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Welcome to The Break, a weekly (video) newsletter where I provide stories and actionable insights on breaking work and building the future you want.
If you like what you’ve been reading follow along on Twitter (@mngardon) and Linkedin for more community and conversations about breaking work.
Today At A Glance
Getting Unstuck
The Life Force Pyramid
Level 1: Your relationship with your body
Level 2: Your relationship with people
Level 3: Your relationship with your self
Get Unstuck By Working On Your Life Force
I have a secret . . .
I’ve been stuck more times than I care to count or remember.
I’ve had weeks and months go by with no progress, and worse, not knowing what I should even do.
It’s a terrible feeling of helplessness.
So, I’ve been dedicating a lot of my time thinking about momentum, how we start to change and how we build belief to deal with uncertainty in life, but particularly at work.
That's what my Advantage Mapping Program is all about - dealing with uncertainty to create a systematic, high odds approach to aligning who you are with what you do. I'd love you to check it out
When we don’t know what to do, or we are paralyzed by the sheer number of choices we have, how do we begin to carve a path?
Because if we stay there too long we lose precious time, and worse, it can lead to full blown depression.
The good news is that there is always a place we can start: right here, and right now.
And all we have to do is focus on three things every day, to begin feeling better and making progress no mater where we are.
It’s called your Life Force - and I’ve made it the foundation of my Unfuckmyself Toolkit, LOL!
I learned about it in a Netflix documentary of all places - called Stutz by Jonah Hill.
I highly recommend watching it!
The Life Force Pyramid
Your Life Force has three relationships that make up the foundation of how you view yourself. Working on each of these foundations everyday, is a way to build positive momentum and feel better about the future.
It’s structured as a pyramid with the bottom level giving you the most benefit in the shortest amount of time. Please note: not necessarily the most impact, but rather quickest path to feeling better so you can keep going.
Level 1: Move
The first layer to get going is your relationship with your physical body. All you have to do is get your body working better according to Stutz. He says this level takes up around 85% of importance on the pyramid in order to feel better. Exercise, sleep, and eat good food. Simple as that.
Why does this work?
Beyond the science of endorphin release, neurotransmitter regulation and stress reduction, all of which are proven - treating your body right is the first leg of having respect for yourself and showing yourself that you are worthy of continued investment.
In my own life, I can attest to the benefits of using exercise to get out of a funk. It works every time. My protocol is to immediately stop what I’m doing if I’m struggling, and at least go for a walk if not more.
Since working with Dan Go and having him on my podcast, I’ve noticed an undeniable link between the people who succeed in dropping 15+ pounds and going on to overhaul their relationship with work or build a new work-path.
Treating your body well is a confidence booster!
In Stutz, Jonah talks about how exercise, diet, and sleep needs to be positioned differently to the public because right now there’s so much emphasis on doing these things to physically look differently — but instead it should be spun around because it’s so incredibly imperative for good mental health.
Level 2: Talk to people
Humans are social creatures - even the introverts (like me)! Stutz says “relationships with other people are like handholds for climbing that pull you back into life.”
The simple act of connecting with someone (new or old, doesn’t matter) is enough to help you start feeling better and building momentum.
This is why I talk so much about networking as a key gateway. Networking is like killing 15 birds with one stone:
you find opportunities
you build career resilience
you learn about different life paths and skills
you feel better when making connections!
The key is you have to take the initiative though. You can’t sit back and wait for others to contact you.
You can start by asking someone (literally anyone) to your favorite coffee spot.
This small action, starts to breed confidence to take the next action and the next.
Level 3: Write
The third level to work on is your relationship with yourself. What this means is that we need to work on understanding who we really are and how we work. This can only happen by tapping into our unconscious, and the only way to do that is to activate it.
The best tool to enhance your relationship with yourself is through writing because it reflects what’s going on in your unconscious. You don’t have to be a good writer, you just need to write — and it doesn’t matter what it’s about. Things will come out if you write in journal form that you didn’t know that you knew. Try it.
This is why my approach in Advantage Mapping has a workbook journal and journal action steps around uncovering your hidden advantages!
Journaling every day and just getting it out there really does work, but you have to stick to it and decipher what is true and what untrue that you tell yourself.
It’s all a cycle
If you’re at a point in your life where you feel lost, don’t try to figure it out, let it go and simply work on your life force first. When you do this, you are starting from the most foundational aspect of you - a place where you are certain progress can be made, because there is no downside.
This creates a base for momentum, where you can continue, little by little, to take action and live with bigger and bigger consequences.
As Stutz says,
“The true winner is not the one who always makes the best decisions or looks the best — the winner is the one who works the cycle. Who’s willing to take the risk, who’s willing to act with some amount of faith, and eats the consequences.If the consequences are bad, then you start the cycle again. That’s as good as it gets.”
True confidence is living in uncertainty and still continuing to move forward. Lets do what we can to always move forward.
See you again next week!
Mike
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The Latest Conversation on THE BREAK Pod
If you’ve ever wondered how a teacher stuck in a classroom making $40k per year can transform into a world-roaming remote nomad making over $100k inside 12 months, well you’re in the right place. Taylin Simmonds was a music producer and college educator who broke his career and now helps founders and leaders of high-growth companies grow their personal brands.
And he does it while traveling the world. In fact, we recorded this episode while Taylin was in Panama where he has decided to live for a few months. I just love connecting with young folks like Taylin who are thinking hard and deep about their future and taking bold steps to transform their lives to work with purpose.
If you have doubts that you can make a gigantic change to your circumstances in a short amount of time, you need to tune in to this amazing episode with my new friend Taylin Simmonds.
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⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ This was super helpful!
⭐️⭐️⭐️ Could be better.