Hi All,

At UPW July 2017, my biggest takeaway was realizing that what I have always wanted
was all I’ve ever needed... to be a good person. (simply put)
I continually remind myself that WE (all of us) exist to thrive, not simply survive, and
so I intend on sharing an extraordinary life. (No longer only chasing some distant
reward that’s tied to the END of life, the afterlife or avoiding hell; where "winning" and
dying are close in proximity, a reward defined by the end of trying, sweating or
maximum effort.) ??The rewards of this life lay in the pursuit, in the journey - where
they will be enjoyed and more importantly SHARED, which magnifies any prize
exponentially.
That said - this extraordinary life cannot ever be the result of luck, since luck implies an
effortlessness that strips out any possibility of progress, gratitude, happiness and
fulfillment. Thus, negating the possibility of extraordinary-ism.
Being lucky and being blessed are two very different things, one being the result of
focus and intention and the other… not so much.
I want to work, I want to try, I want to sweat, I want to bleed, I want to cry, I want to feel
hopeless, and if I must hit the mat often… bring it on!
Because I will get up, and I will rip my shirt off and ROAR in victory!
Stronger, bigger and better than before, each time gaining further ability to be more,
give more & do more for my wife - the love of my life & my children the who give
meaning to it all!
I hope these experiences inspire me and afford me more means and more time to
contribute even more to help others, outside of myself as much as possible.
So, I will pray and ask god to grace me, you and all of us with the blessing of health
and the perseverance to see it all through. That the level of reward, the gratitude for
the progress, and outcome inspire us all to do it all over again.

This list below - a work in constant progress - is a part of my journey.

Sharing it helps ME more than it helps you. I’M VERY HAPPY IF IT HELPS YOU.

~Zeke
TONY-ISM’S NOTES FROM UPW plus….
• Complexity is the enemy of execution.
• Failing to plan means planning to fail
We must PLAN our success not simply hope, want or wish for it, since SUCCESS never happens by
accident. PROGRESS is never the result of luck or hope.
That's because PROGRESS requires both planning & focus.
Which is why PROGRESS = HAPPINESS
• You can only build on success; you can’t build on failure. Meaning don’t simply move forward on
projects that are failing or have elements of failure.
• Not only does our culture tolerate BLAME, it reinforces our making excuses & blaming of others.
The only reason we tolerate this blame is because we are so afraid of GD forbid feeling sorry for
ourselves. STOP FINDING EXCUSES! We must take responsibility for ourselves.
• Our culture encourages us to STAY SIMPLE & STAY “NORMAL” I.e. SO you should give up the
quest for the cheerleading section whenever you strive for anything that is out of the ordinary. You
will always get way more encouragement to do the things that are familiar.
• CHANGE YOUR WORDS, CHANGE YOUR LIFE!
Transformational Vocabulary …USE IT EVERY DAY, WHENEVER POSSIBLE!
According to Compton’s Encyclopedia, the English language contains about 500,000 words.
Yet the average person’s entire vocabulary database is only 2,000 words – only 0.5% of the entire
ENGLISH language. Further than that - the same average person only really uses the same 200-
300 words most of the time! Out of a half a million words!!! 0.0006% of the entire ENGLISH
LANGUAGE!!!
If you want to change for life, if you want to shape your decisions and your actions, shifting your
emotional patterns are the key. One fundamental tool that can change emotional patterns faster than
anything else is consciously selecting the words you’re going to use to describe how you feel.
This is how you create a level of choice instead of a habitual reaction. What would your life be like
if you could take all your negative emotions and consistently lower their intensity? Just like turning
down the volume! And equally - How much greater would the quality of your life be if you could
intensify every positive experience you’ve ever had? Start small. Make note of the negative words you
use on a consistent basis and ask yourself how you can change them. I.e. is an upcoming opportunity
“just okay” or can it be “great if I put in 100% effort, like I know I can!” or can you be a little “peeved”
instead of “devastated”? On the other hand, can you feel “ecstatic” instead of just “pleased?”
Whatever words you hold in your mind on a consistent basis directly shape your
thoughts, which in turn shape your actions.
Choose to start living a more positive, joyful life today and create beneficial habits that will change your
life for the better. REMEMBER this is a fact! - Words have a biochemical effect on the body, so be
VERY selective of the language you use: ESPECIALLY ABOUT YOURSELF!
• ENERGY & PEAK STATE of mind are everything. Any outcome that didn’t involve both high energy &
a peak state wasn’t maximized. The higher your energy level, the more efficient your body, the better
you feel and the more you will use your talent to produce outstanding results.
• When you have HIGH ENERGY, you have 1000 times greater chances of success
• In life you need either inspiration or desperation.
• Stress is a code word for FEAR.
• Stress doesn’t come from the facts (or circumstances), stress comes from whichever meaning WE
assign to the facts. When we assign a new meaning, we get a new life.
• Out of your deepest pain will come your greatest gifts, but this will only happen once you
take control of defining what the pain means.

