The other night I lay in bed, mind racing. My streak of burpees every day was in jeopardy. A busy day, missed opportunities along the way, and to be more honest, procrastination had delayed me until now, 11 PM, a couple of adult beverages into the evening and ready for sleep. Except there was no sleeping with the thought of breaking the streak here. Look, I know it’ll happen eventually, but not this way. Not because of a lazy mind. So I got up, did a dozen burpees to meet the minimum and got back in bed, heart still racing, and slept like a baby. Another link in the chain.
Category: Habits
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Felling the Tree
“Every action you take is a vote for the type of person you wish to be.” – James Clear
This morning the snooze alarm went off well before I was prepared to get up. I don’t use the snooze button mind you; don’t believe in it. You’re either sleeping or you’re getting up. But my wife uses the snooze button often as part of her wake-up routine. Thankfully most days I’m up well before her alarm would go off. Today was an exception. Feeling a bit worn out I was going to sleep in, until the second snooze convinced me it wasn’t possible.
This morning I operated in slow motion. Foggy and some aches and pains. I slowly dressed to work out, walked downstairs and drank a pint of water. The internal dialogue trending towards bagging the morning workout and doing it later in the day. I’ve heard this song before and point my feet towards the basement door, down thirteen steps and onto the erg for a row. I row 500 meters to warm up and assess my overall condition. My assessment isn’t good, but I stand after 500 meters and warm up the shoulders. More aches… but I ignore them and drop down for the burpees, slower than usual but complete, row another piece and call it a workout. I’ve done the bare minimum, cast my vote and I’m back upstairs. I hear the snooze going off upstairs and look at the clock. 60 minutes of snooze buttoning. Yikes.
On to reading stoicism, a bit of an article on Ben Franklin in London, and a bit of writing this before my wife is downstairs and off for her commute. Habits carried the morning for me even as the mind rebelled. The James Clear quote above stays with me more than anything else in his excellent book. Simple, memorable wisdom in a bite-sized chunk. I wish I’d written that. Instead I write other words, casting votes for the type of person I wish to be. I’m closing in on 100,000 words written in this blog, and a few thousand burpees. I need to move beyond the bare minimum workout, which means changing other habits later in the day. Win the morning, lose the evening and it’s a wash. Life is too short for a wash. With only 142 days left in 2019 there’s so much to do still. Why settle for the bare minimum?
I joined a group challenge with co-workers. We all travel, and we all struggle with the balance of exercise versus caloric intake that the job seems to demand. We’ve all agreed to lose ten pounds by the time we reach a trade show in Chicago next month or pay $20 bucks and hear about it from those who were successful. Nothing focuses the mind like peer pressure, so I’m all in on this challenge. But I noticed I gave myself a pass last week (after all I had five weeks to complete the challenge). I recognized this trend – it reminded me of pulling all nighters to complete papers in college. Wait until the last minute, then put yourself through hell to reach a goal. You won’t fell the tree with one swing of the axe… I like the more intelligent approach of consistent, daily action and the compound effect, and so an incremental increase in daily workload to reach the goal is in order. Keeping it going for the rest of the 142 days offers a head start on 2020, a nice round number with some big moments scheduled.
I’ve always been intrigued with the concept of accelerating through the curve. In racing that means slowing down in the first half of the apex and accelerating in the second half. Using momentum to your advantage. In life momentum starts with casting consistent, daily votes. That applies in your career, with exercise and weight loss, and writing. The lack of momentum also applies in each of these areas, so why build anchors when you can build kites? Or to return to that zen philosophy, you need to chop for a long time to fell the tree, you can’t do it with one swing.
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On Writing and Ritual
This morning the blues were running into shore again, hundreds of thousands of silvery fry swam in unison to escape the feeding frenzy, growing swirls of terns cried out in ecstatic approval as the desperate columns of fry rose to the surface. Individual fry break for the sky, betraying their unspoken vow of safety in numbers only to prove the point as they’re plucked from the air by the terns hovering for just such a moment. Removed from this frenetic dance of life and death by my place on shore and the couple of notches up the food chain humans are offered, I contemplate the cooler, autumn-like air and the changes to come in the next few weeks.
