Here I’ll give you one! An EASY to APPLY concept that literally takes NO MINDSET SHIFT or months of working at NEW HABITS or an overhaul to the way you currently conduct your workday.
The magic behind this strategy lies in keeping your WORK tasks BUBBLING and STEWING in your SUBCONSCIOUS so when you get cracking the next day, your brain is already firing. One of the main keys to having a successfully productive day is to get it started in the proper mental state. The tip I share here is simple and easy, and also one of the most effective for doing just that. On the surface it may seem counterintuitive, but it does really work.
Here it is:
If tomorrow is a workday, make sure you end today in the middle of something.
That means if you finish something towards the end of your workday, make sure you start something new. Even if it is literally just starting and not making any significant progress. It’s not the progress that matters, its the fact that you’ve left something unfinished. When you leave a task unfinished, it percolates in your subconscious. This helps you wake up with purpose tomorrow, and waking up with purpose is the key to kick off your day properly.
If we leave the day having finished something, especially something big, our mind really disengages. This causes us to have to shift the gears the next morning and we spend extra time and effort getting our brain engaged. When we end the day in the middle of a task, we are more likely to pick it up first thing the next day with energy and a clear mind.
Here’s the bonus…Do the OPPOSITE on the days before your time off. When getting ready for the weekend, or a vacation period, make sure you finish something, even something small. Always end those days with the satisfaction of having cleared the plate of at least one thing. This allows your mind to disengage and relax.
Think about this in your own life. How many times have you started your workday already running because you’ve been thinking about something since yesterday? And conversely, how many times have you found yourself on the day before a vacation scurrying to get as much complete as possible because you don’t want to think about it on the vacation? You already know this principle, you just have to be conscious of doing it.
I hope this helped you in some way, and if so, please share it with others, and please connect with me. I would love to hear your thoughts and the experiences you’ve had as well.
How to Change Your Mindset on Self-Doubt and the Fear that Results From It
Are you DOUBTING YOURSELF? Do you feel the Resistance and the fear that emanates from this doubt? Is this one of the things that is holding you back?
If so, don’t worry, you are by no means alone. Most people at some point doubt themselves. This has got to be one of the most debilitating types of fear because it’s 100% inward.
There is a way, however, to OVERCOME IT…well, at least understand it, and then use that understanding to start taking action. And its the action that ultimately provides the solution for overcoming the fear.
The KEY to UNDERSTANDING the self-doubt which leads to the fear lies in knowing that you must CHANGE your MINDSET about that self-doubt. Here’s how you change your mindset:
You simply start to think of that self-doubt as an ALLY! What? That’s right, an ally. In reality, your level of confidence and fear are actually an ally, because these give you an explicit indication of exactly what you should be doing. What you should be STARTING.
Most of us spend our lives walking and running away from that which we are afraid. But what we learn here is that to make an impact, to make the impression that only YOU can make, you’ve got to turn that thought process around and start walking towards those things. Your level of self-doubt and fear is the INDICATOR of what you HAVE to do. The more you doubt yourself, the more important it is that you do it.
It’s not easy…you’re low level of confidence and high level fear will ensure that. However, take heart, that you at least know WHAT you should be doing.
Mr. Pressfield has a great quote about using this self-doubt and fear and the indicator:
The counterfeit innovator is wildly self-confident. The real one is scared to death.
He’s saying that over confidence does not lead down the proper path. The proper path is lit by your self-doubt and paved with the fear. Embrace it, because it’s likely that the big ways in which you can make an impact, are also the things with which you have a healthy amount of self-doubt.
That’s the key to how you change your mindset. First, its the awareness that your level of self-doubt is an INDICATOR of what YOU SHOULD BE DOING. Then, you embrace the fear and start taking the action.
Get out there and be afraid!
I hope this helped you in some way, and if so, please share it with others, and please connect with me. I would love to hear your thoughts and the experiences you’ve had as well.
Is your view of money secretly holding you back from achieving your dreams? Mine was for sure, until I had a mindset shift. To be honest, the shift was really a gradual awakening rather than a particular event. Here I will share with you that shift, and why it’s made all of the difference.
I’ll start with a story about the genesis of my initial view on money.
I was in college, but I honestly don’t remember the exact moment. I do, however, remember the exact sequence of thoughts that led me to my view on money in my younger years. I think it is quite normal for all of us when we are at this age, no matter if you go to college, or to the military, or simply start working, to start figuring out our thoughts on career, life, and what it all means. I was an engineering student and wrestling with figuring out “what I want to be when I grow up”.
I remember pretty vividly arriving at the following thought sequence (Full disclosure here: I am a Christian and my worldview and moral compass are firmly shaped by that position):
There is a finite amount of money in the world
The only way to get MORE for YOURSELF is to TAKE it from SOMEBODY ELSE
I don’t have the right to TAKE anything from ANYBODY else, especially money
More money is BAD
So…money is bad…that’s where I started out.
