Episode 587 – Do the minimal

• Hi friends
• I know I haven’t been here, but I wanted to let you know, I am still here
• Maybe not with you through regular episodes
• But I am here,
• Trying to listen, to learn, and to find my way through
• This is what the QFY sometimes is
• Not always a straight line
• Sometimes a detour, or a pause
• I think I am in somewhat of a pause
• Reflecting and looking inward
• Trying to find my way
• How are you doing on your quest?
• Our best Self isn’t always clear
• Especially in times when our world is turned upside down, as it is now for many of us
• When there are no distractions, its easy to just walk in a straight line
  • Follow your path,
  • Do your thing,
• But when our routine is interrupted by outside events, its possible to loose focus and stumble
• Many times I just charge forward
• Most of the time, actually
• So trust me, this time right now is tough for me
• This pausing, sitting with thoughts, not knowing how to move forward, its uncomfortable
• But this week, a small light appeared
  • A light I already know about, but that was blocked by my confusion and distraction
  • A light that came to me by reading a book
  • A light that I want to share with you today
• Thank you for being here
• A lot is going on in this world
• A lot more than in March when we thought there couldn’t possibly be more going on
• And yet, there is
• Its called life
• It happens, it moves along, even while we are on pause, looking around and searching
• And where are you looking?
• What are you focusing on?
  • The riots in Portland and other cities?
  • The upcoming elections?
  • The continued spread of the COVID 19 virus
  • The state of the economy with its high unemployment rate?
  • Stock prices?
• Or are you trying to not get to wrapped up to much in everything and instead you are focusing on yourself
  • Maybe your family
  • Your work
  • Your home
  • Your own personal growth?
• I find myself in the latter group
  • I still have a job that keeps me busy
  • And I try to keep up with my exercise routine and healthy eating habits
  • On weekends, and sometimes on weekday mornings, I escape into nature with people that are important to me
  • And I always try to grow as a person through reading, meditation, and introspection
• And in between I listen – sometimes intentionally, sometimes just because I get pulled in
• And I often get pulled in through conversations with others
• They bring up issues that are on their mind
• And in that way, they also becomes a priority on my mind
• I often realize how much I don’t know
• Which then takes me to the internet to learn more, but where I can also easily spend hours
• This then contributes to the dilemma I find myself in these days – trying to keep up with the world –
  • I fall behind on my other priorities
  • I am unable to concentrate on my work
  • Or I lack motivation for my exercise
  • I get hungry but I don’t have energy to cook a decent meal, so I begin to snack around
  • Or I just run out of time to read the book I really want to read
• In sum – I become unintentional about my time
• I fall into a river and let it take me wherever it wants
• And this is not always a bad thing
  • Sometimes its good to float and just be carried
  • We come across new and interesting things
  • We get lost in them, they bring us moments of joy and curiosity
  • We learn something new
• But –
• We have to find our way out of the flow that carries us
• We have to fund our paddle at some point so we can steer ourselves back into the direction we want to go
• And that is often the harder part
• And I often say – but I don’t know where I want to go
• Which really – its just an excuse for floating some more
  • And without the necessity to get dressed and into my car for example, I realize I have a lot more opportunity to float
  • The routine is gone and therefore the discipline required to hold up that routine is not needed anymore
• I may not know what topics to focus on
  • One day I find myself researching the best stocks to buy
  • Another day I spend hours reading statistics on Covid infections
  • The next I try to find the best recipe for gluten-free apple cake because I have a bunch of apples sitting around that need to be used
• And the end of such days, I feel unproductive, depressed about my lack of focus and lack of accomplishments
• Here is the thing
• We don’t need to have it all figured out
• We don’t need to have focus 24/7
• We can float every day if needed for a while
• We just cannot allow ourselves to sink – which is what happens to me lately
• And Greg McKeons book Essentialism helped me get clarity on this and hopefully, after today – helps me get back on track
• I may record an episode reviewing the entire book later
• But for today, I want us all to find a light in our days
  • Call it light
  • Call it intention
  • Call it progress
• If you feel as lost and unfocused and unaccomplished as I do often these days
• Lets begin to feel better
• And the recipe to feel better is a simple word that I have talked about a lot on over the last 3 years since I started this podcast
• Action
  • I know about Action
  • I am a believer in action
• Yet I don’t always find the momentum to execute, especially lately
• Chapter 17 in Essentialism is called Progress – the power of small wins
• You see – I used to win the day in big ways before
• I got a lot done every single day
• But my days have changed
• The world has changed
• We all have setbacks from time to time
• And if we focus on winning big while we are still struggling, it can seem overwhelming and we can conjure up the energy to even start
• the answer lies in small wins
• Focus on a small win
• Every single day, focus on the smallest possible win that will get you just a bit closer to feeling better
  • To feeling like you made progress
  • To feeling like you are getting somewhere
• So lets spend some time on defining what a win means
• Here is an excerpt from Chapter 17:
• Later in the chapter he also uses the phrase “minimal viable progress”
• So what can minimal viable progress for you?
