Your Secret Superpower . . .
I saw this on the Twitter machine a while back and it has been popping into my head recently:
It takes 2 minutes, people.I can tell you about tactics and methods and frameworks and hacks and tips until we’re both blue in the face, but what is it that you’re working on?Is it worth the effort you’re putting in?Who is it helping?It might be worth looking into now, before your timer runs out and you begin to look back and wonder why you worked so hard—and for whom.
2 Minute Action:
Tell someone you appreciate their hard work , today.Send an old friend a text and let them know you are thinking of them.Leave a kind, anonymous post-it on a coworkers desk.You have more power than you think to change things around you.And the cool part is that it only takes 2 minutes.
Is Quitting Good or Bad?
I was just standing in line today.It was taking forever.I started counting the people ahead of me and estimating the minutes until it was my turn.Then, when I was finally about 3 people away from the front, the guy in front me threw up his arms and left the line.We’d both been waiting for over 25 minutes but my estimate was that we only had 5 minutes left to go.It was so obvious:No one quits a marathon at mile 2 when everyone is cheering you on, they quit at mile 22 when it feels like they’ll never make it.Of course, this is the worst time to quit!Of he’d stayed in line another 5 minutes, he’d have gotten all the benefits of waiting.There was a sunk cost, sure he’s never getting that time back, but the cost of leaving the building and finding another line to stand in was so high compared to what was left.It would have cost him far less time to stay put than to switchJust a little quick math and he could have estimated the time he had left. He chose to react in frustration, instead.There are two lessons here: sticking it out and responding with a cool, calculated head. Either might have saved this guy.
2 Minute Action:
What’s something that’s really pressing on your patience right now?Is it a sunk cost? Should you bail?Or can you “do the math” to figure out if patience might be worth the price?If you’re going to quit, quit early. Somewhere, somehow, quitting got a bad name. It’s not bad, it’s useful—it’s just that most people don’t know when to quit.Tip: It’s almost always wasteful to quit late in the marathon, at mile 22.
The One Thing That’s More Important Than The Results
More important than hitting the 6 minute mile . . .More important than writing the whole book . . .More important than making the sale . . .Is the habit.Even when it’s small (a mile a day) or incomplete (a blog post instead of a chapter), the habit of output is pivotal.Build the habit first—no matter how small or incremental.its the compounding interest on this habit that will give your return on investment
2 Minute Action:
Just do jumping jacks for 120 secondsJust write one paragraph.Just make one sales call.These are small examples of incremental buildingNot only will you realize your confidence and trust in yourself, but once you’re out there taking action, you’ll find that the water is fine and you might want to just keep going.Its the momentum of the consistent habit that will drive you to improving your stats. The first step, though, is just getting out there.Make some noise, today.