But here’s the thing, over the 25 years of my life since then, I’ve seen many people who have had the financial resources to:
Make a difference as a significant donor and/or investor
Live life as they choose in a moral way
NOT be destroyed by it
So…more money can be good? Hmmm…
Since my initial thoughts were formed those many years ago, I’ve been trying to coalesce the two seemingly incongruous concepts. BUT…over time I think I’ve figured it out, and I see that my initial view was so simplistic. The shift in my mindset was this: MONEY is simply a physical, tradable RESOURCE that is a representation of VALUE.
And guess what: VALUE is INFINITE!
Why is VALUE INFINITE? Because there is literally no end to the amount of value that can be provided.
Here are some things that have VALUE:
Physical things like natural resources and man-made products. I guess that you could argue that there is a finite limit to physical items (maybe, but I’m not convinced…at least not a practical limit), and therefore, the value is finite as well.
But…
How about knowledge and the teaching of that knowledge? What is the value of that? It is INFINITE! There is literally an infinite amount of knowledge to be gained as well as the teaching of that knowledge.
How about creative endeavors like stories, poetry, music, painting, etc? Also INFINITE, with infinite collective value.
How about software? Also INFINITE. There is literally no end to the amount of software that can be developed.
How about your health? To you, the value of your health is INFINITE!
Here’s the empowering part of this mindset shift…
When you are providing real value, you will likely receive some sort of compensation in exchange. One form of that compensation is money. There are other forms, of course, but money is certainly a popular one. If someone has received value, and is providing compensation, they are providing it FREELY. They are GIVING it. They are GIVING, and you are RECEIVING.
When your mindset changes from trying to TAKE or GET MONEY to providing VALUE and RECEIVING commensurate COMPENSATION, then the whole world opens up for you. Now you realize that when you have noble goals, money is just one of the resources you are likely to require in your quest to achieve them. You realize that money is just a thing that you need to accomplish a vision. Depending upon your vision, you may need more, just like you may need more wood and nails to build the deck. Your goal isn’t more wood, your goal is the deck. Same with money. Set your sites on the vision, and view money as just one of the required resources.
Here’s an outstanding side effect of this mindset. It fosters the GIVING and RECEIVING cycle in the world! Most people who view money and other resources as something they have RECEIVED, are the very ones who are happy to be GIVERS in exchange for value! It seems that in the world today, we’re constantly trying to “break the cycles”, but here is one that we should be actively trying to foster and encourage. And it’s a natural side effect of this mindset.
So go on a mission to provide value, and freely receive compensation.
I hope this helped you in some way, and if so, please share it with others, and please connect with me. I would love to hear your thoughts and the experiences you’ve had as well.
Are you Being Accused of Having Changed? How to Keep Going…
Have you heard any of these, accompanied by that oh, so non-subtle body language or tone in the voice?
“You have changed”
“Where has this come from?”
“Why are you trying to do ___________?”
“What was wrong with what you were doing?”
And many times, the source of these statements are either friend or family, or both.
Let me clarify…I’m not talking about negative change, like you’ve sunken into addiction or criminal activity, or have abandoned responsibility. I’m talking about changes you have inevitably made because you have COMMITTED yourself to a VISION or some GOALS that are inherently positive. These are changes that you can only see as positive, but you’re getting flack from those around.
Let’s look at a few scenarios…
Assume you’ve committed yourself to the goal of running a marathon. For the last 5 years, maybe the “old” you always met the boys for coffee and bagels on Saturday mornings. But now that you have this goal, with a real plan that calls for real action, you have found that Saturday mornings are the time you can get your volume build-up run in for the week. So now you’ve missed 8 weeks in a row of Saturday morning coffee, and the guys are giving you real grief. At first it was a couple of snarky remarks, but its turned a bit more hostile. At this point, you’re not even on the group text, and if you get a message from one of them, it’s likely sarcastic. You tell the guys that its just till the race, then you’re back in. The race comes, and goes, and you take that next Saturday and meet the boys. But its not the same…for you, anyway. You find yourself actually wishing you were running instead. So next week you do it. You feel great, but the shun returns from the boys.
How about this one…You’ve committed yourself to making a career change from an employee to a entrepreneur. Maybe your starting a side business, or maybe you’ve gone ahead and dove in full-time. This is something that you’ve always had in your mind, but you have just recently decided to take the action. To make this dream a reality, it requires that you step out of your box, change some perspectives, and commit time and resources to new things that the old you didn’t do. Those around you notice. At first, there is some general support, but over time, that support turns into grumbling and maybe even snickers or outright hostility from a select few.
Do you know why you never have to put a lid on a bucket of freshly caught, and very much alive blue crabs? It’s because if one of those crabs figures it out, and starts to climb out, the others will NOT ALLOW IT, and they just grab that guy and pull him right back down. None of those crabs escape, because the collective keeps them trapped in their world.
It’s not much different in your life. You have surrounded yourself with people, and over time, those people expect you to be a CERTAIN YOU. That CERTAIN YOU fits the mold, and it allows the others to play their role with which they are comfortable. When you try to break out, and make some changes, that causes your circle to re-examine themselves, as well as their thoughts about you. And that is likely uncomfortable.
