Running Your Own Race

The ONE thing that accelerates your progress

There is one skill that leads to more predictable success, in nearly any creative endeavor. It’s so deceptively simple that most will not pay heed to it, at their own peril.

Your ability to focus solely and even obsessively on the task at hand can change your life, if you’re ready. This is what we call “doing the work,” which separates the pros from the amateurs in every walk of life.

Will you power through the inevitable learning curve and setbacks? Can you adapt your approach to hit moving targets as you continue to hone your craft? Do you have the stick-to-itiveness to see a plan through to fruition, even when you are in the dip?

If you think you can multi-task your way to mastery, you have no business reading further. There’s the exit.

The good news for those of you with the fortitude and patience to put in the reps is this: A positive feedback loop is just around the corner.

It matters not if this particular project is a “success” or a “failure,” because the actual nuggets of value are not extrinsic success or accolades from outside. Rather, it’s the wisdom and tangible knowledge you gain by taking action, collecting feedback, and re-applying to the next round.

Who Owns Your Mindshare?

If you’re living in modern, technologically integrated society (hint: you probably are), you’ve got a digital fire hose aimed at you, 24/7.

The fire hose of digital inputs does it’s best to drench you with never-ending and urgent information, clamoring for your mental bandwidth and engagement. These insidious digital distractions can come in the form of emails, tweets, text messages, Whatsapp, Instagram feeds, phone calls and general advertising messages.

This is nothing new, and his been shared extensively in many corners of the big bad Internet.

In fact, the best-selling book “What the Internet is Doing to our Brains” sums up the concept better than I can.

I want to introduce you to a game I came up with, that has helped me focus and level up my business progress, while decreasing general levels of anxiety and scatterbrained tendencies.

Horse Blinders are a Pre-Requisite

Ever seen a racehorse on the day of competition?

Their task seems straightforward enough: running at breakneck speed down the raceway faster than the competition. It’s pure instinct.

Why do they make these horses wear blinders that only allow them to focus on the task in front of them?

If the racehorse loses focus during the race, and their attention drifts towards the other sprinting thoroughbreds, the jockeys riding them or the throngs of noisy spectators, they’d get spooked and lose their mojo. They’d have split focus and their performance would assuredly suffer.

A light bulb should have gone off in your head.

Have you consciously set the game up to win, the night before a work day, so you can get down to business with a clear list of outcomes for the day?

I’m not talking about the daily maintenance tasks of responding to emails, phone calls, pointless meetings or flirting with some hot guy or girl you just swiped yes to on Tinder. Save that noise for the evening.

I’m talking about strategic outcomes that will move the needle on whatever killer project you are building.

Examples might include:

Reaching out to an influential person, to partner on a new offering. Busy & successful people want to help, but only if you help yourself first
Re-writing a sales page for your website or email campaign
Making cold calls or emails that give you actionable market intelligence, so you can craft your product or service more effectively
Hiring a Virtual Assistant (VA) to delegate support tasks to, freeing up mental bandwidth and time to focus on new product creation, writing, or developing bang-up customer service protocols
Starting that book, blog or piece of content you’ve had an urge to create, but have been too stuck in self doubt to actually put pen to paper
Investing in yourself and your brand. This could mean paying a designer to overhaul your digital presence, or it could mean attending a conference where you’ll be around others that are playing the game at the highest level. Water seeks it’s own level. Step your game up.

A Factory-Shipped Super Computer

Have you ever heard of the Reticular Activating System?

Here’s an easy example:

You buy a new car, let’s say it’s a blue Toyota 4-runner. Have you noticed how that same model and color start showing up more frequently in your life?

This isn’t magic.

You have actually programmed your brain’s RAS to sort and filter only certain bits of information, from the billions of info bytes that are competing for it’s attention throughout the day.

Without our brain’s ability to filter non-essential data, we’d probably end up in an insane asylum, and be unable to form coherent thoughts.

Our ability to reach our cognitive potential in daily life is woefully inadequate

Why? A myriad of reasons. Here are the greatest hits.

