WEEK 92: MASSIVE ACTION

Clarity comes form action.   Jeff Goins

REFLECTIONS (learnings and actions): This week I was reminded of a quote that I learned earlier on in my LYP, but still has huge ramifications in W92. 

What started out as a goal to find out what I was passionate about in the face of everyday challenges, has now become a regular daily session of personal development to close the gap between where I am and where I choose to be.

In the beginning, it seemed so challenging and I never thought I would be where I am today. There were many days when I did not know what I would do next or what the next steps would be. 

However, the LYP has given me the opportunity to learn from some of the most success people in business and in life. The common element is they never let uncertainty stop them in the pursuit of their goals.

For example, Dane Maxwell and Andy Drish, multi-million dollar founders of The Foundation. Chris Evans and Taylor Welch, multi-million dollar founders of Traffic and Funnels. Jeff Goins, professional writer. What do they all have in common?

Take massive action when you are faced with uncertainty. 

This is exactly what I have done in the LYP and it has helped me produce some incredible results. 

-Written a 58,000+ word manuscript for my first book.

-Lost 12 kilos or 20+ pounds.

-Verge of closing two contracts worth 20k+ dollars to build softwares.

You will undoubtedly face uncertainty on the path to achieving your dreams. This in turn will cause uncomfortable feelings that will try you to convince you to stop before you even start.

BUT...

This is the time when you need to take massive action. Also, this ties into the learning from the previous weeks to one, ACT AS IF and know two, all results are a MEANS TO AN END, not an end themselves. 

Thus failure will loose it stranglehold over you, as you know all results are experiences which you can learn from and improve the process. 

What Went Well?

Moving from Brazil with plenty of opportunities to not finish the weekly task, but it was completed on schedule. 

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

Focus on what you can control. Often times I get caught up trying to control every aspect of every engagement. This equals to expectation, which just leads to frustration and stress. 

Tony Robbin has said your life transforms when you trade in expectation for appreciation. Expect less...appreciate more. 

What is something to avoid next week?

Trying to control all aspects of life.

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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!

STRATEGY LIST

WEEK 91: FAILURE AS AN EXPERIENCE

Failure should be our teacher, not our undertaker. Failure, is delay, not defeat. It is a temporary detour, not a dead end. Failure is something we can avoid by saying nothing, doing nothing, and being nothing.  

Denis Waitely

REFLECTIONS (learnings and actions): I have been listening to the audiobook Pyscho Cybernetics for the last month or so, and it has been transformational. I am learning profound insights similar to when I read Josh Waitzkin's book The Art of Learning. Both books teach ways to view and use failure to your advantage.

Now, failure is such a funny thing. It is something we try to avoid at all costs, but is something you must do (over and over again) if you want to succeed at anything you choose.

Why is this? Because failure itself is associated with being wrong, looking stupid in front of otter's (illusion), and sticking out from the crowd. 

I have learned through the LYP that failure, or success, are really just experiences. 

Some of you might argue, but I am learning from people who are crushing it in both life and business, and they view these two things with the same mentality.

What is it?

Well, before I tell you I want you to rewind and go back to your Middle School years. Yes, those awkward years where you were dealing with acne, insecurity, and a whole sleu of other issues. 

If you are like me, you probably had to do a Science fair project in one of those formative years. State a hypothesis, test it, learn from it, and then write up your conclusion.

I actually did my experiment to see if it was truly a 50 - 50 chance of flipping a coin. Come to find out, it is not!

I regress, now back to the LYP. 

Although you have probably not thought of those projects for some time, it actually has huge ramifications in your life today. 

What you did not know is, that experiment laid the groundwork for success, and I am going to tell you how. 

Imagine if you could tackle anything in your life with the same format. State a hypothesis, test your hypothesis, learn, and then write up your conclusion?

Imagine the growth if you could do this automatically?

If you could failure, or success, could be viewed as experiences. 

Now this leads me to my first major point. If you want to succeed...in whatever you choose, you must apply this same approach. Or simply put, view both failure and success as a MEANS TO AN END, not an END themselves. 

Like your science fair project, you are going make an educated guess, then test it, learn from it, but instead of writing a conclusion, you will make the modifications to improve the process. 

Failure looses it stranglehold over you when it is viewed in this maner. The end result is a MEANS TO AN END, not an END itself. 

Furthermore, here is another action you can take to use failure to your advantage. 

Ready for it....ACT AS IF....

What do I mean by this?

Well, you will never truly be 100% ready to start anything, that is why you just start. You will learn from action. 

Taylor and Chris, who run Traffic and Funnels, live by this and are always creating products which have minimum viability and then launch them. Their results?

A business that grew from 15k a month to now 500k a month. That is right, no miss print there.

Failure often times stops us in our tracks as we think we need to know every aspect before we start. Think about the last time you tried something new.

Did you get to a point where you did not know what to do next? How did you feel? What did you tell your self?

It is safe to bet, that it was something similar to " You can not do this, what are you thinking?"

Now imagine, instead you said "This is not an END, but a MEANS TO AN END." 

How would your persepctive change?

For me, this has been instrumental when I have been faced with huge uncertainty in my businesses? I could just believe the negative thoughts that surface...

