Goals vs. Intentions: Why You Should Stop Waiting for January 1st

Speaker A: Why do we always wait until the 31st of December to, you know, to change something? Why don't we just do it like, today? If you're, like, legit and you want to get going, you want to change, you want to make this change in your life, you want to do this, what are we waiting around for? Let's just get going here.

Speaker B: Everyone has talents, capabilities, possibilities for themselves to create a life that is meaningful and rewarding. The challenge is m. You might have to overcome some adversity, some fears, some doubts. And that, that's just hard. I think that's the hard part. I think we believe the hard part is, how am I going to make money from this thing? I actually think that can be a little bit easier than we think. It's just like, it's a good excuse to not pursue something that's scary.

Speaker A: Welcome to the Redefining Retirement Podcast. My name is Corey. This is Mike, and today we're going to talk about New Year's resolutions, or should I say new life resolutions. Mike, tell us, like, what you do really quick.

Speaker B: Yep. I'm, uh, Mike Vasilia. I am the founder of MindWorx. And I think the simplest way to explain Mineworks is it is part executive coaching, part mindset mentoring, and part self discovery. The idea is to understand what you're trying to get out of life and what's in your way. Remove the things that are in your way so that you can live an intentional life that is filling and rewarding.

Speaker A: All right? And, uh, and as far as I go, um, my big thing right now is just I want to help Gen Xers basically, you know, bet on themselves, right? So I'm all about that. Whether you're betting on yourself, like, hey, I know I need to diversify my income, or I want to bet on myself and I started a business, or I bet on myself, you know, for the last 20 years, running a business, you are the people that I want to help. And that's why we run, uh, this particular podcast, Redefining Retirement. And, and we're doing it in a way that, like, you know, it's forward looking, right? We're not, we're not just gonna use the old lessons, you know, wait till you're 40, you know, 59 and retire and, you know, you'll have a pension and then you can go golfing, right? That's not what this is about. This is about finding something that you want to do that you just enjoy doing so much that you just. It doesn't even really matter if you retire or not. Right. So that's what this is about. And uh, before we get started, wherever you're listening to this or if you're watching on YouTube, go ahead and uh, just subscribe to this because this is the kind of stuff we're going to talk about all the time. Um, I'm going to bring experts from, you know, all kinds of places and they're all going to be the same age as we are, most likely. Right. Um, I don't want to, I never say never, but we want to hear it from people that are actually doing it that are, you know, in our shoes. And so definitely subscribe. And we always have nice little treats for you in the description. You know, uh, cheat sheets and all kinds of stuff. Cheat sheets, consults, all kinds of stuff. So just check down there. So, yeah, I'm getting kind of, uh, getting all revved up. So yes, back to.

Speaker B: Let me jump in quick, Corey, just to kind of key in off of the theme that you're saying, both the theme of what, you know, redefining retirement is about and then a theme of this episode, I guess. But uh, yeah, this was a massive just shift for me when I started to, I guess, get some belief in myself, which I didn't know I was lacking, quite frankly, that actually I could create and, or pursue a life that was just meaningful to me, full of both hobbies and income producing activities that were so meaningful and rewarding that I wasn't looking forward to ending it or to retiring from it. Um, and we need breaks and rest no matter what, but not like these typical, I need two weeks vacation because I just don't. I need a break from this thing that I ended up doing that is not fulfilling and rewarding. And I'm just doing it for the sole, pretty much the sole purpose of income that I just want to be done with. And this was a massive, massive mindset shift for me of like, why am I doing something I just want to be done with? You know, Like, I never, I never even bothered to think outside of that framing or that box to think like, are there things in this world that I could pursue and do that I actually just enjoy? I'm not saying I enjoy every single ounce of it or every moment, but on the whole, right when I look back at a week or a month, I've overall enjoyed the contributions I've made, the efforts I've put forward, the things I'm um, engaged in, the people I'm doing it with. And I just never even allowed myself to contemplate that I never really had examples of that. And now that I have shifted that, I think the main thing that prevented me from doing that was not because I wasn't capable, not because I don't have talents, even though I was honestly believing that about myself was one, I didn't have that self belief, and two, I at one point was just like unwilling to face the fears and things, the insecurities and the doubts about myself to really pursue that. So I really genuinely believe that everyone has talents, capabilities, possibilities for themselves to create a life that is meaningful and rewarding. The challenges that m. You might have to overcome some adversity, some fears, some doubts. And that. That's just hard. I think that's the hard part. I think we believe the hard part is how am I going to make money from this thing? I actually think that can be a little bit easier than we think. It's just like, it's a good excuse to not pursue something that's scary. And hopefully we can provide not only some inspiration, but some tools and tactics to help people overcome that.

