How to Stop Overthinking (and Finally Achieve Your Goals)

00:17:49
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=csXdSeDbDgA

摘要

TLDRIn this video, the speaker emphasizes the importance of taking action over overthinking when starting new projects, drawing insights from Pat Flynn's book 'Lean Learning'. Many people hesitate to start due to the belief that they need to know everything first, leading to endless research. The speaker shares personal experiences and highlights the value of mistakes as learning opportunities. The video introduces a simple three-step process: identify the next step, gather the minimum information needed, and take action. It encourages viewers to embrace uninformed optimism and to recognize that fear of failure often hinders progress. Ultimately, the message is to shift focus from excessive learning to taking actionable steps towards goals.

心得

  • 🚀 Take action instead of overthinking.
  • 📚 You only need minimal information to start.
  • 💡 Mistakes are valuable learning opportunities.
  • 🔄 Embrace the lean learning method: identify, gather, act.
  • 😟 Fear of failure can hold you back from starting.
  • 📈 Momentum builds through action, not research.
  • 📝 Reflect on how information gathering affects your actions.
  • 🌟 Uninformed optimism can help you get started.
  • 🤔 Don't let the fear of what others think stop you.
  • 🔄 Repeat the process of learning and acting.

时间轴

  • 00:00:00 - 00:05:00

    The video discusses the common issue of overthinking that prevents people from starting new projects. It emphasizes that most individuals do not fail to start due to laziness but rather due to the belief that they need to know everything before taking action. The speaker introduces Pat Flynn's 'Lean Learning' system, which encourages viewers to stop overthinking and start making progress. A key point is that only a small amount of information is necessary to begin, and that taking action is crucial for learning and growth.

  • 00:05:00 - 00:10:00

    The speaker shares a personal anecdote about Pat Flynn's experience with a business coach who urged him to stop procrastinating and take action. Flynn reflects on how he was stuck in a cycle of endless research, believing he needed more information before launching his first business. The speaker highlights the importance of overcoming the fear of failure and public criticism, which often holds people back from pursuing their goals. They encourage viewers to recognize that learning comes from taking action and making mistakes, rather than from excessive information gathering.

  • 00:10:00 - 00:17:49

    The video concludes with the 'Lean Learning Method,' which consists of three steps: identifying the next step in your journey, gathering the minimum amount of information needed, and taking action. The speaker stresses the importance of focusing on action rather than overanalyzing and overlearning. They encourage viewers to embrace the process of learning through doing, as this is essential for achieving goals and making progress in any endeavor.

思维导图

视频问答

  • What is the main message of the video?

    The main message is to take action instead of overthinking and over-researching when starting new projects.

  • What is the 'Lean Learning' method?

    The Lean Learning method involves identifying the next step, gathering the minimum information needed, and taking action.

  • Why do people hesitate to start new projects?

    People often hesitate because they feel they need to know everything before starting, leading to overthinking.

  • How can mistakes be beneficial?

    Mistakes are learning opportunities that help improve skills and resilience.

  • What should you do if you feel unprepared to start?

    Focus on gathering the minimum information needed to take the first step and then take action.

  • What is the significance of 'uninformed optimism'?

    Uninformed optimism refers to the initial excitement about starting something new before realizing the challenges involved.

  • How can fear of failure affect action?

    Fear of failure can lead to procrastination and over-researching instead of taking action.

  • What is a common misconception about learning?

    A common misconception is that more information leads to less fear, which is not true in creative endeavors.

  • What is the journaling prompt suggested in the video?

    The prompt is to reflect on how information gathering may be preventing you from taking action.

  • What is the importance of taking action?

    Taking action creates momentum and helps overcome challenges that arise during the process.

