full
Lower Your Standards, Raise Your Results: The Power of Action
Looking to boost your motivation and productivity? Lower your standards
and raise your results with the power of action! Watch this video for
some game-changing tips.
Think Less; Do More: Create An Action Bias, Stop Overthinking, and
Learn How to Actually Change Your Life (Live a Disciplined Life Book 15)
By: Peter Hollins
Hear it Here - https://adbl.co/46YVcld
00:00:00 Think Less, Do More
00:02:07 Lower Your Standards—Yes, Really!
00:09:57 Forget Perfection.
00:11:43 Focus On Process, Not Outcome.
00:16:29 Go With What Works.
00:18:28 Action Is The Beginning Of Motivation.
00:26:29 Action Creates Motivation Creates Commitment.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BYZ25QSM
Practical and actionable tips to overcome a lack of motivation. Get into action on command!
Hey, you can't THINK and DO at the same time. I know which one I would want to do more of. What about you?
Start whatever you want, and finish what you start.
Think
Less; Do More is your guide to actually changing your life. It's about
taking action. You know it, but you just don't do it. Welcome to the
guide that will get you into motion, no matter your circumstances,
excuses, or distraction.
This book is a psychological throwdown
to your brain: shape up, or ship out! Every chapter will get you
motivated, moving, or slowly sliding into the first few steps of your
next task/goal. And you won't even realize it. There is no BS here, and
there is no beating around the bush. This book is like rocket fuel.
How to finally accomplish all the goals you've put off for years.
Peter
Hollins has studied psychology and peak human performance for over a
dozen years and is a bestselling author. He has worked with a multitude
of individuals to unlock their potential and path towards success. His
writing draws on his academic, coaching, and research experience.
The real science of changing your life.
The magic of lowering your standards
How action actually creates motivation and drive
How to change your relationship with risk
The focusing power of a "don't do" list
Writing a "burner list"
Use a superstructure decision model for prioritizing
Your personalized ultradian rhythms
How to resist distractions and beat all of your mental objections.
#ActionBias
#StopOverthinking #ArtPressfield #GrantCordone #PeterHollins
#StevenPressfield #RussellNewton #NewtonMG #ThinkLess;DoMore
#TwoWaysToOvercomeResistance
Transcript
In the quest for a more organized,
Speaker:more productive,
Speaker:and more fulfilling life,
Speaker:there’s certainly no shortage of advice out there.
Speaker:But there is one key feature that separates those strategies that work from
Speaker:those that never do - action.
Speaker:It doesn’t matter whether you’re trying to improve your family life or
Speaker:relationships,
Speaker:achieve your career goals,
Speaker:improve your health,
Speaker:or pursue some other meaningful life goal.
Speaker:At some point,
Speaker:if you truly wish to transform your life,
Speaker:you will need to cross over from where you are to where you want to be—by
Speaker:taking action.
Speaker:In the chapters that follow,
Speaker:we’ll explore what it really takes to perform in the top one percent of
Speaker:people and to achieve your dreams.
Speaker:We’ll see that a “bias toward” action is the single most powerful mindset
Speaker:to cultivate,
Speaker:since it’s this that will keep you focused,
Speaker:effective,
Speaker:and clear.
Speaker:There are many myths that may be holding you back.
Speaker:For example,
Speaker:the belief that
Speaker:•You need to strive for excellence at all times
Speaker:•You need to constantly find ways to motivate yourself
Speaker:•To be like super successful people,
Speaker:you need to learn to banish fear and be completely confident... But what if
Speaker:you knew that none of this was required for genuinely transforming your life?
Speaker:In this book,
Speaker:we’ll be looking at the single factor that has the power to move you forward
Speaker:in life,
Speaker:and how to develop it every single day.
Speaker:We’ll turn conventional wisdom upside down and learn effective ways to
Speaker:prioritize,
Speaker:make decisions,
Speaker:beat procrastination,
Speaker:get organized,
Speaker:and start taking real risks that bring real rewards.
Speaker:Let’s dive in!
Speaker:Chapter 1 .- Lower Your Standards—Yes,
Speaker:Really!
Speaker:“If It’S Worth Doing,
Speaker:It’S Worth Doing Well.”
Speaker:Have you ever heard this?
Speaker:Perhaps you were one of those people who grew up with a parent telling you this.
Speaker:On its face,
Speaker:this advice seems sound—inspiring,
Speaker:even.
Speaker:Try your best,
Speaker:do things as brilliantly as you can,
Speaker:and don’t let yourself get away with half measures and lukewarm effort.
Speaker:Wouldn’t it be great to hold yourself to high standards this way,
Speaker:to strive for excellence,
Speaker:and to apply yourself fully to your endeavors?
