WEEK 28: FOLLOW THROUGH

PLANNING (task, scheduling, and WT = DT):  This week I planned on adding over 12 different ideas and notes that I have had about the book into Scrivener and use 99 designs to find someone who could produce a possible book cover. I uploaded the SPI webpage on my devices to turn WT = DT.

IMPLEMENTATION (strategies used):  This week I was able to complete the weekly task, but yet again it was not something that I originally did not plan. Instead of getting frustrated I implemented the CVFA strategy and was able to connect with a designer that I had emailed a week ago to design the book cover. No new strategies this week, but I have listed the CORE strategies that I used this week. One new thing is that I am organizing the strategies under common obstacles or I CAN'Ts  that you might face while DPA your dreams. 

MOTIVATION: I CAN'T find the energy or reasons to...

1. Equal Odds Rule: This strategy I learned from James Clear and this strategy was actually coined by a Harvard-trained phycologist Kevin Simonton. He researched the impact of scientific publications and the effect on its readers. Keith found that any given scientist could write a game-changing publication or an average one that could be easy forgotten. James went further and made the connection that you could be an artist, teacher, lawyer, athlete, or the average Joe schmo like you and me, and we are all equally likely to produce a great piece of work or an average one. Essentially the only determining factor is frequency. What do I mean by this? The more you create, the more likely you will produce a great piece of work. Why? Well, if you think about it the more that you produce, in whatever area that you work in, the more chances you get to creating an excellent piece of work. The higher number of attempts allows you to produce more average pieces, that might be easily forgotten,but you are also able to learn more skills from this increased production. This in turn, increases the probability that you produce a great piece of work. In simple terms, the more you create, the more likely you will create an excellent piece of work. 

2. Seinfeld strategy:  I learned the Seinfeld strategy that from James Clear. It is called this because a young comedian once asked Jerry Seinfeld how to become a "better comedian." Jerry said take a huge calendar and place a big X for everyday that you write jokes, and if you can place an X for every day of the year, then you will become a better comedian. This strategy makes your progress visible and provides additional motivation to continue the streak of completing weekly tasks that move you towards your goals for the year. 

3. 3-Bucket System: I learned the 3-Bucket system from Jeff Goins who breaks up the process of writing into three easy steps. First, create a place (physical or digital) where you can collect ideas. Second, schedule a time to draft the first version without the pressure of making edits. Third, edit your draft after you have taken time away from it. This process makes writing much easier and I find myself producing better writing in a shorter amount of time. 

FEAR: I CAN'T because it is not perfect, that is not how I thought it might go, or I do not have the skill or resources to.....

4. CVFA: This strategy really helped me be aware and release judgement if things do not turn our a certain way. I learned this strategy from Tony Robbins and the initialism for the strategy is CVFA. In this strategy you stay Committed to your Vision, but are Flexible with the Approach. This comes in handy when you plan do complete a certain action earlier in the week, but have to complete something else to meet a pressing deadline. As long as the new task allows you to be Committed to your Vision, then you can be Flexible with your Approach. Don't beat yourself up, and try to control everything to the point that you get frustrated. Take a breath and think if the task still helps you be Committed to your Vision, if so, then be Flexible with the Approach. If not, then stay committed to your original plan.

LACK of CONFIDENCE: I CAN'T because I am not  a person that can...

5. Agreements: I was able to learn about this powerful strategy from Jack Canfield called agreements. In this strategy you keep and fulfill all of your agreements. By doing this, you boost self confidence and you slowly prove to yourself that you are a person that is able to complete whatever you agree to. This in turn, allows you to take on more challenging tasks, as you have trained the subconscious mind that you are able capable of such endeavors. My suggestion is to first start small, prove to yourself by consistently completing easy actions that you have agreed to. Second, only commit to things that you know that you will be able to complete. After you have proven to yourself that you can keep your agreements and your confidence grows, take the opportunity to agree to more challenging tasks on the process of discovering, pursuing, and achieving your dreams.

