Latest / The You Project / #1808 Are You Wasting Your Potential? - Harps
Transcript
- 0:01Speaker 1: G a gang. I hope your bloody terrific. So, as
- 0:03Speaker 1: you well know, my job or the main part of
- 0:06Speaker 1: my job, is talking to people about creating better outcomes
- 0:09Speaker 1: on planet them in their world. And that's teams, and
- 0:14Speaker 1: that's companies, organizations and individuals and people who want to
- 0:17Speaker 1: become super good and proficient and elite at something. It's
- 0:23Speaker 1: people who just want to think better, do better, create better,
- 0:27Speaker 1: have less anxiety, more joy, more purpose, more focus, better outcomes.
- 0:31Speaker 1: It's the whole plethora of the human spectrum. And as
- 0:37Speaker 1: part of that, you know, we always talk about strategies,
- 0:40Speaker 1: and we talk about where you want to go and
- 0:42Speaker 1: what you want to do, and we talk about the
- 0:44Speaker 1: ingredients and the variables that need to be factored into
- 0:47Speaker 1: the goal setting, in the structure and the process and
- 0:51Speaker 1: all of that kind of very methodical strategic How do
- 0:56Speaker 1: I become a better version of me? How do I
- 0:59Speaker 1: become a better leader or a better boss, or a
- 1:02Speaker 1: better problem solver? How do I better manage my anxiety?
- 1:06Speaker 1: How do I optimize my genetics? How do I be
- 1:09Speaker 1: more productive and more proactive and more effective? How do
- 1:12Speaker 1: I run fast, jump higher? How do I make more dough?
- 1:16Speaker 1: How do I optimize my career, all that kind of stuff.
- 1:20Speaker 1: And one of the things that I talk to people
- 1:25Speaker 1: about which I have not spoken about a lot on
- 1:29Speaker 1: the You Project, is our capacity to understand and optimize
- 1:39Speaker 1: our own potential. So I just want to talk a
- 1:43Speaker 1: little bit about this today. I mean, this is not
- 1:46Speaker 1: the start and finish. This is just me opening the
- 1:48Speaker 1: door on a really expansive and big area of human
- 1:52Speaker 1: performance and human behavior. But I would say that for
- 1:56Speaker 1: most people. This is my experience and observation. This is
- 1:59Speaker 1: not based on any research I've come across, but I've
- 2:02Speaker 1: worked with thousands of people for four plus decades. My
- 2:06Speaker 1: observation and experience is that one, most people don't get
- 2:11Speaker 1: anywhere near optimizing their potential most and two most people
- 2:18Speaker 1: don't even really understand their potential. They don't understand how
- 2:24Speaker 1: good they could be, or what they could create, or
- 2:27Speaker 1: the level of change that could happen in their world
- 2:32Speaker 1: if they did all the right things. Now, again, this
- 2:36Speaker 1: is not an easy thing. This is you know, this
- 2:39Speaker 1: is not fun, easy and painless, This optimizing oneself but
- 2:46Speaker 1: human potential. What I can do if I set my
- 2:48Speaker 1: mind to it. What you can do if you set
- 2:52Speaker 1: your mind to it. What you can do if you
- 2:53Speaker 1: get yourself limiting thinking and self limiting beliefs and shitty
- 2:57Speaker 1: self esteem and you know, all that stuff, and the
- 3:00Speaker 1: self doubt and the fear and the anxiety and the
- 3:03Speaker 1: overthinking and the analysis paralysis. What the fuck can we
- 3:07Speaker 1: do if we don't let that stuff dictate who we
- 3:12Speaker 1: are and how we are and what we do. Now,
- 3:15Speaker 1: that's not to say overcome the fear. That's to say
- 3:17Speaker 1: work with the fear. That's to say, lean into the fear.
- 3:21Speaker 1: You don't need to be fearless. You need to be
- 3:24Speaker 1: courageous at times, as do I so and in fact,
- 3:28Speaker 1: we can't be courageous by definition, being courageous as doing
- 3:32Speaker 1: something that we're scared of. And so we're not looking
- 3:36Speaker 1: for perfect people. We're not looking for fearless people. I'm
- 3:39Speaker 1: not looking for the most gifted people. I'm not looking
- 3:43Speaker 1: for the athletic unicorns or the cognitive unicorns or the
- 3:47Speaker 1: creative unicorns. I'm just looking for people who want to
- 3:51Speaker 1: do better than what they're currently doing and want to
- 3:54Speaker 1: figure out how can I get out of my own way?