Falling into the distraction of digital media — Yes, your smartphone is the biggest offender here. How many apps do you actually need and use on a regular basis? Go and delete the ones right now that you don’t use. Minimalism applies to the digital realm as well.
Being a “Yes Man” — This needs to stop. I’m an authority on this subject because I am a reformed yes man. It doesn’t matter whom you’re saying yes to. The point is, if you would rather say no, but say yes to avoid awkward feelings, you’re disrespecting yourself and your time. It might be your significant other, parents, boss, your drinking buddies or even a poor-fit client in your business. If you default to saying yes to everyone, so that you will be loved, keep your job, or save face, you are losing. Yes, it’s great to be generous and to contribute to the well being of others. But, if that comes at the expense of doing what YOU want to do, your priorities will take a backseat to the desires of those around you. You will end up resenting them, and yourself. Instead, think of yourself as an adult on an airplane, when it runs into trouble mid-flight. What do the flight attendants demand you do first? Yes. You put on your own oxygen mask first, then take care of those around you. This is not about arrogant selfishness. If you want to contribute to and make a positive impact on others, your must handle your business first. Ironically, the more successful and on-point your life becomes, the more resources and energy will be at your disposal to assist others, at your discretion. When in doubt, say no. It might feel awkward the first time, but it gets easier and actually feels damn good.
Not Having a Clearly Defined Mission — This is such a big offender I can no longer ignore it. I’ve heard the excuse hundreds of times “Well, what if I don’t know what I want, Mike?” You’re full of shit, that’s what. If you did an actual gut-check, you’d realize that you DO have bigger dreams, which you have probably given up on, or worse justified your lack of courage by saying to yourself and others that “when the time is right, THEN I’ll do that.” The biggest fear humans have is of uncertainty. Yep, it’s stronger than our fear of death. We’re uncertain the project would work. We’re uncertain of what people would think of us. We’re uncertain if we’d go broke and live on government cheese under a bridge. The quality of your life is in direct proportion to the amount of uncertainty you can comfortably manage.
Not Consciously Choosing Your Peer Group — Everybody’s heard that you’re the average of the five people you spend the most time with. If you haven’t, you need to crack open a book. My question is this: Did you consciously choose this peer group, of those with similar missions and values systems? Probably not. They’re probably the people you sit in a cubicle with, cooking under florescent lights 40+ hours a week. And, when you’re not there, it’s probably your buddies who want to zone out all weekend watching sports, chasing cheap sex and ingesting substances that throw your mind and body out of whack for days afterwards. Where will these people be in 5 years? If that’s where you want to be, by all means, keep doing what you’re doing.
Staying in Relationships Past their Expiration Date –I’m all about keeping it real here at Career Deviant. Let’s rip the delusional Band-Aid off, quickly. Many of you are in intimate relationships that, like an old piece of meat, have passed their expiration date long ago. They no longer taste good, provide no nutritional value, and can stink up your life something fierce. A toxic relationship can make you physically sick. Worse yet, the wrong relationships have the tendency to mire you into nebulous complacency about the larger direction of your life goals and destiny. They are a distraction in the form of short-lived validation. Do you have the guts and stomach to have an uncomfortable conversation with someone you should have ended it with a while ago?

Look, I’m not going to B.S. you. I offer this advice to you because I’ve learned each of these lessons the hard way. I also know that words don’t teach as effective as falling down and skinning your own knee.

If this article has at least brought awareness to these common enemies of a life on your own terms, where you are calling the shots each and every day, then I will consider it time and energy well spent.

Get out there and poke the box in your own way. Make mistakes and pull different levers in your life to see what moves the needle for YOU. There will be nuances, but the general principles I’ve written about will remain consistent.

Remove the energy drains of poor-fit relationships, bad living situations and default employment.

I’m not saying that these are easy changes to make. I can tell you, unequivocally, that they are necessary and worth it. That is, if you want to be the one calling the shots in your life. If this isn’t you, that’s fine. This tribe we’re building isn’t for everyone.

The world needs middle managers too.

Remember to add energy-giving inputs of driven and supportive people, continuous learning and a beginner’s mindset. An attitude that doesn’t fear experimentation, haters being haters and temporary failures is your biggest asset. Cultivate this mindset.

Put on the horse blinders. Turn off the smartphone. Start saying no.

You make the rules.