The Millennial Playbook: Proven Success Strategies for the Millennial Generation: The Millennial Playbook, #1

The Millennial Playbook

Proven Success Strategies for the Millennial Generation

__________

Raphael Enrique Collazo

The Millennial Playbook: Proven Success Strategies for the Millennial Generation

Copyright © 2017 by Raphael Enrique Collazo

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without written permission from the author.

ISBN 978-0-9993348-0-5

Printed in the USA by Create Space

Dedication

I’d like to dedicate this book to my loving and supportive family, friends and my beautiful girlfriend Melanie. Without your love and support throughout this entire process, I would never have completed this book. I’d also like to thank my coach Scott for holding me accountable at each stage of the book writing and editing process. Writing a book is not an easy task but\

with his encouragement and homework assignments I was able to complete each section of the book on time.

Finally, I’d like to thank all of my blog readers and book readers for their continued support of my work. You’re the reason I write and will continue to write in the future.

All the best,

Raphael

Contents

Preface

Introduction

Personal Development

The power of the compound effect

Establishing a morning routine

Developing positive habits

S.M.A.R.T goals

Professional Development

Looking for work

Setting up your LinkedIn page

Developing your LinkedIn networking strategy

Negotiating your salary

Developing yourself and giving back

Reducing stress

Increasing productivity

Leadership Development

Healthy Eating Habits

Weight loss

Meals for the day

Developing a successful, healthy eating strategy

Delving into your gut

Exercise

What are your fitness goals?

Designing your perfect workout routine

Recovery

Finances

Saving

Eliminating Debt

Student loans

Investments

Creating new income streams

Reducing Expenses

Real estate

Conclusion

Resources

Personal development

Professional development

Healthy eating habits

Exercise

Finances

References

Preface

Millennials often get a bad rap. We’ve been defined as lazy, entitled and narcissistic by more than a few pundits. Well, quite frankly, I’m tired of the nay-sayers and haters. Our generation will make a lasting positive impact on the world, and we’re in a perfect position to capitalize on these opportunities. The wealth of information at our finger-tips has enabled us to become the most educated generation ever. Although this is the case, many of us are still nervous and confused about what lies ahead.

Around the time I moved from Washington D.C. to Puerto Rico, I began focusing on learning about self-improvement in various areas of my life. One of the definitive moments on my journey of self-improvement came after reading I Will Teach You To Be Rich by Ramit Sethi. This book showed me how to set up financial systems to improve my long-term financial outlook. After I discovered how powerful the information in one book could be, I began devouring books on finance, business, self-improvement and leadership. Each book contained bits and pieces of information that I would log away in my journal and share on my blog (thestrongprofessional.com).  After about a year of this routine, I had read over 30 books from a variety of fields. The information in these books changed how I approached my day-day to day life for the better and I couldn’t wait to share what I had learned with others.

However, after having talked with many of my peers, I realized that much of the information that I uncovered through my research was not common knowledge. Many of my friends and co-workers had no idea about the information I was sharing with them. I knew then that I had to find a way to create a comprehensive playbook of all the best lessons I had learned over the past few years. In this book, I’ve shared the accumulated strategies and techniques that fellow millennials can use to drastically improve their life. To explain these lessons, I use real world examples and document the struggles and triumphs I experienced as I attempted to implement each of these strategies into my own life. I hope you enjoy reading this book as much as I enjoyed writing it and I challenge you to use this book as a tool to craft a better life for yourself.

Raphael Collazo

Introduction

Welcome to the beginning of an extraordinary journey. Throughout this book, you’ll learn valuable lessons and strategies about how you can improve in various areas of your life. Although this book is packed with actionable information, it’s important to take time to digest it all. If one section of the book doesn’t seem relevant to you at this time, it’s OK to skip over it for now and focus on other sections first.

As you progress through this book, try to implement these strategies into your daily life. Although some of the topics discussed in this book will take concerted effort on your part to accomplish, there are also many others that can be quick wins for you. Each new beneficial habit you incorporate into your daily routine will compound your positive results over time. I’ll be providing Action Items at the end of each section to highlight some of the tasks that you can complete to build momentum.