OR

I can ACT AS IF I CAN...as I know the result is a MEANS TO AN END, not an END itself.

This has allowed me to take action over and over again, thus enabling me to accelerate towards my ultimate outcome.

Want to crush failure and use it to your advantage?

Then use this killer jab, upper cut combo to knockout failure!

1. View results as a MEANS TO AN END, not an END themselves.

2. ACT AS IF...as you know the result is a mere stepping stone to where you want to get. 

What Went Well?

Crystalizing how to take massive action towards achieving our dreams by using failure as an advantage. 

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

Presence. Being physically and mentally in one place.

What is something to avoid next week?

Non-presence.

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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!

STRATEGY LIST

WEEK 90: TRIAL AND ERROR

It is common sense to take a method and try it. If it fails, admit it frankly and try another. But above all, try something. ― Franklin D. Roosevelt

REFLECTIONS (learnings and actions): Today I want to talk about failure and how you can use it to your advantage. Now, I have never met a person who likes to to FAIL, but I have found it is what happens next which separates the 1% of uber successful people and everyone else. 

Now there are TWO main points I want to highlight, but want you to imagine you are on an 10+ hour international flight first. An aisle seat, a list of the most recent movies, and food being brought to you. Sounds pretty good right.

However...imagine you have a child traveling with you. This changes everything, the non-eventful trip, has now changed to you constantly worrying if your child will burst out into tears as the cabin lights are low and everyone is trying to sleep. 

Why am I discussing traveling with a child on an international flight, when I wanted to talk about failure? 

In the previous weeks I have been talking about DIPs, and how to use them to your advantage by 1) Make room by stop comparing your results to others, and 2) use them as a trigger to analyze your daily decisions and actions, or principles. 

It is easy to say, but it is hard to do as DIPs, produce intense negative emotions like doubt, anxiety, and fear. Unfortunately, these are the same feelings we try to avoid at all costs.

Benjamin Hardy said your ability to embrace these negative emotions determines the level of success you will attain.

If you are not willing to feel uncomfortable, then you are going to ultimately settle on something short of what you are truly able to achieve. Where as, embracing these uncomfortable feelings allow you to reach the levels of success only felt by 1-3% of people on the planet.

For example, you have to be willing to feel doubt, anxiety, and fear when you go on a diet, before you reap the benefits of being in the best shape of your life. 

Back to my "international flight of terror" traveling with two kids under two. The thought of being trapped on a plane for 10+ hours with the my two adorable, yet loud kids use to give me A LOT of anxiety. However, I know this is just a part of what my wife and I must endure, in order for us to live this amazing life abroad. We could live in one place, and avoid traveling until they are older, but I think to all the opportunities they would miss out on if we did.

The first important point here is, DIPs and the negative emotions they produce are a sign you are on the right track! If you want achieve success in any form, you must be willing to endure the negative emotions which you will undoubtedly face along the way. 

Furthermore, what makes embracing DIPs so difficult is the fact they cause us to doubt our natural abilities, thus making us afraid of failure. We feel like fish out of water when taking on a new challenge, and flip and flop around trying to get used to our new environments. Truth is not many of us want to feel this way.

You can probably think back and recall a few traumatizing situations where you failed miserably. This trauma, in turn probably stopped you from trying something. I can raise my hand for sure!

But why do we do this? 

It is quite simple, we do not want to make a mistake, be wrong, or look stupid in front of others. 

Forgetting your lines in a play or presentation, not performing like you could in the clutch moment, thinking you let others down, or fill in the blank.

We try to avoid things where we might fail at all costs, as we do not want the negative memory scarred into our minds. 

However, how do you push past these feelings?

You first need to know life is a series of trial and error experiments, even the things you are most certain about, often turn out differently than you expect in some aspect. 

Knowing life is about experimentation and iteration, you can shift your focus to view failure not as an END, but a MEANS to an END.

What I mean by this, is not to see the result as final. Yes, it sucks you did not do well, but use it as a MEANS to get you to the next step.

For me, this has been integral in me writing my first book and starting my businesses. There have been a lot results where others might call "failures" on the surface, but I view them as a MEANS to an END to help me get to the next step.

Thus, the second main point is to know results are a MEANS to an END, not an END themselves. Thus, you can iterate and FAIL-UP often so you can get to the next step.

The alternative is you stay STUCK where you are today as you do not try anything new as you are afraid to fail..be wrong, make a mistake, or look stupid in front of others...

The choice is always yours, but I know you will choose to take the Leap and move forward! 

What Went Well?

Tony Robbins said something about capturing 3-4 magical moments everyday. We often get caught up in the details of our daily lives where we forget to appreciate the awesome things around us. I put this into practice this past week and was able to pause and capture some amazing magic moments. From pausing and enjoying the sun on my face, to being recognized by a class of 10th graders on the passion I ignited in them to pursue their passions, it was truly a magical week!

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

Be physically in one place and mentally in another. Presence is something I am always looking to improve, thus next week I want to try to take a breath and be present where ever I might be. 

What is something to avoid next week?

Not being present. 

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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!

STRATEGY LIST