I Did This, Here's What Happened...
Level 4: Serious Player
Future Guardian,
One of the most valuable things on this planet is what we call “OTS” - it stands for “Over The Shoulder”. If you’re not currently engaging the field, you can still benefit tremendously by watching someone else do so over the shoulder.
That’s why “Stepping Into The Arena”, Level 2 is “I did this and here’s what happened”.
It gives everyone else a chance to see what’s really going so they can learn from others and be prepared for reality.
Shortly after the Stepping Into The Arena1 article was published, members stepped up in a big way…and everyone else benefitted.
This is an opportunity to step out of “ the classroom” and see how other people re applying what they learn in new and unique ways.
Below is a post from Dave Montore (who was surprised with a reward for being the first to step into the arena after the invite was posted)
"I did this, here's what happened"
My turn to share how I've been applying TGA principles to fitness and writing.
By now most people in here have read Nic's behavior modification pyramid and know his concept of "enough".2
It's where you commit to consistently doing enough of a new thing before you worry about getting all fancy.
Fitness is a great example for this because 99% of the members here have dieted or committed to a new workout routine at least once in their lives, and 99% of those people have blown themselves up after trying to do too much out the gate.
I never did get into Strongman or CrossFit like Nic but for years I weighed and measured my intake and programmed workouts down to rest period duration. I got pretty damn strong and muscular, it was great.
Then I became a dad and retired from the Army and let that get in the way...
Until last summer after Lukas's Austin AI workshop, where I did something I hadn't done since middle school and avoided the pool because I was ashamed of my body.
Ain't nobody got tiiiime for that, so I flipped a switch, decided it was time for a change, and then tried to pick up where I left off.
I dusted off the collapsible, pocketable food scale. I blocked off half my Sunday for food prep. I bought a bunch of gadgets for the garage gym off Amazon. I spent a day creating detailed workout programs on a 4-on/1-off split, and I got after it...
For about three weeks.
…And I hated every minute of it.
Eventually I just stopped, which was a terrible way to limp into the holidays.
It occupied every last inch of my cerebral bandwidth, it supplanted time I'd set aside for my kids, and I was grumpy instead of upbeat because of how many workouts I'd missed.
Not to mention how many snacks I'd been sneaking, how many meals I choked down because I didn't want to eat that food but that's what I'd entered into my diet app, or the times I pulled myself out of Flow state because "you have to commit to working out the same time every day whether you feel like it or not".
It was a mess and it didn't work, and it was frustrating because the last time I lived like this (pre-kids, pre-job/side hustle) I was the man.
Christmas rolled around and I finally did what I'd promised myself I was gonna do every year since retiring from the Army: I turned off all devices, read physical fiction books to unwind, and journaled like a bastard.
Bumpers3, TGA Commandments4, TGA Principles, and a few other things, on repeat.
As if by divine intervention the December issue of The Letter5 covered Nic's behavior change pyramid, something I was only vaguely familiar with through Daniel John's Easy Strength6 program.
In Easy Strength you pick five compound exercises and do them every day using weight you can easily lift. I'd used it during deployments and long training events before and it worked like magic.
Why I didn't laterally apply it to all other aspects of my life I couldn't tell you, but better late than never.
Over Christmas I scrapped everything.
Then I added a series of tasks to my Google Calendar: Shoulders, Biceps/traps, chest/tris, lats/run. That's the entirety of my workout routine.
I do two warm-up sets, 5-7 working sets, then I'm done. It takes less than 30 minutes every day. Sometimes less than 20 minutes. I work them in anytime I need a break from the screen, or hit a snag and need to recenter.
My goal is to look good for myself and my wife and to avoid my kids being embarrassed when their older dad comes to pick them up from somewhere.
Getting clear about those objectives and asking myself to do just enough to accomplish them has made things fun again and resulted in zero missed workouts since Christmas.
I still snack sometimes, but instead of feeling guilty about it I adjust my dinner and call it good.
I've gotten stronger, I fill out my clothes better, and by applying the same principles to my eating (two meals per day, no snacks, make adjustments mindfully) I've lost weight and put on muscle without feeling like I tried.
It's almost dissatisfying not having had to crawl over broken glass to get here, but I know that's old programming talking.
I'm now applying this to fiction writing, with a Resheske twist. I write for 18 minutes every day. I'm not even thinking about editing or publishing yet. I just want to build enough of a comprehensive body of work that I can show someone and say "this is my story".
Unlike now where I've got a smattering of opening scenes, climaxes and alternate climaxes, dark nights of the soul 1-4, etc.
I've scrapped everything but the character list and story premise, and I'm chugging right along.
And for the first time in years, I'm having fun doing it. Which is making my writing better, it's making my time with my kids more enjoyable, and it's freeing up cerebral bandwidth I didn't realize I had.
Work in the reflections mentioned in the recent Engaging the Field7 missives and I feel like I could do this forever.
I still don't have control of my day like Dr. Jeff talks about in the Champion's Mind8, but having a corporate day job will cause that and I have to give myself some room.
But I finally feel like I've got some clarity and am on the right track, and for the first time since I joined last fall I can say with confidence that you're a part of my wolfpack and I've got your back.
Thanks everyone for being here.
No, Dave. Thank you for showing up and providing real world examples of how you’re applying principles and working through the process.
When you step into The Arena, you are not only honoring yourself…you are honoring your family, your future and everyone that has helped you along the way. You’re also honoring your peers and teammates9 by being an example and showing them what is possible.
And… by going first you have given everyone else one of the best gifts you can give …the gift of going second.
If you’ve been impacted at all by Dave stepping into the Arena and sharing, pay it forward by doing the same.
More Guardians Stepping into The Arena and Engaging The Field:
How Jeff Douglas Transitioned from Healthcare Provider to Entrepreneur [Guardian Capstone]. This one is loaded with TGA principles and actionable insights.
The First Official Arena is March 28th at 9am pacific.
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What an honor to see my work mentioned here. I actually had someone today, no hyperbole, mention this idea of the "Easy Strength" approach to life. It's a just a variation of what Coach Maughan told me in 1977: "Little and often over the long haul." Sometimes, we overestimate what we can do in a day, but linking together hundreds of "pretty good" days is just amazing.
This is so good. Having been in the room and around the fire myself.