. It allows them to experience the world through your perspective and vice versa. It creates empathy and connection. This is what the great speakers such as Martin Luther King Jr. or Barrack Obama and Nike are able to do. But there is a difference between a great story teller and telling a great story. A great story teller inspires someone to do things differently. This is what Nike does. They inspire us to Just Do it and buy their products without ever talking about their shoes. They connect the Nike brand with you achieving greatness. And who wouldn’t want to achieve greatness. So that is your goal. Learn to tell stories that inspire, connect and move your audience through creating dopamine and oxytocin. If you do this, just like Nike, you too can crush it.
F*CK THIS FOUR LETTER WORD | FEAR IS FAKE
Growing up my mother would scold me what I swore. We were never allowed to say the F-Word. It was a bad word. To this day, I think the F word has crush more peoples dreams than any pandemic or crisis. So I say Fuck this Four letter word. But before I get into this, let me tell you a quick story.
Now I’m going to date myself but I recall many years ago watching the Space Shuttle Challenger take off from Florida only to explode. It was January 28, 1986. My family was living in one bedroom. 5 of us were crammed in this one bedroom that my parents rented in my uncle and aunts apartment. They are no longer with us God rest their souls. My parents were young and just starting their lives. We didn’t have a lot of money. But like many hard working immigrant parents, I admired their bravery and courage to travel to a strange land to start a new life filled with hope. My parents always instilled that mindset, work ethic, confidence and of course hope for something greater. I remember us sitting around this tiny TV counting down the launch of the Challenger. Space travel was a big thing in the 80’s. In the 80’s space travel was popular. What made this memorable was that this was the first time a civilian would be launched into space. Her name was Sharon Christa Corrigan. A school teacher from Boston. I remember my family counting down, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 blast off. Everyone was so excited until they weren’t. 73 seconds into flight, the shuttle malfunctioned and incinerated killing all 7 crew members including Crista Corrigan. I remember as a child thinking moments prior to this take off that anything is possible. If this school teacher can go to space, so can I. As a child to see 7 people explode on live TV can have some traumatizing effects. Especially when you grew up as a constant optimist. The lesson I learned in 1986 was that life isn’t fair. However anything is possible only if you are willing to take risks. Like taking 5.3 million pounds of thrust which is equivalent to 40 million horsepower blasting you into space. You may not succeed. You may fail. You may die. But you must try in order to succeed.
As of November 16, 2020 a total of 568 people have accomplished space travel from 41 countries. 12 have walked on the moon. If people allowed fear to take over, these feats of amazing human accomplishment would never be possible. The first four letter word is FEAR.
FEAR is one of the main reasons we don’t live an extraordinary life. We are are afraid. I’m sure you’ve heard this acronym that FEAR stands for FUCK Everything And Run OR it can stand for False Evidence Appearing Real. In many cases what we fear doesn’t exists. If we fear getting hit by a car, we will never cross the road to try that amazing new restaurant. If we are fear flying, we may never experience the beauty of other cultures. If we fear rejection we may never meet the person of our dreams or close the big deal that can change the trajectory of your business. Fear won’t kill you. If you are scare of public speaking, think about what’s the worst thing that can happen. You forget your lines. I’ve forgotten 3 lines and stories in this speech alone. It doesn’t matter. It won’t kill you so learn to address and rationalize that the things that prevent you from living an extraordinary life, aren’t really there or haven’t even happened so why stress about something that hasn’t happened.