You've no doubt heard the quote, "no struggle, no progress." And this is often true. But, what if there was a way to make progress without the struggle?

Getting out your own way...

In 480 BC, the Greek philosopher, Aristotle, believed that everything in the world could be broken down into four elements: earth, air, fire, and water.

He believed that each element had different properties. Earth was solid and stable, Air was light and changeable, Fire was energetic and dynamic, and Water was adaptable and receptive.

Although Aristotle's beliefs about the four elements were disproven by science, they offer an interesting perspective on how to be a successful entrepreneur without struggle.

I call it the No-Struggle Success Framework.

From an entrepreneurial perspective, earth, air, fire, and water become:

• Earth = Habit
• Air = Mindset
• Fire = Action
• Water = Letting go

I know it sounds strange but stay with me. And we're not going to delve into any ridiculous woo-woo BS.

But, as you'll see, organizing things in this way makes it easier to take massive action without struggling. And, more importantly, it creates a success mindset that's unshakeable and gets results!

So, let's get started with Day One of the No Struggle Success Framework: What is it?

What if there was a way to make progress without the struggle?

Yes, it will take a lot of work (no sitting on your couch waiting for Ms. Success to ring your doorbell)

Yes, we are wired to resist change (this is where the struggle and pain come in)

Yes, you may even try to struggle with a No-Struggle Success Framework. 😉

But once you understand and apply this framework- the point of this 7-day challenge, you'll see that struggle is optional.

In fact, struggle itself may hinder your success because it comes from resistance, which works against you and your goals.

The No-Struggle Success Framework is built on the following four pillars:

Habit, Mindset, Action, Letting go.

And it's these four pillars that will help you achieve success without being mired in the struggle.

Before going further, I need to address three fundamentals to make sure we're on the same page. I call them fundamentals because they're the basic building blocks of success. If you don't have these foundations in place, no amount of mindset work will help you.

The first is that you can only impact what you can control...and you cannot control the outcome.

This might seem like a strange thing to say but it's an important distinction. You see, most people focus on the things they can't control. They worry about the outcome, what other people think of them, or whether they're going to succeed or fail.

But here's the thing: you can't control any of those things. The only thing you can control is your actions.

So, if you want to be successful, focus on what you can directly control.

The second fundamental is that outcomes are a function of probabilities (and some luck). Focus on what's within your control to stack the odds in your favor.

This is similar to the first point but it's worth repeating. Outcomes are the result of many different factors, some of which you can control and others you cannot.

For example, you might want to start a business but there are no guarantees that it will be successful. 

However, there are certain things you can do to stack the odds in your favor...

You can research your industry, create a great product or service, build a strong team, and develop a solid marketing strategy.

Doing these things won't guarantee success but it does increase the probability that your business will be successful.

These are all things you can control that will increase the probability of success.

The third fundamental combines the two previous ones: in each moment, focus on the systems and processes that make it more likely that you'll achieve your goal.

In other words, focus on the inputs (the things you can control)...don't obsess over the outputs, which you can only influence not control.

What this means is that you need to have a plan and you need to be constantly working on executing that plan.

But it is important to not get too caught up in the results. Use the outputs/results simply as a way to measure progress and make adjustments to the inputs.

We'll delve into these fundamentals in greater detail throughout this 7-day challenge, and how they impact your mindset. But for now, just keep them in mind as you move forward.

Ok, with that out of the way, let's look at the No-Struggle Success Framework.

You'll notice that there's nothing earth-shattering here. It's all pretty common sense.

But, as we all know, common sense isn't so common. And that's where the challenge comes in.

Let's take a quick look at each pillar and how it works.

"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit." ~Aristotle

"You can't change your life until you change your habits." ~Jack Canfield

What you focus on grows, what you think about expands, and what you dwell upon determines your destiny. ~Robin Sharma

Did you notice something odd about that last quote?

I'll tell you the answer in just a moment.

First, let's level-set on why habits are one of the key pillars of the No-Struggle Success Framework.

A habit is defined as a behavior that's repeated so often it becomes automatic.

Most of us think of two types of habits: good and bad.

Good habits are the ones that help you move closer to your goals.

