📉 Progress is pointless, here's why.

Read time: 4 min

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When I first said 'fuck it' and wanted to change my life

I got obsessed with tryna 'improve'

My day was filled with so much BS.

• perfect Notion dashboard

• self-help Youtube binging

• reading 1-2 books per week

It felt productive at the time

But I knew no results were coming.

Ah. That sexy word:

Results.

After 9 years training

You'da thought I'd know this by now, huh?

Like when ya go for a new Personal Best

You don't stop at 3 reps and say:

'Ah well, progress at least'

No.

You get that shit done, even if it kills you.

Now the trouble with 'progress' is - you feel better..

but it's the most vague and non-quantifiable metric to ever exist.

Think 'bout it:

You write 1 sentence for your new book and close the laptop.

Congrats bro. You made progress.

But how the fuck's that gonna achieve anything?

Moving the needle 0.01% is BS.

Here's what to do instead:

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1. Consequential Goals:

If ya feeling all ambitious this Sunday evening

And you set some crazy ass goals for what you'll achieve in 30 days

Ask yourself - how often has this worked?

For me- Zilch.

See

Setting goals is about how you take the actions that get it done

.. in the shortest time possible.

To get there?

Start setting the anti-reward of being lazy:

If I don't take these actions I FAIL.

Dakota Robertson uses this for Twitter:

Now to keep your dick in tact, set WHAT, WHEN, HOW you'll hit the BIG LEVER actions.

This is the 80/20 rule (Paretto's principle).

I'll tell ya now, there's only a FEW (maybe 1) thing ya SHOULD be doing right now.

Not 10. Not even 5. Identify it.

Everything else is secondary.

Now, the million dollar question:

2. Taking action on the things you KNOW you should be doing:

Psychologist Daniel Gilbert explained the 'Region Beta paradox'

What's this?

Basically, your life right now is jussst comfy enough for ya to do fuck all about it.

Do you wanna:

• quit your job

• leave your partner

• get back in the gym

But months pass and you took no action?

You'd actually be better if your life was worse.

If ya:

• lost your job

• partner cheated

• got cardiovascular disease

You'd be fixing that shit ASAP.

But when life's 'okay' - you take no action.

So what dya do - just make your life worse?

Well, no. Not exactly.

This is what I call-

3. The Effective Self-Deprecation Paradox::

PRE WARNING:

If you takes things to heart and usually quit

Stop reading now. Stay in your comfort.

-this is for those who can take serious mental hardship.

So back to it:

You don't need to hit rock bottom

It's just gotta feel like you have..

🔘 Step 1.

Open your eyes so fucking wide to what you could be.

Seriously - what's the dream?

Fame?

Status?

Make that a genuine possibility.

After all.. you got 1 short life.

When ya compare yourself now to that dream

You realise how fucking shit your life is.

Yes. Your life. Is. Shit.

You aren't anywhere CLOSE. Are you?

Just another bitch ass spectator of the world.

See? I need you to FEEL this pain. Lean into it.

Just think about how your actions so far have lead you to the mediocre life you have.

🔘 Step 2.

Accept you're about as far away from your dream as possible.

Fuck it - compare yourself to the greats.

In 2021 I made myself so painfully hurt I wasn't an online creator.

'I NEED to become the Mike Thurston's of the world'.

This here is rock bottom - from THAT possibility.

🔘 Step 3.

Take action NOW.

Accept your life is not 'cushy'. It's shit.

Don't compare yourself to friends, other mediocre guys.

You're not a great. You should be. But you're not.

What do you NEED to do right now to get closer to that?

Do these things.

And as we said - the BIG actions.. not the BS.

But there's 1 issue:

4. How to do the RIGHT things:

In the internet age, there's so much you COULD be doing.

Should you do X, Y or Z? All of them?

The key is framing:

🔘 'Choose your regret'

There are no perfect choices - only better ones.

When choosing to do 1 thing over another

Look at the downsides:

Which regret could you not live with?

And now look at the downside of the other-

Accept you'll have this regret - and that's okay.

Because you're going after something much more important.

RECAP: How you finally SUCCEED

1. Take a hard look at your life.

2. Feel the true pain of not being where you should be.

3. Reset your expectations for yourself MUCH higher.

4. Hit rock bottom.

5. Set out the 80/20 actions to get yourself out.

6. Remove all other 'progress' mental masturbation tasks.

7. Set goals and take action til you CROSS OFF the goal.

8. Create the next one, identify actions and go again.

All in, this can take 6 months to 2 years.

But the beauty is you'll build up so much momentum

It'll be impossible to stop - like the snowball effect.

It's all about reframing your mind and taking that first action.

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Hope this helps G's.

Remember this is for ruthless fuckers who can:

A. Deal with pain

B. Take real action.

Now get going sir. You have 1 life.

Marley 'comfy repeller' McBride.

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