How To Choose Action In The Moment

Here is the complete transcript of the podcast

Welcome back! Happy Wednesday morning to you. Today’s podcast episode is not going to be that different than what I had been driving here for the last few months now, which is structure your day structure time structure activities, prioritize them, go after them, accomplish them feel good about yourself, more or less. That’s the structure of this podcast for the last few weeks, for sure, a few months, in fact, so it’s not gonna be different. But then what I want to do is I’m going to share a story with you. And from the story, I will explain what are the things that I found out, and from there, immortal, that I read many years prior to that. And I saw this model play out as a part of the story. So let’s get into the story. First, the story goes like this. This was a few years ago, I think this was 2014 or so I locked my house. And I was going to go for a two-hour in-person meeting, I was driving on the freeway, and 20 minutes into the drive. I get a call, saying that the meeting has been canceled indefinitely. So I was in a situation where I was not sure what to do with the two hours. And while usually every time I have a gap like that in between my activities, I used them to read a book or watch a video training video or create a podcast episode back in the day a blog post, something like that. But then I was not sure what I would do. Now the initial reaction is, ah, you know, such a good meeting. And now it’s canceled. And then I don’t know what to do and a little bit of disappointment. Now, in the moment of disappointment, something magical happened. Now I was near an exit. If you take that exit, you would go to a peak, like a mountain, say not a mountain, it’s a hill, you people go there to hike that hill. So I was right there. And I looked at the exit. And without even blinking a second I took that exit. And I went all the way to the Foothill literally and parked my car. And I started hiking. Now, as I got out of the car, I realized that I’m not dressed up for this. You know, when you go hiking, there is an attire. You should be prepared. Physically, I was not. Now mentally also, I was not. There was no energy in me to go hike. And, again, this was an activity to be done in two hours mentally, right? This was because that’s the only time I had I said, Okay, fine. So I’m in my formals. I’m going to just go see how far can I go? And, you know, it’s okay. Right, my shoes won’t support this, my clothes won’t support this. Let me try this. If I can go fine. And let me use the time. So I started hiking up, the thing that was playing in my mind was okay, if I become start sweating, and I’m going to you know my shoes, they will become uncomfortable, then I’ll come back. And I kept on going 20 minutes, 30 minutes, and all the way for about an hour and 15 minutes, which was the peak like you take an hour and 15 minutes to go up maybe 45 minutes to come down. And that would fill the two-hour time gap. So went up, came down, felt good about me. Notice segment, no anger, because the meeting got canceled. And I went home. Now why I’m telling you the story is because prior to that, I read an incredible book within which this specific activity like this specific model was described. Now let’s first analyze this whole thing. So I was going from my house to a meeting. So there was a gap time gap. That means I was able to do this because there was some available time suddenly time became available. Now the context is incorrect, honestly, because I was not prepared. I didn’t have the tools to prepare myself to go up and do a hike. But because it’s not the right context, but then still, I was able to attach a context to the time that was available to me.

Now in terms of energy, even though I was not really in my pre-frame was not to go and hike because people have this framing that a lot of framing goes into any activity. My framing was for this meeting, but then somehow, whatever turns out that I’ve, indeed had some energy in me. So I was able to go up and come down. And then, even though this was not a priority, but hiking was a priority, it was somewhere there, you know, way below because, at that time, I was preparing to go to mountains and all that. So these are the four things that played out. years prior to that, I got the book called Getting Things Done. Incredible book. And this book is written by David Allen, this book came out in 2001, I believe, and I read this book multiple times, I have this book and you know, gave away this book multiple times to multiple people. This is an absolute must-read if I’m coaching someone if I’m mentoring someone. And then the second book that I read subsequent to this one, was putting it all together, incredible authored incredible books on this book, this book, the book that I have with me, I’m not sure this is not a hardbound one. But on page 192. David Allen talks about the concept called the four criteria model for choosing action at the moment. So at the moment, you choose to take any action, it talks about four criteria, the first criterion is available time, so you have a task that you completed, you have some time before you go into the next task. And it could be 10 minutes, 20 minutes, 30 minutes, whatever time you have, can you bring? And can you do something else? And can you accomplish something else? He talks about that. Then he says, you also got to look at the context. So first is available time.