- 3:58Speaker 1: How can I begin to consider what is, for example,
- 4:04Speaker 1: my genetic potential like what's possible for me? So there's
- 4:08Speaker 1: what's actually possible for me. So let's say let's just
- 4:13Speaker 1: let's just quantify this. Let's say my and I'm talking
- 4:17Speaker 1: about me personally, right, because there's no global you know,
- 4:20Speaker 1: my potential is not your potential. My genetic potential is
- 4:23Speaker 1: not the same as yours. My academic or athletic potential
- 4:26Speaker 1: is not the same as yours. So what I want
- 4:27Speaker 1: you to do is I want you to personalize this
- 4:30Speaker 1: for you. So when you think about your genetic potential,
- 4:35Speaker 1: we are talking about literally what is physiologically what is
- 4:41Speaker 1: genetically possible? What is the absolute high watermark for what
- 4:46Speaker 1: you could do or achieve with your body if you
- 4:49Speaker 1: did everything right. Now, I think there are very few people,
- 4:54Speaker 1: including myself, who do everything right, whereas there is zero
- 4:58Speaker 1: room for improvement. Let's just call that, let's call that
- 5:03Speaker 1: level of genetic optimization for you. Let's call that ten. Now,
- 5:08Speaker 1: if I said to you, do you want to get
- 5:12Speaker 1: more out of your genetics? Would you like to be
- 5:15Speaker 1: physically physiologically improved? Would you like better health? Would you
- 5:19Speaker 1: like a stronger immune system? Would you like better cardiovascular
- 5:23Speaker 1: system or fitness? I should say, would you like more strength,
- 5:27Speaker 1: more flexibility. In other words, would you like your body
- 5:31Speaker 1: to work better than it currently does. I feel like
- 5:36Speaker 1: most of you are going to say fuck yes. Maybe
- 5:40Speaker 1: some of you will not use the fuck right, and
- 5:43Speaker 1: so that is great, that's good. But then so now
- 5:46Speaker 1: what do I do with that? What do I do
- 5:47Speaker 1: with that? So if ten is my genetic potential talk
- 5:51Speaker 1: about genetics in this instance, then where am I currently at?
- 5:57Speaker 1: And I think some of us think that we are
- 6:01Speaker 1: doing way better than we are. I did a show
- 6:06Speaker 1: the other day with Dr Jodie. We're talking about perceived
- 6:09Speaker 1: rate of exertion. We're talking about this thing that in
- 6:13Speaker 1: Excise Science, the insection Excise Science and Psychology, where I
- 6:19Speaker 1: would ask someone who's doing a movement in the gym,
- 6:22Speaker 1: like a strength movement in the gym, or they could
- 6:24Speaker 1: be running on a treadmill, or they could be skipping.
- 6:27Speaker 1: I would ask them out of ten, ten being their
- 6:31Speaker 1: absolute physiological limits in terms of whatever it is, whatever
- 6:35Speaker 1: the fitness component is, so strength or aerobic fitness, or
- 6:39Speaker 1: flexibility or power or whatever, I would ask them what
- 6:42Speaker 1: they think they're working at ten being their physical limit,
- 6:46Speaker 1: And often people would say I'm working at eight or nine,
- 6:50Speaker 1: when in reality, we go back them and I have
- 6:53Speaker 1: a chat and then they figure out within a short
- 6:56Speaker 1: period of time they weren't working at eight or nine,
- 6:58Speaker 1: they were working at four or five. And that's not
- 7:00Speaker 1: because they were trying to scam the system and scam me.
