Dave Guerra (the official blog)

06 April 2024

2024: Celebrating Victories (Big & Small)

This week, I am talking about celebrating your victories, big and small.

The victory is a sign of making progress.
Then again, a failure is a sign of making progress.
Do not let the naysayers or fools try to pull the wool over your eyes.

A Failure or a Loss is still a WIN.
It is a win so long as you learn from that failure.
You learn not to make the mistake again or if you do make a mistake it is going to be a better mistake.
Better mistakes are also signs of making progress. So be sure to include them when celebrating.

Everyone loves a victory. Everyone loves to celebrate.
Now as for calibrating the level of celebrating victories, well that is strictly up to you.
Most will give their two cents and ask why are you celebrating the small victories?

Why not?

Seriously, celebrating life is the standard and most certainly NOT the exception.
The same goes for victories, all victories!
Ignore those individuals that are not at your level.
By not at your level, I mean they would rather dwell on failures instead of learning from them.
Trust me, there are so many individuals out there that only know how to dwell on failure that you should have no problem spotting them.

Ignore those that question why you celebrate. If they do not celebrate the way you do then screw them.
Their lack of ability to enjoy and celebrate is NOT your concern.

You and everyone else are on your own unique journey.
Everyone has obstacles to overcome. Everyone must do what they must do.
That is why you must continue doing your thing and seize the opportunities to celebrate.

As for the naysayers or the negative nellies, well, do not for one minute let the fog in their minds darken your eyes.

You have more important things to do than to worry about what others believe you should be celebrating or not celebrating. The thing to remember is to let them be unique no matter if they do not give you the same respect and opportunity to be unique.

Now back to celebrating the victories.

Celebrating the victories does two things:

One, it shows that you are not affected by the setbacks but instead you are actively looking and pursuing the next opportunity to celebrate.

Two. Celebrating the victories shows that you have your priorities set. Set to a standard that encourages rejoicing victories of all kinds and reassures continued growth and the continued need for more future celebrations.

However, a word of warning, be careful when celebrating in that you are not celebrating more than you are achieving. There is always work to be done.

So, get out there and celebrate and continue with your victories.
YOUR FUTURE AWAITS!

Thank you,
David Guerra

P.S. I invite you to follow me on Twitter: @daveguerra • visit my website: www.daveguerra.com

P.P.S. To order your copy of Great To Follow: Amazon paperback / Amazon Kindle | Barnes & Noble paperback
To order your copy of The Walking Leader: Amazon Paperback / Amazon Kindle | Barnes & Noble

30 March 2024

2024: FACING FEAR & CHOOSING COURAGE

This week, I am talking about facing fears and choosing courage.

Recently, my nephew made the jump from amateur to professional MMA Fighter. He had been training for several years and it was time. He knew it was time.

It was the inevitable path to take if he wanted to achieve his goals as a Mixed Martial Arts fighter, a professional Mixed Martial Arts fighter.

However, making the jump from amateur to professional means stepping into a professionally sanctioned match, a professional MMA cage, fighting against another professional fighter. Most certainly his amateur days were over.

He knew going in, he was going to be taking that first professional punch. He also knew he had to take that professional punch to the face. He gave punches and kicks as well as he took punches and kicks. And after 3 rounds he did not get the W.

That’s OK, because in all actuality he did win.

See, in the grand scheme of his MMA career he scored a HUGE W. While his fight record shows he is 0 and 1. His EXPERIENCE record shows him and 1 and 0.

As soon as the fight was over and the referee did not raise his arm in victory, I immediately saw in my nephew’s eyes he was already moving on to the next match. As there was nothing he could do to change the outcome of the match that just concluded.

Now before I go any further, you may be wondering what does this have to do with facing fear?

Folks, it is simple. Who in their right mind willfully steps into a Professional MMA fight knowing they are going to get punched in the face? Who in their right mind goes rushing into a burning building to save lives and put out a fire. Who in their right mind volunteers to join the Military to purposefully to go to the frontlines while everyone else is sitting in the rear with the gear.

Someone who has a LOT of fear but does it anyone because it has to be done. That’s who!

Someone who on any other regular day would be at home with their feet up on the coffee table drinking a cold one and watching the ball game but instead makes a conscious effort to face their fears and chooses courage.

Those are the individuals that have a firm grasp on where they are, where they are going and of course, success is just within reach.

Courage is a HUGE factor in achieving success. However, courage alone is not going to get you or anyone there.

Having the courage and then taking action will get you there. Sure, there are people that claim they face fear and are courageous but truthfully, they are ALL TALK and that is all they got.

They are ALL SHOW AND NO GO!

