Read This If You Want To Go Faster
One of the things that makes us efficient with our time is repetition.
If we do something for the first time, it's usually clunky and awkward.
After a few practice runs, we get the hang of it, and we become faster at the same motion.
This is true if you're practicing piano, learning to ski, or playing chess.
It's true for both physical and mental types of work.
So, naturally, one of the ways to get improve your efficiency is repetition.
Repetition makes us faster.
And one of the benefits of going faster is that we can do the same thing we used to do but with more brain capacity.
So, now, instead of thinking really hard about which chord to play on a guitar, we can just rock out and kick some amps over like rockstars because we just have to think "play an A chord" and our hands just do it by themselves.
The same goes for work and business.
Once you have your process in place, you get your time back so you can focus on new improvements or new innovations.
The important thing to realize is that the only way to do this is by iterating and reiterating.
We start on one, small, valuable thing first--and then move on to the next layer, feature, service, profit center, or business unit.
One. At. A. Time.
Looking back, you'll see all the amazing progress.
You'll say, "oh my gosh, I can't believe we used to do things like that."
But today, it's just going to look like today.
2 Minute Action:
What is the smallest but still valuable step you could take, today?
It doesn't even matter if you have a vision or not--sometimes just taking the first steps to help you see what's possible or what you want.
Here are some examples of first steps:
- If you were just laid off, a first step might be posting to your social network and letting people know you're looking for work.
- If you are developing a new program for a school, a first step might be creating a list of reasons programs have failed at that school before.
- If you are building a website, a first step might be building a Powerpoint that "fakes" the site's features and can still be used as a walkthrough on a sales call.
- If you are learning to play the piano, a first step might be watching a YouTube video on how to hit a C chord.
- If you are opening a food truck, a first step might be a cookout with family and friends.
Take 2 minutes and do something small and valuable to move forward.
It has to be both.
Read This If You're Not Sure You're On The Right Track
What are the steps you've taken so far?
Are they working?
If you're not sure, have you been specific about what needs to happen for a "success?"
Here are 3 things you need to define:
- What specifically are you trying to accomplish?
- What changes might you try and why?
- How will you know that a change is an improvement?
It's easy to get caught up in how huge an idea or vision is.
It's a lot harder to define it, consider how to make it more achievable, and measure results.
Once you're finished thinking big, remember to think small.
2 Minute Action
Ask yourself this question and answer it in 2 minutes.
Is what you're doing 1) helping you understand the problem or 2) helping you take action?
Do this and you'll have direction.
You Might Be Delusional, Here’s How
Have you ever heard “if you can believe than you can achieve?”How about “if you can dream it you can do it?”In these cases, belief is actually just a combination of trust and visibility.
Let me explain:
Trust is the reputation you have with yourself for executing things.If you have executed, followed through, and challenged yourself in the past you will trust yourself to do so in the future.Visibility is what you can see about the work to be done ahead.Even if you can’t see the ending, have you done something similar or even just not seen the ending before?How clearly can you define your dream?Example: “disrupt the real estate industry” isn’t clear enough.If you don’t know where you want to go, there’s no way to know when you’ve arrivedBasically . . .
It helps if you know what to do and how to do it.
But even more important is the relationship you have with your own execution and whether or not you trust yourself to follow through or figure out the unknown.
Unbounded belief is delusion.
Delusion is when you believe and believe, with abandon, no matter what the world around them is telling them.So, believing in yourself means having the data log of many, smaller decisions and actions that prove that you are capable of bigger ones.Delusion is when you have no behavioral evidence but believing anyway.See the difference?
2 Minute Action
Do you trust your ability to execute?If so, great! Can you name some projects that would prove this?Having the data in hand will drive up your confidence, today.If you don’t trust yourself, take this time to break your most essential project down into a few chunks you can accomplish this week and ask a good friend of yours to hold you accountable. You’ll need to know a bit about what the final product looks like if you’re going to break it down, too.Example:I have a friend who wrote a check for $1000 and said: “cash this check if I don’t stick to my plan.”People who excel set up their environments to give them the best chance of success.