“When we take our time and focus in depth, when we trust that going through a process of months or years will bring us mastery, we work with the grain of this marvelous instrument that developed over millions of years. We move infallibly to higher and higher levels of intelligence. We practice and make things with skill. We learn to think for ourselves. We become capable of handling complex situations without being overwhelmed. In following this path we become Homo magister, man or woman the Master. – Robert Greene, Mastery
I’m a long way from mastery in writing, but I enjoy the pursuit. The daily ritual of observation, contemplation and expression offers me the opportunity to improve my skill set, and perhaps live up to the declaration made by Mr. Harding in that high school English class when he handed back our papers, looked at me and announced to all that would hear, “You will be a writer someday”. 35 years of active avoidance later, I’m finally getting around to it. Or more accurately, putting it out there. Robert Greene writes of focus in depth, and I sense that in the ritual. It bears fruit in productivity, and is its own reward in transformation. Shame that I waited, but I’m writing now and will do so every day that I’m given.
“If you wait for inspiration to write you’re not a writer, you’re a waiter.” – Dan Poynter
“I like myself better when I’m writing regularly.” – Willie Nelson
The sunrise was lovely this morning, but not spectacular. No clouds in the sky, just a brightening orange sky and an eruption of flame as the sun rose up once again. Cape Cod offers a different perspective than New Hampshire, there’s nothing shocking in that statement but the obviousness of it. The last week was a change of scenery as I save vacation time for big travel to come. So the mornings offered me the state change that the rest of the day couldn’t. Even in this there’s nothing new, save for the ritual that documents it. Daily writing offers the opportunity to discover the spectacular. Like the sunrise often it doesn’t reach that level but it can still be pretty good, and I’m better for having done it.
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Raising the Average
“Perfection is the enemy of action.” – Ryan Holiday, The Daily Stoic
Somehow I haven’t found the time to walk five miles every day this week. Busy with stuff. Like finding excuses to not get some exercise. But somehow I’ve managed to knock off a dozen burpees every day. Granted, it’s a small token of daily fitness, but I haven’t broken the streak yet. I’ve established a cadence with burpees. It’s a form of daily ritual, a small gesture towards fitness. It won’t close the gap on its own but it gives me some measure of achievement.
Seth Godin mentioned in an interview that he writes multiple blog posts every day, essentially building a library of possibilities to post. I have no such library. Instead I write as inspiration strikes, usually in the morning but sometimes late in the day. But I post daily to keep the streak alive, typos and all. I’m not writing a masterpiece, though I surely try. The cadence is what I’m focused on. Hopefully the content meets expectations on occasion.
Every morning this week I’ve gotten up for the sunrise, alone to catch the sun break the horizon. There’s a feeling of hope for this new day, as there was yesterday and hopefully tomorrow. I haven’t had a perfect day yet this week, but I’ve had good days nonetheless. Perfect days are evasive creatures; I’ll take great days or even average days. Average is still pretty good when you look at how dark the world can be. I woke up today (bonus!), saw a sunrise, sipped some coffee and read a bit of meaningful prose. I’ll take that kind of start any day. Chasing perfection leads you down a path of never good enough, which leads to the darkness. I choose the light, errors and all.
There’s a great article about Dalilah Muhammad’s world record 400 meter hurdle run in Sports Illustrated this week. She ran an imperfect race, but she didn’t need perfection to get the WR because she’d worked so hard to be at a level of performance where an average race was still far ahead of the perfect race for someone else was. There’s a lesson there for all of us. We can’t reach perfection but by continually raising the bar in our own lives we can reach levels of greatness in our pursuits. Steady improvement over time moves us closer. That seems healthier than never good enough.
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Diminishing Returns vs. Compound Interest
Sunrises don’t suffer from the law of diminishing returns the way sunrise pictures do. Getting up for the sunrise in the summer means getting up early, and you’re either in or you aren’t. Yesterday morning I lingered in bed a few minutes too long and missed the sun breaking the horizon. This morning I made a point of catching that moment and still missed it by five minutes. But I managed to witness a decent show nonetheless.
The thing about sunrises is that once you’re up and experiencing it you recognize it was worth the effort. The thing about sunrise pictures is that they become too much of a good thing already! Too many sunrise pictures on social media and you experience the law of diminishing returns. People like the first, but by the third day in a row of posting that sunrise (or sunset) they’ve had just about enough of you. Best to practice a bit of moderation already. Absence makes the heart grow fonder and all.
The first cup of coffee offers a thrill you don’t get on the second cup. Wrapping your hands around a hot mug of coffee and taking that first sip is right up there with that sunrise for sensory thrills. The last sip in that mug is just trying to capture the last of the fading heat before the dreaded lukewarm blahness takes over. You have the second cup to recapture that thrill but alas it’s not the same (but so worth it anyway). By the third cup the magic is completely gone, you’re just in maintenance mode. If you have another you start questioning your choices in life. Such is the nature of diminishing returns.
