In this article, I share the lessons from my discussion with Alan Hibbard on his 31 day fear challenge and getting things done. Alan is a life coach, Bitcoin expert and he was determined enough to build his grit muscle by recently completing David Goggin’s 4x4x48 challenge.
Here are 6 lessons that can help you start taking action:
1. Embrace minimum viable learning
I am always constantly consuming content that I believe will help me build a successful side hustle. Maybe if I watch this one episode, maybe if I read this one book, maybe I watch one more episode of GaryVee, maybe it will help me get started. Many of us are guilty of this. All it is doing is allowing us to delay taking action.
To break out of this loop of constant consumption, Alan recommends embracing minimum viable learning. Just like how a minimum viable product is a product with just enough features to satisfy early customers and receive feedback for future products, minimum viable learning is learning enough to start executing. The initial execution then provides the momentum to do more.
If you have been constantly consuming Inc.com articles and content from your business heroes, its time to stop. Tell yourself that you are not allowed to read or learn anymore. It is time to do.
2. What is your one thing?
Focus on one thing at a time. Do the one thing today that can bring you closer to where you want to be in life. The one thing is a concept popularized by Gary Keller in his book “The One Thing”. What is your one thing in a year? In the next month? This week? Today?
3. Your choices today become your long term habits
One of the challenges I face on a daily basis is – Should I go run today? One can come up with hundreds of reasons to go run and hundreds of reasons to not run. Be aware that the decision now will become a habit long term. Pick the one that will help you grow into the person you want to be.
If you have been constantly consuming Inc.com articles and content from your business heroes, its time to stop. Tell yourself that you are not allowed to read or learn anymore. It is time to do.
4. Take action immediately
The usual tendency for most of us is to delay action. We come up with an idea that makes us excited in the moment. We decide to do it tomorrow or at some time in the near future. However as time passes, the excitement fades away and the action is never taken. How many of us are guilty of this? I have done this so many times myself that I have lost count.
5. Ready, Fire, Aim
Ready, Aim, Fire! That is the usual way of doing things. However, most of us get stuck in the aiming. We get fixated on perfecting – having the best graphics, the best production values and so on. Being stuck in the aiming stage prevents us from putting our work out there. The philosophy to embrace is Ready, Fire, Aim.
Take the action (Fire) and aim as you go along. Go to anyone of your favourite YouTube content creators, look at their oldest content and compare it to their latest. You would see a marked improvement in audio, video quality and content. They took action and kept aiming till the got to the quality that they desired.
6. Remember to make it fun
Remind yourself to make it fun i.e. play. You can play with running, writing, climbing, fasting, hiring and firing, investing, anything!
This is a lesson from Alan’s 31 day fear challenge. Before he records any of his videos taking on his fear, he tries to smile about anything and even laughs at how ridiculous his own fear is. It reminds him to play with hus challenges, play with his actions, etc. Just like a child, nothing is serious ?