Bad habits, on the other hand, are the ones that hold you back.

Now, let's get back to that quote from Robin Sharma. Even though it's in the "habit" section, the odd thing is that the quote didn't mention "habit".

While most "break bad habits" methods tell you to focus on not doing the bad habit, Sharma's quote suggests that we should only focus on good habits.

In other words, don't focus on breaking bad entrepreneurial habits...focus on creating and building new good ones. Over time, your new good habits crowd out the bad ones.

It's a subtle but important distinction.

I learned this brilliant approach from BJ Fogg, who is one of the leading experts on habit change. And the creator of Tiny Habits.

As a Certified Tiny Habits Coach, I'll show you this new and innovative way to create and "break" habits without relying on willpower or motivation.

The reason the Tiny Habits approach is so powerful is that it changes your mindset from one of restriction to one of possibility.

And when you change your mindset, you change your life...

"Your mindset is everything. It's the core foundation from which your entire life expands." ~Jack Canfield

"The only thing standing between you and your goal is the bullshit story you keep telling yourself as to why you can't achieve it." ~Jordan Belfort

"If you want to change the way you see things, change the way you look at things." ~Maxwell Maltz

Mindset is like a flywheel. It takes time and effort to develop, but once you get it set in place - your success will be unstoppable!

Our mindsets can either help or hurt us.

Many people talk about having a great mindset but they seem to provide a partial solution. They focus on one or two aspects of the problem but ignore others.

For example, they might say that you need to develop a positive mindset and be optimistic. Or they'll tell you to get rid of your self-limiting beliefs. 

That's good advice. But it's incomplete. 

To have a winning mindset, you need to address each aspect of mindset. And the most successful model we've found is The Mindset Flywheel.

The Mindset Flywheel is a complete and comprehensive guide to developing a winning mindset. It is based on the idea that your mindset is a combination of three factors:

Possibility --> Identity --> Beliefs

Each part of the flywheel impacts all the others.

For example, many people think that they just need to focus on their actions to achieve their goals. But if your identity and beliefs are not aligned with your goal, then your actions will be ineffective.

It's important to understand this interconnection if you want to create a winning mindset. You can't just focus on one factor and hope the others will take care of themselves.

Possibility: What you believe is possible for yourself and your business.

It always seems impossible until it's done. ~Nelson Mandela

Nothing is impossible, the word itself says "I'm possible!" ~Audrey Hepburn

Start by doing what's necessary; then do what's possible, and suddenly you are doing the impossible. ~Francis of Assisi

"The difficult we can do immediately. The impossible takes a little longer" ~Unknown

When you want to achieve something, the first step is to feel that it is possible...for you.

Without that sense of possibility, you'll never take the first step. You'll never even try.

And that's why so many people never achieve their dreams. They don't believe they can.

So, the first part of creating a winning mindset is to develop a sense of possibility.

This will become even clearer as you apply it during the challenge.

Identity: How you see yourself as an entrepreneur.

"You become what you believe." ~Oprah Winfrey

"You are the product of your thoughts. What you think, you become." ~Buddha

"The most powerful question you can ask yourself is, 'What do I choose to believe about myself?'" ~Tony Robbins

Your identity is who you see yourself as. It's your self-image. It's who you're BEING in a given moment.

Do you see yourself as someone capable of being a happy and successful entrepreneur?

Many people have all the skills that it takes to succeed but simply cannot see themselves as successful. It doesn't fit their self-image, their identity.

If you want to change your life, you need to change your identity. See yourself as the person who has already achieved your goal.

This is not easy. But it's necessary if you want to achieve anything great.

Once you have a clear picture of who you want to become, it will be easier to take actions that are consistent with that identity.

Each lesson in the challenge will allow you to try this out. It's VERY powerful!

Beliefs: The stories and narratives that you tell yourself about entrepreneurship, success, and failure.

"Our beliefs are a filter through which we see the world." ~Tony Robbins

"Whether you think you can or whether you think you can't, you're right." ~Henry Ford

"Your beliefs become your thoughts, Your thoughts become your words, Your words become your actions, Your actions become your habits, Your habits become your values, And your values become your destiny." ~Mahatma Gandhi

Your beliefs determine how you see the world. They are like a filter that affects everything you do.

