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The process of skill acquisition happens in three stages:

First, the cognitive stage. 

In this stage, you have to be consciously focused on what you’re doing. You have to think about each step; follow a recipe; or follow instructions. Because you don’t own the knowledge yet, you might feel dumb, like “This is harder to learn than I thought!” or even “I’m just not getting this!”

This stage is almost always done with a teacher or a mentor.

Second, the associative stage.

Now you’ve got the process memorized, even if you’re not really skilled at it. You’re a dedicated student; but you can practice on your own, and you can practice in the real world instead of a controlled classroom. You are aware enough of your own skill that you can self-audit (“Hey, it worked better when I did it like THIS”). This is where deliberate practice comes in: not just reps, but meaningful reps with feedback from yourself or others. One myth, at this stage, is the “10,000 hour rule” - the idea that you must put in 10,000 hours of practice to become a master. It’s not quite true. You must put in thousands of hours of GOOD practice to achieve mastery. That means feedback from yourself and others, not just doing the same thing poorly for 10,000 hours. Without this feedback loop, you will not improve. The more objective the feedback, the more rapidly you can improve. So a mentor can really help in this stage, too - even though it’s painful to continually find flaws in your practice.

Third, the Autonomous stage.

At this stage of skill acquisition, you can perform the skill pretty well. You can do it all day long. You don’t even really have to think about it. And that’s what makes this stage dangerous: your skill can plateau. You can get bored. Nothing is forcing you to improve, and so you might not want to. But real masters of any skill - including entrepreneurial skills - keep looking for ways to get better.

it doesn't mean they're dumb

it means get really specific

this is a super hard skill most biz coaches don't have

I started practicing in 2012 and get better all the time

if you've seen incubator - rampup - stage 1, you know what I mean. stage 1 is right down to copy this and paste it here

we need to do the same on calls

general advice like "what are you doing to build culture?" is the standard for mentorship outside tbb, but it's not good enough for us

To practice, I'm writing a general daily "WOD" on businessisgood.com

that's the level of tactical advice you need to be giving

in a year, i'll probably think that's too vague and find a way to get even deeper

Like many episodes, this is a summary of the best advice from Two-Brain mentors.

Over two hours, we roleplayed and picked the BEST questions and strategies to ask when a call starts on the wrong foot, or the mentor finds themselves in the backseat while a client drives the car...everywhere and nowhere.

Accuracy vs Precision These are two terms that are often used interchangeably, but they actually mean different things. While accuracy is non-negotiable in mentorship, precision is priceless. here's what I mean: Accuracy means that you are directionally correct. Getting more members will help you grow your gym - that's accurate. Getting 5 more members at $200 per month will add $1000 to your topline revenue - that's precise. Our job, as mentors, is to be precise. Accuracy is the bare minimum. Yes, it's necessary. Precision is the gold standard.

• Effective programming for fitness goals. 0:01
• Good programming starts with the goal and works backward, breaking down the problem into essential elements with clear steps and achievement points for celebration.
• Setting and achieving fitness and business goals. 1:33
• Chris Cooper outlines a goal-setting framework for business success, emphasizing clear goals and measurable progress.
• Breaking down a large goal into smaller tasks for success. 3:03
• Chris Cooper outlines a plan to increase NLB by $5,000 in 90 days through monthly goals and task assignments.

It's 5am. Do you know where your client is?

Our motto: Goal, plan, stick to the plan

how do you balance sticking to the plan with reacting to circumstances?

the 80-20 rule. 80% of your time should be spent taking action on the plan, 20% reacting

This will shift as a client matures

In stage 1/2, the curriculum IS their plan

in growth, their plan is the annual plan

in tinker, their plan is their 90-day sprint

remember the rock climber's rule: 3 points of contact, 1 hand moving (about 80/20)

What's the best answer?

The classic mentor answer is "it depends".

How do we get from "it depends" to action--and results--for the clients?

The most common trap I fall into as a mentor is trying to impress with information. I want to tell people all of the options. I find myself saying "or..." when really I should be saying "this is best for now." I give options instead of solutions.

Our clients come into Two-Brain overwhelmed with options already. They struggle with decision fatigue: they can't make any more choices. The don't want more options: they want the answer.They want us to make the decisions for them.

This is counterintuitive. Our culture teaches us that options = freedom; that when you run out of options, you are trapped. But sometimes the opposite is true: when you remove optionality, you get action.

Jocko says that discipline = freedom. What he means is that when an action becomes part of what you do (aka discipline), you just do it and don't stress over it. He doesn't have to decide to get up at 4am because that's what he does. He doesn't need to decide to work out becuase that's what he does. That discipline - rigid adherence to a plan over time - is what creates his lifestyle. The freedom he describes not freedom to do anything--which can be a prison of procrastination and paralysis by analysis. The freedom he describes is the freedom from decision and internal debate.

Naval wrote "we all think we want peace of mind. Really, we want peace from mind." Making decisions is tough - we all know this. When we're tired, it's tougher. When we're broke, it's even harder, becuase every decision seems to take on another level of importance.

The reason we teach "one right answer" in our material is because our clients need us to remove paralysis and just DO. Is 4/9 best for everyone? If they're struggling in their business, it is. Because it's a path forward. Maybe, when they're successful, they'll revisit it - but for now, they don't need to hear about subleasing and commission structures and pay tables - they need to hear "do it like this."

Luckily, we have so much trust with our clients that they are eager and excited to take our advice. But it's important that we're giving advice instead of optoins. Options aren't actionable.

When a client says "I don't think I want to do this" or "I don't think this is for me, what are my options?" our best course isn't to give them alternatives. Our best course is to say "let's try it, and here's how we'll measure the result. Then we can come back and tweak later." Remember: systemize (follow our plan), Optimize (test and tweak), automate (give to someone else when it's perfect.)

Last thing: many people can't take action because they're scared of taking the wrong action. The truth is that it's easier to fix a mistake than to generate momentum. The longer you stay paralyzed, the harder it is to start growing. You get used to standing still. But when you have momentum, it's easy to fix mistakes...or just learn from them.

Because we don’t need more options.

We need clarity.

The best way to get someone out of paralysis is to say "do it like this". And the best way to get them to do it if they're skeptical is to say "we can revisit later." Imperfect action always always beats inaction.

As mentors, we all have to work on multiple "fields of play" every day:

Our gym

Our family

Our mentor calls

Our 'other' business

Our workouts.

How do you stay focused when switching around mentally? How do you avoid exhaustion and burnout? Storm Strout has two great working strategies to share.

"This won't work for me,"

"My gym is different,"

"We regret signing up"

This avatar's catalysts and roadblocks are listed in the TBB Coach Certification here:

https://members.twobrainbusiness.com/courses/certified-two-brain-business-coach/lessons/part-three-getting-clients-results/topic/client-avatars/

And you can download the printable PDF of all avatars here:

https://members.twobrainbusiness.com/wp-content/uploads/_pda/2023/12/Client_Avatars_Chart.pdf

"Someone else disagrees."

This avatar's catalysts and roadblocks are listed in the TBB Coach Certification here:

https://members.twobrainbusiness.com/courses/certified-two-brain-business-coach/lessons/part-three-getting-clients-results/topic/client-avatars/

And you can download the printable PDF of all avatars here:

https://members.twobrainbusiness.com/wp-content/uploads/_pda/2023/12/Client_Avatars_Chart.pdf