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iAlign #72 - The Decision Took Two Seconds And Two Years · The iAlign Podcast with Flint Mitchell

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: You're listening to the I Align podcast with Flint Mitchell, where I provide stories, resources, and tools for ambitious builders who are ready to gain control over procrastination, overthinking, and distraction.
• 0:13
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_00: When I was thinking about applying to medical school after graduation, I wanted to make sure that I was doing the right thing.
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_00: After all, you're basically locked into that career from debt.
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_00: So instead of just studying for the MCAT and applying outright, I spent two years while I was working as a research scientist after school, after university, determining if that would be the right decision for me.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_00: On its face, this may seem contradictory to my normal view of taking as much action as possible instead of spending your time thinking about your decisions, which is where my philosophy of evidence-based living shows up.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_00: This is a philosophy where you use actions that create evidence to determine direction and then substantiate decisions.
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_00: Basically, if you are making a large decision or pursuing a large goal, instead of thinking about that decision or goal, you must make many actions toward it.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_00: And the evidence that you create will provide you with the answer that you need that likely thinking and researching alone would not.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_00: So in actuality, while I was making a decision, I was taking tons of action that I knew would make the decision for me.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_00: This is why I ended up volunteering in hospice care for two years as a 22-year-old.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_00: I wanted to know if patient care, the hospital settings, death, disease, all of that which encompasses medicine were good fits for me.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_00: So what ended up happening is that instead of spending time just thinking about if it was the right track for me, I was just living.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_00: I was interviewing and shadowing surgeons in the fields I found interesting.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_00: I was spending time interacting and supporting hospice patients as they were actively entering the final moments of their lives.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_00: I was studying for the MCAT, which overlapped with some of my responsibilities as a research scientist in the genetic sequencing industry.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_00: So sure, I spent some time contemplating, but only after I had evidence to contemplate.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_00: Instead of spending time thinking and thinking and thinking, I was just living, man, getting new experiences that were aligned with my personal direction in life, regardless of the outcome of my decision to pursue that career or not.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_00: And I remember vividly the moment where I made the decision.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_00: It was pouring out in the Bay Area as I drove to take the MCAT.
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_00: I was wearing a red and white aloha shirt.
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_00: Some kids' moms had driven them to take the test, which I thought was strange.
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_00: They were basically holding their hands, walking into the test room.
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_00: I had an eight-foot soft top surfboard in the back of my car in case the rain led up after the test.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_00: And after a couple hours of dedicated focus, I answered the last question with plenty of time to spare.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_00: I got to the final screen, and right when I pressed submit, I thought, nah, not for me.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_00: That was it.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_00: Really, that was it.
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_00: I had a genuinely fantastic time doing all these things that led me to the place where I could apply, where I would decide to apply or not.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_00: The volunteering, the shadowing, the interviews, the research, all of it.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_00: It was a blast because it was aligned with my values and my direction.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_00: And at the end of the day, in that moment, I realized something that may seem trivial to others, but was too important for me to give up.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_00: I can't sacrifice the time I spend outdoors.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_00: I want to surf and hike and explore nature, and the reality was that I didn't want to spend my 20s and 30s in a hospital setting.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't really like it.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_00: It was fine, but I didn't want to pursue it.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_00: There were some other small things, but honestly, that was one of the main ones.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_00: That career didn't align with my value of freedom in the way that I personally define freedom.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_00: It might align with your version of that value, and that's fantastic.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_00: So you might think, wow, you wasted all that time preparing for something you didn't end up doing.
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_00: No, not at all.
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_00: I spent two years absolutely living, learning new skills and knowledge, being present in intense and emotional settings in hospice care, exploring a world that I knew I would impact in the future in some way, some capacity.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_00: I just didn't know what yet.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_00: Not only that, after I put that decision away for good as I drove home on that rainy day, I felt no regret and no questioning.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_00: I had taken the requisite actions that allowed for me to have enough evidence to know to a very large degree of confidence that that path was not mine.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_00: I have quite literally never asked, what if I was a doctor after that moment?
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_00: That is what evidence-based living does for you.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_00: It provides you with a novel, interesting, value-line, confident life because it requires you to attack each day with passion and decisiveness.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_00: Not always decisiveness about the larger picture, but about the picture of today.
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_00: What actions can I take now that will lead me to where I need to be later?
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_00: But I've seen a disturbing trend recently, which is that a lot of people are blocking their ability to live in this way for multiple reasons.
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_00: One is overthinking, a classic systems-minded problem where we try to solve for the best option through thought instead of action.
• 4:51
  SPEAKER_00: This is where those thinkers shoot themselves in the foot.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_00: And the second, and honestly more pernicious one, is time wasting.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_00: If you spend your time scrolling your phone, playing too many video games, binging TV and movies, all that kind of stuff, you can't live this way.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_00: You can't live through evidence-based living.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_00: Not because you aren't capable of doing so, but because you don't have the time.
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, short and sweet, sorry to say it, but you just don't have the time to do it because you're giving that time up to those behaviors.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_00: But when you overcome overthinking and compulsive time wasting, a beautiful thing happens, which is that you find calm from your constant action.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_00: You find peace in the world because when you rest, that rest is both deserved and more healthy.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_00: You find joy in your environment because in order to take new actions, your environment must change in order to support those new actions.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_00: And lastly, you find contentment in the present moment because you know that you are doing what you can to acquire that which you want.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_00: You can actually rest your head at night and think, yeah, whether I get it or not, I did in fact try my best, and I am proud of myself.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_00: I hope you enjoyed that episode.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_00: Now, if you've been told your entire life that you're smart and you have potential, but you continue to see yourself not do what you said you would do again and again, and it's made you stop trusting in yourself or that you will ever achieve that potential, I want to help you.
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_00: Together, you and I will implement a core value-based system that will help you become decisive and focused.
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_00: I want you to feel the relief from the weight on your shoulders because of the decreased noise in your head.
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_00: Strength each morning because you trust yourself to turn lost avoidant hours of your life into forward progress.
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_00: Peace, when you no longer have to hide how you actually spend your time.
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_00: And finally, pride in yourself when you close your eyes every night before you go to sleep.
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_00: If that's of interest to you, click the first link in the show notes, fill out the 30 second application, and grab a time on my calendar.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_00: Spots are obviously limited because of my time and availability, but if they fill up and you're a good fit, I'll make sure you get on the wait list.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_00: I look forward to speaking with you.