• SUCCESS is the result of good judgment

Good judgement is the result of experience
 Experience is the result of bad judgment
• It is your decisions NOT your conditions, that determine your destiny.
• It is in your moments of DECISION, that your destiny is shaped.
• A real decision is measured by the fact that you’ve taken a new action towards it. . . If there’s no
action, you haven’t truly decided.”
1. The following 3 [split-second] decisions that we all make, will determine the outcome of each & every
moment of our lives:
1. What to focus on
2. What things mean
3. What to do (in spite of the challenges that may appear.)

• Life is happening FOR me not TO me - when we suffer it’s because we are overlooking the gifts
around us.
• Trade expectation for appreciation and your whole life changes in an instant.
~Because~
a. You can’t feel grateful and fearful at the same time
b. You can’t feel grateful and angry at the same time.
• When you are grateful - fear disappears and abundance appears
• CELEBRATION releases stress, it lifts your mood, motivates you, and lastly, it gives you energy.
Not only physically, but it gives you energy for life!
When we adopt an attitude of gratitude, suddenly celebrating for “no good reason”, is a good
enough reason.
• The Past does not equal the Future. Biography does not equal Destiny.
• WHY WE DO WHAT WE DO –
6 human needs
Everything we do, we do for a reason. The good news is there are only 6 reasons: the 6 are below:
every action is motivated by trying to meet 1 or more of the 6 human needs below: Each NEED can be
met [constructively/positive] or [destructively/negative] or [neutral]

1. Certainty: assurance you can avoid pain and gain pleasure

2. Uncertainty/Variety: the need for the unknown, change, new stimuli
3. Significance: feeling unique, important, special or needed
4. Connection/Love: a strong feeling of closeness or union with someone or something
5. Growth: an expansion of capacity, capability or understanding
6. Contribution: a sense of service and focus on helping, giving to and supporting others

While each human being is unique, we all share nervous systems that function in the same way. Therefore we all
share these six fundamental needs, all human behavior is simply an attempt to meet these six needs.
The ways people can potentially meet these six needs are unlimited.
But it’s not that simple, the tricky part is that each person values these 6 needs differently, and in their own order
of importance.
While some people value CERTAINTY & SIGNIFICANCE above all else, others may value SIGNIFICANCE &
LOVE more.
To be clear every single person in the world meets needs one through 4 somehow and may never truly meet
needs 5 and 6.
How we attempt to meet needs 1-4 in this list above, shapes our personality, and the last two (growth and
contribution) the needs of the spirit – are where happiness and fulfillment come from.
Additionally, each person’s life is driven or determined by their top valued 2 needs.
 A B C D E
1 Love or at least connection 1 Significance 1 Significance 1 Contribution 1 Growth
2 Certainty 2 Uncertainty 2 Uncertainty 2 Love or at least connection 2 Contribution
3 Significance 3 Certainty 3 Certainty 3 Certainty 3 Certainty
4 Growth 4 Growth 4 Growth 3 Significance 4 Love or at least connection
5 Uncertainty 5 Love or at least connection 5 Love or at least connection 4 Growth 5 Significance
6 Contribution 6 Contribution 6 Contribution 6 Uncertainty 6 Uncertainty

Looking at the chart above Person A would display a completely different life from person B, C, D or E. But did
you notice that B & C are identical? Remember that doesn’t mean these 2 people would have the same life
because needs don’t have to be met positively and can be met negatively. While person B may be pursuing
significance by buying a Ferrari person C might be pursuing significance by being president of the United States
or being a great athlete or person be might be pursuing certainty by smoking cigarettes or doing drugs, person C
may be pursuing Certainty by making sure all of their monthly bills are paid for.
Looking at person E you might guess at how that life may look.
A potential problem can be when significance & certainty are the top two most valuable needs of your
personality. Your life is almost guaranteed to have problems.
Here’s why: valuing certainty above all else, you’ll more than likely need your life to stay the same — something
that life simply does not do. To keep your life the same, you’ll have to artificially control your environment, people
and yourself. To achieve that you will either lower your expectations and settle for less or just be stressed out and
disappointed all the time, both unsustainable.
Now add the high value on significance - you always have to be competing with someone else. Since
significance is a comparison-based need. More than likely, you’ll have to lie to yourself about your real abilities or
surround yourself with people that are less skilled, to help you fill your significance and certainty buckets.
Now you’ll begin to understand how ALL dysfunctional behaviors arise from our inability to consistently meet
these six needs.
But, if you are able to reach them, in a constructive way like gaining certainty by jogging daily or feeling
significant through contribution —and start valuing love and variety higher — while additionally focusing on
GROWTH and CONTRIBUTION you will achieve happiness and fulfillment.
Understanding these needs, and which ones you or those around you are trying to meet in any given moment,
can help you create new constructive patterns that lead to lasting fulfillment and put a stop to self-sabotage.
Otherwise unfortunately most people wind up giving up on their goals, dreams and values to meet their needs.

