Module 8
Massive Action Basics

MASSIVE ACTION VS. PASSIVE ACTION

Massive action is action we take and continue taking until we reach our goal. Massive action includes the process of anticipating obstacles and being willing to fail repeatedly and try again until the goal is reached.

Most people try, fail, stop, try something else, fail, and give up. They test something once and then quit if it doesn’t work out. That is action, but not massive action. Massive action is when we keep our sights on the goal and we are willing to do anything to get there. We try different ways, we fail, and we continue tweaking our actions until we hit our desired result. We are willing to feel uncomfortable and keep taking action anyway.

I like to think of massive action as Jason Bourne or Ethan Hunt action. There is nothing that will stand in your way of accomplishing the mission – when a barrier is hit, adaptations are made and renewed action is taken. Failure is not an option because failure only happens when you quit or die (and quitting is a choice, therefore not a choice if you don’t allow it to be).

Passive action is all of the things that are done in preparation for action. All of the studying, courses, masterminds, listening, practicing, and reading that feel like action, but keep us from reaching our goal. They do not get us the results that we’re after. Passive action has to do with consumption. Massive action has to do with creating.

You will know whether you are taking massive or passive action based on the number of times you’ve fallen on your face. When you are taking passive action, there is no risk involved. You are hiding, planning, and avoiding failure. Massive action typically involves embarrassing moments in front of a large audience. You will fail where everyone can see you, and they have the tools to maintain Indomitable Self-Confidence in these situations.

ASK YOURSELF:
? Where in your life do you think you are taking passive action (or consuming) instead of taking massive action?
? In what way do you imagine massive action would be more useful to you than passive action?
? What is an example of a massive action that you could take toward one of your current goals?

SKILL: SCIENTIFIC PROCESS

The Scientific Process is the way the Alpha approaches the action/result cause and effect. They ask a question because they are curious as to why something is not working. They do some research, come up with an idea as to what they think will solve the problem, and then test the idea to see if it works. If their idea doesn’t work, they look at the data and learn from their mistake. Then they try another idea based on their learning and repeat the process of experimenting and evaluating until they get the result they want.

Ask a question.
Do research.
Construct a hypothesis.
Test with an experiment.
Is the procedure working?
If yes, keep doing.
No?
Change the experiment.
Still not working?
Analyze data and draw conclusions.
Create a new hypothesis.
Repeat until you get the result you want.

You might think this process is laborious and time consuming. Most humans have been conditioned for instant gratification and if that isn’t met, disappointment is created, driving actions to quit and rationalize, “I’m just not capable of that.” It’s important for you to know that life is just one big experiment where you will continue to try things until you get the result you want (or quit and give up on your dreams).

The most important thing for you to know is that you have all answers within your own brain. All the wisdom is there within you and you just need to give yourself permission to act on your ideas. Only you know what best for you and only you know the best version of who you are. You will not know what will work until it’s working.

ASK YOURSELF:
? What is a question you have about your life?
? If you knew how to solve this challenge, what would you do?
? What other experiments could you try?
? What is one thing you want to try within the next week? (Put it on your calendar.)

SKILLS: COGNITIVE MASTERY & EMOTIONAL OWNERSHIP

Cognitive Mastery

You need to learn how to manage your thinking by developing the skills you you learn in the Academy and in this course. You are learning how to become aware of what you think and how your thinking impacts your life. You are making your automatic, unconscious thinking conscious. You are learning how to think new thoughts and believe new things deliberately. You are learning how to separate your circumstances, which are always neutral, from your thoughts about them. You are beginning to know that you are not the effect of your life, but you are the cause.

Emotional Ownership

You need to learn that half of the time, there will be negative emotion, and that’s by design. It doesn’t mean something has gone wrong or that there’s something wrong with you. The more accepting you are of negative emotion, the more you will be able to process it all the way through. When you can process emotion, you will recognize that there’s nothing you can’t handle. Emotions are the worst thing that can happen to a human being, and there isn’t any emotion that you don’t have the ability to feel. The deeper your capacity for pain, the deeper your capacity for joy will be. When you resist emotion, you block all forward momentum and progress, and make it almost impossible to fulfill your self created destiny.