PROCRASTINATION

6. The Enkrateia strategy: Enkrateia is the antonym of Akrasia and means "in control of oneself"  and I learned this from James Clear. This involves three strategies in one to combat Akrasia, or simply put procrastination. First, create a Commitment Device, which increases the consequences of a bad behavior and decreases the effort to carry out a good one. For example, to eat less sugar, you can clear out all candies in your house, which reduces the effort to not eat sugar at home. Second, incorporate the 2-minute rule to initiate tasks, as the hardest part of following through is getting started. Third, utilize implementation intentions, or identify a [date] at certain [time] at a specific [place] to complete a task. By incorporating this you will be 2X to 3X more likely to follow through on what you planned.  

7. Early Scheduling = Implementation Intentions: This is a strategy that I was incorporating during my streak of completing my tasks on time, and it was a huge benefit this week. In this strategy, you first PLAN to complete a task and then SCHEDULE a time to complete the task as early in the week as you can. Two benefits are produced from doing this. First, you get a sense of accomplishment if you complete the task in the beginning of the week at the scheduled time. In addition, it allows you to devout more time to do additional tasks to reach your goals within the same week. Second, it provides more time to complete the task if life presents you with something that needs to be attended to during the original scheduled time. 

8. Got 2-minutes: I learned the 2-minute rule from James Clear and it helps you initiate a task, as usually this is the most difficult step. This strategy helps you focus on what you would do in the first 2 minutes of starting a task and then complete those actions. I often times do this and then look up at the clock and see that I have been working for well over 2 minutes. I have now merged this with the "Got a Minute" strategy, which is used to turn any amount of free time into productive time. It comes from Vierordt's Law, which states that when estimating a previous task, people overestimate short durations and underestimate long ones. Simply, we regularly overestimate how long it will take to accomplish meaningful tasks. task. Often times they can be accomplished in a short amount of time. So don't judge if you will start something by how time you think you have, just star! 

REFLECTIONS (learnings and actions): Another completed task and Week 28 is in the books. A huge takeaway from this week is the concept of following up. I have actually seen this in my reading time and have heard it on one of the podcast I have listened to (can not place it exactly, but will find out soon enough).

This learning came due to me finding someone to design my book cover. Last week I sent out an email to a book designer and in my mind I thought she would email me back the next day. Surprise, she did not. Then I thought, for sure she would email back on the second day, again no response. I gave it one more day and knew for sure I would see an email pop up from her. Answer, NO. After the first week I felt deflated and was about to give up, but for some reason the action of following up kept ringing in my mind. So I sent another message summarizing my first email. Guess what happened the next day...nothing...just kidding. I got a response from the designer! She wrote that she had been traveling and just saw my messages. She was excited to work together and gave me directions on the next steps to the process. 

This led me to researching a little bit as I was curious about the act of following up. Usually when you are asking a new person for a request, you usually ask once and if they do not respond you guess that they do not want to help. Often times, we forget that the receiver of the message probably also lives a hectic life and might be busy. For example, your email might be buried in a sea of other emails that are sent to them on a daily basis. The crazy thing is that 80% of sales are made in the 5th to 12th follow up. That is right, 80% sales! Why is this, first none of us are trained sales people and this is a strategy that most, well great salesmen use on you. For example, say that you go to a new restaurant and do not know what you are going to order. A good waiter/waitress will probably guide you to choices that will benefit them the most. They might highlight a dish if you like meat, or another if you like sauces, or yet another if you are looking for something light, but will probably end on "but my favorite is__, because __." This usually sells you and then you order that dish. As you can see, it is the not the first thing that you hear, rather it is the process of listening to other suggestions before you are finally sold. 

Now why I am talking about sales and offering statistics on the act of following up? Well, you will definitely reach out and try to connect with others in your DPA process, as I have in mine. This might be for advice, maybe to join a group, or something els to help you accomplish your weekly task, ie connecting with a designer for my book cover.  First, I should say that the most important thing to do is to ASK. You will be totally surprised by who might say yes to your request, but you will never know unless you ask first. The worst thing that can happen is that they will say no or not respond. But this is where the act of following up benefits you. After an initial period where you cold call someone (someone that you reach out that  do not personally know) for something and they do not respond, send them a follow up message summarizing your initial request. If there is still no response, then repeat the process until the fourth or fifth attempt. Now, if they have not responded after this time then you probably know they are not going to be able to help you. Additionally, I would reflect and see how important the request is, as sending out multiple emails to every new stranger for the smallest of favors might zap a lot of your time. However, if it is truly important to you and know that a possible connection could help you in your DPA process then I would say repeat it at least 5 times, as that is where 80% of the sales are made. 

