Self-Fulfilling Prophecy

I was in my educational psychology class the other day when a very interesting topic came up. The topic was self-fulfilling prophecies.

A self-fulfilling prophecy in education is when a teacher stereotypes a student as say "bad at math." Because the student realizes the teacher thinks he will be bad at math, and has low expectations of him, he fulfills these expectations by struggling to low grades in math. On the opposite end of the spectrum, had that same teacher had high expectations of the student, the student would have worked much harder to meet those standards and expectations set out for him.

If you are an entrepreneur, it is difficult to have clear set expectations for yourself because you don't have a supervisor to tell you what they expect of you. So it is VERY important to set GOALS and RULES for yourself in order to set high expectations for yourself!

If you are very successful, you probably have HATERS. The problem with not setting goals and rules is that you will eventually fall into the expectations of the haters! This is never going to help you succeed!

Bottom Line: SET HIGH EXPECTATIONS FOR YOURSELF AND RULES TO GET THERE! Do not become a SELF-FULFILLING PROPHECY of failure!

On another note, I am very excited about the concert going down tonight in San Angelo. Tyga and Shwayze are doing a tour, and although I am not the biggest fan of their music, MTV is putting the concert on with Big Sid of Playa's Choice, and I am one of the Official Sponsors. First Class is performing, as well as Fresh Out Da Block and Dreama Kid. It should be a good one, I will update you tomorrow!

Keep Hustlin,

T-JACK

Expect To WIN!

I have come to the realization that in a world where performance is king, EXPECTATIONS USUALLY DETERMINE PERFORMANCE.

Of course, this is not always the case, because if you aren't CONGRUENT with the outcome you are expecting, you are not going to achieve it. An example is a 130 pound guy that has never lifted a weight in his life saying he is going to go to the weight room and bench press 300 POUNDS! This is just not going to happen.

However, if that same guy worked out hard for a few years and got up to 170 pounds of pure muscle, and progressed in maxes up to that level, it is definitely a possibility that he will be able to bench press 300 pounds.

The main point of this blog is to tell you, no matter what, to SET YOUR EXPECTATIONS HIGH and expect to WIN EVERY TIME, no matter what the circumstances tell you!

Do you think David would have defeated Goliath if he didn't BELIEVE in himself 100%? Do you think you will ever get the hottie at the club if you don't BELIEVE you will? Do you think you will ever get a major deal or go platinum if you don't BELIEVE you will?

The answer to all of these is NO!
You have to set your expectations high, and no matter how much you are the UNDERDOG, or picked to LOSE, even if you do, your opponent and everyone else will have RESPECT for you because you got out there and put it on the line!

Sure, David could have gotten CRUSHED by Goliath, but he would have earned the respect of everyone else, same thing for the other two situations. You will NEVER get it if you don't EXPECT to get it.

In my high school running career, I got DESTROYED my freshman year at Regionals, finishing 129th out of 200 runners, where the top 10 advanced to state! So I wasn't even close. At the end of the season, my Dad brought me an article about the state meet, and highlighted the first place name and time. That day was the day I decided I WOULD WIN STATE. Sure, it took three more years for that to happen, BUT I made HUGE jumps every year because I EXPECTED TO WIN! And eventually, I did!

Go for it, and don't let ANYONE tell you you can't do something!

Keep Hustlin,

T-JACK

There Is No Such Thing As LUCK!

Anytime someone has alot of success, you start to say things like "Man he's so lucky. If only I had his luck I would be just as successful."

What a JOKE.

There is no question that a person must have BREAKS and OPPORTUNITIES here and there that come their way in order to be successful, but the KEY is you must be PREPARED TO STRIKE AT ALL TIMES!

In sports you have guys like Tom Brady and Tony Romo that roamed the sidelines as backup quarterbacks for the first few years of their careers, coincidentally both behind Drew Bledsoe, a hot-shot veteran quarterback. They didn't whine or complain to the coach about getting an opportunity, in fact, they were almost anonymous to the general public! But in both instances, Bledsoe went down with an injury, FORCING THEM INTO ACTION. Both could have flopped and been replaced by the next guy. But Brady and Romo both took the opportunity, held on for dear life, and made the most of it! Now they are two of the top quarterbacks in the league, both Pro-Bowlers!

This is just one prime example, but I could go on and on. You have artists that grind for years in the Underground, just trying to sell a CD. They work at their production, beats, and lyrical content until it is top notch. All of a sudden, a record label executive is at a show they have and signs them on the spot. Was that just LUCK that got them that signing? Most people would probably say YES. "If it wasn't for the executive being there, it wouldn't have happened." This is TRUE. HOWEVER, if they hadn't gotten their production, beats, and lyrical content down before the show it is likely the executive would have just ignored them!

