I want to quickly share a perspective I heard about our vision. We have two different eyes that we see through. I’m not talking biologically of course, I’m talking psychologically.

There are two lenses that we observe the world through and today I want to make a distinction between them.

The first eye is the observing eye. This eye is the present experience of how things are objectively in front of you. It determines what is fact and what is not.

The second eye is the perceiving eye. This eye is the more complex representation of how things are. It incorporates additional considerations that help you to assign meaning to what you’re seeing.

Just like we can see better when we use both of our eyes, giving us 3-dimensional vision and more information to work with, similarly we need to employ both of our psychological eyes to see the truth in what we’re understanding.

That’s because we spend 99% of our time seeing through our perceiving eye. We want to know what everything means and how it impacts us, and for that reason we’re constantly evaluating, assessing, and perceiving.

But the process of perception is distorted. It is biased by our current emotions, it pulls from our lived experiences and histories, it’s influenced by our unconscious belief systems, and it manufactures a truth we want to see rather than allows us to see it for what it is.

This will run out of control unless we use the other, observing eye, to challenge what we’re concluding. It helps us to think more holistically rather than in the same patterns we’re accustomed to.

A great example of this is in communication, particularly conflict resolution. Many people share their opinions, judgments, and perspective on the situation to make their point. What they often omit are the undeniable facts that help to level-set the conversation.

The conversation transforms from “You texted me late in the evening and that was disrespectful” to “You texted me at 10:30 pm after I had already fallen asleep, and it made me feel like my time was being disrespected.”

The observing eye takes the color out of the perceptive eye, and sometimes we need that to better see how things actually are rather than how we’ve made them up to be.

The impact of our personal development fundamentally involves one thing. Everything that you're learning about, trying out, and coming to understand is all with the intention that it helps you make forward progress in your life, business, health, and relationships. 

Tony Robbins goes on to say that “Happiness is progress” because there’s a deeply rooted part of ourselves that wants to see what we’re capable of, and as David Meltzer puts it we’re compelled by the idea that “we must be what we can be”.

But chasing this idea of making progress, without a real plan to achieve it, is wasteful. Branching off to another brilliant personal development mind, Tom Bilyeu from Impact Theory says that we must understand the physics of progress so that we can leverage it to maximize our growth.

Bilyeu breaks down the physics of progress into 4 parts: 

1) You need a goal. This is the outcome that everything must optimize around, and the more specific your goal the better you’ll be able to evaluate progress.  

2) You craft a hypothesis on the best approach you know of to achieve that goal. This pulls from your own experience, advice you’ve heard, and other data points you have access to. 

3) You run a test. You test your hypothesis and observe the results of how things went. 

4) You evaluate your outcomes against your goal and understand patterns, limiting factors, and new things to consider.

Then you go right back to the top, you start all over again with a new more informed goal and more information to formulate a new hypothesis.

This very closely mirrors the process I use to improve my life and work, which is called the “Think Plan Do Review” cycle. It follows the same steps as Bilyeu’s process to run through an iterative loop that helps you make progress toward any goal. 

If you don't have a process in place to leverage the physics of progress, then it's likely that you're stuck getting the same results over and over again. In order to know what's actually working for you, and what to invest in, you need a way to track performance.

That's just one of the 9 Super Habits that accelerate you toward your personal and professional goals!

Alright, do you find ways to discredit yourself or am I the only one? 

I had a moment of this when I was taking a cold shower. My rule is any time I start a shower before 8pm I stand in the cold water for at least one minute. In fact, the way I do it is I stand in the shower and then turn the water on so that I get jolted by the first drops of cold rather than step in after it’s already on.

Cold exposure isn’t easy in any capacity, but in the shower I caught myself thinking “Man I’m a baby compared to what they do in the Cold Plunge Crew!”

Let me take a step back...

The last time I went to Mexico to build a house for a family in need (where I’ll actually be again this weekend), I went with a group of Canadians called the Cold Plunge Crew. They’re crazy. Basically they’re a community group that finds rivers, streams, and water all over Canada to plunge in. Needless to say, they’ve set the bar for me in terms of how extreme a cold plunge can get.

Comparing myself to them made me feel like my commitment to the practice was insignificant. Or at least that’s what I caught myself thinking…

Then, I remembered the ocean dip I took with them when we were in Mexico together. While the water wasn’t as cold as what they were accustomed to, my friend Natalia, one of the leaders of the Cold Plunge Crew, said a really interesting line to me. I was talking about my cold showers and she said “Wait, you do what? In the shower? And you just stand there and turn it on? That sounds awful!” 

