MM#311 -- +1 Daily Improvement

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 Now. Last week we shared the great wisdom from Jason Selk's fantastic book Executive Toughness, and in it we shared why it's uber important to write down your goals. Why? Because you will be nine times more successful when you do In fact. Let's share that nugget of wisdom again so we're reminded of it. Here's what Jason said. David Cole, professor Emeritus at Virginia Tech University, has found that individuals who write down their goals will have nine times the success of those who don't put their goals on paper. Yet Dr Cole's research suggests that only 20% of our population has goals and less than 10% take the time to write their goals down. So why is it that so few of us take the time to develop a make clear note of clear and concise goals? After researching this question for 10 years, I have come to the conclusion that the reason is, quite simply, we are lazy. Ha, really, we are lazy, heck. No, we're not lazy. I hope you're not. I know I'm not, but I hope you did in fact write down your goal last week, your number one overarching goal. If you didn't, let's not be lazy, let's get on that today Now, along with that number one overarching goal. We talked about process goals and how you need to write down three process goals for every product goal, and I shared some of my process goals in the previous Mojo Minute. But in today's Mojo Minute let's continue to learn from Jason Selk as our guide. But this week let's grab another book of his titled 10-Minute Toughness the Metal Training Program for Winning Before the Game Begins, and in it let's find this wonderful nugget of wisdom which parlays perfectly with what we learned last week. Go on to the book. Once you have blocked out your goals and your personal vision, you owe it to yourself to give yourself the best effort to meet those challenges. Giving your best effort means doing anything that will help you to become the slightest bit better, and the research clearly confirms the benefit inherent in using goals. Now the 10-minute toughness goal setting program relies on seven principles for optimal effectiveness. Here's a quick recap Process over product Each day. Focus on your process goals or what it takes to achieve your product goals. Sound familiar? 2. No excuses Take full accountability for growth by not offering excuses for underachieving. 3. Go public Write your goals down and tell others what they are to increase your consciousness of your goals and your accountability for reaching them. 4. Keep goals alive On a daily basis. Fill out your success log to enhance motivation and results in practices and competitions. 5. Vision integrity Choose goals aligned with who you want to be and how you want to live. 6. Personal reward preference Attach your rewards to your goals to burnish motivation and commitment. 7. Personal characteristic. 8. Mp100 plus 20. Let goals embellish and control your work ethic by aspiring to follow 100% of your training plans and committing a further 20% of your energy into outworking the competition. Now there is some goal setting wisdom. If you want to be mentally tough, we need goals that inspire us and that are aligned with our highest visions of ourselves. Think of St Paul the old man versus the new man. You know, you put on your new man and then reach to live that new man each and every day. It's not going to be easy, it's not going to be comfortable in the beginning, but it is what is required. Now. Just one more golden nugget of wisdom. Going back to the book, put the number one I'm sorry, put the plus one concept into action to prevent feelings that plague your mind with unnecessary stress. The best way to climb a mountain is one step at a time. Gradual improvement over time brings about vibrant, insustainable growth. I've observed that when individuals emphasize improvement over perfection, their progress accelerates. We frequently get confounded by how much work it will take for our problems to be completely resolved. We become paralyzed, unable to take action toward improvement. You don't need to arrive at perfection Again. You don't need to arrive at perfection. You need to slowly but surely make things better. Oh man, that is so good, so, so good, so good. In fact, do you remember what this mirrors almost perfectly? It's one of our recommended books and a book that we covered in as a Mojo Academy review back from season one Darren Hardy's the Compound Effect. In fact, here's what Hardy says. Go on to that book. The compound effect is the principle of reaping huge rewards from a series of small, smart choices. What's most interesting about this process to me is that, even though the results are massive, the steps in the moment don't feel significant. Whether you're using this strategy for improving your health, relationships, finances or anything else for that matter, the changes are so subtle they're almost imperceptible. These small changes offer little or no immediate result. No big win, no obvious, I told you. So pay off. So why bother? Most people get tripped up by the simplicity of the compound effect. What they don't realize is that these small, seemingly insignificant steps, completed consistently over time, will create a radical difference. And here's that well-known formula from Darren Hardy Small, smart Choices plus Consistency, plus Time equals Radical Difference. Now, if you're a Mojo Academy member, I expect that you got that quote, that you remembered that quote. And if you're not a Mojo Academy review member, what's stopping you? We have great wisdom in the Academy. There were some 35 books now in the library in building. So at today's Mojo Minute, let's take action on the words of Darren Hardy and Jason Selk, both great authors who both mirror each other, and that is great stuff. We have to write down our goals. You will be nine times more successful when you do. The science tells us that those goals have to inspire us. We then have to dig in and figure out the pick and shovel work, as they say, on the process goals, to that one overarching product goal. What do we have to do? How does this goal get done? We got to dig in and figure that out, write down those three process goals and then, finally, we have to give it the plus one improvement each and every day. That mindset is when you start flourishing. Once that structure and system are in place, then we have to execute, execute, execute. Just getting a little better each and every day, baby step after baby step, and then the next step, and the next, and the next and the next, and then you're flourishing on a grand scale. Let's do this. I will see you 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 teammojoacademycom, where we have everything we discussed in this podcast, as well as other great resources. Until next time, keep getting your mojo on.