WEEK 63: EMBRACE CHALLENGE

WT = Waiting Time. DT = Development Time.

PLANNING (task, scheduling, and WT = DT):  I plan to write my Leap Year W33 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 my parents in town. It has been really nice to share with them our lives here in Brazil.

EXECUTION (strategies used):  W63 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 TRUST strategies this week, as I was not able to complete both tasks until Saturday. 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): Last week I wrote how you can actually "see more by looking at less."  For the Leap Year, it means focusing on consistently completing the weekly tasks, not the outcomes or the end result of the process. 

Challenge will always be a part of taking on worthwhile endeavors, and that is what I want to dive deeper into this week.

Often times we hear or tell others to

"embrace or take on the challenge of _____."

However, do most of truly know what that means? Really, what is required to fully take on challenge?

I have learned from the Leap Year process that challenge means you take on something where you do not have a complete understanding of what you will accomplish. You might have an idea, but it is not crystal clear what the end result will be. Additionally, I have gained the knowledge that the path to your dreams will be hazy and unclear at times, and challenge is as essential part of the process.

This understanding has come from all the experimentation, iterations, and even frustration I have endured over the past 63 weeks. It was very hard some weeks, but the key is I was able to consistently devote the time to pursue and discover what I am passionate about. Furthermore, I am now in a position if someone asked me

"What does it mean to embrace challenge?" 

I could tell them a response quite easily.

I have learned that to embrace challenge you must have a clear idea of your destination, but not all the steps to get there. For the Leap Year process, this means you focus on the Year and process of identifying what you are passionate about, not the results. If you do not know right now, that is totally ok!  

All you have to do is break a complex idea into simple steps and then iterate them until you master them. Then, you add more pieces until you master them. This process continues until you get to a point where you never thought possible. For the Leap Year, that means you consistently complete the weekly task. This might might start as one task a week, but then it turns into two tasks, until maybe you are working towards pursuing and discovering what you are passionate about on a daily basis. The key is to start small and only add pieces when you have mastered those actions. You do not have to know and do everything at once. Focus on the next few steps, as this will allow you to ask better questions and assess what steps to take next.

Call to Action

Embrace the challenge of taking on the Leap Year process to identify what you are passionate about. You do this by focusing on completing the weekly task. This will allow you to take the next few steps, in order to ask better questions and better assess what you need to do next. Trust me, you will be able to identify what you are passionate about reach places never thought imaginable if you can do this on a consistent basis.

What went well?

Traveling, hosting parents, everyday challenges, yet the weekly task completed!

What is something we can improve upon? What actions can we take next week?

Tracking the times when our will power is low or depleted. This will help in identify when to make better decisions, or bypass decisions for a better time. 

What is something to avoid next week?

Making decisions when will power is at a low. 

WEEK 62: WILL POWER

WT = Waiting Time. DT = Development Time.

PLANNING (task, scheduling, and WT = DT):  I plan to write my Leap Year W32 post into the site Medium on Wednesday 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 be able to speak multiple languages and communicate with various groups of people. 

EXECUTION (strategies used):  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 TRUST strategies this week, as I was not able to complete both tasks until Sunday. 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): I have finished and been re-listening to "The Art of Learning" by Josh Waitszkin for the past month or so and have gained multiple insights from the book.

Josh is an American chess player, who was identified as a prodigy and won the US Junior Chess Championship in 1993 and 1994. In addition, he has won world championships in martial arts, and become an author as well. 

I highly recommend this book for anyone who is fascinated and wants to improve how to they learn. He breaks down the learning process for both him, which allowed him to win world championships in in chess and martial arts.   

This week I had a revelation about some of the ideas from the book, which ties directly into the Leap Year process. 

Josh writes about an idea which he calls "Take a look at less to see more." The idea came from him learning the basics of chess by only focusing on a couple of pieces in less complex situations. For example, instead of learning about all 16 pieces and the multitude of choices you can take at the start of game, he focused on the Pawn, Rook, and King at the end game. Josh would learn all the combinations in these less complex situations until he processed them into his subconscious mind. Then he would add another piece until he mastered those combinations and processed the information into his subconscious. This process continued until he understood all the interconnections between all pieces on the board.  

This is quite different from how other talented young chess players learn how to play chess. Usually they learn each individual piece, what it can do, and how it interacts with other pieces before they even look at positions. Like I mentioned above, there are 16 pieces, so a young chess player already has a lot to consider even before they start. Furthermore, they have to learn how the individual pieces work interact with each other before they can truly grasp the strategies used in the game. As you can see, this weeds out a lot of players and only a small percentage continue to pursue playing at a professional level.

