MB #005: Mindset Hacks for the New Year

Read time: ~4 Minutes

Hey Friends,

Happy New Year! My family and I are spending the weekend at a cabin in the snow to celebrate 2022 and rest, and I hope you're doing something that fuels your soul as well.

As we enter into a new year, everyone is usually thinking about the year past and what the next year will look like. The reality is, those who are most successful in life are one who is doing this evaluation on a regular basis, and continually improve all year long.

That said, if we haven't been as great at that as we maybe could have been, now is a great time to right-size some things and dial in for the year ahead. This always starts in our mind first and moves from the head to the body where we take action.

So, I wanted to share a few of my favorite mindset "hacks" if you will, that have helped me throughout the years. These are all pulled out of a group of about 15-20 others that we deep dive into in module 1 of Operation: Next Level.

1. The Only Move That Matters

The only move that matters is the next one. Most people waste so much energy thinking about and dwelling on the past - what could have been, or worrying about and contemplating the future - what might become. Don't waste energy on the past or distant future - focus on what you can do now, today. The only move that matters is really the next one, that's right in front of you. Another veteran friend of mine recently shared with me that the way he thinks about this is just to "take the 25-meter shot" instead of trying to focus on the 300-meter target. Just aim short, take the sure shot that you can see clearly, then move closer to the 300 little by little until the 300 is actually 25 meters.

2. The Perfect Moment Rule

There is no perfect moment. Holding yourself to unrealistic standards creates frustration. Control your expectations and prevent both perfectionism and dismissiveness equally. Allowing yourself to be too dismissive because it won't go perfectly is as dangerous as expecting things to go perfectly. Allow for imperfection and take massive action.

3. The Judgement Rule

We often judge others by their actions and judge ourselves by our intentions. Flip the script. Judge yourself by your actions and others by their intentions. Hold yourself accountable for following through, and not just having great intentions. Good intentions alone never helped anyone succeed at anything, especially getting and staying healthy.

4. The 10-Second Rule

One day in my early months of Ranger Selection (RIP) and training, I began to trick myself into enduring long periods of really hard work that I never thought was possible for my body to endure. I did this by constantly picking (like #1) a short time frame or distance to focus on. One day we were doing 300, 4-count flutter kicks, pretty much physically impossible for any normal man to complete. I remember constant muscle failure and agonizing pain in my abs and my hip flexors and my lower back, but instead of quitting (which is what they were provoking - successfully for some, I might add), I kept telling myself "you can do 10 more seconds", and then following that up with another "you can do 10 more seconds", over and over until we were done.

I used to use this on long ruck marches ("just gotta get to that next tree...ok now the one up there...ok now to that rock"), and to endure many other painful feats. Realizing along the way that my body was WAY more capable of doing hard things than I had in my wildest dreams imagined.

You can use this in so many different ways in life, but it's one of the most valuable mindset shifts I've ever learned and adopted.

I hope you find these powerful as you address 2023 head-on!

"Once your mindset changes, everything on the outside changes with it."

-Chris