Thanks for tuning in and see you in week 29.

WEEK 27: BECOMING A PRO

PLANNING (task, scheduling, and WT = DT):  This week I planned on watching another video from Chandler Bolt's self-publishing site on Wednesday, after work, in the study. In addition, I uploaded the SPI website on my devices to turn WT = DT.

IMPLEMENTATION (strategies used):  This is the second week in a row that I completed a task that was not something that I had originally planned on doing, but still made progress towards writing the book. Different from previous weeks, I did not get frustrated as I was able to implement the strategy CVFA. In addition, an old strategy that I had not thought of in a while also surfaced this week and I have listed that first. As always, I have referenced the strategies that I consistently use on a weekly basis.

1. Equal Odds Rule: This strategy I learned from James Clear and this strategy was actually coined by a Harvard-trained phycologist Kevin Simonton. He researched the impact of scientific publications and the effect on its readers. Keith found that any given scientist could write a game-changing publication or an average one that could be easy forgotten. James went further and made the connection that you could be an artist, teacher, lawyer, athlete, or the average Joe schmo like you and me, and we are all equally likely to produce a great piece of work or an average one. Essentially the only determining factor is frequency. What do I mean by this? The more you create, the more likely you will produce a great piece of work. Why? Well, if you think about it the more that you produce, in whatever area that you work in, the more chances you get to creating an excellent piece of work. The higher number of attempts allows you to produce more average pieces, that might be easily forgotten,but you are also able to learn more skills from this increased production. This in turn, increases the probability that you produce a great piece of work. In simple terms, the more you create, the more likely you will create an excellent piece of work. 

2. CVFA: This strategy really helped me be aware and release judgement. I have been using this Implementation Intentions strategy where I schedule a task to be completed at a certain time and place. This takes the choice of not completing the task away and saves my will power for more important things. In addition, it statistically gives me a higher percentage of completing the task itself. Although this gives me a higher probability of completing the task, it also gives me the opportunity to judge myself if things do not turn out exactly as I planned. We all have this need for control, but I learned something from Tony Robbins to help combat this. 

The initialism for the strategy is CVFA. In this strategy you stay Committed to your Vision, but are Flexible with the Approach. In the past two weeks I have been able to connect with Zephan Moses Blaxberg, the author of A Year of Purpose, who has written a book on how to rescript your life, and he has agreed to start providing coaching sessions in the coming months. In order to prepare for the first session, I needed to work through seven sets of life redesigning questions for the future. This coupled with the fact that I had been sick since Wednesday, the date at which I scheduled the task, brought up a mini problem for the week. Do I complete the original task or do I shift gears and complete the questions in order to prepare for the first coaching session? I thought about this for a second, and realized that preparing for the first coaching session is a part of the Vision of what I want to complete this year, so I was Flexible with the Approach and bypassed my original plan and answered his questions. There will be times when this will happen to you, but don't beat yourself up, as if the task still helps you be Committed to your Vision, then be Flexible with the Approach. 

3. Agreements: I was able to learn about this powerful strategy from Jack Canfield called agreements. In this strategy you keep and fulfill all of your agreements. By doing this, you boost self confidence and you slowly prove to yourself that you are a person that is able to complete whatever you agree to. This in turn, allows you to take on more challenging tasks, as you have trained the subconscious mind that you are able capable of such endeavors. My suggestion is to first start small, prove to yourself by consistently completing easy actions that you have agreed to. Second, only commit to things that you know that you will be able to complete. After you have proven to yourself that you can keep your agreements and your confidence grows, take the opportunity to agree to more challenging tasks on the process of discovering, pursuing, and achieving your dreams.

4. The Enkrateia strategy: Enkrateia is the antonym of Akrasia and means "in control of oneself"  and I learned this from James Clear. This involves three strategies in one to combat Akrasia, or simply put procrastination. First, create a Commitment Device, which increases the consequences of a bad behavior and decreases the effort to carry out a good one. For example, to eat less sugar, you can clear out all candies in your house, which reduces the effort to not eat sugar at home. Second, incorporate the 2-minute rule to initiate tasks, as the hardest part of following through is getting started. Third, utilize implementation intentions, or identify a [date] at certain [time] at a specific [place] to complete a task. By incorporating this you will be 2X to 3X more likely to follow through on what you planned.  

