The 1% Rule: How to Fall in Love with the Process and Achieve Your Wildest Dreams

by Tommy Baker

Furthermore, the quality of your output increases, as does the level of your feelings of purpose and fulfillment.

Our minds will use any excuse to avoid deep work, but if you harness it, you’ll blow the lid open on what’s possible for you to accomplish.

The moment you say yes to one thing, you’re automatically saying no to something else. As a culture, we have an issue with saying no. It’s seen as confrontational. We’d rather say yes to something we know we’re going to hate and then cancel at the last second. In essence, we exchange long-term fulfillment for the short-term gratification of pleasing others.

You’re going to perform one Pomodoro time block every single day. It doesn’t matter who you work for or what you do. Use it for your current career, for a passion, or to sharpen a skill. Don’t start with six, that’s not realistic. Start with one and watch what happens during the next 30 days.

When you’re ready to make a change—for example, inserting Pomodoros into your experience and not checking e-mail until 10:00 a.m.—it’s going to be hard. When I say hard, I mean really hard. This behavior isn’t wired into your brain, so it looks like an unpaved patch of dirt in a third world country.

Steady progress will win the race, and slowly you’ll start to build a new network of neural connections designed to keep you in focused work for longer durations of time.

For example: I can harness the power of persistence and grit with my physicality. The one way I will make this happen is committing to working out and training three times a week, and I will wake up at 5:30AM no matter what.

Upward comparison is when you and I compare ourselves to someone who we perceive has accomplished more than us, while downward comparison is when you and I compare ourselves to others under the perception we’ve accomplished more than they have.

The lesson here is that there is the perception that a slip to instant gratification is no big deal. But it adds up when you add in time and the endurance factor.

“What can I execute on right now that will prove that my outcome and vision are not only possible, but coming true?”

If you don’t fill your day with high-priority items, others will fill your day with low-priority items.

“I have two kinds of problems: the urgent and the important. The urgent are not important, and the important are never urgent.”

Without this resistance, nothing would matter. The resistance is exactly what you need to know there’s a gift within this exercise, and you’re being triggered.

What can I execute on right now that will prove that my outcome and vision are not only possible, but coming true? Answer the question and then do nothing else until you’ve executed. Don’t check e-mail, do not text, do not wait. Every second you wait is an opportunity lost, the loosening of the grip of momentum, which you can’t afford.

The truth is, your vision is a matter of life or death and should be respected and treated as such.

seasons reminds us that we are constantly evolving, and it won’t