To her the idea of inconsistent, pressurized cold water was more unpleasant than her full submersions. I have to disagree.

But that’s exactly the point I want to make here. We will naturally discredit ourselves, our commitments, or achievements, and our capabilities relative to others. That’s what I did in the shower and that’s what Natalia did in the ocean. 

When we compare ourselves to others we see the best qualities in them but the full spectrum in ourselves, leading to a sense of inferiority and a negative self-judgment. So give yourself credit where credit is due! If you’re in the game, showing up for yourself and feeling like things are right for you, don’t get too biased about how you’re perceiving others. Gain inspiration from them, yes, but compare yourself to them? That’s a slippery slope.

Today I wanted to share a grounding reminder and encouragement about how to live a more fulfilling life - “The richest moments are often the simplest”.

Living a rich life doesn't mean having a lot of money, possessions, or fame. That’s being rich, but it’s not living a rich life. A rich life is about genuinely enjoying what we have and savoring everything we’re experiencing. When something tastes rich it means that its contents are powerful. The mix of flavors are overbearing and so layered that you can’t eat too much of it.

But the irony is, the richest moments, that pack the biggest punch, are the simplest. And the most fulfilling experiences in life are often the ones that don't cost a thing.

When things are too complex they lose their authenticity. The more something is engineered the less natural it becomes. In a world that is so manufactured and optimized, it’s really meaningful to go back to the basics and immerse yourself in the simplicity of life.

So what does a rich life entail then? It’s not just spending quality time with a loved one, it’s finding fascination in who they are. It’s not just pursuing new experiences, it’s chasing the thrill of something spontaneous and exciting. 

In other words, the richness of life doesn’t involve the things that we think make us happy. It’s about discovering what is already there in front of us and being extra mindful of the moments when we’re in them. A rich life happens in moments. 

Simplicity is less but better, calmness in chaos, and undecorated beauty. And it’s within this simplicity that life becomes more full, and rich.

Let me know if this sounds familiar. You put a lot of work into your self-growth (listening to podcasts, reading books, getting your hands on anything that you think can improve your life) but despite all of that effort and time invested, maybe you don’t feel like you’re getting where you want to go with your life. Still lacking discipline on simple things, still stuck facing the same hardships and problems, still living at a fraction of your potential.

I guess I can only speak for myself... That was me for many years and it was exhausting.

The core issue was that everything I was learning wasn’t being implemented even though I thought it was...

When it comes to what we’re learning, we oversaturate ourselves with information, meaning the current infrastructure we have in our lives can’t take in everything we’re giving it. Another way of saying it is you’ve hit your capacity. At any given moment you can only support so many habits, so many intentions, and so many focus points. It’s like a cup filled to the top with water - You can pour more water in the cup but it just flows over. 

That’s exactly what’s happening in our self-growth. We put in the effort to acquire more information, pick up new insights, and search for golden nugget advice hoping it will bring positive change to our lives, only for it to slowly wash away without it being put to use.

This is why in our self-growth we experience a plateau. This is feeling stagnant, stuck, and like things aren’t changing. That no matter what we do, what we add, or what we try, we continue to sit at the same level of results.

So if you want to make meaningful changes to your life, you need to expand your capacity. You need to create space for all of this information to go so that it can actually be incorporated into your daily routines, activity, and mindset.

A way that you can increase your capacity is to install a new Self Improvement Operating System. Similar to how a computer working on an old operating system can only execute certain functions at certain speeds, our self-improvement works the same way. Unless we update our systems, we’ll always be constrained to the limitations we currently have.

And once you do, that’s where everything starts to click. Where all of the lessons and learnings can be put into action, helping you accelerate at the rate you always wish you could! That’s when your previous best becomes your new normal, and you feel like you’re unstoppable!

The infamous Stoic philosopher, Epictetus, who was born as a slave, pioneered a movement that we now call mindset. He called it "reasoned choice". His core teachings center around taking ownership for your actions and responding to the events around us with emotional control. A classic Epictetus quote is “You can’t learn what you think you already know.”

This opens the door to a larger conversation about perception. We are surrounded by an infinite amount of stimuli, too much to process at any given moment. Our perception takes the fraction of a percent that seems to be most important and creates meaning from it. 

