Something I learned

I recently tried to answer this question: How do I perform at a high level in any aspect of my life?

In order to begin to answer that question, I have to know exactly what the Result is that I’m shooting for.

A few examples of Results:

Deadlift 500 lb
Run a half-marathon in under three hours
Graduate college
Get married

Now that I have the Result in mind, I have to figure out how I’m going to get there. In other words, I need a Process.

If I wanted to deadlift 500 pounds, here’s what the Process could look like:

Eat 150g of protein every day
Deadlift every week
Every three weeks, increase weight by 10 pounds until I lift 500 pounds

(By the way, if you’re looking to get stronger, I highly recommend Jim Wendler’s 5-3-1 Method)

Now that I have the Process in place, I know I have to be consistent with it and adjust over time until I get to the Result.

I’ve found from personal experience that not everyone can be consistent with their Process. The most successful people I know have a high level of Self-Discipline.

I define Self-Discipline as your ability to do the right thing under any circumstance. In the lifting example, Self-Discipline looks like going to the gym even though I had a bad day at work or if I’m more tired than usual.

Seems like that should do it, right? That’s what I thought too.

I came to realize that with all this achieving, there has to be a reason Why I’m going to put in the work to be Self-Disciplined and work through my Process until I reach my Result.

My Why has to be strong enough to push me to practice discipline when things get hard.

Here is what I call The Motivation Thesis:

Without the right Why, there is no motivation to be self-disciplined. If you’re not disciplined, you can’t be consistent. If you can’t be consistent, you can’t be a high achiever. Therefore, to achieve at a high level, you must find the right motivation (the right Why).

In order to be a high achiever, you have to start with Why.

Here’s a summary of how to be a high achiever:

Something I did

I explored one of Mexico’s many “cenotes”, which are deep natural sinkholes.

Source

I was in Mexico for a leadership conference and we went out on a zip-line and cenote excursion.

The cenote we visited had platforms to jump off of into the cool water. Super fun!

We also discovered bats in one of the many natural slots in the rock.

Something I used

I got a new MacBook Pro with the M1 Pro Chip.

This thing is scary fast!

I mainly bought it for large computer science projects during the school year, but it’s really nice to use for all the other apps I use on my computer

Something I laughed at

Enjoy the latest memes: