THE LIVING STANDARD DAY 6...Luck is predictable.

6. Luck is predictable.

“I’ve found that luck is quite predictable. If you want more luck, take more chances. Be more active. Show up more often.”

People who take the action and more chances in life tend to get the luck. If you never take chances or action you don’t get the opportunity to get lucky. You might just sit around doing nothing and rationalize it as “being unlucky”.

Also, if someone focuses on what s/he wants s/he tend to find more opportunities and other useful things that someone with a negative focus will simply not “be lucky enough” to see.

THE LIVING STANDARD DAY 5...Ask yourself helpful questions.

5. Ask yourself helpful questions.

“After every difficulty, ask yourself two questions: “What did I do right?” and “What would I do differently?”

The questions you ask yourself in life determine much of your outlook and success. If you ask disempowering questions like “what sucks about this?” in any situation then you are creating a lot of unhappiness and victim thinking. If you on the other hand keep it on a useful and empowering level with questions like the ones from Tracy then your chances of succeeding goes up.

You can find more empowering questions in 11 Questions That Could Help You to Vastly Improve the Quality of Your Life in 2009.

THE LIVING STANDARD DAY 4...Set clear goals. And write them down.

4. Set clear goals. And write them down.

“People with clear, written goals, accomplish far more in a shorter period of time than people without them could ever imagine.”

To be able to focus consistently on what you want you can use goals. If you use them, write down so they transform from thoughts into something physical and real. You can use that piece of paper as a reminder - posted on a wall for example - later on to keep your focus in the right place each and every day.

THE LIVING STANDARD DAY 3...Focus on what is useful.

3. Focus on what is useful.

“Whatever you dwell on in the conscious grows in your experience.”

“The key to success is to focus our conscious mind on things we desire not things we fear.”

This is very important and something I think many people don’t grasp the full extent of. I certainly didn’t before. When your focus is split, when you fill your mind just the “normal amount” of negativity or dwell on for example mistakes you are using up valuable time, energy and available focus to pull yourself backwards and to make mountains out of molehills.

Problems seem to become bigger in your mind than they actually are when you dwell on them. But so does, for example, opportunities and gratitude. Your surrounding reality is huge. And the room for interpretations of that reality is wide. What you focus is what you will see in your reality (opportunities vs. more reasons why things suck). What you dwell on becomes bigger and bigger in your mind. And what you think about is what you will act upon.

That’s basically why it’s absolutely crucial to keep your focus and your thoughts in right place and on the positive and useful things in your life as consistently as you can. If you focus on the negative and irrelevant stuff it is quite likely that you never get all those most important things done.

THE LIVING STANDARD DAY 2...Create helpful habits.

2. Create helpful habits.

“Successful people are simply those with successful habits.”

Pretty simple. Our habits are what we tend to do consistently in our day to day life and so they control our success - or lack of it - very much.

What are successful habits? Some you can find in this article. A few others are:

* Do the most productive thing right now.
* Do one thing at a time.
* Do things even when you don’t feel like it.

How do you install them in your life? Two tips:

* The 30 day challenge. You have probably read about this old personal development concept before. Basically, you make a deal with yourself to do one thing for just 30 days (one example: exercise every day) and no more than that. But after those 30 days you may discover that your mind will have become so accustomed to this new behaviour that it will be easier to continue doing it than stop doing it.
* Just focus on the process. While doing something for those 30 days you focus on the process rather than the results. I for instance use this when I workout. I don’t take responsibility for the results in my mind. I take responsibility for showing up – even the days when I don’t feel like it - and doing my workout. The results come anyway from that consistent action. And this makes it easier for me to take this action and establish the new habit when I know that is all I need to focus on. Instead of using half of the energy and focus I have available on hoping that I “reach my goal real, real soon”. Focus on the process and you will be a lot more relaxed and prone to continue than if you stare yourself blind on the potential results that never come as quickly as you want to and puts you on an emotional rollercoaster from day to day.

IT'S TIME FOR A PEP TALK...Change your self image.

I didn't write this but i figured we all need a little pep talk every now and then. I need one all the time yet I find myself encouraging people with out even knowing...weird but I'll accept it. Over the next 11 days I will be giving tip for the LIVING THE STANDARD...


1. Change your self image.

“The person we believe ourselves to be will always act in a manner consistent with our self-image.”

“We will always tend to fulfill our own expectation of ourselves.”

“Move out of your comfort zone. You can only grow if you are willing to feel awkward and uncomfortable when you try something new.”

You will often stop yourself from doing stuff that “just isn’t you”. But when that stuff is the new normal, the stuff you just do because you are you then it becomes a lot easier.

How can you change your own self image?

Here’s what I used to see myself as a fit and healthy person rather than a person who dabbles in such stuff occasionally:

* A ton of proof. Your mind needs proof that you are this new person. The proof is the experiences you have had. So if you really dive in and immerse yourself in something like fitness and work out every other/every day, read a lot about it all and are eating healthy stuff in a conscious way you change a lot about your day to day living environment. Expanding your comfort zone like this will quickly give you a lot of experiences and so the change can come about quicker than if you dabble a bit with it for a few years.