- 7:03Speaker 1: It's just that they didn't truly realize what was possible
- 7:07Speaker 1: for them. Now, having said all of that, I'm not
- 7:12Speaker 1: suggesting that we're always redlining our potential, our genetic, athletic, creative,
- 7:17Speaker 1: whatever it is. We don't need to have our foot
- 7:21Speaker 1: on the accelerator all the time, and we don't need
- 7:23Speaker 1: to be working at that you know, that threshold, because
- 7:27Speaker 1: that's not working at that level or trying to be
- 7:30Speaker 1: at that level all the time. One it's not sustainable,
- 7:33Speaker 1: to it's not realistic, and three we're going to be
- 7:35Speaker 1: fucking exhausted. But what is really interesting to know is
- 7:39Speaker 1: I have probably got a lot more potential. I'm talking
- 7:42Speaker 1: about you and me. I've probably got a lot more
- 7:44Speaker 1: potential than I think. And perhaps what's holding me back
- 7:47Speaker 1: is not my actual capacity for success or improvement or
- 7:51Speaker 1: growth or development, but rather what I think, or rather
- 7:56Speaker 1: my low standards, or rather my lack of willingness to
- 7:59Speaker 1: full commit to doing the work to exploit that potential,
- 8:03Speaker 1: or perhaps so I don't like pain, I'm addicted to comfort,
- 8:06Speaker 1: or perhaps I'm lazy and this thing and me fulfilling
- 8:11Speaker 1: my potential is not going to be a three day
- 8:13Speaker 1: but rather a three year or a five year process. Right, so,
- 8:16Speaker 1: there are a myriad of reasons. And by the way,
- 8:19Speaker 1: I'm not suggesting to you today that you should change
- 8:23Speaker 1: anything or do anything. I'm just talking about this concept
- 8:26Speaker 1: of what does it mean to use more of what
- 8:31Speaker 1: we've got, Like when you say to me, if you
- 8:35Speaker 1: and I are chatting, I would like to get more
- 8:38Speaker 1: out of my brain. I would like to exploit my
- 8:41Speaker 1: cognitive potential more. I would like to be able to
- 8:45Speaker 1: problem solve better, think better, learn better. I would like
- 8:48Speaker 1: to be able to focus for longer and have greater
- 8:52Speaker 1: mental acuity. I would like my brain to work as
- 8:56Speaker 1: well as it can for as long as it can. Now,
- 9:00Speaker 1: if what I just said to you is something that
- 9:02Speaker 1: you would want, one, that's good. Two what's your plan?
- 9:07Speaker 1: What's your plan? So part of my plan to optimize
- 9:12Speaker 1: or at least move somewhere in the vicinity of cognitive optimization.
- 9:16Speaker 1: For me, one of the many things that I have
- 9:19Speaker 1: committed to is lifelong learning. Part of that is the
- 9:23Speaker 1: research and study that I'm doing at the moment with
- 9:25Speaker 1: my doctorate, but also just in general terms, I'm always learning,
- 9:29Speaker 1: I'm always researching, I'm always having interesting conversations. Not because
- 9:34Speaker 1: I'm smart, because I am not particularly smart. I'm not
- 9:37Speaker 1: a journius. I'm not an intellectual or academic genius by
- 9:41Speaker 1: any means. But what I can do at any age
- 9:43Speaker 1: is I can learn new things. I can expose my
- 9:47Speaker 1: self to new ideas and new information and new research
- 9:51Speaker 1: and new studies, and I can train my brain. Right. So,
- 9:58Speaker 1: in this whole kind of pursuit perhaps of optimizing and
- 10:05Speaker 1: using more of our potential, I think part of it
- 10:09Speaker 1: is getting clear about, you know, what it is that
- 10:13Speaker 1: you want to work better, or what you're interested in.
- 10:19Speaker 1: So when I talk about so even something as specific
- 10:23Speaker 1: as this show, I think, what's my potential in podcasting?
- 10:28Speaker 1: I don't know what that is, by the way, but
- 10:31Speaker 1: I'm pretty sure that I'm not peaking right now. I
- 10:36Speaker 1: might find out down the track that I was. I
- 10:39Speaker 1: am right now. Maybe this is the best, but I
- 10:42Speaker 1: don't necessarily mean, what's my potential in podcasting, as in,
- 10:45Speaker 1: what's the most money I can make per month out
- 10:48Speaker 1: of podcasting, or what's the most bums on seats I
- 10:51Speaker 1: can have or listeners I can have. Maybe it's just
- 10:55Speaker 1: maybe it's some of that, but maybe it's also how
- 10:57Speaker 1: good can I be sitting in front of a comput
- 11:00Speaker 1: to like I am right now talking to me in
- 11:04Speaker 1: the moment right now for me talking to no one,
- 11:07Speaker 1: but for you talking to someone because you're listening to
- 11:10Speaker 1: this obviously after I'm recording it in this moment. But
- 11:13Speaker 1: how good can I be at this thing? What can
- 11:17Speaker 1: I do better? What can I learn? What do I
- 11:20Speaker 1: need to do less of? What do I need to
- 11:23Speaker 1: do more of? How do I build? How do I
- 11:27Speaker 1: build competence and skill and understanding and awareness in this
- 11:30Speaker 1: place so that I can become, you know, the best
- 11:34Speaker 1: version of me at this And when I start to
- 11:37Speaker 1: think like this, you know, one of the things that
- 11:40Speaker 1: I used to do a lot of not so much anymore.