This is one of THE MAIN REASONS why its hard for those that come from a community of crime and poverty to break the mold and escape the cycle. Those around them threaten to exile them, or harm them or their family.
Ever since I first read Stephen Pressfield’s The War of Art, I have always pictured his concept of Resistance as the ontological form of fear. It is fear’s manifested power over our mind. Resistance is tricky and sneaky, and it’s extremely powerful and ingenious. In the situations here, Resistance is RECRUITING ALLIES. Your own mind is more comfortable with the old you, because inertia is a powerful force. Then you add to the inertia the fear of breaking the cycle, and the Resistance is almost unstoppable.
Are you someone who has moved away, either permanently or for a period of time, from where you grew up? If so, do you remember when you first went to college, or joined the military, or moved to a new town to start working? Part of you was likely apprehensive, but part of you was likely thrilled as well. And not just for the opportunity to DO something new, but for the opportunity to BE someone new. You were able to start cleanly and reinvent yourself if you wanted. It was easy because you had little to no friends or family in that new area. Resistance was not able to recruit local allies in its never ending war with your mind.
But what we’re talking about here is BEING someone NEW, without the luxury of a brand new circle of people. The Resistance’s allies are camped just outside the walls, and waiting to be enlisted.
So how do we beat those allies? It’s truly mindset, commitment, and action. Here are some tips that you can use:
Recognition: Awareness is usually the first step in all solutions for the mind.
Focus on your WHY daily. Make sure that the reason you are committed to your plan is healthy and righteous. By continuing to focus on it, you train your subconscious mind to believe to be possible.
Lean on those that are supportive. Resistance will have some allies, but you likely will as well. Enlist them to fight on your side. Spend more time with them, and give them more of your time. Find people that are doing what you want, and get around them.
Keep taking the action. The actions you are taking gain momentum, and ultimately result in you getting to where you desire. By focusing on the action itself, you keep your mind occupied with the doing.
A word of caution…You do need to check yourself occasionally, to ensure your path is noble and healthy. Those closest to you can be the best way to do that. Maybe all of the changes you have made are completely positive from your standpoint, but in reality, there has been a negative side effect of which you were unaware. You must look at this soberly, and decide if a change of direction is in order.
The bottom line is that if you keep taking ACTION, LEAN on those that are supportive, and FOCUS on your WHY, you can beat Resistance and its allies!
I hope this helped you in some way, and if so, please share it with others, and please connect with me. I would love to hear your thoughts and the experiences you’ve had as well.
It’s a touchy subject for sure…There’s a fine line, and sometimes blurred line, between reality and our mind…our subconscious and conscious. But its something we need to recognize, and realize that its simply keeping us from moving forward.
Playing the part of the victim, or wallowing in self-pity is a very common coping mechanism, and as Stephen Pressfield puts forth in The Art of War, it’s yet one more way we allow the Resistance to win. It so common in fact, that doctors have estimated that between 70 and 80 precent of the patients they see are not actually physical ill.
What do I mean by “being a victim”? Well…quite simply, it’s when you allow yourself to FEEL like a victim. And feeling like a victim means that you are feeling like you can’t control your life or your outcome. You feel like the outcome is not dependent upon you, but on forces or circumstance beyond your control.
Here’s the great news…YOU CAN BREAK OUT!
How do you do that?
Before we dive into the ways to break the cycle, let’s first understand a bit about why its such a common coping mechanism. There are actually pseudo-benefits that our mind reaps from allowing ourselves to be the victim:
Victimhood is in alignment with a mind that is looking for reasons to give in to Resistance. It is very easy to convince ourselves that “we can’t” or “we shouldn’t” if we think we have no control over our life. It’s a match made in hell.
You gain attention. Let’s face it, many times, other people empathize. And this makes you feel better, and reinforces that you are the victim. It is indeed a vicious circle.
You can shirk responsibility. If your mind thinks it can’t control your own situation, then for sure it can’t take on responsibility. AND…shirking responsibility is a VERY COMMON method people use to deflect criticism and failure. Criticism and failure are 2 of our biggest fears.
These are pseudo-benefits because in fact they are damaging to your ability to move forward. On one level, they rationalize your victimhood, but on the level that matter, they keep you from doing your work.
Now let’s discuss the methods for breaking free…
Own it. It’s this simple first step of acknowledgement that is the most critical. Ultimately, its taking control of your own mind that breaks you out, and awareness is the first step to taking control.
Find that for which you should be grateful, and focus on it every day. When you focus on the gifts you’ve been given and the things in your life make you grateful, it starts to train your mind properly. Your mind starts to have trouble fitting in the all of the “other” stuff if it’s filled with gratitude. Each morning, start your day with a time of gratitude. For me, this is prayer, but even if you aren’t spiritual in that way, you can still be purposefully mindful of your blessings. You have many, acknowledge them.
