Empathy is a Powerful Tool

Empathy is not sympathy. Giving someone sympathy devalues them and makes them feel worse. Empathy is understanding a person's situation and helping. In business, empathy is lacking and has been for a long time. It's destroying companies and alienating consumers and employees. Its time for a change and I feel a change coming. Whether you're into social media or not you must admit that it's forced some businesses into uncomfortable areas by making them have to be accountable for, not just the product they sell, but also their employees from the top to the bottom. It's a new day and I feel the change. I choose to try to stay ahead of the game and implement empathy as part of my strategy. Social media moves fast and all I can do is try to keep up. I'm behind many but more importantly, I realize I'm ahead of many as well and that's what's exciting. For me, this moment and 2019 will be a year to rediscover my purpose, nurture my family and move at a faster pace as an artist. It's going to be fun and I look forward to taking this journey with all of you. Thank you for reading and your support. ❤ JHS

The Kool-Aid is cold and ready!!

I don't like the political game but I'm fascinated by the lack of full education on the issues. Everyone has half the story and some of it is wrong. They hear snippets here and there and draw one conclusion based on it. The media outlets together decide the buzzwords of the day and they use it to get the people under a spell. Just go to YouTube and check out the videos of the major networks doing this. It's pretty crazy. Word for word! My favorite is, "This a danger to our democracy" Type that into YouTube and see the kool-aid being prepared for you.

I use to question everything when I was young in the South Bronx. Someone once said that rock and roll is a fad and will be going away soon. They said dance music was taking over. Some other dope said Rap would never become mainstream. I thought that was crap. I knew it was going to be around for a long time. But whenever I would ask where did they hear this, They would say said MTV or some news channel. They had nothing but the news media. Just what someone told them. This, of course, being pre-internet where all the truth can now be found ;) it was easier to argue a good point. Today you can't argue because there are so many half-truths being thrown out there that people get hypnotized and can't even see a POSSIBILITY that someone is rigging the game and not using the whole truth. I'm sorry to say but the game is rigged, my friends. I can't even imagine what we would be listening to today on the radio If CNN was around back then!! JHS

Kick-Ass Successful Actions

The core of my upcoming book are these 10 actions for success that I wrote in 2013.  I was coming out of two of the roughest years of my life and I thought to myself, what are the basic components I use in my life that I've always followed that bring me happiness?  Then I tried to find out, what are the components of my life that when I violate them, my survival goes down and it brings me misery?   After asking myself these 2 questions, I started coming up different items which eventually ended up being this list.  I'm sure more can be added but these work just fine for me and I feel they cover every important aspect of life.  Of course, I'm not perfect.  I try to follow these!  I don't always succeed but having them has made a big difference in my life and has brought me comfort.  I would like to share them here with you now.

My 10 Successful Actions.

1. If you're unhappy with your current situation, change it. Something can be done about it.

2. Don't hate anyone for being successful even if the work isn't your cup of tea.

3. Surround yourself with people that will motivate and inspire you and always motivate and inspire others. Those that don't find value in what you're doing don't matter so don't pay any attention to them. They will go away eventually when they realize they can't win.

4. Don't be afraid to promote your work and do it often. If you believe in what you're doing, that will communicate to others. Remember, this is Show Business so showing your business is part of the game. Can you name that famous person that never promoted anything? Me neither.

5. If you're having problems or feel stuck, ask someone you trust for some
help or advice. But never ask someone to give you work because you have a
relationship with them. And always make yourself available to help
someone.

6. Take time every day to do some personal enhancement. It can be a new
course, read a book on your art or life, a seminar. Learn something new
every day.

7. Find a solid platform for life that works for you and that you're willing to die
for. It can be a religion, a faith, belief or a philosophy of life that gives you
tools to improve your conditions and help you reach your goals.

8. Be true and honest with your partner. Get them on your side and helping you
achieve your success. At the same time help reach their goals too. You
should never have to convince a partner or anyone to help you succeed.

9. Use your time wisely. We have 168 hours in one week. After we sleep, eat
and commute we are left with anywhere between 50 and 70 hours. With
that time you need to spend time with family and work on your goals. It's
plenty of time. If you're working more hours or you feel it's not enough
time, then please refer back to # 1 on this list.

10.Take care of yourself. Eat foods that will give you energy and take good
quality supplements if needed. You need to be able to control the body at
will and make it do things. Sometimes you might be tired and want to veg
out as some say but the only goal a vegetable has is to be cut up in a salad
then devoured. Don't be devoured! Move!

