Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Brandon R. Vargas. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Hi Brandon R., thanks for sharing your insights with our community today. Part of your success, no doubt, is due to your work ethic and so we’d love if you could open up about where you got your work ethic from?
Sheer awareness. ‘Work” is not something that I look forward to executing every day, but I do have a deep understanding of what ‘work’ entails, which is the possibility of desirable outcomes. The problem for most people, is that they genuinely want to put in the work to achieve their goals, but what they lack is conscious awareness and control over their mind. According to Neuroscientists, 95% of brain activity is subconscious. This means that most of our actions, decisions, and emotions are determined ‘habitually’ by the subconscious mind.
Therefore it is imperative that if you’re striving to increase your overall work capacity, that you understand the intellectual force that is working against you. I had to totally reconstruct the habitual frame that I operated out of because I knew that if I didn’t replace my bad habits with more productive ones, that I was destined to have poor and inconsistent work ethic (which meant impending failure).
– The first step I took was determining what is, what I didn’t like about my life. What changes needed to take place.
– Second step I determined what should be, what I wanted my life to be like.
– The third step is I determined how should I act? In other words what actions (work) needed to take place on a daily basis in order to take me from “what is” to “what should be”.
Example, If what is, is that I am overweight, and what should be, is that I am lean and healthy, then the actions executed should be to wake up early, run, lift, and eat in a certain manner daily without fail. Actions (work) is the bridge to take you from what is, to what should be.
The last step is consciously reconstructing your habitual or subconscious mind. One must establish a way to ensure that NO MATTER WHAT, the actions necessary to effectuate change are executed daily. According to research, it can take anywhere from 21 to 66 days on average to form a new habit. A method that I used when I was pursuing shifting my personal work ethic to new levels was by setting alarms on my phone with a note of what actions needed to be executed (E.g. 8:00 AM: Read 2 Chapters on Finance). Once the alarm alerted me, I was for a moment conscious enough to either execute the task or fail to do so. After so many days of successfully executing, the alarms became irrelevant and my actions became without fail ‘subconsciously’ performed.
The result, my current work ethic.
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
Absolutely. My story is a bit of an interesting one. The classic ‘under-dog’ story. Without getting too personal, as a child my life was pretty hectic in a lot of ways. Not a lot of peace at home, and surely wasn’t receiving the best guidance. By the time I reached Jr. High, I was already a problematic teenager. Kicked out of one middle school, and transferred to another. By the time I got to high school, well I dropped out. I did attempt to go back to try and finish, and well, I got kicked out of that school as well. That was the end of those days. The next few years up until I was about 19 or 20 was nothing but bad decisions.
I mention all of this because it is important. We are told as we are growing up that if we don’t graduate, if we don’t get that diploma, if we don’t go to college, that our chances of success are slim to none. But here I am today. No diploma, no degree, and a TON of mistakes, yet I’ve managed to make it to the top 10% of earners in the United States. And let me make it clear, I am just getting started. I am not saying that school is not important, but understand it is not the institution itself that is important, it is instead education itself. Knowledge my friends, is POWER.
Fast forward to today, I’ve managed to secure a Regional Sales Manager position for a tech company out of Austin, TX. We focus on advertising and driving business for the Automotive sector by creating & utilizing emerging technologies. Think Ai. It is also a remote position, so it allows me more time and freedom to focus on other entrepreneurial endeavors.
After a decade in the automotive industry, fulfilling nearly every role such as Finance Manager, Sales Manager, Internet Director and others. I have decided that because of my extensive background in automotive retail, and the success consumers helped me achieve while serving them, I am going to take everything I’ve ever learned in the industry and give that information back to the consumers so they can make better informed decisions and ensure that they are not being taken advantage of. This project is expected to roll out September 2024.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
Looking back? The three most important aspects that I believe contributed to my growth are the following.
Desire.
Discipline.
And self-education.
My life has been difficult (as many of us unfortunately have had it). If you only knew half the struggles and battles I’ve had to endure all throughout my life. When I tell you that I willed my way to where I am now, it’s no joke. Discipline can be built. Knowledge can be learned. But TRUE unwavering desire? I can’t give that to you.
My advice is to first never lie about your desires. Be honest with what you really want in life. Chances are, for example, if you tell yourself that you want to be financially successful, but instead of picking up a book or working on yourself, you instead opt in for video games or going to the club with your friends, you may be lying to yourself. For instance, I can’t even fathom doing anything else other than the things that are going to take me to where I need to go. I suggest finding a mentor to guide you. For me, my initial mentors were the authors of books, as unfortunately I didn’t have any one of that caliber in my life. And remember discipline is the bridge that will take you from what is (your current state), to what should be (the state you desire). There is no exceptional achievement without discipline.
What’s been one of your main areas of growth this year?
My biggest area of growth has been focused on my capacity to remain comfortable being increasingly more uncomfortable. Over the last 12 months I’ve had to face extreme pressure and stress in order to effectuate real change in my life. The moves I’ve had to perform, and the uncertainty I’ve had to face in order to transition from the position I was at into the position I am at now was incredibly difficult and taxing for me.
They say insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, and expecting different results. And essentially, I felt myself beginning to feel ‘insane’. Although I was doing well for myself, I was still no where near the level of success I expected to be. So I had to step out of the circle and break the revolving process that was keeping me in the same position without advancement.
In the end, although I advanced in my career (amongst other things), the greatest improvement was on my overall character. Showing courage and taking action no matter the risks involved, helped develop a tougher muscle for when dealing with current & future stressful endeavors.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brandonrvargas
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brandonrvargas
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