• Lets start with the big goal, the one that usually weighs heavy on us
• For me – its this podcast
• I want to get back to publishing 3 episodes per week
• This objective was easily achievable weeks ago
  • Suddenly its not
• I can spend my days beating myself up over it, and still not get my episodes done
• Or I can try to look for ways to get closer to my objective
• So I begin to scale back
• Ok – if I could just write each day, then I would have the content I need to record episodes again
• But I know – I’ve tried and I couldn’t focus longer than 10 minutes
• This frustrated me because I used to be able to write for hours before
• So I scale back even further:
• What can I do?
• Forget about writing an episode in one setting – I have proven to myself that I can’t get that done
• But instead of being frustrated because I cant get that done, I ask
• What can I get done?
• Can I write for 10min each day?
• I probably can
• You can ask yourself the same question
• What can you do?
  • 10 min of writing
  • 10 pushups
  • 10 glasses of water over the course of the day
  • 10 minutes less of television each night
  • 10 minutes of pause before responding to heated text messages
• Whatever your big goal is, take is many many steps down and make it small and achievable
  • I know – this is hard
• Especially when you’re used to doing so much more or when you mastered this thing before
• Its hard to go back and start again small
• But all I did is think back –
• What allowed me to get things done more effectively before?
• What was it that worked and that I am not doing anymore?
• And as I look at my days, I know that a major determining factor for my winning of the day are early mornings
  • When I get up early enough where I can do my yoga and meditation practice without rush
  • Where I can go for a nice long walk
  • And get home and shower
• All before 8am by when I want to sit down ready to hit my day
• My morning routine is a major stepping stone for winning the rest of the day
  • I already do yoga
  • I participate in a 6am meditation practice
  • I go walking every day
• I do those activities
• I just cant fit all 3 into my morning before 8 because I get up to late
• So what is my small win?
• What’s the minimal thing I can do that will, over time, help me start each day with intention and thereby get more disciplined with my time throughout the rest of the day and focus on the things that matter most?
• Its getting up earlier
• Which also means I may need to get bed earlier and change a few other things in my evening routine
• additional actions that will remove the obstacles from getting up earlier may be necessary and the book talks about those
• but to start tomorrow, all I really need to do is get up by the time the alarm sounds and not hit snooze
• however hard that may be, and however tired I may be
• but the more I do it, the easier it will get
• What is the minimal action you know will set you up for success?
• You may not have any trouble getting up early but maybe you lose yourself on your phone for the first hour instead of working out or reading something inspirational
  • You could focus on that part as your small win
• Do you watch to much TV and maybe that is holding you back from writing your blog posts or cooking healthier?
  • Cut your time by 10 or 15 minutes
• Again, do the minimal that will push you forward just so slightly
• A walk around the block is better than no walk
• 5 minute of journaling, praying, meditation, singing, practicing a language or an instrument – its better than no time at all
• those 5 minutes will not only make you feel accomplished – they will also, and this is more important, give you momentum
• soon you will want to do more because it feels so good
• soon you will work out for 30 minutes
• every time I convince myself to go out and get to my 12k steps, no matter how hard it felt – as soon as I am out walking – it feels great
• start today
• define the minimal and do it
• and do it consistently
• this my friends, is the secret to getting out of any rut
• and I am in it just like you are
• share with me how it goes, and if this helps you
• I am here for you and I am here with you
• And I hope that my morning practice will get me back on track with regular episodes
• You can be right here with me and see how it goes

Much love