I’m over 25 days into my plan. In terms of the outcomes I went in seeking, things are looking good.
I’m making progress on all objectives – and seeing progress in the indirect areas that I was hoping for.
I’m keeping track of every objective, but rather than just doing a statistical review, I thought I’d share the best things I’ve learned so far that I haven’t covered in my newsletter.
My Five Favourite Lessons:
Inspiration through Biographies.
Biographies are the most underrated non-fiction genre. I’ve said it before and I’ll keep saying it until something changes.
I’ve spoken before about how easy it is to learn from biographies. You can in a few hundred pages discover the lessons from an entire life time. You can see where someone went wrong – and prevent it in your own life. You can see what strategies worked for them – and adapt them to your ends.
One of the most overlooked aspects of biographies is their ability to inspire.
I do not think it’s possible to read a biography of Alexander Hamilton, and not want to “write like you’re running out of time.” Or, to read a biography of Marcus Aurelius, and not want to develop your patience and kindness.
I’m currently 500 pages deep into The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt by Edmund Morris. It’s phenomenal. Not only for how it captures the life and character of Teddy Roosevelt but for the reason that it gives me intense energy. Roosevelt is the epitome of what he himself called “the strenuous life”. Every moment was well-spent and the industry he displayed let him achieve his wide-ranging goals.
But it’s not only what went right that is inspirational. The Universe tested Roosevelt under the worst of circumstances. From a childhood plagued by illness, to his mother and wife both dying with little warning on the same day. He endured injuries, crushing political defeats, and the death of countless friends and family.
Roosevelt kept going. He pushed on through it all. He let his virtues shine through. He made mistakes, as we all do, but they’re outweighed by his accomplishments – especially in the shadow of all he endured.
Thinking Well.
It is not only your internal world you can shape through thinking – it’s the external world.
Thinking is a skill. The best methods I’ve discovered so far for improving thinking are strategy and mental models.
You can cut goals and obstacles down to size if you will approach them with strategy and the application of mental models.
For those interested, I suggest looking into the OODA loop as a starting point.
Positive Reinforcement.
Negative Reinforcement feels easy to do – but it’s mostly ineffective. It rarely changes behaviour, creates animosity, and is the “lazy way” to achieve an outcome.
Yet, from pursuing our goals to interacting with others, we rely almost solely on negative reinforcement most of the time.
Instead, we should look to use positive reinforcement more often. It’s more effective, improves relationships, and makes the process enjoyable. What’s not to love?
Here’s a couple dead simple ways to start experimenting with Positive Reinforcement:
- Don’t want to do something? Set a tiny reward to get over the inital inertia. (E.g. Don’t want to go gym? Reward yourself for driving to the gym. Don’t want to write an essay? Reward yourself for doing the topic skeleton.)
- When someone does something you appreciate – make sure that you positively reinforce it. Even just a kind word and a smile can make a difference.
- Once you’ve developed a habit, shift to a variable reward system. It’ll make it more engaging and allow you to not lose the joy of the reward.
A Counter to the Law of Diminishing Intent.
We’re all familiar with this law – even if we don’t know the name.
The Law of Diminishing Intent states: “The longer we delay doing something, the less likely it is that we’ll do it.”
We’ve all had ideas – for books, businesses, projects, or ways to improve our life. We’ve all learned things we thought would be useful. We’ve all spoken about plans we had.
Yet most of them have fallen into the ether – never actioned and then slowly forgotten.
The Law of Diminishing Intent steals away your confidence and joy – one idea at a time. The solution? The Principle of Rapid Action.
If you have an idea for a project, get started on it as soon as possible – even if you’re just testing it. Learn something useful? Start using it immediately.
I started doing this during the challenge – and I’ve started to witness major and significant changes from it.
Take note of your ideas and what you’re learning. Don’t let the Law of Diminishing Intent steal away who you could be.
Random Reading Hack.
A common theme in vintage (1900’s) self-development books is a simple message. At the end of the introduction, the author asks the reader to treat the book as if it’s written for them by a friend.
This is a great way to treat a book with more reverence and attention. It encourages you to take notes and put it into action. It lets me approach books with more care – and I treat the information in them as far more valuable.
It’s very reminiscent of that classic quote: Success comes from taking simple ideas seriously. Give it a try.
Zachariah Lewis 