Meditate to Success: The Skill Every Entrepreneur Should Develop

David Meltzer, CEO, Sports 1 Marketing

Meditate to Success: The Skill Every Entrepreneur Should Develop

I call meditation “The Wizard of Oz” or my “behind the scenes” component to my business mantra of “make a lot of money, help a lot of people, and have a lot of fun”. I start off every day mediating for twenty minutes. I find the practice so important on so many levels.

If you haven’t meditated before, it’s akin to when you first decide to start working out.You begin slowly. You keep the threshold low. For example when I started to work out after a long five year hiatus, I told myself that on Day One I would simply put on my sneakers. My Day Two goal consisted of putting on my whole outfit, and on Day Three, I added in a five minute workout. Of course, this resulted in exceeding my expectations, and soon I was forming the effective habits I needed to make exercise part of my daily routine. So when you first start out meditating, the easiest thing to do is to say or think, “Thank you” before you go to bed and when you first wake up. This will set you on your way to being able to create clarity, balance, and focus in your life. It’s about cerebrally creating effective habits and overcoming a resistance or any anxiety you may have.

Meditation is simply imagining, breathing, and being aware. Much like a stopwatch, meditation resets my mind. In doing so, it cancels out all the negativity and stumbling blocks from the prior day, clears the mind like a blank slate, and then connects me to what is important. It gives me the clarity, balance and focus to proceed daily. With this clarity, balance, and focus, I enter the workplace confident – all extraneous matters pushed aside – and I am able to manifest everything I want rapidly and accurately. That said, you can briefly meditate anytime during the day if you need to “clear, cancel, and connect”.

Often after my morning meditation, I quickly go online and take notes of my meditation so I don’t forget it. Sometimes, I’m motivated by what I’ve seen, and I’ll email certain people, do some research, or just create lists for the day.

Beyond this, there are further tangential benefits. For example, effective communication is vital in the business world. And in my opinion, there are two key components to effective communication. The first is the ability to over communicate. Famed college football coach and current ESPN commentator Lou Holtz once said, “It’s not what you say, it’s what they hear”. Over communication ensures that all parties are aligned. The second is breathing … which you learn through mediation! Even during a seemingly tense moment or stressful situation, correct breathing enables you to stay in what I call “a majesty of calmness”. And I promise you that being in “a majesty of calmness” under pressure results in a shift of energy among all in a positive direction.

Meditation is high among those factors that have led to my business success as well as happiness and balance in my personal life. If you haven’t tried it, I suggest you start. You’ll love its benefits and results.


About the Author

David Meltzer is CEO at Sports 1 Marketing, which he founded with his business partner and president of Sports 1 Marketing, Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback Warren Moon. Prior to this, as CEO of Leigh Steinberg Sports & Entertainment, David, along with Leigh and Warren, negotiated over two billion dollars in sports and entertainment contracts. In addition to athlete representation, LSSE served as creative and technical consultants on movie and television projects such as Jerry Maguire, Any Given Sunday, For the Love of the Game, and HBO’ s Arli$$. David attended Occidental College and Tulane University Law School. He and his wife, Julie, and their four children live in California. You can learn more about David, and his new book “Connected to Goodness,” at www.connectedtogoodness.com