WT = Waiting Time. DT = Development Time.
PLANNING (task, scheduling, and WT = DT): I plan to write my Leap Year W26 post into the site Medium onWednesday at 6 PM in study. I plan to turn those small WTs into Grateful Time, where I look to see what I can be grateful for in those situations. For example, last week I thought how great it was to have the ability to walk and purchase fresh food from so many greats places near our house.
EXECUTION (strategies used): W4 in the new Leap Year, check! Although I use a combination of many strategies throughout the week, there are always some that are used more than others depending on what comes up. For example, I relied heavily on the Be a Pro, Implementation Intentions, and the TRUST strategies this week. The highlighted strategies that were used in the week are listed below along with the I CAN'T statements that they help overcome.
Procrastination....I CAN'T because I am not completely sure or am not qualified to...
TRUST: This is a strategy that took me over a year to finally internalize and came from the learnings from Benjamin Hardy, Dane Maxwell, and Seth Godin.
The path to achieving big things will always be hazy, unclear, and filled with uncertainty. This lack of clarity will bring about feelings of fear, but know this is a natural part of the process. Just have a "bias towards action" and embrace the dance with fear on a daily basis. Lastly, understand your comfort zone is but a small dot within your safety zone, so do something which terrifies you everyday for 20 seconds. This will help you to stretch your comfort zone and take on things you never thought possible.
Procrastination...I CAN'T because I am not motivated or do not feel like it...
Be a PRO: I actually learned this strategy through insights from Jeff Goins, Tim Ferris, and James Clear.
First, Jeff Goins mentioned in a podcast that “action will follow mindset.” Second, James Clear wrote that it does not matter what you want to become better at, the only skill that separates a “Pro” from an “amateur” is the ability to show up. Third, Tim Ferris said on his 4-Hr Work Week blog that “Practicing key habits when we don’t want to is the most key habit to all.” This reinforces this idea of being a “Pro” by having the mindset to show up consistently and completing the work.
The difficult thing about being a pro requires us to consistently follow through. Yet, we often let the challenges of everyday life get in the way and only attempt to do the work when we feel motivated. This produces small gains if any and leads us down a path of frustration. There will be days when you do not want to complete a key habit or activity, but develop the mindset of a “Pro” by showing up, sticking to your schedule, and then completing the tasks that move your forward.
Early Scheduling = Implementation Intentions: This is a strategy that I credit to completing my tasks consistently on a weekly basis. In this strategy, you first PLAN to complete a task at a SCHEDULED time (day and time) in a specific location as early in the week as you can. More specifically you fill in the following statement.
I plan to [task] on [day] at [time] in [location].
Three 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. Lastly, research shows that you are 2X to 3X more likely to follow through on your actions. I learned about this strategy from James Clear, who is a great blogger that writes on the science of human behavior and how to build better habits. He shows the research on how Implementation Intentions help you follow through on your plans and achieve your goals.
REFLECTIONS (learnings and actions): W55 in the books and I was able to finally process and create the TRUST strategy. It combines the learnings from three fantastic creatives, and below is a deeper explanation of the insights I gained from each.
First, Benjamin Hardy, a blogger who has a following of 50,000+ followers, wrote a great article on the site Medium about how the path to achieving your dreams is hazy and unclear. This lack of clarity and fear of the unknown leads most people to abandon their dreams and settle for less than what they are capable of.
Achieving big things will often require multiple steps and we often give up as we do not know all the steps to the process. The key is to remember you do not have to have IT ALL FIGURED OUT, you only have to know enough to get to the next few steps.
Second, Dane Maxwell is the co-founder of The Foundation, where he teaches driven entrepreneurs how to get in the business of software. He outlines in his course the most successful people are the ones who have a "bias towards action."
Connecting this to what Benjamin said above, you do not have to all the steps figured out before you start. You just need to know what to do for the next few steps and then do it! This will put you in a position to "ask better questions" and "assess" your situation better, so you can identify what you need to reach the next few steps. The key is to act and not get stuck in the "what ifs."
Lastly, is Seth Godin. Seth is a best selling author and successful entrepreneur. I learned the important distinction between our comfort zone and safety zone from his blog. Most people view these at the same, but Seth points out your comfort zone, is but a small dot with in your safety zone.
For example, you can push past your comfort zone and ask that cute girl or guy if they want to go out for a coffee sometime. Barring any unusual circumstance, they will say either "yes" or "no" and you will still be completely safe.
Seth suggest you should do something which terrifies you everyday for 20 seconds to grow your comfort zone radius, as it is only a fraction of the size of your safety zone.
So, stop waiting to be sure everything is going to work out before you take steps towards your dreams...just TRUST and begin!
What went well?
W56 in the books and another powerful strategy formed to help aide in the Leap Year process.
What is something we can improve upon? What actions can we take next week?
Building off last week, the idea of trying to control everything. TRUST, and know you do not need to know everything right this instance. Have a bias towards action and flow with what life is presenting you in this moment.
What is something to avoid next week?
Being closed minded and trying to control everything.
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