EPTHandbook of being practical and real.
1. THE START. WHEN AND WHERE.
The day begins with intent, will and doing it NOW. Right this second. Not a nanosecond later. NOW. It starts with NOW.
Not the stories, not the thinking, not the delaying, not the excuses, not the "just 5 more minutes"s, "but's", "I need to first do...", "I need ... before", “this thing now is ok because...”. No. None of that.
It starts NOW.
No "but's". No explanations and excuses and justifications and reasons.
No storytelling. No bullshit.
The day starts NOW.
And it doesn't start someplace else. Not some place that has some better condition. Not with some items that need to be in it first. Not with something that has to or cannot be there. It starts HERE. Right HERE.
Not somewhere else that you need to get first. Not some place that has better conditions or has or doesn't have some people in it or has some critical item or piece of equipment or some other absolutely essential requirement that somehow prevents you from doing it here. No.
It starts HERE.
No "but's". No thinking and debating and interpreting and concluding and lying and justifying.
No tales and narratives. No lies and nonsense and false crap and bullshit.
It starts exactly right here, right where you are, right this second, in exactly this place.
The day starts HERE.
It starts HERE and NOW and only there.
2. THE START. WHY.
It starts RIGHT HERE. RIGHT THIS SECOND. THAT's BECAUSE - YOU DON'T HAVE TIME.
You may think you have these 5 minutes. Lie.
You can convince yourself that this hour of time is not such a big deal. Dishonest. Lie. False.
You can say that this one evening is okay. Wrong. Dishonest. Lie.
You can say that you'll manage it tomorrow, when you'll feel better. Dishonest. Untrue. Lies.
You can hypnotize yourself, make yourself feel absolutely certain. You'll get better feeling, shape, mood, thinking, psychological atmosphere and it must come before you start going at it 100% right now. Lies. Dishonest. False.
You'll get better place, better items, better workspace, better workflow organization, better principles to apply first. No. Not true. Dishonest. Bullshit.
You'll prepare essential conditions and absolutely critical items and make the long overdue absolutely, completely and utterly indispensable re-arrangements that absolutely must come before you start working on it 100%, else, terrible damage may take place. No. Not true. Lies. Dishonest. Bullshit.
Just this one thing. It is of strategic importance. No overblown claims, it actually is strategic. It must be done before going at it 100% because it can multiply the outcomes. Just test it first and then go at it 100%, since it's a multiplier. Just for 5 minutes, with alarm clock. No. Not true. Lies. Dishonest. Bullshit.
You'll get everything prepared and organized so insanely well and smart, you'll destroy all these tasks tomorrow, you'll prepare psychologically, get into the real flow state. You'll do what'd take entire days in 3 hours, that's how much you'll nail it. No. Not true. Lies. Dishonest. Bullshit.
These are all lies.
Comforting illusions.
Dishonesty.
You can think that.
You can think or argue or believe or value whatever you want.
Reality remains itself.
This is lying to yourself and that derails you and harms you and diminishes you because the simple fact remains that:
all the biggest successes and failures are on the line NOW,
all the biggest successes and failures are on the line NOW,
all the biggest opportunities and threats are on the line NOW,
all the dreams, all the fine and cool and well, all the awesome, all the amazing, all the wonderful and the magnificent, all the potential of your life that is still there, all of it is on the line NOW.
It is all on the line right now. Not just when the big event, the big opportunity, the big situation comes and the spotlight is on and everyone is watching. No.
When the big event comes, the great strategic and significant majority of it is clear and set and decided. It's a formality. It's just a matter of revealing who you have become. And who you have become is the outcome of who you are and keep becoming right now.
If you waste this moment, you will not make full use of the next one. Then you will waste the next one, too. This creates a domino of waste. The opposite is also true. If you make the fullest use of this moment, right now, you're likely to make the fullest use of the next one, too. You create the domino of becoming the best you can become.
That's why it starts right HERE, and right NOW.
3.1 THE START. HOW. PRIORITIZING AND PUSHING COMFORT.
It starts HERE, NOW, by WILL and INTENT, with CHOICE AND BELIEF.
It is not enough to just start doing. It isn't just doing tremendously much. That doesn't make the difference.If you're not doing what's most important, 100%, now, you're not doing anything.
You aren't doing anything if you're not doing it 100% and better because it's not engaging any of your real potential. Much of it remains unused. Worse yet, a lot of it participates in distracting, instead of assisting, in doing what you most need to do right now to get the most out of your life.
Going through some motion is not doing. It's lying to yourself. It's just going through the motions on autopilot.
That's doing NOTHING. That's accomplishing NOTHING. That's becoming NOTHING.
If you're going through the motions, that's not really doing anything. You're not doing anything. You become stagnant. Like a river losing it's current, your waters become muddy. They begin to stink. You begin to accumulate all the lies, excuses, reasons, justifications, labels, stories. You lose clarity. You do even less or even worse, almost always both. You lose discipline. You lose momentum. And that's a disaster.
Not letting that happen creates a very different outcome.[Not letting that happen is the path of discipline and will, of strength, of getting the most out of your life, of becoming the best you can possibly become.