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  • 00:00:00
    Now, most people don't fail to start
  • 00:00:01
    because they're lazy. They overthink
  • 00:00:03
    because they think they need to know
  • 00:00:05
    everything before they get started. But
  • 00:00:07
    look at this graph. This is everything
  • 00:00:08
    you could know about a topic. But this
  • 00:00:10
    little bit over here, this is what you
  • 00:00:11
    actually need to know to get started. In
  • 00:00:13
    this episode of Book Club, the ongoing
  • 00:00:14
    series where for the last 5 years, I've
  • 00:00:16
    been sharing my thoughts and
  • 00:00:17
    recommendations from some of my favorite
  • 00:00:18
    books. We are diving into Pat Flynn's
  • 00:00:20
    Lean Learning, a system designed to help
  • 00:00:22
    you stop overthinking, get unstuck, and
  • 00:00:24
    actually make progress with whatever you
  • 00:00:26
    want to do. All right, so let's start
  • 00:00:27
    with key point number one. And for that
  • 00:00:28
    I would like to draw your attention to
  • 00:00:29
    this little chart on page 33 of the
  • 00:00:31
    book. Now this is a chart that I wish
  • 00:00:33
    could be seared into the brains of so
  • 00:00:36
    many friends of mine and also so many
  • 00:00:37
    people who I speak to who attend events
  • 00:00:38
    where if I'm doing a talk or something
  • 00:00:40
    like a lot of people will have the
  • 00:00:41
    question of like I know I want to do
  • 00:00:44
    think X whether thing X is starting a
  • 00:00:45
    business or starting a side hustle or
  • 00:00:46
    starting a YouTube channel or I mean
  • 00:00:48
    it's normally those three things that
  • 00:00:49
    people come to me for advice for but
  • 00:00:50
    they are stuck in this mode of like
  • 00:00:52
    endless research. They keep on trying to
  • 00:00:54
    research more and more and more stuff.
  • 00:00:55
    And I think what they don't realize is
  • 00:00:56
    that actually you need a very small
  • 00:00:58
    amount of information to get started.
  • 00:01:00
    And once you get started, that is when
  • 00:01:02
    once you're taking step after step,
  • 00:01:04
    that's when you can kind of be doing all
  • 00:01:05
    the research and doing all the learning.
  • 00:01:07
    But it all comes from a foundation of
  • 00:01:08
    actually taking action and doing the
  • 00:01:10
    goddamn thing. And in fact, Pat
  • 00:01:11
    literally has a subtitle, JFGS. Just
  • 00:01:14
    get started. I clicked the end
  • 00:01:16
    of my pen and started writing that down
  • 00:01:18
    in my notebook. Stop writing down.
  • 00:01:20
    There's nothing more to write. Come on,
  • 00:01:21
    just do it already. I had never
  • 00:01:23
    seen my business coach this upset
  • 00:01:25
    before. In fact, this was the first time
  • 00:01:27
    I'd ever heard him swear. I guess I
  • 00:01:28
    pushed him to the boiling point. The Pat
  • 00:01:30
    talks about hiring this business coach
  • 00:01:31
    called Jeremy. And he's been having like
  • 00:01:32
    weekly meetings with Jeremy trying to
  • 00:01:34
    get his first business off the ground.
  • 00:01:35
    We've been meeting like this every other
  • 00:01:36
    week at the same Cheesecake Factory for
  • 00:01:38
    a few months, but this time Jeremy was
  • 00:01:39
    pissed. I closed my notebook and locked
  • 00:01:41
    eyes with him because I knew he wasn't
  • 00:01:42
    finished with me yet. Pat, he continued,
  • 00:01:44
    "You have a whole notebook of
  • 00:01:46
    strategies, but you still haven't
  • 00:01:48
    launched your book yet. you're helping
  • 00:01:49
    nobody with a notebook full of plants.
  • 00:01:52
    And so Pat was procrastinating for
  • 00:01:53
    absolutely ages before starting his
  • 00:01:54
    first business back in 2008, which was
  • 00:01:56
    like an ebook for architects or
  • 00:01:58
    something like that. And he writes,
  • 00:01:58
    "From the dozens of blogs and podcasts I
  • 00:02:00
    was subscribed to at the time to the
  • 00:02:02
    business books I purchased from Barnes &
  • 00:02:03
    Noble because I already had read half
  • 00:02:04
    the material in the store. I was always
  • 00:02:06
    in search mode. On the surface, I was
  • 00:02:08
    searching for some magical answer, a
  • 00:02:10
    Eureka moment, you could say, some piece
  • 00:02:12
    of content that would make my new
  • 00:02:13
    endeavor a lot easier. But in
  • 00:02:15
    retrospect, all I was doing was
  • 00:02:16
    searching for something to hide behind.
  • 00:02:18
    And that something was learning. I think
  • 00:02:20
    this is a really solid point that more
  • 00:02:21
    people need to hear. If you are a smart
  • 00:02:23
    person, which you probably are if you
  • 00:02:24
    watch this channel, you know you're