SKILL: CONSTRAINT

Constraint is a limitation or a restriction we put on ourselves that simplifies our lives. Constraint is something we choose on purpose, not something that is a limitation we think we are incapable of.

Constraint reduces overwhelm and makes decisions so much easier to make. When we put constraint on what we eat, we save time shopping at the grocery store and planning meals. When we put constraint on the clothes we wear, we save time choosing new clothes and deciding what to wear. These are two simple examples to show you how constraint saves us time, money, and mental effort.

Most people don’t like constraint because they want to keep their options open. They worry they will miss out on something. But keeping your options open is a huge mistake because there are too many options. It slows down the decision making process, burns mental energy (through indecision), and allows doubt to enter your cognition and as an emotion. 

When you constrain yourself and make decisions ahead of time, it frees up your mind to focus. That’s when you’re able to tap into your creativity and you can start thinking about how to solve your problems and create what you want.

ASK YOURSELF:
? What is the one thing you want to constrain your focus on this week?
? Is it difficult to limit yourself to one thing? Why or why not?

SKILL: DECISION MAKING

One of the biggest wastes of time is indecision—indecision before you’ve made a decision and indecision after. Indecision and staying in the realm of “I don’t know” seems innocent, but it keeps you from your destiny. All the decisions you’ve made in your life have literally created your life.

You will need to make many decisions about the direction of your life, and when you do you need to have your own back on your decisions. Your brain will rally against growth in an attempt to protect you, but you need to stay strong and have your own back. Making a true decision means committing to achieving a result, and removing any other possibility. The hardest step in achieving anything is making a true commitment. The stronger your commitment to a decision, the more energy and motivation you will have to follow through.

If you decide ahead of time and visualize it again and again, your brain will not have to make a decision in the moment. You will literally be reprogramming a new pattern of thought, feeling, and action. The more you set up all your decisions ahead of time, the less reactive you will be in the moment. When you honor your own decisions, they get better at it. You’ve practiced it. If you do it in one area of your life, you get better in all the areas of your life. This develops Indomitable Self-Confidence.

ASK YOURSELF:
? What do you have trouble deciding on? Why?
? What do you think will happen if you make a fully committed decision?
? How can you more fully commit to decisions you’ve already made?

SKILL: MATH VS. DRAMA

Actions are circumstances. They are neutral data. They are mathematical data.

Every action is a math equation; force times distance. Actions themselves are cold, hard math.

Here is an action:

Stand up and move your body 20 feet.

That is an action. It is a neutral math equation.

All the drama is in the cogno-emotive state; what you’re thinking and feeling about the action.

Let’s say you’re standing up from your desk to walk 20 feet to the restroom – neutral feeling, no big deal.

Let’s say you’re standing up from your table at the club to walk 20 week to talk to a strange, beautiful woman – any anxiety there? Insecurity? Fear?

Let’s take that same scenario, but this time you (suspend disbelief) you can read minds and KNOW this woman wants you to come over to her and talk to her and she wants to laugh and smile and have fun – now what are you feeling? Fun? Excited? Confident?

Apply this to your purpose. What is the math (neutral movement based on physics) that you will take to accomplish your goals?

Separating the math of an action from the drama of it will help you become more objective in your behavior and flood you with Indomitable Self-Confidence.

Math doesn’t lie and your brain does. I encourage you to keep your opinion out of it and use the numbers to guide your actions.

ASK YOURSELF:
? What does action mean to you?
? What areas of your life do you need to measure by work (force times distance) instead of drama (undetermined emotion)?

OBSTACLE: YOUR PRIMITIVE BRAIN

You will die.

You’re not good enough.

It’s all too dangerous.

Change is bad.

Hiding is safe.