Those are the people that talk a good game be have absolutely no idea to how to face fear. Sure, they may have done it once or twice in their past but not to the point that it inspires them to try again and again of facing their fears and choosing courage.

Sadly, for those ALL SHOW AND NO-GO KIND OF PEOPLE fear has overcome them, it has overtaken them.

When push comes to shove and doing what they know they must do, they would rather back down and let others do their dirty work for them. They would rather push others into harm’s way without getting their hands dirty.

Yet, they would be quick to take the credit for the success of others and quick to point the finger and blame others for a failure.

So be careful as a leader, and especially be careful as a follower not to fall for those kinds of managers. Those bad managers will bring morale down faster than a lead balloon.

Let us get back to my nephew’s first professional MMA fight.

As the referee did not raise his hand in victory there were a couple of things that I saw as victories, as his victories; he got that first professional punch to the face out of the way. More importantly he gets that first L out of the way.

While the other guy did get his first professional punch to the face out of the way. That other guy now carries the specter of the L on his shoulder. Going forward everyone will be expecting a W including him but that first Loss is weighing heavy as it is only a matter of time.

My nephew walks into the next match without having to carry the idea of he might lose. He already has. He has tasted the L and now the first W will taste even sweeter.

My nephew knew it was not going to be easy going Pro. However, he also knows and lives on the idea and the mindset of that to get to where he wants to be, in his life he must step into something he knew was going to physically hurt him.

My nephew and countless others like him with that same mindset, are a great example of overcoming your fears by choosing courage. So starting facing your fears and choose courage.

Everyone, Your Future Awaits!

21 March 2024

2024: TAKE CHARGE! TAKE ACTION!

This week, I want to talk about taking charge and leading yourself.
Yep, a topic that is near and dear to my heart. You could call it my passion and that topic is SELF-LEADERSHIP.

For so long I did not know I was NOT actually in control of my life.
I was a people pleaser. I was the “nice guy.” The “don’t rock the boat” person. The Never Say No person. They knew where they stood with me. To people close to me and distant, I was just a shiny beacon for those that want to take advantage of someone, there I was.

For most of my life, I felt that was not in control of my life. Others were taking me in the direction they wanted me to go. Some had good intentions while others were just there to string me along for their sadistic pleasure.

Then over time, I started to realize that my priorities were wrong. I was willfully handing over power to those to use it or abuse it and use and abuse me, as well.

Then came a day when the breaking point was reached.

I had had enough of the lies, the manipulation and most importantly being blamed for their shortfalls and their inadequacies. I found myself in a place that something had to give, something had to happen.

It was time for me to TAKE ACTION.

It was then and there that I had to take a long hard look at myself and see where I was and where I wanted to be.

I re-assessed my place in life. Then I made the changes I felt I had to make to keep my marriage intact, free from third party influences, keeping myself present in the lives of my children. Just like that I had to do what I had to do to keep myself where I had to be as well as on the path to where I was going.

It has been a very rough road and as I am still on it, it continues to be rough. However, when it comes to being the leader of your world, a leader of your own life there will be times you have to do what must be done. That is non-negotiable.

What is also non-negotiable, is that you will be tested. Tested every day.

You will be tested by people that are looking out for your own interest.
You will be tested by people that are not looking out for you, at all.
Of course, there will be some that will not be test you but attempts will be made by individuals that believe you deserve nothing and they deserve everything you can give them. No questions asked.

These tests can be huge challenges when you find yourself worrying more about them than you worry about yourself.

However, these tests are nothing and should mean nothing to you as the only test you should take in life is you doing what you can to be better today than you were yesterday.

See, at the end of the day, there is a certainty that no one can ever change: you are responsible for yourself.

Many will fight you but at some point, in life, things must change, you must change. Remember change is part of growth.

A harsh reality is that at some point in our lives our parents will NEVER stop being our parents but they will stop parenting us and let us live our lives based on what they were able to do and NOT do in raising us, yet all the while they are hoping for the best for us.

People you once called friends may at one point or another stop being friends only to become someone you used to know.

And some people will attempt to gravitate back in your life but for what reason or why?

If they used you as a scapegoat in the past, are they looking to do that again? If that is the case, well they have not changed but you have changed. Remember that.

You are not that person anymore.
You are the leader of your life and your responsibilities.

It is not up to them anymore. It is all on YOU!

Your Future Awaits!

16 March 2024

2024: Your Mindset Is Your Most Powerful Asset

Hey there…good to see you again & welcome to spring break 2024.

How about that time change? Daylight Saving Time is a change we all know is coming and there is nothing we can do about it other than roll with it. Which I hope you did.