Speaker A: It's. It's definitely, um, what you said is. Is pretty much the same origin story as I have, right? Like when I was. When I was looking to change careers back in 2013 or just wanted to get out. Um, it's like, well, if I do something, do I really want to have to go through this again? Because I had been through this like multiple times. I was, uh, man, I was in my 20s. I was jacking around, you know, just screw doing. Doing stuff that wasn't great. And then I, you know, eventually got out of the factory job stuff. And then I event. Eventually ended up in, um, you know, in the mechanical drafting position for almost 17 years. And so I had already reinvented myself once already. So then I did it, you know, then I'm looking at doing it another time. And it was like, man, you know, like, what am I doing wrong here? Do I have to do this again? You know, because you did at some point or, uh, I did at some point when I was, you know, when I got that drafting job. M. I'm like, this is it, man. Made it. I made it out of the. I made it off the factory floor. And I'm just, you know, I'm, you know, with my days to say in high cotton, I don't know, whatever, you know, like, so. So, um. So yeah, so. But eventually I was like, no, this ain't it. You know, and that's what kind of led me to this whole situation. And to kind of, you know, segue into the whole, you know, what does this have to do with New Year's resolutions, Corey? Well, um, I've been thinking about it, and, like, every year I think about this, and I've been saying this to my friends. It's like, why do we always wait until the 31st of December to, you know, to change something? Why don't we just do it, like, today? You know? Like, I mean, if you're, like, legit and you want to get going, you want to change, you want to make this change in your life, you want to do this, it's like, what are we waiting around for? Like, let's just get going here. Like, so, you know, that's why I said new life resolution, not necessarily New Year's resolution. And, uh, the. The search marketing geek that I am, I just was curious before we jumped on here, and I'm like, I go, you know, how many searches are there? I'll. I'll ask you. How many searches do you think there are every year in January and February for New Year's resolutions? Do you have a guess?

Speaker B: I have no idea. I mean, I don't even know how many searches generally are happening. I don't know. Uh, 20 million?

Speaker A: Okay. All right. I was thinking that it was going to be a lot more than it is. It's still significant, though. Um, there is, you know, on average, every December and January, so both of them together, there's 450,000 people looking up, uh, searching for New Year's resolution. Um, so anyway, I thought it would be more than that, but either way, that's a lot of people that, um, I think, uh, could probably listen to this podcast. So if you're out there, 240. 240. If we could just get, you know, 15 to 20% of that, um, all of a sudden, Mike and I are doing this podcast every day. I don't know, daily.

Speaker B: Yeah.

Speaker A: But, yeah, so just that's the whole thing. And I. And I go back and I trace through, like, I think one of the bigger ones was that I had what biggest epiphanies about this was around. Around the COVID time. I mean, I had been thinking about this before this, but around Covid. I don't know if I can say that on YouTube and not get canceled or banned or whatever, so I'm gonna have to edit that. But around that time, I was, uh. I just. I had gotten sick a few times that year, or I had the one time, and I'm like, you know what, dude? I Gotta. I was like, 235 pounds. I'm like, I gotta figure this out, man. I'm like, I. You know, instead of going down, I won't get into all the other stuff, but I'm like, I just. I need to get. I need to drop some weight. I need to, uh, you know, fortify, you know, my. My. My health a little bit more. And I could have sat there, and it was. I could have sat there. I'm like, you know, and. And this was sick over Thanksgiving, by the way, which is a whole other story. It's like, I couldn't even taste my turkey. I could. You know, I love Thanksgiving, and I couldn't taste anything because I had. I had Covid. Um, so anyway, thinking about this. December 15th, I started just. All I did was I started tracking my calories. And just so you know, I didn't just. This isn't the first time I did a diet. It's not the first time I did a fi. It's not the first time I did any of this stuff. I've been working on this stuff for years. A long time. However, um, just something clicked, and I'm like, all right, I'm going to get even more. And. And all I did is started tracking my calories on December 15th. It's like, no, I didn't wait till the 1st.

Speaker B: Right.

Speaker A: Didn't wait till. It's like, you know what? When New Year rolls around, I'm gonna jump out there and I'm gonna start working on this. It's like, no, I just did it that day. And, um. And so I. I actually have a. I've been tracking my calories since that day still. I got on my phone, actually, I could prove it to you.

Speaker B: Um, but you're over a year, man. Nice. It's.

Speaker A: Oh, it's actually. It's like. It's, uh, 1700 days I just crossed a couple weeks ago.

Speaker B: Right. It's okay, too. Yeah.

Speaker A: Right. Yeah. Well, it's been a. But what I learned is, like, hey, I. I was able to drop those calories, but I still, um, dropped the. Drop the pounds over the holidays. Right? So I learned I could go through the holidays because what I did is I kind of had like, an, you know, an 80, 80, 20 approach, right? Like, I can go off the rails a little bit, like, on Christmas Day, because the rest of the week, I was under, like, what, 20, 200 calories? Um, new Year's Day. Big day for, like, myself and a lot of my friends. You know, we like to go out and have some cocktails and uh, you know we're uh, we, we turn, you know, we do a lot of stuff on, on those days. We get, we let loose a little bit. And again I still lost weight through that whole, that whole thing, right? And I felt good. And if I had waited till the end of the first of the year, I would have had those learning experiences of like know what? I can do this. And I shouldn't let um, the holidays be an excuse. I can make it through that. And at the end of the day, March, I think it was like in the beginning of March, I ended up going from 2:35 in on December, uh, December 15th to 212. And I've been at about 212 for a couple years. And then I know I've been working on a little bit even more recently. But I just tell you that because that is like the biggest example of like I didn't wait till the New Year's, I just started.

