Why Tony Robbins is wrong about Massive Action

Well maybe not wrong; but it isn’t the only way. After hearing many people talk about taking massive action on the BP podcast and blog posts; I made the jump and got a list of names from list source to direct mail sellers. When the total number of names came in I promptly did nothing. The sheer amount of names caused me to shut down. When was I going to find the time to write and mail over six hundred letters?

Sure I had blatantly stolen from Brandon Turner’s post about doing a direct mail list and using a handwritten font online. But I still had to print, sign, stuff and mail all those letters. I could have had a company like yellow letters do the whole thing but I told myself that I needed to do the work at least once. Plus I didn’t have any money.

So the list sat for three weeks in my computer. Now I made some pretty good excuses, busy at my full time job, a two week old at home, and a wife with a two week old at home. But really the idea of sending all six hundred was what really kept me from doing anything. What finally got me moving was the idea of minimum effective dose.

MED. It’s not just for clubs anymore

Minimum effective dose is the idea of doing the every least amount possible that drives adaptation. An example is the Tabata protocol popular in the fitness world, which is only three minutes of exercise but has been shown to cause increases in VO2 max far greater than other, longer, fitness regimens. So how does a fitness regimen help with real estate? Because the idea of doing a tiny amount often is far less intimidating than one giant amount all at once.

For me this meant dedicating to sending out ten letters per day, which took less than ten minutes a day. Even with my son at home I could find ten minutes I told myself. At first doing the ten was a grind. Checking and rechecking every detail making sure it was perfect. But I soon finished my daily task in under my ten-minute window. Sure enough I didn’t notice it much and my list was sent out in less than two months. Could it have been done in two days of massive action? Absolutely, if I had actually done it. Which I had proven I would not. So rather than do nothing for months waiting for the perfect time to tackle this big task; I got it done a bit slower but it got done much faster than my previous pace.

Now this is method only really works for tasks that are true actions. This means these tasks will directly lead to the results you are trying to achieve. So while reading blog posts or listening to podcasts are great. If you are not doing things with real and tangible results than it doesn’t matter what method you use; you are still just spinning your wheels. Maybe more efficiently spinning but still stuck in the mud.

So what is the least amount you could do of that task you are avoiding? Call one realtor about a listing a day? Put one letter to an absentee landlord this week? Make one offer this morning?

Breaking the inertia of inaction is the hardest step on the task of getting the ball rolling. So do take the smallest action to get the ball rolling even if it’s an inch at a time.

Tony Robbins isn’t wrong that people need to take action in their lives. But don’t let the idea of massive action scare you away from taking any action at all.