Are You Riding the Wave of Success or Failure?

05/16/21 • 9 min

Which wave are you riding?

Success and failure come in waves. You are either riding one or the other. You just can’t stay where you are. And it would be better to catch a wave in the direction you are headed.

The problem is tons of people catch the failure wave in lots of things they do in life. Are you on this wave? It starts with your mindset. Just like everything else in life, whether you think you can or you can’t, you are right.

For me, that mindset starts with focusing on the negativity of what I’m doing. I start thinking the worst in people around me, the institutions around me, and then myself. It’s a complete wave of crap that comes over me and to get off takes more effort to get off than on.

Once I’m on the negative wave I ride it down, down, down. And my life sucks because of it.

To go the other way, we have to start with positive thinking. You can do it. You see the best in people. And you enjoy being around them.

Simple right? Just not easy.

Start with thankfulness and saying good things about the people around you. Then move onto institutions, like your work. Say good things about them. There is always something good to say about them or you wouldn’t be there.

Then start doing the things you know will get you where you want to go.

Identify that location, and do the little things everyday. Again, simple, but not easy.

You can do it. Just get up and get after it.

If you aren’t dead, you can still achieve things you want in life.

No go after it.

Ben Branam

The post Are You Riding the Wave of Success or Failure? appeared first on 75 Hard Experience.

Which wave are you riding?

Success and failure come in waves. You are either riding one or the other. You just can’t stay where you are. And it would be better to catch a wave in the direction you are headed.

Once I’m on the negative wave I ride it down, down, down. And my life sucks because of it.

To go the other way, we have to start with positive thinking. You can do it. You see the best in people. And you enjoy being around them.

Simple right? Just not easy.

Then start doing the things you know will get you where you want to go.

Identify that location, and do the little things everyday. Again, simple, but not easy.

You can do it. Just get up and get after it.

If you aren’t dead, you can still achieve things you want in life.

No go after it.

Ben Branam

The post Are You Riding the Wave of Success or Failure? appeared first on 75 Hard Experience.

Previous Episode

Slipping: How to Get Back on Track

I’m slipping, falling off the horse and need to get back up and try again.

At this point in my life, I’m not sure if it is easier or harder that I know I have done it in the past.

In the past, I’ve been in great shape. In the past, I’ve gone from obese to 18% or less body fat multiple times. In the past, I’ve been as strong as an ox. In the past, I could have accomplished anything physically.

So I know I can do it... or could have done it?

I’m not sure...

But here I am. The three fitness factors I look at aren’t getting much better. Or at least as fast as I want.

I’m putting on weight... which pisses me off.

I’m riding my bike at a slow pace with my friend and very, very slowly getting faster again.

I’m getting stronger in the gym... but very, very, very slowly. And painfully.

I don’t remember it taking that long before?

The question is what to do about it? When you hit platoes, which is the nice way to say no longer moving forward what do you do?

Do you give up and just go backwards? Do you double down on what you are doing now? Do you hire someone to fix what you can? Do you get a coach?

The answer is change. Something has to change or you will continue to get what you have gotten in the past.

You have to let the past go. What you could have done doesn’t matter to the here and now. What matters now, is what you can do and what you can grow into.

Live in the present. The past just shows us what has, hasn’t, and is working. What I’m doing right now isn’t working the way I want so I’m changing.

I’m back on a diet I can stick to. It is not great, but better then it was. I’m doubling down on my workouts and changing them. I’m going to the gym four times this week and going for at least one long ride this weekend. But at the gym I’m adding 10 to 15 minutes on the stationary bike. And working into intervals in another week.

All this should help me lose weight, get stronger, and ride faster.

What is the one area in your life that you really want to make better? Break it down into the two or three measurable things you can quantify. I want to lose weight. So I step on the scale everyday. I also want to get stronger and that is all about getting more weight on the bar for four big lifts (bench, squat, dead life, and press). I also am watching the pace of my one hour rides. I’m trying to get that average MPH to go up.

Find those measurable verables and then track them. Write it down and review it. If you are moving in the right direction, smile and keep going. If things are going in the wrong direction, change what you are doing.

