Let's talk about getting a win in your day. We all enjoy picking up big and small wins, it helps us feel validated and that we’re doing the right things to make progress. It’s really important from a motivational standpoint, but it might be a bit misunderstood. Your daily wins don’t need to be closing the deal or getting that intro, they can be much smaller. But even beyond that, it’s not only about the size of the task completed, it’s also the timing of it.

For that reason, I wanted to share something that I learned in the Optimize App - The word “win” can actually be interpreted as an acronym that stands for “What’s Important Now”. W.I.N. 

Why does that matter? Well, it allows you to critically filter through what’s on your mind and focus on the specific thing in front of you that is most urgent and most necessary. It can be anything from prioritizing your morning routine over checking your phone, writing out your list of things to do for the day, or catching up with that friend who needs to hear from you. 

When you think of a productive day you don’t always think of those things, but the truth is that your days are made up of moments, and when you do “What’s Important Now”, you do the right things at the right time that feed into an overall productive day.

Do you want to be more courageous? I mean, who doesn’t! Across the board courage is perceived to be a positive trait. It’s associated with other characteristics like confidence, will power, and discipline. But I think it's slightly misunderstood, and that’s because there is an assumption to courage that must be addressed to truly understand it.

The scientific definition of courage is “taking action in the presence of fear”. It’s simply put, but not easily done. It’s not only about feeling a certain way and doing something about it, but specifically feeling afraid. But that’s the opportunity for growth! In fear we feel discomfort, and by stepping out of our comfort zone we give ourselves opportunity to grow.

To walk slower through this… If courage is the end result, or the outcome, what is the input? The input is being in a position where you’re afraid and giving yourself a strong reason to take action while feeling that way. So from the very beginning you cannot be more courageous unless you actively choose to put yourself in situations that scare you, allowing you to prove your courage by taking action. 

Now that’s all great in theory but what does that look like in practice? Well, when you experience fear or discomfort, your brain starts taking shortcuts trying to protect yourself and even remove you from that situation. You’re not as clear-minded as you’d like to be, and that’s why your reason for taking action is extremely important. You can strengthen that reason by having accountability, creating necessity, and connecting with the ways that being courageous in these moments will serve you. That way, when you put yourself in uncomfortable situations, you’re more motivated to take action in them, to expose yourself to uncertainty, failure, or criticism, and ultimately allow yourself to be more courageous.

So yes, you absolutely can and should be more courageous, but understand that courage requires you taking action in the presence of fear. So get ready!

Let's dive into this though-provoking quote. “No one is perfect. That’s why pencils have erasers.” I love that, and I think it uses such a relatable example. For someone to have never made a mistake in their lie, that means they’ve never had to use an eraser. They never used the wrong word. They never wrote a little too sloppy and had to clean it up. They never read a sentence back to themselves, didn’t like it, and wrote it again.

The perfect person does not exist. Everyone has used an eraser, everyone makes mistakes, and no one is perfect.

If imperfection really is something we all share, then it should take some pressure off. We don’t need to hold ourselves to an expectation that isn’t attainable by anyone. In acknowledging this it opens us up to being more okay to experiment and try.

Relating this thought more specifically back to positivity, this means we can see the world through not so critical of a lens. When things aren’t where they need to be, we can understand why and appreciate the attempt. We can celebrate the process of imperfection instead of hiding behind the ideal of how things could be.  There is no exception to this reality as human beings. We can start to cultivate a collective identity around the trial and error process that moves us forward, but also see each other for who we are. That’s because, in everyone I’ve met and everyone I’ll ever meet, no one is perfect.

When we talk about making an impact, in your community, in your own life, or in business we need to recognize that it’s not something that happens all at once. In fact there’s a pretty reliable process that helps to unwrap the topic pretty nicely that I want to share with you, and it goes as follows: Certainty -> leads to Influence -> Leads to impact.

Let’s start at the very beginning with certainty, which is the hardest part of this process to work through. In order to cultivate certainty you need to know at such a deep level what you believe. This means you need to gather experiences and learnings that help you hone in on what you believe to be true. To be certain is to reach such a place in your beliefs that you can share with so much conviction what you think with others. 