Imagine each of 6 needs as if they’re 6 empty BUCKETS which we all currently fill robotically.
ALL OF US have learned, mostly subconsciously ways to fill our NEEDS buckets. And most of us are unaware
or unintentional about how we’ve been doing this, so the odds that you’ve been filling all of your buckets in a
positive way, by sheer luck are highly unlikely. Don’t let that get you down, it’s the same for everyone!
More than likely, you’re also oblivious to hurting someone around you, and hurting yourself in YOUR pursuit of
filling the needs buckets. (at their expense)
Furthermore, THE MIND will never sacrifice your bucket being filled, and will go to great lengths to mask what’s
really happening. Yes, just like a drug addict you will hold onto that filling method for dear life.
In fact, if you’ve ever used recreational drugs it was ALWAYS an attempt at a shortcut to meet any or all of needs
1-4 in a non-sustainable, negative way.
• Any time your mind perceives that doing something, feeling something, or believing something
meets three of your needs; it becomes an addiction.
• The quality of our lives is in direct proportion to the amount of uncertainty we can comfortably live
with.
• It is not what we get, but rather who we become (in order to get it) & what we contribute… that gives
meaning to our lives.
• A BELIEF is simply a feeling of certainty about what something means.
• A STRATEGY is a system of producing a consistent result.
• Faith is freedom.
• Like it or not - We’ve all allowed ourselves to be programmed. There is a way beyond the way you’ve
been programmed, and that is to PROGRAM YOURSELF.
• People who succeed long term live on PULL not PUSH. Being drawn towards a compelling future vs.
away from the past. Running away is all about will power. Will power only lasts so long, then it’s over.
• If you don’t like the answers, ask better questions.
• “Successful people ask better questions, and as a result, they get better answers.” I.e.
How can I lose 50lbs and enjoy it, versus - how can I lose some weight?
• Life is happening FOR me not TO me. – Had my father been the man I wished him to be, I would not be
the man I’m proud to be today…
• Who you spend time with IS who you become. Choose wisely…
• People’s lives are a direct reflection of the expectations of their peer group. If your peer group
has the expectation of you being a failure vs. an expectation of you being a success… or, playing chess
against a master vs. playing against a novice
• PROXIMITY is power.
• We will act consistently with our own take or view of who we truly are, whether that view is accurate
or not. (So be specific accurate and intentional about how you see yourself DEFINE YOURSELF!) i.e.
believing I’m ditzy or I’m not a good swimmer, I’m the worst driver, I am afraid of public speaking, I
hate working out…If this is our definition of ourselves then there’s no sense in wondering WHY we
can’t swim drive, speak in public or get to the gym…