Chasing Butterflies with Someone Else's Net.

How many epiphanies can one man have before finally getting comfortable with not giving a shit about epiphanies?  Well, apparently a lot!  I for one have had more AH HA moments than I can count but it's always lead me to the next AH HA moment.  But I guess that's part of living a life of purpose and always having to readjust your big boy pants and keep moving.  Purpose!  I'm not really sure how someone goes through life without purpose but believe me, it happens.  I know this to be a fact because it seems to keep happening to me!  I'm not saying I don't have a purpose but I seem to get sidetracked by someone else's purpose and when I've finally had enough, I get the AH HA moment which has become quite famous in my home.  I run around the house yelling, "AH HA!!  I GOT IT!!" My wife just looks at me now and says, "You said that before and I always agree with you so why don't you just keep doing that!"

Well, last week I had another one!  Ok Ok!!  I'm sorry but this time it's different!  I swear!  This time I'm remembering it clearly and documenting it here in this blog so the world can read it and call me out on it next time I try to bring to fruition someone else's dreams.  Now don't get me wrong, I want to help others find their way but not at the expense of my happiness or the risk of losing opportunities.  Those lost opportunities are also people I could've helped and didn't because I was chasing butterflies with someone else's net.

This is my advice.  Wake up in the morning and think about the one thing you would want to do that day.  Now don't get cute and say sleep or coffee.  Really think about it and find out what's the one thing that you would love to do more than anything else.  When you find what it is, write it down on a piece of paper and stare at it.  Really look at it.  What will you feel?  Are you in pain by it or happy because it's what you're getting ready to spend your day doing?  It's at this moment when you will either make the biggest decision in your life or just put it aside and make excuses because you have bills to pay.  The hard fact is that most people won't even write it down.  The thought alone is painful enough.  All I can say is that you're heading towards a life of pain and struggle if you don't at least take a look at it.  You don't have to radically change your life (although it might be a good idea) but you can start making a plan to move towards your goal and passion.  Save the piece of paper and work on it.  Find people who do what you want to do and ask them for help.  You'd be surprised how many are willing to help.  I know I would be flattered if I were asked to help someone find a life living and working in their passion.  I hope the best for all of you.  JHS

Car Company Troubles....

If a car company produced a car that had a warning label on the dashboard saying, "This car might cause you to want to run off the road for no reason", that company would be out of business.

If that same car company sold cars that might explode for no reason at all, that company would be out of business.

If that car company made commercials, where they give warnings about how driving this car, might lead to your DEATH, that company would be out of business.

No company in the world gets more passes on investigations than Big Pharma and it's just sad and feels hopeless. But, Just go educate yourself on the subject and stop reading posts and getting angry. JHS

http://www.cchr.org/

Two IMPORTANT Items to apply on your Journey...

If you’re about to venture on an exciting trip, like the one I’m currently on, but you’re terrified, well, join the club! But also remember that it’s not you that’s afraid. It’s the idea that others will know you're afraid and might try to discourage you. This sometimes comes as a playful dig to you by someone that loves you but it still creates the same effect. It creates doubt which leads to fear. Just know that the fear is exterior to you as a spiritual being so that means it’s not part of you. Someone else created that fear and you accepted it as your own. It’s created somewhere else. If you eat some nasty fast food and get a stomach ache then that’s you because you allowed it to enter your body. You have control to NOT let fear enter your body or your mind in this case. Here are two simple tools that I follow every single day. The first thing that I apply is that I’m organized with my daily goals and I keep moving forward no matter what enters my space or like Dory sings in Finding Nemo, Just keep swimming Just keep swimming. If you’re moving forward at all times then someone who's trying to prevent you from succeeding will just have to either move over or you can run them over and they’ll become roadkill and then you can look in your rearview mirror and giggle. Yes, I intended that to be rather cruel and dramatic because it is and you shouldn’t put up with anyone trying to prevent your happiness. Family members and close friends tend to be the biggest culprits in this area. Look for it, stay organize and keep moving! The second thing I apply is to stay focus on your daily goals. You should have at least one item that you want to accomplish every single day towards a goal. That’s right. 7 days a week 365 days a year. It can be as simple as emailing someone with an idea or just studying a book, article or film for an hour. It’s not impossible to do and once you start you’ll be amazed at how much time you have to spend with your true friends and supportive family.  This is not always easy but necessary if you want to have the kind of life that YOU control. Your job as a living breathing spiritual being is to find solutions to problems and not make excuses. You will always have problems but how you confront them will judge how well you do in life. People who make excuses for a living never reach their full potential of ability or happiness and that is tragic. A person’s happiness can be measured by how far they can see into the future and then reach for it. Just standing idle staring at it will not get you there. So move!  Thank you for your time.  JHS
www.johnhenrysoto.com

I Grew up in the Ghetto and I don't use it as an Excuse to not Produce....

