The James Swanwick Show

Show notes: JamesSwanwick.com/268

Everyone has one thing that they love with great emotion. Something that lights up their face with a smile when mentioned in passing. Whether that is a sport, a person, an object, or an action, we all have that one thing that holds importance inside of us. For me, I find great pleasure in watching my favorite band perform.

It all began in 1987, when at the age of 12, I fell in love with Bon Jovi. I was growing up in Brisbane, Australia, when I was invited to my first concert, unaware of how hard I would fall in love with this band. The concert brought great energy and fireworks of emotion. I was hooked. By 1989, the walls of my bedroom were covered in posters, and I was frequently referred to as “James who loves Bon Jovi.” I developed a great passion for their music over the years, and still see them in concert routinely. Usually, I would spend a moderate amount to see them perform, because I never found the more expensive tickets worth it. That was until recently, when I spent $472.50 on a single ticket. It was sporadic, and last minute, but more than worth it.

So why did I spend $472.50 on a ticket, and why do I recommend this action to friends? Find out more about the great rewards in investing in what you love on this episode of the James Swanwick Show!

Key Takeaways

  • Although I am not the enthusiast that I used to be, the positive memories that carry with Bon Jovi are endless, like the t-shirt I recieved for my 18th birthday, or the Bon Jovi figurine I was gifted for a different birthday.
  • That is why one day I decided to spend $472.50 on a single Bon Jovi Concert Ticket.
  • My love for the band lead me to treating myself to the best seat that I could afford, responsibly.
  • I was seven or eight sections back, direct center, right in front of Bon Jovi. It was one of the greatest experiences of my life.
  • Attending this concert, and purchasing such an excellent ticket gave me immense satisfaction.
  • Purchasing this ticket made me feel wealthy, and rich, and that the whole world was at my fingertips. It opened my eyes to the freedom that comes with spending on what you love.
  • Not only did it bring me to a high of emotion, but it rewired my brain. It made me realize that doing things independently brings me lots of satisfaction.
  • Being there by myself made me feel an immense power, that I didn’t need a partner, or company to do something like this. It was liberating.
  • It felt good knowing I could invest that amount of money in the concert ticket. It was satisfactory knowing it did not hurt me to invest that much in the concert. It brought me immense happiness knowing I was at a place where I could do that and not worry about it.
  • I have identified something that brings me pleasure, now you have to identify something that does the same to you.
  • Often times we deprive ourselves of joy because of the opportunity cost that comes with it.
  • If you enjoy being with friends, spend more time with them. If you like your family, invest time with them. Invest in what YOU love.
  • First- define what you love the most, and what brings you the most joy in life.
  • Second- pursue this, and then invest in it, whether it is investing your money, or your time.
  • I have never regretted spending almost $500 on a concert ticket, and neither will you if you invest in what brings you the ultimate joy.

Show notes: JamesSwanwick.com/268

Direct download: James_-_EP_268.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 12:01am PDT

Show Notes: JamesSwanwick.com/267

People love to be thought of. Whether it’s a quick Snapchat, or a letter in the mail, the thought that others care enough to reach out has an immense impact on a person. If you can learn simple practices to stay in touch with others, then your relationships will grow, and studies show- you will be happier. On today’s episode I am going to discuss the simplicity and accessibility that technology brings to keeping up with friendships.

We are lucky. It has never been easier to stay in touch with a friend than it is now. The technology that we have allows us to communicate with people that are thousands of miles away, or just a mere block away. It can take seconds to simply send a quick text message, record a quick audio, or even send a video to remind someone that you are thinking about them.

People love to be thought of. Who, in your life, can you just pick up the phone and give a quick call to? Learn the importance of seconds of intentionality with conversation on this episode of the James Swanwick Show!