Then there’s influence. Influence is the byproduct of certainty because, once you are saying something so confidently, you’re going to be perceived as credible and people will listen. That’s all influence is, an ability to affect someone’s thoughts and behaviors. Your certainty carries a frequency that encourages others to believe what you believe, which enacts that very change within their thoughts and behaviors.

Then last is impact. Once you can influence someone, you have the ability to redirect them and send them on a better path. You have the ability to disrupt the way things were headed and introduce an alternative way that, when you have good intentions, is for the better. And that’s what we’re all working toward - living lives that make an impact.

But you’ve got to start with certainty, and let me tell you a personal example of this. Would you say that I’m an inspirational person? Well it hasn't always been that way. On my college soccer team people would laugh any time I tried to say something motivational before a game. But in the personal development realm I cultivated certainty, I started learning theories to a new depth and tested my beliefs in different ways where now I can say with so much certainty what I know. That belief and confidence in myself has led to influence and ultimately impact. And while it still doesn't feel right to say, many people have told me that I'm inspirational.

To summarize: Certainty ->Influence -> Impact.

This is one of the most important questions we could ever ask ourselves. I think we tip-toe around it as we go about our day, but asking it plainly and directly could yield some incredible awareness. The question is “What do you want?”

It’s harder to answer than it sounds, but that’s because it in of itself is so ambiguous. Getting in the habit of asking this question within the context of what’s going on around you will help you to make decisions that are aligned with… What you want!

First, let’s think existentially. What do you want in life? What are some of the things you’d do, the person you’d be proud to be, 30 years from now? Actually think about it, and identify it, so you can begin pursuing it. Then how about if you’re upset, sad, or angry. What do you want? What would be the best resolution to the problem? You can’t change the past, but what does an ideal future look like? Then you know what to pursue. And how about broadly in your day, what do you want? What are the activities you want to engage in, the people you want to be around, the way you carry yourself? Again, once you know what that thing is then you can work towards it. 

This question works because it activates objective neutral thinking. With neutral thinking you can take the emotion out of the context and relate to the situation on the level of your values. This will not only help you generate the outcomes and happiness you want, but it will keep you in check and hold you accountable to being your best self, not your impulsive self. 

In just about any situation, as you’re making a decision, ask yourself “What do I want?” That very often will give you the answer you need.

Have you heard the quote “How you do one thing is how you do everything” before? It’s a really powerful thought. It demonstrates how your actions in all areas of life, when people are watching and when they aren’t, is really indicative of the person you are. To expand on that quote, today I want to talk about why this is so important.

Everything we do matters, sure to other people, but mostly to ourselves. Our brains are constantly trying to figure out how we relate to different topics in the world, what our priorities are, what our beliefs are, and it uses the actions you take as the ultimate truth. So if you cut corners on a basic and unimportant task, your brain will start accepting that in your life. If you give yourself an excuse not to do something you kind of committed to, then similarly it will not hold you as accountable when there’s more on the line. How you do one thing is how you do everything, and your identity shapes around the things you do. The details matter.

This came to mind for me because I was sending a text to someone, noticed I had a slight typo in it, and chose to send it anyway. I’m someone that prides myself on being detail-oriented and I realized that not correcting my mistake was not the type of person I wanted to be. Now I’m going to be more aware of it moving forward.

Now my question to you is, are there small things you’re doing that go against the person you want to be? These things might seem insignificant in the moment, but they represent something larger, and how you do one thing is how you do everything.

As you know, it’s so important to incorporate multiple perspectives around subjects to truly understand them. And with that in mind, something I hadn’t completely thought about is the nature of preparation. Often we think about it through the lens of ourselves, what we can do to be personally prepared, but it’s equally important to consider the environment and field of competition you’ll be taking action within in order to maximize your performance. One of my best friends and brothers, Dr. Cyrus Ghaffari, has utilized this unique take on preparation to achieve his goals.

 Really think about what Cyrus said, and to summarize that “Art of War’ quote - Preparation isn’t just about you, but it’s also about you with respect to them. Taking an empathetic approach and knowing that everyone sees the world through their own egocentric view allows you to better interact with the elements around you, and ultimately get what you want. If you’re in medical school or in an intensive program, you might benefit from hearing more about Cyrus’ experience. Check him out on his YouTube channel Cyrus MD.