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Language: en
it's become so bizarre in society where
we are celebrating people that are not
pushing their physical limits and I'm
just telling you right now I don't pass
any moral judgment on anybody that
decides that they don't want to do that
but I will tell you one thousand percent
you are holding your life back
the reason most people fail to achieve
their goals is twofold number one they
don't have a sufficient level of clarity
and number two they don't want it badly
enough the statistic is that 92 percent
of all people that set a New Year's
resolution fail to stick with it the way
that you go from being in the 92 percent
to being in the eight percent is by
having a freakish level of clarity and
building so much desire in your life
that nothing could stop you even if it
tried this is what you need to do the
clarity piece is really the most
important thing that you can have in
your life and most people have a really
vague sense of clarity but because they
can say in a sense something like I'm
gonna win a gold medal they think they
have the clarity that they need but the
question I would ask somebody that told
me that they wanted to win a gold medal
is a gold medal in what the Olympics yes
Tom I want to win a gold medal in the
Olympics amazing which event swimming or
tennis swimming fantastic the
breaststroke the freestyle medley what's
it going to be you have to get so
specific with your goal that you know
what to do with the next 15 minutes of
your life ultimately success
accomplishing a goal seeing things
through all come down to what you're
doing with your time and what part of
your potential you're turning into
actual usable skill set the only way to
know how to spend your time transferring
your potential into skill set that is to
have a truly granular level of clarity
you cannot stop at the high level and
you can't do what a lot of people do
which is they as the Brits say they
waffle so when they're describing their
goal they either say something like I
want to win a gold medal which we just
covered is hopelessly vague or they say
something that's even worse which is you
know I really want to do something great
with my life I know that I'm capable you
know I was really athletic when I was a
kid and I know that if I applied myself
I could probably really you know
recapture what I was doing that's how
most people describe what they want to
do in life it is terrifying you need to
be able to State what your goal is in a
single sentence with no commas
parentheticals run-ons it needs to be a
very simple and direct goal something
like I'm going to win a gold medal in
the Summer Olympics freestyle medley
swimming event by 2028 whatever once you
have a go goal that is that specific
that contains the what you're going to
do the by when and the how much then you
know that you actually have a real goal
and not a hope not a vague idea but you
have something very concrete and
specific that you can execute against
now remember the goal is to translate
that into what you're going to do with
the next 15 minutes of your life always
and forever on and on and on when you
have something so specific that you know
how to break it down into those
incremental steps you can really begin
to make progress if you've ever heard
the idea of the 10 000 hour principle
it's talking about how we go about
actually achieving Mastery in something
and the punch line is that you spend ten
thousand hours applying yourself in a
disciplined fashion towards your goal
the discipline fashion is born out of
the clarity it's born out of the clarity
of knowing precisely what you're trying
to achieve and by when and knowing how
how to take advantage of I've tried
something it didn't quite work I need to
get a little bit better or this part of
my game is weak I need to focus on
getting better at that thing but again
all of that is born from clarity
and being able to break down that
Clarity into action items which is
absolutely critical because action items
are how we're going to turn our
potential into skill set and that is the
critical chain that you have to walk and
then from there it's about developing
the self-awareness that you need to know
what part of you is improving and what
part of you is not improving so that
brings us to the second thing they don't
want it badly enough the reality is that
most people even if they can get the
clarity that they want in their life
they really just don't want it that
badly most people myself you all of us
the things that we really want the
things that we want as badly as a
drowning man wants their next breath of
air those things those you're going to
get the things where it's like yeah I
want it yeah that would be cool I
promise you it's going to get way too
hard and you're not going to be able to
achieve that and the reason is that the
second law of Thermodynamics is that
everything moves to towards chaos so
everything is hard that's the really
simple way of saying it if we know that
everything is going to be hard then we
have to have a reason that we're going
to overcome that difficulty we have to
have a reason to keep fighting through
the inevitable boredom that comes from
trying to clock our 10 000 hours into
actually getting good at something or
even if your goal is more modest than
truly mastering something no matter what
it is even if it's trying to read a book
a week or something like that inevitably
life gets in the way inevitably we get
sick we get tired other things pop up a
goal cannot be the thing that you hope
life doesn't get in the way of a goal if
you want to be in that eight percent if
you want to see things through a goal
has to be the thing that you absolutely
demand of yourself that you achieve and
there unfortunately is no way around
that if you want to be successful you
have got to be willing to give it your
everything and that is really where we
begin to separate people out I have seen
people far smarter than me with more
natural Talent than me achieve nothing
compared to what I've achieved because
they don't have the willingness to push
through the boredom that goals demand so
again let me restate it you are only
going to get what you absolutely demand
