The Maximal Life

Maximal achievers make their time count, rather than count the time they spend. They utilize their time in a way that creates more time for them in the future. The key is to create time assets and reduce time debts.

Time assets are actions taken now by creating systems that save you time in the future. Time management is more than managing short-term productivity. We often mistake being busy for making progress. We need to increase efficiency. Creating systems switch your daily practice from searching for time to enjoying the time you have already made to do everything you love to do. The Maximal Life is one of time abundance. Time debts are anything that commits you to do meaningless, repetitive tasks in the future. They are actions you take that may save you time right now but cost you more time over the long run.

Take a look at your daily life and choose just one thing that you can create a system for to save you time In the future, ask yourself: what system can I put in place to make my time peaceful, positive, and passionate? Then each month choose another repetitive task to create a system for. That is living the Maximal Life.

Consider how hesitant or scared most people are to step outside of their comfort zone, to experiment, or even to change. This has created a society of information sharing instead of self-experimentation. Think of the discoveries, inventions, and achievements that have occurred during your lifetime. Those people had many setbacks while in the process. Yet they did not stop. Each failed experiment brought them one step closer to the solution.

Maximal Achievers succeed as a direct result of their setbacks, not in spite of them. They say that failures are the stepping stones to success. The failures revealed what did and didn’t work, and showed things that you didn’t know before. Many scientists and inventors were not afraid to experiment with themselves and their ideas. They had the courage to live purposely, constantly endeavoring to learn. The hallmark of a Maximal Achiever is having the experimental mindset. They believe that experiments never fail. So when you employ the scientist in you, you’re committing yourself to constant growth and development. When it seems hopeless your inner scientist gets charged up and that is when you feel the passion and the rebellion. The Maximal Achiever in you gets charged up and ready to go again.

What if you were standing at a fork in the road, where one path leads to an energetic life full of well-being, work is meaningful and family life is joyous. And the other path leads to a rollercoaster of life, seesawing between high and low energy, your family is complaining that they don’t get enough quality time with you, and you hardly have the energy to enjoy or pursue your own passion and hobbies. Every one of us would choose the first path. However many of us are unknowingly choosing the second path through our habits and choices. 

That can change and we can choose the first path. It starts with Input versus Output. Choose to control the controllable. The food we select to put into our bodies is the main determinant of health, well-being and energy levels. Poor food choices, negative inputs, send us on a roller coaster of energy highs and lows that leave us drained and incapable of peak performance. As a maximal achiever, you ’re better than that. We need to make the right choices and feed our bodies the right inputs to maximize our energy. You have to remember that quality trumps quantity every time.

We all have habits, positive and not so positive ones. It’s true that bad habits are hard to break. But it’s also true that positive habits are just as hard to break. The idea is to replace bad habits with positive ones. Maximal achievers consciously develop and curate their positive habits to support their long-term success, because habits help you win the long game called life.

Let’s look at the chemistry of a habit. We are what we do repeatedly. Repeated actions become habits, those habits determine our success or failure. This is because habits form our character. It is considered that bad habits are difficult to break. The truth is that any habit is difficult to break, even a positive one. Every habit has an activation energy that is required to get started. The smaller the habit, the less energy you need to start. A habit that requires a large change requires a larger amount of activation energy.

Positive environments support positive outcomes so make your environment positive habit friendly. Ask yourself which environment in your life is the dominant one. The healthy one or the decaying one? Reinforce your Maximal self with positive habits. That is how you live the Maximal life.

Our cell phones are a part of our daily lives and help us increase productivity. But what do they do for our connectivity? Many times you look at your phone during dinner, or during an evening with your family, and feel that we need to answer this message, or that email, right now.  It is extremely urgent in your mind, even though the message may have been sent an hour ago and there isn’t anyone waiting anxiously on the other end at that moment. Are you sending the message that “this person is more important than you at this moment”?

Make important changes to your cell phone habits in order to stay “connected” to those important to you. A Maximal Life includes having good meaningful relationships, and strong connections. Take a positive step and prioritize your real connections over your phone. Tell yourself “I can look at my phone later, but I can’t enjoy this moment later; when it’s gone, it’s gone.” Give your phone boundaries, no phone zones. Like your bed. Designate no phone times, like dinner time, or after 9 pm. Challenge yourself to connect with people, and with yourself in the REAL world and go out of your way to do it.