  • 00:02:25
    probably very intelligent. You're also
  • 00:02:26
    probably very good-looking. Then you're
  • 00:02:28
    probably used to trying to do things
  • 00:02:29
    right. You and I, we were taught in
  • 00:02:32
    school and we were conditioned from a
  • 00:02:33
    very young age that we had to do the
  • 00:02:35
    right things. And if you got a failure
  • 00:02:37
    mark in an exam or, you know, if you're
  • 00:02:39
    like some of us and you got anything
  • 00:02:40
    less than 100% in the exam, that would
  • 00:02:42
    feel bad. And so the solution that we as
  • 00:02:44
    kids realize is that we're not going to
  • 00:02:45
    do anything unless we are fully certain
  • 00:02:47
    that that thing is going to do well and
  • 00:02:49
    we substitute learning for action. And
  • 00:02:51
    this is what school and sometimes even
  • 00:02:52
    our parents literally conditions us to
  • 00:02:54
    do from a young age. But the key point
  • 00:02:55
    here which I really like is when you
  • 00:02:56
    become an adult and you're out in the
  • 00:02:58
    real world, especially when you are
  • 00:02:59
    trying to do something like start a
  • 00:03:00
    business or put yourself out there in
  • 00:03:02
    any capacity or do anything creative,
  • 00:03:04
    there is no rule book for the thing.
  • 00:03:06
    There is no checklist and examiner
  • 00:03:07
    report and syllabus and official
  • 00:03:09
    curriculum that you need to follow. And
  • 00:03:10
    if you just learned enough things then
  • 00:03:12
    of course you would get 100% in the
  • 00:03:13
    exam. And the thing with learning is
  • 00:03:14
    that learning feels super productive. It
  • 00:03:16
    feels like you know watching a YouTube
  • 00:03:17
    video or reading a business book or
  • 00:03:18
    whatever that feels like it's you making
  • 00:03:20
    productive progress towards doing the
  • 00:03:22
    thing like starting the business or
  • 00:03:23
    whatever. But if we come back to this
  • 00:03:24
    graph you know all of this is the
  • 00:03:26
    information that you could know about a
  • 00:03:27
    given topic. And this is just all the
  • 00:03:29
    information you need to get started
  • 00:03:30
    which is a way smaller amount of
  • 00:03:32
    information than most people think. And
  • 00:03:33
    I found myself thinking of an analogy
  • 00:03:35
    while I was reading the book. So imagine
  • 00:03:36
    learning how to ride a bicycle. You
  • 00:03:38
    probably know how to ride a bicycle
  • 00:03:39
    right now. How much information is there
  • 00:03:41
    to know about riding a bike? There's all
  • 00:03:43
    of this stuff around like the gear and
  • 00:03:44
    the suspension and like the wheels and
  • 00:03:46
    the, you know, the foamy bits you put on
  • 00:03:48
    your bum and your like shorts. There is
  • 00:03:49
    all of this information out there. But
  • 00:03:51
    if you don't yet know how to ride a
  • 00:03:52
    bike, it would be really dumb to try and
  • 00:03:54
    consume all the information that a tour
  • 00:03:56
    to France competitive cyclist needs to
  • 00:03:58
    learn to be ahead of the game. The
  • 00:03:59
    information you had was probably from
  • 00:04:00
    someone who taught you how to ride a
  • 00:04:01
    bike that was like basically sit on,
  • 00:04:03
    maybe stick the training wheels on and
  • 00:04:05
    just keep pedaling and maybe they hold
  • 00:04:06
    onto the bike a little bit so that you
  • 00:04:07
    don't feel the fear of falling off and
  • 00:04:09
    then you get the hang of it and yeah,
  • 00:04:10
    maybe you fall over a couple of times.
  • 00:04:11
    But obviously that process was necessary
  • 00:04:13
    for you to learn the skill of riding the
  • 00:04:15
    bike and then if you want to take
  • 00:04:16
    cycling more seriously once you know how
  • 00:04:17
    to ride a bike at that point you can
  • 00:04:19
    then research the next level which is
  • 00:04:20
    like okay cool what's a fancier bike and
  • 00:04:22
    then like how do I aerodynamically like
  • 00:04:24
    position myself and then how do I get
  • 00:04:26
    those shoe cliponyy thingies that can
  • 00:04:27
    clip onto the pedals? And the reason I'm
  • 00:04:29
    so passionate about this is because I
  • 00:04:30
    see this question so often amongst the
  • 00:04:31
    people that I speak to, which is that
  • 00:04:33
    you're doing basically the equivalent of
  • 00:04:35
    trying to consume Olympic cycling level
  • 00:04:37
    information before you have even learned
  • 00:04:40
    how to ride a bike. And you think if you
  • 00:04:41
    consume more and more and more
  • 00:04:42
    information, at some point you'll
  • 00:04:44
    magically feel ready and able to do the
  • 00:04:45
    thing. But you're never going to feel
