Mind Matters

The day started as it often did, with a lot of yelling and screaming.

I was midway through a six month, live-in, military style academy that turned kids ( I was 21) into functioning state troopers.

The days started early and ended late. I had accomplished more in the previous three months than I had in years prior. I had gained vast amounts of knowledge, became a good runner, and even became good at boxing and ground-fighting. I’d even learned how to lead a group of 50 people under pressure when just three months prior I could hardly lead myself.

I had accomplished all of this without a single real “goal”.

How?

The power of simple systems.

The alarm went off or the cadre start to yell, the natural system dictated that next step was to immediately throw on clothes and shoes.

Once that happened, I was autopilot to formation.

Once in formation, exercise began and typically lasted an hour. At the end of that, I had 10 to 15 minutes to myself. That was a built in reward, but I also had to change clothes and immediately make it to the chow hall for breakfast with that time.

Breakfast led right into the days events which created all the skills listed above.

It all required no decision making on my end.

All of it was automatic, all I had to do was wake up and put on shoes.

While those days are long gone, the lesson of the power of systems remains. I don’t need lofty goals, or tons of discipline to get where I want to go and neither do you.

I want to become a writer. I’m not there yet, but here is the system that is going to get me there:

My youngest son often wakes up between 4 and 5 am, not for the day, but he wants milk and needs changed. Awesome, that means I’m awake and didn’t even need an alarm.

Next, I put on workout clothes and shoes. Once this is done, I know I’ll naturally get a workout in, I mean why not as I’m awake and dressed. Once this is done, my reward is sitting down to rest, getting some water, and some time to relax and write.

This lasts at least 30 minutes and up to two hours. It’s still early, which also happens to be extremely quiet in my house. Added benefit to the system.

This system is brief, but it works. I don’t need the goal of writing a book. That goal is overwhelming and I know my brain will work against me and find ways to avoid it. So I keep it simple. Wake up, take care of the baby, and put shoes on.

That’s it, the rest happens on autopilot.

I will absolutely write a book, whether or not it’s my goal.

It’ll be the natural byproduct of the system.

Until next week,

Joshua