Author: brianjohnson

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Additional Thoughts on Having Systems in Place

In my last post, I talked about the need for some kind of system in my business to keep things going forward. After deeper thought, I definitely think that’s a must!

I just read one of my old blog posts here where I essentially described this blog as my “system”. It was the only place where I was reading over old thoughts and goals and it was the only thing I had that resembled accountability of any kind.

But the problem is that it’s totally informal and has no real rhythm to it. I read old posts whenever I have time, and they all get the same amount of attention. That’s not really a system.

So I need something in my business that can prioritize tasks, keep them top-of-mind, and make me accountable to them. It also needs to have some timings built-in that ensure things are continually addressed in a systematic fashion.

But I’m also thinking now that maybe I need better systems for other areas of my life, too. I’m always trying to develop new habits and improve things, but there is no real system to it. I try to develop a habit until it works, or sometimes I fail, and then just… Keep going?

Maybe I need to put a schedule together and record results for new habits. Once something is established, I can move on. I should probably review it and record the results at least once a week, or maybe even more often. That would keep me focused.

With the unprecedented and continued success of my weight training “system”, it has made me even more confident that this type of success could be applied everywhere else in my life if I can just develop or find the right systems.

So in the coming weeks, I’d like to work on searching for or developing new systems for myself. From there, I think I can really improve rapidly!

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The Power of Having a System

I’ve started seeing rapid gains in my weight-training. After something like 7 or 8 years of little-to-no progress, that really is something!

And you know what really changed?

I have a system.

Historically, I’ve always chosen a handful of movements, and basically just lifted until I couldn’t anymore. Next week I would try again, and hopefully be able to do more reps.

It worked great in the beginning, when it’s easy to grow your untrained muscles. But within a year or two, it stalled almost completely. And I had no system to get me through roadblocks.

But now I have one! It tells me how much weight to lift each week, how much to add for the next workout, and what to do if I fail. It anticipates those failures and outlines a systematic plan to alter the weight I’m doing, grow stronger, and then break past barriers.

And it has been wildly effective. In a month or two I’ve improved more than in the last several years. It really is incredible.

It turned out that the problem wasn’t lack of effort, diet, sleep, form, or any of the other tiny details that can be totally overwhelming. It was just that I needed a system.

Of course, once things start going well, you tend to do everything else right, too. I’ve been eating better, getting enough of the nutrients needed, and being much more consistent in my training. The success is extremely motivating and it’s easy to do the harder things when you know they are going to be successful.

But now I’m thinking: where else can I apply systems to my life to have these kinds of impacts? How can I apply it to how I’m running my business?

I mean, what is my system for improving my business?

That’s a rhetorical question. I obviously don’t have anything remotely resembling a system to improve my business. And that’s bad!

In fact, I think I’ve been relying on this blog to be my “system”, which is almost exactly like how I used to weight train. I have a lot of good ideas, things that can really help. And I’m trying things here and there, hoping something sticks. But ultimately, they don’t lead to results.

Maybe the one thing I’m missing is just a system to guide my actions and hold me accountable. I’m at the tail-end of many months of essentially doing nothing to improve my business. Maybe I just need some structure.

I know I’ve read plenty of books that outline specific systems for doing exactly what I’m describing. I think it may be time to dust those off and take them more seriously.

Because while things are actually going decently in my business (all things considered), I’m really not improving right now. And if I could replicate the success of my weight training with my business, I think it would be extremely motivating and actually lead to even more success.

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Successes Within the Last Year

I think I need to take a step back and acknowledge the successes I’ve had over the last year that maybe I haven’t really mentioned here too much.

Too often I only focus on the failures and things that need to be improved, while rarely pointing out all of the things that have gone well. That should change!

So here are some successes I’ve had over the past year or so:

  • Drastically reduced or eliminated time spent on social media
  • Drastically reduced time spent browsing the news
  • Eliminated non-productive time on my phone
  • Replaced it with productive activities
  • Learned the name, location, capital, and flag of every country in the world
  • Learned the name, capital, and location of every state/territory in Canada, the US, and Mexico
  • Learned every US president in order, including the years they served, their party, and their presidency number
  • Grew my English vocabulary by about 300 words
  • Put on a significant amount of muscle and figured out a new workout routine that is yielding consistently positive results
  • Got into the habit of running, and reduced my one-mile time from over 8:30 to nearly 6:30
  • Have greatly improved the time in which I get up every morning, and minimized how late I sleep when not using an alarm
  • Started drinking less
  • Played drastically fewer video games
  • Greatly improved Spanish skills with drills, continued practice, and watching Spanish-language television instead of English shows
  • Learned a lot of history from reading and watching documentaries
  • Finished renovating my house and rented out the bedrooms
  • Paid off student loans, all credit card debt, and a business loan
  • Purchased a company and successfully migrated all of the clients to my services
  • Started investing money for the first time ever
  • Improved my yard and lawn considerably and harvested my first black raspberries
  • Caught the biggest snapping turtle I’ve ever caught

Honestly there are way more things than I thought there would be when I decided to make this list! That’s why it’s good to do it, to really get a sense of where you’re at and what’s going right.