Speaker:Well,
Speaker:of course it would.
Speaker:But consider the unspoken part of this advice - “If it’s worth doing,
Speaker:it’s worth doing well ...or else don’t bother."
Speaker:To begin cultivating a mindset that favors action,
Speaker:we need to dig deep and unroot all those attitudes and beliefs that are
Speaker:actually working against us.
Speaker:Let’s say you really did follow this advice and told yourself that it was
Speaker:excellence or nothing.
Speaker:You would do things properly or not at all.
Speaker:So you try,
Speaker:and guess what?
Speaker:Your first attempt is a little lackluster.
Speaker:Because you’re a beginner,
Speaker:you don’t get it done perfectly.
Speaker:Perhaps you fail outright.
Speaker:You set the bar high and then don’t meet it.
Speaker:You look at your decidedly un-excellent performance,
Speaker:conclude that it’s worthless,
Speaker:and obviously give up.
Speaker:Giving up is the natural conclusion from advice that seemed so reasonable at
Speaker:first.
Speaker:If you break this “rule” you set for yourself,
Speaker:this advice encourages you to think of it as a total failure.
Speaker:If it cannot be redeemed and it’s not acceptable,
Speaker:then what else could you do but throw the whole goal away?
Speaker:So,
Speaker:maybe you say you want to go to the gym every day this month.
Speaker:You go for a week,
Speaker:then skip a few days.
Speaker:You say to yourself,
Speaker:“Well,
Speaker:it’s all ruined now.
Speaker:I might as well forget about the rest of the week and start again next Monday."
Speaker:You discount any progress you have made,
Speaker:ignore the effort you have put in,
Speaker:and completely turn a blind eye to what caused you to skip a few days in the
Speaker:first place.
Speaker:You just throw all this away and try to get a “fresh start” at some point
Speaker:in the future,
Speaker:when you can again entertain the illusion that you are going to do things
Speaker:perfectly this time.
Speaker:So now,
Speaker:instead of creating excellence,
Speaker:you’ve set up a cycle that leads only to disillusionment,
Speaker:wasted time,
Speaker:and a serious loss of confidence in yourself.
Speaker:Loss of confidence because any time you make a promise to yourself and fail to
Speaker:keep your word,
Speaker:you are damaging your relationship with yourself—and poor self-esteem is not
Speaker:far behind.
Speaker:Consider replacing this kind of advice with an updated version - "Anything
Speaker:worth doing is worth doing poorly."
Speaker:This quote is from G. K. Chesterton,
Speaker:who wrote eighty books,
Speaker:two hundred short stories,
Speaker:and more than four thousand essays during his lifetime.
Speaker:His being so prolific can give us a clue to the results of not being
Speaker:perfectionists who are hellbent on all-or-nothing thinking about doing things
Speaker:“well."
Speaker:Chesterton believed that people should in fact strive to be amateurs instead of
Speaker:professionals.
Speaker:However,
Speaker:in his world,
Speaker:the word "amateur" meant something quite different from our conventional
Speaker:meaning of the term (perhaps along the lines of “someone who does things kind
Speaker:of badly”).
Speaker:The word actually comes from the Latin root meaning "lover."
Speaker:It was first used to describe people who chose a path in life based on their
Speaker:love and passion for it,
Speaker:not the fact that it earned them money or accolades.
Speaker:The secret,
Speaker:according to Chesterton,
Speaker:lies in this original definition.
Speaker:Of course,
Speaker:he wasn’t saying that you shouldn’t give things your best shot.
Speaker:He wasn’t implying that you should be careless or lazy in your initial
Speaker:attempts,
Speaker:either.
Speaker:Rather,
Speaker:it’s about reframing the mindset around what we consider failure and what we
Speaker:consider “doing things well."
Speaker:It’s about taking our focus off of results and outcomes and being curious
Speaker:about what we’re learning in the process.
Speaker:Of course it would be great if it were possible to start something new,
Speaker:become an instant expert,
Speaker:and impress everyone with our dazzling success on the first try.
Speaker:But given that this never happens and that thinking this way can actually make
Speaker:it less likely we’ll succeed,
Speaker:it’s worth adjusting our thought processes to something more realistic.
Speaker:So what does it look like to “do things poorly” in the right way?
Speaker:What does that actually mean?
Speaker:Remind Yourself That All Your Attempts Have Value.
Speaker:“Failure” is how you learn.
Speaker:It’s valuable data that tells you what you need to do to be better next time.
Speaker:It’s practice.
Speaker:It’s an opportunity to relieve yourself of unhelpful ideas or
Speaker:misunderstandings.
