MM#282--Getting Started 101--Standardize Before You Optimize

Welcome to the Theory to Action podcast, where we examine the timeless treasures of wisdom from the great books in less time, to help you take action immediately and ultimately to create and lead a flourishing life. Now here's your host, David Kaiser.

Hello, I am David and welcome back to another Mojo Minute. We have discussed the two minute role from the great books the Great Book Getting Things Done by David Allen Before on this podcast. That's a super productive book and it helps us well to get things done. See what I did there. Seriously, though, that two minute role from the book Getting Things Done helps us to decide very quickly on certain things that can be done right now, versus items that need more time than one action that are associated with them, which in turn makes them a project or sorry, I missed this one any item that requires more than two minutes but you're not in the place or you don't have the time to be able to do it right now, so you put it on the someday maybe list. That is getting things done jargon. That is how you keep yourself productive in the GTD parlance.

Or.

I guess you could put it on a single action, one time list for you GTDers that are in a 400 level. But examples of this are easy to think of. If you have to drop off your kids to daycare, that's on the single action list, which will take more than just two minutes to do, but it doesn't need a project associated with it. Or if you or in because you need your kids to be able to do it. So hopefully that makes sense. But another example is this you need to mail something important. Doesn't require more than two steps, only requires getting in the car to drop off the piece of mail at the post office drop box. Or perhaps you can walk it out to your own mailbox, but perhaps you don't have your own mailbox and you don't have any transportation right now, or a car is perhaps in the shop or your husband has your car for the day, so you were without any transportation. See how a one single action item list also needs the context to be able to allow the two minute role to actually be effective. All right, then, but today we're talking about a different two minute role. I'm not talking about GTDs two minute role. We're talking about James Clear's two minute role and why I think this is super important to put in a getting started one on one category, so to speak, especially for our Mojo Academy website. It's probably the most important question I get asked over and over again hey David, I'm stuck, how do I get started in X or Y? And I'm not an expert in most things. So I will say well, what's the first step? Or if they know the first step, which most of us do, they will want to optimize that first step. And that's where I come in with the screeching brakes. Whooo, those were terrible screeching brakes. Whoa, slow down, roger that Apply those brakes hard because you just went through a stop sign on the flourishing road. And what do I mean by that? You ask Well, let's go to our Avanted Guide on this journey. We call life Our author of the day, james Clear, the author of Atomic Habits, and let's go to that wonderful book for this nugget of wisdom. People often think it's weird to get hyped about reading one page or meditating for one minute or making just one sales call. But the point is not to do one thing. The point is to master the habit of showing up. The truth is a habit must be established before it can be improved. Let me repeat that the truth is, a habit must be established before it can be improved. If you can't learn the basic skill of showing up, then you have little hope of mastering the finer details. Instead of trying to engineer a perfect habit from the start, do the easy thing on a more consistent basis. You have to standardize before you can optimize. You have to standardize before you optimize. So did you catch that nugget of wisdom? One more time you have to standardize before you can optimize. That is a solid nugget of wisdom. We, both you and me we have to establish the habit of showing up. That basic skill of showing up each and every day to our habit is a skill. We have to do that in the beginning. And some of you right now are thinking yeah, yeah, I got it, I know that one, I'll just show up, no problem. No, you won't Please. No, you will not. No, you won't do that skill. That's why you're listening to this podcast To try and optimize your life to the point where you are flourishing in all areas. You have to show up first. And guess what? There's a part of your life that you are not showing up in and you know it. I see you smiling out there. So let's remain humble and know that to begin a new habit requires, in the beginning, showing up. Just show up as the base level. Show up. James helps us to understand this point at a much deeper level. Going back to the book, as you master the art of showing up, the first two minutes simply become a ritual at the beginning of a larger routine. This is not merely a hack to make habits easier, but actually the ideal way to master a difficult skill. The more you ritualize the beginning of a process, the more likely it is to become that you can slip into the state of deep focus that is required to do great things. By doing the same warmup before every workout makes it easier to get in the state of peak performance. By following the same creative ritual, you make it easier to get into the hard work of creating. By developing a consistent power down habit, you make it easier to get into bed at a reasonable time each night. You may not be able to automate the whole process, but you can make the first action mindless. Make it easy to start and the rest will follow. The two minute roll can seem like a trick to some people. You know that the real goal is to do more than just two minutes. So it may feel like you're trying to fool yourself, kind of. Nobody's actually aspiring to read one page or do one pushup or open their notes. And if you know it's a mental trick, would you or why would you fall for it? If the two minute roll feels forced, try this Do it for two minutes and then stop. Then go for a run, but you must stop after two minutes. Start meditating, but you must stop after two minutes. Study a language, perhaps Arabic, but you must stop after two minutes. It's not a strategy for starting, it's the whole thing. Your habit can only last 120 seconds. One of my readers used this strategy to lose over 100 pounds. In the beginning he went to the gym each day, but he told himself he wasn't allowed to stay for more than five minutes. He would go to the gym, exercise for five minutes and leave as soon as his time was up. After a few weeks he looked around and thought well, I'm always coming here, anyway, I might as well stay a little longer. A few years later the weight was gone and that's a solid way to begin to get started 101 style. Thank you, james. That's solid advice. So in today's mojo minute, no matter what you are trying or wanting to do, no matter what good habit you are trying to create, you will find that any habit can be scaled down into a two minute version. Let's do that first so that we start well and we get off on the right foot, and when we do, we'll be on the road to a flourishing life.

Thank you for joining us. We hope you enjoyed this theory to action podcast. Be sure to check out our show page at team mojoacademycom, where we have everything we discussed in this podcast, as well as other great resources. Until next time, keep getting your mojo on.