Experience

Here’s a fun fact for you:

You don’t know how to ride a bicycle.

Your body knows. But you don’t.

Don’t believe me?

Alright, let’s play a game to test it then, shall we?

Imagine you’re riding a bicycle. You’re currently cycling straight ahead on a flat road. No curves, no hills, no nothing.

So what are you physically doing?

Well, your feet are on the pedals, pedaling away, and your hands are on the steering wheel stabilizing (although the bike does most of the stabilizing on its own—but let’s ignore that for now).

So far so good.

Now, 20 meters in front of you there’s a curve to the right coming up.

Ok so you'll want to make a right.

But how?

I’m serious. Think about it. Put your hands in front of you as if you’re actually on a bike right now. What movement do your hands make in order for you to turn right?

Did you think about your answer?

…

If you answered something along the lines of, “I just turn the steering wheel to the right” then you, my friend, would’ve crashed and clearly don’t know how to ride a bike. At least not mentally.

I’m sure you would’ve made the turn just fine in practice.

But only because your body knows what to do.

See, there’s a lot of forces at play here. But to keep it simple. When cycling your body and your bike are moving at the same speed straight ahead and your center of gravity (of your body) is right above the bike, meaning you’ll stay upright just fine.

Now what happens if you suddenly steer to the right, just like that?

Well, then the bike will steer to the right (that’s true enough) but your body still hasn’t adapted yet. It want’s to keep moving straight ahead, at this point your center of gravity is off and you’ll fall.

In order for your body to adapt (and make the turn correctly) you have to do something called “counter-steering”.

Aka, you have to, ever so slightly, turn left FIRST before turning right.

This makes it so your body will start “falling” to the right, after which you’re able to actually turn your steering wheel to the right, so that the bike will catch your body as it’s “falling”, and successfully make the turn.

Yes, this is how turning works on a bike. This is a fact. No this is not made up. There’s actual science behind it. And yes you can quickly verify this yourself by simply googling “countersteering” and reading the wikipedia page that comes up.

In fact, here it is:

===

“To negotiate a turn successfully, the combined center of mass of the rider and the single-track vehicle must first be leaned in the direction of the turn, and steering briefly in the opposite direction causes that lean” — Wikipedia

===

Why am I telling you this?

Well simply because it’s a phenomenal thing to realize. Ask this to all of your friends or colleagues. I can guarantee almost nobody will actively know this.

And yet, I’m pretty sure almost everyone will make that turn correctly (all the while constantly “counter-steering” in the process.

It's the simple fact that your brain & body work together in such spectacular and almost magical ways, sometimes (read: often) even beyond human comprehension (for now at least).

At the end of the day, “knowing” something isn't nearly as important as having experienced something.

You can read all you want about counter steering. It won't help you turn your bike until your body (not your mind) figured it out through first-hand experience (that mean by trial and error).

Bottom line?

You “learn” by doing, wether you mentally realize it or not.

So if you want to improve, let's say, your email writing skills? Then writing an email every single day quite possibly the best thing you could do (there's nothing even close to the amount of improvement you'll see)

And to help get started doing just that, check out Email Valhalla here: https://alexvandromme.com/valhalla/

I used to hop on many sales calls back in the day.

Back then I was still very much running a client-based business. Specifically consulting clients.

But there was one problem.

A large one holding me back from getting a vast amount of clients… or any other “success” metric, for that matter.

The problem?

I was needy.

I just needed to get those clients. I needed to close them, no matter the cost. To convince them to give me money—even though, in some cases, I just made up my offer a few hours prior to the call.

And as anybody intuitively knows… it doesn’t pay to be greedy.

You need to understand that in every interaction, whoever needs the result less has the power. They have the upper hand. They have the bargaining power. This goes for everything. From sales calls to applying for a job, going on dates, selling second-hand products, asking for a raise, buying a car, deciding where to go on holiday next year, hell even deciding where to eat.

So if you want to make the most out of every life situation, understand this:

You are the prize.

They need to pass your qualifying process. Not the other way around.

Even if you don’t feel like you’re the prize, figure out your shit and find a way to feel like the prize. No matter what process or growth you have to go through to end up feeling like it. Work on yourself. Get yourself physically, mentally, and physically right. All of these will aid in every aspect of your life. And the result will be a mindset shift that’ll serve you for decades to come.