Not letting that happens means being real with yourself. It means:
IF IT'S NOT 100% AND BETTER NOW, YOU'RE NOT DOING ANYTHING.
IT'S WASTING TIME.
IT'S WASTING THE POTENTIALS.
IT'S WASTING ALL THE FINE AND AWESOME AND AMAZING THAT CAN STILL BE. THE LIFE.
IT'S WASTING YOU, IF YOU ALLOW IT, IF YOU AGREE TO IT, IF YOU LIE TO YOURSELF AND STEP ON THE SLIPPERY SLOPE OF THE EASY PATH.
THE PATH OF EASY LIES. GOING THROUGH THE MOTIONS. AVOIDING THE STRUGGLE.
THE AUTOPILOT PATH.
NO. NO ALLOWING THAT. NO AUTOPILOT. DENIED.
No buying and selling yourself stories and narratives and reasons and excuses and talk and any hundred other detours. No leaving yourself hanging. No being your own politician pulling you from the obvious in front of you by promise, after promise, after promise.
There is no kind of doing it.
No lying to yourself.
No letting yourself down.
Do what's most important to do now and do it as best as you possibly can. Go at it here and now 100% and better and faster and more intelligently and more securely and safely and more confidently and more flexibly and more efficiently and more effectively and with less time and with better quality and better, on every level you can, however you can, as much as you can, with as good balance as you can, everything and anything and between, as best as you possibly can, right now. Then do the next most important thing. Do it 100% and better, now. Then do the most important thing after that. Do it 100% and better, now. Continue.
And when there's a clear need to rest - when it's really clear it's time to rest - do it 100% and better, now. That's the new most important thing to do. It's not just rest. It's resting as best as possible. Optimally. Pacing yourself as best as you possibly can. Remaining in balance. So you go at every next thing with the best readiness you could have possibly prepared.
Do it as best as you possibly can, now. Then the next most important thing. Do it. As best as you possibly can. 100% and better. Now. Here. Then the next thing. Do it. As best as you possibly can. 100% and better. Now. Here. Repeat.
3.2. THE START. HOW. CONVICTION AND SEEING IT CONSTANTLY.
Decide. Believe. The goal. The destination. Why has to be clear. Not somewhat clear. Clear. Why not clear - you're wasting time. Or being foolish and destroying yourself. Believe in your goal. Relate your goal to reality as closely as you possibly can. Or it's a waste of life. Not certain - can't pursue it at 100%, which means you go through the motions, you aren't doing anything.. Certain but the goal and the why is unreal nonsense - you're off balance and your reason is biased, you're not checking yourself, which means you're unknowingly self-destructing.
SEE IT WITH YOUR MIND'S EYE. YOU MUST SEE THE OUTCOME CLEARLY AT ALL TIMES.
It is fundamental. It is utterly important. Check it. Check it well. Refine it. Refine it well. Check it again. Refine it. Check it again and again, and again, and again, and again. Refine it again, and again, and again, and again.
See it with your mind's eye and see it well. See it as well as you can. If you see blurry pile of something, you're not on the way to your dreams. You're not on your way to all the amazing in your life. You're on the way to a blurry pile of something. And that's a disaster. It's a waste of life.
Unless your outcome is so clear, so constant, so utterly there, in your mind, that you cannot unknowingly go off course. You can't go off course. It's so burned into your mind, you've burned it so clearly in your mind, you never forget. It's become you, your destination, it's the path you walk every moment of your day.
That is what it means to see it with your mind's eye
Whatever does or doesn't happen or anything else, keep checking and refining your outcome. See it in your mind's eye. This is the homing beacon. The navigation point and coordinates source of the ship you steer. Everything you do, you do for that. That is when, and how you can, keep doing the most important thing, as best as you can, now and here. This is how you stay on course and reach the destination, despite the ship's imperfections, despite the unknowns, despite the sharky waters, despite the waterfalls to avoid, despite the winds, despite the storms, despite all the obstacles and problems and hardships.
That is when you can keep going at it and better when things are not inspiring. Boring. Mundane. Unimportant. Uneventful. Annoying. Off. Distracting. Weird. Blurry. Totally unclear. Ridicilous. Absurd. Demoralizing. Dispiriting. Destructive. Unknown. Ungraspable. Impassable. Impossible. Hopeless. Pointless.
Nonsense. Bullshit. Irrelevant.
Turn each and any of such things to advantage. In whatever way you can. What is relevant is the outcome and doing the most important thing now. As well as possible. Here and now. To reach the outcome you decided to reach. Then the next thing. Then the thing after that.
See the outcome in your mind's eye. Check it. Check it again. Check again and again and again. Refine it. Refine it again. Refine it again and again and again. Check it and refine it constantly. Go at it now. Do it 100% and better. Now. Here.
Keep turning anything and everything to advantage. Do it 100% and better. Now. Here. Keep doing it 100% and better. Now. Here. Continue.
This is a way. A way of becoming the best you can possibly become and getting the most out of your life.
"Growth comes at the point of resistance." - Josh Waitzkin.
"Discipline equals freedom." - Jocko WIllink.
Inspired by, and based largely on, the writings of: Jocko Willink, Josh Waitzkin.
