Two rooms this morning. 6:33 and 9:11. Same book, same question, different doors into it. HERE'S WHAT HAPPENS ON A CARPE DIEM CALL We start still. One of the members leads the room — breathwork, meditation, whatever they bring that morning. Not a coach reading a script. A member. Somebody who was nervous about it and did it anyway. One room got a one-minute reset. Get to zero so you can launch. Picture the thing getting done, and carry that feeling into the day. The other room went in for seven. Hold five. Out for seven. Three rounds. Feet on the floor. Shoulders down. That's how it starts. QUIET. Then we declare. THE BOOK THIS WEEK No Mud, No Lotus — Thich Nhat Hanh You can't grow a lotus on marble. You need mud. The mud stinks. It's ugly. It's been sitting there rotting. And it's the only thing that flower can come out of. So when you declare, you're not just naming the outcome. You're accepting the ground it grows out of. MOST PEOPLE DECLARE THE FLOWER AND QUIT AT THE MUD. One of the members said it better than the book did: "To know how to experience happiness is also to know how to suffer well." AND HERE'S THE PART THAT MATTERS A declaration on this call is never just a task. It's two questions. Always. What will I do this week? AND WHO DO I HAVE TO BE TO DO IT? That second one is the whole game. This morning people declared the doing — build the pipeline, make the calls, ship the thing, finish the week better than they started it. Then they declared the being. → Disciplined. Focused. → Settled before the phone comes up. Not scattered. → Courageous — from an introvert who'd rather find the familiar face in the room and stay there. Going to go meet strangers instead. → Moving through fear that's been knocking on the door for years. Got up at 3:58 to start. NOBODY DECLARED GETTING RICH. They declared who they'd have to become. THEN WE REFLECT ON EACH OTHER You declare, and the room comes back at you. Not applause. Not judgment. Somebody names what they see in you that you might have missed. Somebody offers the tool that worked for them.

Here's the truth: success isn't built on Monday motivation. It's built on what you do every single day when nobody's watching. That's why I created the Carpe Diem Daily — Human Performance System. This is your daily tool. You fill it out every day to stay locked in, honor your word, and grow into your next level — one day at a time. Each day has its own focus: 🟥 Monday — Declaration: Give your word. Start strong. 🟧 Tuesday — Momentum: Find where you're being tested and meet it. 🟨 Wednesday — Calibration: Check what's working, adjust what's not. 🟩 Thursday — Execution: Pressure creates performance. Eliminate the distractions. 🟦 Friday — Results: Measure, reflect, and celebrate what you built. We use this on our daily calls — so come ready. This is where you show up for yourself, keep your commitments in front of you, and build real momentum. Here's the thing — nobody's grading this but you. The whole point is learning to give your word and follow through. Every time you do, you build the muscle of promise and follow-through. That muscle is what separates the people who talk about their goals from the people who live them. Here's how to use it: 1. Download the sheet — print a stack or keep it digital. 2. Fill it out every day and bring it to the daily call. 3. Head over to 🏆 Wins & Celebrations and post a WIN you're celebrating — let's see you follow through. You don't rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems. This is your system. Carpe Diem (Seize the day!) 🔥 Coach Martín Lopez

This week, both Carpe Diem groups worked through the ideas in Gabriele Oettingen’s book, Rethinking Positive Thinking. And the biggest lesson was simple: Positive thinking ALONE is not enough. It’s good to see the possibility. It’s good to believe something better is available. But if ALL we do is picture the outcome, we get to feel rewarded before we’ve actually done the work. And according to Gabriele, that little emotional reward can take away just enough desire that we often fail to complete what we said we wanted. That’s where WOOP comes in: Wish. Outcome. Obstacle. Plan. This last week, we saw what happens when we stop running from the obstacle. PQ declared that she wanted a recurring client—and she got one. Biz stepped into a major opportunity as a fight choreographer. Roberto kept his promise to walk, built consistency, and saw major changes in his health. Brandon faced difficult conversations he thought could go badly—and discovered he could handle them. Taj made a major career move and stepped into a new opportunity with confidence. Those were not just wins. That’s evidence. that when we name the wish, face the obstacle, and create the plan, we become the person capable of producing the outcome. That is how positive thinking becomes real performance.

