Is it okay to workout while wearing headphones?  While studying Neurobiology in college, I remember learning that focus and attention is a requirement for comprehension and skill acquisition. And while headphones might provide the entertainment or motivation you need in a work out, it also makes the activity more brainless by distracting you from the task at hand. Have you ever been on a treadmill, you get really into whatever you’re listening to, and you realize that another half mile or mile has passed in your run seemingly without thought? Well sure, you completed the physical side of the exercise, but a lot of the overall growth you are hoping to experience is dependent on the mental side as well, which didn’t get the attention it needed.

But it’s a trade-off. I’m not saying you should exercise and not wear headphones. There’s no one recommendation that satisfies all cases because everyone has different intentions when they go to workout. But, I think there are overarching themes that I want to tap into.

So, if you’re an elite athlete, this is unacceptable, because you are working out with the intention of squeezing every once of value you can out of the workout.  Headphones might limit that capability.

Personally, when I work out, my intention is to push my body while also taking a moment to learn. But, I realize I am not giving 100% in either camp. I only listen to podcasts that I can come in and out of, or audiobooks I have already read. And I don’t expect to make massive improvements in my fitness because I am not dedicating all of my attention to it.

Or, maybe you need to be motivated to get to the gym more often, and listening to music or a podcast is your reward for making it out. This shouldn’t be looked down upon, the difference in output is small, especially to someone trying to be healthy or look good.  

I say this all to underscore the importance of having self-awareness about your reason for being at the gym, so you can understand how much of your attention it requires. From there, you can decide for yourself if you want to wear headphones!

This thought has hit me from a couple of different angles recently, so I wanted to take some time to explore it. Light conquers all darkness,and that argument is clear when it comes to the physics of it, but what about emotional and spiritual energy? Sports1Marketing CEO David Meltzer explained it perfectly:

We can all be that light, not only for ourselves, but also for others, to help eliminate some of the darkness in the world. Your single contribution of light is powerful beyond measure, so use it to the fullest and brightest!

One day, I started driving through downtown San Diego.  I impressed myself when I got on the road and didn’t even consider pulling up Google Maps, because I was the confident in how to get there. When I arrived without issue, I reflected on how I had learned the directions that quickly, and I had a big realization.  

The last time I made that same drive, I took an extra moment once I arrived to trace my steps. I sought to understand the route, and orient myself with the streets I took, instead of just relying on the technology and move on with my day. That extra moment helped me encode the process and now I have a much better mental model of the freeways and streets I drive every day.

So, take an extra moment to understand. Sure, my example was about understanding directions and geography, but the same can apply to many other things like new methods at work, conversations, or something you read.

The thought behind it is that investing your time and energy in the present moment will help you save time in the future, as well as improve the quality of the skill in question. Taking 2 minutes to process things, once, is much better than taking 30 seconds to reconcile a situation, 10 times.

So, be extra cognizant of the things you are doing today, and seek to understand the specific details behind it so that you are more prepared for the next time!

After defining success for myself, The Success Chronicle’s Chip Baker challenged me to evaluate my life in its current state and identify the areas where I am already successful. Well, turns out that I was more successful than I would have given myself credit for.

“Don’t doubt yourself, that’s what haters are for”.

We must give ourselves more credit!  As we climb higher and challenge ourselves more in life, we lose sight of the progress we made to reach our current height. We might not have confidence in this new uncharted height, but that shouldn’t override our perception of the growth we have experienced along the way. If we revert to self-doubt, then we are supporting our own failure. And even so, failure is better viewed as an unsuccessful attempt that prepares us for our next endeavors. Doubt stemmed off of a belief that the goal can never be achieved, and it’s always just too early to tell because there is so much growth to be had.  Build yourself up, don’t tear yourself down, there are plenty of haters who will attempt to do that.

For the holiday weekend, I did a bit of traveling, and I observed something that got me fired up and I want to vent a little about it. But, in all of this I found a silver lining so I think it’s acceptable.

So, I was on an airplane noticing some of the things a girl was doing next to me. First, after everyone was instructed to put their phones in airplane mode, she decided to make a phone call and completely disregard the instruction. Then, after we landed and arrived at the gate, she stepped into the aisle, walked up about four rows until she got blocked off, and stood there in the way of everyone else who needed to grab their bags.  I know it’s an unwritten rule to wait your turn getting of an airplane, but that’s exactly what I want to touch on today.

