0:00

What? If I told you that

0:02

running a marathon is actually easy.

0:05

The. Whole you have to do is take

0:07

one step. Oh, and

0:09

do that again and again.

0:11

and again. about forty thousand

0:14

times. That's. It Have fun! Okay,

0:17

you may call me crazy, or you

0:19

may have caught on to a principle

0:21

of success that honestly evades most people.

0:24

Achieving many gray and goals comes

0:26

down to nothing more the doing

0:28

one thing as many times in

0:30

a row is it takes to

0:32

get what you want. This

0:34

is the Five A A Miracle Episode

0:36

Number Five Thirty Five. One.

0:39

Repeated action. The. Key

0:41

to your next breakthrough is shockingly

0:43

simple. Good.

0:47

Morning and welcome to the Five

0:50

A A Miracle! I am Jeff

0:52

Sanders and this is the pod

0:54

gas dedicated to dummy your day

0:56

before breakfast. My goal is to

0:58

help you bounce out of bed

1:01

with enthusiasm, create powerful lifelong habits,

1:03

and jackal your grand his goals

1:05

with extraordinary energy. In the episode

1:07

this week, I'll break down the

1:09

surprisingly simple strategy of repetition. why

1:12

doing one thing over and over

1:14

again is so effective and how

1:16

you can nearly guarantee. Your next

1:18

break with out over thinking

1:21

perfectionism or simply working too

1:23

hard. Let's dig in. Sales.

1:32

And trails. This is the

1:34

mantra of my health and

1:37

well, my fitness and my

1:39

business. This is the heartbeat

1:41

of my daily life. Sales.

1:44

And trails. It's a simple

1:46

phrase that embodies my daily

1:48

mission. Hit my numbers

1:51

over and over again, now

1:53

in my case sales equate directly to

1:55

the growth of my business and yes

1:58

in terms of actual dollars Trails

2:00

is my time in nature

2:03

that's hiking and running and

2:05

time outside. It's the health

2:07

component of my life. What

2:10

is your heartbeat? What

2:12

is your daily mantra? What

2:15

speaks to the heart of what you

2:17

are striving to achieve? Now,

2:19

our goal here on this podcast

2:21

is to identify not just your

2:23

grand goals, not just your daily

2:26

routines, but your specific area of

2:28

focus. A goal you want to

2:30

achieve or a problem you want to solve. And

2:33

then, according to the episode's idea

2:35

this week, is we want to

2:37

find one repeated action to move

2:39

you forward with more speed and

2:41

efficiency than anything else ever could.

2:44

Now, I'll be honest, this is not the

2:47

first time I have thought this kind of

2:49

process through in terms of what if there

2:51

was one repeated action to do over and

2:53

over and over again and get the results

2:55

I want. But I've never

2:58

really broken down this process before on

3:00

this podcast. If you've heard

3:02

my show any time in the last

3:04

10 years, you've definitely heard me at

3:06

some point mention this idea that a

3:08

marathon is 40,000 individual steps. I

3:12

love to use that phrase and that stat

3:14

all the time because it

3:16

just speaks to me. It really says, wait a

3:18

minute, a marathon is not

3:20

a marathon. It is a group of

3:23

smaller activities. And in the case

3:25

of this actual event, actual physical

3:27

steps. And those physical

3:29

steps when taken in repetition in a

3:31

confined amount of time add up to

3:33

what we call a marathon. But

3:36

that's just a pretty arbitrary title for

3:38

what that is. Individual

3:40

steps is you moving yourself forward.

3:43

In the case of a marathon, it's hopefully about

3:45

your fitness and your goals to be healthier and

3:48

more energetic and all these great things that you

3:50

get from running. But

3:52

what else in your life could use

3:54

that same mentality? We'll go back

3:56

to my mantra here, sales and trails. Well,

3:59

the sales. of my business ultimately comes

4:01

down to repeated business, repeated sales, repeated

4:04

actions. It's the same things over and

4:06

over and over again. In the case

4:08

of what I do, yes, it involves

4:11

public speaking and podcasting and online courses

4:13

and all these great things I'm involved

4:15

in. But in your life, in

4:18

your business, in your work, with your personal

4:20

goals, odds are whatever

4:22

it is you're focusing on could

4:24

be broken down. The

4:26

compound effect kicks in and the magnificent

4:29

potential for success becomes realized

4:31

because you

4:33

did the work. So let's

4:36

break down one repeated action. Why

4:38

this next potential breakthrough for you is so simple,

4:41

of course in theory, but yet potentially

4:44

so challenging in execution. Let's

4:47

begin by discussing this surprisingly important

4:50

and important topic. Let's

4:54

begin by discussing this surprisingly simple strategy.

