Forget Goals—Master the Process | Ep 30

Arjun: 00:00:00

Success lies in the specifics. It lies in the simplicity. So keep these specifics simple and to the point. But again, don't sleep on those specifics themselves.

Make sure that they're detailed and create that discipline and structure for you.

Because again, if you're committed every day to doing something that's taking you one step towards where you ultimately need to be, the results will take care of themselves, I promise you. Hey, guys. Welcome back to the LFG Energy podcast and this week's episode.

Now, a big part of LFG is to be really efficient in your life and always execute at a high level and make sure you never miss the mark.

I want to talk about something today, and since we're kind of just fresh after the New Year, we all hear about New Year's resolutions and people make them, but most of them all fail.

And I know it's kind of a running joke, and you see a lot of memes on social media about it, about people dropping their New Year's resolutions or setting them and failing at them. Or you know what? Screw it. Next year is going to be my year.

But if we look at it a little closer, there's a real reason why New Year's resolutions or goals that people set for themselves, big things that they're trying to achieve and go after, actually fail. It's not because the goal or the mission wasn't worthwhile, or that they didn't work hard. In some cases, they didn't work at all.

But it's not for lack of effort. What it really is, is for lack of specifics. And those specifics are what I call my 10 micro step rule.

So today, what I want to do for you is help you with anything that you are chasing right now or pursuing, whether it is to pass a major exam or you've got a big boardroom pitch, or you're trying to land a particular job. Maybe it's a race, you're trying to run a marathon. You're trying to enroll yourself into any big goal that's personal or professional.

I'm going to help you take this goal and break it down into 10 micro steps. And if you use and apply this formula, you will have a bulletproof program for how to achieve anything.

at it all clicked was back in: 2007

So let's Go back real quick to the New Year's resolution FY. So people set a goal, typically right around December 30 or 31st, about all the things that they want to achieve this year.

And it's with the best of intentions. So they write them down or maybe they put them in their phone or save it on a note, maybe it's on a. Post it and it goes somewhere.

But then no real specific breakdowns of how they're going to get there are actually applied. They just try and do what they think they need to do, like get off and running.

This is why gym memberships peak in January, but pretty much crash out by March, because there was never really a plan.

The only people that ultimately stick with their gym membership when they enroll and the first part of the year are probably those that ultimately sign on with a trainer because that trainer is going to create structure, discipline and process for them that ultimately starting to show them some micro successes. And when we stack micro successes or wins on top of each other, we get a winning streak and then we get progress, we get movement.

But I'd argue that those are the people that actually stick with and ultimately keep their membership.

Those who don't and just kind of go there thinking, I'm just going to follow what I saw on Instagram or pull up a couple of YouTube videos, or do what I, what I thought works or what maybe worked for me years ago are the ones that ultimately fizzle out. And again, it's because of a lack of specificity.

So what we're going to do today is take a goal that you have and you can write down anything that you are in pursuit of right now. And we're going to break it down into 10 steps.

Even if those steps are not completely relevant to the goal, but they are adjacent or things that are continually going to improve you or keep you sharp or keep you on pace, they're still going to apply. Now, a quick disclaimer here. None of this applies to anything that's like a quick to do list item or something that you just check the box with.

Those are linear. It's pretty much just set it, do it, and it's done.

This again has to do with things that are either transformational on the personal or professional front. Something that's going to require some sacrifice, some time commitment, and it's a big goal. It's something lofty, it's not easy to obtain.

So I'm going to give you an example which were my micro steps when I was setting out to win or Reclaim actually the second time a World Championship.

And if you're curious about that plan and everything that went into it, in the story, there's an episode within the show that you can check out on that as well as checking out the episode on blueprints.

Because a lot of what I'm talking about today, guys, ultimately is going to give you a personal blueprint so that you can rinse and repeat this model. And when we've achieved things, we now have a blueprint for success.

, yes, I set out this goal in: 2014

And then I also previously lost.

Now I can't just write down that goal or have it etched into my mind and just go to the gym and burn out and train as hard as I can until I can't breathe anymore, until I throw up and just expect that it's going to happen. I need to have specific steps. So here were many of mine.

Every day I had a morning ritual and this involved me sitting down to actually hydrate and journal what I was going to do today and how I was going to get one step better today. I wasn't looking past it.