- 11:44Speaker 1: I didn't for a while, by the way, for the
- 11:46Speaker 1: first hundred episodes, I didn't ever really listen to me
- 11:49Speaker 1: because I do not like listening to me. But I
- 11:51Speaker 1: eventually somebody said something which was critical but also true.
- 11:56Speaker 1: Somebody said something about, you know, my work, and it
- 12:01Speaker 1: wasn't positive, but they were right. So I went back
- 12:06Speaker 1: and I started listening, and I listened and I heard
- 12:09Speaker 1: what they were talking about, and I went, all right,
- 12:11Speaker 1: I've got to do better. So you know, if I won,
- 12:13Speaker 1: if I can't take feedback, good and bad feedback, or
- 12:16Speaker 1: positive or negative feedback. I mean, if it's honest, if
- 12:18Speaker 1: it's real, if it's insightful, I'm up for it. If
- 12:21Speaker 1: it's just people just sending hate my way, that's a
- 12:23Speaker 1: different thing. But we're talking about real feedback, informed, educated
- 12:30Speaker 1: insight that might help me be better, I'm up for it.
- 12:35Speaker 1: So I've always been interested, especially as the kid who
- 12:39Speaker 1: grew up being not particularly talented. You know, as I've
- 12:46Speaker 1: said to you many times before. You know, my default
- 12:48Speaker 1: setting up most things athletically and genetically and all of
- 12:52Speaker 1: those things was a mediocre. So I went, all right, Well,
- 12:55Speaker 1: I can't get more talent, I can't get better genetics.
- 12:59Speaker 1: I can't get more hours in a day. So what
- 13:04Speaker 1: can I do? Well? While I can't get better genetics,
- 13:08Speaker 1: I can better optimize my genetics. I can make better
- 13:13Speaker 1: use of what I have. I can't get another brain.
- 13:15Speaker 1: But what I can do is I can train this brain.
- 13:19Speaker 1: I can optimize this brain. I can do things, as
- 13:23Speaker 1: can you, that will make this brain work better. I'm
- 13:27Speaker 1: not a naturally gifted academic, But what can I do
- 13:31Speaker 1: to exploit and explore and optimize my academic potential? Well,
- 13:35Speaker 1: what I could do is I could learn how to
- 13:38Speaker 1: study more effectively. I could learn how to research. I
- 13:42Speaker 1: could learn how to read academic papers. I could put
- 13:45Speaker 1: myself you know, the first degree I did. I was
- 13:48Speaker 1: thirty six years old. I started in two thousand. I
- 13:51Speaker 1: was thirty six years old. Almost everyone else in my year,
- 13:56Speaker 1: first year exercise science, almost everyone else was a to
- 14:00Speaker 1: or nineteen. There were a few older students, but they
- 14:02Speaker 1: were twenty five six seven, not many, but ninety eight
- 14:06Speaker 1: percent of the students in my year were literally half
- 14:09Speaker 1: my age. I was hands down the worst student. And
- 14:14Speaker 1: I wasn't the worst student because I was the dumbest.
- 14:17Speaker 1: But I was the worst student because I did not
- 14:20Speaker 1: know how to do academia. I finished school in year twelve,
- 14:25Speaker 1: which was eighteen years before so, and even in year
- 14:28Speaker 1: twelve I did fuck all. So then eighteen years later,
- 14:31Speaker 1: which is a lifetime later when you're eighteen, So eighteen
- 14:34Speaker 1: years later at the ripe old age of thirty six,
- 14:37Speaker 1: I can't use a computer. I don't know how to
- 14:40Speaker 1: log on. That's what they told me in the first lecture,
- 14:44Speaker 1: or it was in a what they called a computer lab.
- 14:47Speaker 1: Log on, use your student ID, bibby bobbity boo. I
- 14:50Speaker 1: didn't know how to do any of that. I had
- 14:52Speaker 1: to ask the person next to me. I didn't know
- 14:54Speaker 1: how to do study. I didn't know how to do research.