Time is a very powerful asset in our lives. They say time heals all wounds. This I believe to be true. See time does have the power to heal especially as we move away from what originally hurt us.
You also have the asset of time so do not waste it.

Additionally, you have a huge asset that far too many people use none of it, some of it, or they use it the wrong way. What is this asset?

The asset in question is your mindset.

Yes, your mindset is a huge asset provided you use it the way it is meant to be used. Otherwise, you will find yourself with a huge liability.

For those of you that do not know that Liabilities are not a good thing. Let us break it down.

You finance a new car = liability.

You take a mortgage out on a home = liability.

Remember, it is not until you pay off a home that it becomes an asset.

What does a mortgage have to do with your mindset. A LOT!

See far too many individuals immediately believe that the moment they buy a home it becomes an asset. It becomes an asset to the bank.

See the bank fronts you the money to buy the home with the intention of paying in full the amount mortgaged back to the bank.

The bank or mortgage company just created a money-making asset in that you give them a monthly payment with interest.

Let me clarify this, you give them money which for you is a liability. They get the money plus interest well that is an asset. Never lose sight of that fact.

Now what about you?

You probably go around kidding yourself into believing your mindset is an asset to your life. All the while, you unknowingly have become a walking liability.

Here is another little secret, we are all walking liabilities. Almost no one has a mindset that is a pure and complete asset.

However, that should never stop any of us from working to improve ourselves and do what we can to get close to a mindset that is an asset not just to ourselves but also to those we surround ourselves with.
That is why working today to be better than you were yesterday is so important.

By actively working to create a mindset that is not only positive but actively on guard to avoid and or immediately deal with the negativity then are you creating a mindset that strives to be an asset for you and for those you lead.

Folks, be warned you will be challenged every step of the way.

There will be individuals, close and distant, that would rather see you fail than to see you succeed. To them I say Screw Off and Get out of the way of those doing what it takes.

That is where you cannot falter. You cannot fail yourself and if you are leader of others, you cannot fail them.

You stay the course and soon you will find yourself consciously and effortlessly working to improve yourself and your mindset, 24/7.

Doing what it takes to create a mindset that is your most powerful asset will be a habit that will lead to your success as an individual and as a leader.

Remember, get your mind on the right path and your Mindset will follow.
Your SUCCESS AWAITS!

09 March 2024

2024: Take All The Steps Forward

Welcome.
All my life it has been my privileged honor to be witness some wonderful things, places, events, and people.

At the same time, I have witnessed some of the most inhumane things that man can do to another man, either in the name of the family, pride, ego, religion, greed, or gluttony or any combination thereof.
All the while both, the good and the bad, have inspired me to keep moving forward.

Now, moving forward means that you will continue to encounter things that will challenge you, that will motivate you, and of course, things that will make you stop dead in your tracks.

However, none of that should cause or prevent you from moving forward. From taking that next step and the next step after that and so on.

Remember, it is the journey and not the destination is the true adventure. No matter the destination, the journey begins with the first step. However, the real journey takes place when you take that second, third, fourth and every step afterward moving forward.

Over my lifetime I have seen so many individuals be celebrated for the journey they are about to undertake. They make the plans, take that first step, then nothing. Nothing because they failed to consider the next step and all the other steps ahead of them.

The first time I saw this was back in High School when a “football player” receive a FULL ride scholarship to Notre Dame university. Big fanfare, a huge accolade for what today would be a slightly above average high school football player. So, this guy leaves and the next thing I know he is an office manager at his father’s real estate agency. See he could not hack it, both academically and athletically.
He may have been a big fish in the small pond that was high school, so naturally college was going to be a cake-walk or so he thought. Like so many others that have had reality slap them in the face, he was wrong and properly awaken to the real world.

Once on campus, yes, he did make it to the Notre Dame campus, but he quickly found himself as a tiny guppy in a huge pond full of piranhas. He was no longer big man on campus. Now, he was just like everyone else: JUST LIKE EVERYONE ELSE!

This is where being the big man on campus becomes a huge disservice to anyone who always had it handed to them and never held accountable for their actions or inactions and in turn this guy never thought he had to ask for help. Because as I mentioned he had everything handed to him, everything except for a huge dose of reality.

So, what did the hometown hero do? What else could he do but to come back home with his tail tucked between his legs and all while he never admitting defeat. By not being prepared to face the real world this high school character never stood a chance.

Never stood a chance at taking the steps forward he needed to succeed in college and college sports.
By not admitting failure this individual would rather go hide under a rock instead of taking the failure as lesson learned and using that L as a stepping stone towards success in something else.

Now that is as far as it got with the Big Man on Campus Mr. Football Star because high school was over. Like so many of my classmates we had other more important things to do than to wonder what the BMOC was up to. I joined the Army and the rest is history.