• FEED YOUR MIND! No matter how smart, savvy or how inspired you are – if you don’t stand
guard at the door of your mind, then you are giving your mind the implied approval and acceptance
of whatever disempowering, disenchanting and disillusioning information that enters.
Stand guard at the door of your mind, in terms of what you allow in it. Yes - this is a mindset of not
accepting this type of negative information or activity any longer in your life passively or actively etc. If
you are what you eat then you are what you feed your mind. (I.e. if you’re internalizing mega-
materialism, sexual deviants & shallow a-morals either in your life or on television, guess what? That
data, that energy finds a place to appear in your life! You know very well it doesn’t just disappear.
The beauty is that the opposite is true. When we take in positive, awe inspiring, beautiful,
empowering information, guess what? Positivity, inspiration, beauty, and empowerment find their
way into our lives! As much as we don’t want to believe that this is true, we all know that it must be.
Just as we know that toxic foods have an immediate, direct negative impact on our physical and
emotional fitness, we know that mental food is no different.
Don’t kid yourself! What you feed your mind will show up in your life.
Ask yourself how much of the garbage that is now in your life is the result of something you read, saw,
heard about, laughed or talked about?
What behaviors in others have you silently tolerated, when you should have corrected it?
When we silently tolerate anyone’s behavior we are directly approving it.
(And no I didn’t mean indirectly)
Surround yourself with people who want to make you better, people who put you in peak states.
And PLEASE!! Simply knowing this does not make you immune or an exception.
If there’s anything [in this list] you’ll try and reconcile not having to actually do, it’s this one.
We’re all guilty of the belief (on some level)
that KNOWING what’s right almost excuses us from consistently DOING what’s right.
it is the single biggest “know it all’s” many SELF-CONS⚠
Lots of people KNOW what to do; the trick is actually DOING what we know!
(very few do)
KNOWING is useless without DOING! EXECUTION trumps knowledge EVERY TIME
“Whatever we focus on, we feel” — regardless of what actually happened.
WHATEVER YOU FOCUS ON, GROWS…WHERE FOCUS GOES, ENERGY FLOWS!
(Whatever we nurture will grow)
SO Feed your mind properly and change the quality of your life.
 • Reticular Activation System (RAS)
The RAS is a filter that’s applied to the staggering amount of data that
gets picked up by your five senses. This filter works 24/7. It is, in fact,
the only thing keeping you from being overwhelmed by the 2 billion
bits of information passing through your sensory organs each
second.
The RAS essentially “decides for you” exactly what you will
consciously give your attention to at any given moment. It then
filters out the remaining data and transfers it over to the Inner Mind. It’s
somewhat of a reference collector that directs your focus and
shapes your beliefs.

When you set a goal, you communicate to your RAS that anything associated with that goal is important to
you. Your RAS then goes to work bringing to your attention anything associated with that goal.

Basics of The Reticular Activating System

Your brain can adjust where it and how it uses energy with you having to consciously think about it.
We have a bundle of neurons called the Reticular Formation (RF).
The RF controls cardiovascular functions, pain, sleep/consciousness, and most importantly, habituation (where
the Reticular Activating System plays the most important part).
The Reticular Activating System (RAS, also called extra-thalamic control modulatory system) controls
everything from wakefulness (orexin/histamine) to focus (dopamine/glutaminergic), fight and flight activation,
and how we perceive the world. R
Thus, the RAS can control most aspects of the Central Nervous System (CNS). R R
I propose that if you master controlling the RAS, you may be able to have extreme focus or power to use your
mental energy however you want.
Essentially, you'd be able to choose the "flow" of your energy, just by changing your "focus".
This may even explain some things like the "law of attraction" and why we connect so well to other's on our
"same wavelength".

Very briefly, the RAS controls:

• Consciousness R
• Fight vs flight response R
• Focus R
• GI Motility R
• Pain (such as Itching) R
• Self-perception R
• Wakefulness/Sleep R

• Leaders are READERS: Minimum input = 30 minutes a day. (A book or an audio! Something
MEANINGFUL! Fluff pieces, social media, magazines or infographics DO NOT COUNT.)
• You see in life, lots of people know what to do, but few people actually do what they know.
Knowing is not enough! You must take action.
• Knowledge is not power…its potential power. Execution will trump knowledge any day.
• Necessity is the mother of invention
• Losers react, winners anticipate
• If you do what you’ve always done, you’ll get what you’ve always gotten
• People are not lazy; they simply have goals that DON’T inspire them.
• The meeting of preparation with opportunity generates the offspring we call luck
• Some call it luck, some call it GD, and some call it grace. Call it what you want, there is a
guiding force that shows up in all of our lives - The more you acknowledge it, the more it
appears!
• Someone else is happy with less than what you have
• If you want to change your life, if you want to shape your decisions and your actions, shifting your
emotional patterns is the key
• Emotion is created by motion!
• CHANGE YOUR STATE! (Change your PHYSIOLOGY, which changes your emotions to make
better decisions and choices)
• “Where focus goes, energy flows” (our THOUGHTS = ENERGY) i.e. we will feel whatever we decide to
focus on.
SO, CHANGE your focus and you will change your feelings
• If you want to change your life, “RAISE YOUR STANDARDS” - change your SHOULD’ s into MUST’s
• If you want to take the island, you gotta burn the fucking boats!
• The secret to LIVING is GIVING
• We all get what we tolerate.
• The path of least resistance will never make you proud.