The second is context. Now I’m here, right in my car? What can I do? I’m driving, what can I do? Well, in this case, I happen to see the exit to the mount to the hill. So I just took the exit and went up the hill. But for others, it could be making phone calls or getting stuck in the traffic and trying to reach some people or whatever, or listening to an audio or listening or something like that, right. So where you are, and what tools you have, may decide the activity that you need to pick and accomplish. Remember, David Allen’s talking about creating lists and getting things done. So these items that you would otherwise you’d be doing. They are list items. So hiking was on my list, that is why I was I was immediately able to relate instantly, in a moment able to relate and said, yeah, let me go get this done. Then he talks about energy availability, sometimes you have more energy in you. At the end of the day, let’s say you have done a lot of things, and then you have some energy left in your body. And then you say, Okay, I still feel active, why can’t I go run for a half a mile or something like that, oh, God, why don’t I clean the room, I have energy in me.

So he makes a point, he says vitality defines productivity. So there are some incredible principles he talks about in this specific context. And then let’s say, you know, you suddenly are in the moment you decide that I need to get some things done, you can also always go back to your to-do list and pick up the one that has some priority. Okay, just whatever priority, you know, it has, maybe it was prioritized to be the last one. But then you can do it because you now have time or you have the energy or you have the context. So for example, let’s say that working out is the last priority you have in my case, that was the case. last priority workout, let’s say you want to do some workout tomorrow. It’s not on today’s to-do list, but it’s there on tomorrow’s to-do list. Again, this was the case in my case. Also. I was not supposed to go and hike that day. I was supposed to do that the next day. But then suddenly, some time was available. I had some energy in me because I was driving. And then even though the context was weak. I did not have the right tools, but I still went up. Okay. So not a priority, but still I could fit it in. Here is the case in all these points. The case is that I want you to understand that you don’t need to be exact, or to the point with your to-do list. You’re doing some things and then maybe the first task is completed much faster than you thought.

Now you have time What can you do with the time, then the second case, at this point is this model, I want you to go get the book, Getting Things Done by David Allen, and read this specific model on page 192. I want you to do that. And then knowing what you know, from this podcast episode, at least, I think in the last 10 minutes, I just whatever I explained here, and the way I said it, look into all the leaks that you have got going. In whatever you’re doing, you have activities that you are, let’s say, you do work off of a to-do list. And as you are working, you are unknowingly doing this, maybe I had read this book, much before than this, then this event happened. But when this event happened, and when I went back to the book, that’s when I realized, oh, okay, so this is what happened, the only time became valuable. And you know, even though it was not a priority, I had some energy in me, even though the context was weak. I got it done. Now, David Allen talks about it. See, so maybe you’re doing some things like this, maybe you’re wasting time in between tasks, maybe you should bring in some things and get them done. Right.

So hopefully, this gives you some ideas, certainly get the book, read the book. And the bottom line is this you want to become effective, you want to become productive. And you want to close as many loose ends as possible. And an approach a structured approach like this allows you to get control of all the activities that are happening now and that is being stacked up for a later in time. So this gives you control. And by the way, there are so many such models. I just happened to be sharing one, because this book is awesome. And I went through a real-time scenario like this. Hopefully, this is helpful. If days. You know what to do. Write a review, read the podcast, and you have a question for me. You know how to reach me. That’s all for now. I’ll catch up with you tomorrow, hopefully with another incredible book, an incredible author who knows. Stay tuned.