Another example that relates alot with guys is that HOT 10 that you see at the bar every weekend that MAYBE you'll get "LUCKY" with this week. The truth is, if you ask the guy that ends up bringing her home tonight (which will probably not be you if you have the above attitude), he will tell you it had NOTHING to do with LUCK, and all to do with being PREPARED (having his mind right on the inside and reflecting it on the outside with his DRESS and BEHAVIOR) to meet a HOT 10 and bring her home that night!

Do yourself a FAVOR and stop thinking of other people or your successes here and there as LUCK. Look at it as "LUCK IS WHEN PREPARATION MEETS OPPORTUNITY"- Seneca, 1st Century Roman Philosopher.

Keep On Grindin,

T-JACK

Why You Should Love HATERS

Look out below! HATERS are EVERYWHERE!

If you're a successful person at any level, you know what I'm talking about. It seems like the more success you have, the more people try to bring you down.

I see it all the time. In professional sports, you have fans that love you when you're putting up amazing stats and winning; but the second you mess up one time, they're all of a sudden booing you, hoping they pull you and put your backup in.

You have highly successful organizations like the New York Yankees and Dallas Cowboys. Sure, they both have TONS of fans and are good year in and year out. As many fans as they have, they probably have 10 times the amount of haters that cheer against them, game in and game out.

Any time I have had success in life, I have had haters. Haters come in all shapes and sizes, and come from some of the strangest places. The same guy that is your best friend at work when you're both associates becomes your worst enemy when you get promoted to manager. Your labelmates on your record label that will do anything for u when you're underground, but make diss tracks about you when you go major. The girls you consider your friends that love you when you date girls that are like them, but turn in to monsters when you date a girl that is clearly more attractive then they are.

I could go on and on. The point is, if you have haters, you should LOVE them! It means you're doing something RIGHT! Usually haters are people that are UNCOMFORTABLE with the amount of success YOU'RE having, because it makes them feel BAD about THEMSELVES, and/or THEY wish it could be THEM having the success!

One great example is the movie Envy with Jack Black and Ben Stiller. who are best friends in the movie, where Black makes an invention and suddenly gets really rich. This creates a strain in their relationship where Stiller is trying to get Black to live their former, normal lives, while Black is living the high life. Stiller is stuck as a HATER because he is ENVIOUS of Black's success and it makes him UNCOMFORTABLE!

Another example is CRABS. If you have ever had a bucket of crabs and tried to pull one out, all of the other ones latch onto it and try to PULL IT BACK DOWN! HATERS are alot like crabs, in that they would rather keep someone down at their level than see them rise above!

If you're a successful and driven person, get used to haters, they're not going anywhere! If listening to them motivates you towards your goals, great! If not, focus in on your goals and go towards what you want, not caring at all what ANYONE says that you CAN'T DO !

I will close with two quotes, both probably overused, but they never get old to me!

"Just do it!" Nike

"If they hate then let em hate and watch the money pile up!" Kanye West

Keep Rockin,

T-JACK-T

Dealing With Failure

Every once in a while, all of us have failures and disappointments of sorts. When you expect things to be a certain way, and the circumstances don't pan out to be what you imagined. You release a new CD and expect phenomenal sales, and it flops. You ask a hot chick in class on a date and she turns you down. You plan a huge event that you expect people to flock to, and hardly anyone shows up.

I can relate to the last one very well. Last night, my partners and I in the West Texas Party Patrol had our first party. We wanted to start with the high school crowd because we felt that in Abilene, the high school crowd has the least amount of entertainment. We passed out over 4,000 flyers, made a Myspace and added all of the under 18 year olds in the surrounding Big Country, wrote a newspaper article, and even got on the #1 Radio Station in town, Power 103, and gave away tickets! I set my sights high. I wanted a SELL OUT!



The buildup looked amazing. With all of the area high schools, we were thinking we would easily hit our bottom line, break-even point of 350 students in the civic center that can easily hold 1,000!

Seven o'clock comes, we have everything set up. The stage, the dance floor, the DJ, the lights, security, VIP section.. EVERYTHING!

There are probably 20-30 kids waiting to get in. Great. So we get our start, get the music bumpin, and more kids trickle in.

8 o'clock. Kids still trickling in. 9 o'clock. Slowing down. 10 o'clock. Artists arrive ready to perform. Kids start to leave! 11 o'clock. Yungsta rocks the crowd of 20 KIDS that is remaining! 11:30 PARTY IS DEAD.

My partners and I COULD NOT BELIEVE how disappointing the turnout was. Lets just say, I lost a few dollars. Am I disappointed? Yes. Now that I am a little down, am I going tuck my tail between my legs and QUIT or GIVE UP?

HELL NO.