  • 00:04:46
    ready to do the thing. Any new thing
  • 00:04:48
    that you try and do is always going to
  • 00:04:49
    involve a little bit of a leap of faith.
  • 00:04:51
    Now, if one of the things that you're
  • 00:04:52
    looking to take action on is potentially
  • 00:04:54
    anything to do with being a creator and
  • 00:04:56
    or starting your own business, then
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    you're definitely going to want to check
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    checkout. So, thank you so much Poppyai
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    for sponsoring this video. And let's get
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    back to it. Let's say you're one of the
  • 00:06:32
    many people out there who's like not yet
  • 00:06:33
    started the thing because you don't feel
  • 00:06:34
    ready enough. You're overthinking the
  • 00:06:36
    thing. You're over planning. You're
  • 00:06:37
    overarning. And maybe you're consuming
  • 00:06:39
    this amount of information. Like really,
  • 00:06:41
    all you needed was just a tiny amount of
  • 00:06:42
    information to get started. But because
  • 00:06:44
    you didn't feel ready, you were watching
  • 00:06:46
    all these YouTube videos. You were
  • 00:06:47
    reading all these books. You were like
  • 00:06:48
    listening to all these podcasts. You,
  • 00:06:49
    you know, you were doing all these
  • 00:06:50
    things. And I'm going to label this
  • 00:06:51
    information you consume because of fear.
  • 00:06:54
    You are scared of doing the thing. And
  • 00:06:56
    what you're doing by consuming all this
  • 00:06:57
    information is that you are hoping it
  • 00:06:59
    will reduce your fear. When you're in
  • 00:07:01
    school and you are scared of taking the
  • 00:07:02
    exam because you want to do well and you
  • 00:07:04
    know you haven't studied enough, you
  • 00:07:05
    know that the solution to that fear
  • 00:07:06
    would have been to study harder for the
  • 00:07:08
    exam. If you had studied harder, if
  • 00:07:09
    you'd consumed more information, you
  • 00:07:11
    would have been less afraid of the exam.
  • 00:07:12
    But the thing to realize is that when
  • 00:07:13
    you're trying to do anything creative,
  • 00:07:14
    when you're trying to start your
  • 00:07:15
    business, when you're trying to make
  • 00:07:16
    money on the internet, whatever the
  • 00:07:17
    things that you're working on, the
  • 00:07:18
    pattern that you learned in school,
  • 00:07:19
    which is that more information equals
  • 00:07:21
    less fear, actually does not hold true.
  • 00:07:23
    And I think all of this extra
  • 00:07:25
    information tends to hold people back
  • 00:07:26
    rather than facilitate their journey
  • 00:07:28
    into the business. And some people might
  • 00:07:29
    be thinking, yeah, well, if I get more
  • 00:07:31
    information, it reduces my risks of
  • 00:07:32
    failure. If I learn more about how to
  • 00:07:34
    start a business, then, you know, most
  • 00:07:35
    businesses fail, so I'm less likely to
  • 00:07:36
    fail. And again, I would gently suggest
  • 00:07:38
    that that is not actually true. Yes,
  • 00:07:40
    there is a small amount of minimum
  • 00:07:41
    viable information you need to start a
  • 00:07:42
    business. But usually what happens and
  • 00:07:44
    the pattern that I've seen play out
  • 00:07:45
    repeatedly is that the more information
  • 00:07:47
    you consume about the thing, the more
  • 00:07:49
    you learn about the thing before taking
  • 00:07:51
    action, that extra information actually
  • 00:07:53
    often will put you off from doing the
  • 00:07:55
    thing.
  • 00:07:57
    Now there is a graph here that you might
  • 00:07:59
    be familiar
  • 00:08:08
    with. So when you think about starting
  • 00:08:10
    anything, you generally feel pretty
  • 00:08:12
    positive about the thing. Oh, you know,
  • 00:08:13
    I could start a YouTube channel. I could
  • 00:08:14
    start a business. This is uninformed
  • 00:08:16
    optimism. So you start off with
  • 00:08:17
    uninformed optimism. You start doing the
  • 00:08:19
    thing and over time you realize very
  • 00:08:21
    quickly when when you start doing the
  • 00:08:23
    thing that actually the thing is harder
  • 00:08:25
    than you thought it would be and you
  • 00:08:26
    enter this kind of dip area. There is a
  • 00:08:28
    wonderful book by Seth Goden with the
  • 00:08:29
    title of the dip that you should check
  • 00:08:30
    out as well. Now what a lot of people
  • 00:08:31
    will do is that they'll start something.
  • 00:08:33
    They'll do it for a bit. They'll get to
  • 00:08:34
    the point where it starts to feel hard.
  • 00:08:36
    They'll get to the dip and then they'll