However, this is not a perfect process because what ends up being prioritized as “important” is biased - influenced by our past, patterns, and preferences. Our perception has been shaped in such a way that we don’t see what has been hiding in plain sight and therefore, it doesn’t have the chance to impact us.

Who we are, and the lessons we have to learn, are vulnerable to the same challenges. Once you build a mental model around a concept your brain will look for ways to verify it. You will always find the evidence for what you choose to believe. 

“You can’t learn what you think you already know.”

So as growth-oriented, humble life-long learners, what are we to do about it? We must always keep a curious spirit and an open-mind. As long as we believe that there are other ways to do things, and that it’s possible the current way may not be the best way, we allow our perception to stay more open. We’re willing to consider new ideas because it no longer threatens the way we see the world.

And when you do that, you leave space for improvement, experimentation, and iteration. If you want to evolve you cannot reject the process that induces it. And with that in mind, I’d love for you to reflect on this question - What do you feel so certain about that it might be limiting your ability to explore alternatives?

As humans we live very social lives. Originally our well-being was dependent on the safety and shared resources of a tribe, which evolved into economies, culture, and now virtual settings. Throughout each chapter of human existence the nature has been the same - We have a baseline need to belong. 

We want to have friends, be seen, and enjoy strong relationships. We want to be understood and appreciated for our uniqueness. This is so central to our existence that recently the longest longitudinal study in history confirmed that social connectedness is the greatest contributing factor to our well-being.

Sometimes people wish they didn't care so much about what other people think, but I disagree. Our interest to prioritize and maintain strong social connections is fundamental to our success as a species! As individuals, humans are relatively weak. But collectively, we are strong!

What most people are actually alluding to is that sometimes this need is expressed in unhealthy ways. In order to appease our ego we seek validation, approval, and acknowledgment from others as a means to confirm our importance. 

But when this happens it is superficial, like a bug bite that you scratch to feel good in the moment only for it to itch more a few minutes later. This may cause you to do things out of integrity, or that aren’t in alignment with who you want to be, because you need quick access to the validating spike of feeling important.

What we’re actually searching for, that leaves a deeper and lasting impression, is other people’s respect. This is a level of acknowledgment that goes beyond what you do and into who you are. It’s a comment on your character and your values. For obvious reasons this is much more difficult to earn, and in a society that is addicted to immediate gratification, sometimes we don’t even have the patience to get there.

But your relationships and connectedness to others will feel so rich, so pure, so potent, when you get to that level of respect. And it’s okay to feel good about it when you get there because it will inspire you to make someone else feel that way themselves, and the ripple effect can continue. 

I was part of a really profound call with a mentor of mine, Jim Bunch, where he very briefly talked about the difference between truth and honesty. As someone who is still slowly becoming aware of my truth, and working up the courage to live it more often, I found it particularly insightful.

The core theme of the lesson was related to truth and energy. Many people rationalize their way out of acknowledging their truth, or acting upon their truth, because they are afraid of the consequences. Having that tough conversation, changing jobs, leaving that relationship, or whatever it is you might need to do to express your truth comes at a cost.

The assumption is there will be a lot of damage control that will be very energetically demanding of you should you initiate it.

But here’s the thing. Hiding, restricting, and resisting your truth is exhausting. It involves constantly trying to convince yourself of that same old story, quieting down your intuition so that you feel safe, and squashing your soul’s nudges to make a change. 

This comes at an even bigger cost, and it’s even more energetically demanding than dealing with the fall out you’re trying to avoid.

Continuing on this conversation about energy, and taking a more metaphysical and spiritual approach, everything has a vibration to it. The single thing that vibrates the fastest, faster than sound and light, is the truth. It is the most powerful form of energy that when utilized can accelerate manifestation.

The truth is not negotiated. It’s a fact. It is undeniable and unrelenting. When you allow yourself to start living within your truth everything around you finds alignment and it all starts to flow. 

But many people, myself included, reject the truth… Why? It’s the fear of what it opens up, the uncertainty of how things would change, and the acknowledgment that you’ve been living a lie.

The best way to open this vessel (that is your truth) is to be honest. Honesty is an expression of the truth, a disclosure of the truth, to either yourself or others. Get more honest with yourself and you’ll start seeing thing for how they really are, and how they can be. Start being honest with others and you’ll start seeing the world shift around you!