0:00

Before we start, please check out our

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new podcast, Good Sleep. Have you

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from Optimal Living Daily. This

0:38

is Optimal Living Daily, episode 3138. Only

0:43

1% of Americans do this

0:45

essential daily habit by Benjamin

0:47

Hardy of benjaminhardy.com, and I'm

0:49

your host and narrator, Justin Moloch. Hello

0:52

old friend. Not calling you old.

0:54

Old stands for Optimal Living Daily. This

0:57

is where I read to you from some of the

0:59

best blogs on the planet with permission from the authors.

1:02

And with that, let's get right to our next post as

1:05

we optimize your life. Only

1:12

1% of Americans do this essential

1:14

daily habit by Benjamin

1:16

Hardy of benjaminhardy.com. Only

1:20

3% of Americans have

1:22

written goals. Only

1:24

1% of Americans rewrite their

1:26

goals on a daily basis. Giving

1:30

yourself even 5 minutes per day to orient

1:32

your life in the direction of your goals

1:34

is the difference between success and

1:36

average. If you don't give

1:38

yourself time every single day to orient your life

1:41

in the direction you want to go, then you

1:43

will default to former habits and

1:45

patterns. Life gets busy. Life

1:48

is stressful. It's easy to forget what

1:50

you really want. It's easy to

1:52

disconnect from your purpose and priorities. It's

1:55

easy to fall into autopilot and go through the

1:57

motions. It's easy to watch several

1:59

weeks or more. months go by and realize

2:02

you haven't made much progress on your goals.

2:05

It's easy to let the little fundamentals slip.

2:08

It's easy to default to consumption rather

2:10

than organizing your life and environment for

2:13

creation. It's easy to

2:15

focus on the constraints of your circumstances rather

2:17

than the power of your capabilities. Distraction

2:21

fuels the need for more distraction.

2:25

Addiction is an endless vacuum. Contraction

2:28

and inaction lead to a loss of

2:30

confidence, motivation and

2:32

hope. Success is

2:34

a choice. Choosing

2:37

to be successful isn't a moral

2:39

decision. You can be a good

2:41

person or a bad person and be focused on your

2:43

goals. You can be a good person and

2:46

choose to be average. It's really

2:48

your choice, the life you will live. It's

2:50

your choice if you're going to be happy. It's

2:52

your choice if you're going to be healthy. It's

2:55

your choice if you're going to be financially successful. The

2:58

decisions you make right now are a

3:00

direct reflection of the person you will be in 1, 3,

3:03

5, 10 and 20 years from now. When

3:08

you look at yourself in the mirror, you're looking

3:10

at your former selves' choices, actions

3:13

and habits. Staying

3:15

the course. It's fundamentally

3:18

impossible to stay on a straight course without

3:20

continually checking in to see how you're doing.

3:23

If you're not reviewing your goals on a daily basis,

3:25

then I can guarantee that your

3:27

behavior and performance is

3:30

suboptimal. Without clarity

3:32

of direction and purpose, behavior and

3:34

motivation become erratic. Without

3:36

orienting yourself first thing in the morning with

3:39

who you are and what you're about, you'll

3:41

be going through the motions. You'll

3:43

be disconnected from your purpose. You'll be

3:45

disconnected in your relationships.

3:48

You'll lack motivation and conviction.

3:51

You'll allow low-level influences,

3:53

activities and actions to

3:55

creep into your life. On

3:57

an occasional basis, when triggered by something random, you'll be in a situation

4:00

in the environment, you'll remember your

4:02

goals and dreams. If you feel

4:04

a quick rush of excitement and enthusiasm to get

4:06

back on track, you may even

4:08

engage in some powerful behaviors like

4:10

sending positive and helpful messages to

4:12

key relationships, going to the gym,

4:15

writing in your journal, or taking action

4:17

toward a goal. But

4:19

unless you establish a lifestyle

4:21

of reviewing, remembering, and engaging

4:24

with your goals and purpose

4:26

daily, you'll make minimal progress. In

4:29

order to make extreme progress, you

4:32

need momentum. In

4:34

order to get momentum, you need

4:36

to be consistent. Not

4:38

just consistent, but you need to

4:40

continually be getting better. In

4:42

order to get better, you need goals that

4:45

you're actively pushing toward. For example,

4:47

many people go to the gym but have

4:49

no goals. They're simply moving their body and

4:51

not getting better. In

4:54

the book, Turning Pro, Steven Pressfield

4:56

said, quote, Addictions embody

4:59

repetition without progress,

5:01

end quote. Doing

5:03

something over and over may be how you develop a

5:05

habit, but habits don't

5:07

guarantee success. Habits,

5:09

if unchecked, actually create apathy,

5:12

boredom, and the lack of

5:14

engagement. Habits can

5:16

lead to mindlessness. Consistency,

5:18

not habits, is what you're

5:20

after. You want to consistently show

5:22

up and push through your current level. You

5:25

want to get yourself focused and clear on what

5:27

you want to achieve. You then

5:30

need to fuel that focus by

5:32

taking powerful and bold actions daily

5:34

toward your goals. As

5:36

you take action toward your goals, your

5:39

identity will change. You'll quickly begin to see

5:41

yourself as the person you intend to become.

5:44

Your personality will change. Your

5:46

expectations will change. Your confidence will

5:48

change. Your subconscious will change.