Speaker B: Well, well let's, let's talk about that because first of all that's commendable. And, and um, let, let, let's talk about the what, why typically we don't just start right away like it's a form of procrastination. We'll come back to that. But what you just said there is the key point when we want to make a change. It's cuz we want some result, right? And, and there's just the logical thing to think about is like what, why am I delaying or deferring the result? Because especially things that might take time, maybe uh, you know obviously to lose weight is gonna usually be at least three months unless you're doing some crazy crash diet, right? But you know that's gonna take at least three months, maybe six or 12 depending on the person and what they're doing. Whatever, right? So the most logical thing to think is like if I want the result, why am I deferring something I want? Why am I, why am I waiting? And that's a, I mean, I literally mean to ask yourself that question because there will be an answer. And typically we are delaying. It's a form of procrastination because we're either scared about the effort, we're just afraid it's going to be hard, right? It's hard to start to restrict yourself in some way in a diet, right? And there's all kinds of ways you could approach it differently to make it not feel that way. But that's what happens. Our mind, body goes oh, this is going to be hard If I haven't conditioned myself to do hard things, I'd rather delay that. And it's just the mind and body's way to go. Like, yeah, you'll get to that later. Which is another way of saying, I don't have to do that hard thing.

Speaker A: Right.

Speaker B: That's really kind of to some degree, psychologically, what's happening. And then the other thing is we tend to have this mindset of, like, preparation. Like, I somehow need to be prepared to do this thing to start this diet. Well, let me look up a diet that works for me and let me do some research and let me maybe test some things out or let me ask some friends what's worked for them. This preparation phase is. It can be a form of procrastination as well. And there's. We'll put a link to this. Uh, but there's this great Arthur Ashe quote. Um, I'm going to get a little bit wrong. But he says basically, like, start where you are. Use what you have, do what you can. And his whole point is you don't need any more preparation to begin the first baby step on a path to the change you want to make, the person you want to become, the thing you want to feel, the activity you want to be doing. The whole point is, start now with whatever small step you can, because otherwise all you're doing is delaying and deferring. And we all know this. We've all lived this. Most likely in most situations, it never happens. You just don't ever start. So the point is, you have to start at some point. Why defer it? And literally, I'm. I'm literally meaning this. Ask yourself, what am I deferring for? What is the benefit in waiting? And you'll probably start to tell yourself, well, I'm not ready. I need to have this, I need to have that. And what I'm hoping is useful here is to. If you're going to doubt anything, doubt those excuses. Doubt that little voice that says you're not ready. You are. Are. You're always ready to do some step at the very. This very moment. It's figuring out what step that is and realizing everything else is procrastination and delaying and most likely on a path to avoidance. So I am with you. We know the logic of, like, why am I deferring this thing? I want to happen. Let me just start now. And whatever excuses come up with, start where you are, use what you have, do what you can, and start taking that step. Because then it's momentum. And then obviously you get the thing that you're wanting sooner. I mean, that's, we all know the logic there, but it's our mind. And that feeling like, oh, this is going to be hard, let me just defer it. That's the thing we're combating. That's the thing we got to overcome, really.

Speaker A: I think too, that another thing that should, you know, that should be in your mind is you're not necessarily looking for, like, oh, hey, I'm gonna do this diet plan for, you know, for the month of January or something like that. Because, you know, those always have, like, this very finite, you know, like there's a finish. And I'm not saying don't do things because I definitely do, like, little programs and stuff like that to kind of jumpstart me. But at the end of the day, everything that you do, you want to turn it into a practice, a daily practice, because you're gonna, you're gonna want to do this the rest of your life. You know, just being healthy and getting off weight or enjoying your work or whatever it is that you're trying to, you know, resolve in your life is, is something that is going to be a lifelong practice, right? It's not just like, okay, I, I lost five pounds. Great, you know, I'm done now. No, it's like, do something that keeps the pounds off forever. And it's like, I, I, I've, like I said, I've done a millions of programs, and maybe not millions, but like, a lot of programs. I've fasted, I've done keto, I've done, I've done everything, um, workout programs, you name it. And I've taken a little bit of each one of those along the way, and they've, they've formed the foundation for what is a practice. Every single day, you know, like, I go, uh, every day I get X amount of steps, perhaps, or every day I, I know if I'm going over 2200 calories. Danger, danger, you know, like, I know I, I, but that's born out of, like, because I just started doing it and I got into practice because I always think back probably even to the. This is maybe even part of the origins of this whole conversation was in, you know, in the mid 2010s when I was going to the Y. Um, I still go to the Y, but back then I would always notice it's like I could never get on a machine in January, right? It's like, my God, it's like, what are. The treadmills are full. Like, everything's full because it's like the beginning of the year. Yeah. But I would joke, we'd always joke with the other, you know, like the other members that we are, like, we're regulars, like, we're there like all, every day, you know, or every couple days or whatever, and be like, it's all right, they'll be gone by February, you know, I mean, that was. It's like clockwork every year, right. It fills up and whatever. Um, but it just, I think about that I'm like. And every time I tell people, I'm like, you just, you have to think about it as a long term commitment. You know, it's like, I don't know, it's like, uh, I don't want to get down the rabbit hole and some other things that I got. No, no, but.