• Progress = happiness “I’m working on CHANGE” ever hear someone say that?
Whether you like it or not or want it or not - your body, the economy, the weather, relationships, your
businesses etc., are all going to change all by themselves.
Go to sleep for 20 years and I guarantee when you wake up all the above and more will have
CHANGED… A LOT.
Don’t sweat it, you don’t have to work on change, because “change” is automatic, but PROGRESS is
not.
PROGRESS is never the result of luck or hope.
That's because PROGRESS requires both planning & focus.
Which is why PROGRESS = HAPPINESS
#change your #strategy to #progress = #happiness
• If we don’t grow, we die
• People are rewarded in public for what they do in private
• Most people overestimate what they can do in a year, and underestimate what they can do in 5-10.
• NEWSFLASH! Life’s reward system isn’t fair. THE LEVEL OF the rewards we receive are not equal to
THE LEVEL OF our efforts. i.e.
 Good Effort = ZERO/POOR REWARDS
 Great Effort = Good Rewards
 Excellent Effort = Great Rewards
+ ADD ONLY (2mm) or a drop more effort… just a drop more you’re so close
 Outstanding Effort = EXCELLENT Rewards!!!
• If you treat people at the end of the relationship like you did at the beginning, then there won’t be an
end.

• What stops us all from moving forward is FEAR: The two primary fears that we all share are:
1. The fear that we’re not ENOUGH,
And therefore -
2. The fear that we won’t be LOVED
• The only thing that's keeping you from getting what you want is the old limiting story you keep telling
yourself. How long ago did we accept these limitations? (Remember the baby elephant?)
• In BUSINESS Only 3 things will ever hold you back:
1. Failure to anticipate
2. Lack of follow through
 3. Our own psychology and mindset

• The following is the FORMULA FOR LASTING CHANGE:

1. This MUST change NOW! (Not it should or it would be nice)
2. I MUST change it NOW! (Assuming soul responsibility for making the change REGARDLESS and
independent of others or variables).
3. I CAN change it NOW! (Know that you can!)

• The ultimate SUCCESS FORMULA:

1. Know your desired OUTCOME (clarity is power)
2. Know your WHY, and know why this outcome is a MUST (this makes all the difference!)
3. Take MASSIVE ACTION
4. “Know what you get” - (i.e. see if this action is working?)Take a pulse (know what you are or are
not getting)
5. Change your action if need be (based on #4) then repeat #4 & 5 until you get the desired
outcome.

• “If you don’t have goals, you will be working for someone who does”
• Whenever we are happy with something with a particular area in our lives, it is because right now, the
conditions of our life match our blueprint, or our beliefs about how life should be in that particular area.
We are unhappy; when there is a mismatch and it’s a signal for us to review or look at our blueprint.
There are two options:
1. Either change our LIFE CONDITIONS - that is, do something to close the gap between where
you are and where you want to be.
2. Or if you can’t change your life conditions, you must change your BLUEPRINT.
Suffering and depression come when life conditions do not match our blueprint and one step
further…immense suffering (dark nights of the soul) comes when we somehow believe that we
have no power to change anything. THIS IS NEVER TRUE.
• The quality of your life is equal to the quality of your relationships.
Bottom line, if you’re not happy in your relationship; YOU AREN’T HAPPY PERIOD!
• Success without fulfillment is ultimate failure.
• Achievement is a science, fulfillment is an art.
• Only those who have learned the power of sincere and selfless contribution experience life’s deepest
joy: true fulfillment
• “I discovered a long time ago that if I helped enough people get what they wanted, I would always get
what I wanted, and I would never have to worry”.

• Prime yourself for GOOD daily - if you don’t have 10 minutes, you don’t have a life:
Healing | Solve | Strengthen | Celebrate | Serve
If you practice priming regularly, you’ll without fail experience an incredible shift in the quality of your
thoughts and emotions. Which will in turn have tremendous impact on your decisions and ultimately
your destiny… give it a try!

• “Whatever we focus on, we feel” — regardless of what actually happened.

The human brain isn't designed to make us happy and fulfilled. It's designed to make us survive.
THE BRAIN…This two-million-year-old organ is by default always looking for what's wrong, for
whatever can hurt us, so that we can either fight it or take flight from it. There can be 1000 beautiful
things to notice and our brain will easily find and focus on the one negative thing. This Ability to see
 what’s wrong is not a talent but rather the result of having an unexercised brain. Only the simple-
minded pride themselves for being masters with the ability to consistently find and point out what’s
wrong. So get intentional with your focus! Otherwise by default you will always look for and find
whatever is wrong.

• DISCIPLINE weighs ounces, REGRET weighs tons.

“I challenge you to make your life a masterpiece. I challenge you to join the ranks of those people who
live what they teach, who walk their talk.” ~ Tony Robbins