  • 00:08:38
    think that they suck because they find
  • 00:08:40
    the thing really hard and then they will
  • 00:08:41
    give up on the thing and go right back
  • 00:08:43
    to the beginning and pursue a different
  • 00:08:44
    opportunity. These are the people that
  • 00:08:46
    start 18 different businesses and never
  • 00:08:48
    see any one of them through. These are
  • 00:08:50
    the people that maybe start a YouTube
  • 00:08:51
    channel and they keep on switching
  • 00:08:52
    niches because they're like, "Ah, it's
  • 00:08:53
    not working. It's not working. It's not
  • 00:08:54
    working. It's not working." Now, it's
  • 00:08:55
    unfortunate for these sorts of people
  • 00:08:56
    because when they feel the thing getting
  • 00:08:57
    hard, they end up quitting and just
  • 00:08:59
    starting again, which means they never
  • 00:09:00
    actually see anything through to
  • 00:09:01
    completion. But there is a category of
  • 00:09:02
    person that's even more sad than this
  • 00:09:04
    because you know what that person does?
  • 00:09:05
    You know, at least what they did is they
  • 00:09:07
    got started and then they gave up.
  • 00:09:09
    Whereas the overthinkers and the
  • 00:09:11
    overarners amongst us, and this used to
  • 00:09:13
    be me back in the day, thankfully it's
  • 00:09:14
    not me anymore, will do so much research
  • 00:09:17
    that in the process of doing the
  • 00:09:18
    research, they will realize, "Oh my
  • 00:09:20
    goodness, this thing is harder than I
  • 00:09:21
    thought it would be." And they give up
  • 00:09:22
    on doing the thing before even taking
  • 00:09:24
    that first step. But the thing is, for
  • 00:09:26
    most interesting and therefore uncertain
  • 00:09:28
    things in life, it's actually very
  • 00:09:29
    useful to start out with uninformed
  • 00:09:31
    optimism, it's useful to not really
  • 00:09:33
    realize how hard the thing is going to
  • 00:09:34
    be when you're just getting started. And
  • 00:09:36
    it's useful to just take the action
  • 00:09:37
    because the more action you take, the
  • 00:09:39
    more momentum you have in the thing and
  • 00:09:40
    then you're able to sort of push through
  • 00:09:42
    the difficult bits. When you speak to
  • 00:09:43
    people who have started and scaled a
  • 00:09:45
    successful business and you ask them,
  • 00:09:46
    "Hey, if you'd known how hard it was
  • 00:09:48
    going to be, would you have gotten
  • 00:09:50
    started?" And they often say, "If I had
  • 00:09:52
    known how hard it was going to be, it
  • 00:09:53
    probably would have put me off from
  • 00:09:55
    starting in the first place. So, I'm
  • 00:09:56
    glad I didn't know how hard it was going
  • 00:09:58
    to be because by the time I'd started,
  • 00:10:00
    that gave me the momentum to see the
  • 00:10:01
    thing through and actually complete it.
  • 00:10:03
    And now on the other side of that,
  • 00:10:04
    they're living a life they absolutely
  • 00:10:05
    love. They've got freedom. They've got
  • 00:10:06
    fulfillment. They've got like
  • 00:10:07
    flexibility. They can do what they want.
  • 00:10:08
    They don't have to do things they don't
  • 00:10:09
    want to do. But that goal of the freedom
  • 00:10:10
    to be able to do what you want and the
  • 00:10:12
    freedom to be able to say no to things
  • 00:10:13
    you don't want to do. That is a goal
  • 00:10:15
    that the only real way to get there is
  • 00:10:17
    by doing difficult and uncertain things
  • 00:10:18
    where the probability of success is not
  • 00:10:20
    guaranteed because if the probability of
  • 00:10:22
    success was guaranteed, everyone would
  • 00:10:23
    be doing the thing. The more you
  • 00:10:24
    research the thing, the more likely you
  • 00:10:26
    are to become more scared of doing the
  • 00:10:27
    thing and less likely to take action
  • 00:10:28
    beyond the point of minimum viable
  • 00:10:30
    learning. Now, if we ask people like
  • 00:10:32
    what sort of thing they're actually
  • 00:10:33
    scared of, usually two different sort of
  • 00:10:35
    categories of of fear will come in for
  • 00:10:37
    whatever the thing is. One category is
  • 00:10:38
    I'm afraid of making mistakes and I'm
  • 00:10:40
    afraid of failing at the thing. And the
  • 00:10:42
    second one is I am afraid people will
  • 00:10:44
    laugh at me. It sounds a bit trit to say
  • 00:10:46
    it that way, but essentially the reason
  • 00:10:48
    you haven't yet done the thing that
  • 00:10:49
    you've been wanting to do is because on
  • 00:10:51
    some level you are afraid that some
  • 00:10:52
    people will laugh at you. I was afraid
  • 00:10:54
    of public humiliation when I first
  • 00:10:55
    started my YouTube channel. I made like