Help someone else. Victimhood is mainly a problem of subjectivity and inward focus. If you can properly realign your basis, your mind can start to understand you don’t have as big a problem as you thought. By helping someone else, this connects your subconscious thoughts to the reality that there is a spectrum, and likely you are somewhere in the middle, not the bottom.
Forgive. If your victimhood was set in motion by another person, forgive them. OK, this is a MUCH bigger topic than one line here, but its again another process by which you are training your subconscious mind to see the future rather than dwell in the past.
Make a plan. When you set a real plan in place, you are taking ownership of your mind and life. The act of making that plan is small and critical step on the road to fighting the Resistance. You MUST take control of your own mind.
Take action on the plan. If you’ve made the plan, then there is no more wondering what steps to take. If there is no more wondering, then all you have to do is…DO IT!
Escaping the victim mindset is about acknowledging it, and then taking ownership of your own mind.
As I’ve stated before, all of the topics and messages that I include here are things that have touched me personally in some way. This is my journey that I am laying out in hopes that maybe you can resonate and find helpful ways to overcome.
There are many times in my life that I have allowed myself to play the victim. Maybe not in an overly dramatic, or outward way, but certainly inside my own noggin.
Here’re some ways to check yourself, mined directly from own experiences:
If only I had the money/time/people/<name_your_resource_here>.
I’ve been told that I can’t do that.
If only I felt better
My position/role is <whatever_here>, that’s not my responsibility.
Do you know what <whomever> did to me?
I’m not fast/good/big/fun/outgoing/<name_a_trait_here> enough to do that
Certainly there are many others as well, but these are some thoughts or even conversations that if you are having, then you may be giving in to victimhood.
Don’t let it win!
I hope this helped you in some way, and if so, please share it with others, and please connect with me. I would love to hear your thoughts and the experiences you’ve had as well.
Leadership Lessons from the Baseball Diamond: Confidence Breeds Excellence
Back to the baseball diamond for another inning of leadership lessons. Youth baseball tournaments continue to be fertile ground for leadership lessons that apply to athletics and just about any other endeavor in life. Find some previous Leadership Lessons from the Baseball Diamondhere.
Today’s installment: Build confidence in your team members and they will perform their best.
In watching a recent game of 11-year olds, I became aware of a particular quality of a team that at first seemed odd. This team, for all you could see, was filled with studs. They were big…smashed the ball in the cage…rocket arms in pregame warmups. Then the game started. Consider the following sequence of events:
Things start as anyone watching the 2 teams warmup would expect. “Big Guys” go up 6-2 by the end of the 2nd inning, but you get the feeling that they are in complete control, and no one would be surprised at a mercy rule end. Only 2 real interesting thing of note:
The “Big Guys” coaching staff provides no verbal cue’s or direction to the team on the field.
There seems to be no real interaction or camaraderie amongst the players on the bench.
In the top of the 3rd inning, with opposing men on 1st and 3rd base, the “Big Guys” catcher allows a ball to go by (a wild pitch), and the runners advance, 6-3. The coach yells out to the catcher that he will be on the bench if any more balls get past. There are 3 extra players on the bench.
Later in the same inning, another ball gets by the catcher. This time, it’s an 0-2 curveball in the dirt. The batter swings, misses, and then runs and makes it safely to 1st on the dropped 3rd strike due to the catcher initially forgetting that the batter can run. Coach yells out that there are plenty of other players on this team that would love to catch. The catcher is visibly upset.
In the top of the 4th inning, the score now 9-3, nobody on base and no outs, a line drive is hit to “Big Guys” right fielder. The right fielder and the ball converge as the ball hits the ground. It scoots under the diving fielder’s mitt and roles 30 feet past him. The center field hustles over, retrieves the ball, and throws it in to the infield. The runner advances to 2nd base. The coach yells out to the right fielder, “You HAVE TO keep that ball in front of you!”. The right fielder sulks back to his position for the next pitch.
At this point, there are verbal warnings form the coaches to the players on the field about how they are not playing up to their potential and that they are better than that. Mind you, there has been essentially zero actual instruction or cue’s for the particular defensive situations. The crowd is silent…there is no talking on the bench.
Now with the runner on 2nd, and no outs, the pitcher wheels and attempts to pick off the runner. The 2nd baseman had already moved off the bag back toward the hole. He couldn’t get there and the ball sails into center field. The runner advances to 3rd. The coach yells out to the 2nd baseman, “You HAVE GOT TO READ that better! We are BETTER than that!” (Just a reminder to the reader that these are 11-year olds). The pitcher yells something to the 2nd baseman as well.
That sequence of events seems to energize the opposition. They start to the hit pitcher, and there are some bloops and seeing-eye ground balls, and a couple of walks. By the end of 4th, its 9-7 “Big Guys”. “Big Guys” coach yells, “Get in here!” with his angry eyes in place and huddles the team. I have no idea what was said, but there are 12 kids with heads down, hunched shoulders, and shuffly walks to the bench as they prepare to hit.
“Big Guys” go down 1-2-3. The 2nd and 3rd batters strike out by swinging at questionable pitches. The coach yells that they need better pitch selection.