4:56

I'm going to begin with this idea

4:58

of repetition and how this could scale

5:01

for you. The first

5:03

example we'll break down is going to be running. I

5:05

use this all the time because it always works. So

5:08

if you know me, you know that I love to use this. Running

5:11

a marathon is a goal that a lot

5:13

of people set for themselves. It's a bucket

5:15

list item. I have run dozens of

5:18

marathons in my life, none recently, but

5:20

a whole bunch in my late 20s and early

5:22

30s, and it's a fantastic

5:24

goal to have. Now, if

5:26

you ask any running coach, any

5:28

fitness coach, how do

5:30

you track your progress? What

5:33

does it mean to train for a

5:35

marathon? Let's forget the actual race day

5:37

itself. We all know that if you

5:39

run 26.2 miles and

5:41

cross the finish line, you get a

5:43

medal, you've run a marathon, ta-da. That's

5:46

not the question. Our question is,

5:48

where are you now and what does

5:50

it take to get there? And

5:52

what it takes is training. What

5:54

it takes is repetition. And

5:57

we are going to be training so the specific way you

5:59

can... define what that means depending

6:01

on what your goal happens to be. In

6:04

the world of fitness, in the world of

6:06

running, it is very common to track your

6:08

progress in terms of miles per week. That

6:11

is how many miles you ran in

6:13

seven days. Now you may track

6:15

it in miles per day if that's where you're

6:17

at or maybe miles per month but it doesn't

6:19

really matter you're going to track miles. Why

6:22

miles? You could also track

6:24

other things. How much did you stretch? How

6:26

many weights did you lift? How many books

6:29

did you read about running? These

6:31

are all great things but they're not

6:33

directly targeted towards the goal you have

6:35

set. I want to

6:38

back this up for a second. When I'm

6:40

talking about one repeated action or talking

6:42

about a goal you have set and

6:44

a specific action to take to get

6:46

there, what I am

6:49

talking about is direct forward

6:51

motion. If you

6:53

were to set a marathon as a goal you could

6:55

choose dozens if not hundreds

6:58

of possible strategies and tactics

7:00

and ideas all of which

7:02

could support you running a

7:04

marathon but most of which would

7:06

not actually push you directly to

7:08

the finish line. When

7:10

you track miles per week you

7:12

are actually asking the question how do

7:15

I train directly for the end result

7:17

I have set? Because

7:19

let's be honest running a marathon

7:21

involves running. It

7:24

doesn't involve hiking although you may be

7:27

walking some. It doesn't involve

7:29

weightlifting although you do need good strong

7:31

muscles. It does not involve

7:33

stretching although you should be flexible. There

7:36

is one specific action in

7:38

the case of a marathon the

7:40

action is running which

7:42

means what you're going to be tracking

7:45

in the most important sense is

7:47

how much you run. How

7:50

much do you run as you train

7:52

for the race? Once again all the

7:55

other strategies are helpful and

7:57

good and possibly necessary. But

8:00

the most important measurement, the most

8:02

important thing to track is how

8:05

many miles you ran. And

8:07

as that number grows, you get closer

8:10

and closer to your goal. So

8:12

with any goal you've set, you have to

8:14

ask the question, what is the

8:17

one thing such that by doing it over

8:19

and over and over again, I am

8:22

most likely to move directly towards

8:24

my finish line? Yes,

8:26

once again, in the case of running, you can

8:28

stretch, you can read books, you can

8:31

hire coaches, you can go for a hike, you

8:33

can go mountain climbing, you can

8:35

do a thousand other things that are

8:37

not running. But guess

8:39

what? The strategy, the

8:41

skill you need to gain

8:43

is the ability to run

8:45

a long distance. And

8:48

so if you're going to do anything

8:50

on any given day to train for

8:52

this race, it's going to include running,

8:54

you're going to track those miles, and

8:56

you're going to improve how many miles

8:58

per week you can do over time.

9:01

That's it. We don't

9:03

want to overcomplicate this. The

9:05

intentional simplicity of this episode is probably annoying,

9:08

right? You probably think, well, Jeff, you're saying

9:10

the same thing a thousand times in a

9:12

row. I kind of am. And

9:15

I'm doing so for a reason. We,

9:17

and by we I mean me, tend

9:19

to overcomplicate things. We overthink things. We

9:21

are perfectionists. We want to make sure

9:23

we do everything just right. Like,

9:26

that's how I tend to operate in so many ways. But

9:29

that's a silly waste of time in most

9:31

cases. In most cases, for the

9:33

goals you have set, you could break it down

9:36

to a single activity. And if

9:38

that single action, which becomes a habit,

9:41

is then repeated over time, and

9:43

you just nail that one thing over

9:45

and over again, and you improve that

9:47

main skill set over and over, get

9:50

really good at that thing over and

9:52

over, you're going to

9:54

make faster progress than by doing the

9:56

10 other things you could be doing

9:58

all combined together. That's

10:01

where the potential lies. So this first

10:04

example of simplicity and repetition, we'll use

10:06

fitness, but this is a great example

10:08

for most people. Most

10:10

of us have trained for something, we have

10:12

tried to lose weight, build muscle, run a

10:15

certain race. All of that

10:17

can be tracked with a single simplistic

10:19

metric, in this case miles per

10:21

week. Now another example

10:23

could be growing a business. If

10:26

you're trying to make money, you're trying

10:28

to enter a new industry. You want

10:30

to grow something to make it profitable

10:32

for you and your teammates. Well

10:35

ultimately you could probably track those actions

10:37

down to a single action that you

10:39

do on repetition. And

10:42

that single action, usually with a

10:44

business, is going to involve some kind

10:46

of a sales call or marketing system,

10:48

something that when repeated brings in the

10:51

leads you need to turn those leads

10:53

into prospects. Those prospects become clients and

10:55

those clients pay you money. In

10:58

general sense that's kind of how it works, right? The

11:01

sales and marketing process ultimately comes

11:03

down to a few key activities

11:05

that you do in repetition, in

11:08

mass, over time, and when scaled

11:10

they produce the business that you

11:12

need to become a profitable enterprise.

11:16

I don't want to oversimplify business, business is a lot more

11:18

complicated than that. Or is it?

11:21

Is it actually more complicated than that? I

11:23

don't think it has to be. I think

11:26

that when we tend to overthink things we might

11:28

think, well I need to be on social media

11:30

all the time. I need to be doing XYZ

11:32

activities because I read 20 books last month about

11:34

growing a business and I've got 10,000 action steps.

11:39

No, no you don't. You do not

11:41

have 10,000 action steps, you have 10,000

11:43

distracting ideas. That's

11:47

what you have. You read 20 books

11:49

that have now distracted and confused you.

11:52

I'm talking from experience here. This is what

11:54

I have done to myself so many times

11:56

over the years where I'll take a certain

11:58

goal that I have. Have and I

12:01

will just bombard myself with information.

