Top 10 Takeaways - Podcast 425 with Benjamin Hardy

BiggerPockets Podcast 425: Focusing On Your $10,000/Hour Tasks (And How to Outsource the Rest!) with hosts Brandon Turner & David Green and guest Benjamin Hardy.

1. FORGET WILLPOWER, FOCUS ON CHANGING THE SITUATION INSTEAD

Situations are more powerful than people. The notion of willpower ignores the external factors that influence our decision-making. For instance, advising drug addicts to use their willpower to overcome the habit is of little use. What matters more is changing their situation by, for example, taking them to a rehabilitation center. If your kitchen is filled with snack foods, resistance is futile. Laying out healthy food and hiding the sweets makes it much easier to make healthy choices. Investing in isolation is the wrong environment. Optimizing one’s investing environment by attending REIAs, joining mastermind groups, and participating in BiggerPockets forums is critical for success.

In psychology, there is a concept called the Pygmalion effect which states that we are always rising or falling to the demands of our situations. We draw most of our motivation from our environments. Creating a more demanding situation, like shortening your writing deadline, can help you achieve your goals faster.

2. AVOID DECISION FATIGUE BY MAKING YOUR DECISIONS IN ADVANCE

Decision fatigue comes about when there are too many options on the table. Because the human mind can focus on just a few things at once, a wide range of alternative options can scramble your thinking. To avoid decision fatigue, you should make a decision right away and avoid the trap of dwelling on all the possible choices. Once you have made a decision, stick to it. Cut off alternative options. One of my favorite quotes comes from Michael Jordan. He says, “Once I made a decision, I never thought about it again.” You can also structure your environment to eliminate decision fatigue. For example, pouring water on food/dessert when you are done with it. Now you’re not tempted no longer need to keep saying “no, I’m not going to eat that”. Social pressure is also extremely helpful. Working alongside someone else who has a similar goal makes it easier to complete whatever you decide to do.

3. PERSONALITY IS NOT PERMANENT. BE CLEAR ABOUT YOUR FUTURE SELF

Your current self is different from your past and future selves. The way you see the world today is not how you saw it a year ago and it certainly isn’t the way you will see it a year or two down the line.

You need to define your future with imagination. This concept, known as prospection in psychology, states that having a specific view of your future self determines your habits and behaviors in the present. Our personalities are more flexible than we imagine them to be. Once you are clear about your future self, your identity and behavior are going to be more in line with what you want to be.

Having a clear goal of what you want to be in the future can motivate you to seek new skills in the present. If, for example, you want to be an exceptional real estate agent in the future, that goal can drive you to begin researching properties today. Formulating a clear idea of your future self helps you to focus your thoughts and behavior in a particular direction.

4. TO CHANGE WHO YOU ARE, CHANGE YOUR SUBCONSCIOUS

The subconscious consists of your average experience, you on autopilot. If you want to change yourself and your circumstances, you have to challenge yourself and go beyond your average experience. One way of doing this is by partaking in subconscious-enhancing behaviors. These are new experiences that you have been shielding yourself from. By taking part in these experiences, you train your mind to see the world in a new and more stimulating way. In effect, by engaging in experiences you have been avoiding, you can change your subconscious a become a different person.

5. WHO NOT HOW

The philosophy of Who Not How is essentially a strategy that empowers people to focus on the most important tasks. For instance, if someone has a lawn that they want to be mowed, they can avoid doing the task themselves and hire someone else to do it. With the three or four hours freed up, they can focus on more impactful things such as networking, reading, spending time with family, or even resting, which can give their minds some space to be creative. Who Not How encourages us to create together. It nudges us to think like entrepreneurs who delegate their work to others and still reap the benefits of the outcome. It shows people that they can accomplish much more once they become comfortable relying on others to complete some of their daily tasks.

There’s a million people out there who you could team with to help you with whatever goal you want, and you’re going to accomplish a lot more if you get other people involved.

My life radically changed for the better when I made a TO-WHO list. I made it to-who list and then cleared all of my to-do lists of anything that someone else could do, and I ended up with just five things on my to-do list. And even though I don’t yet have certain whos in place, I’m just organizing things and it’s a huge weight off my shoulders

6. YOUR EMPLOYEES ARE NOT YOUR INFERIORS, THEY ARE YOUR ASSETS AND COLLABORATORS.

Just because someone is mowing your lawn or answering your emails does not mean that they are beneath you. You should not look at them as a cost but as an investment in yourself since they are giving you time to focus on things that are good for your future self.

Hiring someone is not just good for you but also good for them. The person you hire is a collaborator, someone who wants to better his or her life. They are helping you achieve your vision while you help them achieve theirs, whether it’s feeding their family or paying school fees for their children. You are a who to them as much as they are a who to you.

Every who in your life is fundamental. Rather than making them feel inferior and dictating how they should do their work, you should give them confidence and trust in their abilities and skills. Make sure you explain your vision and give them the tools to succeed, but let them own the work. When they own the work, they grow and become more confident.

7. IT’S OK TO CONTRIBUTE TO SOMEONE ELSE’S VISION

Being a good who entails understanding the other person’s goal. To be a successful who, you need to be willing to learn and contribute to their vision. By assisting another person to realize his or her vision, you are not only giving service but also learning something new. One of my favorite quotes is from Rich Dad Poor Dad, “Work to learn, and you’ll always earn.”

8. TREASURE CONNECTIONS

Connections are an essential part of our lives. How we choose to connect and who we choose to connect with can make a big difference in your long term success. Before you connect with someone, you should ask yourself whether that relationship is going to better both of you. Will you learn something from this person? Do you actually want to contribute to this person’s vision? How hard are you willing to work to offer genuine service to them?

True connectors do not stick to two-way relationships. They also focus on creating three-way relationships or triads. People with low self-esteem avoid sharing their relationships, but those who are more confident connect people continuously. When you make the effort to connect people with more whos, you get a lot more connections yourself.

9. FOCUS ON RESULTS AND OUTCOMES

We live in a results-oriented economy. The goal of getting others involved in your life and dealing with your micro-tasks is so that you can focus on things that have a higher impact. When you expand your vision of your future, you improve your present. You learn to treat your time as a valuable commodity. Instead of driving yourself to work, you could pay someone to drive, and during that time, you work on a task that can make you much more.

10. APPRECIATE THE MILESTONES YOU HAVE ATTAINED AND MAINTAIN A GROWTH MINDSET

Make a habit of looking back at your past self and comparing it with where you are now. Learn to spend some time looking at how far you have come. Reflecting on your journey can give you a sense of progress, confidence, and hope.

Having a growth mindset means valuing your future self more than your present self. People with fixed mindsets view setbacks as the be-all and end-all. They do not imagine that in the future, they will have a different set of skills and experiences. But people with a growth mindset understand that failure is not the end. They know it’s okay to fail because they can always learn more and succeed in the future.