of yourself so you are going to have to
put rules into your life you are going
to have to have an identity about
yourself that does not allow you to give
up does not allow you to slow down or
quit and I'm talking whether you're sick
or not for years I had hanging above my
fireplace the painting of Michael Jordan
in the infamous flu game where the
greatest player of all time even though
he had I believe 102 or 103 degree
temperature continued playing in the
finals of that series they end up
winning taking on the championship ring
is absolutely incredible but it never
would have been if he had had the kind
of goal where well yeah I'm sick so I'm
not going to show up and look I get it a
lot of people think that I'm crazy for
pushing people too hard but I'm telling
you right now this is how you accomplish
it so if you don't want your goal fair
enough I don't make a moral judgment on
people that don't want to achieve big
aggressive goals I completely understand
if you would rather lay back and have a
stress-free life that's a completely
fine moral righteous way to live your
life just be very clear about what you
want that goes back to point number one
once you know what your goal is that
goal then makes demands and you either
live up to those demands or you don't
and the reality is that most people
don't so even when they have the clarity
and they get into it and their kids wake
them up in the middle of the night and
then they're really tired the next day
they wake up late they're rushing out of
the door to get to work they go their
boss is a dick to them they come home
they're super stressed out through all
of that their goal suddenly becomes
unimportant and unfortunately because
life is hard and life is going to punch
us in the face constantly over and over
the only way that you're going to
achieve your goals is if in that moment
you get more aggressive that you have
those rules in your life that are like I
am doing this every day I know that I'm
trying to read X number of books lose X
number of pounds by this date and that
means by the end of this week I need to
have lost a pound or two pounds or by
the end of the month I need to have lost
five pounds whatever your goal demands
your goal ultimately will be translated
into math so it is very simple what do
you need to do on this day to achieve
your goal do you do it or not it really
is that cut and dry and if you're
looking over your shoulder for somebody
to save you I can tell you right now
they are not coming no one is coming to
help you this is something that you have
to do for yourself and I hope in hearing
all of this you realize why 92 percent
of people fall into the category of I
gave up I quit I knew what my goal was
or I didn't have enough Clarity but I
didn't do the things that I needed to do
in order to across the Finish Line it
really is that simple now the great news
is it really is that simple if you just
draw those bright lines in your life if
you make those demands of yourself if
you say I simply must do this to be the
person that I want to be and therefore I
am going to do it even when it's hard
even when it sucks even when it's boring
I'm going to keep doing this and let me
tell you right now even though what I'm
talking about is achieving goals I
promise you one thing if you set a goal
and you achieve it you will gain respect
for yourself and there is nothing that
matters more and I mean nothing there is
nothing that matters more than how you
feel about yourself when you're by
yourself so if you structure your life
in a way where you set a goal that is
two things exciting and honorable
exciting to you you just want to do it
other people don't have to tell you to
do it you just want to do it right it
goes back to the whole thing you've got
to want it badly enough and if you want
it badly enough then you're going to
stick with it and if you don't then you
won't if it's exciting then the second
thing is that it has to be honorable and
by honorable I simply mean that it
uplifts both you and those around you
that's incredibly important because once
you have that you can give yourself over
to it completely you can build that
desire in your life so that it is a
raging Inferno inside of you that your
identity does not allow you to deviate
from the rules in your life do not allow
you to deviate from and the sheer fact
of how badly you want it doesn't allow
you to deviate from but you've got to go
in and put in the time and energy to
build that desire and the way that you
build desire is by telling yourself that
you want it telling other people that
you want it and embodying the emotion
that you want to feel in order to cement
that feeling inside your mind because if
it isn't visceral when you're bored when
you're tired when life is hard if when
you say to yourself I really want this
goal if you don't actually feel
something positive if you don't actually
want it you will quit if people ever
tell you that quitting isn't an answer
you need to point to them and remind
them that they are a liar because
quitting is always an option quitting is
the easiest answer it is the answer that
92 percent of people take whenever
they're setting a goal if you don't want
that to be you then you've got to build
desire and get a freakish amount of
clarity if you want to become a better
person in one year there are two things
you're going to need to do change your
habits and Define what you mean by
better person so this goes back to the
idea that the most important thing
anyone can have in their life is Clarity
so who is it that you're actually trying
to become the important thing is to make
sure that you know what your value
system is you know what you value then
we know what you're actually striving
towards once you have a goal that goal
makes demands so if you're trying to be
the kind of person that gets up early so
that you can see your kids before you
send them off to school then you need to
be the kind of person that either deals
with fatigue all the time which I think
is a terrible idea and I do not
recommend or you need to be the kind of
person that goes to bed early that's one
of the Myriad ways that your goal is
going to mandate your behavior so
whatever it is that you value write that