But this is where syntax, or the order, plays another huge role. Starting with learning situations requiring less complexity and mastering them until they become a part of your subconscious, or trying to memorize more complex situations with more pieces when you start can produce two different outcomes. 

I have connected this to the Leap Year process as, you want to start out with situations with less complexity, ie just focusing on small actions you can take on a weekly basis or completing the weekly task. Rather than, trying to know everything about the Leap Year process, ie knowing exactly what and how you are going to accomplish even before you start. 

The idea of starting with less complex situations also highlights the importance of focusing on the system or process, rather than goals or end results to achieve success. Only looking at the end result can be overwhelming and will mostly likely cause you so much stress that you will not even start. Where as, you can easily follow through by just by focusing on small actions you can take on a consistent basis. 

What does that look like for the Leap Year process? You focus on completing the weekly task to identify what you are passionate about. You do this week after week, until it becomes a part of your daily routine. Then you start adding 1% improvements, and then master those. The process will continue until you wake up one day and have a clear idea of what you are passionate about and take consistent steps towards achieving it on a daily basis. 

This is exactly what is happening for me in my Leap Year process. I only had a few ideas in the beginning, and I just focused on one, writing a book, and pursued it on a weekly basis. This allowed me clarify and improve my writing ability, and help me discover my passion for being an entrepreneur. Now my days are filled with actions helping me to write my book or launch my first software business. 

I would have laughed in your face if you were to tell me I needed to know what I was passionate about before I started my Leap Year process. However, just by focusing on completing the weekly task, situations of less complexity, I have been able to do just that. Identify what I am passionate about, and pursue them on a daily basis. Lastly, I know it is no longer if I can complete them, but rather WHEN. 

 

Call to Action

Stop worrying if you do not know what you are passionate about, or all the exact steps you will take to complete your Leap Year process. Just focus on taking a look at less to see more by focusing on consistently completing the weekly tasks. I promise it will take you to places never thought possible if you can do this. 

What went well?

Weekly task completed and a huge learning coming together combining the process of learning and the Leap Year process.  

What is something we can improve upon? What actions can we take next week?

Understanding when our will power is shot. There are times in the week when I feel exhausted at the end of a day, but then have to tackle an important decision. I need to be more conscious of these moments and defer them until I have a moment to collect my thoughts. Otherwise, I might be a little more curt than I want to be. 

What is something to avoid next week?

Not being aware of my will power level. 

WEEK 61: NOT SEXY, BUT PRODUCTIVE

WT = Waiting Time. DT = Development Time.

PLANNING (task, scheduling, and WT = DT):  I plan to write my Leap Year W31 post into the site Medium on Wednesday 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 finally have a new job! 

EXECUTION (strategies used):  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 TRUST strategies this week, as I was not able to complete both tasks until SUNDAY. 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): Tony Robbins has said "Activity without purpose is the drain to your life." 

The Leap Year process has allowed me to truly understand this quote. Let me explain. Before I started my Leap Year process I would complain I did not have enough time for the meaningful things in my life. The funny thing is, I really didn't know what was meaningful yet. 

I would have a lot of ideas or would make a lot of plans, but nothing really every came to fruition. It was like I was a hamster in a wheel, spinning around and around, but getting no where. 

As I reflect this week, I see the importance of having a purpose. This clarity truly adds focus to your activities, and helps you accelerate and make progress towards your dreams.

Take for example this week, I had a second interview for our "dream school", was chosen to be a part of a group of entrepreneurs launching the last Foundation class, editing my book, and still managing to stay on top of all my other daily challenges of being a husband and father. I find I am doing about 10X as much before I started the Leap Year process, but am able to manage and follow through on all of these activities with minimal stress.

I am not saying it is a walk in the park, but the Leap Year process has helped me identify what I am passionate about. This in turn, has allowed me to focus on my passions of writing the book, launching my software company, and providing for my family. This clarity has streamlined and guided the activities I complete everyday. 

The Leap Year process is not sexy and it does not fix all of your problems overnight. However, you will be able to find the clarity to add the focus to your life if you are willing to show up every week and put in the consistent work to identify what you are passionate about. This opens up more possibilities and allows you to create things you never thought possible.

Write a book, launch a software business, get a job at my "dream school", and improve all areas of my life...I have to pinch myself, but this is all happening and it is due to the Leap Year process.

My hope is it will do the same for you. There will be tough weeks when you do not feel motivated, but show up and do the work, as this will lead you to reaching places you never thought possible. 