Fast forward to the top of the 6th (the last inning in 11U baseball). The score is now 10-9 “Big Guys”, and there is a runner on 3rd base and 1 out for the opposition. The tension on the “Big Guys” bench and in the stands is palpable. There’s mumbling amongst the parents. But…the opposition is cheering and high-fiving!
The batter hits a ground ball to the short stop, who fields it, and pulls up to fire, but seems unsure. He double pumps and takes an extra shuffle step before letting it fly to home. The runner, who was moving on contact, doesn’t even need to slide. Safe by a mile, game tied. And now there’s a runner on 1st as well.
Next batter walks…1st and 2nd, with 1 out. Coach is silent on the bench. No chatter whatsoever from the players on the field.
Wild pitch gets by the catcher…2nd and 3rd with one out.
The batter hits a popup to shallow left field between the short stop and left fielder. Both are there in plenty of time, but neither calls it, and neither makes the catch. Bases jammed, 1 out.
Next batter hits a gapper between center and right, clears the bases. 12-10 opposing team.
The game ends this way.
What did I learn about this team, and more importantly, it’s leadership?
To be fair, the coach was actually correct from a baseball standpoint in the admonitions that are seen in this sequence. Taken individually, and viewed from the context of content only, he was right. But he FAILED in 2 IMPORTANT areas that ultimately led to his team losing the game:
He destroyed their individual and collective confidence by immediately focusing their attention on their mistakes and being visibly angry at their errors. Baseball is a game of “failure”. Why? Because Hall of Fame hitters only succeed 30% of the time. That means they “fail” 70% of the time. The ones who make it are the ones who can focus on the success and on how to succeed, rather than always being drawn to focus on the failure.
As the leader, he did NOT do HIS PART, by taking HIS BURDEN off of the players. The coach is owner of the game plan. It’s his responsibility to put his players in positions to make plays before each pitch. He did little to none of that. If this was a professional team, the coach has every right to expect that his players should know these things implicitly. BUT, these were 11 year olds! Most of them can’t remember to bring their water, or their mitt, or wear their cleats. Certainly they are starting to understand the game at this age, but each player is a unique situation. The reality is that with players of this age, the coaching staff should be instructing and giving verbal cue’s to the players at each inflection point in the game. The coaches should be reminding the players of the situation and making calls so the players are in the proper mindset for the next pitch. These kids can make plays physically, but they are still in need of assistance on the mental side.
On the flip side, the team that won game used the GAINING of confidence to their great advantage. As soon as they saw some cracks in the armor of the “Big Guys”, they realized that they were in the game. They weren’t thinking about making mistakes, they were simply out there playing. Their coaches were encouraging them and were excited with them. They actually did made mistakes, but there was no focus on them. The focus was on how each time they did something right, the other team got tighter and tighter.
This lesson in leadership applies directly to our lives. Any team, in any situation, will perform its best if its members have confidence.
As the leader, you need to find ways to boost that confidence, and the main one is to simply allow the team members to make mistakes. If a team member understands that its OK to make a mistake when honestly trying to do the right thing, then this builds his/her confidence and allows them to contribute in more ways, such as:
When your team is loose and unafraid, they have the potential to soar higher, go faster, and ultimately perform better. They are not overthinking and they are empowered. When they are tight and afraid, they make decisions based on fear, and that results in hesitation or overthinking. Overthinking can lead to “wrong thinking”. If they are afraid to make decision, they continuously avoid them by always pulling in the leadership. This slows everything down.
This does NOT mean you allow your team members to be unprepared, careless, unengaged, malicious, or negligent of their duties. It simply means that honest mistakes should not be punished. You and your team must learn from those mistakes to get even better.
There was another great ancillary lesson here in leadership, and that is: the team members gain confidence in themselves when they are allowed to focus on THEIR JOB. The leader, in this case the coach of the team, must take on the burdens that sit outside the scope of responsibility of the team members. It is the leader’s job to ensure that the framework and the direction are in place. The coach, knowing that these are 11-yr old kids, must understand that they are going to need some verbal cue’s and reminders of what to do in the given circumstance.
The same is true in life. The team members usually have enough to focus on without also having to worry about the things that are typically expected of the leader. It varies, of course, but things such as direction, priority, schedule, budgets, expenses, moral, etc are all items that are part of the leaders responsibility. If a team member is confident that the leader is taking care of his/her items, then that helps to build confidence in the team itself.
Now you know…
The big take away here is that confident individuals typically perform the best. Most times when the individuals are performing their best, the team is also. If you are in a leadership position, one of your goals is to instill confidence in your team members, and one of the main ways for you to do that is allow them to make mistakes. Ultimately, it’s not that a mistake is made, it’s how the leader reacts and what comes of the mistake that leads to the outcome.
I hope this helped you in some way, and if so, please share it with others, and please connect with me. I would love to hear your thoughts and the experiences you’ve had as well.
One Way to Fight the Resistance: Are You a Producer or Consumer?