If you believe that it's impossible to achieve your goal, then you will never take action.

On the other hand, if you believe that anything is possible, then you will be more likely to take action and achieve your goal.

Your beliefs become your thoughts, which become your words, your actions, and your habits.

Therefore, it's important to choose your beliefs carefully.

The challenge will give you a chance to practice this. Every day, you will be allowed to reframe your thinking and choose more empowering beliefs.

This is one of the most important skills you can learn because it will give you the ability to control your thoughts and emotions, regardless of what is happening in your life.

By reframing your thinking, you can change your beliefs, which impacts everything else. This will give you the power to achieve anything you want in life.

"Your actions speak so loudly that I cannot hear what you are saying." ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Success is the sum of small efforts, repeated day in and day out." ~Robert Collier

"You are what you do, not what you say you'll do." ~C.G. Jung

Action is what you do day-to-day in your business. It's the energetic and dynamic element of Fire.

To achieve your goals without struggle, you need to take massive action.

But, as you'll see, taking massive action is easy when you have the right habits and mindset in place.

Your actions are what determine your success or failure.

It doesn't matter how many times you tell yourself that you're going to achieve your goal. If you don't take action, then you'll never achieve it.

Many woo-woo gurus erroneously talk about the law of attraction. This is the idea that if you think positive thoughts, then good things will happen to you without needing to do anything.

But you can't sit on your couch all day and expect to become a millionaire. You have to take action.

This is why the most important part of this 7-day challenge is the action that you'll take.

"When you let go, you create space for something better to come into your life." ~Unknown

"The only way to make sense out of change is to plunge into it, move with it, and join the dance." ~Alan Watts

"The hardest thing is to let go. I don't know why people hold on to things that hurt them, but they do." ~Toni Morrison

Using the analogy of building muscle, fire is weightlifting while water is recovery.

You need both to build a strong and healthy body.

In the same way, you need both action and recovery to achieve your goals.

Letting go is what allows you to recover and prepare for the next round of action.

It's also what allows you to stay flexible and adapt to change.

Change is a constant in life. It's the only thing that's constant.

The best way to deal with change is to accept it and embrace it.

It's the adaptable and receptive element of Water.

Letting go is about accepting reality for what it is and then taking action from there.

This doesn't mean that you give up on your goals. It means that you accept that there are some things beyond your control and you focus on the things that you can control.

For example, you can't control the economy. You can't control whether or not people like your product.

But you can control your habits, your mindset, and your actions.

Many people do all the right things to achieve success but they don't get the results they want because they're not letting go.

They get stuck in the cycle of trying to control things that they can't control and this causes them massive stress and anxiety.

If you want to achieve your goals without struggling, then you need to focus on the things that you can control and let go of the things that you can't.

This is why letting go is such an important part of this challenge.

Over the next six days, you will apply what you've learned today to powerfully move through some of the insidious entrepreneurial mindset traps. Ones that can keep you from success no matter how talented or hardworking you are.

Make a list of the morning habits that you do almost without thinking about it (e.g., make a cup of coffee, brush your teeth, etc.) In future lessons, you'll leverage these to create habits that stick.

Possibility: What if you could download the sense of possibility from an entrepreneur that you admired. How does this change your sense of what's possible in your business?

Identity: Make a list of all the qualities happy and successful entrepreneur. For example, if you want to be a successful entrepreneur, then your new identity might have the qualities of being creative, risk-taker, innovative, etc.

Beliefs: The best way to change your beliefs is to question them. Why do you believe what you believe? Is it true? How can you reframe your beliefs to empower yourself?

Make a list of the top 10 things you did your business over the last 7 days. Now order this list from closest to farthest from impacting your bottom line. For example, if you're a real estate agent, things that would be close to your bottom line are:

1. Showing houses
2. Writing offers
3. Prospecting
4. Attending closings
5. Building relationships with banks
6. Organizing your office
7. Perfecting your logo
8. Taking another course (without immediate action)
9. Thinking about what you're going to do tomorrow
10. Complaining to your colleague about the housing market

List 5 things that help you disconnect and completely relax