11 Principles to Living an Extraordinary Life

Hey reader,

What are your guiding principles in life?

Do you have any?

If not… you need them.

Let me explain!

“We control our actions, but the consequences that flow from those actions are controlled by principles.” — Stephen R. Covey,

You don’t control the outcomes of your life.

You don’t control your health.

You don’t control your wealth.

You control your actions and inputs. Principles control the outcome.

You continue to spend less than you earn and save and invest what is left — the principle of compound interest will make you wealthy.

You continue to eat healthy food — your natural system governed by principles will make you healthy.

You continue to feed your brain with books and learning — the principles of neuroscience will change the way you think.

Everything in life is governed by a set of principles…and who you are now is the product of those principles in action.

But note…

You don’t see the results of those actions immediately. Spending £3.50 on a coffee every day, doesn’t seem much… but the principle of compound interest would turn that into £185 k over 30 years.

Mind Blowing… I know!

And it’s because of this, everything you do matters! You can’t escape principles. There is no hiding.

Continue to eat crap… you will become unhealthy.

Continue to not exercise… you will become unfit.

Continue to spend more than you earn… you will be in debt.

Sounds scary right! For me… quite the opposite… I find it empowering. It reminds me that everyone is the designer of their destiny. EVERYONE got to where they are now as a result of principles in action.

And when we understand what these principles are we can predict the outcomes of our behaviours… which in turn should determine our behaviours.

And this understanding has given me an element of trust and patience.

Before I used to ruminate on ‘whether I’d be a success or not’. It felt like I was throwing shit at the wall and seeing what would stick.

Now… I know I am going to be successful. Not because I am anyone special but because I have reverse engineered the principles that create success, health, wealth and great relationships.

How did/am I reverse engineering these principles… by the guiding principle of Quality In — Quality Out. In other words… by reading, learning and feeding my mind… consistently.

And from these inputs I have created my own set of guiding principles.

Which Ray Dalio describes as,

“fundamental truths that serve as the foundations for behaviour that gets you want you want in your life. They can be applied again and again in similar situations to help you achieve your goals.”

So here are my 11 Principles to Living an Extraordinary Life…

1. Surrender to the outcome. Go all in. Fall in love with the process. Stay in the game.
2. Wherever you are, be all there.
3. What you do on the tough days, determines what you do on the extraordinary days.
4. Help others achieve their dreams, and you will achieve yours.
5. You have to be, before you can do, and do before you can have.
6. Life happens for you, not to you.
7. Accept the present moment as if you chose it to be this way.
8. Always choose courage over comfort.
9. Every thought matters. Everything you do matters. Everything you consume matters. They are all votes for your future self.
10. To become who you want to be, you need to let go of who you were.
11. The more you fall in love with your future self, the easier hard decisions are today.

I know if I live by these I will get everything that I want in life… that’s the power of principles.

So I’d encourage you to spend some time creating your own. Read the autobiographies of the people you aspire to be. Be who have created financial, physical and emotional freedom. People who are living a fully engaged and wholehearted life. Learn how they think. Their rules and principles for living. Pick what resonates with you. Embed them into your heart. Hold them close and don’t ever let them go (sounds like an Adele lyric that one!)

Enjoy and reach out if you have any questions.

Big love,

Joel

P.S. I am now at my capacity for 1–2–1 coaching, but click here if you want to apply and join my waitlist.