Category: Thinking Clearly

The Almighty Checkmark

Published on January 3, 2024

Generally speaking, I know what I need to do.

And I like to think I have a pretty good memory.

But let me tell you, I forget a whole lot less when I have a checklist.

Plus… I really like to cross things off my checklist.

And if I’m being totally honest… I’m the type who will write things onto my checklist AFTER I’ve done them JUST so I can cross them out. Yeah, I said it. Fight me.

Because of this self-awareness, I created Kaizen sheets for myself.

They’re one page documents that list everything I need to do with space to add things as they come up. I have one for work, one for personal growth, and I make custom ones for my employees.

If it’s important enough to be remembered, it’s important enough to be written down.

Don’t rely on willpower and memory to bring your goals to life—rely on fool-proof paper and ink, clear-minded task priority, and the almighty checkmark.

7 Big Lessons From 2023

Published on December 30, 2023

Today, I published 50 of the Most Impactful Lessons I Learned From 2023. Below are seven of my favorites—my 1-minute version if you will. Enjoy :)

1. Making your future goals actionable today is how you prove to yourself that you’re serious about them. Not doing anything about them in the present means they’re still fantasies.

2. There is no easy-only option… only hard now and compounded hard later. Remember this when you’re on the fence about exercising, meditating, writing, being honest, doing inner work, etc.

3. Thumb taps and mouse clicks drastically change lives. Be ruthless in how you curate the media that you allow to reach your eyes and ears. Do NOT underestimate your role in this.

4. Pay yourself in time/energy/attention FIRST. Then, when full, give extra or what you have left over to others. You will never be able to give others enough of your time/energy/attention — they’ll always gladly demand and accept more.

5. What gets measured, gets managed. And what gets managed gets your time. And what gets your time… gets your life. Measure the moments that make you feel alive; time spent with loved ones; the depth of your self-understanding… Measure what really matters.

6. Solitude is a necessary ingredient for great work. And if you’re serious about wanting to produce great work, then get serious about prioritizing solitude into your days.

7. The inner work we choose to avoid becomes the outer suffering we can’t seem to escape. As hard as it might seem upfront, it’s the easiest it’ll ever be to confront right then and there. The things we carry with us only get heavier the longer we carry them.

…Read the rest here.

Coming In 2024…

Published on December 26, 2023

There are five things that I’m seriously considering pursuing in 2024.

A Poster Store. I have the words. I’ve been having a great time generating AI Art. I want to combine and share them in inspiring ways.
A Podcast. I’ve been toying with the idea for years. I have my questions and I know who I’d ask… it’s only a matter of doing it.
Video Courses. My digital guides are the syllabus’. Next I would turn them into self-paced courses that would provide significantly more guidance than a simple .pdf file.
Live Workshops. My vision is to keep them small. Five to ten people max. Everybody participates and works together to answer challenging, hard-to-face alone, inner work related questions.
More Digital Products. I have shipped two. I have ten more outlined that I want to produce for The Art of Forward Series. And I have a slew of other digital products that I want to create outside of that series. Including Kaizen templates to help guide daily action, the Ultimate Kindness/ Pay-It-Forward Party, and Poetry books.

I’m sharing this because I’m sure you, too, have a bunch that you want to do in 2024. My recommendation is don’t make it your goal to do it all. Start by writing and feeling them all out—yes.

But then, pick one thing to focus 100% of your energy on. None of it ever works out to be as easy as it seems in your mind. Try to do too much and you’ll fail at it all. Get an A+ in one and you’ll be well on your way to properly conquering them all.

Don’t Forget To Bring… The Spirit

Published on December 24, 2023

Out doing some last minute shopping today for the holidays, I saw:

Cars fighting over parking spots.
Shopping carts left carelessly all around parking lots.
People evidently stressed out on the phone talking with people about gifts.

And towards the end of it all, I had a refreshing encounter with a woman who asked me for advice on a gift she was considering. She was calm, warm, and present. And after I gave her my advice, I asked her if she was ready for it all.

She said, “Honestly, yes. I’m not worried about it because even if I’m short a gift or missing something, I know that gifts aren’t what the holidays are about. So I’m going to celebrate the day as it should be celebrated and be present, helpful, and as joyous as I can be.”

And I think she nailed it.

