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Finding my process

ciceroq

New Contributor
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
200%
Nov 29, 2020
1
2
I never wanted to go to college - I did.
I never wanted to work a 9-5 - I do.
I never wanted to feel lost - I was.

Like many of you, I stumbled upon TMF by pure chance.

That afternoon, while on the clock, I experienced another FTM. This was one of the many FTM's I've experienced while working a 9-5. It's only differentiator was the out of body experience that snapped my body into full focus. Unlike all of the other FTM's I have experienced, this particular FTM put me in a state of deep focus.

I was angry, sad, and emotional.

But this time, instead of F*cking off and drinking, I calmed myself and began to analyze all of the actions "I" had taken that lead to this culmination of pure emotion and deep misery.

I realized that while I was heavily encouraged to go to college. There was no gun to my head.
I realized that while the expectation was to work a 9-5. There was no force.
I realized that while I was lost. It was now my decision to find a way out.

What I truly realized in that moment is that my whole life I have been giving the keys to someone else. Letting them drive and hoping they somehow got me to where I wanted to go.

The truth is, even if I was driving, I would have never gotten to any preferred destination. In my 30 years of life, I never even considered an ideal destination. Like many, I just did things.

In that moment, I wanted to change my life but I had no clue where to begin. I figured that the best place to start is reading about the lives of other and hopefully earning a few clues for my attention.

The first book I read was Scott Adams - How to fail at almost anything and still win big - Decent read, some good insights about getting more sleep, exercising and being intentional.
I then read Cal Newports - Deep Work - many will disagree with me but this book is pure fluff. It could have been written in a long form article but the dude wrote a whole book and wasted a decent chunk of my time on topics that had nothing to do with the larger point. 3/10

Then, as I was looking at my recommends. A book called "The Millionaire Fastlane " was my top recommended book. I looked at the title and my initial impression was, scam.

I fully expected TMF to be another copywritten fluff book waiting to swoop into my wallet and cash into my FTM misery.

I read a few reviews.

Then a few more.

People love this book. Thousands of people.

I bought TMF and read the entire thing in 1 sitting. I then bought the audiobook and listened all the way through while taking notes.

For the first time I could feel that someone understood me.

But here I am 2 months later and all I have done is a little bit of action faking.

Initially, I thought my FTM was really a FTE but I am doubting that it was. I have done little in the way of entrepreneurship since reading TMF.

The most impressive things I've done is creating a budget and sticking to it and completely quitting my internet use. I know that isn't that point of TMF but I have realized that while I earned decent money I was a total sidewalker. Creating that budget has saved me 10K over the past 2 months. 10K I probably spend on a bunch of BS anyway.

I also completely stopped browsing the web, checking Reddit, watching Netflix and sports. I also turned off my TV. My phone usage was about 6 hours a day prior to TMF and now it's at around 1 hour.

I have realized that I need to replace that time with a value creating business. My two ideas are both internet based, one focused on information and SEO and the other a pure product idea.

I have no idea where to start so I am here to learn. When I have validated my idea, I plan to stick to that idea only. I will not jump around from business idea to business idea.

I have read through many of the gold threads and will continue to lurk and learn but the reality is I NEED to start launching as soon as possible.
 
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Mr4213

Silver Contributor
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
153%
May 9, 2016
358
547
27
I never wanted to go to college - I did.
I never wanted to work a 9-5 - I do.
I never wanted to feel lost - I was.

Like many of you, I stumbled upon TMF by pure chance.

That afternoon, while on the clock, I experienced another FTM. This was one of the many FTM's I've experienced while working a 9-5. It's only differentiator was the out of body experience that snapped my body into full focus. Unlike all of the other FTM's I have experienced, this particular FTM put me in a state of deep focus.

I was angry, sad, and emotional.

But this time, instead of f*cking off and drinking, I calmed myself and began to analyze all of the actions "I" had taken that lead to this culmination of pure emotion and deep misery.

I realized that while I was heavily encouraged to go to college. There was no gun to my head.
I realized that while the expectation was to work a 9-5. There was no force.
I realized that while I was lost. It was now my decision to find a way out.

What I truly realized in that moment is that my whole life I have been giving the keys to someone else. Letting them drive and hoping they somehow got me to where I wanted to go.

The truth is, even if I was driving, I would have never gotten to any preferred destination. In my 30 years of life, I never even considered an ideal destination. Like many, I just did things.

In that moment, I wanted to change my life but I had no clue where to begin. I figured that the best place to start is reading about the lives of other and hopefully earning a few clues for my attention.

The first book I read was Scott Adams - How to fail at almost anything and still win big - Decent read, some good insights about getting more sleep, exercising and being intentional.
I then read Cal Newports - Deep Work - many will disagree with me but this book is pure fluff. It could have been written in a long form article but the dude wrote a whole book and wasted a decent chunk of my time on topics that had nothing to do with the larger point. 3/10

Then, as I was looking at my recommends. A book called "The Millionaire Fastlane " was my top recommended book. I looked at the title and my initial impression was, scam.

I fully expected TMF to be another copywritten fluff book waiting to swoop into my wallet and cash into my FTM misery.

I read a few reviews.

Then a few more.

People love this book. Thousands of people.

I bought TMF and read the entire thing in 1 sitting. I then bought the audiobook and listened all the way through while taking notes.

For the first time I could feel that someone understood me.

But here I am 2 months later and all I have done is a little bit of action faking.