I know that's a long title but like I said I have no excuses to NOT produce so I produced a nice long title for you.  You're welcome.  So why am I writing about growing up in the South Bronx during one of the darkest days of that community?  70s 80s and 90s.  Well, because it goes hand in hand with just about anyone who's looking for excuses to not have to work hard to produce and just "Take it easy."  In my case, I could have used the excuse of growing up poor and in a violent neighborhood or not getting a good education etc... and you what, people around me would have supported that viewpoint and never push me to reach for more.  Shame on them!  Accountability was lost when I was growing up.  We just weren't expected to live long enough to achieve anything so they tried to make us feel better by excusing our laziness and lack of effort and candy coat their excuses by calling it "support".  That's so messed up.  So today, when someone throws a line out at me like, "Don't work so hard." or "Take it easy." it drives me a little batty because I remember what it took to get out of the South Bronx and extinguish the ghetto mentality that was instilled by a scared community.  And the sacrifices.  A lot of sacrifices.  Now, don't get me wrong, There's a big part of the South Bronx in my heart and I have a lot of love and admiration for the neighborhood.  I just refuse to use that experience as an excuse to not try to reach for the stars. Ok, maybe that's a little corny but it's heartfelt and really the main reason why I don't let anyone get away with making excuses that sound super lame.  I hear it all the time and I make sure I comment on it because I feel it's my responsibility to help them see what I've worked so hard to see.  And that is, the control you have on your future is based on the actions you decide to take today and not the hand you were dealt.  Take a really close and honest look at the actions you take towards your future.  Are they exactly what you should be doing?  If things don't work out are you using a million excuses to justify those actions?  And lastly, can you see movement towards your goals or are you sitting in your excuses.  You need to seriously look at that.  I want you to have a chance.  A chance to create exactly what you want.  You deserve it and you can do it.  Thank you for your time.  JHS
www.johnhenrysoto.com

The Admiration of it All...

To find happiness, you must admire living.  That means all of it.  The bad and the worst not to mention the so messed up that you want to kick kittens.  (Don't kick kittens)  It's so easy to walk around and love life when things are great.  Admiration of the struggle can feel just as good as loving everything because your lover is loving you lovely.  The present moment is where people fall behind.  They forget that life is based on a series of moments back to back to back and so on.  It never stops.  Not even after you're dead.  A dead corpse is decaying one moment to the next and who knows how long that process goes on a molecular level.  So the key is to always be in this moment and that moment that's about to arrive.  If you're walking into your office, then walk into it as if it's the first time.  Admire that moment.  This is not easy and most of you will roll your eyes when you read this but just admire that you read this, admire the moment and admire your sarcastic rolling eyes.  Because that moment existed whether you were aware of it or not. It happened.  And you know what, I admired the moment you rolled your eyes.  Thank you.  JHS
The photo is a mold of my hand holding my wife's hand.  
www.johnhenrysoto.com 

I'm Walking here!!! I'm F#$%ing walking here!!!

The moment when you have to explain to someone what you're working on and how it will lead to money is the single most depressing moment to me.  Not because I don't have a clear view of what I'm striving for but because the person asking, 9 out of 10 times are so blind to who I am and what I stand for that it's depressing.  Especially, family and close friends.  Well, here's the punchline.  It doesn't matter.  The bottom line is that if your work is so amazing, then it will speak for itself.  The only time you need to explain yourself is when you're not creating content that's clear enough or creating the impact and earning you a living.  But why explain anything anyway?  Fuck them!  Some will never get it!  It's all the person's viewpoint and the ability to perceive what's happening in the environment and not everyone has this ability.  One person's viewpoint might linger in an endless stream of not knowing and unfortunately, there's no saving them but the other guy might fully duplicate and perceive the intention simply by walking into your space.  No words needed.  It's not even fair to go into an explanation for some because they might hurt their cerebrum and who knows what kind of damage you can do. 

But, this journey is confusing for those that are not on it and that's totally fine.  Keep trucking and if someone asks you to explain why you're doing this or what are you doing, just yell, "I'm Walking Here!!  I'm F#$%ing Walking Here!!"  then just walk away.  It will make a great story for them and you'll save valuable time to use to grow your business. JHS 

www.johnhenrysoto.com