Don’t miss the forest for the trees this holiday season.

It’s the spirit we bring with us to each of our encounters that counts—not the material gifts.

P.s. In case you missed it, you can read the best of what I posted to MoveMe Quotes last week, here.

“I Am Not The Dancing Type”

Published on December 23, 2023

At a recent holiday party that was being hosted at the school I teach at, I put on fun dance music, had a big group of kids make a circle and told them to copy whoever was voted to go into the middle.

The kids who were voted in danced, jumped, spun, cartwheeled, ran, slid, kicked, ducked, jumping jacked, wormed, can opened, back bent, and so much more—with very little hesitation or self-consciousness. And there was a 100% participation rate.

After a few rounds of that, I told the kids to just dance however they wanted to—that there was no need to copy any more. And they all pretty much did.

…Except one little boy who couldn’t have been older than seven who came up to me and said, “I am not the dancing type.”

Which was curious to me because he participated and moved the entire time we were in the copying rounds.

So I responded as unhesitatingly as I could and said, “That’s okay, you don’t have to be. Just keep copying the other kids and don’t worry what anybody else thinks.”

And so he agreed and went off jumping, spinning, cartwheeling, running, sliding, kicking, ducking, jumping jacking, worming, can opening, back bending, and so much more.

I don’t know how he came to the conclusion—at seven—that he wasn’t the “dancing type,” but what I saw was a kid who was “dancing” just as good as any other on that floor.

And it was a wonderful reminder that the words that follow “I am…” follow you. So be VERY careful what words you choose to fill in that blank with.

Challenge Old Beliefs

Published on December 20, 2023

When teaching push-ups, after proper form is discussed, the next big criteria I lay out for students is full range of motion.

If we want to fully develop the muscles being worked, we need to take those muscles through their full range of motion.

With this in mind, for those who aren’t able to do push-ups off their knees, I encourage them to put their knees down, keep their back as flat as they can, and do reps as fully as they’re able. Better that than 20% down, 20% uppers.

By doing this, they meet themselves where they are, will build quality strength through persistence, and can increase reps as they go—eventually working their way to off-the-knee push-ups when ready.

During a recent physical exam, while watching my students doing push-ups, a guest instructor made a comment I liked.

He said, “I understand many of you need to do push-ups on your knees, but try at least the first one off your knees.”

And the point he went on to explain was that many times we pigeon-hole ourselves into a certain way of doing things, with old limits in mind, and—whether consciously or unconsciously—mostly stay within those previously defined constraints.

By doing the first one(s) off our knees and at least giving ourselves a quality eccentric contraction as we slowly lower ourselves to the ground, not only do we expose our muscles to the weight of our eventual goal, but we—whether consciously or unconsciously—remind ourselves that we’re capable of doing more than we previously might’ve decided.

…Because we are.

P.s. Need help building habits that stick? My guide will help (and it’s on sale).

Missing The Point Of Meditation

Published on December 13, 2023

One of my goals for 2024 is to become as consistent with meditation as I am with writing.

When sharing this goal with some of my associates, two of them said they want to meditate and know the values of meditating, but “can’t.” That they “aren’t good” at it. That their mind is “too busy” and “chaotic.”

One even said he plans to start meditating after his business reaches certain goals so that he can do more “relaxing” things like meditate.

…This is a misunderstanding.

Meditation isn’t something you’re “good” at. It doesn’t require you to sit and have zero thoughts. It isn’t something you do only when you aren’t busy.

Meditation is the means towards mental clarity. It’s precisely the strategy you deploy to calm a busy / chaotic mind. There are no prerequisites and having a certain number of thoughts isn’t the measure of how “good” or “bad” you are at it.

It’s an opportunity to (finally) cease the constant influx of information. It’s an opportunity to allow the already overstimulated mind a chance to settle what’s there. And there’s nothing to be good at—it’s literally the act of doing nothing.

…It’s the antidote to the media driven, information crazed, busywork addicted modern society so many of us live in. Again, I repeat: it’s the antidote—not some type of reward or achievement that comes from a calmer lifestyle.

And to say you’ll start when things “calm down” is to miss the point entirely. Because you know when a great time is to calm down your mind, witness your thoughts, and become more present in your life? …Now.

While life is happening to you.

This is the point.