What's up, welcome back to the show - Episode #17. This is a docu-series on growth/self-improvement and my experiences for building a valuable life.

Here are my notes for this week – Check me out on Twitter and Instagram for other things going on -  @trevorsean12

Grit

Just finished a book recently called "Grit - The Power of Passion and Perseverance" by Angela Duckworth. Angela Duckworth is a great author, is a psychologist and teaches at the University of Pennsylvania. She wrote this book to find out what factor most closely corresponds to success in ones life. 

Highly recommend this book, especially if you feel lost with what you want to do with your life, if you frequently move from project to project or if you're feeling trapped or limited in your life. She does a great job of researching methods for improving your life through effort, time and perseverance in whatever goals you set. 

A few notes I make in this podcast: 

To wrap this up, set your goals - make them difficult but obtainable. Stick it out, no matter how hard it is. Build momentum that will carry you onto your next spot. 

Book on Amazon - Grit by Angela Duckworth

Grit Scale on Angela Duckworth's website - Grit Scale

10% More Effort

Referencing the book "Grit" one more time, I started thinking about everything I do in a day for my life. Obviously life gets busy with a career, kids, relationships, friendships, extra projects, etc. But I noticed a lot of complacency in my everyday actions. I moved the needle 80% of the way with almost everything, but never really completed a lot of tasks. Thinking about this drove me crazy! 

I started to try two things: 1 - complete any task that I take on, no matter what. However much time it takes and no matter how hard it is, complete it. 2 - Put in more effort to make it a better experience. 

I'll give you a few examples. With my work, I move from task to task all day long and its hard to complete things in a way. I started structuring my day, being more conscious about my work flow. I also started to get to work earlier and stayed later. I feel like I spent that time preparing and being more thoughtful for how I would hand the day and also plan out the next day. 

Also in my home life, thinking with a "complete this task no matter what" mindset, I started to be more thoughtful with planning the projects I wanted to get done, to make sure I wasn't starting a long project when I would have to leave in ten minutes. It's helped me be more diligent and prepared to handle all the things I have to do with my kids, house projects, side hustles, etc. 

This last note made a big difference for me with how I'm approaching life. Understand the long goal, becoming a little better every day over the course of 10, 15, 20 years instead of trying to become everything in one year. We have a long time to make a big impact for our lives, and that takes a lot of practice and dedicated work each day to achieve. 

Thanks guys - catch ya on the next episode.