I can’t help but feel like, while I did all of these things, there are many other things I should have been doing but didn’t. And while there is always room for improvement, it doesn’t all have to come at once. I think most of these fall into the category of self-improvement which I firmly believe will roll into improvement in all areas.

So I think I just need to keep it up, and good things will come!

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Working Out Earlier in the Day

Okay, so not every post here has to be deeply profound. I’m all about improvements, no matter how small.

Lately, out of necessity, I’ve been pushing many of my workouts to early in the day instead of in the evening when I usually do them. And I’m realizing there are huge benefits to doing so.

Historically, I would basically get all of my important work done, and only then would I do a workout. This typically has meant not working out until 6, 7, or sometimes even much later.

But the problem with that, I’m realizing, is that when you put something so physically demanding at the end of the day, it acts as a sort of barrier, like a magnet facing the wrong way.

It is hard to get through the work you need to do, because you know you’re going to need all of that willpower to do the workout at the end. And that’s a problem.

Now that I’ve been doing it earlier in the day, I’ve noticed that not only is it easier to get going on the workout itself, but also that you feel much freer afterwards. You’ve already done the hardest thing for the day, so everything else is easy. You just finish the rest, and you’re set!

So I need to focus on doing the workouts early consistently, I think. I’ll get a lot more done, and probably be more consistent, too.

That’s just my thought for the day.

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What if We Never Stopped Playing?

All mammals (and even many other animals) play when they are young. It’s how they learn.

When they aren’t afraid to try new things and fun with new experiences, their brains (and bodies) develop and they are able to grow to where they will be successful adults.

And then, in animals just as in humans: it stops. Instead of investing in more growth, they stop playing and they focus on survival and raising young.

From an evolutionary point of view, it makes sense that they would only spend so much time developing and then, when ready, would devote all of their time to raising new copies of their DNA.

But let’s say your primary goal wasn’t just to pass on your genetic material, and you weren’t simultaneously facing all of the challenges of caveman life. Is this really the best way to go about life?

Of course it’s not.

Life is very different now, I’m likely to live much longer than a caveman, and my priorities differ greatly. I think it’s extremely obvious that development should continue long past our mid-twenties.

Now, I’m well aware that primary brain development stops around 26, and that seems to coincide closely with when most people stop “playing” much. I’m not sure to what extend it’s possible to keep learning like a child beyond that time.

But my gut tells me that if you approach new experiences and challenges with child-like enthusiasm and interest, you are very likely to learn new things and develop yourself at any age.

So while I know the “grown-up” thing to do as one ages is to become more serious, stop trying new things, and to focus strictly on production, I just don’t think that’s for me. I think it’s a huge shame to stop playing and trying new things. And it might just be halting development that could easily continue, too.

It may even be possible that the rate of development and improvement enjoyed by children and young adults could by matched long into more advanced ages. It seems to me that if you managed to do so, you would have an incredible advantage over your peers by the time you were middle-aged.

So I think I’ll keep playing!

 

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It’s Amazing that I Still Don’t Have Time

I barely leave the house, and yet I still feel like I barely have any time to get things done at all.

My experience makes me feel like I have nothing in common at all with other people. Maybe it’s because  actual hobbies have become a dying pastime.

But I’ve been filling all of my days with work, learning/studying, exercising, socializing, house/yard work, and of course other hobbies like kayaking, disc golfing, etc.

And I feel like I’m really productive, but at the same time, there still just isn’t enough time. I’ve found that I’m never even close to bored, I’m never sitting around doing nothing (or even just watching TV for fun), and I rarely finish everything I set out to finish for the day.

And the bigger problem is that I’m not finishing some of the very most-important things I’m supposed to be doing. There are major, long-term projects in my business that are critical to my future success that I’m not getting done.

Maybe I just thought that with everything shut down, it would be easy to get all of these things done. But obviously that won’t be the case for me.