  • 00:10:56
    15 videos on my YouTube channel before I
  • 00:10:58
    posted about it at all on like Facebook
  • 00:11:00
    and Instagram and like, you know,
  • 00:11:01
    letting my friends and family know. I
  • 00:11:02
    was just doing it in silence because I
  • 00:11:04
    was so afraid that people were going to
  • 00:11:05
    laugh at me. And then I posted a link on
  • 00:11:08
    Facebook and I realized no one actually
  • 00:11:09
    cared. No one was laughing at me. No one
  • 00:11:11
    was looking at me. Yeah, some people in
  • 00:11:12
    medical school were like, "Oh, put the
  • 00:11:14
    camera away. Like, what's wrong with
  • 00:11:15
    you?" Um, but those same people, like
  • 00:11:16
    after after the channel became
  • 00:11:18
    successful, were all like clamoring to
  • 00:11:19
    be in videos and stuff. And so, when I
  • 00:11:20
    was feeling this fear of public
  • 00:11:21
    humiliation and public criticism, you
  • 00:11:23
    know, there were a couple of books that
  • 00:11:23
    helped. I read show your work by Austin
  • 00:11:25
    Cleon which I have somewhere here which
  • 00:11:26
    is a really good book that really helps
  • 00:11:27
    with this and this is something Pat
  • 00:11:28
    talks about in his book as well where he
  • 00:11:30
    was held back from starting his first
  • 00:11:31
    business because of the fear of what
  • 00:11:33
    other people will think and I feel
  • 00:11:34
    really passionate about this because
  • 00:11:35
    that was literally a thing that held me
  • 00:11:36
    held me back for like 7 years from 2010
  • 00:11:38
    to 2017 that's how long it took me to
  • 00:11:40
    start my YouTube channel despite
  • 00:11:41
    thinking about it for 7 years because
  • 00:11:43
    ultimately I was thinking I don't want
  • 00:11:45
    this to be bad I don't want this to suck
  • 00:11:47
    I need to do more research I need more
  • 00:11:48
    gear and so if I can shortcut that
  • 00:11:50
    process for anyone by watching this
  • 00:11:51
    video you know like reading this book
  • 00:11:52
    for example there's other books like you
  • 00:11:54
    know the the war of art by Steven
  • 00:11:55
    Presfield or show your work by Austin
  • 00:11:56
    Cleon. These are all books from people
  • 00:11:58
    that have recognized that this fear
  • 00:11:59
    thing holds so many of us back and it
  • 00:12:01
    really needn't do that. And so to end
  • 00:12:02
    this point, I would like to leave you
  • 00:12:03
    with a journaling prompt, which is in
  • 00:12:05
    what ways am I allowing information
  • 00:12:07
    gathering to prevent me from taking
  • 00:12:09
    action. If that resonates with you at
  • 00:12:10
    all, then I'd love to hear in a comment
  • 00:12:11
    down below what that is for you. Anyway,
  • 00:12:13
    let's move on to key point number two,
  • 00:12:14
    which is mistakes. So, we've talked
  • 00:12:16
    about how basically no one gives a
  • 00:12:17
    about you anyway, and so like you don't
  • 00:12:19
    need to worry about them laughing at you
  • 00:12:20
    cuz they probably won't care. But the
  • 00:12:21
    other big fear people have is the fear
  • 00:12:23
    of failure and the fear of making
  • 00:12:24
    mistakes. The fear of I don't want to
  • 00:12:26
    waste time doing something that might
  • 00:12:27
    not work. The fear of I want to sort of
  • 00:12:30
    preemptively avoid failure. I don't want
  • 00:12:32
    to make mistakes and and all of this
  • 00:12:33
    sort of stuff. And again, this is an
  • 00:12:34
    attitude that's trained into us by
  • 00:12:36
    school where if you make mistakes on an
  • 00:12:37
    exam, you literally lose points and
  • 00:12:38
    those points cost you a grade and that
  • 00:12:40
    grade costs you a university place which
  • 00:12:42
    costs you a good job in theory. And so
  • 00:12:44
    all of these systems of conditioning
  • 00:12:45
    that we get when we're younger are all
  • 00:12:46
    about teaching us to avoid making
  • 00:12:48
    mistakes. And there is a nice little
  • 00:12:49
    quote from here. As John Lee Dumass, a
  • 00:12:51
    friend and host of the popular podcast
  • 00:12:52
    Entrepreneurs on Fire once said, "You
  • 00:12:53
    have to be a disaster before you become
  • 00:12:55
    the master." Or as Pat likes to say to
  • 00:12:57
    people who are trying to build a YouTube
  • 00:12:58
    channel or any kind of creative thing,
  • 00:13:00
    you have to be cringe before they binge.
  • 00:13:01
    Now, this is an idea that you're
  • 00:13:03
    probably familiar with, right? Like if
  • 00:13:04
    you're at this point in the video,
  • 00:13:05
    you've probably heard the idea that like
  • 00:13:06
    you should reframe failure as a learning
  • 00:13:08
    opportunity and you should learn from
  • 00:13:09