Key Takeaways

  • Studies have shown that the happiest people have a good group of friends and acquaintances. These are people that they can count on, people that they have deep relationships with, and history with; is there a point that you would let a friendship peter out?
  • DO NOT let a good friendship peter out, simply send a quick text, voice memo, or video to remind them you are thinking about them.
  • Long distance is no excuse for a poor friendship.
  • Messaging is FREE. There is absolutely no excuse not to send a quick message to a good friend.
  • That said- messaging is lame, you’re still hiding behind the electronic world with small written statements. You cannot tell a tone, expression, or intent with a text message.
  • Recording a quick voice message will allow you to be more personal with someone as they can hear your tone and expression through the message.
  • Audio is more powerful than the written word, I challenge you to leave an audio message for your friend. Next thing you know you will have an ongoing string of voice messages being sent back and forth.
  • Even more personal than audio is a video message. Who wouldn’t love getting a video message from a friend, reminding them they’re still important to them?
  • Everyone has their preference in communication, but if you start sending audio and video messages, you will watch as your long distance friendships become more and more personal with time.
  • Thanks to ever-improving technology, keeping up with friends just keeps getting easier and easier. Take advantage of this.

Show Notes: JamesSwanwick.com/267

Direct download: James_-_EP_267.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 12:01am PDT

Show Notes: JamesSwanwick.com/266

Today I’m taking a walk around Hollywood and having a conversation with entrepreneur Sophia Parsa about her journey to building businesses that are successful, that do good, and create positive cashflow.

Along the way, we talk about how to start new relationships, why passion is an essential ingredient to your business idea, the importance of mentorship, and why too many people are worried about others stealing their amazing idea, when the only thing that really matter is execution!

If you’ve ever wanted to start a business, or maybe have one going already, this episode is going to bring you advice to up your entrepreneur game and see success!

Key Takeaways:

  • Start new relationships with the question: How can I help this person?
  • Strike up friendly conversations with no agenda
  • Unless you have passion and an amazing idea, it’s probably foolish to jump into starting a business
  • Instead, go find someone to learn from
  • Put emphasis on building the right team. The people you work with are one of the most important aspects of your business
  • Don’t be reluctant to share for fear that someone else will do it first. Execution is what really matters
  • The specific way that you make introductions and connections is important
  • Make SURE you’re passionate about whatever business you start
  • Be vulnerable with people

Show Notes: JamesSwanwick.com/266

Direct download: James_-_Ep_266_-_Sophia_Parsa.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 12:01am PDT

Show Notes: JamesSwanwick.com/265

When things go wrong, it’s extremely important to learn from whatever happened. Otherwise, a mistake is a complete waste! If you carefully learn from your (or other people’s) mistakes, they can actually be a very good thing and an opportunity to learn! On today’s episode, I am going over some of the major mistakes I made last week, so that you don’t have to make them!

When you have conflict in your life, you have two options: You can either let the conflict sit there and simmer just below the surface, or you can confront it head on. If you let it simmer, you will find that it takes up a large amount of mental energy, keeps you from focusing on what you have to focus on, and essentially eats at you as long as it’s there!

Instead, the proper response is to confront it head on! It might be painful, but ripping off the bandaid quickly is far better than trying to go slow and gentle. Don’t let conflicts take up your mental energy, confront them!

Learn from my mistakes to live your best life, on this episode of the James Swanwick Show!

Key Takeaways:

  • Resolve conflicts as fast as you can. When you leave things unresolved, it leaves an open loop, and it eats at you and takes up mental energy
  • When you ignore problems and don’t confront them, they don’t just go away
  • Be prepared for things to go wrong. They always will, and if you’re unprepared you will waste a lot of time
  • When you get into an emotional state, you end up making much worse decisions than you would otherwise
  • Put things in the calendar to make sure they happen
  • Be aggressive about making SURE you do what you say you’re going to do
  • Value your time and put strict limits around it

Show Notes: JamesSwanwick.com/265

Direct download: James_-_Ep_265_v2_FINAL_MIX.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 12:01am PDT

Show Notes: JamesSwanwick.com/264

A huge amount of the world gets up every day, goes to work, and spends most of their day working at a job they don’t like, or even hate! If you think about this, this is a serious problem, and extremely sad. Most people will spend the majority of their lives at work, and if you hate your work, then you spend the majority of your life doing something you don’t like!

However, there is a growing trend and opportunity for people to transition out of the job they hate and into something they love! And the benefits of making this change are difficult to accurately put into words. They are tremendous! To move away from spending most of your life not happy at work, to spending that times fulfilled and doing something you love is a huge win!