Speaker:It’s a chance to receive feedback.
Speaker:If you remind yourself of this,
Speaker:then you can see that every attempt you make has value.
Speaker:Your actions don’t have to result in instant success exactly as you predicted
Speaker:it for them to be worth something.
Speaker:In fact,
Speaker:the actions you take that go unexpectedly or force you to learn,
Speaker:reassess,
Speaker:or try harder are worth more than succeeding outright because they are the ones
Speaker:that allow you to actually grow.
Speaker:When you see a successful standup comedian on stage,
Speaker:you only see the four or five seconds it takes them to deliver a hilarious joke
Speaker:and have the crowd in stitches.
Speaker:What you don’t see is all the hours and hours of refinement that joke went
Speaker:through to become what it is.
Speaker:At that point the comedian has already delivered that same joke dozens of times
Speaker:to other audiences,
Speaker:each time with less success than what you see currently.
Speaker:But if the joke succeeds in its current form,
Speaker:it’s only because it failed so many times before,
Speaker:and the comedian made notes,
Speaker:made improvements,
Speaker:and carried on.
Speaker:Truthfully,
Speaker:the comedian who has learned to do this will always outperform a new comedian
Speaker:who is running on raw talent alone.
Speaker:If you went to the gym five times this week instead of seven,
Speaker:well,
Speaker:that’s better than nothing.
Speaker:Bank on that.
Speaker:Make being bad at going to the gym the precise thing that teaches you how to be
Speaker:good at going to gym.
Speaker:Ask why you didn’t go those other two times,
Speaker:make adjustments,
Speaker:and keep going.
Speaker:The big insight here is that your goal is not really to go to the gym seven
Speaker:times a week.
Speaker:That’s just the outward results.
Speaker:What you really want to do is Learn.
Speaker:You want to become the kind of person who always does go to the gym that often.
Speaker:And that learning is something you achieve with your attempts—whatever the
Speaker:outcome looks like.
Speaker:Forget Perfection.
Speaker:Winston Churchill said that perfection is the enemy of progress.
Speaker:He was right.
Speaker:If you are a perfectionist or pride yourself on seeking perfection,
Speaker:realize right now that this is in fact a very fragile,
Speaker:unsustainable,
Speaker:and rather weak position to adopt.
Speaker:It is better to be creative,
Speaker:resilient,
Speaker:adaptable,
Speaker:forgiving,
Speaker:flexible,
Speaker:and dynamic than it is to be perfect!
Speaker:Let’s say you’re “trying to sort your life out” and get the idea to
Speaker:become a minimalist and tidy up your crazy house once and for all.
Speaker:You have a vision in your mind - pristine,
Speaker:white,
Speaker:and perfect,
Speaker:with not so much as a hair out of place.
Speaker:You feel all zen while imagining this scene,
Speaker:but you open your eyes and look at what your house really looks like.
Speaker:And even though you’ve made good headway and done a lot to clean and
Speaker:declutter,
Speaker:all you can see is how far you are from that vision of perfection.
Speaker:“To hell with it” you think,
Speaker:and let it all run to chaos again.
Speaker:The trouble was not that your house was too dirty.
Speaker:It was that your vision for what it could or ought to be was too perfect.
Speaker:If you had a little tolerance for being in process,
Speaker:you might have been able to say to yourself,
Speaker:“Look,
Speaker:obviously my house is not going to look like a museum overnight.
Speaker:But I’ve done good work tidying things up today,
Speaker:and that’s something to be proud of."
Speaker:The irony is that the person who can longest tolerate imperfection is more
Speaker:likely to actually achieve perfection at some point!
Speaker:Focus On Process,
Speaker:Not Outcome.
Speaker:You might announce - “I’m going to lose fifty pounds and be skinny and
Speaker:beautiful!"
Speaker:But this goal is only the very final stage of a long,
Speaker:long process.
Speaker:It’s like the last step of the marathon that takes you over the finish
Speaker:line—it’s undoubtedly the most exciting step,
Speaker:but the race itself is not achieved by that single step,
Speaker:but by all the thousands that came before it.
Speaker:If you have your eyes fixed only on that glamorous and triumphant final step,
Speaker:you’re ignoring the bulk of what it actually means to develop and attain
Speaker:something great.
Speaker:In other words,
Speaker:all those thousands of boring steps that are taken without much fanfare,
Speaker:with nobody cheering you on,
Speaker:with no major prize or feeling of achievement—that is where your success
Speaker:actually lies.
Speaker:So if you desire that moment when you stand on the scale and realize you’ve
Speaker:lost fifty pounds,
Speaker:you need to realize that it only happens after you do the boring and difficult
Speaker:work of losing one pound fifty times.