down figure out what your values are
then we're going to build in habits that
are going to help us actually become the
kind of person that we want to become so
the reality is that you are a mixture of
beliefs habits
rules and values and once you get those
things all put together then you are
doing the things that you want to do and
when you're doing the things that the
person you want to be would do you are
the person you want to be it's one of
those things that it's easier said than
done but it really is that simple so we
want to map all of that out we want to
make sure that we have Clarity we want
to write down what our values are we
want to write down is there somebody
that is like the kind of person you want
to be at least as you perceive them if
there is what are the behaviors that
they do that makes you feel they're the
kind of person that you want to be are
they the kind of person that goes to bed
early are they the kind of person that
gets up early are they the kind of
person that takes their kids to school
are they the kind of person that's
striving to achieve their goals are they
the kind of person that's driven loving
kind compassionate whatever those things
are you want to map them out into a set
of behaviors once you have them mapped
out into a set of behaviors now we're
going to begin putting routines and
habits in place that are going to make
sure that we're doing those things so
going down that list if we want to get
up early we need to go to bed early if
we want to go to bed early then we need
to make sure that we have everything
laid out that's going to allow us to do
that so this is something that I've
worked my ass off in my own life to make
sure that all I have to do on a daily
basis are follow my rules and my habits
so I'll walk you through what my routine
looks like on a daily basis so first of
all I have a rule in my life based on my
goals goals make demands so my goal is
that I'm trying to build the next Disney
to build the next Disney is going to
take a Herculean effort it's going to
require us to generate a lot of Revenue
to build out a lot of Ip all of that
stuff then makes demands on me so to
meet the needs of what I'm trying to
build Monday through Friday if I'm awake
I'm either working or working out now
because my marriage is actually my
highest value which I've mapped out
since my marriage is my highest value on
the weekends then and I'm going to spend
my primary time being a husband that's
incredibly important for me to remember
what my value system is so when those
two things are colliding I know which is
a priority now I have three big
priorities you can think of number one
as my marriage number two is my purpose
which is work and then number three is
my family they're in that order and I
execute against them in that way it is
not a mistake that my wife and I are
building a company together it was a way
for me to integrate my wife into my
purpose to make sure that when I was
pursuing one I was not pulling away from
the other so again my goal made demands
and I'm building habits around that so
habit number one is that from the moment
I wake up until the moment I go to bed
Monday through Friday I'm either working
or working out so I've got all of that
laid out so right next to my bed or my
workout clothes so that as soon as I
wake up I'm putting on my workout
clothes so there's not another step
that's going to be required for me going
and getting that workout in more or less
the first thing that I do do is I go and
work out so I get dressed I head into
the gym I get my workout in that way the
day is not going to get carried away
because I found if I had a habit of
trying to work out later that the day
had a habit of getting in the way and
making that very difficult and now I was
competing with being tired at the end of
the day and still trying to stick with
the gym so I'm being honest with myself
about what I'm like and since I know
that I'm likely to get fatigued as the
day wears on I created that habit of
making sure that I got to work out first
thing in the morning once I finished my
workout I have a whole thing around
cognitive optimization I'm not going to
walk you through every detail but I do
the things that I need to do to be
cognitively optimized including
meditation fasting and things like that
but very quickly after I'm done working
out I'm gonna get to work and I have the
things that I get to work I have another
habit around that that I use that I call
my important things list I want to be in
the habit of knowing what I'm going to
be doing now I don't want to be in a
position where I'm having to think about
what I should be doing next because when
you're in that position you're wasting
time so I spend some of my cognitive
optimization time in meditation which
allows me to do something I call
thinkitation which is basically where
I'm letting my mind wander across a very
specific problem that I have set for
myself and then I take notes on that
part of that note-taking often is making
sure that my priorities are in the right
order and then when I'm done with that
I'm just executing I'm going down that
important things list which are listed
in order that they should be executed on
that is one of the most important habits
you can build into your life is to not
be afraid to prioritize to keep that
list in priority order and so many
people are afraid to say this is number
one this is number two and this is
number three so they start doing things
like I have a three-way tie for the
number one position that is total BS it
absolutely does not work I'm telling you
right now now you must be completely
unafraid to set priorities to say this
is more important than that until you
can do that you are going to struggle in
your life to make progress because the
reality is that you cannot do two things
at one time you may be able to very
rapidly shift between different tasks
but you're always going to be doing one
thing at a time and so you want to make
sure that you're doing them in the right
order that again is one of the most
important habits that you can get to a
big part of the success that I've had is
because I am hyper efficient with my
time in fact it is very fair to say that
I am obsessed with efficiency that I am