5. Early Scheduling = Implementation Intentions: This is a strategy that I was incorporating during my streak of completing my tasks on time, and it was a huge benefit this week. In this strategy, you first PLAN to complete a task and then SCHEDULE a time to complete the task as early in the week as you can. Two benefits are produced from doing this. First, you get a sense of accomplishment if you complete the task in the beginning of the week at the scheduled time. In addition, it allows you to devout more time to do additional tasks to reach your goals within the same week. Second, it provides more time to complete the task if life presents you with something that needs to be attended to during the original scheduled time. 

6. Seinfeld strategy:  I learned the Seinfeld strategy that from James Clear. It is called this because a young comedian once asked Jerry Seinfeld how to become a "better comedian." Jerry said take a huge calendar and place a big X for everyday that you write jokes, and if you can place an X for every day of the year, then you will become a better comedian. This strategy makes your progress visible and provides additional motivation to continue the streak of completing weekly tasks that move you towards your goals for the year. 

7. 3-Bucket System: I learned the 3-Bucket system from Jeff Goins who breaks up the process of writing into three easy steps. First, create a place (physical or digital) where you can collect ideas. Second, schedule a time to draft the first version without the pressure of making edits. Third, edit your draft after you have taken time away from it. This process makes writing much easier and I find myself producing better writing in a shorter amount of time. 

8. Got 2-minutes: I learned the 2-minute rule from James Clear and it helps you initiate a task, as usually this is the most difficult step. This strategy helps you focus on what you would do in the first 2 minutes of starting a task and then complete those actions. I often times do this and then look up at the clock and see that I have been working for well over 2 minutes. I have now merged this with the "Got a Minute" strategy, which is used to turn any amount of free time into productive time. It comes from Vierordt's Law, which states that when estimating a previous task, people overestimate short durations and underestimate long ones. Simply, we regularly overestimate how long it will take to accomplish meaningful tasks. task. Often times they can be accomplished in a short amount of time. So don't judge if you will start something by how time you think you have, just star! 

REFLECTIONS (learnings and actions): Week 27 was quite a normal week. I planned a task to complete, implemented it, and then now I am reflecting about. Although there was not a monumental breakthrough that occurred this week, I was able to connect to previous learnings to help show the power of consistently completing the weekly tasks.

First, I am finally becoming a PRO! In Week 12, I referenced something I learned from Jeff Goins, which was "activity follows mindset." He said that you start to succeed when you first decide to become a professional in whatever you choose, and then the activities of becoming a pro will follow. Well, In my DPA process I have been working to become a pro at achieving my dreams, and more specifically being a better writer, so that I can finish my book this year. Although the activities this week did not seem to produce any huge learnings on the surface, I actually finally connected what it meant to be a pro. Essentially, I fell in love with monotony of the weekly tasks. This is how James Clear defines a professional. He wrote about the difference between an amateur and pro and saw that pros show up and complete the work no matter what life throws at them. Where as amateur might not complete the task if presented with a difficult situation. This finally made sense to me and I see that I am becoming a true pro, as no matter what challenges life presents me on a weekly basis, I show up and complete the tasks.

Second, I wanted to expand a little more on the Equal Odds Rule that I mentioned above. The whole premise is that anyone, that includes you, can produce amazing work! You just have to produce on a more frequent basis. I thought back on the 27 weeks that I have devoted to the DPA process and read some of my earliest posts (wow!). I will be honest and say that I really had no clue how to organize my ideas into a coherent thought and was averaging about 400-500 words per post. While now, I look back to my average posts and they are averaging around 1300 - 1400 words per posts and the content is better organized to boot. I know that overall word count does not equate to meaningful work, but following the Equal Odds Rule, I am able to write better posts as I consistently produce content on a weekly basis. This in turn, allows me to learn more skills to improve my writing and create game-changing pieces much sooner than expected. I agree some of my work is still average, but there are ones that I look back and say, "wow I wrote that, that is pretty cool!" It is similar to throwing a lot of darts at a bullseye, as the more you throw the higher the probability that you will hit it. To end this week, I leave you with the following challenge to employ the Equal odds Rule and just produce more content in whatever medium you work with (art, writing, digital designs...) so that you will get to your greatest pieces sooner, rather than later. 

