Ep 448 | The 12 Steps You Must Take to Maximize Separation Season

Thank you for joining me today. It's Brian Gubernick, and welcome to the No Days Off podcast, where we believe that every single day brings a new opportunity to get better. It's the end of the year, and you are an entrepreneur, you are a business owner, you are a leader listening to the No Days Off podcast because it is your intention to get better every single day. Well, end of the year means it's separation season. We've been talking about separation season each year now here at No Days Off. Introduced it last year, it comes from Ed Mylett. And the idea is that, you know, it's separation season, meaning that December, so many people take their foot off the gas. Maybe it's mentally, maybe it's physically because of the holidays, because of whatever, because of starting fresh in January, whatever it is, it creates an opportunity. It creates an opportunity for those of us who are going to stay disciplined with the intention being to separate ourselves from the competition. So, by maintaining or even increasing effort in our personal growth and our fitness and business and relationships, during this, this December, during this end of year period, we can build a lead, a lead over others who may be coasting, maybe a lead over ourselves, because a lot of this is just a you versus you competition, right? Pushing ourselves forward starting right now and not waiting for this fresh start, you know, kickstart to the year. We can focus in health, we can stay focused in career and business, we could set new personal goals, and we could all do this, we could do all this right now, right? Why December? There's a psychological advantage. Starting ahead of the crowd in December means you enter January with momentum while everybody else is just beginning to reset. There's reduced competition. Fewer people focus on improvement at this time of year. It's easier to stand out. It's easier to make progress. I also think December is great because there's this end-of-year reflection. It's an ideal time to assess the year and identify opportunities for growth. And these areas for growth we could take action on right now. As a matter of fact, I think there's 12 things that we can consider in taking advantage of and maximizing the time during separation season. Number 1, okay, I want to start with business. I want to start with your career. Number 1, think about preemptive outreach. Use December to send personalized thank you notes or holiday messages to clients. Maybe to colleagues, maybe to key partners. Maybe schedule calls and meetings for January right now so you lock in those spots before the calendar fills up. What can you do in December to be proactive, be preemptive in your outreach? That'd be number 1, preemptive outreach and maximizing separation season. Number 2, I think you can audit and you can begin to optimize whatever processes you currently have in place. Review your operation, specifically its inefficiencies, and figure out where you could automate repetitive tasks using different tools, where you could streamline, say, your sales funnel or your website or your onboarding process, whatever it may be. Maybe in, in the spirit of auditing and optimizing your processes, maybe do a deeper financial review, cut unnecessary expenses. So number 1, preemptive outreach in your business. Number 2, audit/optimize processes right now. December is a great time for that. Number 3, if you want to maximize separation season, number 3, proactively solve problems. Identify whatever obstacles might come up in Q1 and address them right now. It's time to separate. Use December as an opportunity to already attack whatever obstacles may come about about in January, February, and March versus procrastinating and kicking the can. So for example, if hiring is a big goal for you in Q1, why don't you start sourcing candidates right now or start building relationships right now? Do these things while everybody else around you is sleeping, because in a lot of industries, December is a time for people to scale back and relax, but not for you if you want to maximize separation season. Number 4, no surprise on this one. Use this end of year to advance your learning. Master a new skill, something that's going to directly impact your results in your career. Maybe enroll in a course or, or read a specialized targeted book that aligns with something you have going on next year. I think now, in the spirit of separation season, is the time to up your learning while everybody else is on cruise control. Number 5, I think we could get into personal development now. Uh, we talk about morning routine quite a bit. Rather than waiting for that New Year's resolution, why don't we— why don't we have a— our morning routine reset right now? Why don't we come up with our optimal plan and start implementing right now so we carry that momentum into January? Maybe you wanted to add the cold plunge or affirmations or or journaling or whatever it may be. Why wait till January? Let's go right now. It's separation season. I think the next one, if that's number 5, number 6, also personal