5 Tips to Slow Down & Slay Your Giants

Our lives are already so busy, and then this time of year comes around and tells us to go into warp speed. But then I feel like many of us never make it out until we crash. January comes around and we try to keep up with whatever resolutions we have made.

So I really want to share some things I have been learning recently, and it feels almost all of them have to do with slowing down to accomplish your goals. For me this totally connects because some of my favorite fighters of all time were really guys like Fedor Emelianenko. They would step into the ring looking like they were coming out of a nap. They wouldn't go in hyped but would stay composed and just pick things up as the fight progressed. So here it goes:

Tip #1: Switch Into Slow-Mo

Our culture is an internet culture, promising us quick results. Everything is about getting things done the fastest. However, when we microwave something, it actually cuts down the nutrients in the food. You cannot speed up a process without there also being a negative side to it. The Bible was written in an agricultural culture where they knew it takes time. Things have their seasons. You plow, water, then harvest. Plan that anything you are doing is going to take some time and effort.

Tip #2: Just Get To the Next Best Position

You know the guy who always tries to throw haymakers, or the guy in baseball who only tries to hit homers, and they constantly miss? I think in society many of us feel we have to swing away but end up striking out. Something I teach in fighting is don't worry about winning the fight, think about getting to the next best position. But man, I want the win, I want the glory of a homerun! No, you want to make it home. And trust me, if you hae been striking out for years, getting on base will be a great feeling.

Tip #3: Find One Thing

In The One Thing by Gary Keller and Jay Papasan, they give a lot of back up to this approach. So many people believe in multi-tasking, but all studies are starting to show it is a myth. There is really only time slicing where you quickly switch from one task to another. But it really ends up being less efficient. These guys took their emplyees and asked them, "What are 5 tasks that if you accomplish them this week would make all other tasks either easier or non-existent?" They kept getting frustrated with the results. They bumped it down to 3 tasks, then 2, and finally 1. When there were multiple tasks, people would try to work on all of them and accomplish none. But then you could also hide behind the fact that you had worked on all your tasks. With one priority, it really leaves you bare. It comes down to "Did you do it or not?"

Tip #4: Knock Down The First Domino

If you do this, you know what will happen. Well, studies show that a domino can knock down a consecutive domino that is 50% larger than itself. So if you started with a normal domino, if I remember correctly, the 20th domino would be taller than the Tower of Pisa and the next one would be taller than the Eiffel Tower! So people who do big things didn't start there, but they started by knocking down smaller dominoes and letting the momentum build.

Tip #5: Create Habits

There is a reason you do drills in practice rather than just going into the ring to fight. There is a reason you spend years in school learning basic education over and over. You are creating habits. Steven Covey says in 7 Habits of Highly Effective People that you don't develop your destiny, you develop habits. Then those habits create awareness of opportunity. And when an opportunity arises, you don't have to stir something up, or beome someone you aren't, because this is something you have been doing every day.

Hope these help. Especially for those who are making New Year's Resolutions planning out their goals for the year. It is better that you create something that can last for a lifetime than to start something with vigor and fizzle out in a couple months. Take your time, but start developing habits and knocking down dominoes, and slay your giants for good.