12:03

I'll read every book. Whatever you

12:05

tube video just consume content left

12:07

and right. And. You know

12:09

what happens? Yes, I am

12:11

more knowledgeable. But. Guess what? I'm

12:14

also overwhelmed to. I

12:17

know too much. I. Too many

12:19

ideas. And therefore I

12:21

do nothing. Or. Very little.

12:24

The. Goal of all of this

12:26

is not overwhelmed. Shocker Assists

12:28

is not overwhelm. It's not

12:30

in action. It's nuts. Paralysis

12:32

by analysis. That's. Not

12:34

the goal. Goal. It's

12:37

simplicity. The. Goes to specifically

12:39

identified the finish line that you

12:41

once. Thought save joined a business

12:43

You might set a certain revenue goal.

12:45

I. Want to have six figures in sales

12:47

next year? Awesome! What?

12:50

Are you gonna do every single day to have that

12:52

goal? What? Is the one repeated

12:54

actually going to do every single day to

12:56

hit that goal? It's

12:58

gonna be one thing. They. Might be

13:00

too. Okay, fine. But. It's gonna

13:02

be a very small number of activities they're

13:05

going to do a thousand times in a

13:07

row. And then it

13:09

works. Growing up making the

13:11

much wanted. This.

13:23

Podcast is all about productivity and

13:26

one area of my life that

13:28

has always needed a few extra

13:30

strategies is wrapped up in the

13:33

world of Finance. Know. you

13:35

could argue that being financially productive

13:37

is even more important than other

13:39

areas and with my sponsor yahoo

13:42

finance you can consolidate multiple accounts

13:44

into one hub or dashboard just

13:46

like i do with my own

13:48

investment accounts now i'm actually looking

13:51

a yahoo finance.com right now and

13:53

i can see the stocks i'm

13:55

following i can customize my portfolio

13:57

and even securely can that other

14:00

brokerage accounts that I have. It

14:03

was fascinating for me to see that

14:05

the number one brand behind every great

14:07

investor is Yahoo Finance. Now

14:09

I'm not a seasoned investor, so I

14:12

love to find extra guidance to help

14:14

me find and make better financial decisions,

14:16

which is where Yahoo Finance comes in

14:18

and gives you the tools and data

14:21

you need all in one place. They

14:24

show a big picture look at

14:26

financial news, independent research, and what

14:28

I love the most, customizable charts

14:30

for your own investments. So

14:33

for comprehensive financial news and

14:35

analysis, visit the brand behind

14:38

every great investor, Yahoo finance.com,

14:40

the number one financial

14:43

destination, Yahoo finance.com, that's

14:46

Yahoo finance.com. My

14:49

biggest struggle with my health now

14:51

is and has always been my

14:53

allergies. When my finances

14:55

are clogged up, I really can't

14:57

get anything done, including recording this

15:00

podcast, because I spend the entire

15:02

day blowing my nose and clearing

15:04

my throat. Luckily, for

15:06

those of us who live with the

15:08

symptoms of allergies, we can live Claritin

15:10

Clear with Claritin D. Shout

15:13

out to Claritin for supporting this episode and

15:15

providing me with samples. Claritin

15:17

D tackles nasal congestion caused by

15:20

allergies or a cold, and also

15:22

relieves sinus congestion and pressure due

15:25

to allergies. This double

15:27

action combination of prescription strength,

15:29

allergy medicine, and the best

15:31

decongestant available, relieves sneezing, a

15:33

runny nose, itchy and watery

15:35

eyes, an itchy nose and

15:38

throat, and sinus congestion and

15:40

pressure with ease. Ready

15:42

to live life as if you don't have

15:44

allergies? It's time to live Claritin Clear. Fast

15:48

and powerful relief is just a quick

15:50

trip away. Find Claritin D at

15:52

the pharmacy counter. As for

15:54

Claritin D, your local pharmacy counter, You

15:57

don't even need a prescription. Go To clareton.com

15:59

right now. For a discount so

16:01

you can live clears unclear. Use.

16:03

As directed. If. You're

16:06

loving this podcast and would love

16:08

to get exclusive bonus episodes of

16:10

the Five A A Miracle as

16:12

well as every episode one hundred

16:14

percent ad free. You're going to

16:16

love Five a Year miracle premium

16:18

by joining Fi They a Miracle

16:20

premium. You will get access to

16:22

exclusive bonus episodes of the show.

16:24

One. Hundred percent ad free concerts,

16:27

Early. Access to the Latest Episodes

16:29

Exclusive access to the entire back

16:31

catalogue with over four hundred episodes

16:33

as well as any other features

16:35

that launch in the future. Now

16:38

in addition to all of that

16:40

you are supporting me and this

16:42

podcast which allows me to keep

16:44

this show alive and making podcast

16:46

you love to learn more and

16:48

joined today. Simply go to Five

16:50

Am Miracle premium.com. Once. Again,

16:52

that's five a year. Miracle

16:55

premium.com. Need

17:04

now, it's moods. The routine it was

17:06

podcast, the Five a Miracle, of course,

17:09

is all about your habits. And what

17:11

are habits? rip seated actions, doing the

17:13

same thing a billion times in a

17:15

row, and knowing that if you did

17:17

that, you're going to get better results

17:20

than the other repeated actions you may

17:22

have been doing that we're not producing

17:24

the results you once. All.

17:26

We're talking about. Here's a slight

17:28

pivots in your daily absence: Whether

17:30

it's your morning routine, your fitness

17:33

routine, your work routine, your sales

17:35

calls routine, These. Are all

17:37

based on repeated habits. So.

17:39

This third example with your daily revolt.

