To give yourself a chance at making progress, the word “no” must become your default dialect for four reasons.
No stone left unturned.
David Brailsford a guru of sport science was a key contributor to the rapid rise of the British Olympic Cycling program to and through the London games in 2012. He coined the phrase “aggregate marginal gains” to capture the idea that making modest, minor improvements across several areas would lead to a compounding and cascading impact catapulting the program to the top of the podium. Gains as small as 1% in a seemingly trivial area of a sport when added to similar sized wins in other areas sum up to a winning combination. This philosophy led to every moment of an athlete’s training and competition preparation to be fertile ground for rigorous analysis.
Brailsford’s team went so far as to transport the pillows of athletes from their home bed to hotel rooms around the globe to help them get a little better rest when travelling for competitions. The quality of sleep was less for those on the road using pillows with which their body wasn’t familiar. Recovery, and, subsequently, performance was compromised as a result. After uncovering this, the decision was made to absorb the cost associated with shipping pillows from home to hotel to help athletes perform well. An area not considered by most teams became a source of competitive advantage. Further diligence was applied to monitoring and maintaining specific air pressure for bike tires. Again, a seemingly trivial area become one of tacit triumph. Bit by bit, these adjustments accrued into material advancement. Building on the borders of the sport, excellence was erected.
Improvement is sought. It’s achieved not by accident but through dogged pursuit. Every aspect of your life offers an opportunity for improvement. Opportunities for optimization are abundant. You can try to get better at sleeping. Nutrition, too, offers room for improvement as what you eat, when you eat, and how much you eat all influence how we feel and behave. Have you determined what the ideal diet is for you in order to maximize your personal performance? Learning to get better at managing stress or even tracking your own stress levels to avoid making decisions when not at your best may offer an area of improvement. So, too, would learning how to expand your ability to concentrate or avoid distractions. Learning deeper about your domain may be a place that offers space for gain. Have you considered learning about other areas to see how insights may be applied to your field? Each of these areas are wormholes of wisdom waiting to be uncovered. Excellence awaits those willing to explore the edges. Everything offers opportunity for improvement. No stones left unturned.
No days off.
Every day offers an opportunity to act towards your goals. It’s better to do something today than to put things off until tomorrow. We’re trying to avoid procrastinating. We’re trying to take advantage of what’s under our control. That is, our time. How are you using your time? Are you choosing what to do, when to do it, and how to do it? The idea of no days off is about choosing carefully how to use your time to give yourself the best chance of achieving the objectives you have determined to be of importance to you.
We’re not talking about back breaking effort breeding burnout. We’re not suggesting that working your fingers to the bone as the way to go. We’re not encouraging you to get up earlier and go to bed later. It’s not about who stays at the office the longest. Say no to 24/7/365 and a mentality of go, go, go. It’s not about trying to cram as much as you can and then some into each day. We’re not encouraging overworking. It’s not about amping up intensity. It’s not grinding through your gears until the machine breaks down. Rest and recovery days can, and should be, part of the plan. Including these in your schedule is in line with the no days off philosophy. The rest and recovery are in service of the greater goal. Rest days represent a planned lull whereby your energy is restored for you to sustain your dedication to your efforts. Rest can help you become your best.
The idea of no days off is about being conscious about choices as to how you use your time. It’s acting with awareness and intent. Who’s in charge of your day? How are you spending your time? How much of your day is spent on activity that is moving you in the direction of your highest priority? Are you acting with purpose? Is what you’re spending time on determined with the express purpose of making progress? How are you choosing to be used? Are you making progress towards your target? How do you know? Each day are you finding a way to improve? Are you aware of how your time is being allocated? Is the choice as to what to do being made intentionally?
As the author James Clear has noted, “The best exercise for gaining strength is not missing workouts.” Consistency trumps intensity. All day, every day. No days off is about embracing the patient plodding approach to persistence. Jascha Heifetz, a renown violinist, has observed, “If I don’t practice one day, I know it; two days, the critics know it; three days, the public knows it.” Taking days off from focusing on your direction simply defers dreams. You’re not winging it, you’re bringing it. No days off is about being always on point. It’s about doing things for a reason. It’s about making the most of the limited time available and ensuring that you’re doing your part.
No time like the present.
No time like the present is an extension of the no days off idea. It’s distilling decisions from the day down to the moment. If something needs to be done, there’s no better time than now to accomplish it. The present is where action happens. It’s where the rubber meets the road. What are you doing right now, today, in this moment to move yourself towards where you want to go? The present is this moment in front of us over which we have the most ability to influence. We’re not lost in the past wondering wistfully what might have been or dreaming of future fantasies. We’re acting today which gives us a chance to make progress on what we’ve determined as important for us.
No time like the present is about building a bias for action. Like the aphorism offers, yesterday is history, tomorrow’s a mystery, and today’s a gift, that’s why they call it the present. Golfers are asked what’s the most important shot and the universal answer is the one you’re taking right now. Your ability to move the needle and make a difference in any field at any time boils down to the moment at hand. It is only in this moment, right here, right now that action is undertaken. This is where our effort counts the most.
In a separate email Clear offered, “Rome wasn’t built in a day, but they were laying bricks every hour. You don’t have to do it all today. Just lay a brick.” Doing the daily is how progress is produced. When we believe in no days off and no time like the present, we’re willing to place our bricks each day which result in our own Rome being constructed in time.
No to anything that doesn’t move you closer to where you want to go.
Make binary primary. Decisions either serve or stifle. Breaking things down to this level of either/or sharpens our sights. Looking through the lens of our binary binoculars we seek to see every choice as one that is either constructive or destructive. By saying no to most things, you’re able to say yes to the thing you’ve decided is most important. This is the force of focus. The target pulls your actions into alignment with your aim.
Consider asking yourself questions like these to develop an appreciation for the brilliance of binary:
How will this help me to achieve my aspirations or is it taking a step away from or abandoning ambition?
Does this build skill or break will?
Is this effort constructive or destructive?
Does this develop my ability or derail my efforts?
Does this action help me to evolve, or will it lead to erasing past efforts?
Am I focused on where I want to go or am I floundering?
Will this action help to gain ground or grind things to a halt?
Will this serve my goal or stifle it?
If you have a final exam at school tomorrow which is important to help you gain acceptance to a University education program and you’re invited to go to a late movie with friends tonight, considering these questions, how would you respond?
How about if you’re a wrestler and as part of your preparation for a coming tournament you’re closely watching what you’re eating to ensure you make weight for your event and you’re offered a tempting piece of cheesecake coated in whipped cream at a social event, considering questions like the above, how would you respond?
Posing these kinds of binary questions will help enhance your awareness of your actions and put you in the best position possible to act with intention.
Now, I hope you’ll come to know that to grow your go, you’ve got to be prepared to say no. A lot. No. No. No. No. All so you can say yes to what you’ve defined as success. Where your default is yes, your life becomes a mess. You’ll accomplish less and be led around by the whims of the world around you. You show the commitment to your convictions by your willingness to say no to all else. Those that deliver on their dreams have come to learn to love the word no. Being willing to say no to the world around you is a reflection of the clarity and seriousness you’ve devoted to determining your direction. When your target is clear everything else fades into unimportance around it.