constantly looking at am I doing things
in the right order if I do this thing
will it make thing number two and thing
number three easier that's often how I
judge what should go in the number one
position but make sure that you're in
the habit of breaking things down in
priority order and then executing
relentlessly against those and not
allowing yourself to get distracted this
is exactly exactly why I have that rule
in my life where if I'm awake I'm either
working or working out it creates a very
bright line for me so that I know if I'm
in accordance with what I should be
doing or I'm not and I'm never sitting
there thinking of what I should be doing
in those Prime hours of course at some
point you have to think about it but I
saved those early hours for execution I
do not want to be trying to come up with
a list of things to do I want to be just
boom right into execution mode so that
is the one of the most useful things
that you can begin to put in your life
after that you need to have an hour at
which you allow the outside world to
begin to come into your world so I don't
take my first meeting until 8 30 a.m I
used to have it even later than that but
we've gotten into a period now at the
company where there's just too many
things to do and so I have let it
encroach a little bit but having said
that I'm up usually around 3 30 to 4 30
a.m so so I have four to five hours
sometimes before I have my first meeting
and most days I actually don't take my
first meeting until nine or ten o'clock
so I push that as late as I can the
reason that I do that and the reason
that I think that this is one of the
most important habits that you could put
in your life if you're trying to improve
yourself is because the odds of somebody
other than you knowing what you should
be doing with your time to achieve your
custom-made goals is effectively zero so
if the first thing that you do is pick
up your phone and check your email
you're saying hey I don't know what I
should be doing with my time so let me
see what somebody else thinks I should
be doing with my time or if you pick up
your phone and you start Doom scrolling
right away you're letting people take up
your cognitive real estate using social
media can be insanely powerful I myself
use it I'm probably on social media at
least an hour a day but I have very
specific moments when I allow myself to
use it and I have very specific tasks
that I go on there to do either to learn
something or to broadcast cast something
so you want to make sure that you are
being very thoughtful about once you let
other people into your space into your
either your mind or onto your to-do list
that it is at that point the right
moment to do that because you've already
moved your most important things through
you've already got your agenda moving as
fast as it can and then you're opening
yourself up to the outside feedback now
depending on what you're trying to do in
your life that may not be at 8 30 or 9
or 10 in the morning that might be at
four or five PM now I understand that
most people given the nature of your job
that's not going to be possible but I
just want to make sure that whatever
you're trying to do that you carve out
time in the very beginning to be
executing those are going to be your
Prime cognitive hours you want to make
sure that you get something done now
food is a huge part of this equation
it's beyond the scope of this answer to
really go deeply into that but I will
say any habit that cognitively optimize
advises you is going to be absolutely
critical so you want to make sure that
you're getting sleep you want to make
sure that you're eating healthy and just
I'll round that to Whole Food whenever
humanly possible and do not eat sugar
minimize that as much as humanly
possible and then meditate exercise and
work out if you're doing that basket of
things you are going to be able to be at
your best cognitively now for whatever
reason it's become so bizarre in society
where we are celebrating people that are
not pushing their physical limits and
I'm just telling you right now I don't
pass any moral judgment on anybody that
decides that they don't want to do that
but I will tell you one thousand percent
you are holding your life back you will
not be able to think clearly you will
not be able to perform efficiently you
won't even be able to be pain-free which
is going to be its own level of hell and
distraction
92 percent of people that set a New
Year's goal fail to achieve it which is
why I've created a 90-day challenge
designed specifically to ensure that you
hit your goals you really can radically
transform yourself just click the link
below to join me and the entire impact
Theory university community to kick off
2023 right with the impact 90 challenge
alright guys now back to the episode
and so while I don't think you're a
better person if you work out I
certainly don't think you're a worse
person if you don't you are certainly
not going to achieve all that you could
achieve if you don't make massive
demands of your body you are having a
biological experience that is simply the
truth of the matter and I know that this
bothers a lot of people but that's just
the reality you're not going to get
around it and so if you ignore the
biological reality of what you eat how
you exercise how you sleep taking care
of your mental health through meditation
and eating well which is arguably the
most detrimental thing you can do to
your mental health is eat poorly I mean
that from a depression standpoint I mean
that from an anxiety standpoint I used
to have profound debilitating anxiety I
thought it was going to be something
that was happening in terms of the way I
was thinking as it turns out it was from
something I was drinking so not alcohol
just diet energy drinks were the bane of
my existence and I had no idea until I
finally stopped drinking them and real
realized oh my God that was the root of
70 plus percent of my anxiety and simply
eliminating that from my diet had a
profound impact on my performance so be
very thoughtful about habits around that
so ultimately it boils down to defining
exactly who you want to be what are the
behaviors that the person who is like
who you want to be would do and then do