17:42

You may ask, The question was, how do I

17:44

improve my morning routine. I. Wanted

17:46

adopt just Sanders Five A a miracle. So

17:48

what do I do to make that happen?

17:51

More. Course the very first thing you could do

17:53

is adopt a five a m wake up call.

17:55

know what's the for example you wanted

17:58

to improve that rude seen overtime Well

18:00

then you need to track somehow some

18:02

metric that indicates whether you are successful

18:04

or not in that goal. So

18:07

in the example of 5amMiracle you may

18:09

ask the question, how many days per

18:11

week did I wake up successfully at

18:14

5am and did

18:16

something with my life at 5am besides

18:19

just roll over and fall back asleep? That

18:22

becomes the metric. Your wake up

18:24

time and the activity you did when you

18:26

first woke up. In

18:29

the most simplistic sense that's what the 5amMiracle

18:31

is asking of you. What time

18:33

will you wake up and what will you

18:35

do right away? When

18:37

you track that metric over time and you see

18:39

your progress, you can see well, last Tuesday was

18:42

5.30 and then Wednesday was 5.15 and then Thursday

18:44

was 5.05. By

18:47

Friday I had a 5 o'clock wake up and

18:49

I went and did my morning run and had

18:51

a little bit of yoga and a coffee and

18:53

off I went to work that day. And

18:56

then that same process, that same rhythm

18:58

and routine was reestablished on Saturday and

19:01

Sunday. That's right over the weekend too

19:03

and then again on Monday and Tuesday

19:05

I saw myself waking up earlier and

19:08

earlier until I hit my ideal time

19:10

and I did my ideal activity. And look

19:13

at this chart, look at this graph, look

19:15

at this spreadsheet. You can see my progress

19:17

over time of the wake up time when

19:19

it happened, the activity that I did, the

19:21

results I got from that activity. Maybe

19:24

I worked on a book that I

19:26

was writing, maybe I had a personal

19:28

project or hobby. I did something valuable

19:30

at that time and here it is

19:32

measured, managed on paper. You can see

19:34

the results as they stack up. This

19:38

is not complicated. This is

19:40

a very simplistic measurement system to

19:43

ask these very basic questions. What

19:46

is the goal? What is the

19:48

one, maybe two activities that directly move

19:50

you to where you want to be?

19:54

Fourth example, let's imagine you're

19:56

a student and your goal is to

19:58

graduate with your next amazing degree. Well

20:01

what? His graduation from an

20:03

educational program any. All.

20:05

The moink comes down to study

20:07

doing academic work. My wife is

20:09

a professor, she works a doctoral

20:11

students all day, every day and

20:13

ultimately what they have to do

20:15

the set of classes and then

20:17

they write a big paper, a

20:19

huge research paper, their dissertation. And

20:22

when it comes down to with the classes is

20:24

you go to class, you do the work required

20:26

and you get the great. But. The

20:28

second house said dissertation is

20:30

independent study time. This. Is

20:33

when things get really tricky, right? I'm

20:35

not going on over simplify my wife's

20:37

job here, but ultimately was he's helping

20:39

students. It's those two big faces. Passer.

20:42

Classes and then right as big paper.

20:45

And when you're passing classes and you're

20:47

going to class or takings house, you're

20:49

writing those papers for class. Awesomely.

20:51

You're just kind of reactive to the

20:53

teacher or the professor gives you an

20:56

same as you complete. It's. But.

20:58

The Independent Study to. This

21:01

dissertation. When. Time is really

21:03

up to you. How much work to

21:05

do this week? Or next month? Or next

21:07

year? It's really on you. So.

21:09

Then you have to be the one to say here's

21:12

my system. Here's. The paper

21:14

I'm going to write your the

21:16

sections that are included. Here's the

21:18

exact deadline for me to hit.

21:20

Here are the see: daily habits

21:22

to spend time. Studying.

21:24

Writing research, seen doing the

21:27

work, To. Get to the result.

21:29

I once. So. In this case,

21:31

in this example, to gradually your next

21:33

degree. You. Need deliberate study

21:35

hours per day or per week.

21:38

And. Deliberate study hours is your

21:41

metric right? How many hours

21:43

you spend not just doing

21:45

the work, but doing deliberate,

21:47

intentional focus work towards your

21:49

goal. There's.

21:51

A big discussion you could

21:53

say about activity versus productivity.

21:56

Activity is just doing stuff. Productive.

22:00

The is doing stuff that matters. A

22:02

factor: productivity is doing stuff that matters

22:04

that adds up to something meaningful. What

22:06

we're trying to get you to a

22:08

point where the time you spend is

22:10

focused, it is deliberate, it is intentional,

22:12

and eight since you in a direct

22:14

path from where you are to where

22:17

you want to be. So.

22:19

In this example, once again, you want to

22:21

graduate with your next degree. You. Will

22:23

track how many deliberate study hours

22:26

the you are doing on recurring

22:28

basis. Fifth,

22:30

Example. Let's. Imagine you were

22:32

a copy people like me who have spent time

22:34

writing and publishing books in the past And you

22:36

are right, your old what you would be an

22:38

author. Or any writer will

22:41

tell you that there is a very

22:43

common nectar to write more whether it's

22:45

a paper for class and article, a

22:47

whole book. And. That metrics

22:49

his word count per day. Word.

22:52

Counts is your one repeated action. And

22:54

so on a Monday morning? if you're

22:57

going to, right, let's say five hundred

22:59

words a day. Will. Than your

23:01

five and miracle on a Monday might

23:03

include in early wake up time. You.

23:05

Then write your five hundred words for the

23:07

day the day is done. He check that

23:09

box the move on. On. Tuesday do

23:12

the exact same thing again. You're.

23:14

Up Early. You're right. age. Plane your five

23:16

hundred words. You check the box. You move

23:18

on Wednesday. Wake up early. Why five hundred

23:20

words? Check the box. Move on. The.