Speaker:Ounce by ounce,
Speaker:choice by choice,
Speaker:you creep closer.
Speaker:In a way,
Speaker:the final step is the easiest.
Speaker:So instead,
Speaker:focus on what matters,
Speaker:i.e.,
Speaker:how you’ll get there,
Speaker:not how nice it will be once you’ve already arrived.
Speaker:Say - “I’m going to walk for thirty minutes every single day,” or,
Speaker:“I’m going to stop snacking after dinner."
Speaker:By making habit,
Speaker:behavior,
Speaker:and action the focus,
Speaker:you get to work making the outcome possible.
Speaker:On the other hand,
Speaker:if all you have to keep you motivated is the feeling of how great it’ll be
Speaker:once you’re done,
Speaker:you’ll just fail at the first challenge.
Speaker:You’ll lose an ounce of weight,
Speaker:it will be difficult and boring,
Speaker:you’ll think you’ve failed,
Speaker:and you’ll give up.
Speaker:Just Start.
Speaker:Do you sometimes think,
Speaker:“Well,
Speaker:that’s great,
Speaker:I’ll do that ...just as soon as winter’s over/I get my promotion/we finally
Speaker:move home/the moon is in Sagittarius”?
Speaker:It may sound strange,
Speaker:but sometimes procrastination and perfectionism go hand in hand.
Speaker:We are unwilling to start because we think we can only begin when we are
Speaker:perfectly ready,
Speaker:perfectly able,
Speaker:and perfectly assured that we cannot fail or flounder.
Speaker:But think about something that you have mastered in life—did you learn how to
Speaker:do it because you waited for the ideal time or had perfect support and
Speaker:guidance,
Speaker:all the resources you needed,
Speaker:and enough time to do what was required?
Speaker:Or did you just bumble along as best you could with what you had?
Speaker:American author Zig Zigler said - “You don’t have to be great to start.
Speaker:But you have to start to be great."
Speaker:It’s true—beginnings can be awkward,
Speaker:a little embarrassing,
Speaker:and confusing.
Speaker:But every person who is an expert today began in their field with that same
Speaker:awkwardness and confusion.
Speaker:So,
Speaker:if there is an unavoidable stage where you must be a newbie,
Speaker:then why not jump in and get it over and done with as soon as possible?
Speaker:The trick with this is that sometimes taking the first step is the hardest one
Speaker:you’ll ever take.
Speaker:But once you do,
Speaker:the next step is much,
Speaker:much easier.
Speaker:And the next even easier than that.
Speaker:Just begin—you can think about everything else you have to do later.
Speaker:Just take the first step,
Speaker:and when that’s done,
Speaker:you can take the next one.
Speaker:But in the very beginning,
Speaker:you don’t even have to worry about the next one.
Speaker:Just focus on the one that’s right in front of you.
Speaker:Be on the lookout for procrastination that’s disguised as something else.
Speaker:For example,
Speaker:you might need to make an overdue change and take a leap into the unknown
Speaker:...but you dawdle with “research” and “planning” for that next step.
Speaker:You tell yourself you’re waiting for the right moment,
Speaker:but in life,
Speaker:nothing is ever truly risk free or perfectly easy,
Speaker:so you’ll be waiting a long time!
Speaker:Put away the research,
Speaker:stop thinking/talking/writing about doing it,
Speaker:and just do it.
Speaker:Even if you fail outright,
Speaker:you’re actually further along the path of progress than if you had continued
Speaker:to procrastinate.
Speaker:Even better,
Speaker:your action creates a certain momentum,
Speaker:and you’ve given yourself a tiny confidence boost.
Speaker:Go With What Works.
Speaker:You told yourself you would go to the gym every day.
Speaker:But then you woke up one morning and felt a bit tired,
Speaker:and the morning after that you came down with a full-blown flu,
Speaker:complete with fever and rattling cough.
Speaker:You can’t go to the gym now.
Speaker:Period.
Speaker:But you can still take a gentle walk around the block.
Speaker:You can do some lightweight cleaning around the house and find time for some
Speaker:quiet yoga in your living room.
Speaker:Is this the same as going to the gym?
Speaker:Not even close.
Speaker:Have you reached your goal of thirty consecutive gym days?
Speaker:Nope.
Speaker:But is it the end of the world?
Speaker:Absolutely not.
Speaker:In the real world,
Speaker:things happen.
Speaker:Our expectations go unmet,
Speaker:accidents happen,
Speaker:and things don’t pan out as we wanted them to.
Speaker:But this isn’t a problem if we have the right mindset.