How many times have you put off doing something only to spend time worrying about when and how to do it? Many of us spend a huge amount of time simply not getting started. Procrastination is prevalent because the human brain is wired for it. A battle ensues between the brain’s Limbic System, the pleasure center, and the Conscious Prefrontal Cortex which is in charge of planning. Usually, the Limbic system wins and we put off things in favor of immediate pleasure. Procrastination is really a form of self-sabotage and may result in shame, guilt or regret.

So how do we beat this tendency? We don’t, we outsmart it. All it takes is one minute to crush the instinct to procrastinate and change your life. This one minute is where you take stock and take that first step towards getting the job done and enhances your chances of creating momentum for that task. Being in the midst of doing a task is usually less painful than being in the midst of procrastinating on that task. Once you have taken that minute and begun the task, you will feel much more comfortable getting on with it and completing it. To quote Newton, “that which is in motion remains in motion.”

Let’s take a minute to breathe together. Inhale through your nose for a count of 4, hold for a count of 4, exhale through your mouth for a count of 4. Focus on the breath going in and out. Do you feel any resistance to taking this one minute to reconnect with your body, and ground your energy? Acknowledge this resistance and let it pass through you. Your brain is a bank. This simple breathing technique deposits the peace and positivity of being in the present moment. Is your brain telling you that you don't have enough time to take a minute? Is there a sense of time poverty?

This "take a minute" technique is used by athletes, producers, and entrepreneurs to activate the renewal response that lowers stress, reduces your heart rate and blood pressure, and preserves the sanctity of mind required to create and produce like a Maximal achiever. When we experience stress our bodies flood with adrenaline and cortisol, and the fight or flight response is activated. When you learn this technique, you are learning control over you. This "take a minute" technique can be done anywhere, and anytime. The reward for living this truth is living a Maximal Life.

Our words shape our beliefs and our beliefs shape our realities. So much of our success is determined by our attitudes towards ourselves and our circumstances. How we declare things to be are often how they will be. The simple act of replacing the phrase I can’t with I don’t can cause drastic shifts in the way we own and stand by our choices. Instead of saying I can’t eat dessert, replace it with, I don’t eat dessert, especially after a healthy meal. That way you are no longer forcing yourself to do something you don’t want to do. You are instead exercising your power to say no. Small changes in our word choices lead to huge impacts on our perception of reality.

As Maximal Achievers, we are aware that our language can transform the act of refusing temptation from one of enforced deprivation to one of powerful and goal-directed preservation. We powerfully refuse to participate in or engage in the obstructions that keep us from our Maximal Lives. The power of choice is always available to us, and we are always responsible for our own behavior. So as Maximal Achievers we choose the words that affirm our goals and bring us insight into our personal truths.

Maximal Achievers know that exercise is VITAL to peak performance. Billionaires became so by working harder and smarter, by staying mentally motivated, and by being physically active and healthy. They have learned that there are other alternatives to the all or nothing approach to exercise. The studies show that every step counts. When you are in an office every day, standing is better than sitting down. It’s better to take a few breaks and go for a walk than to just stay in your office all day. There is a benefit to any and all physical activity and movement. When you find the time to actually exercise, that is a bonus.

Some simple steps to take to make the activity in your day count are simply standing, doing calf raises for a minute, walk around if possible, park a little further from the office than you normally do, ditch the elevator and take the stairs for even a couple of flights, walk to a colleague's office instead of calling them, even doing a few yoga stretches at your desk during the day helps and adds to your total activity during the day. Your journey to be your Maximal Self starts with giving yourself the credit you deserve. Remember, every step counts.

Children are effortlessly grateful for all of the small wonders of the world. The one yellow flower in a sea of red, the berries on their pancake, even the feeling of floating when they swing. However, this culture that we live in has us striving towards the rush of acquisition. The fine art of GRATITUDE is mastered over time, with passion and practice. When we express gratitude, our brain fires in the area of the brain that relates to contentment, meaning, and self-worth. The human brain is wired for empathy, compassion, love, and gratitude. Perhaps this is why it comes naturally for children.

Living the Maximal Life is about more than the ability to function responsibly. It includes the willingness to play, take a break, have a sense of humor, and to cultivate gratefulness in our lives. Some of the motions we can take to cultivate our attitude of gratefulness include taking a few minutes to write down three things you are grateful for, write a letter to someone who played a positive role in your life, and even saying thank you out loud to someone. Maximal Achievers take time to master the art of gratitude, and thus make the world a better place for themselves and their children.