Thanks for tuning in and see you in week 28.

26 WEEKS: OH WE'RE HALFWAY THERE

Photo Credit: Track by Dean Hochman

PLANNING (task, scheduling, and WT = DT):  This week I planned to watch another marketing video on Chandler Bolt's the self-publishing site. I planned to complete this task Wednesday after school, in the study. In terms of turing WT = DT, I read excerpts from Ramit Sethi's book "I Will Teach You to be Rich" to turn.

IMPLEMENTATION (strategies used):  I learned an new strategy that allowed me to complete the weekly task, but the task itself actually was different from the one I set out to complete at the beginning of the week. This will happen in your process of discovering, pursuing, and achieving your dreams, so market it down and use it in the future. As always, I used my core set of strategies to this week and they are listed below, with new ones listed first:

1. CVFA: This strategy really helped me be aware and release judgement. I have been using this Implementation Intentions strategy where I schedule a task to be completed at a certain time and place. This takes the choice of not completing the task away and saves my will power for more important things. In addition, it statistically gives me a higher percentage of completing the task itself. Although this gives me a higher probability of completing the task, it also gives me the opportunity to judge myself if things do not turn out exactly as I planned. We all have this need for control, but I learned something from Tony Robbins to help combat this. 

The initialism for the strategy is CVFA. In this strategy you stay Committed to your Vision, but areFlexible with the Approach. In the past two weeks I have been able to connect with Zephan Moses Blaxberg, who has written a book on how to rescript your life, and he has agreed to start providing coaching sessions in the coming months. In order to prepare for the first session, I needed to work through seven sets of life redesigning questions for the future. This coupled with the fact that I had been sick since Wednesday, the date at which I scheduled the task, brought up a mini problem for the week. Do I complete the original task or do I shift gears and complete the questions in order to prepare for the first coaching session? I thought about this for a second, and realized that preparing for the first coaching session is a part of the Vision of what I want to complete this year, so I was Flexible with the Approach and bypassed my original plan and answered his questions. There will be times when this will happen to you, but don't beat yourself up, as if the task still helps you be Committed to your Vision, then be Flexible with the Approach. 

2. Agreements: I was able to learn about this powerful strategy from Jack Canfield called agreements. In this strategy you keep and fulfill all of your agreements. By doing this, you boost self confidence and you slowly prove to yourself that you are a person that is able to complete whatever you agree to. This in turn, allows you to take on more challenging tasks, as you have trained the subconscious mind that you are able capable of such endeavors. My suggestion is to first start small, prove to yourself by consistently completing easy actions that you have agreed to. Second, only commit to things that you know that you will be able to complete. After you have proven to yourself that you can keep your agreements and your confidence grows, take the opportunity to agree to more challenging tasks on the process of discovering, pursuing, and achieving your dreams.

3. The Enkrateia strategy: Enkrateia is the antonym of Akrasia and means "in control of oneself"  and I learned this from James Clear. This involves three strategies in one to combat Akrasia, or simply put procrastination. First, create a Commitment Device, which increases the consequences of a bad behavior and decreases the effort to carry out a good one. For example, to eat less sugar, you can clear out all candies in your house, which reduces the effort to not eat sugar at home. Second, incorporate the 2-minute rule to initiate tasks, as the hardest part of following through is getting started. Third, utilize implementation intentions, or identify a [date] at certain [time] at a specific [place] to complete a task. By incorporating this you will be 2X to 3X more likely to follow through on what you planned.  

4. Early Scheduling = Implementation Intentions: This is a strategy that I was incorporating during my streak of completing my tasks on time, and it was a huge benefit this week. In this strategy, you first PLAN to complete a task and then SCHEDULE a time to complete the task as early in the week as you can. Two benefits are produced from doing this. First, you get a sense of accomplishment if you complete the task in the beginning of the week at the scheduled time. In addition, it allows you to devout more time to do additional tasks to reach your goals within the same week. Second, it provides more time to complete the task if life presents you with something that needs to be attended to during the original scheduled time. 