Speaker B: So I think you're hitting on another important distinction here, which is the theme of this is like a resolution or a goal is only as good as the intention behind that goal. And, and really understanding who you want to be. How is this goal serving your life, serving who you are showing up as. Right. And we rarely do that. We just think, like in a moment of frustration, oh, I've put on a few pounds. I'm not happy with that. I want to get rid of those pounds. And we don't really assess, like, why that's meaningful to us. What is our real motivation? What, what am I going to feel at the end of that if I pursue that goal and do I want that to just be a one time thing, like, okay, I, uh, lose the five pounds and what I put it back on or whatever. Right. Like, we rarely actually kind of get to the source of this. And what you're describing is a very important distinction. So let's say I have a goal of losing 10 pounds to some degree that is somewhat out of my control right there. There's like elements and factors there. Like if I were to break a leg, I might not be able to, you know, burn calories in the same way or whatever. Right. But in large part, you know, there's some element that we can influence on that stuff. But more so what you're talking about is I could even accomplish that. I could work really hard, I could be super disciplined. I could use a lot of willpower to restrict my eating and exercise a lot and meet that goal. Then what? I have no system in place. I never really understood why that mattered to me. I have no kind of framework to, uh, fall back on once I meet that goal. And so what you're describing. This is a really important distinction I think is having an intention. And intention is a, is a really important distinction between a goal. A goal is some sort of objective result, outcome based thing to aim for and it's important to have. But largely we, there's usually many factors outside of our control whether we can actually accomplish that. The intention is the daily way we show up, the daily activities. So if, uh, my intention is to be a healthy person, yes, I need to define what that means for me. But it's probably the basics of I want to be intentional about my food choices on a daily basis for my life. Right? I want to be intentional, uh, intention, intentional about exercise, uh, and moving my body. And that simply means going to the gym three days a week pretty much no matter what. Doesn't mean we don't go on vacation or get sick once in a while. But the intention is to show up routinely. And this is when we start to create a life and an intentional life. The results of those efforts of how you show up are going to vary. But what you're building is a sense of self that says, I'm a person that is healthy. I'm a person that is active. I'm a person that makes healthy choices in my food for the most part. And then the other thing is you can measure that more frequently because it might take months to lose 10 pounds, but you could every day go, did I follow my intention to choose healthy meals, nutritious meals? And if you didn't, that's okay because tomorrow's a new day. We don't need to like again kick this can down the road. It's like, uh, all right, let me do better tomorrow. And if you do that process enough times now, you're just living a healthy lifestyle. You are a healthy person. You've become this person versus met this goal.

Speaker A: It's a huge, you know, this is such a huge topic. It's like, like talking about health and all that. But the one thing that happens too is if you take the long term viewpoint, you know what happens is it kind of starts to build a momentum. Like I was telling you before, I've got like, I've got my. It's, it's a Lose it app. It's called, it's called Lose it. You're looking for one. Looks like a little scale. But I know I have 1700 days on there because I've been logging my calories for 1700 days and has every single one of those days been like, I do have cheat days on there. You know, like, okay, so there was a Saturday or a Sunday, like, where I ate so much because we went out for. You wouldn't believe how much a prime rib dinner is with. With a few old fashions and a couple of beers. I mean, that's thrown off. So usually those I'll just enter in as cheat days. However, the process of just entering those calories in every single day builds a momentum. Like, I can't imagine. Like, it almost gives me heart palpitations thinking, like, that. That I won't log my calories, right? Like, I mean, it's become that much momentum. At first, yes, it was a pain in the ass because, like, friends will be like, wow, you know, how do you do that? And I'm like, well, after a while, you know, and it's. It's not gonna happen overnight, but, like, you know, over the course of the weeks and the months that you're doing this, what happens is, like, you start to memorize, like, oh, well, that looks like about 5 ounces. So I'll just put that in there. And like, that's about this many calories. And this is how my. This is that many calories. You start to learn, and it makes it faster, right, To. To blog it. But also it kind of ingrains into your head that, like, you know what? I remember when I ate that, I felt like I felt like crap when I. After I ate that, right? So. So you start to see stuff like that. You start to see how many calories you're consuming. So, like, it's just gonna. It just gives you guardrails, right? Like, you. You're gonna have times where you're gonna be like, whoa, hey, we just went into the 4,000 calorie thing this weekend because I was, you know, hanging out with my friends by the lake all weekend, just stuff on my face. But, you know, you gotta bring it back in, you know, by the time you go. So you're. You're kind of managing it, and it keeps you from going off the rails. But again, the biggest thing is it creates a momentum. And that's like, with anything like that I've ever done. And that goes for, like, right now as I'm kind of transforming my business, like we talked about before we got on here. It's like, I am trying to. I'm just doing the hard stuff now because I'm trying to find that momentum. I'm trying to find that thing that's. It's almost like a flywheel that's gonna just start spinning. And once it Gets going, you're locked in, and you're gonna go. That's every time I had any growth in my business. It's the same thing. Like, I had to grind through the early days, and eventually when I found something and I caught onto it, boom. You know, then it just starts to pull you through. So that's kind of like the thing that you're looking for and not just