Do you know who won the latest “Reality TV Show XYZ“? Do you find yourself agreeing with the car commercial that insists that “you work hard, you deserve this car” (have you ever used that phrase in conversation with your spouse)? Do you find yourself spending copious amounts of your day keeping up with sports or entertainment news? Do you find you spend a significant amount of your income on entertainment?
Here’s something you need to think about. It’s another LOOK IN THE MIRROR message.
We’re back mining wisdom from Stephen Pressfield’s “The War of Art”. In the section on Resistance, he’s got a quote that battered me with a sledgehammer as soon as I read it. The quote is:
As artists and professionals it is our obligation to enact our own internal revolution, a private insurrection in our own skulls. In the uprising we free ourselves form the tyranny of consumer culture. We overthrow the programming of advertising, movies, video games, magazines, TV, and MTV by which we have been hypnotized from the cradle. We unplug ourselves from the grid by recognizing that we will never cure our restlessness by contributing our disposable income to the bottom line of Bullshit, Inc, but only by doing our work.
Of Course! Let’s look at what I think he’s saying:
We have to recognize and acknowledge that our culture is, and has been, bombarding us with THEIR agenda
We’ve got to fight that internally in order to do anything useful…move forward…accomplish something
To do that, we have to unplug ourselves from the machine and actually do THE WORK
We’ve got to take back our time, and take back our money, and produce something
Where are you on the consumer culture scale? Ultimately, we all need to keep the culture’s secret agents in check in our own lives if we want to move forward with our work. The consumer and pop culture of the day feeds the Resistance, and if we’re not aware, contributes to our lack of productivity. We must set our OWN AGENDA, not give in to the culture’s agenda in order to beat the Resistance.
How do we do that?
Each of us are different, so we have to find our own method by understanding what feeds our own consumer mindset. But here’s how I check myself: I ask myself, “Am I being more of a producer or more of a consumer?”
If you are producing more than consuming, your net value is positive. Always strive for positive net value. Notice that I use “net value” purposefully. Certainly all of us go through seasons, and phases whereby we are in consumer mode. But the point is, we are striving for positive NET VALUE, therefore, producing more than consuming overall.
I’ve been asking myself that question for many years now. I hadn’t discovered “The War of Art” until recently, but when I read that quote, I found the synergy right away. To me that’s what he’s really saying: “Be a producer, more than a consumer.”
We have to wage this war with our own mind, which would rather give in to the resistance. It’s a war of producing more than consuming. One of the battlefronts that resistance uses, is this consumer culture in which we live. So we have to be conscious of that, battle it and keep adding value by doing our work, whatever that is.
Think of how many people, either living or historical, that made an impact on you or the world had very little knowledge of the pop culture of the day. Some were ignorant of the news, some ignorant of the entertainment world, some ignorant of technology, some were just plain ignorant of most things outside of their own house or studio. There’s something to that. These are people that set their own agenda, and kept producing.
So get out there and produce!
I hope you got some value from this. If you did, please feel free to share it others. Also, leave a comment or connect with me and let me know what you think.
How long does it really take? What must I do to turn my useful, productive actions into actual habits?
The Slight Edge and The Compound Effect teach us that its the small, easy to do (but easy not to do) actions that we take everyday that ultimately result in success. Each day the process starts with a mentally explicit commitment to these actions. BUT…the holy grail is when these ACTIONS become HABITS! Once the habit is formed, these actions become easier and easier to do, and harder not to do. With any habit (good or bad), our mind feels the reward once the action is complete.
So how do we do it?
I’ve read about and heard people say that it takes 21 days to create a habit. However, the research shows that its actually somewhere between 21 days and 8 months, or 9 months, or whenever. Here’s an excellent post that shows that on average, it’s more like 66 days. The reality is, its actually highly dependent on the habit trying to be formed, and the individual trying to form it.
Here is a quick, and very annotated class on how habits form. This concept is put forth in a book by Charles Duhigg, called The Power of Habit. Forming a new habit starts with a 3-part process known as a “habit loop”.
There’s a cue or trigger
The behavior/action itself
A reward
When we merge this process with our success concepts, we see this process as the following:
The trigger is a mental commitment to taking the action. An explicit desire to move forward.
The action is taken.
The reward is the mind’s fulfillment of having taken that action and knowing that we are 1 day closer to realizing our vision.
We’re all unique and individually designed, and with any action from which we are trying to create a habit, we must understand that there’s probably not a toggle switch at 21 days, 66 days, 8 months, or whatever time frame. We have to COMMIT to and then EMBRACE the process. It might be a long slow walk, or it may go quick. In either case, we start with a commitment to the system of turning the easy to do, easy not to do actions into habits. Here’s another excellent post on turning your goals into habits.
And some day, maybe many days, we’re gonna make mistakes. There are going to be days when we don’t get it done. There are days when the Resistance is too great, or the Instant Gratification Monkey rips the steering wheel out of our hands. The great news is the research also shows that missing an opportunity on any given day does NOT negatively affect the habit formation process. It’s a gradual process with steps forward and maybe some steps backward. The key is to commit to taking that action the next day, or the next opportunity.