And while this is a mindset shift you can technically make at all times.

There is a practical element you could do to make it easier for you to reach this state of feeling like the prize.

More specifically, the act of getting results.

No matter how paradoxical—or obvious—it sounds. Getting results will help you get more results. Not just because of the case studies, the referrals, the social proof, or anything else of the sort.

It’s all because you’ll trust in yourself and your ability to get results. Which means you won’t ever be needy ever again.

You know you can easily get results again, no worries.

There’s more than enough fish in the sea, that’s for sure.

This also applies to your emails.

A needy email will never sell. It’ll only hurt you.

Speaking of important email lessons. If you’d like to master the art of writing daily entertaining emails that get you paid and keep your readers reading day after day, check out my flagship course, Email Valhalla, to learn all about it.

Click here for more information: https://alexvandromme.com/valhalla/

It’s not Thursday today, but I was in a nostalgic mood and thought it time for a throwback.

More precisely, I went back and looked at one of the very first “daily emails” I wrote.

Here it is:

===

Look.

If you had one shot.

Or one opportunity.

To seize everything you ever wanted.

One moment.

Would you capture it?

Or just let it slip?

Yes I've just quoted Eminem.

Why?

Because I'm a big fan first of all.

But also because I need to remind myself of this way too often.

I'm working towards building my dream life every single day.

And it feels good.

Too good sometimes.

I'm working so hard to reach a certain milestone.

And when I reach it? I have to celebrate ofcourse.

But that celebration can become dangerous.

I become complacent. I stop putting in the same level of effort that got me here.

I need to become aware of the fact that the race isn't over. Far from it.

There's still so much more to do.

I have to remind myself to keep on the lookout. On the lookout for great opportunities to come along.

And most importantly. To jump on them as soon as I can. No hesitation.

Opportunities that can change your life are rare to find. Don't let them get away from you.

===

It then goes on to promote my consulting calls.

But the content of the email itself isn’t important right now. What’s important is that I hope you can clearly see how my emails today differ with the ones I was writing a year ago—and how much better my emails are today.

Goes to show you the power of consistent practice.

Anyway.

If you’d like to get your consistent practice in as well and master the art of daily email writing, then check out Email Valhalla here: https://alexvandromme.com/valhalla

I was watching an interview with Christopher Nolan on the ReelBlend podcast the other day.

One of the most interesting things Nolan said was how he didn’t go to film school.

Just imagine that. One of the biggest, best, and definitely one of the most popular, directors currently around. Yet he didn’t go to film school or any other form of formal training in the art.

Instead, he simply got in there and started practicing making films at an early age.

Nolan was seven years old when he first borrowed his dad’s Super 8 camera to play around with.

He loved watching other films, thinking about the narratives, and just indulging himself in the world of cinema.

But that’s not where our story ends.

Christopher Nolan isn’t the only person where this is the case. Coincidentally, another big industry name who works closely together with Nolan, and someone who, as you may (or may not) know, I can’t seem to shut up about, also didn’t have any formal training.

More specifically, Hans Zimmer.

Zimmer never went to music school. Instead, he used to play in rock/punk band when he was younger and loved to improve music on the piano or create his own compositions.

Now, this isn’t to say the only solution for you is to start young.

Maybe it is if you want to compete at the highest level of Hollywood. But I’m guessing that’s not your gig. And it’s not mine either.

Instead, I want you to realize the importance of going out there in putting in the work. Getting the practical experience. Getting your hands dirty so to say. You don’t have to get some formal schooling to be good at your craft (this isn’t medical advice).

I don’t care how if you’ve gone to business school, med school, music school, or no school at all.

The only thing that matters is how often you’re practicing your craft.

And that’s one of the many, many, seriously many, reasons why I recommend you and everybody else to start mailing daily and start doing so today. The amount of growth you’ll experience is almost unfathomable—both in personal ability as well as in business and revenue growth.

You don’t need to go to email or business school to get started.

But getting a quick 1–2 hour introduction to point you in the right direction never hurts.

With that said.

Check out Email Valhalla to learn the foundations and avoid the early pitfalls so you can focus on getting in there and getting that practice in starting today.

Here’s the link for more information: https://alexvandromme.com/valhalla