This book will be your new playbook, a way for you to strategize and begin to craft a better life. Each section of the book focuses on one of the 5 principles that are the most important to living a balanced and fulfilling life. These principles are: Personal development, Professional development, Exercise, Healthy eating habits and Finances. As with any great story, your journey begins with a choice. Are you ready to take the first step towards improving your life for the better? If so, let’s begin.

Personal Development

Formal education will make you a LIVING; self-education will make you a FORTUNE – Jim Rohn

What is personal development? The Encyclopedia definition describes it as: "Activities that improve awareness and identity, develop talents and potential, build human capital and facilitate employability, enhance the quality of lifeand contribute to the realization of dreams and aspirations. Although this broad definition may have your head spinning, I promise you it’s not rocket science. My journey with personal development began my senior year of college. After reading the book, I Will Teach You To Be Rich by Ramit Sathi, I realized how making small changes to the way I handled money could significantly impact my financial well-being. This belief in personal-improvement was reinforced by the book The Compound Effect" by Darren Hardy. In the book, Darren describes how small positive daily actions performed over a long period of time can add up to BIG results. In this section, I’ll show you how to design an effective morning routine, how to develop positive habits and set actionable goals that you can use to maximize your personal growth each and every day.

The power of the compound effect

The accomplishment of any goal is the progressive accumulation, or compound effect, of small steps taken consistently over time – Darren Hardy

This one remarkable concept revolutionized the way I viewed self-improvement. My belief in the past was that people who had achieved extreme levels of success had God-given talent and ability that I didn’t have. The Michael Jordan’s, Richard Branson’s and Oprah’s of the world were just people with other worldly abilities that we mere mortals didn’t poses. However, after having studied these individuals and discovering how they achieved their extraordinary success, it became clear to me that talent had almost nothing to do with it. Sure, Michael Jordan was a very talented basketball player, but he would have never won 6 rings in 6 finals appearances if he had not put in the hard work each and every day to achieve his goal. Richard Branson would have never created a 7-billion-dollar empire without first putting in the hard work to get his first venture, a magazine called Student, off the ground. Oprah Winfrey overcame extreme poverty, sexual abuse and discrimination to create one of the most successful TV shows of all time The Oprah Winfrey Show. They achieved their unbelievable success by taking positive steps towards their goals each and every day. This eventually created momentum and before they knew it, they were on top of the world. Once I understood the concept of the compound effect, I discovered that it wasn’t just one singular event or God-given ability that led to people’s extreme success.

This concept is illustrated marvelously in the book The Compound Effect by Darren Hardy. The story begins with 3 friends (Jack, Joe and John) enjoying each other’s company at a local restaurant. These 3 friends are the same age, height, weight, have the same eating habits and have almost identical backgrounds and skill sets. During their conversation, Jack proclaims that he’s going reduce his caloric intake by 150 calories per day. In order to accomplish this, he decides to not buy a soda with his lunch each day and instead opts to drink filtered tap water. Joe proclaims that he’s happy with where he’s at in life and decides to not change anything about his routine. John proclaims that he wants to have a little more fun and decides to drink one extra alcoholic beverage each day after work. This corresponds to 150 extra calories per day.

After 3 months there’s not much change among the 3 friends. Jack is frustrated because he’s sacrificed drinking soda at lunch for the past 3 months but decides to stick with his new routine to see where it takes him. However, once month 18 rolls around things start to get interesting. At this point, Jack has lost just over 21.5 pounds! ((150 calories per day * 7 days per week * 4 weeks per month * 18 months)/ 3500 calories per pound)). As a result of his weight loss, Jack has more energy to dedicate to other tasks. He starts working out 3-4 times a week, his work performance improves and he has more energy at the end of the day to play with his kids and engage with his spouse. Joe remains the same as he was 18 months ago and continues the same routine. At the other end of the spectrum, John has gained just over 21.5 pounds and has begun feeling extra groggy and cranky throughout the day. As a result of his weight gain, his work performance begins to suffer, his stress begins to mount and he takes out his frustrations on his family at home. He also begins finding solace in eating junk food and watching an extra hour of TV at night.