Forming a new habit is likely going to be a long haul. It’s not an overnight thing. But if we commit the Slight Edge, and to taking the actions everyday, then ultimately those new, productive and useful habits are formed.
It starts with the mental commitment, continues with the action itself, and then ends with the mind’s reward of having taken the action.
Was this helpful? If you liked this, and think other’s may find value here, please share with others and leave a comment.
Leadership Lessons from the Baseball Diamond: Don’t Blame Others
Baseball provides an outstanding metaphor for life, and many lessons in success and leadership can be found on the baseball diamond. Regardless of whether the game and its players are kids or adults, or whether we are participating or spectating, there are plenty of lessons to mine. Youth baseball tournaments are especially fertile ground, because typically there are many teams with many different levels of coaching skills and styles. The next time you’re at a baseball tournament, or any other athletic tournament, watch and pay attention to the coaches and how they conduct themselves and lead their teams.
Here’s a great one that struck me recently: Don’t blame others.
I saw this particular sequence, and I’ve seen it dozens of times, and honestly I’ve fallen victim to it myself:
Coach doesn’t like some calls on some of the pitches. He thinks that low and outside pitch is not a strike, and starts grousing at the umpire. At first with just some body language, but after the 2nd strikeout on that pitch, he gets a bit vocal
A 3rd player strikes out on that low and outside pitch, and regardless of the actual location, he labels it a bad call, and starts moaning on the way back to the dugout. The coach validates the player’s response and gets a bit louder with his protests.
It happens again, this time the coach throws his hands in the air and starts overtly yelling his protest at the umpire. The players from the bench do the same. The fans join in.
The next batter hits a ground ball to deep short, the shortstop makes the grab, and the long throw to 1st is just in time (or was it?). Umpire yells, “Out!”
The 1st and 3rd base coaches throw a rod, and verbally abuse the umpire (regardless of the actual validity of the call). Now the players on the bench and the crowd have joined in as well. The player who was called out throws his helmet when he gets back to the bench.
Then the wheels fall off for the team. And this team is clearly more talented than their opponent. But the next inning in the field, they make errors, compounded by more yelling at the umpires, and they can’t stop the flood.
For the remainder of the game, they can’t hit. They’re swinging at bad pitches, striking out, and everything they do hit is a weak grounder to the infield or a popup.
Game over
In the post-game wrap-up, the coaches tell the players that it wasn’t their fault that the umpires were so bad, and they deserved to win the game.
So what happened? Is the coach correct? Did the umpires cause them to lose?
Not even REMOTELY…even if the coaches were right and many of those calls were bad calls. What happened is this team beat themselves. And why? Well, it started with the coaches, who simply blamed the umpires, which is something they had NO CONTROL over. Then it flowed downhill to the team. Individually, and collectively, they were convinced that the reason they lost had nothing to do with their actual play. Certainly, as coaches you need to keep the officials honest, and you are well within your rights to question when poor calls are made. But there is a right way and a wrong way to voice your displeasure, and question the officials, especially as the leader. The right way keeps the team focused on what it can control. The wrong way distracts the players and has them thinking about and focused on things out of their control.
The leader, or leaders, of any team are responsible for the mindset of the team members. One of his/her main jobs is to keep the team focused properly so it can perform to its best. Regardless if we are talking about athletics, politics, business, volunteer organizations, or families. The leader must seek to control the mindset of the team members and keep them focused on what they can control. If they start to blame others, or they allow their team to blame others, then the mindset is all wrong for success.
The coaches in this case allowed themselves, and by extension the players, to become completely distracted by blaming the umpires. They led by example, and their team followed. When they became distracted, they couldn’t focus on the things THEY COULD CONTROL, and consequently, they couldn’t perform. And then, to sum it all up, they validated the collective cancerous thought process at the post-game wrap up. So guess what? Its going to happen again.
Here’s an alternative approach that the coach could have followed:
Coach thinks that pitch is low and outside. At the conclusion of the inning, he walks over to the umpire and privately asks for clarification on the strike zone. The umpire confirms that he will be calling that pitch a strike.
Coach gathers his team, and tells them that when they are at the plate with 2 strikes, to be aware of the low and outside pitch and they’ll have to swing at it to spoil it. He tells his pitcher and catcher that low and outside is where every 0-2 and 1-2 pitch should be spotted. He instructs his catcher to setup there every time on those counts.
When a player strikes out on that pitch, he is visibly displeased, but the coach reminds him that they’ve been warned that that pitch is being called a strike. Try to get it next time.
When the close play at first happens, the coach walks onto the field and asks the base umpire if he can ask for help on that call from the home plate umpire. The home plate umpire confirms the call of “out”. He disagrees (inside he’s seething, of course), but tells his players that they need to stop complaining because they can’t control that call. They can only control how they hit and how they field. Focus on those things.