You are the only one that can change you. I’m old, fat, and out of shape. I can fix two out of three of those.

What part of your life can you apply this to?

Ben Branam

The post Slipping: How to Get Back on Track appeared first on 75 Hard Experience.

Next Episode

How to be More Disciplined in Your Life

How to be more disciplined in your life by forgetting about discipline and just doing what needs to be done.

I spent 10 years in the United States Marine Corps and got to learn a lot about discipline the hard way. It was a way of life, but it wasn’t the kind of discipline most of you want in your life. But it is the kind we think about all the time. From first hand experience, it is the kind of discipline that sucks.

How to be more disciplined isn’t what you are really looking for. It’s more self discipline. If you just want more discipline in your life, hire a Marine NCO (Non-Commissioned Officer) to stand there and yell at you all day. It isn’t a fun life. But, as Marines we did that kind of discipline so that we could do other things. I was in the infantry. Our job was “To locate, close with, and destroy the enemy by fire and maneuver, and to repel the enemy’s assault by fire and close combat.” We got the horrible discipline so that we could complete that horrible mission. And it worked. In combat in 2003 mine and my Marines discipline allowed us to overcome amazing odds and bring all of us back alive.

Even in the Marine Corps, we do discipline so we can accomplish other things. You need more discipline in your life to accomplish other things.

Here are the steps on how to get more disciplined in your life:

So stop focussing on the part that sucks. Don’t worry about getting more discipline.
Figure out what the little things you can do everyday to meet a life goal.
Make it easy to do that little thing every day.
See yourself as the person you want to be.

Stop Focusing on How to Be More Disciplined

When all you focus on the discipline, that is all you will get. Do you want to practice doing the practice to get what you want? Or do you want to do the things that will get you what you want?

When you focus on being more disciplined, that is practicing to practice.

I love the Simpsons. In one of my favorite episodes Bart is failing in school. He trades time with the smartest kid in school, Martin, to help him study and succeed. Martin spends all this time setting up an area to study in, making Bart sit there and just stair at the wall and his book. Not really studying, but practicing to study. All Bart wanted to do was be out doing what little boys do. Bart showed Martin how to do all the cool guy stuff in grade school. Once Martin did the pranks, ran with the other kids, and did kid stuff (way overblown in the episode because it’s the Simpsons), Martin had no other need for Bart or to help him. And Martin left.

Bart tries to study but doesn’t quite make it. It’s the little prodding by his sister when school was snowed out, that instead of going outside to play, he should be studying because it is what he prayed for. That’s when he finally hit the books. And he passes with great fanfare and craziness in the end.

Why are you focused on getting the discipline to sit there and do what you are suppose to do? Why are you practicing studying when you could be actually studying? Why are you thinking and stressing about being more disciplined when you could simply do it?

Stop focussing on the how to be more disciplined and focus on what you want to do to accomplish what you want.

What Little Thing Can you Do Every Day to Get What You Want?

No matter what you want in life, there is something that you could do every day to get closer to it. Most of the time it is the small things added up over time that make a big difference. There isn’t one big thing that gets us across the finish line. It’s that movie montage moment.

The hero of the story sits down to do the work. In Rocky he runs, works out, and eventually does the best ending ever by running up the steps and holding his hands up.

If you hit your goal, what would the montage look like to get there? That is what you should be focusing on.

Make it Easy

Make it easy to do the things in your montage every day.

Next week I’m changing my workouts again. I’m going to do an easy hike in the morning before work to get more exercise in, burn more calories, and get in some walking shape for a trip I’m doing in a couple months to Yosemite National Park.

So I turned back my alarm a half hour to get up to make sure I can get the time in. I set all my clothes next to the bed and my shoes next to the door. That way when I get up in the morning, I’m ready to go.

Making things as easy as possible to do every day is how you get your montage done. And by the end, you are the person running up the stairs and holding your hands up (figuratively of course).

See Yourself as That Person

The last thing is what you should be doing all the time. See yourself as the person that has already finished your montage. You are a worrier, an athlete, a professional at what ever you hav...