What’s up, guys? It’s DamianJay. This is The Morning Drive.
I wanted to talk about having a winner’s mindset.
Lately, I’ve been sharing about working on being more stoic. That’s not a switch you flip once and forget. It’s something you work on every single day, just like everything else in life. You get up, you put in the work, you try again tomorrow.
I’m bringing this up because recently, I’ve had a rash of people in my life and clients too who’ve come in with a loser mentality.
Let me be blunt: if you have a loser mentality, you’re going to be a fucking loser.
Thinking that way breeds defeat. I had a client not too long ago who, on the very first day of their campaign, literally asked, “What’s the point of this?”
Do you know how frustrating that is? You bust your ass on someone’s campaign, you put your expertise to work, and then they come in with that? My first thought was, Why did you even start if you’re going to think like that?
Being older, I’ve learned to take a breath and explain it plainly. Success is like going to the gym. You are not going to see progress on day one. You have to keep showing up. Over and over. Until one day, you realize you’re stronger.
If your goal is to beat the competition, you have to beat them where they’re weak. Train the things they aren’t training. Do the things they aren’t doing.
When I talk to clients about the markets they’re in, they often say:
“We can’t win here. There’s too much competition.”
“It’s an old boys’ club.”
“They’ve had this city locked down forever.”
Okay… then what about the cities around it?
Beat them where they’re weak.
Do they have locations in smaller towns? Are they covering the entire map?
Winning isn’t about one giant move. It’s about stacking smaller wins over time. Each small win compounds until you’ve built something big.
So this idea that you’re too small or your budget is too small? Fuck that. Go where they’re not looking. Put in the work. Outwork them. Outthink them.
I’ve said it a million times when I was in the gym: There’s always someone bigger. There’s always someone stronger. Dom Mazzetti said it best: The day you start lifting is the day you become forever small.
Walking in and seeing all these massive guys lifting heavy shit when you’re the smallest guy in the room is intimidating as hell. But those guys didn’t get there overnight. They showed up. They kept showing up. They outlasted the ones who stopped coming.
It’s the same with everything in life. Your friendships. Your relationship with your partner. Your business. If you put in the work, those things get stronger. If you stop showing up, those things go away.
Personally, I like working with winners. But I’ll also try to drag someone out of the muck and make them a winner too. I’ve had my own moments of doubt. I was at a crossroads not too long ago, feeling sorry for myself.
You know what my wife said?
“Then do something about it. Stop fucking moping. Stop talking about what you don’t have and go get it. Update your resume. Take a class. Learn something new. Do the work.”
That hit me like a brick. And she was right. That’s life. Every little bit of effort compounds. Meeting people where they’re weak. Doing the things others won’t.
And yeah, I know, these sound like clichés. But clichés exist because they’re fucking true.
When you have a client, or a friend, or a significant other who whines every single fucking day about every single fucking thing, you get fucking tired of it.
In business, I have to be professional because someone is paying me to help them. But there’s a limit. At some point I can’t be nice anymore. I have to tell it like it is.
Just recently I told a client in their report: “You need to start thinking like you’re the big fish. Start acting like you can win.”
Some people call that faking it until you make it. I don’t think it’s faking at all. If you have the skill and you put in the work, that work will turn into progress.
SEO, marketing, whatever your craft is, it takes time. Three months, six months, sometimes longer. And sure, you can speed things up, but that takes money. It’s like training: you can get stronger faster with better equipment, better supplements, better coaching.
Here’s what I see all the time. I’ll be working with someone and think, You have one of the best trainers in the world helping you… and you’re giving me nothing. Low effort. Low energy. Why me? Poor me.
And I’ll be real with you: that shit makes me not want to work with you. If you don’t care enough to work on yourself, why should I care enough to work on your campaign?
But I can’t think that way forever. I have to grab you by the shoulders, pull you through the muck, and try to get you to the next peak. Because life isn’t one straight line of progress. It’s peaks and plateaus.
And here’s the thing: everyone’s glued to their fucking cell phone, expecting instant results. That’s not how it works. Progress is never a straight line.
Clichés are aggravating because they’re fucking true. They’re meant to inspire. And if you can’t find inspiration in them, then maybe there’s no fucking inspiration in you at all.
And if that’s the case? Do us all a favor. Quit.
Quit before you fucking start. Accept that you’re going to coast through life and never get anywhere.
Or you can change your mindset today.
Start taking little steps.
Show up.
Be accountable.
Put the fucking work in.
Over time, you can be anyone or anything. That’s up to you. I can’t make you do it. I can try to inspire you, but inspiration only goes as far as your own perspiration.
If you’re not willing to work?
Get all the way fucked.
That’s all I’ve got for you today.