Live Your Life By Freeing Yourself From Old Constraints – Lisa Nichols

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Welcome back. Happy Tuesday morning to you yesterday on the podcast I mentioned that I’ll be celebrating two incredible authors whose work and whose works have changed my life. It’s an understatement if I say that two amazing ladies today on this podcast, are beautiful, beautiful souls beautiful angels. Lisa Nichols. You know this name what an incredible speaker dynamite powerhouse of speaking training coaching. amazing woman, Lisa Nichols, her work. first heard about her first for her when I saw the movie The Secret back in 2006. Then in 2009, her book came out became a national bestseller no matter what was her work since then. She’s a resident trainer on the Steve Harvey Show. She’s done some amazing things and she runs. She’s the only woman led public company trading company that only does training, coaching, and all that. So she’s the CEO of a public company.

So amazing, something that all of us we want, we are aspiring to do one day. What an incredible so the reason why I’m saying Lisa Nichols is not because of her achievements. It’s just because I happen to meet her. And she was, I sat through a presentation in 2017. Finally, finally, I saw her and Lisa gifted me her book, abundance now. And after the speaking engagements, he spent about nearly 45 minutes talking to me, outside in the hallway after the conference was done. And what a soul pot or ladies list has no words to express her greatness and profound, profound her. You know, they’re just saying that no matter what we create in life, our creations are not bigger than the values that are instilled in us. I could write, I could sing, I could paint, I could compose, I can do anything. But none of those creations are bigger than the values that are instilled in me. And the same way the water cannot rise beyond its source. Likewise, our creations cannot be bigger than the values that are instilled in us. That that long time ago, I met Lisa Nichols. I felt it. I’ll tell you, I read her books. I’ve seen her speeches, that profound or groundbreaking. But when you meet that person, those values are so deep, that fall was 45 minutes in the hallway. Like, tell you I want to get it back. I want to get it back one day.

This book, Abundance now was co-authored by Janet Switzer. Janet Switzer is someone who in every book that I see on self-improvement, I look for that name because she is behind some of the best authors in the world. I see she is the go-to person when somebody wants to become a speaker, trainer coach, and you want to build a multimillion-dollar empire. They go to her and I went to her back in 2000, I believe five, or six and before that, I heard her name in 2004. And I bought everything that she was selling everything she was selling at the time. And I’ve waited for like two months before she could send me like a huge box with the DVDs and CDs and manuals and binders. And I meticulously went through everything for about two years, two years. This was a time when Facebook was just starting and LinkedIn was not there. At this all the time. Long before social media was really social media the way we know it now. These two ladies have no words to express my gratitude and hope one day somebody was going to send this podcast episode to them. I’m hoping they come across this podcast episode and see at what level indebted to them. I mean, that’s probably the right word. Abundance now is a book. And I’ll tell you something that caught my eye in this book. And I’m pretty sure it’s going to get your attention to I can’t go through the book and I can’t read the book and all that on this podcast. But page 65 of this book says to live in your light by freeing yourself from old constraints.

See, when you go to a coach when you go to a therapist, what do they do? They try to remove the old constraint of try to free you up from the old constraint. And if the therapist or the coach or the mentor is good, they’re going to create a new image. It’s not about fixing the back life. It’s also creating New Life new possibilities, right, removing the old image and putting in a new image. Now, as a part of this, Lisa and Dennis, visit Lisa Nichols and Yanis, we just say, to step inside your greatness, and begin using the genius that’s been uniquely given to you, something I call living in your light, you’re going to have to allow yourself to be free of all constraints and give yourself permission to stand in your power. What does that look like? Standing in your power is when you’re committed to pushing past any negative self-talk, raising above your own fears, and evicting any disempowering thoughts or chatter that does not support your highest calling and greatest service? You might be already doing that. But what would happen in your life? If you look at it at a whole new level? What must you do to begin living in your light? And Lisa mentioned three things beyond this point says, strive to be at peace with all your choices, actions, and decisions, including all your past actions. Step number two, she says start looking for what’s possible in your life. You know, spend a lot of time thinking about what has gone wrong with us and why it has gone wrong this way, I’ll let you know let’s look at possibilities. Let’s not worry about things that so she says most people’s, you know, work their life to avoid something for reopening.

