Scott Perry's Blog, page 13

May the Force Be With You

It's really challenging to get done what needs to be done to make a better living while making a bigger difference.

I find this especially challenging as an independent freelancer and solopreneur.

However, I've learned that you can get more done in the same amount of time or with the same amount of effort you're already spending (and even in less time and with less effort).

How?

Explore and exploit force multipliers.

Force Multipliers are a form of leverage. They're a tool or combination of tools that allow you to achieve more than you could without them.*

For example?

For those of us engaged in living our legacy in the second half of life as solopreneurs or freelancers, it can be easy to conflate productivity with progress. 

Recognizing that adding more does not get us closer (and that less is more most of the time) is a force multiplier.

And if we apply first principles thinking and system reliability to our endeavors, the results can be exponential.

Here's a force multiplier in the form of three questions.

What is the difference only you can make?
Who are you making that difference with and for?
What are the necessary steps needed to create that change?

The more clarity and confidence you have about your answers to these questions, the more exponential the force multiplier will be.

Force multipliers aren't about grit and grind.

Force multipliers are about knowing who you are, what you're good at, and where you belong, focusing on what's essential, and learning to do that in less time and more effortlessly.

What force multipliers can you employ to get the leverage you need ratchet your forward progress today?

h/t Nic Peterson

Scott Perry, Encore Life Coach at The Art of Encore Living

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The Certainty Trap

We live in a world that appears to reward certainty.

“Confidence is belief in yourself. Certainty is belief in your beliefs.”—Kevin Ashton, How to Fly a Horse

You don’t have to look too long, hard, or far to witness powerful people prospering from certainty about things that are not absolutes or even accurate.

But there are real perils in being certain and over-confident. 

I know that I was rewarded for knowing the “right” answers and “validating” my work in school.

Then I taught at some famous private schools where certainty abounds.

All to say, I became VERY skilled at closed-loop thinking and VERY comfortable with closing loops quickly.

Thankfully, life provided trials that disabused me of my many false certainties.

Although initially broken, I ended up broken open.

And being broken open also opened some loops.

And open loops require curiosity, consideration, creativity, courage, and practicing compassion from the inside out.

And practicing curiosity, consideration, creativity, courage, and compassion from the inside out daily cultivated confidence.

Confidence to let go of my false certainties and embrace not knowing while trusting and believing in myself and my ability to figure things out.

Fortunately, life also provided guides and fellow travelers who modeled and taught the virtues of a more expansive and curious approach to navigating uncertainty.

But default (even hard-wired) closed-loop programming still must be managed.

I use phrases like “People are fascinating” to avoid reactive value judgments about others and “Isn’t that interesting...?” to stop myself from leaping to conclusions about things.

What about you? How do you avoid the certainty trap?

Scott Perry, Encore Life Coach at The Art of Encore Living

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How to Never Get What You Really Want

What do you want?

I mean, what do you really, really want?

That’s a wicked question (and wicked questions are hard to answer because the answer evolves as you move through randomness and time).

And how you move through randomness (AKA uncertainty) and time matters. It matters a lot.

I catch myself and the people I care about falling into a form over function approach.

Form over function?

Yeah, form over function is a “bass ackwards” approach.

And yet, because humans are additive creatures driven by the undisciplined pursuit of more, we often put form ahead of function.

But we forget that we pay a heavy complexity tax every time we add more.

Here’s the thing.

Function is the answer to questions like “What’s it for?”, “What do I want?”, “What outcome do I desire in this situation?”

Form speaks to the features and benefits of how you deliver the answer to those questions.

Every time you add a step, component, or task to your goal, you’re putting form ahead of function and creating a less efficient and effective system.

In other words, you’re actually conspiring against your success and moving further away from what you say you really, really want when you put form ahead of function.

If you want to close the gap between where you are and where you want to be, you must put function first and add only the essential steps to getting there to your plan.

Where are you putting form over function in your life?

Do those things matter?

If so, how can you invert and put function over form?

h/t  Nic Peterson

Scott Perry, Encore Life Coach at The Art of Encore Living

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How to Catalyze Your Progress

Do you ever feel like your wheels are spinning but not getting any closer to where you want to be?

I sure do.

Quite often, actually.

And my usual response is to try to do more (and try to do it all faster).

What about you?

Here's the thing. Usually, I'm packing more sh*t into the car and stepping on the gas with the emergency brake on.

Brilliant, don't 'cha think?

Of course not. But I do this more often than I care to admit (and catch my clients doing it more often than they'd like to think).

What to do?

I think it helps to stop stomping on the gas and asking myself, "Isn't that interesting...?"

This creates a pause so I can calm down, zoom out, grab some context, and be less reactive and more responsive.

When I notice, name, and navigate, I find it's time to employ the power of pruning. 

Less is more.

And productivity ≠ progress.

Now I can remember what I really want and define my plan to get closer.

And finally, I can remember to release the emergency break and continue to endeavor onward.

Scott Perry, Encore Life Coach at The Art of Encore Living

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My Guardian Academy Capstone Project

 

Introduction

Who am I? 

What is The Guardian Academy?

 

My TGA origin story.