- 14:57Speaker 1: I didn't know how to do university. I didn't know
- 15:02Speaker 1: how to optimize anything in that space. But I can't
- 15:04Speaker 1: get good at the thing that I won't do. So
- 15:07Speaker 1: what I have continued to do over the years, and
- 15:09Speaker 1: I suggest you do the same when you get clarity
- 15:12Speaker 1: about what it is you want to optimize. Even though
- 15:15Speaker 1: right now you might be a one out of ten
- 15:18Speaker 1: in terms of skill and understanding and proficiency. Even though
- 15:22Speaker 1: you might be a one out of ten, I suggest
- 15:25Speaker 1: that you put yourself in a situation where you can
- 15:28Speaker 1: use more of what you've got. How can you optimize
- 15:33Speaker 1: or develop or get more out of your potential if
- 15:37Speaker 1: you're not doing the thing. One of my ever present
- 15:42Speaker 1: questions is how strong and how fit and how functional
- 15:50Speaker 1: and how operational can I be at sixty one? And
- 15:56Speaker 1: the answer is thankfully and great, very grateful and pretty
- 16:02Speaker 1: fucking strong because I do the things that make me
- 16:08Speaker 1: pretty fucking strong and pretty fucking fits and in pretty
- 16:12Speaker 1: good shape and pretty lean. Why because the things that
- 16:17Speaker 1: create those results I have interwoven into my daily operating system.
- 16:23Speaker 1: I'm not in good shape because I'm lucky. I'm not
- 16:25Speaker 1: in good shape because I fell on my feet. I'm
- 16:28Speaker 1: not in good shape because I crossed my fingers, or
- 16:30Speaker 1: I have some genetic advantage in fact, a disadvantage I
- 16:33Speaker 1: would think over many people. But I realized that I
- 16:37Speaker 1: can't optimize my body in terms of all of these
- 16:39Speaker 1: physical variable strength and fitness and flexibility and general health
- 16:43Speaker 1: and posture and bone density and muscle mass and all
- 16:46Speaker 1: of these things. I can't accidentally end up being optimal
- 16:53Speaker 1: maximizing my potential. So I need to be strategic, and
- 16:57Speaker 1: I need to do what's required to be able to
- 17:00Speaker 1: do that. What about you? What are the things for you?
- 17:06Speaker 1: You know that you're wasting some of your talent. You
- 17:09Speaker 1: know that some of you know that you're wasting talent,
- 17:11Speaker 1: you're wasting potential, you're wasting your brain. Maybe you're wasting
- 17:15Speaker 1: your genetic potential. Maybe you're waiting for the right time.
- 17:19Speaker 1: Maybe you're always you know you're going to do it,
- 17:21Speaker 1: but you never actually do it. Maybe it's soon, Maybe
- 17:24Speaker 1: it shouldn't be soon, Maybe it should be now. Maybe
- 17:27Speaker 1: Monday's not the starting day, maybe it's today. If today
- 17:30Speaker 1: doesn't happen to be a Monday. When you hear this,
- 17:34Speaker 1: what's my earning potential? I remember working in gyms and
- 17:37Speaker 1: earning twelve dollars an hour. I was working at one
- 17:40Speaker 1: stage when I was twenty one twenty two, I was
- 17:42Speaker 1: earning twelve bucks an hour as a gym instructor, and
- 17:46Speaker 1: I was earning twelve or thirteen dollars an hour at
- 17:49Speaker 1: nights working in pubs getting punched in the face for
- 17:52Speaker 1: not much doing security. So I was working three nights
- 17:55Speaker 1: a week in pubs. I was working five days a
- 17:57Speaker 1: week in gym's my average hourly, it was like twelve
- 18:00Speaker 1: to thirteen dollars. And so for me, because that's how
- 18:03Speaker 1: I thought, that was my experience, that was my environment,
- 18:06Speaker 1: that was what I earned. So I had a self
- 18:09Speaker 1: limiting belief that you know, what is Craig harperworth. At
- 18:13Speaker 1: that time, I thought my potential was twelve, thirteen, fourteen
- 18:17Speaker 1: bucks an hour. We're talking about the eighties here, a
- 18:20Speaker 1: very long time ago. And then I met a guy
- 18:22Speaker 1: who wanted max, who wanted me to train him to
- 18:25Speaker 1: do this thing called one on one personal training. And
- 18:30Speaker 1: you know, I went from instantly from twelve bucks an
- 18:33Speaker 1: hour as a gym instructor to thirty three and a
- 18:37Speaker 1: third dollars an hour because it was one hundred bucks
- 18:39Speaker 1: a week for three sessions with him. Now, all of
- 18:41Speaker 1: a sudden, I'm earning nelly triple my hourly rate. And
- 18:45Speaker 1: my overwhelming feeling was not gratitude or happiness. It was guilt,
- 18:49Speaker 1: and it was imposter syndrome, and it was all of
- 18:51Speaker 1: these things. Because I didn't understand my own earning potential.
