The secret to a successful life.
😀 Plus: Being memorable (are you?), learning to fix ourselves, & rethinking self-discipline.
Welcome to the 148th consecutive edition of the newsletter.
Each week I share ideas worth stealing to help you create profound personal, physical and professional transformation.
Here are five I uncovered this week.
Steal shamelessly!
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On a personal note…
My feet are still in Sudbury, but I will be going back to Toronto for a few days with my sister and my niece.
My sister has a follow up appointment with her back surgeon (she had back surgery 6 weeks ago.)
My niece wants to do some serious shopping.
I am playing the role of Uber driver and Air BnB host.
For my part, this is a wonderful opportunity to connect more deeply with my niece.
Before we leave on Wednesday, I will be making a list of things that I believe will spark joy.
By planning for joy in advance, I am preparing myself to recognize and capture it when it happens.
Joy seeking is a wonderful way to approach every day we are gifted.
Get 5 new ideas every Sunday that will help you transform yourself and your life.
1/ An insight I had.
A number of years ago I read a book called “The One Thing.” The premise of the book is we can make A LOT MORE progress if we focused on the one thing that drives the bulk of our success in that area of our life.
For example, when it comes to my weight, the one thing that drives 80% of my success is NOT overeating. If I consistently teach myself to eat around 2200 calories, magic happens. When I consistently eat beyond that I start gaining weight.
Recently I’ve been thinking about “The One Thing” that would have the greatest impact on my life as a whole.
I think I know what that is.
Systematically teaching myself how to fix any behaviour-based problems I have.
This is a skill we have never been taught how to do, but I believe it’s the greatest skill we could ever learn.
We can teach ourselves to be more…
disciplined
patient
positive
present
resilient
regardless of our past results, present day habits or our age.
This gives me great hope that I will continue to create remarkable transformation well into my 60s, 70s and beyond.
🧠 Idea worth stealing → You can teach yourself anything.2/ A photo I loved.
I saw this the other night while out for a walk. I loved it and the underlying principle that’s at play. If you want to stand out from the herd, find clever ways to BE MEMORABLE! This principle can be applied to all aspects of life. For example, in a world dominated by text messages, I choose to send audio messages. I send them…
when wishing someone happy birthday
as thank you notes
when offering condolences
when I am praising someone for something awesome they have achieved.
That simple act makes me memorable and being memorable scales long-term and opens up opportunities the unmemorable never experience.
🧠 Idea worth stealing → Act in ways that make you memorable or as actress Bryce Dallas Howard says, "Be unignorable."3/ A mindset I’m stealing.
This comes from my friend Michael Dwyer (no relation.) He has a gift of turning his life lessons into poetic mindsets that are easy to remember. As a recovering extreme junkie this really resonates with me. Over-doing always leads to my undoing. ALWAYS!
🧠 Idea worth stealing → Success is found in the sweet spot. 4/ An article that changed my thinking.
One of the things that I loved in this article by Patrick O'Shaughnessy was something he called “continuous goals.” These are the things he wants to do everyday. Here’s a screenshot of his 11 essential habits.
*Read the article to find out what Level up means to Patrick.
I fundamentally believe that we become what we do every day — what I call our daily essential habits. And a great life is nothing other than a great day repeated for a lifetime. So Patrick has got me thinking about the essential habits that comprise my perfect day. I already have 10 that I do everyday to build and maintain my version of a successful body. I want to expand that list to so I am creating my version of a successful life.
🧠 Idea worth stealing → A great life is the perfect day repeated for a lifetime.5/ Something I’m rethinking.
Self-discipline — Most of us think of it as the ability to do hard things. But I prefer to think of it as the ability to keep my promises to myself. There are three reasons I like this way of thinking.
One. It forces me to set more realistic goals I can actually achieve.
Two. I plan more diligently to build in a margin of safety so I can increase the odds of keeping my promises to myself.
Three. I understand that every time I break a promise to myself it comes at a huge cost — the erosion of my self-confidence, self-trust and self-esteem.
🧠 Idea worth stealing → Self-Discipline = Keeping your promises to yourself.That is all for today.
See you next Sunday my friend.
And hey — keep being awesome.
Dean 🇨🇦
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1 MORE WAY I CAN HELP YOU!
1:1 Coaching: Weekly 1-on-1 coaching is available to help you build your version of a highly successful body. Click that link to arrange a free call. 🏅