Laurel Portié sending me a copy of Bumpers and invite to join the Success Finder app.

 

Single most powerful insight from my time in TGA.

The power (and perils) of a decentralized community. How building on the fundamental principle of personal responsibility mitigates downside and creates asymmetry to the upside.

 

Clear communication of my Solvable Problem.

Flip the ratio of time spent on business with time spent with family.

 

Clear communication of my macro belief.

Legacy isn’t the money or monuments you leave behind. Legacy is the difference you’re making right now with and for people you care about. need to align my micro actions with that macro belief.

 

Outline of the bumpers I put in place.

Schedule

 

Other evidence of action taken to implement the knowledge  I gained within TGA into my into your personal, social, or business life.

Blog posts, YouTube videos, Coaching Business Prescription course and guide, Difference-Maker Community, & Encore Life Coaching tool kit

 

Additional relevant insights or experience.

“Isn’t that interesting…?”

Onward

Scott Perry, Encore Life Coach at The Art of Encore Living

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The Complexity Tax

Humans are enamored with complexity.

We’re creatures who love to add more.

Why?

The undisciplined pursuit of more provides seductive dopamine hits that feel good in the short term.

Although this robs you of the time and energy needed for the long-term pursuit of what you really want.

And complexity also gives us a place to hide.

How many times have you heard the response “It’s complicated “in response to a question about someone’s work or relationships?

“It’s complicated” is a lazy answer to a wicked problem.

And yet...

Too often, we are lazy and just keep adding more.

And the more we add, the more complicated things get.

But what about the complexity tax?

Complexity has its costs, and the biggest cost is increased inefficiency and unreliability.

Because productivity isn’t an addition problem, it’s a multiplication problem.

What to do?

It takes focus, boldness, and discipline to define what you really want, determine what’s necessary to close the gap between where you are and where you want to be and do the real work to get there.

But it’s worth it.

Where in your life, work, and life’s work are you paying too much in complexity tax?

What are you going to do to be more productful?

Scott Perry, Encore Life Coach

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What should you do next?

I’ve struggled to maintain my weight within a healthy range all my life.

This morning I stepped on the scale and was eighteen pounds over my “ideal” weight.

What should I do?

Reduce my caloric intake?

Increase my water consumption?

Add more movement to my day?

Order one of the many “miracle” weight loss supplements populating my social media feeds?

Liposuction, hypnosis, gastric bypass surgery?

Actually, I’m going to keep doing what I’m doing.

Why?

Because a week ago, I was twenty-one pounds over my target weight. In other words, my weight is trending down.

Some days my weight is a little up, some days a little down.

But my rolling average over time is heading in the right direction.

When trying to make meaningful progress in worthwhile endeavors, it’s easy to look at a snapshot out of context and feel like we’re not advancing toward our goals.

But making headway in endeavors that matter is more like a motion picture than a snapshot.

Improvement (or decline) in the difference you’re trying to make unfolds over time.

Mind the trends.

The answer to “What should I do? is always “It depends.”

Making a bigger difference requires making better decisions.

And making better decisions requires context.

What really matters?

What’s really going on?

What next smallest viable step will get you closer to where you really want to be?

Scott Perry, Encore Life Coach at The Art of Encore Living

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Stepping Into Possibilitty

Imagine a world where uncertainty and adversity reign. A world that’s torn apart by plague, turmoil, division, and violence.

And imagine in this world a man navigating these challenges with courage, self-control, philanthropy, and clear-eyed purpose who tries to help others do the same.

Do you know to which world and man I refer?

Of course, it’s the Roman Empire, 161 - 180 AD, ruled by emperor Marcus Aurelius.

Marcus was the last of the Five Good Emperors of the Roman Empire, and the closest thing to a Philosopher King the Western World has ever known.

At night, after a long day of dealing with corrupt politicians, bloodthirsty enemies, financial ruin, natural disasters, an unfaithful wife, and a petulant son, Marcus would write reminders to himself about cultivating and maintaining a sense of stillness and thriving through life’s persistent challenges.

Over and over again, he would write entries like this in his journal.

“Everywhere, at each moment, you have the option:

to accept this event with humility
to treat this person as they should be treated 
to approach this thought with care, so that nothing irrational creeps in”

In this entry, Marcus is reminding himself about the three disciplines of Stoicism.

Stoicism is an enduring ancient Hellenistic philosophy that asserts that virtue is all that’s required to experience greater joy and equanimity through all of life’s trials and triumphs.

Here are the three disciplines of Stoicisim Marcus references in his journal entries.

Perception 
Action
Will

Perception and action are part of what is known as “the Stoic fork,” as expressed by Epictetus, a Stoic teacher Marcus revered.

Put simply, we have agency over our thoughts and actions. Everything else is out of our absolute control. 

The third discipline, will, refers to our ability to be mindful of our judgments about ourselves, our situation, and others and respond to them with integrity and intention so that you can influence favorable outcomes.

At the beginning of the pandemic, I wrote a book titled, Onward: Where Certainty Ends Possibility Begins, where I repurposed Marcus’ quote and the three Stoic Disciplines as three questions you can answer to help you make better decisions that get you closer to what you want and who you seek to become.