The nature of addiction is similar to that coffee experience; always searching for that thrill, increasing the dose, continuing past the point where you know you should stop. I’m simplifying it and have seen too many people struggle with addiction to treat the topic cavalierly, but I think about it because I’m challenged on it. People toss the word addiction around lightly. I’m not addicted to coffee, but I dance on the edge with it. So too with other things. I’ve danced with the topic of how much is healthy and how much is too much? on many habits; alcohol, coffee, Words With Friends, social media… blogging.
My wife runs almost every day, and has since well before I met her more than a quarter century ago. She’s a better person after a run when she hasn’t run in a few days. As with coffee so too with exercise: Too much of a good thing offers diminishing returns at best and injury to self at worst. I’ve seen her go beyond her comfort level in training for stretch goals and become injured. 5K to half marathon is her natural range and she thrives in it. Her habit loop is generally very positive and has given her a lifetime of good health and energy in return.
Self-awareness helps you develop good habits, and so do the people you surround yourself with. If you’re truly the average of the five people you associate with the most, then surely having those five be purpose-driven, physically active, supportive friends is better than the five being aimless, hard-living and dismissive acquaintances would be. Coming back to diminishing returns, those five will reinforce that first, second and third act of a habit. Do one more rep versus have another drink. Habits become more about reinforcing identity and less about the result of an individual act. The return over time builds on itself. The return on moderation, consistent exercise, getting proper sleep and reinforcing good habits with a network of positive influences in your life is the opposite of diminishing returns, it’s compound interest.
A lifetime of getting up early and seeing the sunrise has generally benefited me more than staying up late watching television or closing out the bar would have been. There’s a place for those things too, but I’ve found the benefits of staying up late offers diminishing returns as I get older while getting up and getting the heart rate up, reading a bit and writing has given me compound interest. And after all, are we riding the wave to the beach or sliding sideways to the curve? The end might be the same but the journey should be more interesting along the way.
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Progress Whispers
Scales don’t lie, and this week I added a couple of travel pounds. Sales meetings involve unnatural portion sizes repeated often, with snacks in between. And so the pants were a bit more snug than when I arrived. That seemed to be the consensus as all 90% of us immediately agreed to lose 10 pounds by a trade show in September. Peer pressure multiplied by $20 each generally does the trick.
“Progress…. is quiet. It whispers. Perfectionism screams failures and hides progress.” – Jon Acuff
Some words jolt you awake and help you see things a bit more clearly. Progress whispers resonated for me this morning. Progress towards our objectives is often painfully slow, and we find ourselves growing frustrated by the level of progress we might be making. Acuff makes another point in highlighting perfectionism as the antagonist to progress, undermining it with its relentless chirping.
Steve Pressfield describes this as “The Resistance“, Seth Godin calls it our “Lizard Brain“. It’s the inner voice that tells you it’s not good enough and not yet. Godin’s advice is to start pulling the thread anyway, to learn to dance with The Resistance. To ship your work, even if it’s not perfect. The concept of shipping a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) is common in nimble businesses today, but harder to dance with when it comes to writing your first novel or starting a business.
Sales is a numbers game, and so is losing weight, writing a novel (or blog) or accomplishing any worthwhile objective. Progress whispers, and you need to break it down into the smallest increments to track it just to see any meaningful forward momentum. The 12 burpees I do every morning aren’t all that much, but they add up to 4380 in a year. I’ve noticed the change in my body even from this small amount, done repeatedly and consistently over time. So it is with sales calls, writing daily, and other accretive activity.
Losing weight is tougher as you get older. You may say it’s because our metabolism slows down. I’d certainly say that too. But then I look at the guy I went to college with who rides his bike every day and hikes the rest of the time. His high activity level has bought him washboard abs, without sacrificing career or family. Another friend who embraced CrossFit shortly before turning 50 is now in better shape than when he was 25. No, “metabolism” is “Lizard Brain” in disguise.
Activity over time equals identity. Athletic, writer, Rainmaker, parent, spouse and trusted friend are all identities I try to embrace. I’m a little better at a few than others but hope to make progress with each. My progress may be a faint whisper but it’s progress nonetheless. Best for me to listen for it more. Throwing $20 dollars and the threat of peer ridicule to the mix amplifies the goal a bit too.