Speaker:There is no point beating yourself up for those things that are genuinely not
Speaker:within your control.
Speaker:So,
Speaker:find a way to work around these limitations,
Speaker:adjust your plans,
Speaker:be flexible,
Speaker:and let all the rest go.
Speaker:If you can’t go to the gym,
Speaker:ask what small amount of exercise you can do—if anything.
Speaker:If you can’t sit down for two hours and write a chapter for your book,
Speaker:then just try fifteen minutes and write as much as you can.
Speaker:If you’ve gone and bought a giant chocolate cake when you promised yourself
Speaker:you’d make better food choices,
Speaker:then just have one slice,
Speaker:not seven.
Speaker:One good piece of advice is to not turn a small disaster into a big one.
Speaker:If you’ve eaten two slices of chocolate cake,
Speaker:okay,
Speaker:fine.
Speaker:It’s done.
Speaker:Don’t make it three!
Speaker:If you have the flu for a week and can’t go to the gym,
Speaker:that’s not a problem—but don’t let that week turn into six months.
Speaker:Chapter 2 .- Action Is The Beginning Of Motivation.
Speaker:In his book Feeling Good,
Speaker:David D. Burns,
Speaker:M. D. ,
Speaker:asks an interesting question .- What comes first?
Speaker:Motivation or action? Conventional wisdom tells us that we need motivation
Speaker:in order to act.
Speaker:After all,
Speaker:isn’t this why motivational speakers exist?
Speaker:We think,
Speaker:perhaps unconsciously,
Speaker:that we need to find enough inspiration and energy before we can be roused into
Speaker:action.
Speaker:If we don’t feel inspired or energetic?
Speaker:We usually don’t act!
Speaker:But Dr. Burns claims that this kind of thinking is actually backward and that
Speaker:it’s really that action creates motivation.
Speaker:Action makes you feel motivated,
Speaker:which in turn makes you want to do more.
Speaker:Have you ever felt like you were "in the zone"?
Speaker:Most likely,
Speaker:you were enjoying the sensation of building up the momentum of motivation and
Speaker:inspiration.
Speaker:Perhaps we can blame a self-help culture that relentlessly insists that we
Speaker:bring passion and drive to everything we do.
Speaker:We talk about dreams and desire and having enthusiasm for our life purpose.
Speaker:Consequently,
Speaker:when we inevitably feel a bit lackluster about what we’re doing,
Speaker:we may conclude that something is wrong—maybe this isn’t our life’s
Speaker:calling after all,
Speaker:or maybe the time isn’t right.
Speaker:Even worse,
Speaker:maybe it’s our cue to sit back and start blaming people or situations for not
Speaker:somehow providing us with enough incentive.
Speaker:We can make a kind of unconscious deal with ourselves that goes a little
Speaker:something like this - “I’ll act to improve my life ...but not yet.
Speaker:First I’m going to wait till it’s really bad."
Speaker:The motivational speakers tell us “you’ve got to want it really badly!”
Speaker:and,
Speaker:because we don’t really feel that,
Speaker:we shrug our shoulders and put off taking action till later,
Speaker:when maybe we’ll feel more fired up.
Speaker:The trouble is that the more you don’t act,
Speaker:the easier it is to continue not acting.
Speaker:The opposite of momentum here is inertia—the tendency to keep on doing
Speaker:nothing.
Speaker:Whatever you were fearful about gradually starts to seem more and more scary as
Speaker:time goes on;
Speaker:whatever laziness you felt initially seems to have really cemented itself;
Speaker:any doubts or ambivalence seem to have embedded themselves as foregone
Speaker:conclusions.
Speaker:It’s another self-fulfilling prophesy—the longer you wait to act,
Speaker:the harder it is to act.
Speaker:You might even miss opportunities or let the moment go stale as you delay and
Speaker:procrastinate.
Speaker:The alternative is to not sit around and wait for some magical set of external
Speaker:conditions that finally means you are permitted to act.
Speaker:The alternative is not to make your action dependent on any external criteria
Speaker:at all—especially not some flimsy and transient feeling of “inspiration."
Speaker:Think of inspiration as something nice but very temporary—it’s like a
Speaker:bright spark that gets a fire going,
Speaker:but it only lasts for a few seconds before disappearing.
Speaker:If you want to maintain and build that fire after the spark has started it,
Speaker:you’ll need something else - hard work.
Speaker:If you’re feeling uninspired,
Speaker:unmotivated,
Speaker:and lacking energy,
Speaker:the solution is a little counterintuitive - do something.
Speaker:Even if it’s something small,
Speaker:take action.
Speaker:This will give you the tiniest boost of confidence and feeling of
Speaker:self-determination.