23:23

See how this gets kind of

23:25

exhausting? but also that's the rhythm

23:27

Were trying to establish your hopefully

23:30

whatever system you're building here is

23:32

sustainable. It's reinforcing. It's

23:34

energizing because you're choosing activities that

23:36

bring life back into you, not

23:38

actively the just burn you apps.

23:41

So. If your goal is to become a

23:43

writer to put that time into rights, five

23:45

hundred words, days and example. Was.

23:47

A good gold assess, Because five hundred

23:50

words is not that many. It's manageable.

23:52

And. Also, it's a heck of lot more than zero

23:55

words a day. Which. is some see

23:57

words the day most writers right Now,

24:00

most writers don't write very often. And so if

24:02

your goal is to become a writer or a

24:04

published author or anything in that same spectrum, you're

24:07

gonna have to track how much quantity

24:09

of writing you're doing. Now,

24:12

this is another good pausing point here. In

24:15

this process, we're not talking about quality,

24:17

not really. We're really talking about

24:19

quantity. Now, the last example

24:22

about deliberate study hours, yes, that

24:24

does increase the quality over time,

24:26

but it starts with a lower

24:29

quality, high quantity metric. I'll

24:32

also go back to the example of exercise. Yes,

24:35

if you're extremely in great shape, you're

24:37

awesomely fit, you've run and lifted weights

24:39

your whole life, then the intensity

24:41

and the quality of your workouts are probably

24:43

top notch. But if you're a

24:46

beginner or you're out of shape or you've been

24:48

injured or you're restarting, well, the quality

24:50

of the workout might be kind of poor, but

24:53

the goal is quantity. How many workouts are

24:55

you doing? How long are you putting the

24:57

time in? You've got to get back to

24:59

the gym again and again, back to the

25:01

trail, back into the pool, back to the

25:03

workout. Quantity wins.

25:06

Word count per day as an author

25:09

is just about repetition. Show up again

25:11

and again, do the work again and

25:13

again, put in the time, do

25:16

the work, do it again, do it again, do

25:18

it again. Initially,

25:21

the goal will only be

25:23

quantity. Over time, it

25:25

will include quality because you're gonna get better

25:27

at this. Your skills are going to improve,

25:29

and then all of a sudden, it's not

25:31

just 500 words, it's

25:34

500 really great words, 500 amazing words.

25:37

Then maybe over time, it's 750 or 1,000 words a day, you

25:41

can get a little more ambitious as you go along. But

25:43

you've got to start somewhere that is manageable and

25:46

that focuses initially on quantity and the

25:48

successful checking of that box to go

25:50

on to the next day. Example

25:54

number six, now let's imagine you

25:56

want to become a YouTuber. Your goal is to get

25:58

into social media hot and heavy. and you

26:00

want to make sure you are recording awesome videos

26:02

to put onto the internet as often as possible

26:05

to Grow your personal brand to build

26:07

your business whatever the case may be Well

26:10

once again the same thing shows

26:12

up quality over

26:14

quantity I Cannot tell

26:17

you how many videos on YouTube I

26:19

have watched that were recorded with

26:21

some of the lowest quality you could

26:23

possibly imagine Terrible lighting

26:26

terrible audio no real thought

26:28

going into these videos and

26:31

yet for some reason I watched

26:33

the videos anyway Why

26:35

and the answer is because the person who

26:37

recorded the video did something right?

26:41

They hit record and then

26:43

they publish what they recorded that

26:45

might sound like there's a bunch of low

26:47

quality Nonsense on YouTube

26:49

and yes, that is true However,

26:52

if your goal is to become

26:54

a better youtuber a better videographer

26:57

a better performer Broadcaster podcaster,

26:59

whatever the case may be You're

27:02

only going to get better by doing the

27:04

thing poorly and doing it a lot Being

27:08

bad a lot and publishing

27:10

you being bad a lot Over

27:13

and over again. Once again quality

27:15

will come later Quantity

27:17

is first you've got to produce

27:19

a lot of nonsense and they're gonna get better the

27:22

quality will improve You'll figure out lighting you'll

27:24

figure out better cameras. You'll have a better

27:26

script Everything will improve if

27:29

you heard this podcast and it first launched and you

27:31

may have It wasn't very

27:34

good Yeah, it was kind of

27:36

rough I mean heck

27:38

even this episode right now that you're

27:40

hearing in a few years I'm gonna

27:42

look back and be upset. I'm gonna

27:45

be mad at myself for producing a

27:47

low quality episode Even if this episode

27:49

is by definition higher quality than what

27:51

I used to produce That's

27:54

the goal improvement over time if I'm

27:56

not mad at myself in a few

27:59

years about the quality of this episode,

28:01

I didn't do my job. I didn't get

28:04

better. The whole goal

28:06

of this is improvement over time

28:08

and repetition. This

28:19

podcast is all about productivity. And

28:21

one area of my life that

28:24

has always needed a few extra

28:26

strategies is wrapped up in

28:28

the world of finance. Now

28:30

you could argue that being financially productive

28:32

is even more important than other areas.

28:35

And with my sponsor, Yahoo Finance,

28:38

you can consolidate multiple accounts into

28:40

one hub or dashboard, just like

28:42

I do with my own investment

28:45

accounts. Now I'm actually

28:47

looking at yahoofinance.com right now, and

28:49

I can see the stocks I'm

28:51

following. I can customize my portfolio,

28:54

and even securely connect other brokerage

28:56

accounts that I have. It

28:59

was fascinating for me to see that the

29:01

number one brand behind every great investor is

29:03

Yahoo Finance. Now I'm not

29:05

a seasoned investor, so I love to

29:08

find extra guidance to help me find

29:10

and make better financial decisions, which is

29:12

where Yahoo Finance comes in and gives

29:14

you the tools and data you need

29:17

all in one place. They show

29:19

a big picture look at financial

29:22

news, independent research, and what I

29:24

love the most, customizable charts for

29:26

your own investments. So

29:28

for comprehensive financial news and

29:31

analysis, visit the brand behind

29:33

every great investor, yahoofinance.com, the

29:36

number one financial destination,

29:39

yahoofinance.com. That's yahoofinance.com.