Speaker B: like you're showing up consistently versus just chasing a result. Right? Like, you have to have both. The goal is the measure. Like, if I don't know if I'm making progress, I don't know what direction I'm heading, then we get kind of lost, and it fizzles in that regard. But the same thing. If we have a goal without a clear understanding, the intention, the motivation, the. The feeling that we're trying to get through that process, then the goal itself becomes too complicated. We don't have anything underlying it, and there's no routine reward system inbuilt unless we get to the goal. And then it's like, oh, I, you know, I put on a pound instead of lost a pound. Well, now I feel discouraged and I just give up. Versus, like, no, I am systematically, you know, intentionally taking these steps. And I know I, for the most part, followed my intention daily, or at least, you know, several points over the week. And that becomes fulfilling and rewarding, and that becomes the motivation, that becomes the momentum you're talking about. It's like, we have to be clear on our intentions and how we want to show up daily so that we can get that daily reward recognition of, like, oh, I didn't show up today the way I wanted to. Okay, Now I'm motivated to do that tomorrow. I did do that today, so that's encouraging. And that's momentum you're talking about. But it's really important that we. We understand what our intentions are. What. And then the other thing about intentions, that's something we can commit to. I can't. I could have a goal of winning, uh, a marathon, but I. There. There's so many factors, so many other competitions and other things to face. Like, that's not an intention that I can't commit to.

Speaker A: That.

Speaker B: An intention is something I can commit to, which is like, I'm every day going to put my shoes on and go for a run, even if that's one mile. You know, obviously I'm going to need to do more than that. But the point is, if I just can stay with that consistent intention, I can commit to that commitment to this Process is the fundamental game changer. That's the only way you're gonna. It's not the only way. It's the most productive, the most rewarding, easiest way to pursue a goal and pursue, uh, a lifestyle. Right. A, uh, consistent, continual lifestyle. Because it kind of becomes your identity. I am a person who shows up every day and makes healthy choices and does what I need to do for my work and my health. Simple as that. But we tend to not do those things.

Speaker A: Yep. And you just, you just have to allow yourself to kind of, you know, not be perfect as well. Right. Like, you want to, you want to have the, you know, like I always say, 80, 20. Like, if 80% of the time, I am game on, great. But there's going to be those 20%. Like I said, when I'm like, for calories, for sure, it's like, holy crap. I just, you know, went way over my calories for the last, you know, two days in a row. And then you see the scale on Monday, and you're like, oh, my God, I'm up to 217. Oh, my God. You know, like, and it's just like, but, but that's, like, kicks your butt back into shape. But you wouldn't know that if you weren't tracking that. Um, yeah. You know, and it's the same thing with, like, working out kind of stuff. It's, it's, it's all the same. Um, I'm trying to think for more examples for people, like, with businesses, because it happens with me all the time, too. There's like, I don't just come down here, you know, like, we talk about redefined retirement and loving your work and all that stuff. It's like, I don't come down here to my office every single day. Like, oh, my God. Yeah, today's the day, man.

Speaker B: We're.

Speaker A: You know, there are days where it's like, God dang it, do I really want to be going make it a. I don't really want to do that today or I'm not in the mood to make a video today. I'm not, you know, like, like, you know, I want to make videos. I like making videos. But some days I'm just like, God dang it, my hair doesn't look right and I don't got the right shirt on. Uh, I'm like, I started to find all kinds of excuses not to go do that. So that still happens. Um, even with these, with these podcasts, it's like, I love doing them. And then it comes down to Editing them and posting them. And I'm just like, oh man. You know, like, you know, like you just, you get in your head. So it's not always going to be perfect, but if you just do something, you know, I, I think a lot of times, um, I used to use my guitar as an analogy. Like people are like, you know, how do you practice more? Um, and it's like, well, I, first of all, I would put my guitar in front of me so it always be, it always be like in the, in the room. So like I would just go up there. Sometimes I might go up there and pick it up and play it for two minutes and then set it down. Some days it turns into like a two hour session. You know, like maybe I wrote a song, you know, but the fact, but you're not gonna. That the odds of that happening are like slim to none. If that thing's buried in the back of a frickin, you know, a storage unit, you know, or way, way in your basement somewhere, you know, it's like, it's not, it's not going to happen. So that's another thing. You want to put stuff in front of you that kind of um, help.

Speaker B: Atomic Habits. He calls that an environmental cue. Right. And it's the same thing Corey is like, if this stuff is truly important to us and we got to get clear on that, why is this important? Yeah, there, there's a process called the five whys. Have you heard about that?

Speaker A: Oh yeah. Yep.

Speaker B: Yeah. So you just, you ask yourself why five times so you can really get to the core what is important about this. And then you use that as your motivation and your anchor. But anyway, if something is really important and you're clear on that, then you want to set yourself up for success. So having an environmental cue just means like putting something in your field of vision regularly to be a reminder in a cue. So if it's your guitar right there, it's like, okay, I need to pick this up. Even if you do it for five minutes, that's something, it's consistency.

Speaker A: Right.

Speaker B: So these are very effective.

Speaker A: You know, he came out with that after I thought about that. You know, that technique of putting the guitar out there and it's like an opportunity there, man. Like, I mean as huge as Atomic Habits is, just think I'd be having a whole different conversation with you today if, uh, if, if I would have, if I would have just known to take the guitar story and marry it to uh, productivity, you know, like if I, if I would have just known and so, so, yeah, so, yeah, that's the thing. And that's, that's actually a good book for people to read too. Um, a lot of people. Somebody just at the gym was giving it to somebody that never heard of it. It's amazing to me, like, how big that book is and people will still haven't heard of it, you know, so it's like, um, just kind of crazy. Another reason that all of us should be sharing our knowledge in public because.