Initially, I thought my FTM was really a FTE but I am doubting that it was. I have done little in the way of entrepreneurship since reading TMF.

The most impressive things I've done is creating a budget and sticking to it and completely quitting my internet use. I know that isn't that point of TMF but I have realized that while I earned decent money I was a total sidewalker. Creating that budget has saved me 10K over the past 2 months. 10K I probably spend on a bunch of BS anyway.

I also completely stopped browsing the web, checking Reddit, watching Netflix and sports. I also turned off my TV. My phone usage was about 6 hours a day prior to TMF and now it's at around 1 hour.

I have realized that I need to replace that time with a value creating business. My two ideas are both internet based, one focused on information and SEO and the other a pure product idea.

I have no idea where to start so I am here to learn. When I have validated my idea, I plan to stick to that idea only. I will not jump around from business idea to business idea.

I have read through many of the gold threads and will continue to lurk and learn but the reality is I NEED to start launching as soon as possible.


Action always beats inaction. Every time.

You have a "what" and you have a "how"

I've found that the "what" isn't usually as important as the "how"

What = The business idea you decide to use ie: the "vehicle"

That idea is what you're going to use to get you from point A to point B ect. It's about getting from one point to the next. It's not about going from A to Z but from A to B. Think in terms of A B C D ect.

How = The process you create and consistently execute

The process you create and consistently execute is actually how you're going to make sh** happen.

I'd rather have a shitty idea with a solid process that I consistently execute over a "perfect" idea with a shitty process that's poorly executed.

Quite honestly, and some may disagree, I don't think the "what" really matters that much in the grand scheme of things. At least when in comparison to the how.

The fact is, it's all a process right? If you wanna get really serious about it, pretty much every thing in life is a system/process.

I view pretty much every single thing as a process that I can analyze, modify, improve, or even create. I suspect most genuine entrepreneurs naturally think like this too...But that's neither here nor there...anyways

Your daily routine is a process.

How you get through a work day is a process.

What you do at work is a process.

Financials are all a process.

Working out is a process.

Your diet and how you shop for food is a process.

Relationships are a process.

Entrepreneurship is a process.

Accomplishing our goals is a process.

Succeeding (or failing) at anything is a process.

Me using this forum, finding your thread and replying is a process.

Our life from birth to death is a process.

Look around at nature and its ALL process. It's freaking ALL process (super beautiful and amazing IMO)

The whole world itself is one big interconnected process. If you mess one thing up at one spot, you can pretty much destabilize the whole thing because you throw the process out of balance.

Today I was at the lake and watched each wave hit the shoreline. That's a process. Over thousands or millions of years, what happens? The water begins to break down rocks and stuff. It's not one wave that does it. But countless waves over a long time consistently running into the shoreline. Each little wave played a tiny little part and over time, they add up to create a big event. It's the little actions that are actually important...not the big event.

Why am I saying all this?

Well, because I think you're falling into a common trap that gets a lot of people.

It sounds to me that you're so focused on some idea or event, that you're missing what actually matters.

Executing through a process consistently. Improving and refining the process as you go. Making that process as effective and efficient as possible.

You know why its better to have a shitty idea with a process you consistently execute on?

Because number one, no perfect idea exist and no idea you come up with will ever work the way you plan it to. Planning the perfect idea usually results in a lot of action faking.

Secondly, because executing even a shitty idea moves the needle in some form or another. But sitting around searching for a "great" idea doesnt do shit.

Even if you end up going in the wrong direction, you learn and gain experience, which then allows you to make a correction to your process. (And even though it's a "wrong" direction, it's ironically still pushing you in the right direction)

You're able to learn why something does or doesnt work. You're able to learn things you need to have/know that you didn't know before. Things you only figure out about by actually taking action. You get a better idea of the market. What's available. What people actually want. You can discover gaps in an industry. Ect ect.

So what I'm basically recommending, is for you to simplify what you're doing. Stop making it complex. It's actually really simple.

Step 1) Figure out your personal life vision/goals whatever. Where and who do you wanna be in xyz years?

Step 2) Figure out where you need to be in 1, 3 or maybe 5 years to make that happen. Depends on you.

Step 3) Okay so right now you're at point A right? Well you should've more or less figured out at least a basic road map of where you're going. What is point B for you? Forget C or D or E and every letter to Z. All that matters is getting from A to B. Figure out what your B is. The only problem you have is the one right in front of you.

Step 4) So you should by this point know what point B looks like for you. Example might be "use X business idea to generate XYZ amount of monthly income so I can start to separate myself from my job and focus more time on business systems" The point isn't to make millions of dollars right now. The point is to use an idea and execute until you get to the next step of the stairs. From A to B and then while you're consistently working towards B you're planning for C as you go.

Step 5) You know what B is and you generate your idea. Maybe it's something simple hmm?...idk fencing? Pressure washing houses? So anyways you stop overthinking an idea and just select one. Well now you create the process (the how) for that idea which will move you forward one step at a time as long as you consistently execute. As you move forward that process evolves and changes direction.

It's good to fail, in fact, run towards failure cuz you're gonna fail a lot on this journey.

I love every second of the journey, the ups and the downs.

Remember, action always beats inaction.

Better to execute a process based on a "crappy" idea than to never execute any process because you're trapped in the idea phase.

One last suggestion. Try asking this question. "If I did this every day for the next year straight, would it get me any closer to where I want to go?" Yes? Well keep going then. No? Why not? What do you need to modify or improve?
 

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