    your mistakes and all that all that kind
  • 00:13:11
    of stuff. But again, you know, common
  • 00:13:12
    sense is not common practice. And it's
  • 00:13:14
    it and it's very different for us to
  • 00:13:15
    intellectually know something and then
  • 00:13:17
    to also like embody the thing in our own
  • 00:13:19
    like mind, heart, body, soul such that
  • 00:13:21
    we actually take action based on this
  • 00:13:23
    supposed knowledge that we have. Now,
  • 00:13:24
    there's a bunch of useful stuff in the
  • 00:13:25
    book that you should definitely check
  • 00:13:26
    out. But I'm going to tell you about the
  • 00:13:27
    way that I kind of got over my own fear
  • 00:13:29
    of making mistakes. And this was
  • 00:13:30
    actually because of a lecture that we
  • 00:13:32
    had in our second year of med school
  • 00:13:34
    that was all about neuroscience. And it
  • 00:13:36
    was this argument that our brains are
  • 00:13:37
    essentially a prediction machine. The
  • 00:13:39
    brain gets very good at trying to
  • 00:13:40
    predict what's going to happen in the
  • 00:13:41
    world around it. So let's say I drop
  • 00:13:43
    this pen. Your brain intuitively
  • 00:13:45
    understands gravity and understand that
  • 00:13:46
    when the pen is here and I drop it, it's
  • 00:13:48
    going to do that, right? Easy enough.
  • 00:13:50
    But if instead you were to see the pen
  • 00:13:51
    doing this, that would be pretty
  • 00:13:52
    surprising. Your brain registers
  • 00:13:54
    surprise because reality has not matched
  • 00:13:56
    with with its expectations. So the brain
  • 00:13:58
    makes a prediction or an expectation
  • 00:13:59
    about what's going to happen. Then
  • 00:14:01
    reality happens and the brain registers
  • 00:14:03
    surprise if reality did not match its
  • 00:14:05
    prediction. Now the crucial insight is
  • 00:14:06
    that all of learning happens when you
  • 00:14:08
    experience surprise. If reality matches
  • 00:14:11
    your brain's prediction of what's going
  • 00:14:12
    to happen, there is no signal to learn
  • 00:14:14
    anything because that would just be it
  • 00:14:16
    would be a nightmare. If every time you
  • 00:14:18
    saw the world conforming to what you
  • 00:14:20
    thought it would, your brain would be
  • 00:14:21
    completely overloaded with all the
  • 00:14:22
    information that's always around you. So
  • 00:14:24
    what has to happen is that in order for
  • 00:14:25
    you to learn, you have to be surprised.
  • 00:14:26
    I.e. reality must not conform to your
  • 00:14:29
    expectations for learning to happen. Now
  • 00:14:30
    this leads us to an interesting problem
  • 00:14:32
    because if we want to learn and we know
  • 00:14:34
    that learning is when reality does not
  • 00:14:36
    conform to our expectations then really
  • 00:14:37
    learning almost by definition happens
  • 00:14:39
    when we make mistakes. If you do
  • 00:14:41
    something and then things go according
  • 00:14:43
    to plan you're not going to learn
  • 00:14:44
    because your brain does not register
  • 00:14:46
    that as a signal of surprise. But if you
  • 00:14:47
    do something and then things don't go
  • 00:14:48
    according to plan you register that as a
  • 00:14:50
    mistake. Your brain registers that as
  • 00:14:52
    surprise and then you end up learning
  • 00:14:53
    from that experience. Now, when you
  • 00:14:55
    experience that surprise of like reality
  • 00:14:56
    not conforming to expectations, you
  • 00:14:58
    could think, "Yay, I'm learning
  • 00:14:59
    something." Or you could do what some
  • 00:15:01
    people think and their minds naturally
  • 00:15:02
    go to, which is, "I'm a failure. I
  • 00:15:05
    started my first business. It did not go
  • 00:15:07
    as well as I thought it would.
  • 00:15:08
    Therefore, I'm a failure." That is a
  • 00:15:10
    thought process you could have. Or you
  • 00:15:12
    could have the thought process of, I
  • 00:15:14
    started my first business, it didn't go
  • 00:15:15
    as I thought it would, but through the
  • 00:15:17
    process, I've learned a bunch of things.
  • 00:15:18
    And so, the next time I start a
  • 00:15:19
    business, I hopefully won't make those
  • 00:15:20
    same mistakes. It's exactly the same
  • 00:15:22
    situation. you started a business that
  • 00:15:23
    hasn't worked out. But in one, your mind
  • 00:15:25
    tells you that you're a failure and you
  • 00:15:26
    believe that thought. And in the other
  • 00:15:27
    one, you don't believe the thought that
  • 00:15:28
    you're a failure and and you tell
  • 00:15:29
    yourself, you know what, I'm going to
  • 00:15:30
    learn from the experience. And then in
  • 00:15:32
    the book, there's a bunch of really good
  • 00:15:33