Speaker B: Yeah. You know, sharing information. Yeah.

Speaker A: You might think that everybody knows about, you know, the four Hour Work Week book, or you might think everybody knows about, you know, I don't want to say the Bible, but you know, even the Bible, there's people that don't even know what the Bible is. And it's like the oldest book in the history of mankind, you know, and people still, people don't even know what it is. So it's like you just, you just never know. Um, yeah, I'm trying to think of a way to, you know, some other examples for my business. Um, but I keep getting distracted and this is, maybe this is a segue.

Speaker B: Well, so, I mean, the theme is the same, right. You apply it to business. I think what's, what's important at the beginning is. And again, gotta be careful not to over prepare and over plan here, but just to have some basic ideas of. Especially if you're running your own business. Uh, it might be a little bit different if, you know, you're, you're working in a job and some of the direction and strategy is pretty much handed down to you. Of course, you have your own agency of how you approach executing on that. But let's just say for your own business, it's understanding on a weekly basis, what are the activities that I need to do. Like, obviously every business needs some components of things that you just have to do for the business, but then also getting really clear about your intentions of like, how much time do I want to spend on strategy and creativity and just being intentional about, did I make time for myself each week for strategy, creativity, whichever way you want to look at that. What are the activities I know are most impactful for the health or growth of my business? Usually that's going to be some sort of sales or marketing. Was I intentional? Did I follow through on those? The results of how effective your marketing campaign or how effective your sales calls were are not, again, entirely up to you. You can constantly improve, but at the end of the day, it's other people making decisions. Right. So you can, uh, Help them with that decision process. But the point is, it's just really being consistent of like, did I give myself space to be creative and strategic? Did I execute on the fundamentals and did I learn and improve in some way across a week of those activities? And that consistency over time will a just feel good because you just know I showed up and I did the things. If we only give ourselves credit for results, we're setting ourselves up for letdown because we don't win every single week. To your point, right, about not being perfect. But if we validate ourselves on showing up as best we can each day and over the span of a week, then we can start to go, okay, like, I am doing the things and I'm holding to my intentions on the most part, 80, 20 rule. Right. And if I did it, didn't do it to the, to my liking this week, then I have netweek. We can constantly kind of iterate on this. Right? And I just think, just approaching it, that mindset versus only focusing on the outcomes and we don't get what we want, we get discouraged. This is just such a fundamental shift, I think. Right. Obviously we need the outcomes to be markers of like, did this work or not work? They're feedback loops for sure. But if they're the only thing we're using to validate, like, if I did a good job or not, we're. We're setting ourselves up for disappointment versus, like, did I show up and align with my intentions?

Speaker A: There's, There's a couple of phrases that I kind of think about, um, as I, you know, think about what we're talking about here. But there's the, there's the 1% better, like every day. You know, I've, I've heard, um, people like. James Aler talks about that a lot. I know there's other people that talk about it too, but he's the one that comes to mind for that. And I just always think about like, um, another one is like stacking bricks, right? Like, you're just, you're just stacking them that you're add another brick. Right. And what happens to bricks over time? They become walls, they become buildings, they become like, you know, cities, you know, so it's like, you just have to kind of keep doing that, you know? And I always. There was another phrase that I always use too. Like, um, I used it with my kids and now they, they hate it. But, um, but I'd be like, like, how do you eat the elephant one bite at a time, right? I mean, you don't you don't just sit down and shove it in your mouth, you know, you gotta, you gotta nip away at it a little bit. So those are like some of the things that I just had these mantras that I have in my head that kind of remind me like, you know what, maybe I'm not going to, you know, get everything out today, or maybe I'm not going to do this or that, but like, at least do one thing right. You know, just, just get something done. Um, because even if it's only like, you don't like the guitar, like, even if I only picked it up for two minutes, at least I gave myself a shot. And you know what? It's, um. You know, I did play a couple chords.

Speaker B: Yes, well, let's use your momentum story too, right? Because each little action builds momentum, but the opposite is true. Each inaction builds momentum, or I guess, lack thereof in the other direction. So it's momentum of avoidance, it's a momentum of procrastination, it's momentum of delay, it's momentum of like not doing the thing versus if you just do one little action, it's a step in that direction. Right. And I think I just, I hope this lands. I hope it's. I hope we're giving people tangible things they can try, uh, to implement and activate because, and realize and catch themselves of like, oh my God, every time I make a choice to not do that thing, it's momentum against me. And every time I just take one small action, it's just building that momentum, building that muscle memory, if you will, and starting to steamroll. It's like, ah, I did it yesterday, I can do it today. And it's like a little bit and a little bit. And the next thing you know, it's just feeling easier because it's a little bit more habitual and it's more of a pattern and that's just. It's easier to default into that. But if we default into inaction and not doing, we're really struggling. Right? So I hope that's helpful.