those things and the way to do that is
to put rules and habits in your life to
make sure that you execute against those
I gave you the ones that I use in my
life the last thing I will say is that I
go to bed early and I don't use an alarm
so those are the things that roughly get
you there and then I will just say as a
very oblique parting reference that
don't fail to have people in your life
that you love and that love you back
there is nothing sweeter despite all of
my intensity around goals and I think
it's so amazing there is a reason that
my marriage is my number one priority
and not even my purpose and
accomplishment so be very thoughtful
about who you emulate be very thoughtful
about what you decide to make a habit
because the things you repeat really
will become who you are once you get
initially started in the pursuit of your
goal of trying to improve yourself and
become something more something better
the key is consistency and
follow-through consistency and
follow-through you become what you
repeat the reason that anybody
successful becomes successful is because
to quote Winston Churchill they can go
from failure to failure without a loss
of enthusiasm the problem is the human
animal has chosen a tactic of using
culture in order to have generational
progress so a horse will come out doing
all the things that a horse can do in 20
minutes but horse culture doesn't
progress because they come hardwired
with everything and they have for
thousands of years and they make no
progress whereas humans a generation 10
000 years ago invented the wheel and
we're all still using it now but in
taking that strategy what ends up
happening is that you really do become
the thing that you repeat the thing that
you do consistently and if you begin
slacking off of that then you don't end
up making that progress you certainly
can't maintain that progress so you have
to be very very thoughtful about what
you repeat because it is going to have a
profound impact on your life now the
vast majority of people end up just
breaking they end up quitting the reason
that I've had the kind of success that
I've had in my life is simply because I
understand that iteration is how we make
cultural progress it's what I call the
physics of progress most people when
they're running the physics of progress
when they get to the point where they
have to evaluate their results they end
up lying to themselves and making it
somebody else's fault now the physics of
progress are really simple it's the
scientific method recontextualized for
whatever goal you're trying to achieve
and it goes like this you come up with a
hypothesis if you have information that
can inform the hypothesis that is much
better but if you don't when you're
beginning call it your best guess you're
taking your best guess as how you go
from where you are to achieving your
goal there is inevitably going to be an
obstacle in your way and your best guess
is about what do I need to do to
overcome that obstacle to make
meaningful progress towards my goal then
you're going to turn that hypothesis
into something that you can actually do
then you're going to turn that you're
going to actually go do that thing and
then you're going to get a result from
that thing it is almost certainly going
to fail to some extent which is fine
because failure is the most information
Rich data stream on planet Earth but you
have to learn from the failure to learn
from the failure you have to be willing
to admit that you made one most people
will not admit that they made a mistake
and so they get stuck at that level and
in that moment they say it was the world
it's because I was born in the wrong
time my parents were dumb the world
doesn't want somebody who looks like me
to succeed whatever excuse they use to
make it somebody else's fault now
remember the most terrifying thing about
excuses is that they are valid I'm not
saying that those things aren't real I'm
not saying that the world isn't trying
to hold some people back I'm just saying
it doesn't matter you have to overcome
it no matter what so in the moment where
you tried this thing and it didn't work
don't spend your time and energy
focusing on how something else stopped
you even though I will grant you it's
true the world is trying to stop
everybody from doing everything it just
is the reality accomplishing something
meaningful is freakishly difficult so
don't focus on that it's more difficult
for you it just doesn't matter you're
just gonna have to work harder you
either want to accomplish that thing in
your life or you don't and you're going
to give up that's the reality the people
that get what they want are the people
that absolutely demand that they're
going to keep going until they get that
thing so in that moment when you're very
tempted to focus on how other things
have stopped you you're not going to
what you need to do is be consistent so
in that moment you're going to say what
could I have done differently to get a
better result and that's when the
physics of progress Loops now you come
up with a more informed hypothesis you
learned your lesson you figure out what
you need to do that's going to be a
little bit better than last time you
turn that into a thing that you can do
you do that thing it will fail to some
extent you stare nakedly at your
inadequacies you figure out what you
need to do to make it a little bit
better and the process begins again that
is why you have to be consistent but the
reality is that most people break most
people cannot go from failure to failure
without a loss of enthusiasm they end up
breaking they end up thinking that
either there's something wrong with them
or that the world is against them and
because they don't want to deal with the
pain and suffering of having to face
their own inadequacies or they give up
because they just think the world is
against them they don't make progress
because you have to be able to fail a
lot to learn from those failures if I'm
right that humans as a species have
chosen culture as the learning mechanism
then you have to run the loop that
culture demands which is to try
something it fails you iterate you get
better that works at the societal level
over Millennia and it works at the
individual level in an acute thing where