development-wise, uh, let's build a personal scorecard, right? Track your daily progress in areas like workouts or learning or relationships, productivity. Start scoring yourself right now. Again, nobody else is doing this stuff. This stuff is weird. Which is great because we want to be weird because weird means we're getting different results. We're acting differently, thereby getting different results. So I think an opportunity in separation season is to start scoring yourself, maybe creating a little bit more accountability, which leads me to number 7, also around personal development and maximizing separation season. Let's start up— upgrading our environment right now. Declutter your workspace, declutter your home, create more mental clarity. Maybe, maybe in terms of upgrading your environment, you know, start leveraging more tools that make you more productive right now. Maybe upgrade your tech, maybe get a standing desk. I don't care what it is, but what can you do for your environment, your physical environment, that will lead you to greater success? And you're doing it during separation season while everybody else is sleeping. Number 8, we're gonna start getting into fitness and health. Number 8, strengthen your weak links. What's a neglected area, fitness area for you? Maybe it's your strength or your flexibility or your mobility, whatever it is. Let's start dedicating 5, 10, 15 minutes a day to improving those weak links. Now's the season to do it. Figure out how to go a little harder while everybody else is coasting. And you yourself will output. When your physical health is dialed, you have the ability to perform in every other area at a higher level. So, let's make separation season about strengthening our weak links. Number 9, no surprise here, let's dial in our nutrition now. So many people say, "You know what? I'm gonna figure out the health thing right after the New Year. I'm gonna enjoy the holidays and so on." Okay, cool. But if you want massive success, you got to do things differently than everybody else around you. It's separation season. Now's the time to dial in your nutrition. Figure out, you know, the 3 to 5 simple healthy meals that you can prepare quickly to maintain your energy and your health through the holidays. Counteract what's already— that cake and the ice cream and everything else that's standing— it's going to show up here any moment as you go into these parties and spending time with family. I want you to enjoy, but I also want you to maximize this opportunity while everybody else is, is, is, is doing those things. Next, I would consider in separation season some sort of end-of-year fitness challenge for yourself. Maybe create a, some sort of tangible goal. Maybe, uh, you want to do X number of push-ups by December 31st, or, you know, you want to string together 10 straight days of workouts. For your end-of-year fitness challenge. This is a way to create separation. That's 10. I have 2 more for you around relationships. Number 11, in separation season, let's go reconnect with some key people. Let's reach out to our mentors and our friends and our colleagues, people that we haven't had a chance to talk to in a little while. Maybe just a coffee, maybe it's even a Zoom, but how can we reconnect with key people during separation season? And in doing so, maybe rekindle some relationships, but also gain a bit more energy because these people have been on our minds. How can we do that right now? How can we express some gratitude and set the stage maybe for some more collaboration as we roll into the next year? And then lastly, number 12, the 12th thing I think you could be doing during separation season: plan a family event or two. During this separation season. Take some proactive steps to strengthen the bonds by planning some sort of quality time, purposeful quality time with your family. Maybe it's a game night, maybe it's some sort of holiday-themed outing, things you haven't maybe done in the past. It might seem a little awkward, but in doing so, you are strengthening those ties to your family and you are separating yourself from You know, maybe not necessarily others, but again, it's a you versus you challenge. How can you get ahead? Makes sense. So 12 things. I'm sure you've got lots of other ideas, but I just want to just drive home the point. I just want to drive home the point that the real magic of separation season, in my opinion, lies in showing up in some way every single day, even when it's inconvenient. Many of these actions, they might seem really small, but there's going to be this cumulative effect— cumulative effect, I can't speak today— on creating a massive separation from your competition. And so we just want to do something every single day. This is the No Days Off podcast, right? So enjoy separation season, maximize it. Remember what everybody else is doing in December. You want different results than everybody else. So you got to go do some different things. That's all I have for you today, the No Days Off podcast. Thank you so much for listening, and remember, every single day brings a new opportunity to get better. So let's get after it.