SPECIAL NOTE:
Pick up the “REAL FOOD LIST” by clicking on the link or visiting the Limitless Shop. It’s totally free and will set you up with a list of some of the best foods for you body. Any questions, as always, just give me a shout.
Educate-Take Action-Reflect: Rinse and repeat.
Creating change is tough. I’m not going to beat around the bush about it. It takes some serious hard work to break habits and develop new ones. I wish I had a magic formula but I don’t. I do however believe in a process that we can undertake that will allow us to get comfortable with the uncomfortable, break bad habits, develop new skills, and create change that can last us a lifetime.
But like anything, and you’ll hear me say this a lot on here, you have to actually be willing so put in the work (GASP) I know… I know… hard work. Those two dirty four letter words. George Carlin forgot to mention them I guess.
The process
So the formula is educate—-> take action—-> reflect—-> rinse and repeat!
Sounds pretty easy right! That’s because it is. So long as you are willing to dedicate yourself to continually doing it. The great thing about it is that you can do can do it anywhere, anyhow, and anytime. There are a million different ways to skin a cat (BOOM! cleche) and about a million different ways to perform the process.
Think of these in the shape of a pyramid. With education at the bottom, take action in the middle, and reflect on the top. You’ll spend most of your time educating yourself. The goal actually is to always be. You’ll just have different levels of it as you move along the pyramid.
Next you take action. After gaining some insight it’s time to MOVE! Get your ass in gear and take those initial steps to achieving what it is you want to achieve. Healthy diet, exercise program, learning a foreign language, playing a musical instrument, or maybe just connecting with your loved ones on a higher level.
Thirdly, reflect. Time to look back a little bit. Where did you go right? Where did you totally f#*@ it up? And where do you go from here?
Rinse and repeat take what you reflected on, go back to the learning stage and correct any mistakes, build upon strengths, or equate yourself on something new.
Find the methods for each that you enjoy most, have the most fun doing, and resonate with you the strongest and you should have no problem succeeding.
Lets tackle these one at time.
Patrick Gage Kelley via Compfight
Educate
Like I mentioned before we want to spend most of our time here. And really we will always be here. Remember that there is always someone better than you, further along than you, and doing more than you. Don’t envy them, compare yourself to them, or fall into the trap of validation. That by which we seek to do something in order to appease someone else. The only person that needs to be appeased is YOU.
Use those that you admire, look up to, or see as heroes as a source of motivation and inspiration. Take what they are doing as a reminder to yourself that this CAN and WILL be done. Use those folks as a swift kick in the pants if you will when you need it the most. Surround yourself with these types of people. They say that you are the average of the five people you most closely associate with. Imagine the five people you spend the most time with being full of energy, health, love, inspiration, and success as defined by you and that person not by society necessarily. How could that not rub off on you?
READ… seriously. Read incessantly! You should always have a book under your arm. Or kindle, or tablet, or iPad…. you catch my drift. Not just stuff you are interested in either. Read biographies of those you admire or find interesting, read about topics outside your comfort zone, read blogs, read milk cartons…. just read!
Reading is directly associated with more smarts! Higher GPA, wider range of knowledge, increased vocabulary, enhanced writing skills. When was the last time you came across a FOOL that reads a book a week…. Hey, watch it! Don’t answer that 😀
Participate in verbal reading…. HUH?
Otherwise known as meaningful conversation. If there is something you are fascinated by or would like to learn more about get in-touch with someone you consider an expert or more versed than you on the subject. When I wanted to learn more about starting my own business I gave a shout to my man John Falchetto. When I wanted to get even more specific and talk about how to set up an online fitness coaching business I got a hold of Vic Magary. And finally when I wanted to learn more about leadership I started participating in coaching calls lead by Jacob Sokol and Dave Ursillo. All people I consider heroes and admire but had never been in-touch with. It took courage to get up the nerve to contact them but the worst case scenario was they ignore me. Don’t let that stand in your way…. how bad to you want something? Grow a pair and get at it!