29:44

Allergies are my nemesis, and

29:46

always have been. When

29:48

my sinuses are clogged up, I

29:50

really can't get anything done, including

29:53

recording this podcast, because

29:55

I spend the whole day blowing my nose and clearing

29:57

my throat. Luckily, for those of

29:59

us. live at the symptoms of

30:01

allergies, we can live Claritin Clear with

30:04

Claritin D. Shout out to

30:06

Claritin for supporting this episode and providing me

30:08

with samples. Designed

30:10

for serious allergy sufferers, Claritin D

30:13

has two powerful ingredients in just

30:15

one pill that relieve your allergy

30:17

symptoms and decongest your nose

30:19

so you can breathe better. Claritin

30:22

D's fast symptom relief starts working on

30:25

allergies with nasal congestion in as little

30:27

as 30 minutes. Stay

30:29

to live life as if you don't have

30:31

allergies? It's time to live Claritin Clear. Fast

30:35

and powerful relief is just one quick trip

30:37

away. Find Claritin D at the

30:39

pharmacy counter. As for Claritin D

30:42

at your local pharmacy counter, you don't even need

30:44

a prescription. Go to claritin.com

30:46

right now for a discount so

30:48

you can live Claritin Clear. Use

30:51

as directed. The

30:54

5am Miracle audiobook is available

30:56

now on Audible, Amazon, and

30:58

Apple Books. It's full

31:00

of specific how-to advice and action

31:03

steps to help you wake up

31:05

early, dominate your day, and achieve

31:07

your life's grandest goals. It's

31:09

four hours of energy-packed audio that's read

31:11

by me. And the

31:13

audiobook walks you step-by-step through

31:15

the 5am blueprint, which is

31:17

my 7-step productivity framework. You

31:20

will learn how to set your grandest goals, craft

31:23

clear boundaries around your work, optimize

31:25

your ideal week, and discover

31:28

what the pros do to get the most out

31:30

of their day. Just

31:32

visit 5ambook.com to get your

31:34

copy of the 5am Miracle

31:36

audiobook today. Once again,

31:38

that's 5ambook.com. Now

31:51

it's an action you

31:53

want to improve a relationship. It could

31:55

be with a spouse, a partner, someone

31:57

you want to really get to know.

32:00

in a more intimate way. Well, the

32:02

goal here is to define a metric

32:04

that really exemplifies your

32:06

relationship getting better. This

32:09

is not as clear cut as improving

32:11

sales in a business or miles per

32:13

week in a marathon training plan. Relationships

32:16

and emotion and love and all

32:18

these things are less tangible,

32:21

right? They're a lot more emotional, a lot

32:23

more kind of up in the air. So

32:25

what does that mean for you? It doesn't mean

32:28

it's a goal you can't pursue. It doesn't mean

32:30

you can't get better at this. It

32:32

just simply means you define what

32:34

it means to have a great

32:37

relationship with some clarity, with some

32:39

specificity, and then you nail down

32:41

what could I do on a consistent basis, whether

32:43

it's once a day, a few times a week,

32:45

whatever the case is, or you're

32:47

going to improve what you have. So

32:50

in the case of a relationship with

32:52

a spouse or partner, you might simply

32:54

say, let's establish a date night once

32:56

a week. Let's establish one-on-one time to

32:58

guarantee it's just you and me making

33:00

this happen, a lovingly focused

33:03

one-on-one time once a week. You

33:05

can start there and let that grow over

33:07

time. That's really all

33:09

this is, but the consistency and the

33:12

commitment to it, that's

33:14

where the magic happens. It's

33:16

not one date night that was wonderful. It's

33:18

the consistency of saying, I'm going to be

33:21

here every week for you. I'm

33:23

going to always show up for you. I'm going

33:25

to always be here because I'm committed to this

33:27

and I want this to be better and be

33:29

as good as it possibly could be. So

33:32

an intentionality realm that just simply says,

33:34

I will identify certain key activities that

33:37

allow us to be better as a couple. And

33:39

then we're going to commit to doing those things.

33:41

Or at the very least, I will commit to

33:43

doing my part in these things as often as

33:45

possible to make sure that

33:47

I'm giving my half of this

33:49

relationship in the best way I possibly can.