Speaker:Even small actions mean you are now in the game—you are no longer passive but
Speaker:proactively taking part in how your life unfolds.
Speaker:Nothing could be more encouraging than this!
Speaker:With this little boost in confidence,
Speaker:you can act again,
Speaker:maybe this time doing a little more.
Speaker:There is no point in lamenting a lack of energy or motivation.
Speaker:Instead,
Speaker:pick a small,
Speaker:easy task you can do right away.
Speaker:Break that inertia.
Speaker:For example -
Speaker:•You don’t have the motivation to study or do schoolwork.
Speaker:So just commit to ten minutes and see if that boosts your interest.
Speaker:•You don’t feel any drive to go to the gym.
Speaker:That’s fine.
Speaker:Push yourself to get up and take a walk around the block.
Speaker:Pay close attention to how you feel when you get back.
Speaker:Better?
Speaker:See if you actually would enjoy doing a little something more.
Speaker:•You can’t be bothered to reach out to your good friends and do some
Speaker:overdue socializing,
Speaker:despite knowing it’s good for you.
Speaker:Start small and send a quick text message,
Speaker:just getting a conversation going.
Speaker:Soon,
Speaker:you realize it’s not the huge drag you thought it would be.
Speaker:As you go,
Speaker:you create a kind of staircase of positive feelings.
Speaker:Each action pulls you up out of apathy and laziness.
Speaker:Often,
Speaker:looking at a task we have to accomplish is inherently demotivating because it
Speaker:seems so big.
Speaker:But don’t focus on how much you have to do—just look at the single next
Speaker:small step you can take right now.
Speaker:You’ll notice that you feel a little differently once you’ve completed that
Speaker:task.
Speaker:The giant mountain you have to climb may seem insurmountable when you are
Speaker:standing far away at the very base.
Speaker:But if you are already on the mountain and have already taken steps on the
Speaker:path,
Speaker:the mountain doesn’t seem quite so formidable as it did before.
Speaker:Let’s look at an example that almost everyone can identify with - cleaning
Speaker:the house.
Speaker:This is a great example because it’s the kind of activity that will probably
Speaker:never create feelings of burning motivation!
Speaker:When was the last time you were completely jazzed up and rearing to spring
Speaker:clean your home?
Speaker:But that doesn’t mean that cleaning your home isn’t a valuable,
Speaker:worthwhile task that you need to find time to do.
Speaker:Nobody really wants to do it,
Speaker:it’s not strictly part of anyone’s inspiring life vision,
Speaker:and it’s not even really an exciting challenge.
Speaker:But so what?
Speaker:It still needs to get done.
Speaker:Luckily,
Speaker:if you only start,
Speaker:you pretty quickly prove to yourself that motivation and inspiration is kind of
Speaker:overrated,
Speaker:and it’s definitely not necessary for you to just get on and do it.
Speaker:Think about it .- You can still clean the oven,
Speaker:wash the floors,
Speaker:and pack away your laundry in a completely foul mood.
Speaker:You can do the dishes despite not wanting to do the dishes.
Speaker:You can take out the trash while at the same time deriving no blissful sense of
Speaker:personal satisfaction from the task.
Speaker:In a way,
Speaker:this is profoundly liberating.
Speaker:It means that your emotional state is completely irrelevant.
Speaker:Your ability to act remains as it is,
Speaker:regardless of how your mood or energy level changes throughout the day.
Speaker:You can always act.
Speaker:This attitude may strike some people as a little harsh and old-fashioned,
Speaker:but you may find it a strange kind of relief to simply remind yourself - “I
Speaker:don’t have to find every task pleasurable.
Speaker:Motivation is nice but not necessary;
Speaker:all that’s necessary is that I act."
Speaker:Doesn’t that make things much,
Speaker:much simpler?
Speaker:As a side effect,
Speaker:taking action can create motivation.
Speaker:But even if it didn’t,
Speaker:it’s worth reminding yourself that you can always act whether you feel
Speaker:inspired to or not.
Speaker:If a task is worth doing,
Speaker:then do it.
Speaker:And that brings us to another important related concept - Action Creates
Speaker:Motivation Creates Commitment.
Speaker:What compels you to act?
Speaker:This is not an idle question but something worth thinking about carefully.
Speaker:Do you act simply because you feel like it?
Speaker:Because you want to act?
Speaker:Inspiration and personal choice seem like natural reasons to act.
Speaker:After all,
Speaker:didn’t we use our personal desire for something to help us choose a goal in
Speaker:the first place?
Speaker:The trouble,
Speaker:however,
Speaker:is that having a desire for an end goal is just not enough.