5. Seinfeld strategy:  I learned the Seinfeld strategy from James Clear. It is called this because a young comedian once asked Jerry Seinfeld how to become a "better comedian." Jerry said take a huge calendar and place a big X for everyday that you write jokes, and if you can place an X for every day of the year, then you will become a better comedian. This strategy makes your progress visible and provides additional motivation to continue the streak of completing weekly tasks that move you towards your goals for the year. 

6. 3-Bucket System: I learned the 3-Bucket system from Jeff Goins who breaks up the process of writing into three easy steps. First, create a place (physical or digital) where you can collect ideas. Second, schedule a time to draft the first version without the pressure of making edits. Third, edit your draft after you have taken time away from it. This process makes writing much easier and I find myself producing better writing in a shorter amount of time. 

7. Got 2-minutes: I learned the 2-minute rule from James Clear and it helps you initiate a task, as usually this is the most difficult step. This strategy helps you focus on what you would do in the first 2 minutes of starting a task and then complete those actions. I often times do this and then look up at the clock and see that I have been working for well over 2 minutes. I have now merged this with the "Got a Minute" strategy, which is used to turn any amount of free time into productive time. It comes from Vierordt's Law, which states that when estimating a previous task, people overestimate short durations and underestimate long ones. Simply, we regularly overestimate how long it will take to accomplish meaningful tasks. task. Often times they can be accomplished in a short amount of time. So don't judge if you will start something by how time you think you have, just star! 

REFLECTIONS (learnings and actions): Well it has been 26 weeks, six months, and exactly1/2 way through my process of discovering, pursuing, and achieving my dream, or DPA in shorthand. I am in awe as I sit here reflecting about what I have learned and gained in the first half of the process. Did I think I would be here, knowing all that I know, or accomplished all that I have, absolutely not? The truth is I felt overwhelmed and did not know where to start, but I just did. Week after week I completed my PIR week and slowly gained the knowledge and confidence to take more action. Skills that I thought were difficult to learn or thought I would never be able to posses came easier to me and doors that never existed before, suddenly appeared. What I am trying to say is that you truly never know until you start, so in the words of Nike, "Just do it!"

I have listed below my most memorable accomplishments and learnings from my first half of DPA process.

Accomplishments:

1. Identified a purpose, which is to inspire, connect, and help others discover, pursue, and achieve their dreams (DPA). 

2. Written 26 consecutive blog posts.

3. Recorded 26 consecutive video reflections and documented them on my Instagram profile. 

4. Completed five outlines, before getting to number six, which I will use for the book. 

5. Woken up almost everyday at 4:30 am since September to personally develop myself.

6. Started meditating sessions and complete over 79 sessions totaling 16 hours. 

7. Lost 12 pounds or 5.4 kilos and achieved the best physical shape of my life in the past decade. 

8. Read over seven books ranging from creating quality habits, creativity, personal finace, and success. 

9. Written over 10% of the content for the book.

10. Overcame extremely bad habit of overconsumption.

11. Mentored 2 people through the first 6 week of their DPA process.

12. Connected with and found a coach who can help guide me in finishing/marketing/launching my book. 

13. Watched over 20 hours of videos on how to write and market my book.

14. Implemented over 15 new strategies to combat procrastination, fear, and lack of time. 

Learnings 

1. Write a book from scratch.

2. Market a book from scratch.

3. You never know until you start, so start!

4. Become an efficient writer by using 3-bucket system.

5. Following your dreams and passion gives you PURPOSE.

6. Focus on initiating the task, as that is the most difficult part of the process. 

7. Become a pro, by finding someone who has done what you want to do, and follow their model.

8. Appreciate more and expect less.

9. Aggregation of marginal gains, or the power of consistently making 1% improvements to create meaningful results.

10. The power of keeping agreements and how it trains your subconscious mind that you can achieve anything that you choose, 

11. Type-1 and Type-2 fun, and how meaningful tasks are more Type-2.

12. The power of synchronocity, or the belief that if you produce meaningful content and put yourself out there, then it will come back 10 fold. 