I made new lifelong friends, started a family, and had a couple of kids all the while knowing that to make a success out of yourself, you have no choice but to know and accept that the only way to get to where you want to be in life is to take ALL the steps you need to take to succeed.

Friends, ignore the fanfare and just put in the work. Start taking all the necessary steps needed because as I have stated before: YOUR SUCCESS AWAITS!

29 February 2024

2024: Conquer Yourself

Can you believe we are at the end of February?
Two months down and 10 more to go.

Now I am going to ask you a question and if it makes you feel uncomfortable to answer it, then you are the one that needs to hear this.
If you feel very comfortable answering this question then you are not ready to be better that you were yesterday.

See, it is all about being uncomfortable.

Here is the question: WHY ARE YOU NOT CONQUERING YOURSELF?

Are you not conquering yourself because you are afraid?

Afraid of what others will think?

Are you not conquering yourself because you are afraid of what happens after you achieve something.

When it comes to being a conqueror, a warrior, there is everything to be afraid of.

Not what you were expecting me to say?

Let me repeat that. When it comes to being a conqueror or a warrior, there is everything to be afraid of.

I mean that you can try to fool other people into thinking you are not afraid or that you got this.

However, the truth is the opposite.

Everyone that is moving into a new place in life, a new position in this world the uncertainty is what creates the fear. There is no avoiding this fact.

And if you are hell bent on saying you are not afraid then you are one of two things:
You are a damn liar or you are ONLY fooling yourself by lying to yourself.

There is not wrong with admitting you have fears. There is absolutely nothing wrong with admitting your fears but doing what must be done anyway.

What is WRONG is NOT admitting your fears. By not admitting you have fears, you let fear overtake you. Fear takes root and because you are not ready to stand up and admit you have fears, you will never truly be ready to conqueror yourself or your life.

Instead of facing your fear head on, you would rather cower and never move beyond what you already are.

I know it sounds harsh but I am speaking my truth. I would cower enough that I would get nothing done. I would start but never see it through. I was the perfect fodder for those that were looking for someone to take advantage of, use as a scapegoat, to blame for their own inadequacies on and so on.

Folks, at some point, enough is enough.

At some point you must stop being afraid and take charge of your life by taking charge of fear. Whether others like it or not.

A word of warning, they are NOT going to like it. They are not going to like it because how dare you decide enough is enough and who are you to decide it is time to be the master of your fate?

They want you they way they have always known you.

They want you under their thumb because there you can never be better; there they can control you. Under their thumb they can keep an eye on you and there they can decide what is best for you all while they have absolutely no clue as to what is best for themselves.

The time will come and you must change. To live and grow you have no choice but to do what is best for you.

To Conquer you must conquer yourself first. Then you can conquer everything else in your life.

So, it is OK to be afraid. Go out and conquer because you got the power.

You make it happen!

21 February 2024

2024: Perfect vs. Progress

This week, I am going to let you in on a little secret.

NO ONE IS PERFECT!

Over my time on this planet, I have fallen victim to perfectionism.

Having to be perfect because I believed people wanted me to be perfect.
I would put myself so far out on a limb that I would never feel like I accomplished something or that others would see me as a letdown.

While I was chasing perfection, I was also making myself miserable in that I would see myself as coming up short, far too often.

I would constantly find myself spinning my wheels. Making no progress. All because of my perception of having to be perfect over took me. For so long, I had so many unfinished projects, ideas, and concepts. All because while initially they appeared to be the perfect but, in the end, I saw them as never being perfect enough to complete.

As time went on and through experience, knowledge, and wisdom three things became quite evident.
One, I along with everyone else on this planet is NOT perfect and never will be perfect.

Two, the ones that I thought wanted me to be perfect 100% of the time come to find out, did not want me to be perfect just to be myself and to do my best.

Three, sadly there were a couple of people that saw my need to be perfect and used it as a tool against me. Please note I did say there were. They are no longer part of my life because NO ONE really needs those kinds of individuals in their lives. Seriously, if they are creating misery and bringing that negative atmosphere, do you really want that?

By changing my perception of myself I was able to start moving forward. I was able to create progress. I was able to start and finish what I started. I stopped being the “perfectionist” I thought I had to be. I started working on just being the best version of myself I could be.

While I know I still have a long way to go. However, this is a work in progress.

Folks, if you are perfectionist or know someone who is. It may take a while to get it but once you get it, then you have it.

It is at that point that you will see your progress start to take root and grow.
Once you start making progress, be sure to NOT look back on your past with any kind of regret. Remember, to grow and succeed, you must start someplace.

Yes, even being a perfectionist can be part of your life’s growth.