    stuff around like making mistakes leads
  • 00:15:34
    to you understanding the thing better,
  • 00:15:36
    leads to more resilience, and how
  • 00:15:37
    mistakes lead to innovation, and how
  • 00:15:38
    basically every good thing happens when
  • 00:15:40
    we embrace making mistakes. The final
  • 00:15:42
    thing I would like to talk about is what
  • 00:15:44
    Pat Flynn calls the lean learning
  • 00:15:45
    method. And I really like this, and it
  • 00:15:47
    sounds really simple, and it's going to
  • 00:15:49
    sound trit maybe, but I think again,
  • 00:15:51
    common sense is not common practice. And
  • 00:15:52
    I wish more people followed this kind of
  • 00:15:54
    process when they were starting new
  • 00:15:56
    things, starting businesses and all this
  • 00:15:57
    sort of stuff. It's also a lesson that I
  • 00:15:58
    need to learn for myself because I also
  • 00:15:59
    have a tendency to overthink and over
  • 00:16:01
    analyze stuff. Where is it? All right.
  • 00:16:03
    So this is the lean learning method.
  • 00:16:05
    Step one, identify the next step in your
  • 00:16:07
    journey, whatever your journey is. Step
  • 00:16:08
    two, gather the minimum amount of
  • 00:16:11
    information required to complete that
  • 00:16:13
    step. And I have highlighted minimum
  • 00:16:15
    amount of information in green because
  • 00:16:16
    that is the thing that like I wish more
  • 00:16:18
    people knew. It's like the goal is
  • 00:16:20
    minimum viable information, not maximum
  • 00:16:22
    possible information. And then step
  • 00:16:23
    three, take action and complete the
  • 00:16:25
    step. And I've highlighted take action
  • 00:16:26
    in red because again, that is the thing
  • 00:16:28
    that more people need to hear. Honestly,
  • 00:16:30
    if there's one thing you take away from
  • 00:16:31
    this video, if you're at at the video at
  • 00:16:33
    this point, and the thing that I wish I
  • 00:16:34
    could sear into the brain of everyone
  • 00:16:35
    who ever asked me this this sort of
  • 00:16:37
    stuff is like probably what's holding
  • 00:16:38
    you back is that you're trying to learn
  • 00:16:39
    too much stuff. And probably what's
  • 00:16:41
    holding you back is that you're not
  • 00:16:42
    taking enough action. So, we want to
  • 00:16:43
    sort of shift the equation from more
  • 00:16:45
    action and less learning rather than
  • 00:16:47
    more learning and less action, which is
  • 00:16:49
    where a lot of people who follow this
  • 00:16:50
    channel, you know, the smart and very
  • 00:16:51
    good-looking ones tend to fall into. And
  • 00:16:53
    then once you've done step number three,
  • 00:16:55
    rinse and repeat and you go back to step
  • 00:16:57
    number one. This is the lean learning
  • 00:16:59
    process that he talks about in the book.
  • 00:17:00
    Again, it sounds super simple. It sounds
  • 00:17:01
    really basic AF, right? Like what's the
  • 00:17:03
    next step? What's the information I need
  • 00:17:04
    to complete the next step? Great. I'm
  • 00:17:06
    going to complete the next step and then
  • 00:17:07
    I'm going to repeat the process. But
  • 00:17:08
    like honestly, this is the one one foot
  • 00:17:10
    in front of the other process that
  • 00:17:11
    literally everything in life happens
  • 00:17:12
    because of this kind of process of one
  • 00:17:14
    foot in front of the other. There are
  • 00:17:15
    very few things that happen where you've
  • 00:17:17
    got to start out by knowing everything
  • 00:17:18
    and by making a perfect plan and then
  • 00:17:21
    executing perfectly on your perfect
  • 00:17:23
    plan. All right, so this video has just
  • 00:17:24
    scratched the surface of all the stuff
  • 00:17:25
    in the book. If you are vibing with this
  • 00:17:27
    topic, if you find yourself overthinking
  • 00:17:28
    and overplanning and over researching
  • 00:17:30
    like I sometimes often do in my life and
  • 00:17:31
    that like I know so many of my audience
  • 00:17:33
    do, I would definitely recommend
  • 00:17:34
    checking out the book. And if you're
  • 00:17:35
    interested in more techniques on how to
  • 00:17:36
    actually take action and achieve your
  • 00:17:37
    goals, then you might like to check out
  • 00:17:38
    this video over here, which contains
  • 00:17:40
    like five or six evidence-based, very
  • 00:17:42
    easy, small, tiny things you can do to
  • 00:17:44
    drastically increase the chances that
  • 00:17:45
    you'll achieve your goals. So, thank you
  • 00:17:46
    so much for watching, and I'll see you
  • 00:17:47
    hopefully in that video.
标签
  • Lean Learning
  • Pat Flynn
  • Overthinking
  • Taking Action
  • Mistakes
  • Learning
  • Entrepreneurship
  • Fear of Failure
  • Uninformed Optimism
  • Goal Setting