* Let go of your old self image. In my experience you can shift back and forth between two self images. I think at some point you have to make a shift and let your old identity go if you want to grow. It may be your identity when it comes to health. Or money. Or socially. The problem is that the old image is so familiar and reassuring that your mind may not want to let go. I recommend checking out Let Go! to learn how to better let go of your past self image and other things in your life.

random thoughts that are confusing yet make total sense...at some point

-had I not been honest...then what?
-when you push,they pull but when they pull and you help,they quit?
-you said it but did you mean it?I did...
-was I "drunk"?if so why did I make so much sense?
-if your the 1st car in the lot are you working harder than everyone else?
-the fact that you the last to leave might mean your the last to finish
-is anyone reading this?
-why???
-its called iKnowTANK but does she really?
-white girls???
-is money REALLY an issue?
-confused
-i'll call you back
-"goodmorning"
-jack daniels
-"you wanna go to breakfast?"
-can I get paid,please?
-what you gettin into today?
-"no big deal..." Maybe not to you
-thats what your wearing?
-you want me to chase it?

FRIDAY MOTORvation...WILMO and RICKY RUCKUS

Above is a national advertisement for the 2011 release of the FORD MOTOR COMPANY classic vehicle known as the FIESTIVA but look closer. This ad represents the spirit of hard word, the attitude of perseverance,and the tenacity of "THE HUSTLE."

The head line read's "SMALL CAR.BIG PLANS" that is the exact model that Winston "Wilmo" Robinson and Ricky Ruckus follow. While your reading this their somewhere in your neighborhood taking advantage of an advantage. While your looking at the clock waiting until 5:30 to make the mad dash tot the door, they just shook another hand and build another relationship.

WILMO and RICKY didn't have the aunt who's the head of Urban Marketing at FORD, they went to an HBCU just like a lot of us, they made a relationship into a career, and they took advantage of their advantage...so before you get down on yourself and say how unfair life is...ask yourself this question "WHAT AM I DOING TO MAKE me...BETTER?"

SWIZZ AND DRAG-ON ..."SCHOOL OF HARD KNOCKS"

On everything, iKnowSWIZZ. His album "Ghetto Stories" was one of my 1st official industry checks back in '01. Then a few years later my big homie worked very close with him. I've been to his studios, drove in the car with him, sat in a room while he made 7 crack beats in like 35 min..., I was there when he made the TI "Swag Ya Rag" joint,I even went to his surprise 30th birthday party...

It comes as no surprise that he's back wihthis joint "School of Hard Knocks" featuring Drag-On. They have remainded close over the years and Swizz is a great guy. He's also on of the most consistant when t comes to creating club music and hooks...SHOWTIME

REMINDER....MOTHER'S DAY IS ON MAY 10TH

Just thought i would remind eveyone that Mother's Day is on May 10th and that only a few day's from now. Please don't get an old school "whoopin'" for not at least calling your mom and telling her Happy Mother's Day.. and while your at it, tell your aunt, sister, co-workers, church member's and other random straingers with kids and car seats too.

Ryan Leslie made sure he didn't forget this your (like he did last year...)

SIT YO A** DOWN SOMEWHERE...THE BRAD HARTLEY EDITION

First off, congratulations to the Johnson C. Sm,ith University Class of 2009. When I first got to JCSU in the fall of 2000 they told us 3 things 1) NEVER EAT AT CHURCH's Chicken 2) The person to the left or right you will probably not be here next semester, and 3) People re-create themselves when they come to college.

Meet "THE REAL RED CAFE" or as I knew him Brad Quincy Hartley. What I knew about him was he's from Queens, comes from a decent family, his pops was a big time player in the urban marketing and event planning, and he was an all around good guy. Granted that was back in 2000 when we used to be really cool. I can't front, we were definitely crew in college.

So now I get a message from my man James on FACEBOOK and he ask me if this guy on the video was from Smith and guess who it is...think back to 1996, THE RICKY LAKE SHOW:

I’m A Teen Who Hates Blacks, Gays and Jews...Today Mom Makes Me Walk A Day In Their Shoes

when she had the racist redneck white family live with the inner-city black family...THAT's the BLACK KID from the show...

On another NOTE: SHOUT TO MY cuzo...ALAMO (yes Alamo from Brand Nubian),who is my MAN 50 grand.This video could have turned really ugly because Alamo is the JOKE-CRAKIN' king of NORTH AMERICA and he's also one of the smartest random info people I've ever met.

Now back to BRAD.

...and NOW MY RESPONSE ('cuz I do my homework)...

PEOPLE THAT WORK HARDER THAN ME...Charles McCree

Being realistic with yourself is the 1st step in creating a better you. I recently posted a comment about if you can't honestly say that you are the hardest working person in the room...your not working hard enough.

iKnowTANK has no problem being honest and honestly I found someone that goes harder than me. As I am taking steps toward being more humble I would like to introduce you to Charles McCree. I first met Charles at Disturbing Tha Peace in Atlanta. Internally, you know when someone may be a possible threat and I never got the impression that Charles was. I instantly picked up on the vibe that he was a hard worker and had a vision and a plan to make the vision a reality.

Do I really think Charles works harder than me...YES but I'm no his heels because my goal is make sure that no one works harder than me...that's how you WIN. Now watch this video and ask yourself again "DO I WORK HARDER THAN CHARLES???" if you don't...keep working.