All too often, people fail to build a solid foundation with the fundamentals and mistakenly get caught up in minute details trying to optimize their results.
Wants to lose body fat and can’t decide between going vegan, keto, or carnivore. Has never heard of a caloric deficit.
Interested in purchasing a test booster, fails to sleep 7-8 hours each night.
Wants big biceps and does curls all day, can’t even do one dead hang chin up.
Researching the perfect powerlifting shoes, can’t squat body weight for reps.
Wants to have visible abs, does thirty minutess of core work day in and day out. Never considers eliminating (or at the very least reducing) sugars and fried food.
Debating over which fitness tracker he should wear at the gym, has never recorded a single training session on paper.
Only does isolation exercises in the gym, wonders why he can’t put on muscle mass.
Thinking about buying a fat burner supplement, drinks alcohol every night.
Worried about perfecting meal timing, doesn’t even know what a macronutrient is.
This type of thinking doesn’t only apply to the fitness world, it’s everywhere.
Wants to make passive income, doesn’t bother making any investments in the market.
Tries to improve life through reading self-help books, takes no action, heeds no advice.
Uses 4 different facial scrubs/ acne treatments and eats like shit, but still wonders why they have terrible skin.
We can do this for days.
Most people can’t see the forest for the trees. They are too wrapped up in the details to see the whole picture.
Wasting time on inconsequential factors.
Fuck optimization when you’re failing to execute the bare necessities.
One way to remedy this situation is to utilize the Pareto Principle.
Also known as the 80/20 rule which states 80 percent of the effects come from 20 percent of the causes.
This is nearly a universal rule.
80 percent of your sales come from 20 percent of your customers.
80 percent of the crime is caused by 20 percent of the criminals.
80 percent of the bugs are in 20 percent of the code.
80 percent of the land is owned by 20 percent of the population.
80 percent of your gym results come from 20 percent of your exercises and habits.
There are two reasons why you are not focusing on the critical few inputs that cause 80 percent of the results:
- You don’t know what you’re doing
- You’re falling victim to the resistance (aka procrastination)
If you don’t know what you’re doing, seek out help from an expert.
Ask someone who is already doing what you want to do or has what you want to have and ask them how they did it.
Don’t be surprised if you have to pay for this information.
This will lessen your learning curve, save you lot of time and effort, as well as show you what inputs will have the most impact to help you achieve your goal.
Understanding and executing the critical few actions you must take is a game changer.
If you’re not a beginner and know what you’re doing, but still get caught up in the details, you’re caving to the resistance.
You’re putting off the important work and focusing on irrelevant inputs as a form of procrastination.
This may put you at ease temporarily, but failing to handle your priorities will begin to weigh on you.
Get out of your head.
Eliminate the worry, doubt, and fear through relentless action.
Focus on the critical few and watch things change for the better.
Talk again soon,
Shane