It’s currently four thirty in the morning and I can’t sleep, yet I was able to text something profound. Joshes and Joshettes, don’t worry this isn’t one of my typical philosophy posts. I’m shooting from the hip with this one, which means no quote today. So let’s dive into today’s post.

So what was the magical text that made me pull out my laptop at four in the morning? I was comparing lust to affection and I was trying to explain how they are basically two sides of the same coin. Right when I hit send, my mind began to wander. Before I can go deep into the post let me explain what this saying means. Two sides of the same coin means two opposites create something however, for this creation to exist both opposites must be present. Most of us have heard about Yin and Yang, light (good) can not exist without darkness (bad). The only thing is Yin and Yang take it a bit further than that, there is a bit of Yang in Yin and a bit of Yin in Yang. So why did I decide to write a post about this topic? Reddit! Before sending the text I was browsing Reddit (r/entrepreneur and r/selfpublishing threads) and some of the Q&As shocked me. But the thing that stuck with me was when you self publish a book 50% of your effort goes into writing the book and the other 50% of your effort goes into marketing aka advertising your book. If you want to succeed as a self-published author you have to know both how to write and market yourself hence Yin and Yang. As you can probably guess this post is going to be about the “hidden face”.

Hidden Face, what is that? This is another one of our exclusive terms. Since this is the first time you heard this term let me define it for you; The hidden face is basically the back side of the coin, it is an essential component in achieving whatever goal you have and is often overlooked. A prime example of this is the success iceberg. Did I just use another term to define this term, yes I did. The success iceberg basically means the part of the iceberg that we see is the success but the part we don’t see is all the hard work that goes into it. Let me be nice and explain it without using more terms. Let’s use the topic of getting in shape, how do you get in shape? Most will say you need to diet and exercise, which is true but there is a hidden face. You need to have the right mindset/motivation or you will fail. So hours before the Reddit threads and the text message, I was having a deep conversation with someone about why they ran. I’m not talking about regular running I’m talking about half and full marathons. The whole thing is no matter what they had to run no excuses. Weather horrendous? Run! Drank too much last night? Run! Didn’t get enough sleep? Run! This is why your mental state is key and why people like Tony Robbins get paid to change the state people are in. Your mindset is the hidden face for getting in shape/losing weight, which is why many people fail because they weren’t fully committed mentally. People join a gym as a new year resolution but the majority quit and it’s because it’s hard and you need to have a strong resolve.

Josh, that makes sense in that example, but how does that affect you and this site. I’m glad you asked, this post is the hidden face. As I type this sentence it is now six thirty am (man this post took me a while), I am exhausted and haven’t slept yet. Many of you are screaming at your screen telling me to sleep but I need to produce content. The hidden face of content creation is the amount of time and effort that goes in that not many see. The last blog post I wrote was on the 25th and I wrote it in the exact place I am now the hospital. I’ve produced other content in the back end (book writing) but only a select few have access to this content so, the average person might get the impression that I don’t produce content often (which is true at times). I don’t know about other content creators but it takes me a while to produce content, let me break it down. A blog post usually takes me anywhere from an hour to three hours depending on the length and how in love with the topic I am {I tend to rewrite ALOT (I know it’s two words btw)}, then I have to make an excerpt find a thumbnail and post to social media. If I have a podcast topic on hand (which I almost never do) I can just press record and in an hour I am done recording. Editing, creating a video, and uploading takes about thirty minutes. A book takes me about 512hrs to just write, not include editing and formatting. I saved video production for last because the last two videos killed me. I launched a new series and Murphy came knocking because everything went wrong. The remote trigger for my camera app did not work properly, I had to record outside which made each video take twenty takes, I spent almost twelve hrs editing because the audio and video kept exporting out of sync. Even after producing all of these different forms of media, I have to market them to an audience. I’m always changing the way I work but I just want all my readers to see the hidden face of content creation, work. Content creation is not as easy as many people think and that’s why hard work is it’s hidden face.

Wow, that was a long paragraph so let me dial it back now. You may not agree with me but there is a hidden face in everything in life. When you buy a bottle of water at the supermarket you have to pay tax and a bottle deposit (select states). See sales tax and bottle deposit can be considered hidden faces, most people forget about the cost of tax. Many of those in my inner circle are salesmen and the hidden face of that profession is rejection. If you can not handle rejection then a sales job is probably not for you especially door to door sales. The salesmen I know have learned how to overcome nearly every possible objection because they have heard them all. They know the hidden face, yet they have made it their strength and become better salesmen because of it. Relationships have hidden faces too, it’s compromise. When I typed that line the lyrics of She Will Be Loved came into my head, it’s in the song for a reason. I can go on for a while about relationships but anyone who has ever been in one knows it takes work. Best way to settle an argument is compromise which is why we have peace treaties.

This post like many before it is about mindset. How we view the world affects our actions and our success. This post tackles the way we view life by talking about the hidden face of things. We all know it’s there but we overlook it, which we shouldn’t. The purpose of this particular post is to make you the reader aware that in order to achieve something requires more than meets the eye. Let me know in the comments below your opinions on this post. Like I stated multiple times, I was sleep deprived while writing this but I believe it came out well.

Remember to be successful it's your right, duty, and responsibility.