- 18:55Speaker 1: I got in my own way. I now work in
- 18:59Speaker 1: a space where, you know, in the corporate space, the
- 19:04Speaker 1: corporate landscape, where I do about one hundred corporate gigs
- 19:07Speaker 1: a year, whether that's a forty five minute keynote or
- 19:10Speaker 1: thirty or one hour, or a two hour workshop or
- 19:13Speaker 1: a half day workshop or a full day workshop with
- 19:16Speaker 1: an organization, and you know, the money that gets handed
- 19:22Speaker 1: out in that corporate space for events like that is ridiculous,
- 19:27Speaker 1: but it's not. It seems ridiculous, but it's not because
- 19:31Speaker 1: that's what I'm not necessarily talking only about me, of course,
- 19:34Speaker 1: but that's what high end speakers get. After a thousand
- 19:37Speaker 1: years of doing it, I'm probably towards the you know,
- 19:40Speaker 1: the better end of professional speakers, I would hope, right,
- 19:46Speaker 1: And even now, all of these years later, I still
- 19:49Speaker 1: need to be careful that I don't get in my
- 19:52Speaker 1: own way, and I don't rationalize why I should feel
- 19:57Speaker 1: bad about this organization having this hourly rate. So so
- 20:03Speaker 1: much of us exploiting and optimizing and developing and understanding
- 20:10Speaker 1: our potential is getting our mind out of the way.
- 20:16Speaker 1: My mind, my mind is my superpower and it's also
- 20:22Speaker 1: my arch enemy. And you probably feel like that a
- 20:26Speaker 1: little bit too. I mean, for years I have spent
- 20:30Speaker 1: I have spent trying to, you know, manage my mind
- 20:34Speaker 1: and optimize my mind, to optimize my choices and behaviors
- 20:38Speaker 1: and all of those things. But at the same time,
- 20:44Speaker 1: you know that that that fear, that those fear driven
- 20:50Speaker 1: insecurity driven fear based ideas that can pervade my cognitive landscape.
- 20:58Speaker 1: You know, for me, that's that's ever present. And the
- 21:01Speaker 1: volumes turned down a little bit now, but it's still
- 21:05Speaker 1: an issue, you know, I think for all of us.
- 21:08Speaker 1: And so despite my own insecurity at times, my own
- 21:12Speaker 1: self doubt at times, I still need to do what's
- 21:16Speaker 1: required to be the best version of me and exploit
- 21:19Speaker 1: what I can in terms of my own capacity and
- 21:22Speaker 1: my own ability. And so you know, I will. I
- 21:24Speaker 1: will make the decision that I know that I should make,
- 21:28Speaker 1: despite my anxiety about the decision. I will take on
- 21:32Speaker 1: the challenge that I know I should take on, despite
- 21:35Speaker 1: that inner voice of doubt. We recognize the anxiety, We
- 21:39Speaker 1: recognize the fear, We acknowledge it for what it is.
- 21:43Speaker 1: I literally sometimes say to myself, Oh, I see you.
- 21:47Speaker 1: I recognize you over there, imposter syndrome, How are you?
- 21:51Speaker 1: It's harps, you know, mister feel like a fraud? I
- 21:54Speaker 1: see you as well. All that stuff. I recognize that
- 21:58Speaker 1: stuff in me because I'm human, because I'm emotional, because
- 22:02Speaker 1: I have fear. I recognize all of those things that
- 22:05Speaker 1: can limit me. But I can say reasonably confidently these
- 22:10Speaker 1: days they don't get in the way like they once did.
- 22:12Speaker 1: So my self doubt and my fear and my overthinking
- 22:16Speaker 1: mind periodically overthinking mind, they can coexist with my courage.
- 22:23Speaker 1: They can coexist with my optimal decisions and actions. That
- 22:28Speaker 1: if I wait in order for me to optimize my
- 22:31Speaker 1: potential and my talent and my genetics and my time
- 22:34Speaker 1: and my resources and my relationships, if I don't optimize
- 22:39Speaker 1: that stuff, or I don't try to optimize that stuff,
- 22:42Speaker 1: until all my fears gone, all my emotional and psychological
- 22:45Speaker 1: issues are gone, all the self doubt's gone, all the
- 22:48Speaker 1: self loathing's gone, I will never fucking do anything, and
- 22:52Speaker 1: neither will you, because that shit's ever present, some of it,
- 22:57Speaker 1: all of it, you know. But I've never met ny
- 23:00Speaker 1: anyone who's fearless. I've never met anyone who has zero
- 23:04Speaker 1: self doubt. I've never met anyone who never ever second
- 23:09Speaker 1: guesses anything. So and maybe that person exists, I just
- 23:13Speaker 1: haven't met them. But if you're something like me, which
- 23:17Speaker 1: is you can be the self doubting, self loathing, periodic
- 23:20Speaker 1: overthink and that's cool. So there's a few things that
- 23:25Speaker 1: you can do to optimize your potential. I'm going to
- 23:28Speaker 1: give you some simple ideas, but at work. So what
- 23:34Speaker 1: can you do to optimize your potential and get out
- 23:38Speaker 1: of your own way? So Number one is chunk it down,
- 23:41Speaker 1: And by that I just mean rather than, you know,
- 23:45Speaker 1: taking on the entirety of the project and fully committing
- 23:49Speaker 1: to this thing that at the time feels like I'm
- 23:52Speaker 1: painting the Sydney Harbor Bridge. Right, We'll just start at
- 23:56Speaker 1: one end of the bridge and paint one bolt, you know,
- 24:00Speaker 1: just chunk it. What is something that I can do today?