5:51

Your results will change. Your

5:53

environment will change. You'll be

5:56

able to produce results easily that once

5:58

took enormous effort. Your

6:00

new normal will be beyond what your

6:03

former selves' dreams were. Your

6:05

standards for yourself and your flexibility

6:07

and empathy toward others will

6:10

improve. Your appreciation for

6:12

life will deepen. Your ability

6:14

to feel and love will grow. Your

6:17

reasons for living will change. You'll

6:20

stop focusing on what you can get and

6:22

simply try to be as helpful as you possibly

6:24

can. You'll shift from consuming

6:26

to creating. You'll stop

6:29

focusing on your present circumstances and

6:31

focus on the leverage you have to create

6:33

new circumstances for yourself and others. You'll

6:36

change your life more for the sake of others than

6:38

for yourself. You'll hold yourself to

6:41

a higher standard so you can perform

6:43

better work. You'll eat better

6:45

because you can't put regular fuel in a

6:47

Ferrari. Your goals will become

6:49

bigger and longer term. Confidence

6:52

can be measured by how far out your

6:54

goals are. Most people

6:56

are living day to day because they don't

6:58

have the confidence to see and believe in

7:01

a bigger future. Confidence can

7:03

be earned, but it must be earned every

7:05

single day. You can

7:07

create confidence with the choices you make and you

7:10

can lose confidence with the choices you make. Your

7:13

confidence reflects your self-trust.

7:16

The more you trust yourself, the more willing

7:18

you will be to do things that are beyond

7:20

your current capability. The less you

7:22

trust yourself, the less willing you

7:24

will be to make decisions and commitments. Conclusion

7:29

When was the last time you wrote your goals? Did

7:32

you write them down this morning? Did

7:34

you set yourself up last night for success? Or

7:37

were you numb in distractions? Do

7:39

you really love yourself? Do you care

7:41

about yourself? If so, then

7:44

why wouldn't you become successful? Why

7:46

wouldn't you create a better life for yourself? Why

7:48

wouldn't you get clear on who you are, what

7:51

you stand for, and what you want? Why

7:54

Wouldn't you crystallize that clarity and create

7:56

the confidence to actually create a better

7:58

future and life for yourself? My.

8:00

When you upgrade your standards and let

8:03

go of the low level influences and

8:05

choices holding you back. Make.

8:08

The decision. This is

8:10

one choice so influence. All. Others.

8:13

Make. The decision to start your day.

8:15

By. Writing your goals down, Then.

8:18

Do your best throughout the day to align

8:20

your daily behaviors. With. Your future

8:22

dreams. And to take daily

8:24

steps towards your goals. Or confidence

8:26

will increase. As your confidence

8:28

increases. Your. Belief that you will

8:31

succeed. Will. Grow. Your.

8:33

Identity will change your environment will

8:35

change your brain will change. You

8:38

will change. You. Will.

8:40

Succeed. You.

8:46

Just listen to the post titled

8:48

Only One Percent Of Americans Do

8:50

This Essential Daily Habit by Benjamin

8:53

Hardy of Benjamin rt.com. And.

8:55

I'll be right back with my commentary. Okay,

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doc. Take it to

10:01

Benjamin. See,

10:03

this is what

10:05

I love about this podcast. On

10:07

one day you'll hear how essential it is to

10:10

make goals, like in this post. And

10:12

then on another episode you'll hear the

10:14

opposite. We've had some authors say

10:17

that maybe we shouldn't have goals. And

10:19

I, for instance, don't really have

10:22

goals, yet somehow have made thousands

10:24

of episodes of this podcast going

10:26

every day for years now. Well,

10:29

I might have had a few tiny goals in

10:31

the beginning of having a certain

10:33

number of listens by X date

10:36

or whatever. But I wouldn't

10:38

call those serious goals by any means. So

10:41

what does all of this mean and what's

10:43

going on with the contradictions? Well,

10:45

again, that's the fun of this podcast. What

10:47

works for me might not work

10:49

for you, and the same is even true for yourself.

10:53

Maybe five years ago, goals

10:55

were essential or might have been

10:57

essential to you feeling successful, but

10:59

now not so much. Or

11:02

the opposite. You could really use them

11:04

now and write them down every day and revise to

11:06

get to where you want to be. Either

11:08

is fine. It's also possible that the

11:11

answer is both. Maybe we need even just

11:13

a tiny goal to start. Maybe a rewrite

11:15

of a goal here and there, but then

11:17

once the habit is developed, you don't need

11:19

them anymore. It's really up

11:21

to you to decide if what you

11:23

heard in this article sounds like what you

11:25

need to get to the next level. Maybe

11:27

you're already there and you're happy and you're successful. That

11:30

could be the case. With certain areas

11:32

in my life like exercise, I probably could

11:34

use this. But in other areas

11:36

like releasing an episode of this

11:38

show every day that I'm happy with, I

11:41

don't. I don't need a daily goal for that. In

11:44

either case, I'd say ponder this post, think

11:46

about it in your own life. I'd love

11:48

to hear what you come up with. I'll

11:51

leave it there for today. Thank you for being here

11:53

and listening to me and for subscribing to the show.

11:55

That really is the only way I've been able to

11:57

continue doing this. It's not by having goals.

12:00

It's by use of striving and telling that to

12:02

listen. Or. Maybe as you having the goal

12:04

of listening to an episode every day. Either.

12:06

Way. So. Thank you. It means a

12:08

lot of a great rest of your day and we

12:10

back tomorrow. Were. Optimal life. Awaits.