Self Improvement Daily Podcast

It’s about using the law of least effort. I know what you’re thinking, good things come to those who work hard! I completely agree, but I would argue that better things come to those who work hard and work smart.

Historically, humans have a predisposition to prefer minimal activity and effort. This comes back to the days when we actually needed to secure resources to survive and reproduce. Things are different now, but our DNA is not.

The law of least effort is exactly that predisposition, but instead of using it as an excuse to be lazy, we can leverage it to be more efficient.  This is best understood in an example presented in the book, Atomic Habits, by James Clear. You want to eat healthy, but when it comes down to it, taking the extra 10 minutes in the morning is just too much to actually do it. There’s friction. What you can do, is prepare healthy meals in advance, which reduces the friction of acting on the healthy choice and allowing you to easily receive the benefits of that decision.  

The best thing to do is understand what positive choices you want to make, understand what the limiting factor is, and find ways to reduce that friction either by preparing in advance or making intentional choices. Even choosing a gym that is directly on your commute to work instead of 5 minutes out of the way could make a world of difference. It’s all about reducing friction!

There are so many great things happening around us, we need to make sure we keep our eyes open to them.  It could be something big, like a breakthrough or a connection or a new spin on a project. You’d be surprised to find that there’s more of these than you’d think.

To continue, some days you have to look a little harder to find something positive. It might be hidden behind or blended in with something bad, but know that it is there. If I’m looking for some positivity in my life, I try to add perspective, and that’s where I practice gratitude. The underlying force of gratitude is a positive appreciation for your life, and when you take that approach to positivity, there is no shortage of things to be thankful for. 

For example, you get laid off from your job. Not trying to spin that into a positive, but what that might mean is you get to spend more time with your roommate, partner, or child.You build a deeper relationship and maybe help them through a challenge they are experiencing. I hesitate to call it a silver lining, but it is a positive element that came from the negative situation. It is always there, some days you just have to look a little harder.

“Keep it simple stupid”

The core of it is all about reducing complexity. The more moving parts that are involved in a decision, add a layer of complexity that makes it more difficult to reach the intended destination. But, having a special focus on keeping things simple, you can have a more defined direction and easier path toward what you are trying to accomplish.

This philosophy applies in so many different areas. When building out a new system at work, strip the task down to its fundamental components and address them at face value. When hoping to go on a date, be clear about your intentions and ask for their phone number. When trying to get healthier, focus on the areas that contribute to your health, like exercise and nutrition to optimize your results.

The same goes for productivity. Throughout our days, we are presented with things to do that fit somewhere on a difficulty spectrum. It’s the difference between deciding what to wear, which is a low difficulty task, and finding a clever way to make an introduction, which is a high difficulty task. A great tip is to quickly move through the low difficulty task so that you have more time, energy, and will-power to apply to the high difficulty tasks. The easy things don’t need to be over complicated. Keep it simple stupid.

This message is a snippet from someone who is very inspiring, Ms. Mel Robbins.

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Isn’t that so true? We just assume the worst of intentions in others when they do something that negatively affects us. But, what it comes down to, is anything they do is out of our control, so why does it deserve to be so influential in the way we internalize it?

Not only is choosing to be optimistic in negative situations, and choosing to see the good in others, a decision that benefits us, but it is very contagious and affects those around you.

I jumped on a Masterclass call put on by Garrain Jones, Emile Stenveld, and Joel Brown. It was all about uprooting the barriers you’ve placed on yourself and stepping into your freedom, because from freedom comes our greatest joy. We made a ton of progress in a short amount of time, and heard some inspiring stories, but then Joel asked a question at the core of the entire conversation. What is your definition of freedom?

In the Masterclass, what was interesting to see was the diversity in the responses. Some people spoke specifically about how freedom would come from solving the biggest challenge in their life or career, but I came from the opposite end of it with a very broad and general answer. To me, freedom is doing whatever I want to do, whenever I want to do it.  

Joel alluded to this again later, and he made an important distinction.  Joy isn’t always a celebration. It isn’t always the big reward and the extravagant lifestyle. He talked about something that I identify with, which is that a balance between responsibility and fun is where he finds his joy.  

So, it’s the freedom to work hard on the things that excite you and energize you. It’s the freedom to take care of yourself and invest in yourself knowing that it’s a requirement of who you want to be. So, now I ask you this, what is your definition of freedom?

You have the key to your own prison, it’s time to let yourself out.

This technique is something that totally changed my perspective on how to spend my time. It is called time boxing, and I was introduced to it by Nir Eyal, a habit formation and behavioral design expert, in his upcoming book Indistractable. Let’s go straight to the source and learn more about why time boxing works:

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So basically, time boxing is all about allocating time for things that are important to you. And by planning, or time boxing your schedule, you establish what it is you want to be doing, which will help you follow through on it.  This is a great opportunity to prioritize important things in your life by setting the intention to do it in advance.  

We talk about time boxing much more in our upcoming Self Improvement Sit Down, which I am super excited about!  But if you can’t wait until then, you can get a pre-release digital version of the book Indistractable on Amazon today.

Every morning we wake up with a fresh start and a new chance to reach our goals, big or small. We can set the tone for the day with one simple decision.

“one small positive thought in the morning can change your whole day"

This positive thought can take many forms. It could be waking up and forcing yourself to smile. It could be reflecting on things you are grateful for. It could be kissing a loved one and letting them know they make you happy. It doesn’t need to be big. However, in order for it to work, it does need to happen.

A positive thought or action is enough to jumpstart neurotransmitters like serotonin and dopamine. This will serve you throughout the day. In doing so, you are priming your brain and body to seek more positive moments, and encourage your reward system to acknowledge other positive moments throughout the day.

You can think of it as a branching tree. Where every decision you make takes you either up toward happiness or down toward anxiety. Starting your day off on the right foot by having a positive thoughts generates momentum that compounds into a positive day. So trust that, "One small positive thought in the morning can change your whole day”.

If you want to read more often and more consistently then listen up! If not, then listen anyway. I am going to share a tactic I have employed for the last few months that works for me and has helped me improve my reading habits. It is to simply read two pages of a book every night.

I hear your questions already, Brian, you can’t possibly learn anything reading two pages a night, and it’ll take you forever to read a whole book. Well first off, it’ll take you 100 days to read a 200 page book so that’s not forever, and second and more importantly, you usually end up reading more than two pages when you get around to doing it!

It’s all about building the habit!  For me, two pages is just enough to feel like I put in the effort to take action, but it’s short enough that it doesn't seem like a burden to do on the nights I’m really tired and just want to go to sleep. As I mentioned, often times the two pages is just the foot-in-the-door to me sitting down and reading for longer, because getting started is the hardest part. Just by guaranteeing I put myself in a position to start, I end up reading a lot more!

What’s powerful too, is since I read consistently before bed every night, I now identify as a reader! And with this new found identity, I want to engage in behaviors that strengthen this association. I have come to take pride in reading at night. 

Give it a try for a week and see what happens. I bet you read more than 14 pages!