It’s not your brain’s fault. It’s trying to help you survive. But if you listen to its outdated messages, you will spend your life on the couch buffering, in a job for security, or in a marriage of convenience. Solving the overall obstacle of your brain is what cognitive mastery is all about. It’s the skillset of learning how to be aware of what your brain thinks automatically and then deciding what to think on purpose.

One of the best ways to have a purposeful life is to think purposeful thoughts. Remember, your brain wants to be efficient and think thoughts that it has always
thought. This will not serve you in creating anything new or interesting. Your brain is your biggest obstacle, but it’s also your most magnificent tool. There’s nothing more powerful on the planet. When you direct it, it will create anything you want. So, direct it with what you want to think and believe. This way, you will be able to feel and act with a lot more purpose.

OBSTACLE: PROCRASTINATION

Your brain will always come up with great reasons as to why now is not a good time to take action. It can always find a justifiable excuse. Be prepared for this and plan on it. Have an answer for how to handle it when it inevitably happens. It will seem completely legit, and it really isn’t. If you want to follow through on your plans and actions, the best way to do that is to anticipate anything that might get in the way.

The answer to procrastination is courage.

As Dan Sullivan explains: First, you make the commitment. Then you have to use courage. Then you develop capability. And only then do you generate confidence. Don’t wait for the confidence before you follow through on your commitments. You don’t need confidence—you need courage.

Courage means you will have fear, but you will take action anyway. Notice that when you schedule an appointment, you can’t procrastinate it. You can’t put off
meeting someone when they’re already there waiting to meet you. Use this with yourself. Make a commitment to yourself and then make procrastination an action you refuse to take. Once it’s on the calendar, you honor it, no matter what.

OBSTACLE: CONFUSION

Saying that you don’t know what to do or how to do something is the biggest dream stealer I have ever seen.

You are figuring it out.

You are learning how.

You are researching.

You are experimenting.

You are never, and I mean never, not knowing.

Not knowing kills your dreams. Confusion kills your dreams. It’s indulging in a lie that pretends to keep you safe. Confusion tucks you into a bed of hiding that is so completely boring and uninteresting to your evolving brain, you will need to buffer to cope. Uncertainty doesn’t feel good, and it’s completely optional. Supervise your brain carefully and make sure you don’t fall into this trap.

OBSTACLE: OVERWHELM

Too many options. Welcome to the century, my friend. There are so many beautiful options and so much free will going around. Your brain will tell you it’s all too much and you should seek some pleasure and hide.

You, instead, can delight in the options, and solve overwhelm by constraint and decision making. Constraint and decision making are your skills against confusion and overwhelm. The minute you limit your options on purpose and make a decision, overwhelm has nowhere to reside.

I recently bought some furniture for a project I am creating. There were about two options. I didn’t know what any of them were or which one to buy. I called the store and asked them to narrow it down to the two best choices and to tell me the merits of both. I decided right then and there, and was done. You can do the same thing. Narrow it down to two. Give yourself an hour. Then pick one and go with it. You can always change your mind later when you know more, but the most
important thing to do to combat overwhelm is to constrain and choose.

I do this with buying almost everything. I quickly decide what I want, and never look back. It really is that easy.

Overwhelm is a terrible reason to quit anything—it’s mismanagement of your own mind.

OBSTACLE: BUSY

I’ve been super busy with:

Traveling.

My son’s birthday.

A holiday.

Being sick.

My girlfriend visiting.

My broken down car.

UGH.

Whenever I hear excuses like these, I imagine them on a tombstone. I wonder if they would want that to be the reason they didn’t create a life they really enjoyed.

Stop making excuses. Even if you are really, really good at it. Even if you are totally justified in your reason. Excuses suck. Think about it. An excuse is a reason why you didn’t get what you want. Who cares if it’s a super awesome excuse. You still didn’t get yours!

Never use the excuse of busy or any of its cousins.

You are only allowed to say, “I didn’t want to do it enough.”

WORKSHEETS

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Do This Worksheet Every Day For Thirty (30) Days