you just have to figure out why didn't
that work and keep going but the truth
is difficulty boredom struggle pain
breaks almost everyone that it touches
and I will remind us all 92 percent of
people fail to achieve the goal they set
for themselves and the reason is that
all of that difficulty just stops people
because they don't have the right
mindset they don't realize that they
need to fail they don't realize that
failure does not make them a failure so
you're going to have a ton of failure in
your life you have to contextualize it
as the most advantageous thing that
could happen to you so when I fail it
stings it sucks I hate it I want
everything that I do to work the first
time and I want to make maximum progress
as fast as humanly possible but once I
realized that just isn't the way that
things work and even people like Elon
Musk who I think are abnormally
intelligent they realize oh I have to
fail a lot I have to try things and see
what works and what didn't there is no
way around being in the messy middle
there's no way to think or hypothesize
your way to what's going to work the
best you have to get in there and try
things even somebody that's thinking
philosophically has to be able to get in
there and battle their ideas and take
their ideas out to other people even
Einstein went out and made sure that his
ideas were battle tested not only
through experimental physicists but also
just his friends that were other people
that were able to beat up his ideas and
poke holes in them and if you're in not
willing to put your ideas to the test if
you're not willing to try things and see
what fails then you you will forever be
stuck thinking and not making any
progress you really want to be doing be
a doing machine somebody that's out
there trying but that means you have to
risk embarrassment and embarrassment is
one of the things that destroys so many
goals because people don't want to admit
that they were struggling people don't
want to admit that they were having a
hard time and so they either don't tell
people about the goal which is a huge
mistake you want to tell as many people
as you can it's part of the process of
building desire you want to tell people
I'm going to do this thing and it really
matters to me and I'm going to
accomplish it by this date now all eyes
are on you but that's one of the ways
you're going to stick to what you're
doing and if the whole point is that you
have to repeat repeat be resilient be
gritty stick with it try fail try fail
over and over and over as you get better
at overcoming those obstacles then you
have to be willing to to push through
all of that difficulty to know why
you're doing the things you're doing and
to understand that that's just the
process so guys I'm telling you if you
really want to achieve something
absolutely powerful in your life you've
got to be persistent if you haven't
already be sure to read the book grit by
Angela Duckworth it's an amazing expose
on how to be gritty if you're not
already the process that I use for
achieving my goals is really simple
first and foremost you want to make sure
that you cognitively optimize I cannot
stress that enough so much of my life is
about doing things to make sure that my
brain is working well they look like
this number one get sleep do not use an
alarm most people set an alarm stop I
built three multi-million dollar
companies one of those being a billion
dollar company all without setting an
alarm do I occasionally set an emergency
alarm for something like a 4 AM flight
yes but for the most part I don't use an
alarm I'm talking like 99 percent of of
my days I do not set an alarm I want to
make sure that I get all of the sleep
that my body needs why because I'm able
to be more efficient people mistake
grinding around the clock and becoming
less efficient because they're tired
with actually getting more done what you
want to do is make sure that you have a
very high output of achievement per
waking hour so I check in with myself
about every three hours to make sure
that I'm being productive if you're not
being productive nothing else matters so
go to bed early I go to bed at 9 00 PM I
don't use an alarm I typically sleep six
to seven hours that's changed if you've
heard other content where I say five to
six hours right now I'm in a cycle where
I'm sleeping closer to my average is
probably just under seven hours so I
never know what that's going to be it
tends to be regulated by the amount of
stress in my life so I'm getting roughly
seven hours of sleep so that means that
if I go to bed at 9pm I'm up at 4am I
have a rule in my life that if I'm awake
Monday through Friday I'm either working
or working out I give myself only 10
minutes to get out of bed why because I
struggle to get out of bed just is a
thing it's always been a thing for me
from the time I was a kid my dad would
have to drag me out of bed in the
morning to there was a period in my
early to mid 20s where I was laying in
bed four to five hours a day and just
could not bear to get out of bed it's
absolutely ridiculous even I am
completely scandalized by the reality
that to this day despite all of the
things that I've accomplished I have to
fight myself just to get out of bed so
that's a reality I accept that so I gave
myself a rule that I had to be out of
bed in 10 minutes or less right next to
my bed I keep headphones so I put my
headphones on I begin researching the
second I wake up so I'm researching uh
technically this gets into a long thing
right now I'm in a phase where I
actually read while I sleep long story I
don't think you get things subliminally
that's not that but I do find that it
helps me stay asleep I don't necessarily
recommend that for everybody but just by
way of being completely transparent in
terms of what my routine looks like for
achieving my goals from the second I
wake up I'm researching something that
matters to me I immediately put on my
gym clothes I head to the gym right away
I work out I then meditate after I
meditate I do something I call
thinkitating the reason that I do these
two things one meditation is a good way
to get your stress and your anxiety down
to zero the reason you want to do this
is cognitive optimization if you are
