In this episode, Ryan talks about the importance of staying the course and how to maintain your goals in the new year. He also shares 6 ways that you can maintain consistency in your goals and objectives in order to achieve them.
00:00:00.000You're a man of action. You live life to the fullest. Embrace your fears and boldly chart your own path.
00:00:06.020When life knocks you down, you get back up one more time. Every time.
00:00:10.480You are not easily deterred or defeated. Rugged. Resilient. Strong.
00:00:15.500This is your life. This is who you are. This is who you will become.
00:00:19.760At the end of the day, and after all is said and done, you can call yourself a man.
00:00:25.120Gentlemen, what is going on today? My name is Ryan Michler and I am the host and the founder of Order of Men.
00:00:29.300Now, this is our Friday Field Note show, which is basically 10 minutes of my thoughts and my ramblings, ideas, inspirations from throughout the week.
00:00:36.800Now, if you've been around for a while with Order of Men, you already know that.
00:00:39.700But if not, I want you to know also that we have an interview show, and that's released each and every Tuesday.
00:00:44.580And we bring on some of the world's most successful men.
00:00:47.320New York Times bestselling authors, elite athletes, spec ops operators, entrepreneurs, basically anybody who's going to help you and me become better men.
00:00:55.500So make sure you subscribe to the show. Just subscribe. You'll never miss a single episode.
00:00:58.740All of those are designed to help you be a better father, a better husband, a better leader, basically a better man.
00:01:04.960And I want to give you a quick heads up for those of you who are looking for more out of life.
00:01:08.700I know there's a lot of men out there who like to talk, and there's very few or relatively few who like to do.
00:01:14.360But we have an elite mastermind available for the doers of the world.
00:01:17.560And this month, our focus is on working on what we call our 12-week battle plan, and specifically, how to manage our time better.
00:01:25.020So if you want to know more about what that's all about, head to orderaman.com slash ironcouncil, and you can get all the details there.
00:01:30.840Now, let me get into the topic of conversation for today, which is staying the course.
00:01:35.020Everywhere you turn this time of year, as of this recording, it's close to January now,
00:01:39.980you're going to see somebody telling you how to set New Year's resolutions.
00:01:43.020And while I definitely think there's validity, there is validity to setting up New Year's resolutions correctly,
00:01:47.820but there just doesn't seem to be a whole lot of new information on it.
00:03:53.500I was noticing the other day as I was on Instagram that one of my buddies had posted a picture of him on a private jet with his family going on vacation.
00:04:02.300And my initial response was, I want to do that.
00:04:07.340And then I realized and remembered, I don't even really like flying on planes all that much.
00:04:11.520So it's really easy to look around and see what other people have and want it for no other reason than it just looks cool and we want to have it.
00:04:20.220But if you want to maintain your objectives, you better have a damn good reason for it.
00:04:32.020And unless you have a solid, emotionally charged reason for making that change in the first place, it just won't last.
00:04:39.000Now, next, guys, you need to plant your flag.
00:04:40.860Look, if you're trying to lose weight for a cruise or woo your wife so she doesn't divorce you or hurry and get that job promotion, then coast the rest of your career or even get your financial affairs in order so you don't go bankrupt.
00:04:52.220You have not fully committed to the amount of effort it is going to take to reach your objectives.
00:04:59.220If you want to make real change in your life, you've got to understand that you are in this for the long haul.
00:05:06.180You've got to make the decision that you're changing your lifestyle, not just a couple activities temporarily or for the next month or 30 days or however long it may be.
00:05:14.920Having a lifelong approach, guys, is going to keep you grounded in reality when you're tempted to stray or if you do stray to actually get you back on the path quickly.
00:05:24.300And this leads me to the next point, which is that you have to redefine success.
00:05:29.120Most people, when it comes to fitness, for example, I'll throw that one out there, would define success as reaching a specific goal, like 20 pounds of weight loss, for example.
00:05:38.420But rather than focusing on the end result, I want you to consider focusing on what I call the tactics.
00:05:44.920These are the small little actions that you can do day in and day out that will help you reach that objective.
00:05:51.660This way, losing 20 pounds is not the benchmark for success.
00:05:55.600It's the actions that you can complete that will ensure you lose the weight.
00:06:01.620In this case, it'd be, for example, going to the gym five days per week.
00:06:05.400It might be cutting out sugar or not eating after seven o'clock in the evening or drinking more water.
00:06:36.620If you're going to get derailed at the slightest sign of struggle, you just don't want it bad enough.
00:06:42.760Or if you get off track indefinitely after missing one step towards your goal, you never really wanted it bad enough in the first place.
00:06:49.700So now that we know that we can just forget about motivation, I want you to instead focus on systems, systems and processes that you can use and you can implement that will ensure you're completing your tactics, which will ensure you're meeting your objectives.
00:07:05.400So, for example, I'm going to come back to losing weight and going to the gym.
00:07:08.820If that's always been a struggle for you, consider buying a system of workouts that you can follow so you don't have to think about what you're going to do.
00:07:16.120You can just follow and tap into the system.
00:07:18.660If dating your wife each week has become a problem because you're so busy, then use the system of a calendar and write it into your calendar each week.
00:07:25.940No thinking, no motivation required, just executing the system.
00:07:29.860If you're spending more money than you earn because you put everything on a credit card and that's a problem for you,
00:07:36.800Guys, the natural man, and I talk about this all the time, the natural man is weak and in difficult times, he is going to fail you.
00:07:42.420So creating systems and processes that move you towards your goal and away from the temptations that would keep you from your objectives is critical.
00:07:52.520And this leads me into point number five, which is that you have to have a system again, but this time specifically to track your progress.
00:08:04.000Most of us think that we're more effective than we really are.
00:08:07.200Most of us think more highly of ourselves than we probably ought to.
00:08:10.920And so creating and implementing a tracking tool is going to allow you to deal in reality.
00:08:15.640Okay, so if it's working out, a scale is going to work for you.
00:08:18.920If it's money and budgeting, a financial program that tracks your expenses is going to work.
00:08:23.460If it's connecting with your wife, again, a calendar is going to work.
00:08:25.960This is one of the hardest things to do because it takes time and attention.
00:08:28.820But if you really want to improve, you have to know where things stand and you have to develop the habits to find out where things stand.
00:08:37.340If you don't, I promise you, and I've done this before, you are going to fool yourself into thinking that you're doing better than you really are.
00:08:44.520And the last point that I want to make with you today is that you have to find a team.
00:08:48.580You have to find an accountability partner.
00:08:52.800But the bottom line is that you have to find somebody who's willing to help you toe the line.
00:08:57.020If they're not willing to get tough with you, you might have identified a good friend, but not necessarily a great accountability partner.
00:09:03.620So find somebody who you can give permission to get after you a bit if you fall short.
00:09:09.120And if you can't find someone like that or you want something a little bit more structured, again, consider joining us inside the Iron Council.
00:09:15.180Like I mentioned earlier, we are focusing heavily on the 12-week battle plan, which is going to help you identify your objectives, the tactics for getting you there,
00:09:22.920the ability to, again, track your progress, and the accountability to keep you on pace.
00:09:28.600So you can learn more and join us at orderman.com slash ironcouncil.