But how do you do it? This is the tricky part, and it’s the part a lot of people mess up. You need to be aware of specific strategies for making the move, understand yourself well enough to know what strategy is best for you, and then execute. Learn how on this episode of the James Swanwick Show!

Key Takeaways:

  • One way to force yourself to make a major change is to “burn the boats” so you have no recourse and have to make it work
  • Or, while you’re doing whatever you’re unhappy with, invest time and effort learning everything you possibly can about what you want to go into
  • You can be almost certain that a lot of people won’t understand your decision to pursue what you really want
  • Each step of the way will include both joy and frustration, and both are important aspects of the learning process
  • If you’re spending time watching TV, Netflix, etc, you’re wasting time that could be spend creating your dream life
  • It doesn’t matter what you SAY you’re going to do, it only matters what you actually do
  • If you say you’re going to do something, DO IT

Resources:

How To Beat Procrastination

Show Notes: JamesSwanwick.com/264

Direct download: James_-_Ep_264_-_FINAL_MP3.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 2:00am PDT

Show Notes: JamesSwanwick.com/263

Did you know that when you do an act of kindness for someone, without the idea of any reciprocation but simply to help someone else out, you are probably getting even more benefit out of it than the person you are helping?

My guest today is John Wang, and he’s talking about why performing an act of kindness is actually, believe it or not, a selfish act! A good selfish act, that everyone should do more of everyday, but a selfish nonetheless because of the tremendous benefit that you will receive from performing the act!

John Wang founded the “One Kindness Challenge,” which is a challenge to perform one act of selfless (but actually selfish) act of kindness everyday! Are you ready to take the challenge?

Key Takeaways:

  • What we do every single day will have tremendous impact, whether negative or positive, whether to ourselves or the world
  • An act of kindness can in fact be a selfish act, because of the tremendous value it brings you!
  • When you help someone, endorphins are released, and you get a type of “helper’s high”
  • When you help someone, it’s important that you do it without the expectation of anything in return
  • Try doing one act of kindness each day
  • Inviting someone to something can be an act of kindness

Resources

OneKindness.org

Show Notes: JamesSwanwick.com/263

Direct download: James_-_Ep_263_-_FINAL_MP3.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 12:01am PDT

Show Notes: JamesSwanwick.com/263

Did you know that when you do an act of kindness for someone, without the idea of any reciprocation but simply to help someone else out, you are probably getting even more benefit out of it than the person you are helping?

My guest today is John Wang, and he’s talking about why performing an act of kindness is actually, believe it or not, a selfish act! A good selfish act, that everyone should do more of everyday, but a selfish nonetheless because of the tremendous benefit that you will receive from performing the act!

John Wang founded the “One Kindness Challenge,” which is a challenge to perform one act of selfless (but actually selfish) act of kindness everyday! Are you ready to take the challenge?

Key Takeaways:

  • What we do every single day will have tremendous impact, whether negative or positive, whether to ourselves or the world
  • An act of kindness can in fact be a selfish act, because of the tremendous value it brings you!
  • When you help someone, endorphins are released, and you get a type of “helper’s high”
  • When you help someone, it’s important that you do it without the expectation of anything in return
  • Try doing one act of kindness each day
  • Inviting someone to something can be an act of kindness

Resources

OneKindness.org

Show Notes: JamesSwanwick.com/263

Direct download: James_-_Ep_263_-_FINAL_VIDEO.mp4
Category:general -- posted at: 12:01am PDT

Show notes: JamesSwanwick.com/262

We all have those days, right? Those days when it just feels like everything is going wrong. When nothing comes easy, and each time you try to accomplish a new task, you find yourself blocked by some unforeseen problem. Roadblocks to your productivity pop up out of nowhere, and things that would normally be a breeze to get done are practically impossible.

Sometimes, those momentary setbacks and problems in life can put you in a funk. They put you in this kind of attitude where it seems like everything in your life is going wrong, like you don’t have anything to be thankful for, and like you’re in the worst situation possible.

Whenever this happens, if you look at the actual circumstances, you will almost certainly find that you are definitely NOT in the worst situation, but that doesn’t change how these times can make you feel.