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Honing a Curious Mind
I’ve been trying to figure out who is singing in the neighborhood for the last six weeks. I make a point of being outdoors whenever possible in the early morning (New Hampshire summers are very short after all). Some singers are obvious, others are more evasively unfamiliar to me. I regret that my education never included identifying birdsong. But as with many things I’ve made it a point of my adult learning path. I’m currently in the 101 level birdsong classes.
I tried an app that analyzes bird song, but the bluebirds always sing at the same time as this character and tend to confuse the analytics. It keeps think its a mockingbird when I can hear the differences clearly. Eventually I came to the conclusion that this was a Brown Thrasher. In the process of figuring that out I’ve come to learn the songs of another half dozen birds I’ve heard in the background music but never took the time to learn about. I’m far from an expert on any of this, but the path is more vibrant.
In the last 18 months I’ve learned about or reacquainted myself with local and world history, stoicism, transcendentalism, world religions, the power of habits, physiology, native trees, horticulture, birds, bugs, the environment and other diverse (eclectic?) side paths on the route from here to, well, there. Side paths lead to other side paths and before you know it maybe you’ve accumulated something meaningful in the old brain. You can’t write about what you don’t know about, and this cajoles me from tangential interest to deeper learning about topics. As a side benefit I’ve become better at writing too… you’ll see it eventually.
“The discipline of sharing something daily is priceless.” – Seth Godin
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Changing the Perspective
There’s no place like home, but there’s a lot to be said for changing the view once in awhile. So we picked up and relocated to the Cape for one night in the middle of a work week. I’m back to work today, but with a refreshed mind. We settle into a pattern of familiarity when we do the same thing day-after-day. Routine is powerful, and can be hugely beneficial in earning compound interest over time from daily, positive habits. But sometimes the plaque buildup on our minds needs a cleansing to create new perspective on a project or problem you might be tackling. Nothing changes perspective like a system re-boot like a vacation or a sabbatical. But those opportunities aren’t always there. Changing scenery does the trick most of the time, even when you can’t take extended time off.
This morning I’m back to work, but the view out the window has improved, and a quick early morning walk on the beach offered its own rewards. I noticed a burst of energy in my work tasks, and I’ve seen the fog burn off, not just on the bay but in myself as well. I re-read a bit of Atomic Habits this morning as well. Something kept bringing me to this graph that illustrates the conflict between expectations and reality. James Clear calls it the “Valley of Disappointment”. Seth Godin calls it “The Dip”. It’s the lagging measure of results to actions you’ve taken. Whenever I start a new sales job I try to gauge the amount of runway I have available to take off. If you aren’t selling the trendiest stuff out there at commodity prices then you need time to build demand for your product, build a channel, get it specified, wait out budget cycles and finally get it purchased for installation.
Valleys of disappointment happen, but it’s important to see the forest for the trees. Perspective is invaluable when you’re in the valley, and just as important when you’ve climbed out of the valley. A little change of scenery almost always does the trick. Sometimes that scenery is physical like the beach, sometimes it’s mental, like looking ahead instead of looking back. Jon Acuff wrote in a recent newsletter about the ten year question. In short, what will you look back on ten years from now and wish you’d done today? That is what you should do. Acuff flips the narrative from looking back with regret to fast forwarding to a future you, and looking back from there. Fascinating exercise, and a good way to give you perspective on what is important now. So I tackled the day with new energy, new perspective and a new focus, and that was the goal all along.
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Doing What You Have to Do
“First say to yourself what you would be; and then do what you have to do.” – Epictetus
If New Year’s Day serves as the traditional launch point for goals and objectives, the 4th of July holiday (in the United States) serves as the midway point for the year. The first two quarters are over, it’s time to reflect on what worked and what didn’t and apply it to the two quarters to come. This applies in your career, but also with personal objectives. This is also a time to assess what you’d like to become in the second half of the year and build towards it. So with that in mind, I’m certainly reviewing and revising my business plan for 2019, and I’m doing the same with my personal plan. They’re intertwined and should be scrutinized with equal measure.
If there’s one theme constant across business and personal goals, it’s that I need to do more of the “good” things and less of the “bad” things. Schedule more productive meetings and less unproductive meetings. More exercise and less junk food. More thoughtful discussion with key decision-makers, less checking the box with people who pay you lip service and never commit to buy.