What went well?

Completed the weekly task in the face of getting a new job, helping with launch of The Foundation last class, and following on my daily responsibilities as a husband, father, and my 9-5. 

What is something we can improve upon? What actions can we take next week?

Appreciate more. There is so much to be thankful on a daily basis, so I will make it a point to pause and truly appreciate all the amazing things in my life. 

What is something to avoid next week?

Judging or finding lack in situations. 

WEEK 60: IGNORE GOALS AND FOCUS ON SYSTEMS

WT = Waiting Time. DT = Development Time.

PLANNING (task, scheduling, and WT = DT):  I plan to write my Leap Year W30 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 be married to such an amazing and beautiful wife! I do not tell her enough how awesome she is and how she is the prettiest woman in my life.

EXECUTION (strategies used):  W60 completed. 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 TRUST strategies this week, as I was not able to complete both tasks until Saturday morning. 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): The Leap Year process has allowed me to learn so much in 60 weeks. From strategies to overcome all forms of procrastination, to tools to help overcome the daily "I CAN'T" statements we tell ourselves, it is all pretty incredible.  

During this process, I have learned there is a difference between something which is useful and something which will be transformative. For example, when I learned the idea about the "Aggregation of Marginal Gains" or the accumulation of small improvements, it totally changed how I approached the Leap Year process. Instead of looking for drastic changes, I looked for small, consistent 1% improvements to help me reach my goals.

Well this week, I feel I came upon another transformative learning. It actually connects a lot of what I have been doing already, but I was able to crystallize th learning when I read an article from guess who, James Clear.

James, is an expert on habit formation and has a following of over 500,000 readers. He wrote a great article outlining the difference between systems and goals, and why you should focus more on systems to make progress.

Usually we all make goals, then determine the system which will help us achieve our goals. Thus, the goals, or end result is our main focus, and the systems, or the process which gets us there, is our secondary focus. 

For example, if you are an entrepreneur:

Goal: create a million dollar business.

System: sales, marketing, and communication skills. 

Then James asked a very interesting question.

“If you completely ignored your goals and focused only on your systems, would you still get results?”

Answer, YES! James also writes full time and publishes two articles a week, and wrote over 115,000 words last year just by doing this. He wrote enough words to fill nearly two full length books (a book averages about 50,000 - 60,0000 words) just by focusing on his system of writing. Furthermore, James did this in 11 months, not even a full year. 

Now think about this, if he had started with the goal of writing two books in a year, would he have achieved that same result? I would safely bet no, as just the thought of writing one book in a year is already overwhelming. 

WHY is this? Well, here is a list of reasons James outlines, which highlight why it is so important to focus on systems, rather than your goals to make progress.

1. Goals reduce your current happiness. James writes 

“You are essentially telling yourself I am not good enough yet, but I will be happy when I reach my goal.”

This teachers you to push happiness away until you reach the next milestone, then the next, and so on. The solution, commit to a process, not the goal.

2. Goals foster Yo Yo like behavior.

Think about setting a goal to lose weight. Often times you will do all the hard work and then once you reach your goal, you stop being committed to your system which helped you get there, i.e. eating healthy and exercising. 

This effect of working towards a goal, and then stopping creates a yo yo effect, and makes it extremely difficult for you to build on progress for the long term. Solution, release the need for immediate results, and focus on staying committed to a system which help you move closer to where you want to be.

3. Goals do not account for the future.

We have no idea what the future will provide, but creating goals creates an illusion we can predict exactly what and when something will happen. Unfortunately, we have no idea of the situations or circumstances which will present themselves along the way. 

Solution, create a feedback look to monitor your system. Tracking your progress consistently will inform you if you need to modify your system. For example, if you are trying to lose weight and gain 3 lbs in a week, you need to identify an adjustment which will get you back on course.

James writes goals are not all bad, they are good for PLANNING your progress, but systems are good for MAKING progress. The key is to be committed to the process. That is it! 

What went well?

Another week where I was not able to complete the weekly task until Saturday, but felt minimal stress as I incorporated my strategies to help me complete the weekly task. 

What is something we can improve upon? What actions can we take next week?

Eating better food. I found I felt tired and lethargic during the week, even after I had a good 7.5 to 8 hours a sleep a night. As I reflected, I remember eating some extra carbs, with cheese, and with... 

I guess the saying "Garbage in, equals garbage out" is quite true. 

What is something to avoid next week?

Eat the best fuels for the body. 

Thanks for tuning in and see you in W61.