feeling frantic if you are constantly in
fight or flight your brain is not going
to function as well as it could what is
happening when you go into fight or
flight is the blood is literally leaving
your prefrontal cortex the prefrontal
cortex is the seat of higher level
cognition it's where you future plan
it's where you maintain your discipline
and so when you're in that fight or
flight stage you don't have the blood in
the prefrontal cortex in the way that
you need to which is why people end up
cheating on their diet it's why they end
up not sticking with their goals and
persevering so you want to make sure
that you're taking the time to meditate
to lower your stress lower your anxiety
and then there's a hidden benefit to
meditation which is why I follow that
sort of almost seamlessly into
thinkitation which is where I stay in
that meditative posture I keep my
meditative breathing going I'm staying
in that cognitive space because when you
are meditating if you're just coming
back to the breath very simple practice
my meditation practice is dead simple
it's literally what I call just breathe
so as my mind wanders I remind myself to
come back to the breath so just breathe
my mind wanders again back to the breath
wanders back to the breath wanders back
to the breath it's tragic how rapidly my
brain begins to wander but I just keep
bringing it back now when I do that
enough I get into a calm and creative
state when I'm in a calm and creative
state unique areas of my brain begin to
talk to each other and so I will come up
with very interesting solutions to
problems that I won't get when I'm not
in that state so this is why people will
often say I need to sleep on that
problem because your brain goes through
that cycle that's very much like a
meditative State as you're falling
asleep and then waking up again you pass
through a very similar state so I will
call that calm and creative so once I'm
in that calm and creative state now I
begin to get these I give myself a
problem to solve before I sit down to
meditate so I know what I'm working on
it's tied to my important things which
we'll get to in a minute but I sit there
and I know what the problem is going to
be that I'm going to start working on
when I'm in that column and creative
state and then I'll allow myself to take
notes as interesting ideas come up I'm
going to journal on that which I would
not do during the meditative part where
I'm just coming back to the breath back
to the breath back to the breath and I
do that for as long as I need to to get
to zero stress zero anxiety calm
creative once I'm there maybe five
minutes maybe 20 minutes maybe maybe 45
minutes if I'm really stressed out but
once I'm there then I move over into
thinkitation and I begin noodling on
those hard problems once I finish that
then I'm going to go into my important
things now how do I know when to stop
thinkitating and move on to important
things I have found that at some point I
begin running out of really fruitful
novel ideas and once I feel like I'm
kind of trying to force it then I'm like
all right let's just now move into
executing on my important things so now
that I'm in my important things which is
a list that I keep constantly maintained
so I know the top things are that I
should be working on so I'm not spending
that time thinking about what I should
be doing I just go straight into
execution mode so then I start going
down the list doing them in order now
the way to execute on something is very
much in order so first thing you're
going to do everything on that thing
that you can do until you've pushed it
as far as you can go and now you're
waiting on other people and then you're
going to move on to the next thing
you're going to do everything that you
can on that until you're waiting on
other people and then you're going to
push it off so on and so forth down your
list now my important things list is
predicated on my goals so the very
important thing to understand about the
nature of goals is that they make
demands if you want to win a
championship in swimming then you need
to do the things that a swimmer trying
to win a gold medal by a certain date
would need to do it's going to dictate
how you eat how you sleep how you train
who you talk to how you think all of
that stuff and so you have to one get
good at identifying what your goals
demand and then two you have to be good
at actually sticking to the things your
goals demand which this is where most
people fall down because it gets boring
it gets difficult so you've got to be
able to push through all right so I work
my way down my important things list
once I finish doing that then I because
I'm the CEO of a company at that point
then I'm going to begin to engage with
my team I'm usually working for about
four to five hours on the things that I
know that I should be doing to have the
highest most efficient impact on the
company and then because I know a big
part of my job is orchestrating people
making sure that they're focused on the
things that they should be answering
questions and the like then I go and I
engage with the company and then I take
meetings based on what's important and
how time aligns it just is what it is I
take meetings until 6 PM I try to cut
off there's one meeting that I have a
week because we're dealing with a
company in China that goes until 7 30 at
7 30 uh it's only one day a week that I
do that most of the time my last meeting
ends at six and then for the rest of
time for the next three hours I go back
into my mode of controlling my time
making sure that I'm working on things
that I need to do including making sure
that my important things list is up to
date that I'm working on all the loose
ends for the day to make sure that
everybody has what they need to start
the next day all that good stuff which
gives me the ability in the morning to
take advantage of my Peak cognitive
ability now one of the reasons that I've
ended up structuring my day like that is
because I found that in the morning I'm
so super sharp I've got these creative
ideas I'm able to really make progress
create space for myself whereas in the
evenings I'm a little bit slower I'm not
quite as efficient as I am early in the
day and so it remains easy for me to be