Coming back. And that’s not the way to do it. The way to do it is by looking into the possibilities of life and going after them. So you’re not operating from fear. You’re operating from power. Very profound, very profound. And then the third thing she says is to answer the question, why? Okay, instead of constantly looking at life, from the standpoint of victimhood, and going through, you know, why this happened to me, and why that happened to me and all that. Why not say that there is something better waiting for me, that’s a profound frame. Every day you wake up, you’ll say, something better is waiting for me. Thankful for the day, there’s something but waiting for me. These three things, and again, I can’t read all the pages, but I want you to go get the book, buy the book, read the book. And again, I give you which page you need to read. Okay, so go do that.

Now. I hope you found value in today’s podcast, if you did, do me a favor, leave me a note, and leave me a review. And if you think somebody is going to benefit from this, please share it with them. It’s very simple, just the link that you can pass from the app. That’s how simple this is. And I’ll come back, I’ll keep celebrating some authors who changed my life and mentor who changed my life, some of their work. And as I wrap this up, I want to mention something. You know, I don’t take books for free. And this is something that that I programmed myself because somebody gives me something for free. I don’t value it. And Lisa, during this conference, I gifted her book to all the attendees in the conference. So I was an attending the conference. So I got the book. And then I was reluctant to take the book for free. And when after speaking with Clint for about 40 minutes, 45 minutes, she ended up actually autographing this book, she said to Srini I love you. Or to say at least I love you do. You know that evening after that event was over, we were at dinner, and I was with Lisa, US managers, and some team members from Lisa steam also at the dinner. And I went to Lisa’s manager and I offered to pay for the book. I said I don’t want to take this book for free. It’s so good. Somehow, I didn’t want to take it for free. And they wouldn’t take money from me. That’s amazing.

Okay, I just wanted to say that because this happened. Okay. Stay tuned. I’ll catch up with you tomorrow, and tomorrow. I’m going to depending upon where we are, I’m going to celebrate one more author

Recognize The Thoughts That Don’t Serve You – Dr. Maxwell Maltz

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Yesterday on the podcast, I promised that I’m going to be back today with another incredible book that changed my life and numerous lives ever since it came out in the 1960s. Happy Monday morning to you all. Thank you. Welcome back to successful training. I’m talking about Dr. Maxwell Maltz. And his book, The Psycho-Cybernetics. This book came out in 1960. I did multiple podcasts about this book and how this book has impacted me and numerous other self-improvement seekers, many teachers of self-improvement, and many philosophers, I mean, this book has continued to stay in the top 10 self-help books every year. And it’s an all-time one of the all-time 50 classic self-help books ever published. So amazing. This is a must-read, every time I see and I’m coaching someone or mentoring someone, I insist that they read this book and read this book multiple times. I read this book at least once a year if I can, or maybe once every two years now, something like that. This book, I took some notes from this book, and I think I highlighted these notes before also as a part of another podcast episode. I’m gonna highlight that today. Because I just read the book. Okay. So let’s get into this.

The first and foremost thing is Dr. Maxwell’s knowledge. Before I get into that, before I get into that, Dr. Maxwell Maltz, was a cosmetic surgeon. He’s a doctor and cosmetic surgeon. And his practice was in New York, he stayed at the doctor, but he wrote this book, obviously. And he’s his core philosophy is that the reason why people succeed in life, or the pain, the success they’re seeking, is because of their self-image. Not because willpower is overrated. It says self-image. So if somebody’s self-image is low, they cannot get what they are seeking. And they will have stress, they could have ambitions, but the self-image is long. So along the way, they’re going to end up suffering from confidence issues and stress and anxiety and all that stuff. All those are byproducts of this.