33:53

You know, years ago, I heard a speech

33:55

from Darren Hardy, who is the author of

33:57

The Compound Effect and was the former publisher

33:59

of Success. magazine and I

34:01

remember this one talk he gave that I still

34:03

have a mental issue with but I get his

34:05

points so let's bring it out for you. What

34:08

he did was he asked an audience he

34:11

was talking to you know who is responsible

34:13

for your marriage right how much are

34:15

you responsible is it 20% 50% 75% and ultimately the answer

34:22

that Darren gave was 100% you are 100% responsible for

34:24

your relationship which literally

34:29

allows for 0% on the other

34:31

side. Now the point was not

34:33

to say that it's not a give and take the

34:36

point was not to argue against a partnership or

34:38

you or a yin and a yang the

34:41

point was to say if this

34:43

matters to you you are ultimately

34:45

responsible for it. Now that

34:47

could be a relationship it could be a business it could be

34:49

a personal goal the intention behind

34:51

this was responsibility it was

34:53

owning what you want and

34:56

saying I'm gonna do everything in my

34:58

power to make this the

35:00

best possible scenario that I can and

35:03

from that perspective it's going to change

35:05

most likely how you approach all of

35:07

your goals and relationships and other things

35:09

going forward where you say this is

35:11

on me if this

35:13

is not where I want it to be I'm

35:15

gonna do what it takes to make it happen. There

35:19

are potential flaws with this line of

35:21

thinking but this was Darren's point and

35:24

I pretty holistically agree with that I

35:26

think there's a lot of potential here

35:28

for massive growth especially if

35:30

you've been the kind of person to point

35:32

fingers to blame to find

35:35

fault in others if

35:37

we turn that around and we look

35:39

at ourselves and ask the question can

35:41

I do better the answer is always yes

35:44

and that becomes the focus what's a

35:47

positive action I can take to move

35:49

myself and others forward and

35:51

then you wind up with better relationships

35:53

better businesses better health all these great

35:56

things. Alright

35:58

finally example number eight Let's imagine

36:00

you want to improve your diet, you want

36:02

to lose some weight, you want to finally

36:04

take care of your nutrition. Well,

36:07

the same thing is true here. You need

36:09

a metric to measure every single day. Now,

36:11

depending on what kind of health coach you work

36:14

with or what your personal goals happen to be,

36:16

yes, you could be looking at how much weight

36:18

you're losing per day. I

36:20

don't take that same approach though. The way

36:22

that I tend to think about weight loss

36:24

in this example is that it's a side

36:27

effect of the actions you're taking per day.

36:29

So the question really is, what are you doing?

36:32

Not what happens because of what you're doing,

36:34

that's the results, that's a lag indicator. We're

36:37

looking for what you are committed to controlling.

36:39

What are you doing every day? So

36:42

you could argue that one of the metrics

36:44

you could track would be how many nutrient

36:46

dense calories per day do you consume? And

36:48

is it in the range that you have

36:50

set for yourself along with you and your

36:52

health coach? You and your

36:54

doctor. You're looking at this and asking the question,

36:57

what is the target goal per day? What

37:00

do I control? What am I trying to achieve?

37:03

And then you set out to hit that goal. And

37:05

then in that example, if you were to

37:08

hit the target range for nutrient dense calories

37:10

per day, you would most likely see a

37:12

side effect of weight loss. And

37:15

so from that perspective, once again, we define

37:17

the goal. I want to improve my diet.

37:19

I want to lose 20 pounds or whatever

37:21

the case is. And therefore, here's

37:23

what I'll do each and every day. Here

37:25

are the measurements I will have, what I

37:27

will track, and when I hit

37:29

those goals each and every day, then over time,

37:31

I will eventually get where I'm trying to go

37:34

in a direct path towards that finish

37:36

line. Everything

37:39

here is a series of repeated habits.

37:43

Every example here is a goal

37:45

broken down with a single repeated

37:47

action that will absolutely provide results.

37:51

Basically all you have to do is repeat that one

37:53

action until you get what you want. And

37:55

if along the way you decide, you know what, this one

37:57

action I chose isn't quite working, well then you can do

37:59

it. just pivot, make a new choice, and

38:02

then move in that direction. We're not quitting. We're

38:04

not going to give up on this. We're just

38:06

going to make a small tweak and off we go. But

38:09

we have to begin with something. A

38:12

clear finish line and a clear repeated action

38:14

to get there. Now

38:16

if you want to dig in a lot more

38:19

into this concept, there are definitely some great books

38:21

to read. The first of which is The One

38:23

Thing by Gary Keller and Jay Papazan. It's

38:26

a phenomenal book about identifying the

38:28

one thing that makes an incredible

38:30

difference. Now in those

38:32

examples, it may not be a repeated action. It

38:34

may be a single finite choice. But

38:36

just keep in mind the idea here is

38:39

repetition, habit building, and use the one thing

38:41

strategy to take you in that direction. Another

38:45

great example, of course, is Darren

38:47

Hardy's book The Compound Effect, which

38:49

definitely leverages this concept of taking

38:52

those repeated actions over time that

38:54

eventually scale, have massive growth eventually

38:56

when the big hockey stick moment

38:59

kicks in. Now

39:01

from that perspective you may say, well, that's

39:03

awesome. I could read some books, but what

39:05

if I still don't know what the one

39:07

action is for the specific goal that I'm

39:09

trying to achieve? What if

39:12

the goals I have are not the ones that Jeff

39:14

listed here in the episode this week? Well,

39:17

the best thing to do to start this process, take

39:20

your best guess. Just

39:22

guess. I say that because

39:24

odds are you probably already have some good

39:27

guesses in mind. You may not

39:29

know the exact perfect one, but you probably know a

39:31

good one. You probably have an

39:33

idea of where to start. And that's all

39:35

we're asking for here. You start now with

39:38

your best guess and you just see what

39:40

happens. You are willing to do some trial

39:42

and error, to do some experimentation to find

39:44

out what works, what doesn't, and why. It's

39:48

not very scientific, but of course your gut

39:50

is wiser than you realize and you want

39:52

to be able to leverage what

39:54

you have going for you and just start because

39:57

the actions are going to result in the

39:59

experience. and the knowledge has been gained from

40:01

all that work. That's

40:03

where the magic happens. It's in

40:05

the arena doing the work on the

40:07

course, on the field, whatever sports analogy

40:09

you want to use here. Get

40:11

in the game. That's the goal. Get

40:14

in the game. If you have to guess

40:16

to do it, fine. Guess

40:18

away because you're going to learn a

40:20

lot very quickly. You're going to pivot and move forward.