Speaker A: I think, uh, I think, you know, just to kind of tie a bow on it. And then I want to talk about a old story that I just remembered from New Year's Eve, but I'll, I'll, um, I'll finish this up. But first, I think I'm not saying don't go out there and start like an exercise program or, you know, don't shy away from buying that course or whatever that you think is going to, you know, help you learn how to do whatever it is that you need to do to start a business. I'm not saying that at all. In fact, go do that. But don't wait till January 1st to do that. Do that today. You know, like, I mean, you know what. What it is and just start the process. Um, you know, however that is that you need to do that. So that's like the big net net. Because every day you wait and it's. Was so cliche is just, you know, it's just another day of, of, you know, whatever you're frustrated with, you know, like, it's just. You're not taking care of it, you know, so. So that's kind of like my, my big, um, takeaway. What is. What is yours? And then I want to tell you this interesting story from.

Speaker B: I mean, I don't, I don't have a different takeaway. Right. It's the same way we opened that, I think is the point is like whenever, whenever we're delaying, we're actually setting ourselves up for inaction and avoidance and it's hard to overcome that. So don't make it any harder on yourself. And two, the logical thing to understand is every day we delay is a further day we are away from our goal, away from the reward, away from the satisfaction or the improvement in our business or life that we're looking for so we can logically understand that doesn't make sense to delay it. There is no benefit to delay. There's none. Whatever we convince ourselves of, uh, because, oh, I'll be more ready, I'll be more prepared. Those are just stories and excuses disguised as valuable ideas. Right. And so it's catching ourselves with those things that the main thing is like, if we're talking ourselves out of action ever, we should question that and we should find a way to get started, get that baby step momentum. Yes, there might be some planning and research that can take place. But then at least start that now. Right?

Speaker A: Yeah.

Speaker B: And start the actions and activities they're actually putting into practice. Whatever it is we're trying to accomplish and minimize spending most of our time in planning and preparation and feeling like we need to be ready that may never come. We're ready to do something now and take that action. So I think that's the key theme about how to avoid delaying and avoid and procrastinating.

Speaker A: So next time you think, um, about New Year's resolutions, change the years to life. So it's a new life change resolution. That's the kind of resolution you should be making right there. So Big takeaway. There you go. The boa's been tied. And now do you. Mike, are you. You're. You're old enough to remember Y2K, right? Do you remember that?

Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Okay.

Speaker A: All right, all right. Um, I have to ask. I know that you're in my range, but then some people are like, they're just on the cusp. And maybe they were like, five or something like that.

Speaker B: Very quick story that I was just out of college or maybe my last year of college, I don't remember, but I'd racked up a bunch of credit card debt. I was in a bar in Philly with my college buddies, and I remember. I, uh, swear this was my. My. My hope, my. My dream at that moment. I was like, I really hope, actually. Y2K crashes the financial systems and it wipes out my credit card debt. I really was like, this would actually be amazing for me at my point in life when I'm like, whatever, 21 or 22, and I had, like, I don't know, 10, 20 grand of credit card debt. I was like, that would be actually amazing if financial institutions collapse, get my credit cards wiped out so that.

Speaker A: Actually I can. I can see that I. I happen to be in a decent place at about that time in 2000, but, uh, about five to ten years earlier than that, I was definitely would have been hoping the same thing you were. Um, but mine was like, I remember I got really sick before the new year. Like, I. I know something was going down, um, after Christmas, and I just never got better. And I was the kind of guy. I had a really bad sore throat, so I would, um. You know, every day, it just kept getting worse. I went to the doctor, and they're just like, I don't know, you know, and you don't have strep or nothing. And they're like, oh, you know, it's probably just the thing or whatever. And it's like, I won't go into that. But anyway, fast forward, like, three days later. I'm, like, extremely dehydrated. Nothing's better. I can't even swallow. It's like, almost like my throat is, like, closing, right? So I. So I go on New Year's Eve, and I go to the emergency room there. I. I go back, and they're like, all right, well, we're just gonna. We're gonna send you from our town to the hospital that's a half hour down the road. You know, they have a ears, nose, throat specialist. So I go there, and he like, you Know what took everybody else or the other doctor, like, a week to figure out or not figure out was that he's like, well, I can just, uh. He looked at it and said, two seconds. He's like, I can go in there and I can. You gotta. You gotta. What do you call it? Like, a cyst or something in your back. And he's like, I can go in there and I can lance it, or we can just, you know, you get this history of tonsillitis, and you can just go and we'll just take it out, and then you have to worry about it again. I'm like, do that one. You know? So, you know, what does that involve? Like, well, you can have you in surgery in a couple hours. So that was on New year's Eve.

Speaker B: Wow.

Speaker A: 1999. New Year's Eve, 1999. So I go in there. I, you know, I'm, um, Go to surgery, wake up the next. You know, as. You know, before everything starts happening. You know how, like, all of a sudden the bell starts going down or whatever. So I'm sitting in my hotel room. I'm, like, high as a kite off of, like, lore tab. Because they're just giving me, like, pain meds, you know, like. And I'm just sitting there watching the tv, like, all right. Hey, Jim, we're in. You know, it looks like everything's still on. We're in New Zealand. And, uh, you know, like, just. There's been a couple minor programs. So I'm sitting there and I keep. I felt like, uh. Have you ever watched the Walking Dead? Did you ever watch that show at all? The opening scene is, like, before the apocalypse. Like, does that. Literally, the zombie apocalypse. Um. One of the first scene of the show is, like, the main character wakes up in a hospital bed, and he's, like, all strapped down to all these things. And, like, basically, like, what's going on? Like, no nurses, the hospital rooms dark. Well, it turns out while he was out, like, he had the zombie apocalypse happen. So it's, you know, like, he wakes up and. I don't know, it'd be better if you saw the scene, but, um. But that's basically kind of what it felt like. I'm like, oh, my God, here I am. I'm, like, attached to machines. I'm like, if everything goes down, you know, like. And I'm sitting there, like, I can't rest because I'm, like, sitting there thinking, like, as they're. I'm watching with intent, like, every hour. It's like, okay, we're in Japan, looks like. Looks like everything's fine. And then slowly I got. I was like, okay, that's cool. But it was just kind of funny. I remember that was my Y2K story. It was just like, that was my party and like it was 1999, you know. Yeah.

