84 You're wasting your years if you don't have this in your life
No. 84 – 14 Jul 2024
Welcome to the 84th edition of the True Progress Newsletter, a weekly newsletter on mastering fear and anxiety for optimal performance.
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The US Judo Championship is just two weeks away, but last week, I broke my toe during training.
After countless hours and weeks of preparation, my chance to compete is in jeopardy.
Reflecting on that day, I realize my mistake: I wasn’t fully present.
Simply being there isn’t enough; full engagement is crucial.
When you lose focus, you make costly mistakes, and I paid the price.
INSIGHTS
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Having a mentor accelerates your progress and curbs your stress level. They help you come up with a clear roadmap, warn you of pitfalls, offer invaluable guidance, and give the feedback you need to grow and get to that next level.
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Life is too short to do it alone. You must borrow wisdom from others’ experiences or risk running out of time to achieve your dreams. Time must be respected.
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"Show me a successful individual and I’ll show you someone who had real positive influences in his or her life. I don’t care what you do for a living—if you do it well I’m sure there was someone cheering you on or showing the way. A mentor.”
— Denzel Washington
EMOTION TO MEET
Neuroscience and brain-imaging research shows that properly naming an emotion is critical to managing and taming it.
Here's 1 to explore:
Patronized
Definition | Feeling treated in a way that is apparently kind or helpful but that betrays a feeling of superiority.
Example | She was determined not to be put down or patronized.
Origin | Middle English patroun "a special guardian or protector," from early French patrun, patron (same meaning), from Latin patronus "patron, patron saint," from earlier patronus "defender," from patr-, pater "father".
CHALLENGE
Do you have heroes, idols, certain people you respect and admire? Who are they?
If they're still alive, how can you build a closer relationship with them and seek out their guidance? Plan it.
If they're no longer alive, what books can you read about their lives and work? What practical guidance can you extract and apply to your life?
⌾ Reply to this email and let us know how it went.
BOOK REC
Japanese Death Poems by Yoel Hoffman
Japanese poets and Zen monks were known for writing poems on their deathbeds. Reading their poems is a Stoic exercise in meditating on your mortality, helping to cut through the meaningless and zone in on the important things.
The common theme: don't wait to live out your values. Do what matters to you now and stop worrying about what other people are going to think about you because it won't matter in the end.
WIN
Nathan is a supervisor and a successful entrepreneur. He faced challenges in increasing revenue for his business and struggled with his full-time job. He needed to beat his fears and anxieties and build confidence.
In 12 weeks, we transformed him from insecure and stuck to confident and impactful, becoming a highly respected supervisor and successful entrepreneur with multiple scaling opportunities.
Here's how we did it:
Built clarity and a roadmap to identify the sources of his anxiety
Established rock-solid evidence of his capabilities through increasingly difficult physical and mental exercises
Enhanced his emotion regulation and assertive communication skills
Developed self-sustaining systems to bring it all together
Full testimonial here.
We're thrilled to see how far Nathan has come and the incredible transformation he's gone through.
Are you an entrepreneur, senior legal professional, or rising leader who wants to start taking action, build proof of your capabilities, and level up in your professional journey? Click this link to apply for our coaching program.
Till next week,
— Carlos & Stef
