“It may seem difficult at first, but everything is difficult at first.” – Miyamoto Musashi
Today I thought we’d take another trip to the glorious goldmine that is continuous life optimization.
It’s been a while since Part 1, and this email was meant to be Part 2 of the series.
So I lined up three new strategies for you, wrote ’em all up, edited, polished, and prepared to hit send…
…And realized it was way too long.
(that’s been happening a lot, recently)
So instead, I broke the email up into three parts.
We’ll release one strategy per day over the next few days, with plenty of time to digest and implement.
If it lands well, that’s how we’ll continue the series in the future — one strategy per email, whenever the mood strikes.
Let’s begin:
…
Lean Into Startup Friction
The hardest part of working is getting started.
The first 5-10 minutes can feel like pushing a boulder up a hill, and your mind may even come up with reasons to quit and let it roll back down.
Don’t.
Instead, ask yourself:
Would you expect to hit a personal record during the first five minutes of a workout?
Of course not; you’d warm up first.
And your brain needs time to warm up too.
(technically, your norepinephrine and adrenalin system need to engage)
So instead of stressing about the friction you feel when you start working, treat it like the friction you feel in your body when you start to exercise.
Begin slow and easy, with smooth and continuous focus.
Resist the urge to jump to another task, or “quickly check” your email or social media (which only breaks momentum, similar to allowing your body to cool back down during your warmup).
Just keep leaning into the friction; keep pushing that boulder and allowing momentum to build.
Soon, it will start rolling on it’s own and your work will begin to flow.
…
Okay, experiment with that one today.
Tomorrow I’ll share my current favorite life optimization:
A simple tweak I recently made to my work breaks that has significantly boosted my motivation, creativity, and focus.
(and made the process of creating our upcoming course much more effortless — more on that soon…)
I’ll see you then 🙂
– T
P.S. Credit for today’s lesson goes to Andrew Huberman, who was the first person to help me make sense of startup friction.
And, here’s Part 1 of our Life Optimizations series, if you’d like to review.