13. PURPOSE gives focus to action, which in turn accelerates progress towards your goals.

14. Knowledge is the first step, but EXECUTION must follow.

15. Trust that you will figure it out, there will always be a level of uncertainty in pursuing anything meaningful.

Wow! Amazing what can be accomplished and learned by showing every week. I can't say enough for my wonderful wife for encouraging me to start the process, but also to finish it.  It has been a great ride thus far and I still have 26 more weeks to learn and implement many more strategies to help me achieve my goal of writing this book. The end goal is to share how to DPA your dreams and accomplish and improve many more things in your lives.

Thanks for tuning and see you in week 27. 

WEEK 25: SHOW UP

52n52 Instagram

PLANNING (task, scheduling, and WT = DT):  This week I scheduled to watch another video on how to market my book from Chandler Bolt's self publishing site. I planned to do this after school in the study. I have uploaded the app SPI (Smart Passive Income) to turn WT = DT. 

IMPLEMENTATION (strategies used):  I completed the weekly task, but had to break up the task over a two day period. I did not incorporate any new strategies, but used the key ones from previous weeks to complete the task. I have listed them below:

1. Agreements: I was able to learn about this powerful strategy from Jack Canfield called agreements. In this strategy you keep and fulfill all of your agreements. By doing this, you boost self confidence and you slowly prove to yourself that you are a person that is able to complete whatever you agree to. This in turn, allows you to take on more challenging tasks, as you have trained the subconscious mind that you are able capable of such endeavors. My suggestion is to first start small, prove to yourself by consistently completing easy actions that you have agreed to. Second, only commit to things that you know that you will be able to complete. After you have proven to yourself that you can keep your agreements and your confidence grows, take the opportunity to agree to more challenging tasks on the process of discovering, pursuing, and achieving your dreams.

2. The Enkrateia strategy: Enkrateia is the antonym of Akrasia and means "in control of oneself" and I learned this from James Clear. This involves three strategies in one to combat Akrasia, or simply put procrastination. First, create a Commitment Device, which increases the consequences of a bad behavior and decreases the effort to carry out a good one. For example, to eat less sugar, you can clear out all candies in your house, which reduces the effort to not eat sugar at home. Second, incorporate the 2-minute rule to initiate tasks, as the hardest part of following through is getting started. Third, utilize implementation intentions, or identify a [date] at certain [time] at a specific [place] to complete a task. By incorporating this you will be 2X to 3X more likely to follow through on what you planned.  

3. Early Scheduling = Implementation Intentions: This is a strategy that I was incorporating during my streak of completing my tasks on time, and it was a huge benefit this week. In this strategy, you first PLAN to complete a task and then SCHEDULE a time to complete the task as early in the week as you can. Two benefits are produced from doing this. First, you get a sense of accomplishment if you complete the task in the beginning of the week at the scheduled time. In addition, it allows you to devout more time to do additional tasks to reach your goals within the same week. Second, it provides more time to complete the task if life presents you with something that needs to be attended to during the original scheduled time. 

4. Seinfeld strategy:  I learned the Seinfeld strategy that from James Clear. It is called this because a young comedian once asked Jerry Seinfeld how to become a "better comedian." Jerry said take a huge calendar and place a big X for everyday that you write jokes, and if you can place an X for every day of the year, then you will become a better comedian. This strategy makes your progress visible and provides additional motivation to continue the streak of completing weekly tasks that move you towards your goals for the year. 

5. 3-Bucket System: I learned the 3-Bucket system from Jeff Goins who breaks up the process of writing into three easy steps. First, create a place (physical or digital) where you can collect ideas. Second, schedule a time to draft the first version without the pressure of making edits. Third, edit your draft after you have taken time away from it. This process makes writing much easier and I find myself producing better writing in a shorter amount of time. 

6. Got 2-minutes: I learned the 2-minute rule from James Clear,  http://jamesclear.com/how-to-stop-procrastinating, and it helps you initiate a task, as usually this is the most difficult step. This strategy helps you focus on what you would do in the first 2 minutes of starting a task and then complete those actions. I often times do this and then look up at the clock and see that I have been working for well over 2 minutes. I have now merged this with the "Got a Minute" strategy, which is used to turn any amount of free time into productive time. It comes from Vierordt's Law, which states that when estimating a previous task, people overestimate short durations and underestimate long ones. Simply, we regularly overestimate how long it will take to accomplish meaningful tasks. task. Often times they can be accomplished in a short amount of time. So don't judge if you will start something by how time you think you have, just star! 