Speaker:Merely “wanting” to act is not enough of a driver.
Speaker:It’s a necessary condition for achievement,
Speaker:yes,
Speaker:but not a sufficient one,
Speaker:i.e.,
Speaker:you certainly need it,
Speaker:but you also need a whole lot more if you really want to achieve the goal
Speaker:you’ve identified.
Speaker:You are most likely to succeed in any endeavor if you see your action as coming
Speaker:from a different place entirely,
Speaker:that is,
Speaker:not just feeling like it in the moment.
Speaker:You need to act because you said you would.
Speaker:You need to act because you made a promise to yourself and possibly to others
Speaker:that that was what you would do.
Speaker:You act because you set your mind to a task and now are holding yourself to it
Speaker:no matter what.
Speaker:The distinction between these two reasons for acting might not seem very
Speaker:large—until that moment when your natural inspiration and “wanting” wane.
Speaker:Then what?
Speaker:The weakness of passion,
Speaker:desire,
Speaker:interest,
Speaker:motivation,
Speaker:and enthusiasm is that they are unreliable.
Speaker:They never last.
Speaker:They come in fits and bursts and you have very little say over how long they
Speaker:stick around.
Speaker:On the other hand,
Speaker:acting because you say you will—i.e.,
Speaker:commitment—is the opposite.
Speaker:It remains what it is regardless of where your motivation levels are.
Speaker:It’s non-negotiable.
Speaker:It doesn’t change with shifting energy levels or inspiration.
Speaker:Commitment is the choice to act no matter what.
Speaker:If you are compelled to act because of a sense of commitment,
Speaker:then you are far,
Speaker:far stronger than if you are powered by the insubstantial and limited fuel of
Speaker:motivation/inspiration.
Speaker:Taking action creates motivation,
Speaker:but it also reinforces a sense of commitment.
Speaker:Imagine this .- If you are already in a twenty-year-long marriage,
Speaker:that momentum,
Speaker:that “winning streak,” is far harder to jeopardize than a superficial
Speaker:two-week love affair.
Speaker:In other words,
Speaker:the more committed you are,
Speaker:the easier it is to remain committed.
Speaker:The more action you create,
Speaker:the more motivation you drum up to act again.
Speaker:In time,
Speaker:this repeated action builds confidence because you are in effect keeping your
Speaker:own promises to yourself.
Speaker:This builds self-trust and self-respect.
Speaker:What does a committed mindset actually look like,
Speaker:though?
Speaker:Many of us falsely believe that we are committed to our goals,
Speaker:when really the only things holding us to certain actions are the temporary
Speaker:feeling of wanting to and the transitory sensations of reward when we do act.
Speaker:But commitment goes further than this—it is the ability act with dedication,
Speaker:devotion,
Speaker:and responsibility,
Speaker:independent of how easy or pleasurable that action might be.
Speaker:To see if you’re truly committed to your goals,
Speaker:simply look at how much airtime you’re currently giving to various excuses
Speaker:and justifications.
Speaker:Let’s say you’ve decided on the goal to lose weight and get in better shape.
Speaker:Look closely at any of these “reasons” you can’t act,
Speaker:and you will see just how firm your resolve and commitment really is.
Speaker:For example,
Speaker:you set the goal of losing a few pounds and giving up on the bad habit of
Speaker:eating cheap processed chocolate every day.
Speaker:Your initial enthusiasm is okay for a few days,
Speaker:and you successfully avoid the temptation to munch on candy bars.
Speaker:But then after around a week or so,
Speaker:your resolve flags a little and you cave in and binge on a small mountain of
Speaker:chocolate.
Speaker:You explain this behavior to yourself like this - “It’s not such a big
Speaker:deal.
Speaker:I’ve been really good for ages.
Speaker:I deserve a little treat."
Speaker:“I wouldn’t want to become one of those boring,
Speaker:militant people who go on and on about healthy eating.
Speaker:I mean,
Speaker:what if I give myself an eating disorder!?"
Speaker:“But they were on a two-for-one special.
Speaker:I couldn’t pass up such a good deal."
Speaker:“Chocolate isn’t really that bad for you;
Speaker:it’s a bit of a myth.
Speaker:After all,
Speaker:cocoa contains plant phenols and,
Speaker:uh,
Speaker:this Snickers bar is rich in peanuts ...so it’s actually a high protein
Speaker:snack."
Speaker:When you notice yourself coming up with “reasons” like this,
Speaker:try to replace them in your mind with what you are actually saying - “My
Speaker:promises to myself are not worth keeping,
Speaker:and my word means nothing."
Speaker:The “reasons” are just a million different red herrings—they are nothing
Speaker:more than a distraction.