- 24:04Speaker 1: This is what I think every day regarding this thing
- 24:07Speaker 1: perhaps that I'm scared of, or regarding this thing that
- 24:10Speaker 1: for me is uncomfortable, or regarding this thing that for
- 24:14Speaker 1: me might feel periodically overwhelming, and I don't know where
- 24:17Speaker 1: I'm going to end up with it. What's one thing
- 24:19Speaker 1: that I can do to create progress, even if it's
- 24:25Speaker 1: a tiny bit of progress. What's one thing I can
- 24:29Speaker 1: do to build a little bit of momentum and maybe
- 24:33Speaker 1: move the needle a little bit on the fear or
- 24:37Speaker 1: a little bit on the other side of it on
- 24:39Speaker 1: my confidence and as much as the next tip, as
- 24:44Speaker 1: much as possible. I'm going to preface this with an asterisk,
- 24:48Speaker 1: and that is easier said than done, of course, is
- 24:53Speaker 1: to turn down the emotion as much as possible, or
- 24:57Speaker 1: at least get the volume down a bit, and turn
- 24:59Speaker 1: up the strategy, turn up the logic, turn up the
- 25:03Speaker 1: rational thinking, the plan, the process, the timeline, and we
- 25:08Speaker 1: start to just like we would with any project or
- 25:11Speaker 1: go the you project, just like with any project that
- 25:17Speaker 1: is a three D out in our physical world project,
- 25:21Speaker 1: if we're doing some kind of project with our garden,
- 25:24Speaker 1: or with our academia, or with our business, or with
- 25:27Speaker 1: our not for profit or with out whatever it is.
- 25:31Speaker 1: When we're doing a project, when we're committing to a process,
- 25:35Speaker 1: we need logic, we need strategy, we need planning, we
- 25:38Speaker 1: need accountability, we need all those things that I always
- 25:41Speaker 1: bang on about, and we need to jump into the
- 25:43Speaker 1: process as soon as possible. Now. I'm not saying eradicate
- 25:48Speaker 1: the emotions, of course, because it's pretty much impossible. What
- 25:51Speaker 1: I'm saying is, as best you can feel what you feel. Right.
- 25:57Speaker 1: I think there's a book called Feel the Fear and
- 25:59Speaker 1: Do It Anyway. It's not the worst title and it's
- 26:01Speaker 1: kind of true. So what are you feeling? I feel
- 26:04Speaker 1: self doubt, I feel a bit scared, I feel a
- 26:06Speaker 1: bit apprehensive. Cool, Okay, I get it. That's normal. That
- 26:11Speaker 1: doesn't mean you're broken or weird or terrible at all.
- 26:13Speaker 1: That means you're human. So despite those feelings, what are
- 26:16Speaker 1: you going to do? Yep, I'm acknowledging the feelings and
- 26:19Speaker 1: now I'm turning my attention to what I'm going to do.