REFLECTIONS (learnings and actions): I was able to learn from Charlie Hoehn this week. He is a keynote speaker, entrepreneur, and New York Times and Amazon best selling author who wrote "Play it Away: A Workaholics Cure for Anxiety." In addition, he was able to help Tim Ferris and other best selling authors to market their books and products. 

Charlie outlined some key learnings about marketing, but also how to write your book through the use of your email list. He has worked with Seth Godin, Ramit Sethi, Tucker Max, Tim Ferris, and himself. Below are the main learnings from each person:

Seth Godin (Best Selling Author of over 15 books): Charlie learned that it is difficult to get people to an online platform, you can not just offer a link to an website and think everything will work. The key is to front load your site with activity and positive comments, as readers are more likely to JOIN IN, rather than being the first person there. For example, if you are going to launch a book, add positive comments from your initial readers from your email list, so future readers have the urge to join in as well. 

Ramit Sethi (NYT Best Selling Author): First, stay the course and FOCUS on what matters. For example, grow your email list, produce great content, and offer it at a premium price. Second, harness the power of video to draw an audience. The better the quality will increases traffic, which in turn causes more people to joining your email list. 

Tucker Max (Author): First, honesty and authenticity rule supreme. Be honest and authentic with people and use these traits to help people change the way they think and behave with your ideas. If you always try to mimic others, then you will find it difficult to follow through when times get tough. 

Tim Ferris (NYT Best Selling Author, ): First, is the blog post "12 Lessons Learned while Marketing 4-Hour Body" . Second, ask your audience specific questions and use their answers for topics to write about. For example, Tim kept asking questions to readers about WHAT they specifically wanted and these were the topics he put in his book, ie "How to lose 20lbs in 30 days." Third, test content with your blog and use the most popular posts as content for your book. This ensures that you are putting content that readers want to read in the book, and not things that you think they want to read. Four, create chapter tiles to match the most catchy blog posts to hook the readers. 

Himself: 

• First, read the post "How to Hit #1 on Amazon"  to learn the steps to market your book. 
• Second, pay attention to what people want. When he wrote his NYT and Amazon best seller, it was actually only a part of another book, but everyone highlighted that section. So he took that chapter of the book and expanded it to create a best seller. 
• Third, use the highly success approach of talking about a specific pain you have, explain how you overcame it, and offer a step by step of how you did it. 
• Four, choose a compelling title that tells the reader exactly what they are getting into, not something that is ambiguous or complicated. 
• Five, use your email list to gather feedback about your content. For example, create an email list and send out one great email a day for a set period of time (a week or month) that covers content from your book. Then, at the end of the time period offer them a link to the whole book on Amazon. In addition, survey them at the beginning and end of the process to gather valuable information of what they learned, enjoyed the most, and what they would tell their friends. This last part can be used as testimonials for your website to draw in other readers. 
• Six, allocate the same amount of time to market the book, as you did writing the book. Not thinking that marketing matters and only spending a small amount of time on it will solidify the failure of your launch. 
• Seven, find a designer to create a beautiful cover. 
• Eight, use Createspace to publish on Amazon. This site only prints a copy of your book when someone orders it, so it cuts out a lot of the costs of the middle man. 

Lastly, I want to share some great news. It is nearing six months where I have devoted time each week to learn how to write a book on how to discover, pursue, and achieve your dreams and the work is starting to pay off. Last week I mentioned the idea of synchronicity of creating meaningful content and putting yourself out there. Well, due to my efforts I have been able to connect with other link minded individuals and have possibly found my true professional to follow. He is Zephan Moses and he produces the the "The Year of Purpose" website and podcast

. He has undergone the same challenges that I am facing and producing the levels of success (written a book and discovered, pursuing, and achieving his dreams) that I am pursuing. I would have never found the three other blogs that led me to his or been on this path if I had not first decided to pursue and take action of discovering, pursuing, and achieving my dreams. The morale of the story is, show up every week and commit to this process. Some will be harder than others, but know that opportunities will present themselves and doors will open if you consistently take actions to DPA your dreams. 

Thanks for tuning in and see you in week 26, the half way mark!