And that's a big part of this 10 micro step program, guys, is that once you've set the goal, I need you to put that thing out and now focus maniacally on these 10 micro steps that you're going to create and take it day by day, step by step. Because the goal on its own will ultimately take care of itself. The results will be what the result is.

And if you do all this work, it ultimately is going to make the results inevitable. So again, back to me on the morning ritual. This was something that I started every single day with.

So I lifted three days a week and I had a taekwondo workout on five days out of the week as well.

So that means three of my days in a particular seven day week were double days, meaning I train in the morning and then I'd have another training session at night. I did have one rest day, but that rest day was actually work that was going to be done.

So I would go to work, come back and then try and just get off my feet, have my legs up on the couch and have either my journal out to kind of document what we've been doing this week, check in with my logs, maybe check in with myself.

Journal My thoughts and feelings about my journey and my process up to this point, or even watch film of my training session so that I could analyze things and see where I need to improve. So there's not truly a day off. Even though it was a physical day off to allow my body to recover, there was still work that needed to be done.

But again, it's a micro step Diet was another part of the micro step in terms of checking in and logging what I was eating and how much I was hydrating every single day, Coaching calls and meeting with mentors. This was a huge part of my mental training and building resolve psychologically.

I also incorporated Pilates in my second run up to a world championship, which was something different from the first time, but it was an absolute difference maker. And then the last thing was having an evening routine where I would do simulations.

I would go to bed visualizing intensely what it was that I was going to do the day of, what it would be like in the arena, the noises I would hear, the feelings that I would have, what I was actually wearing, the sweat on my face, the conversations I was having before walking into the ring. Every day concluded with this because again, I was obsessed with what I needed to do to get myself towards my goal.

And the goal itself wasn't the obsession, but all these processes were. Now you might have a goal that you set to where you'll say, arjun, I don't have 10 micro steps that I can actually create for this. I've only got two.

Like, let's say for you, it's to pass a certain exam. Maybe it's an exam to get into graduate school, or it's something that you're having to do for certification at work.

So you have the goal and then your micro steps are, I'm going to study every day and that's it. So I've got one goal. Obviously, it's what I need to do. I just need to do the work. There are nine other things that you need to come up with.

And if you look hard enough and create them, I promise you you can. So let's just do that for an example right here. What else could you do besides study every day? Perhaps one micro step is two times a week.

You talk to someone who has passed this test or find a different person every time, but you talk to them to gain experience and exposure from their frames of reference. Perhaps you have a morning routine and an evening routine that get you in the right frame of mind.

Or maybe something you do just before studying on that particular day. Maybe there's something you're also doing that's helping you stay sharp in terms of memorization or expanding your brain, like using duolingo.

Learning a language can challenge and push your brain in so many different directions, but it's a great primer exercise to expand it when you're actually doing something that's high stress or high intensity regarding memorizing and executing something. So you see, it's very easy to start coming up with the micro steps if we just expand our horizons and get a little bit creative.

Now you would again think, what does studying a foreign language have anything to do with me passing this board exam or this entrance exam to get me into grad school?

Again, it doesn't have a direct impact on that goal, but it's a skill set or something that you're learning or it's a certain pattern that's good for you, that's expanding and making you stronger to help you prepare for that ultimate goal and process. So again, guys, it just requires a little bit of creative thought.

But I promise you, anything big that you are looking to do if you can create this for yourself, your 10 micro step program. And just remember, guys, success lies in the specifics. It lies in the simplicity. So keep these specifics simple and to the point.

But again, don't sleep on those specifics themselves. Make sure that they're detailed and create that discipline and structure for you.

Because again, if you're committed every day to doing something that's taking you one step towards where you ultimately need to be, the results will take care of themselves, I promise you.

been fail proof for me since: 2007

So I hope you got a lot out of this episode. And don't wait at all on this one, guys.

If you have something right now that you're pursuing or you're in the midst of whether it's a week out or it's 10 months out, break it down into 10 micro steps, put together your plan, commit to it maniacally, analyze it every day as you attack this thing. And I promise you. You're going to be in a great spot if you've got something that you recently accomplished and you use this method.

I love to hear about this stuff, so send me a DM on Instagram @ arjunemortgage. If you've also got your own methods, because I love learning from other people, send me what methods work for you.

And last but not least, guys, if you found that this episode was helpful, please forward it to someone that you know would benefit from it and also take a screenshot of it and tag me in it when you share to your social media and this will help encourage me to bring more episodes like this for you. I appreciate you guys listening and we will see you next week.