reactive but it's much harder for me to
be proactive that's just me maybe you're
the complete opposite structure your day
around you so in the evenings I can
remain very useful as I respond to
people's questions and things like that
as I come over my important things list
all of those things I find much easier
to do in the evenings and then the last
hour before I go to bed whenever I can
and this unfortunately breaks apart
sometimes but whenever I can I want that
last hour to be work but to be something
I'm really excited about now you want to
be very thoughtful about how you
structure your life because you should
love what you're working on now I know
that that can be very difficult as
somebody who has a periods in my life
absolutely hated my job I completely
understand but you want to push yourself
to get to the point where you at least
have a part of your job that you
absolutely love so that's how I spend
that last hour of my day is only working
on when I can something that I'm really
excited about and that helps combat
fatigue and it also helps me get ready
for bed because you don't want to be
dealing with something super stressful
as you're getting ready for bed and
another thing that I do just by way of
sleep hygiene is that I make sure that I
am not getting blue light into my eyes
towards the evenings I think that's very
important so starting three hours before
I go to bed I'm wearing blue blocking
glasses my computer is set to go into
night mode so at Sun rise the blue light
comes back on and at Sunset the blue
light turns off I think that kind of
thing can be very advantageous as for my
diet which is another key part of
cognitively optimizing I do intermittent
fasting seven days a week 365 days a
year including Christmas Day and I do
that because it makes me feel better so
it's not even for vanity or to be cool
it's just I feel better when I do that
so I do I average I I track this for
about 18 months every day and it
averaged 17 hours including weekends
holidays and all that so there are
course times where that window is more
narrow but the least man the least I
knowingly uh go to is 14 hours so that's
the least amount of time that I'll go
between my last meal and my first meal
the next day like I said even on a
Christmas day or something like that I'm
gonna have at least a 14 hour window
again just to protect my stomach and
make sure that I feel great and that
will on the weekdays mean that I'll go
sometimes 18 19 sometimes 20 hours uh
without a meal before I eat and I eat my
last meal at about 2 p.m sometimes a
little before sometimes a little after
but that's roughly there and then I
don't have my next meal till eight nine
sometimes ten eleven o'clock so that is
my AI process and I think that there's a
lot of things that virtually everybody
could use from that to build a very
effective process the truth is hitting
your career goals is not easy you have
to be willing to go the extra mile to
stand out and do hard things better than
anybody else but there are 10 steps I
want to take you through that will 100x
your efficiency so you can crush your
goals and get back more time into your
day you'll not only get control of your
time you'll learn how to use that
momentum to take on your next big goal
to help you do this I've created a list
of the 10 most impactful things that any
High achiever needs to dominate and you
can download it for free by clicking the
link in today's description alright my
friend back to today's episode
if you want to really make progress in
your life one of the keys is going to be
to track that process now the way to
think about getting better is you want
to get incrementally better the problem
is if you're trying to get incrementally
better you're basically going to stand
still so you want to be asking the
famous question that Peter Thiel asked
which is how do I make my 10-year plan
happen in the next six months when you
start thinking like that it really does
shift your thinking into having a
radically different approach I think one
of the big problems that people have
when they're trying to make progress is
they set a goal that's quote unquote
realistic and when it's realistic it's
not very exciting I teach a whole class
on the process of setting goals and one
of the things that I tell people is you
have to set goals that are exciting
there's a whole bunch of research on
this that shows the people that are most
likely to stick with their goals are the
people that set a goal that is truly
exciting to them the goals that are
going to be exciting are going to be big
goals that's just the way the human mind
is wired I'm telling you you right now
there is an evolutionary imperative that
has been embedded in your brain and
there's no way around it that demands
that you do hard things I think from an
evolutionary perspective that makes
sense because Staying Alive was hard and
if we didn't get an intrinsic emotional
reward from doing hard things we would
have died out so we are all the
ancestors of people that got off a
little bit undoing hard things so when
you don't do hard things you don't get
that positive feedback loop you feel a
sense of dis-ease and so many people
have that sense of unease and they think
that I need to go retire and my life
needs to be more relaxed I need to be in
a beach somewhere this all sucks it's
not true at all I'm telling you right
now the thing that you need to do is
find meaning and purpose and go after it
go after it in a big way set yourself a
crazy goal that you really believe in
that you really think life would be
better if I do this thing if I achieve
this and even if I fail man I would have
spent my life well try trying to
contribute to that if you build your
life around that and go all out man
trying to make something that you really
believe and come true to bend the world
to your will to close your eyes and
imagine a world that is better than this
one open your eyes and then execute to
make that world come true you will love
your life that's the key to find
something that you really believe in and
then go all out after it now to track
all of this progress you really do want
to be journaling writing things down
checking things off how many days did
you stick to what you sa