PLANNING (Implementation Intention): You will follow through 2X to 3X more likely to complete your weekly task than you normally would just by filling in the following statement.
I plan to complete the weekly task [day] at [time] in [location].
A reminder you might have to use multiple Implementation Intentions in order to follow through.
EXECUTION (strategies used): From week to week, I use a combination of many strategies. There are always some which are used more than others depending on what comes up, but I wanted to offer a link to all them at once.
My advice is to identify the I CAN'T statement you tell yourself during the most. Then find a strategy below the statement which resonates with you, and then start using it.
Enjoy!
REFLECTIONS (learnings and actions): This week I wanted to expand upon the learning I have been talking about in the previous weeks.
Seth Godin says everyone hits their DIPs, or when a project becomes difficult and not much fun to complete. I wrote this happens because we are focused solely on the end result, as we are constantly thinking about the lack of progress we have made. Thus, doubt, anxiety, and fear creep in and we start identifying the many challenges, the reason why it is too difficult, and might start asking ourselves if it will ever happen.
Last week, I said feeling a DIP is a trigger for you to analyze your principles, daily decisions and actions, as these govern if you achieve your goal. For example, if you are not loosing weight, instead of thinking about how many pounds you have to lost, reflect about what you are doing currently and identify what needs to be changed.
Now this is where I want to expand this week. What does this mean to analyze principles? Well, this was huge for me, but I was able to learn three questions you can ask yourself when you face a DIP.
First, understand when you encounter a DIP, it is a trigger telling your actions are not producing the results you want. I will be honest, this part sucks, but know it is your internal guide self correcting your process. Thus, if you feel depressed, burnt out, or just asking yourself if you will even accomplish your goal, then follow the process below:
Step 1: Identify
List the end goal you are trying to achieve and list all the activities you are doing to achieve it currently. Now analyze each one and see if it is allowing you to make progress in reaching your end goal.
I have mentioned the Pareto principle before, but it deals with the idea that usually 80% of your results are produced from 20% of your actions. Thus, what you need to find are those 20% actions which produce 80% of your results and eliminate the others.
For me, I am hustling to get three to four software businesses off the ground, but like I mentioned in past weeks no one has signed on the dotted line when it comes time to decided. My business partner and I have many interested parties, but no one has taken the leap yet. This has led us to doubt what we were doing and being frustrated as we have not achieved our end result of getting paying customers.
I finally realized, we entered into our DIP, as we were solely focused on not having a customer yet. Furthermore, I recognized this was our internal guides screaming at us to analyze our principles. Thus I listed out all the activities we were doing:
-Fixing bugs in our software
-Reaching out to others about making software more efficient
-Contacting people in various markets
-Watching and rewatching videos on the process
-Taking notes on the process
-Talking to people about the idea
-Listening to audiobooks to learn how to interact with people
There are more, but this gives a pretty good idea of what we were doing in our spare time. Although all of these things do help us in one way or another, I saw a lot of them were not super helpful in getting our first clients. Then I was able to identify we were only talking to a few people about our ideas, and learning sporadically how we could better interact with them.
Step 2: Drill Down
Now after you identify the actions which produce 80% of your results, drill down and identify what you are currently doing and see how you can improve those individual actions.
For example, we were talking to some people about our products, but they were all from different niches. Thus, I saw we would make more progress if we were to talk to solely 1-2 niches, instead of 8-10. Think of it as using a rifle versus a shotgun to focus on a target.
Step 3: Track and Iterate
This step is crucial. Next, implement and track your improved 20% actions for the next week or so. Iterate and keep experimenting to clarify what works and what doesn't.
For me, I will talk to more people within a niche about our ideas and keep experimenting with the strategies provided from the book "How to Win Friends, and Influence People" to better engage possible clients.
Wala! There you have it. A three step process to turn a DIP into an accelerator.
To end, I wanted to share how super frustrated I was when we hadn't achieved our goal of getting our first paying customer. However, Albert Einstein wrote
"The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result."
That is exactly what we were doing, completing the same actions over and over again expecting a certain results.
Thus, I have learned a DIP is a trigger for you to take a step back and review your daily decision and actions. I can guarantee you will accelerate your growth and reach your goals faster if you follow this three step process. Furthermore, you can eliminate the negative emotions related with a DIP and use it as a stepping stone on the path to achieving your dreams.
What Went Well?
Weekly task completed and huge learning about DIPs being triggers crystalized
What is something we can improve? What actions can we take next week?
Try to do EVERYTHING and expect results.
What is something to avoid next week?
Eating junk food. It really makes me tired and lethargic...TIME taker for sure.
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