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.