If you want to learn about better nutrition start reading, talk to those you respect and trust that may know more. If you have no idea how to exercise and want to start get a hold of a friend or someone who can teach you a bit. Find people and knowledge that really resonate with you and your virtues and run with it.
Education can also be undertaken through experience. Sometimes reading and writing just don’t get the job done. Every so often the only thing that is going to educate you is participating in the experience. This is where we roll into ACTION and as you can see the two blend nicely together.
Truth be told we should always be educating ourselves.
Just be careful to not get stuck here. Paralysis by analysis is a dangerous disease. The education you partake in should flow nicely into action. They should be one (how Zen is that?) You’ll never know it all, nothing will be perfect, just f-ing learn a bit, get started, and continue to learn as you go. It will keep getting better and easier from there…. PROMISE!
Take Action
Imagine surrounding yourself with Gandhi, the late Steve Jobs, and Richard Branson.
Holy shit! Tell me some of that goodness would not rub off on you?
Who in your life right now inspires you, do you look up to, or gives you positive mojo? Spend more time with them. This is a great action step.
But don’t be afraid to connect with others that are out there as well. This world-wide web is pretty vast and emails are everywhere. Give someone you really look up to a shout and see if you can start-up a relationship. I recently touched base with my favorite writer Julien Smith. Just shot an email and he got back to me.
The Limitless365 presentation could not have been complete without some of my heroes chiming in and adding their two cents on what living without LIMITS means to them. All done from just asking.
Participate like a MOFO!
What ever it is that you want to improve on, learn about, or just find damn interesting go and DO! Take that education and go do that which inspires you or interests you.
You read up on the Paleo diet, talked to a few buds doing it, read a couple more blogs on it. SWEET! You have some info, you have the basics. Now GO and do it! Just get started. There is a good chance you will suck at first. But as you go you’ll beast on it! Trust me. Read some of the first posts I wrote on this blog…
Geez… a lot of exclamation points for me today. I must be fired up 😀
Same goes for any personal challenge or life goal you are trying to accomplish. I get a lot of emails asking about how to get past the fear of doing something they always have wanted to do. Wether it be starting a business, trying parkour, or going bungee jumping. You’ve spoken with some people that have done it, check out some vids, and read up a little. Now it’s go time!
Start small. If you are looking to go bungee jumping but are to scared practice the fear. Take a cold shower every morning, try and negotiate for something that normally is not allowed, get ride of something that means a lot to you, sing in the middle of a crowded mall, lay down on the floor in the middle of a Starbucks for a minute or two (thank you Tim Ferris). Getting comfortable with the uncomfortable.
Practice getting over fear. Build up the resistance. Just like flossing, tackling fear and taking action is a habit that needs to be built upon.
If you are trying to take action with exercise just practice five minutes a day if you have to. Trying to do the whole Paleo thing? Then maybe just start with breakfast for a week before making lunch Paleo as well.
Reflect
Sometimes this is easier said than done but the main goal of reflection is to understand and make-sense of experiences that use to be uncertain to us.
Take a look at how the education and action you just underwent changed you. What did you learn, where did you make mistakes, and what did you get right?
Being able to learn from experience… increases our capacity to influence subsequent experiences. -Conrad and Hedin
How can you apply this experience to the next or how can you build upon what you have currently started?
A good strategy is to check in with yourself weekly or even daily. I like to sit down every so often and reflect on the day. I ask questions that are based on my current goals and what I am trying to do in life at the moment.
What went right today? What went shitty? How was I able to positively impact someone else? Did anyone positively impact me? Did I thank them for it? How can I build upon this for tomorrow?
This will work for anything. If you are starting to get in shape just ask yourself questions similar related to you health.
Did I eat a according to my plan today? Did I get my 30 minutes of daily exercise? Did I tackle a personal challenge like the cold shower. What went right in my workout today?
I think you get it.
Rinse and repeat
Mentioned before you will always be learning. But after taking that time to reflect a bit go back to learning on the pyramid of things and use what you have gained from the previous experience to build upon for the next one.
Anything I can help with please let me know.
Live limitless,
Justin