Driving Nowhere

When I was in high school we were able to eat lunch off campus at the neighboring restaurants. 

Naturally, we spent almost every dollar we made going to burrito places near our school and when we were low on funds, waiting for our next paycheck to hit - we would go to his house and raid the fridge for any leftovers available. And sweet and salty mixes. I never forgot to eat a pack. 

One day, we went to take my car out for lunch during the 45 minute dash to the local restaurants and my car wouldn’t start. 

My car was a piece of shit, 1992 Acura Vigor. 

It was a white stick shift that would grind into second if you didn’t let the RPMs drop, had various cosmetic issues, smoked when I drove it, had holes in the leather - but it was my piece of shit and I tried to take care of it. 

Dammit. 

We pivoted to his car and got lunch. 

Fortunately for us - we had the last period of the day off so when we got back to school we tried to start my car. 

I had never had to back a car out of a parking spot, let alone steer a car without power steering at this point so I never knew quite how hard it was to maneuver a parked vehicle tactfully, let alone at all. 

We thought it was going to be a quick back out of the space - a push start and I’d be off to the races. 

Well it took a massive amount of effort to steer the wheel while pushing it - so much so that I turned the steering wheel past where it was supposed to and ended up causing damage that would cause me to not be able to properly steer the car within a week. 

The thing about steering a parked car is, even if you get the wheels to turn, you have to push the car for the change in direction to actually occur. 

This runs directly parallel to making progress in life. 

While we want to be able to prepare our way to success - ultimately preparation does not put the car in motion. Preparation is akin to turning the wheels back and forth repeatedly and expecting the car to start moving of its own volition. 

To actually have the preparation and steering make an impact - you have to get the car moving. 

That is why I have committed myself bodybuilding, writing daily blog posts, and creating videos daily. 

Each day - I can see small improvements that I can make in the work that I am doing. I can steer myself in the direction of the path that I am trying to go down and because I am making progress in the direction that I am wanting to go, the steering helps me correct along the way. 

When I was working on cutting weight prior to hiring a dietitian - I knew directionally what I had to do with my diet to get on track but I let obstacles like my in-office workweeks get in the way. We would get fast food and I wouldn’t lose weight. I was turning the wheels looking at information to help me lose weight but my failure to take action meant nothing was happening. 

Without the daily practice of writing - I could reflect on pieces that I had written in high school and college that I thought were well-written and well thought out but I couldn’t identify the gaps that I currently have in the pieces that I write. I wouldn’t be able to see holes in my arguments or my weak introductions or calls to action that would help better hook you into reading this and give you action items for you to take. 

Without the practice of writing, I was turning the wheels reflecting on previous writings without making progress. 

Without recording impromptu videos everyday - I wouldn’t be able to see the amount of filler words that I use, how much I struggle to look at the camera at times, or the weird lip purse thing I do when I finish a thought before I transition to another. 

I could critique others and ideate until I was blue in the face but this ultimately would result in nothing without the car moving in any direction. 

It doesn’t matter if you are moving forward or backwards - sometimes you just need to move to see your behaviors and where they are taking you. 

This enables you to gather the insights you need to determine what changes you need to make to go in the right direction. 

It’s incredibly easy to get stuck turning your steering wheel while not moving. 

For me, this has typically looked like researching how to do something to the nth degree but never taking action. 

This has taken the form of reading self-help books, listening to audiobooks, or simply doing online research on what I am trying to do; eventually resulting in analysis paralysis and me not taking any action aside from researching. 

Research can make you more knowledgeable about a topic but there is nothing quite like actually doing the thing. This allows you to solidify your understanding of all the research that you conduct. Beyond that, it allows you to come to your own conclusions and stop procrastinating. 

While preparation plays a part in any good strategy, I have personally used it as a method of procrastination. 

More often than not, if I used the time that I spent preparing and researching, I would have enough repetitions to have learned many of the lessons and would have made much more progress. 

Through that progress, you learn if you are on track or not. 

It may be tempting when getting started to set goals based on outcomes. I have done this many times and, while it worked for me in college, I have found that in the real world it isn’t nearly as helpful. 

You aren’t always able to control the outcomes. 

Good things take time and if you are solely judging yourself on your ability to drive outcomes, you are likely to be disappointed pretty early. 

This disappointment has served as a jumping off point for me so I discourage this. 

I have found that by focusing on inputs, I am much more consistent. I can measure the effort that I am putting into a project and gauge if that effort needs to be increased or if I need to refine the quality of the work. 

I am writing a lot of content right now for an audience of zero. 

I know this but know that the process is helping me refine my writing and approach. 

I encourage you to follow a similar approach. 

If your goal is to get ripped, start how I did. Just get into the gym. Reduce friction by having a workout that you can mindlessly pull up when you get there. Commit to a specific number of days per week. Make it those days no matter what. Just show up. Once you have done this routinely to the point where going to the gym is almost mindless, start focusing on your diet. You build on this until you integrate each of the components that you need to set yourself up for success in tracking towards your goals. 

You can find a way to adapt this for most goals. I talk about getting ripped purely because this is something I am currently working on and can speak to. This doesn’t have to be your goal for this to be something you can act on. 

What is something that if you don’t accomplish it before you die, you would be filled with regret and disappointment? Ruminate in this. Think about how much pain and frustration you would feel towards your younger self. 

Use this to create a target or goal that you want to strive towards. This is your North Star. Use this to create your smaller goals. What would make the largest immediate impact to help you get the car moving? What are small steps that you could easily integrate into your life on a daily basis to start making progress towards this goal? How are you going to track your progress? What might get in the way? How often are you going to measure your progress? 

However long you think this goal is going to take, 5x it. Can you sustain your efforts for that period of time? I think you can. 

If you achieve the goal any faster than that - you can be pleasantly surprised. But this framing forces you to embrace the journey instead of hoping that you can work really hard for two weeks and accomplish your wildest dreams. 

Now what are you waiting for? Get that car moving!