So he says, in order to improve, in order to achieve anything you want to achieve, you need to improve your self-image. And all the work is based on self-image. He has some incredible quotes. I’m going to go through those quotes just in a second. But let’s get into some of the notes that I’ve taken from this book. The first and foremost is to compliment three people each day. And I’ll stay there I’ll stop there, you decide what that compliment is. Compliments are powerful. People love it. Give and you have as many to give. Yesterday, we talked about it, let’s give and said praise is an incredible compliment, right? So find three people and keep praising. As simple as that. He says to start writing a diary or a journal. So you can plan you can replenish yourself from, you know, some thoughts that might be going wrong, or you’ll realize that yourself, yeah, if you write a diary or you start a journal, he says replace negative thoughts with positive ones. And I went through that also, two days ago on the podcast talking about how to replace negative thoughts. Okay, if something is going wrong, something is not happening. And you see you start to see things are not falling in play, press the reset button, something went wrong, press the reset button you started a business didn’t work out, press reset, restart. You know always remember that there is a restart button and there’s a reset button. And there is always a restart.

See, it’s always a reset button everywhere. And there’s always a restart. then visualize the outcomes. See it in the mind to see it tell the subconscious mind that you can see the outcome and then everything you do is backward. I visualized myself being on Mount Everest and everything thereafter was very easy for me to do that preparation was easy. The Ascent was easier. Of course, it had it came with some challenges later on but then I could see myself in different camps I could see where I was eating when I was sleeping, I was looking at images of looking at videos, I was programming my mind to as if I’ve already gotten there. Easy when you see success all is backward. You know always look at the outcome that you’re going after and then or the goal that you want to accomplish, visualize it and then work backward is you got to recognize thought habits. And primarily those which don’t serve you if there is any thought you have right now that’s not serving you, that has to go away.

And then he says things that worked. You need to focus on them instead of things that did not work. The brain cannot sometimes see it didn’t work, but then we still go back to it. Like okay, this did not work and this word so that distinction has to be in play. There are so many takeaways from this book. I mean, this is a very, very small list. I’ll come back, maybe do a few more episodes, talking about some incredible lessons I took from this book. But these are these starts just to start. Maxwell Maltz incredible Pinker, who wrote fiction books. Also, in nonfiction fiction, obviously, nonfiction is self-help books, this book, Psycho-Cybernetics groundbreaking book, the bar is so high on this book, I don’t think many books will ever reach the bar that this book has set.

He has some incredible quotes that I have one point printed actually posted on my wall. In some of the quotes that I still read, you make mistakes, mistakes don’t make you. We make mistakes, mistakes don’t make us. This is an incredible one. “Emptiness is a symptom, you are not living creatively. You either have no goal that is important enough to you, or you are not using your talents and efforts in striving toward an important goal.”, “You will act like the sort of a person you conceive yourself to be that’s a self-image is talking about. Our self-image strongly held essentially determines what we become.”, “The greatest mistake a man can make is to be afraid of making one.” That’s a profound one. “We age not by years, but by events and our emotional reactions to them.” Profound. I hope you take a serious message from what Maxwell Maltz is saying if I were you, I would go get this book. If I were you, I would read this book. If I were you. I would reread this book. And if I were you, I will keep on rereading this book for the rest of my life, which I do. And I said this on this podcast. So you know, I’ve publicly committed to this now. Okay, which I do. I still have nothing, nothing to worry about committing to something that you’re not doing. So go get the book, read the book.

Yeah, we’ll stop here. I want to come back tomorrow. I’m going to talk about another incredible author who changed my life. Actually, you know what, maybe bigger than that. I’m going to talk about two authors tomorrow. Whom one I met one I did not but both of them changed my lives. Both of their life work. Change in my life. My life’s I only have one life. Okay. So incredible authors, wonderful people. One of them I met and we’ll talk about that tomorrow on the podcast, so stay tuned.