So now I’m left wondering if I need to start cutting some things out or limiting certain activities more, even if they are productive.

Or maybe it’s just a case of needing to delegate more in my business. I think that, along with the sense of “having more time”, I’ve started to take on more of the development work myself. That’s time that could fairly easily be freed-up by delegation.

Maybe the answer really is that simple. I guess I’ll have to think more about that.

Either way, it truly is important that I figure out how to get these important long-term things done. My career depends on it!

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News Diet Update and Reflections

It’s been something like 9 days since I gave up reading the news and all forms of social media feeds. And it feels… strange!

The first thing is that it’s really odd just how quickly something that seemed so important and relevant can feel so completely distant and irrelevant.

I’m speaking, of course, of the pandemic. So far I’m fortunate enough to not have suffered any losses personally or professionally as a result. And my day-to-day is virtually unaffected, since I already stayed at home most of the time to work even before the pandemic, and most of the activities I do for fun aren’t really impacted either.

So in any given day, it really feels as though there is zero impact to my life as a result. And when I’m not reading about it or talking about it, eventually it ceases to feel important.

I’ve also been extremely productive during this time. In addition to having more time to do things, I also feel better and am more motivated.

So I’m really starting to wonder about the actual cost of reading and caring about the daily news.

Clearly I’m not advocating total ignorance, but really, the vast majority of news has no impact on me at all, and of the remainder, I typically have no ability to change.

So ultimately, the rewards of keeping up every day are virtually non-existent, but the cost is extremely high.

While I think I’ll still check in from time-to-time, I think I just need to acknowledge that following most news is just another form of mindless entertainment with no benefit other than killing time; just like social media, most television, and (in my humble opinion) sports viewership.

I am better off without it.

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Going to Get Back into Focusing on One Thing

Since early on when I went to Mexico, I haven’t focused on my “One thing” that I’m supposed to be focusing on. I have times scheduled into my calendar to do it, but I haven’t done it!

The world’s been crazy and so has my life, but this isn’t really about excuses. It’s just time to move forward with all of my plans.

Last week was my first one back home, and I really wanted to work on developing good habits. I think I did that.

This week I’m just furthering that along and also getting quite a bit of things done around the yard.

Next week, it’s time to get back into doing my “One Thing”.

It’s what will carry me through, and what will truly lead to success. I need to focus on it every single day if I want to accomplish what I’ve set out to do.

I need to start by going over everything I’ve prepared in terms of the plan. Then when I’m reacquainted with everything, I need to execute.

Keep in mind: virtually all of my future success rests upon me doing these things now. So do it!

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New Habit – Getting out of Bed When I Wake Up

I’ve spoken at length in the past about how important habits are and how I should constantly be developing them.

I don’t think I’ve really been focusing on one in a while, and it’s time to start!

At the moment I’m doing a good job of waking up without hitting snooze. I’m also on a news diet and am avoiding Facebook and other sources of current-event information as well.

And Imgur is blocked on my phone.

So there isn’t much pointless entertainment left on my phone, which means I don’t even have anything to do in bed after I wake up.

Why not just get up?

I’ve wanted to do this for many years, and I think now I’m finally ready for it. It will add a ton of productive time to my week, and will let me finish things way faster.

So, I’ll do it! I’ll post more about it here as I progress.

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News Diet – Feel so Much Better

I’ve decided, for the time being, to just completely avoid the news. And also the Facebook news feed and all other types of social media.

And you know what? I feel so much better!

Historically I had more or less followed this strategy but with the pandemic I feel back into following-up on everything.

I can see why smart, well-educated people who keep current on things are always so pessimistic! The news makes you anxious, all the time.

And Facebook just makes me angry. So many people just believe and spread the most insane, baseless crap.

But when I’m not consuming any of it… I feel great!

I’ve come to a bit of a realization, too: the news, and keeping up on current events does not improve my life literally at all. I have no control over them, but they have tremendous control over me.

I do, however, have control of many things in my life. I can focus on me and on building my business and my friends and family. And those will only lead to good things.

I’m not saying I shouldn’t ever learn about current events or anything (though I AM saying that maybe I don’t ever need the Facebook news feed…), but I think the vast majority of “content” I consume should be from books and other reputable sources that actually give the full picture instead of just fear-mongering and showing me all the idiots.

I can insulate myself from those people just by doing really, really well in my own life. Finding my own success will be the way I drown out the things I have no control over anyway.

It’s really quite amazing how quickly I started to feel less anxious and happier after avoiding the news. If I’m reading this in the future, I hope I remember that!