Fast forward to 24 months and the changes we see are astounding. Jack has lost over 40 pounds and is in the best shape of his life. He just finished his first marathon and has a renewed sense of confidence. As a result of his increased performance and energy at work, he’s just received a promotion which raised his salary by 20%. On top of that, his family life has never been better. His consistency of engaging with his loved ones has brought the family closer than ever. As an added bonus, not buying soda every day at lunch has saved Jack over $1300! ($2 per soda * 7 days per week * 4 weeks per month * 24 months) Jack’s life has changed dramatically for the better and he’s excited about the future. His friend Joe is in the same position as he was 24 months prior and is content with continuing his routine. At the other end of the spectrum, John has gained 40 pounds and his energy levels have reduced even further. He’s been on thin ice at work because of his poor performance and is on the verge of losing his job. His bad habits of watching TV and eating junk food have further deteriorated and now it’s all he does after work. His wife feels neglected and his kids are sad because their dad no longer takes an interest in their life. If John doesn’t take drastic action soon, he may find himself in a crisis situation.

This scenario further illustrates the positive and negative power the compound effect can have in our lives. If you choose to use the compound effect to improve yourself, you could experience the unbelievable benefits it has to offer. However, if you choose to ignore it and decide not to take positive steps towards improving yourself, you may find yourself in a situation similar to John’s. Now that you understand how to use the compound effect to your advantage, let’s explore how you can craft a beneficial morning routine to accelerate your results over time.

Establishing a morning routine

You’ll never change your life until you change something you do daily. The secret of success is found in your daily routine – John C. Maxwell

The morning is the quietist and most serene part of the day. So why is it that so many people have stress-filled mornings and feel rushed getting ready? Most often this can be attributed to lack of proper planning. Many people wake up late, don’t give themselves enough time to complete their morning tasks and then find themselves scrambling to get ready for the day. I’ve found that the morning hours are my most productive hours and that performing my morning routine gives me the boost I need to start my day off right. What can you do to develop a routine that will set you up for a successful day? Let’s go through some of my favorite activities:

Waking up earlier

One of the most impactful things you can do to improve your mornings is waking up earlier. Most people don’t give themselves enough time in the morning to prepare for the day, and as a result find themselves scrambling to get ready. In the book Is Work Killing You? by Dr. David Posen, Dr. Posen sites waking up late as one of the worst habits you can adopt. When you wake up late and rush through your morning you put your body into a state of alarm, spiking your adrenaline and cortisol levels as soon as you get out the bed¹. If these hormones are present at high enough levels for an extended period of time, they increase the risk of an array of degenerative diseases such as heart disease, ulcers and type 2 diabetes. Not only does waking up earlier help reduce stress levels, it can also have a positive impact on achieving career goals. In a study conducted by Christoph Randler of the Heidlerg University of Education, Professor Randler found that participants whose performance peaked in the morning were better positioned for career success because they were perceived to be more proactive than others who are at their best in the evening².

I’m not saying that you have to change your wake up time from 7:00 a.m. to 5:00 a.m. right away. Many people who try to drastically change their wake-up time fall back into their old routine after a few days. A technique that I used to establish and stick to an earlier wake up time was setting my alarm clock back 15 minutes at a time. Once I maintained my new wake up time for 1 week, I would set my alarm back another 15 minutes. I repeated this cycle until I finally got down to my desired wake up time of 5:00 a.m. The combination of setting my alarm back 15 minutes and holding that wake up time for a week allowed me to smoothly transition to each new wake up time, and I’ve stuck to it ever since. Try it out for yourself and see what a difference it makes in your mornings.

Going to bed earlier

As a compliment to waking up earlier, you should make it a goal to be in bed earlier. Establishing this new habit will help increase your alertness and attentiveness as well as support your long-term health. The results of a 2013 Gallup poll suggest that the average American sleeps around 6.8 hours per night. That’s down almost a full hour from 1942³. Although we’ve become a more fast-paced society, we still need our sleep to perform at our best. Most physicians recommend that an average adult should get between 7-9 hours of sleep per night. Since my wake up time is 5:00 a.m., the latest I should be in bed is 10:00 p.m. You can use this baseline to set up your optimal bed-time.

What if you’re already getting 7-9 hours of sleep? First off, Congratulations! Although you may be getting 7-9 hours of sleep a night, not all night-time hours are created equal. In the book "Sleep