So the rowing and the 10 burpees per day are great, but increasing total meters rowed and incrementally moving the burpees up to 12 would be better so long as the shoulder pain is in check. The shoulder injury occurred last fall when I pushed the daily total to 50 per day and ignored the objections my body was broadcasting clearly. So increase, but in manageable increments. Likewise, Increasing the number of productive face-to-face meetings is surely beneficial, and revising the target upward at the halfway mark is a good idea so long as it doesn’t dilute the quality of the meetings or ultimately the output in monthly sales revenue. Being the busiest isn’t a sign of most productive. In fact the two rarely seem to go hand and hand. Busywork can plug up the day but ultimately doesn’t get you anywhere. Someone I once worked with used the term “high gain activity” to describe the type of productive work that advances you towards your objectives, and I’ve adopted that phrase into my own vocabulary. Focusing on high gain activity means you aren’t hiding in your work, you’re maximizing your productivity through action.
Productivity starts with knowing what you’re advancing towards, or as Epictetus said, knowing what you would be. Sometimes that’s simple. I would be better off healthier and twenty pounds lighter than I currently am, so that drives behavior like daily exercise and eating in moderation. I could use more of each. But larger goals require some deep thought and self-knowledge. I would be better off long term in my career if I developed a more strategic and productive channel, met with more and better qualified clients and prospects and if I measure the results.
“If you can’t measure it, you can’t improve it.” – Peter Drucker
Tracking the key activities is essential to accomplishing the big things. What gets tracked gets done. Which means breaking down big goals into daily habits, which are tasks done automatically and repeated day-to-day. Epictetus would say do what you have to do, Bill Bellichick would say “Do your job.” and Peter Drucker would say “Do you duty”.
“Our duty is rarely easy, but it is important. It’s also usually the harder choice. But we must do it.” – Ryan Holiday
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The Second Step is Easier
“A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step” – Chinese Proverb
The first burpee is the worst one. More specifically, the first push-up on the first burpee is the worst one. Sure, they don’t get more pleasant later in the set, but then it’s just fatigue. On the first one you have to clear the hurdle too.
I do these burpees at 6:15 AM, when the tightness in my shoulders stubbornly refuses to go quietly. Warming up on the erg helps, and some dynamic stretching gets the blood flowing in the old joints, but that first one is always a bear. Just getting on with it, fingers pointing slightly inward to relieve stress points, I shoot my legs back into plank position and slowly descend into the push-up. Creaking old guy complaints ensue and then recede; I’m on my way.
The starting is the hard part. Always. But once you get going it becomes a lot easier. The habit loop makes it easier to get some exercise in the morning, get some reading in, and to do some writing. This morning was particularly foggy and the brain wasn’t completely wrapped around things until I started those burpees. They have a way of focusing you quickly… once you begin.
And beginning is the theme of this morning. Get started already, do what you’ve got to do to move forward. Burpees, writing, work tasks… whatever. Carpe Diem isn’t just a clever quote in Dead Poets Society. It’s a call to action not a poster on the wall. Seize the day already!
“How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives. What we do with this hour, and that one, is what we are doing. A schedule defends from chaos and whim. It is a net for catching days. It is a scaffolding on which a worker can stand and labor with both hands at sections of time. A schedule is a mock-up of reason and order—willed, faked, and so brought into being; it is a peace and a haven set into the wreck of time; it is a lifeboat on which you find yourself, decades later, still living.” – Annie Dillard
Dillard reminds us to structure our day to make the most of it. And life is a series of days of course, though we don’t always see the forest for the trees… I’ve been guilty of winging it over the years. A scheduled day minimizes the downtime a restless mind carves out for you. But not busywork; productive, planned tasks that move you forward.
I’ve found the scheduled reading time immediately after exercise has been highly beneficial. And starting with a little stoicism before reading whatever book I’m tackling is like finishing that first burpee – I’m focused and ready for what comes next. The Daily Stoic is a good level set for me that I wish I’d discovered earlier in life. Ryan Holiday boils down the wisdom of Marcus Aurelius, Epictetus, Seneca and other great Stoics into bite sized daily chunks. I wish I’d thought to write this book, but since he did I’m thoroughly enjoying it.
That habit loop got the heart rate up today, but also got the electrodes firing in the brain. When the student is ready the teacher will appear…. and the messages keep piling up this morning. James Clear Tweeted his own reminder to get on with it today:
“Life is short.
And if life is short, then moving quickly matters. Launch the product. Write the book. Ask the question. Take the chance.
Be thoughtful, but get moving.”
And on cue, Mookie starts whipping me with her tail as she murders the birds outside the window in her mind. I haven’t done all the reading I wanted to do this morning, but I can’t ignore the messages. Get to it. I realized that I haven’t had a second cup of coffee this morning. Somehow that fog I walked downstairs with has lifted without the need for much caffeine. And the day is well underway now. Best to focus on the next task at hand.