Speaker B: Slowly watching to see if the world goes into demise or not. Yeah.

Speaker A: Yeah. It's like, you know, here I am, I'm like in a hospital bed, you know, like, my tonsils are gone. I can't even do nothing. And my girlfriend's not even visiting me. A girlfriend at the time, she was probably a good thing that she. I don't know. That's a long story, but that's like a different story. Yeah, it is. It's a very different story. So, yeah. So anyway, there you go, people. Um, that's pretty much it. Um, yeah, we'll leave it there. If you've got any, uh. And I'm talking to the people in the camera or on the. Listening to the podcast. You got any funny New Year's Eve stories or whatever, you know, throw them in the. Throw them in the comments. Or if you just don't even know where to start or if you, you know, want to give me an excuse or give Mike an excuse of why you can't start until.

Speaker B: Yeah, January 1st.

Speaker A: I'd love to hear a man throw them down there. I dare you.

Speaker B: For sure. That would be awesome because I bet there's a lot of common ones, so it would be cool to. To see. And uh, that is usually helpful for people. And look like that. That's be the most helpful, beneficial thing. Share what's. What's holding you back, what are your reasons for not getting started, whatever. But also I would love to see if there's like a whole y2k story comment generate like people's y2k. I haven't thought about that in a while. Man, that's pretty funny.

Speaker A: Like, was there somebody that actually had a Y2K incident, you know, like.

Speaker B: Yeah, I never, like, it was. It was a big non. Event. Right. As far as I was concerned, I don't remember anything like, massively going down.

Speaker A: But yeah, you know, and, uh, now that I think about it too, it's like, you know, you wonder why a lot of us are so cynical from our generation. Because the built. I mean, there's a lot of things to be cynical about, like being a Gen Xer. Right. But you know, because we've had a lot of stuff over the years. We. We were like, we had a Full brunt of cable tv, um, you know, advertising, and, like, I think really ramped up for us as opposed, you know, the credit card companies went ballistic on us, like, in the early 90s, you know, like, so I think that made us cynical. But then you get into something like Y2K and it's like, oh, my God, we're all going to die. We're all going to die. And then, like, nothing happens. And it's like, all right, you know, you know, so you, you, you go through stuff like that, and now people wonder, like, why you guys? Like, why don't you care? And I'm like, well, I don't know. I'll kind of believe it when I see it, I guess, you know? Or, like, we'll see what happens.

Speaker B: I don't know.

Speaker A: You know what I mean? Like, do you kind of get a sense that. That maybe that's just one of the. One of the pieces of the puzzle? Maybe it's not the whole piece, but it's just maybe one of them. Um, so. So yeah. So anyway, um, before we go, remind everybody, Mike, where to, uh, find you and what they can do when they find you. Yep.

Speaker B: Mike Bucilia. Uh, I'm positive I'm the only person. Mike Bucilia. B, U, C, C, I, A, L, I, A on LinkedIn.

Speaker A: Ah.

Speaker B: Or, um, www.mymindworksworx.com.

Speaker A: all right, cool. And I just realized something. I just. I think I might have stole your ex. I was making fun of you. Um, you were.

Speaker B: I remember that. Yeah. You were critical of the ex. Yeah.

Speaker A: Swear to God, it was so subconscious. Um, it wasn't intentional, but I just thought of that. And. Why am I saying this, people? Because. Because I have, ah, a couple places where you can find me. One is RedefiningRetirement IO. Um, that is where you're gonna find the links to the podcast. You're gonna find, um, how to sign up for my newsletter and learn, like, all kinds of cool so you can start your own business and, you know, you know, find a life that you don't want to retire from. But I also started a community called the Workshop, and it is work with an X, not a K. So that's why I kind of took it. And, and what that is, is that's just mainly for, like, business owners, people that are already in the trenches already and they want to just, you know, peek behind the curtain of my, like, you know, geekiness. Because I, like, literally, I always tell people I geek out on Internet marketing and AI. So you don't have to, um, because I do. I go down the rabbit holes. Mike. Mike knows this from our conversations. How do you know that? You took. When did you learn how to do? You know, it's just like, people are always saying that, like, where do you find the time? I'm like, I just do. So, yeah, that's what that community is all about. So you can find all that stuff in the, uh, show notes. Otherwise, just a reminder, subscribe, hang out with us, get in those comments, give us your excuses and your Y2K stories, and have a great new year. If, uh, you know, if I don't see you before that. So there you go. See you later, Mike. Have a good one.

Speaker B: Love it. Happy New Year. Happy New Year, everybody.