At the conclusion of the game, the coach acknowledges that some calls didn’t go their way, but that’s no excuse (he’s still quite pissed inside). The same umpires made calls for both teams. Sure they’re all disappointed, and maybe even angry, but next game they’ve been instructed to focus on how they hit, pitch, field, and run the bases. Learn from this game and come back strong in the next.
Ok…truth be told, most of us in the heat of the moment can’t keep it together that much. BUT…the more you can keep it together and keep the team focused on what they can control, the better they’ll be. Even if the coach does start out the game by blaming the umpires, he can pull it back together for the team by recognizing that his team is following his lead and starting to control his approach. By changing his own mindset from blaming others to focusing on what he can control, his players will do the same. I’ve lost it dozens of times, both on the field and in professional situations. I’m not proud of those moments, and its because of the effect I realize it had on the team. Maybe you’ve done the same. The good news is that you can turn it around starting right now!
As the leader, when we openly blame others, that gives our team the go ahead to do the same. The problem with blaming others, is that this is one of the biggest excuses that the Resistance uses to keep us from reaching our goals. If we allow ourselves to think “The reason we didn’t ________, is because of <name_here>”, then we are not acknowledging our own role in our own success. It’s just an excuse. Instead of blaming, we must inward looking for ways through, and how we can get BETTER ourselves. That’s the path to success.
Hopefully this was helpful in some way for you. If so, please share it and comment below. Please connect with me, I love to hear from you!
One Critical Piece of Advice for Those Coming Out of School or Changing Careers…and Budding Entrepreneurs!
In the role that I’ve had as a software team manger for 10 years now, I’ve scoured many resumes of young, hopeful software developers, and have interviewed and spoke to a fair number as they exit college and are trying to embark on a career in the software development world. When I was new at the interviewing and hiring process, I was always trying to figure out the best ways to separate those that will succeed, from those that won’t. In my search for this answer, I received some sage advice from a casual conversation with an acquaintance in the journalism field. This advice has served me well in both hiring employees, as well as my own approach to my entrepreneurial pursuits.
What was that advice?
My journalist friend basically said, “I speak with all kinds of kids who have been out of school for 6 months or more and are having trouble getting a paid gig. They all seem to have the requisite skills from college: class XYZ, school newspaper, school web-page copy, etc. All of that is fine and necessary, but what separates the ones that you would hire from those that you wouldn’t is simple: ARE YOU WRITING?
Boom! You see, if you want to be a writer, then you’ll be writing, whether or not you are currently getting paid for it. It costs literally nothing to be writing. Have a blog, submit free-lance stuff, create some sort of e-newsletter…something! You ARE A WRITER if you are actually writing, not just if someone is paying you to write.
Software development is essentially identical. It costs nothing to be writing code. If you are interested in developing software, then nothing conveys that better than simply doing it on your own. It shows initiative, it shows you are in fact actually interested in developing software, it shows you can put your mind to something and make progress….all of these are the kinds of qualities for which employers will be looking.
There is often little to separate you from the pack as you exit college. That’s not entirely your fault, but for sure the people that have “done something” in addition to, or along with their studies do stick out. During the interview process, your prospective employer is likely not only to be asking questions about your grades, your classes, and your knowledge (blah, blah, blah…), but about who you are, what your interests are, what makes you tick, and how that may fit into the organization and how you will contribute. In my opinion (I’m sure many others disagree), where you went to school and your GPA are almost useless. What I care about is how you will contribute, and how you will grow. Neither of these comes out of school name or grades (OK…maybe a little…but really…I don’t care). A team member is most productive when they care about what they are doing…when they are learning…when they find it interesting…when they like and work well with the other team members. Again…no grades in that list.
It doesn’t really matter if you have a good app or product idea or not. Your potential employer is not judging you on your idea. What matters is you have a goal and you are working toward it and teaching yourself to be a developer in the process. So get at it…start writing some code!
How does this apply to entrepreneurship? Well…It’s really the same thing. Are any of these familiar to you?
“Boy, I’d really like to have my own business.”
“Someday, when ______________, I’m going to start my own thing.”
“I sure wish I wasn’t a slave to the corporate MAN.”
“That’s a great idea, maybe someday I should ___________.”
If this is the conversation in your head, then you are giving in to the Resistance. You are using excuses and the resistance is winning. Here’s the great news….You can overcome it! How do you do it?
You start doing it!
Sure, its difficult, and we all have our different roads to travel. But whatever your idea is, you can simply start doing it. It certainly doesn’t have to be a full time thing, it probably shouldn’t be a full time thing. You don’t have to quit your day job. Start working on it in your spare time. There are many posts here that discuss how to make better use of your time during the day: here, and here, and here, and more. When you really look at your day, you will find time. If it’s a priority, you have to make the time.
If you keep saying “Someday….”, or “If I had the time…”, then you are giving in to the resistance. You are letting the resistance win the day. Don’t let the resistance win!
If you are looking for something to get started on the side, I may have the perfect opportunity for you. Or, I can simply help you figure how to get started on whatever your plan is. Please contact me anytime and let’s talk about it!
If this message was helpful to you, please share it.