- 26:22Speaker 1: What are you going to do? Okay? My third idea
- 26:25Speaker 1: for you is this, in terms of how to optimize
- 26:27Speaker 1: your potential, involve somebody else right now. That could be
- 26:33Speaker 1: a coach, could be someone you pay or someone you
- 26:35Speaker 1: don't pay, by the way, It could be a mentor
- 26:38Speaker 1: it could be a friend that you know that will
- 26:42Speaker 1: kind of keep you honest from one of the better terms,
- 26:44Speaker 1: someone who will call you on your bullshit. Somebody who
- 26:48Speaker 1: will help you stay accountable and in the process, and
- 26:52Speaker 1: somebody that might encourage and support and give you a
- 26:55Speaker 1: pat on the back when you need it, but also go, hey,
- 26:59Speaker 1: you're being for of shit. You need to dig deep
- 27:03Speaker 1: and look. We need I think we need a mix
- 27:06Speaker 1: of the reality stick, which ain't always what we want,
- 27:11Speaker 1: and of course encouragement and support. But what we don't
- 27:15Speaker 1: need is a cheer squad. We don't need. You know,
- 27:20Speaker 1: there's a lot of talk about cheersquads in twenty twenty
- 27:23Speaker 1: five and people you know who need a cheersquad. I
- 27:26Speaker 1: think if you need a cheersquad to be able to
- 27:28Speaker 1: do the things that are necessary for you to optimize
- 27:31Speaker 1: potential or become successful, if you can't do that shit
- 27:35Speaker 1: unless someone's looking or cheering or patting you on the
- 27:39Speaker 1: shoulder or handing you a trophy, then you're in trouble
- 27:43Speaker 1: because that is not practical in a world and a
- 27:47Speaker 1: life and an existence where people are not always going
- 27:51Speaker 1: to be there to do that. So if somebody happens
- 27:53Speaker 1: to be given you a pat on the back or
- 27:54Speaker 1: telling you you're awesome, that's nice. It's nice, but it's
- 27:59Speaker 1: not nice and it's not smart to be dependent on
- 28:02Speaker 1: that because if we can only do the work, if
- 28:05Speaker 1: we can only take the risks, if we can only
- 28:09Speaker 1: get uncomfortable and be brave when people are looking on, well,
- 28:13Speaker 1: now we've just created another dependency. Now we've created a
- 28:18Speaker 1: new addiction. And my addiction is I need attention or
- 28:22Speaker 1: I won't do the work. That's a way to destroy,
- 28:26Speaker 1: not optimize your potential. Can you do the work when
- 28:30Speaker 1: nobody's looking. Can you do the work? And my last
- 28:34Speaker 1: bit of advice is just and this is overly simplistic,
- 28:38Speaker 1: but I'm going to explain it. My last bit of
- 28:41Speaker 1: advice is, don't roll the dice and see how you go.
- 28:47Speaker 1: Don't give it a try. Don't do that, don't go
- 28:50Speaker 1: you know what. I'll start out and we'll just see what.
- 28:54Speaker 1: Don't do that because the moment that you go, oh,
- 28:56Speaker 1: you know, I'll give it a go and I'll see
- 28:58Speaker 1: what happened that you may's go fuck it, I'm not
- 29:01Speaker 1: doing it. There's an energy that people have, there's a
- 29:04Speaker 1: mindset that people have. I can't really articulate it well
- 29:08Speaker 1: right now. I'm just thinking out loud, but I see it.
- 29:11Speaker 1: I'm not always right, but I'm nearly always right. I
- 29:15Speaker 1: meet people who want to change shit on planet them.
- 29:17Speaker 1: I meet people who want to be successful. I meet
- 29:19Speaker 1: people who want to do this, change that optimize that,
- 29:24Speaker 1: and with quite a high level of accuracy, I know
- 29:26Speaker 1: the people that are going to do it, and the
- 29:27Speaker 1: people are not going to do it. And it ultimately
- 29:29Speaker 1: comes down to how much they fucking want it, how
- 29:32Speaker 1: hard they will work, how fully they will commit, and
- 29:36Speaker 1: their capacity to keep doing the work long after the
- 29:40Speaker 1: motivation and the excitement and the emotion have died. How
- 29:45Speaker 1: well can you commit? How brave can you be? How
- 29:49Speaker 1: uncomfortable can you get? Take away the safety in it,
- 29:53Speaker 1: take away the get out a jail card, fuck off
- 29:57Speaker 1: the escape clause. Fully fucking commit. And yes I'm coaching now,
- 30:03Speaker 1: And yes I sound like me I always default to
- 30:06Speaker 1: this done, but it's just fucking true. You know how
- 30:09Speaker 1: many times do we need to hear stuff before we
- 30:13Speaker 1: go right? I'm in, I'm in. I'm suggesting that, and
- 30:17Speaker 1: I could be wrong, but I'm suggesting that that you
- 30:21Speaker 1: have a propensity or you have had at times, or
- 30:24Speaker 1: do have at times to waste what you have to
- 30:27Speaker 1: work with. And I'm also guessing that maybe you want
- 30:31Speaker 1: to get more out of your talent and your capacity
- 30:34Speaker 1: and your potential. So maybe today's a time to start.
- 30:39Speaker 1: Maybe I'll be metaphorically cheering you on from way over here.
- 30:45Speaker 1: See next time.