Speaker:This may seem harsh,
Speaker:but it may reframe your choices and remind you of what is genuinely at stake
Speaker:when you fail to follow through on commitments you assign yourself.
Speaker:To return to the marriage example—nobody makes marriage vows that say,
Speaker:“I promise to be faithful and loving to you ...until I don’t feel like it
Speaker:anymore."
Speaker:Present divorce statistics notwithstanding,
Speaker:the whole point of a marriage vow is that you mean it.
Speaker:You keep your vow because you made it.
Speaker:You don’t keep it because you weren’t sufficiently tempted to break it.
Speaker:You don’t keep it because it’s easy and convenient in the moment to do so.
Speaker:You keep it because that is what you determined to do.
Speaker:Making a marriage vow with caveats is no different from saying,
Speaker:“I promise to myself not to eat cheap nasty chocolate every day ...until I
Speaker:don’t feel like it anymore."
Speaker:Commitment is about detaching your action from any external,
Speaker:fleeting conditions and making it a promise.
Speaker:Imagine this promise is so rock-solid,
Speaker:so firm and unmovable,
Speaker:that you never even consider not following through with it.
Speaker:That’s how solid your resolve needs to be if it hopes to withstand everything
Speaker:that would threaten to erode it.
Speaker:You might ride the wave of initial enthusiasm for a while,
Speaker:and you might succeed in avoiding chocolate simply because none was offered to
Speaker:you and you weren’t exposed to it.
Speaker:You might keep your “promise” very well ...while it’s convenient.
Speaker:But avoiding chocolate is a bit like marriage—it’s not always easy.
Speaker:You need to make goals and commit yourself to them “in sickness and in
Speaker:health,
Speaker:for richer and poorer."
Speaker:In other words,
Speaker:you need to adopt the mindset that whatever happens in life is simply
Speaker:irrelevant and has zero impact on how you ultimately act.
Speaker:So you hear all the very many excuses and justifications,
Speaker:and you think to yourself,
Speaker:“So what?"
Speaker:“But I’m exhausted."
Speaker:“So what?"
Speaker:“I’m not even sure if I still want to do this."
Speaker:“So what?"
Speaker:“It’s expensive."
Speaker:“So what?"
Speaker:“I don’t actually have the time."
Speaker:“So what?"
Speaker:Your mind will come up with endless reasons not to.
Speaker:But when you are committed,
Speaker:none of it matters.
Speaker:Look at every single objection your mind comes up with and shrug your shoulders.
Speaker:It has no bearing on anything.
Speaker:Act as you said you would.
Speaker:Because you said you would.
Speaker:Summary -
Speaker:•There is one key feature that separates those strategies that work from
Speaker:those that never do - action.
Speaker:At some point,
Speaker:if you truly wish to transform your life,
Speaker:you will need to cross over from where you are to where you want to be—by
Speaker:taking action.
Speaker:•To craft an action for bias,
Speaker:drop the belief that you need to be excellent at something the first time
Speaker:around,
Speaker:and replace it with - "Anything worth doing is worth doing poorly."
Speaker:Strive to be an amateur and not a professional.
Speaker:•Remind yourself that all your attempts have value and that failure is
Speaker:valuable because it’s how you learn.
Speaker:Abandon the need to be perfect and focus on the process of learning and
Speaker:growing,
Speaker:rather than any flashy outcome.
Speaker:Learn to tolerate the imperfection of being a beginner.
Speaker:•Just start—“You don’t have to be great to start.
Speaker:But you have to start to be great."
Speaker:Every expert began as a newbie,
Speaker:so just take the first step and trust that it gets easier.
Speaker:Go with what works and don’t allow a minor disaster to turn into a major one.
Speaker:•Conventional wisdom tells us that we need motivation in order to act,
Speaker:but it’s really the other way around - action creates motivation.
Speaker:Taking action breaks inertia and builds confidence and momentum—and you
Speaker:don’t need to be inspired to take the first step.
Speaker:•Don’t wait for a perfect set of external conditions to give you permission
Speaker:to act.
Speaker:If you’re feeling uninspired and unmotivated and lacking energy,
Speaker:the solution is a little counterintuitive - do something,
Speaker:even if it’s small.
Speaker:Act from commitment,
Speaker:not from temporary inspiration.
Speaker:Part 2 .- What Does Success Really Take?
Speaker:This has been
Speaker:Think Less;
Speaker:Do More:
Speaker:Create An Action Bias,
Speaker:Stop Overthinking,
Speaker:and Learn How to Actually Change Your Life (Live a Disciplined Life Book 15) Written by
Speaker:Peter Hollins, narrated by russell newton.