Here are the questions.

What’s now?

Asking, “What’s now? Inserts a pause so you can zoom out, name, and acknowledge what’s really happening without any adjectives, adverbs, or value judgments. This eliminates unhealthy and unhelpful emotional reactions or expectations.

What’s next?

Asking “What’s next?” encourages you to frame your options so you can eliminate the ones that don’t align with your values and decide which actually gets you closer to what you want without impeding anyone else’s ability to do the same.

What matters?

Asking “What matters?” reminds you that the content of your character is defined by the integrity of your thoughts and actions. You are not the measure of the outcomes you get but of the quality of your decisions and effort.

An Example

I’ve been a freelancer for over 30 years. The thing about freelancing is that you only make money when you have a gig. 

Almost every day, I wake up and check my calendar to see how my gig pipeline looks. Sometimes I can tell that I don’t have enough gigs coming up to continue to take care of my financial obligations and responsibilities.

On those days, my internal narrative goes something like this.

“Holy sh*t! I don’t have enough gigs. No gigs, no money. Ahh! I won’t be able to pay all my bills at the end of the month. What happens if I can’t pay the mortgage? My kids will hate me. My wife will leave me. I’ll end up an alcoholic living in a box under an overpass and die alone and hungry!”

Seriously. I go there really quickly and quite often.

But when I zoom out and state what’s happening more objectively, I can identify and work the problem instead of letting it work me over.

Here’s a more objective reframe.

“I don’t have enough gigs on the calendar to pay my bills.”

Having objectively framed my situation, here’s what I might list as choices and how I might apply the process.

I can reduce my expenses by canceling online subscriptions and other conveniences.

I can get a part-time job.

I can explore bankruptcy.

I can raise my fees.

I can connect with past clients for new business or referrals.

I can sell the guitars I don’t play anymore.

I can give up and go back to teaching.

Reflecting on these choices, I first eliminated all that don’t align with my values and who I seek to become.

And of the remaining options, the step that feels like it would move me the fastest and furthest is connecting with past clients to see if they’d like to hire me again or would refer someone to me. 

I might also incorporate some of the other choices. 

Reflecting on these choices, the step that feels like it would move me the fastest and furthest is connecting with past clients to see if they’d like to hire me again or would refer someone to me. 

I might also incorporate some of the other choices. 

Takeaways

Answering the questions “What’s now?”, “What’s next?” and “What matters?” engage your will over your perception and actions, developing character excellence and cultivating the virtues of gratitude, generosity, humility, patience, and resilience. 

This is how you build identity, forge meaning, and find fulfillment through life’s ups and downs. 

The quality of your thinking and effort, not recognition and results, are the real rewards in life. 

I hope the three questions and the principles that inform them inspire you to lead and serve from the inside out with greater purpose and peace of mind.

Scott Perry, Encore Life Coach at The Art of Encore Living

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What are decisions for?

What are decisions for?

Reasoning from first principles, it might be a good idea to start with what a decision is.

Decision comes from the Latin decidere, the roots of de (off) and caedere (kill).

To  decide is, therefore, to kill off.

Kill off what?

Well, for one thing, when you make and act on a decision, you are killing off the status quo of what’s now.

I’d assert that when you decide, you are deciding on one course of action over one or more other possibilities.

So when you decide and act on one future possibility, you are, by definition, killing off other possible futures.

Back then, to the original question, what are decisions for?

Based on the etymology, decisions are for stepping into possible futures while simultaneously killing off others.

Suddenly, decision-making seems like serious business (not that we need to take it or ourselves too seriously).

I share all this to say, knowing that since we will be both creating and killing possible futures, we might think about what future we want (and which we don’t want).

So, I’m asking, what do you want?

More specifically, what do you really want?

The decisions you make can get you closer to what you want.

OR take you further away from what you want.

Ready to make a decision?

What do you really, really want?

Scott Perry, Encore Life Coach at The Art of Encore Living

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How to Solve Problems More Effortlessly

To reason from first principles is to distill a problem to its essential elements by asking powerful questions to uncover fundamental truths.

This approach helps us separate facts from assumptions to build better solutions from the ground up.

For instance, when I was a musician and decided to explore playing jazz guitar, I initially thought it was too complicated for someone of my abilities and age to learn and excel at.

But all music is created with only twelve notes and a few fundamental elements: melody, harmony, and rhythm. These are employed in every song ever written.

Reasoning from these first principles helped me develop the skill and confidence to play and perform jazz.

As an encore life coach, I let myself get lost in the weeds of chasing the latest tips, tricks, and hacks peddled by the experts, influencers, and scammers.

But you can't build a business that makes a difference on tips, tricks, and hacks.

Reasoning from first principles, I established the core elements of a fulfilling and prosperous coaching business: an irresistible offer, an eager audience, and a disciplined sales strategy.

First principles thinking allowed me to build a thriving business by employing just those three essentials.

What are the challenges in your life where you're spinning your wheels?

How might first principles thinking help you get unstuck, out of your own way, and get going making the difference you seek to make?

Scott Perry, Encore Life Coach at The Art of Encore Living

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