Today, I’m talking about what I do when I find myself in these moods of depression and anxiety, how I deal with it, and how I eventually recover and get myself out. We all go through those times, so listen to this episode for practical tips and tricks to get out of your mental funk and back to your productive self!

Key Takeaways:

  • Small annoying things can all add up to large frustrations.
  • Regardless of all the good things going on in your life, it’s still easy to let yourself get overwhelmed and sink into depression.
  • Be willing to connect with the way that you really feel in the moment, even if it is a negative feeling.
  • Try changing your physiology drastically to quickly adjust your emotional state.
  • Feel and express gratitude. Checkout: FiveMinuteJournal.com
  • Drink lots of water.
  • You can either look at the good, or the bad side of each issue you encounter.

Resources:

FiveMinuteJournal.com

Show notes: JamesSwanwick.com/262

Direct download: James_-_Ep_262_-_FINAL_MIX.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 2:00am PDT

Show Notes: JamesSwanwick.com/261

Procrastination plagues almost everyone who dreams about doing great things. Humans are inherently lazy, which means that making progress on anything you want to do is going to be a struggle. But you have a very simple choice: The short term pain of getting off your ass and taking the first step, or the long term, immensely greater pain of regretting not reaching your full potential.

This is the incredible danger of procrastination: It can easily cause you to wake up 10 years, 25 years, or 50 years later, and feel like it passed in an instant without accomplishing what we truly wanted to. If you find yourself held back from taking the first steps in your goals and dreams, consider the very real danger and fear of waking up in 10 years and still being right where you are now.

That fear should spur you to action TODAY! This episode is my call to you to stop being lazy, to stop letting fear hold you back, and to finally beat procrastination and start doing the things you want to do in this life!

Key Takeaways:

  • Almost EVERYONE knows that they’re procrastinating too much
  • A lot of people let the thought of how long something will take keep them from getting started
  • Life will not slow down for you. You simply need to speed up to keep up with it
  • Go FASTER
  • Sometime is NO time
  • Humans beings are inherently lazy, so achievement is a constant fight against that
  • No matter how far you’ve come, you will always struggle with the desire to procrastinate. You just get better at saying no to it
  • Take short term pain over long term struggle every time
  • The struggle makes you appreciate the results more
  • The fear will never go away. You just need to feel the fear and do it anyway
  • Focus on one little step that you can take
  • Change your language to change the way you feel about something
  • Just do it

Resources:

JamesSwanwick.com/Procrastination

 

Show Notes: JamesSwanwick.com/261

Direct download: James_-_Ep_261_-_FINAL_MIX.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 12:01am PDT

Show Notes: JamesSwanwick.com/260

A lot of you will already know my guest today. Aaron Marino of Alpha M is an expert in fashion, self-discovery, confidence, and business. Today we’re talking about fashion, swag, and success for the modern man.

In the current age, an alpha male is a much different thing than it has been throughout history. In previous ages, dressing well was almost considered feminine, and not often conflated with the idea of the alpha male. But all of that has changed, and that is what I’m speaking with Aaron Marino about today.

We also dig into the idea of the overnight success (spoiler alert: it doesn’t exist), the single most important aspect to look at in clothing, and why each failure leads you one step closer to success. All that and more, on this episode of the James Swanwick Show!

Key Takeaways:

  • In the modern age, the idea of an alpha-male is less one-dimensional than it used to be
  • Start helping people. Be self-less to start discovering yourself and gain confidence
  • Overnight success almost never happens. Success take time
  • Fit is the single most important aspect of clothing to consider
  • Develop a grooming habit and stick to it!
  • If you fear starting something, go through the worst-case scenario. It’s probably not that bad
  • Each failure leads you closer to success
  • We buy products that we connect with on an emotional level
  • Alcohol often leads to crappy foods. Quitting alcohol can cause a healthy chain reaction

Resources:

PeteAndPedro.com

Tiege.com

Alpha M on Youtube

IAmAlphaM.com

AaronMarino.com

30DayNoAlcoholChallenge.com

Show Notes: JamesSwanwick.com/260

Direct download: James_-_Ep_260_-_FINAL_VIDEO.mp4
Category:general -- posted at: 2:00am PDT