91 Sick of failing? The brutal truth about what’s holding you back

No. 91 – 15 Sep 2024

Welcome to the 91st edition of the True Progress Newsletter, a weekly newsletter on cultivating inner control and resilience for high performance.

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Hi friends, happy to announce that after four years I got my brown belt in judo. Six things I've learned, in no particular order:

1. Physical challenges build your overall confidence

2. Humility makes you a better learner

3. You can't grow if you're not willing to be vulnerable and look foolish

4. Adrenaline and fear are good things

5. Emotions are what ultimately derails us from getting to our goals

6. Showing up is better than doing nothing at all

INSIGHTS

*

It's not failure that haunts you, it's the meaning you give to it.

**

When you view failure as final, you’re less likely to take risks. Every setback feels like proof of your limitations, feeding the belief that your abilities are fixed. This mindset stifles resilience and encourages a victim mentality, where each stumble becomes another excuse to give up.

***

“The greatest mistake you can make in life is to continually fear you will make one.”

— Elbert Hubbard​

CHALLENGE

What's one experience that keeps defining your future, your thoughts, your actions?

Try to see it from a different light using the following Stoic exercise:

Describe and define with pure and simple terms the event, without the addition of any subjective value-judgment. Look at it in its essence and nudity. Divide the parts of the experience to get to the point where you have contempt for them. Be as objective as possible.

"He was sent to jail. What happened? He was sent to jail. But "He is unhappy" is added by oneself." Epictetus.

⌾ Reply to this email and let us know how it went.

SYSTEMS

Goal outcomes.

Projects are great but without a specific goal outcome in mind, it's just a wish. Here's how to supercharge your goals:

1. Make a list of your key performance indicators or milestones for each goal.

2. Every couple of weeks or every month, rate your progress on each of those milestones.

3. After rating each milestone, reflect:

   • Are you consistently meeting or exceeding your KPIs?

   • If not, are there any obstacles or challenges that hindered your progress?

   • Are you investing enough time and effort to achieve your goal?

   • Do external factors or changes in your priorities warrant reconsidering your goal?

4. Based on your reflections, take action:

   • Continue what you're doing.

   • Invest extra time or effort.

   • Remove obstacles or ask for support.

   • Redefine your goal and adjust plans accordingly.

5. If you're on course, record it as an accomplishment and keep going.

Till next week,
— Carlos & Stef