ANYBODY can deal with success. It's gravy when you're on top and EVERYTHING seems to be going your way. But it is the TRUE CHAMPIONS that deal with failure appropriately and end up back on top. What do these guys do?

1. REFLECT on what happened, and how to correct it. Do you think I'm going to do the same thing this time that I did last? NO! I'm going to break down each step of what I did, what I could have done better, and analyze them.

2. Put the failure BEHIND you, and MOVE FORWARD. After my analysis is done, it's time to move onto the next project, not letting my success or lack of success have any bearing on what I am doing now.

3. Work SMARTER. Correct the mistakes made last time and do things DIFFERENTLY this time! For the longest time, I used to think the answer was always to WORK HARDER. To some people that are lazy and have no work ethic, sure, an increase in workload will dramatically improve your success. But as hard as I work at what I do, the answer is work smarter.

I've seen guys that go out to meet women at the club, and every week, they think their "FORTUNE" is going to change. "This is going to be my lucky day," they say to themselves. They do the same thing week in and week out, and get the SAME RESULTS! This is the definition of INSANITY. You MUST work SMARTER and LEARN from your MISTAKES if you want to improve upon failures and disappointments.



I gotta go back to Kanye for this one.. His song, "Stronger," has a GREAT chorus. "That that don't kill me, can ONLY MAKE ME STRONGER." He calls out his HATERS and anyone doubting him, and lets them know, if they don't kill him, he will be BACK, STRONGER THAN EVER.

So that's what I'm doing. Last night was a MAJOR disappointment. But did I wake up this morning? Yes. I am still alive, and BEST BELIEVE I'm coming back with my next event BIGGER AND BETTER THAN EVER!

You have to have that attitude, or you will never make it!

Keep Hustlin,

T-JACK

Self-Efficacy

Right now I am taking a class in college called "Educational Psychology". Sounds like a great class, right? Haha. Not at ALL what I was thinking when I walked in for Day One last week. Turns out, when I actually opened the book and read it, I encountered a large amount of topics on how people learn things as children that translate to how they relate to the world and behave as adults.

So I'm in class yesterday, and halfway daydreaming when my professor was talking about how she used to come in to save low-performing schools on the state mandated tests.

She then said the #1 DIFFERENCE in successful schools and unsuccessful schools was that the low schools had teachers and students with a LOW SENSE OF SELF-EFFICACY. In other words, these schools had teachers that said it was the student's fault for low performance, and students that said it was the teacher's fault for low performance. EVERYONE WAS BLAMING EVERYONE ELSE BUT THEMSELVES!

How does this relate to you? Self-Efficacy is when a person believes they are competent enough in an area to complete a task. When the teachers believed it was the student's fault, they didn't take into effect that maybe they weren't doing a good job teaching! Vice verse for the students that blamed the teachers, when they weren't working hard enough to learn the material!

If you haven't already, it is TIME for you start believing that you can do what you want to do, learn what you want to learn, and be who you want to be. So many times I hear people with a low sense of self-efficacy play the victim role. "My life is hard because my boss doesn't pay me enough." "I can't be successful in life because I was brought up in poverty." "But T-Jack, I have ALREADY TRIED to lose weight!" (one of my favorites). "I can't get a date with a hottie. I am just not their type!" Stop playing the victim role and take PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY for your actions and the outcomes that arise from them.

Your boss doesn't pay you enough. Did you ask for a raise? Has your PERFORMANCE at work been DESERVING of a raise? Finally, if all of these are yes, GET A NEW JOB! Or, better yet, START YOUR OWN BUSINESS AND BE YOUR OWN BOSS!

You were raised in poverty, so now as an adult you are still living in it. What are you doing EVERY SECOND OF EVERY DAY TO GET OUT OF IT? Do you have any WASTEFUL time/spending habits that are keep you there? Are you SHOWCASING the TALENT that you do have? What does a WEALTHY person do DIFFERENTLY on a DAILY BASIS that you don't?

You have already tried to lose weight. Did you go to the gym 3-5 times a week for 6 months? Do you have a balanced, healthy diet? Did you have a PERSONAL TRAINER or workout partner to keep you accountable and working HARD at all times?

You can't get a date with a hot chick. Why AREN'T you their type? And honestly, WHY DOES THAT EVEN MATTER? You have to be the guy that is CHOOSING THEM. Are you actively GOING OUT to places where the so-called hotties GATHER? Are you CONFIDENTLY approaching them? HONESTLY, do you need a MAKEOVER or a serious change in your WARDROBE? Are you an INTERESTING guy, and are you showing them you're INTERESTED?

I have just solved all of these problems I see people living with on a daily basis. I know it is alot easier to type it than do it. People playing the victim role need to adopt the motto, "If it is to be, it's up to ME!"

STOP blaming others for whatever you're lacking in your life and GO GET IT!

Keep Hustlin,

T-Jack