In a public setting like this, I think it’s so important to understand and appreciate your role in society. If everyone acted selfishly and on their own agenda, it would be impossible to get anything done, and overall society would plummet. Having respect for the process and the instructions of authority figures is crucial to being a cooperative member of society.  So, I encourage you to be the person that waits in line, that follows directions, and that plays your part, because it stands for a larger point that will add to your life.  In this complex and interconnected world, the only way we can truly be effective is if we play nice with others, and sometimes that means inconveniencing yourself for the greater good.

I had a 6:30 coffee meeting and there was only one coffee shop open that I had never been to. Well, turns out it was just a grab and go kind of place and didn’t have any chairs or space to meet. Instead of looking for another place, I made the suggestion that we go for a walk, and the meeting went great!

Funny enough, I got back in the car and in a podcast episode of Humans 2.0, Mark Metry began talking about the value of walking meetings! He talked about some of the benefits of it that I hadn’t realized and want to share.

First, the light physiological activation of physical activity warms up your mind to higher cognitive processing. In that way, you can be more sharp and perform better in the conversation. Second, walking side by side means you aren’t looking directly at each other, reducing the confrontation and pressure in the conversation. This helps for more guarded points to come be brought up because it is a more welcoming setting. And last, choosing to go on a walking meeting means there is commonality between you and your walking partner. It implies you are both health conscious, and having that similar emphasis might build rapport.

So, give it a try. Take a call while your walking to leverage that first physiological point, and book a walking meeting just to see how the conversation goes!  

Our minds are powerful beyond measure if only we could tap into it. Well, the reality is, we can mold our minds more than we would expect. The separation between conscious and negative thought seems large to us because we can only access one and not the other. Our conscious mind strongly influences our subconscious mind, and we can control what we consciously think.

Instead of saying “I have to”, say “I get to”.  It’s only a one word switch but it is massively impact. Here’s why!

If you have to do something then the motivation is external, and you behave as a response to that thing you are told to do. With that approach, your subconscious mind views this more as a pull away from what you’d rather be doing, and this all occurs based on how the phrase is positioned.

But, if you ‘get’ to do something, then the choice is yours to engage in the behavior, and you approach it with more autonomy. From that angle, you become more intrinsically motivated to follow through and your subconscious mind prepares itself for deliberate and positive action.  

Doesn’t that sound different?

The core difference in this positioning is that you become much more grateful for whatever needs to get done.  Here’s an example: Waiting on a long line at the grocery store. Either you have to or you get to, because you can afford food. It’s a privilege. Take that position in your life and you will find abundance and fulfillment.

I wanted to take this opportunity to learn more about a term I came across recently, and extend that knowledge out to you. The term is survivorship bias, and it is a psychological “short cut” that can lead to major misunderstandings when out of place. In learning about it, we can ensure it doesn’t impact us negatively, but what is it?

Survivorship bias is a misplaced focus on the people or things that have made it to the next stage in a selection process. Basically, you only focus on part of the whole picture, seeing those who advanced as representative of the average, and neglecting the elements that got eliminated. It is a form of selection bias that can lead to us making the wrong conclusions because we have a skewed understanding of what is  normal.  

Within the context of personal development, survivorship bias can be really dangerous because it prompts you to compare yourself to others on an uneven playing field.  That perception may lead to us to question our capabilities, lose confidence, or a engage in general introspection that asks, “what am I even doing?”.  The reality is that we shouldn’t compare ourselves to others in the first place, but we do because we need that validation. Lets call it what it is, and not completely identify with that.

An example of survivorship bias in action is let’s say you are put through a competitive interview process, and you get to meet some of the other candidates also applying for the same position. They are impressive, and you don’t feel like you belong or meet the same qualifications. This happens because the only candidates you see are the ones who also advanced to the next stage, and you completely unaware to the fact that many people have already been eliminated. In advancing yourself, you were selected as better than the average candidate, but we don’t rationalize it that way because we only use what we see to draw our own conclusions.

So, if you’re in a case similar to this, I’d encourage you to give yourself credit for your success, understand that you belong, and know that any self-doubt comes from a psychological shortcut called the Survivorship Bias.