40:23

Now yes, you can shorten the learning curve

40:25

quite a bit by hiring a coach. Yes,

40:27

read a few great books, talk to a

40:29

smart friend or mentor or mastermind group or

40:31

whatever the case is. Those are

40:34

all great things. But of course

40:36

you need to get in the game to learn what

40:38

to do and then pivot from there. There

40:41

is one more clarifying point I want to make

40:43

sure that I mentioned that I probably forgot earlier,

40:45

which has to do with what the specific tiny

40:47

action is you're going to do per day. That's

40:50

the key point. Tiny. Think

40:53

of the one step in a marathon or

40:55

one sales call in a business. By

40:58

themselves, those actions are very easy.

41:01

I mean, literally a single step forward,

41:03

a single phone call, those aren't

41:06

hard. The goal here is not

41:08

to shoot too far and choose something

41:10

that's overly complicated or difficult or would

41:12

take a tremendous amount of effort to

41:14

do. In fact, it's exactly

41:17

the opposite. The action here

41:19

needs to be able to be

41:21

scaled over time in mass, large

41:23

quantities, which means the individual action

41:26

is tiny and easy and almost

41:28

so easy it seems impossible not

41:30

to do it. When

41:32

that's the case, you're so much more

41:34

likely to actually do it and

41:36

then do it again and again and again. So

41:40

don't over complicate this. Don't make it

41:42

too difficult. In fact, go the exact

41:44

opposite direction and intentionally ask yourself what

41:47

is so easy that it would be impossible

41:49

to not do it. Start

41:52

there and scale. Now,

41:54

of course, the long term goal here is to

41:57

build your life around this one action to the

41:59

best of your ability. especially if you believe

42:01

in its potential. So you want

42:03

to build your calendar around your

42:05

guaranteed execution of this repeated action.

42:08

And then of course, over time, you're tracking

42:10

that progress, you're tweaking, you're pivoting as

42:13

needed, and then eventually you get

42:15

the rewards. But for all

42:17

this to be true, we have to

42:19

first know what the action is and

42:21

then build a life around the guaranteed

42:23

execution of it. The calendaring component here

42:25

is critical. You have to be

42:27

able to make sure it's on your calendar and

42:29

it will happen over and over again. And if

42:31

you can't put it on your calendar, it's

42:34

probably not gonna work. So keep tweaking

42:36

and keep modifying until it can fit

42:38

there and fit there well over

42:41

and over again. Now,

42:44

as a final few thoughts here, I

42:46

just wanna remind you that what

42:49

gets measured gets managed, that tracking

42:51

is everything here because the data

42:53

tells you a story. When

42:55

you track the habit you want to improve,

42:57

you can forget your other habits for now

43:00

because you're tracking the habit that matters the

43:02

most. And you focus on that one area

43:04

until you master it and then and only

43:06

then can you bring in additional habits. And

43:09

to keep things even more simplistic, use a

43:12

tracker like a very basic Excel spreadsheet, could

43:14

be an app on your phone you use

43:16

every day, a notebook on your desk, it

43:18

doesn't matter what the tracker is. It just

43:20

has to be consistent and baked into your

43:23

life with whatever system you choose to use.

43:26

And then if you wanna go the full Monty

43:28

here, you wanna review this on a regular

43:30

basis to of course improve over time. The

43:33

way that I view this is I don't

43:35

wanna get married to the original idea too

43:37

strongly. If the system needs to

43:39

be tweaked and reviewed and improved, I'm going

43:41

to do it because pivoting is part of

43:44

the process. That's

43:46

it. Choose your goal, guarantee

43:49

the goal in the calendar, track the

43:51

goal, put it into a

43:53

system you're gonna use every day, review

43:55

that system. Sounds

43:57

like a lot, it does. But

44:00

when you choose something you care about, a goal

44:02

that means something to you, none

44:04

of this is hard. None of this is work.

44:07

This is just part of the process of making it happen. And

44:10

honestly, it's a lot of fun. So just get

44:12

to it, make it happen, and I'm excited to hear

44:14

about your results. If you want to email me what

44:16

you're working on, I'd love to hear about it. Jeff

44:19

at jeffsanders.com. Yes, I

44:21

read every email. Yes, I would love to hear

44:23

what you're up to. And

44:33

for the action stuff this week, identify

44:35

your one action to repeat and get

44:37

to it. In your pursuit

44:40

of your grand goal, there is

44:42

likely a single action or small

44:44

set of actions that, when repeated

44:47

to the extreme, will bring about

44:49

extreme and extraordinary results. Your

44:52

mission is to identify that action and

44:54

build your life around the repetition of

44:56

it. It's not

44:58

that sexy, I know, but it's a

45:01

solution that absolutely works. Now

45:03

be sure to subscribe to

45:05

this podcast in your favorite

45:07

podcast app, or become a

45:09

VIP member of the 5amMiracle

45:11

community by getting the premium

45:13

ad-free version with exclusive bonus

45:15

episodes at 5ammiraclepremium.com. And

45:18

that's all I've got for you here

45:20

on the 5amMiracle podcast this week. Until

45:22

next time, you have the power to

45:24

change your life. And all that fun

45:26

begins bright and early. Best

45:53

sellers, effortless and essentialism.

45:56

His mission is to help you advocate and

45:58

negotiate your way to a better future. remarkable

46:00

results. Every Tuesday, Greg

46:02

discusses one key topic he finds

46:05

interesting and valuable through the lens

46:07

of the essentialist. Every

46:09

Thursday, he invites thought leaders, entrepreneurs,

46:11

celebrities, and people like you for

46:14

inspired weekly conversations focused on learning

46:16

how to do what matters first

46:19

and do less but better. His

46:22

content will stir your thoughts and

46:24

spark inspiration and action. And

46:26

his British accents? Well, that's just a cherry

46:28

on top. Subscribe to the

46:30

Greg McEwen Podcast today on Apple

46:33

Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast

46:35

platform.