🪷 THIS WEEK AT CARPE DIEM DAILY — NO MUD, NO LOTUS Here's the full week laid out. Every daily drop, Saturday through Friday, in one place. This week's Philosopher's Note is No Mud, No Lotus by Thich Nhat Hanh. The whole premise: the lotus doesn't grow in spite of the mud. It grows because of it. The hard stuff isn't in the way of who you're becoming. It's how you become it. Listen to the Note before Monday. Come in already thinking. 👉 https://go.heroic.us/fec345Oq ☎️ Carpe Diem Daily — 6:33 & 9:11 AM PST, Monday through Friday. ◼️ SATURDAY — AUGUST 1 (Philosopher's Note) What good is success without happiness? No Mud, No Lotus — Thich Nhat Hanh Here's the deal. What good is giving your word on Monday if it doesn't bring you joy on Friday? The lotus doesn't grow in spite of the mud. It grows because of it. The hard stuff isn't in the way of who you're becoming. It's how you become it. This week we go deep on both — the goals and the joy you're supposed to feel getting there. "The mud doesn't stop the flower. It's what feeds it." 🟥 MONDAY — AUGUST 3 DECLARATION (Start Strong. Give your word) You're about to give your word. Make sure it's worth having. Thich Nhat Hanh says you can't grow a lotus on marble. You need mud. So when you declare this week, you're not just naming the outcome. You're accepting the ground it grows out of. Most people declare the flower and quit at the mud. "A word given without the willingness to suffer for it was never a word at all." 🟧 TUESDAY — AUGUST 4 MOMENTUM (Identify where you're being tested) Something's already pushing back. That's right on schedule. Here's the shift. The resistance you're feeling isn't proof you picked wrong. It's the mud. And the mud is where the thing you want actually gets built. Most people spend their life trying to get out of it. This week we learn to stand in it. "What pushes back is what shapes you." 🟨 WEDNESDAY — AUGUST 5 CALIBRATION (The opportunity to refocus)

Brian Johnson put together a one-page worksheet for this. Four boxes. Top to bottom. That's it. Don't overthink it — but don't rush it either. The whole thing takes about five minutes, and the order matters more than the wording. ⚪ W — WISH Three to six words. That's all you get. One thing you want, and here's the filter: challenging but feasible. It's gotta stretch you, and you've gotta believe you can actually pull it off. If it's too easy, there's no fire. If you don't really believe it's possible, the whole thing backfires — Oettingen's research shows your motivation drops below where it started. So be honest. Pick the one that's got some weight on it and you know is yours to take. "Close three new clients." "Train five days this week." "Be present at dinner every night." ⚪ O — OUTCOME What's the payoff? Not the milestone. The feeling on the other side. What does your life look like when this is done? And here's the part people skip — sit in it. Picture it. Let it be good for a minute. This is the one place where dreaming actually works, because you're about to slam it up against reality in the very next box. That's the contrast. That's the whole trick. You gotta feel the win before you name what's blocking it. ⚪ O — OBSTACLE Now the good part. What's in your way? And listen close — it's not out there. It's not your schedule, your boss, your kids, the economy. Oettingen is dead specific about this: the obstacle has to be inside you. The habit. The fear. The story you tell yourself. The 9pm scroll. The excuse you've been running so long it sounds like a fact. That's the best news in the whole system. Because whatever's inside you is yours to move. Name it. Say it plain. No dressing it up. ⚪ P — PLAN One sentence. This exact shape: "If ______ happens, then I will ______." That's it. That's the whole plan. The "if" is your obstacle showing up. And get specific — when and where. Not "if I feel tired." Try "If it's 7pm and I get home tired..." The "then" is your move. Decided right now, in the cold, before the moment ever hits.