The Simple Manifesto (Part 3)

Welcome to Readers, the podcast for the lifelong learner. Join us on our weekly dose of wisdom where we talk about the real-life lessons and applications of books. Enjoy. Welcome back to Readers, everyone. This is our third and final episode of The Simple Manifesto with Wes Towers. Welcome back to the podcast, Wes. We're excited to have you here and get into this final episode.

Ah, good to be here. We were just saying before the show, it's a shame to wrap these up. I've really enjoyed these calls so far and the final one today.

Likewise. Yeah. I mean, it's been a fun ride and I think this is going to be a jam-packed episode because we'll be combining both Lens 3 and Lens 4. So, you know, in parts 1 and 2, right, we built the mindset, standpoint, and nonconformist. Today is where it kind of becomes real-world execution and visibility, right? We're combining Lens 3 approach and Lens 4 position, how to get more done by doing less, how to build momentum, how to avoid fake branding traps, and how to position your business with content, social media, and smart collaboration. Without needing, you know, a massive budget, right? Essentially for the average viewer, the average person, right? How to stop feeling busy but stuck, how to build momentum without burning out, and how to be clearly understood by the people around you, right? Because whether you're building a business, building a career, or just trying to build a better version of yourself, most people aren't necessarily failing from a lack of effort. They're failing from doing too much of the wrong stuff and being unclear about what actually matters, right? So Without further ado, Wes, whenever you're ready, let's get into it.

Yeah, for sure. Absolutely. That was a good summary of what I've written. I hope I can do justice to, uh, to follow that.

No, I appreciate it. I mean, you, you wrote the book on it, so, uh, I'm just, I'm just trying to follow your lead here. Well, you know, Wes, you start Lens 3 with, you know, a really deep line here, right? It sounds simple, but I think there's a lot we can talk about. You say, get stuff done by eliminating tasks. right? Now obviously this sounds very simple and it's very open to interpretation, right? Does that just mean checking things off your checklist? Does that mean removing them from the checklist? What does that mean, right? But I think for me it felt a little bit like a relief because most people don't tend to feel lazy, they feel buried, right? Um, I think this is something we've heard a lot. Obviously people complain that, oh, you know, I'm just too lazy to do it. But at the end of the day, right, when, when, uh, a middle-aged man comes home to his family, he feels like he's had a really long day. And does he have the energy to, I don't know, take the kids out, to the park or to go out for a walk or something like that. Even, and you know, when I talk to a lot of people, they mention that, hey, you know, college is the time of your life. You've got to enjoy it. You got to, you know, have the most fun you can. You'll never have this freedom again, right? But when I talk to other college students, it feels like everyone's buried under their own schoolwork and career aspirations and, you know, the job markets and all these different things, right? Essentially everyone feels buried in these messages, errands, to-do lists, obligations, right? And at the end of the day, you kind of sit down and think, you know, I did a lot, but did I move forward? Did I progress? So let's start right there, Wes. I mean, what are some of the common things you've seen people do every day that maybe feel productive but don't actually move their lives forward, move their businesses forward, and kind of move their growth forward?

Yeah, well, it could be so many things, and certainly my own experience, I've been just like that so many times, to be overwhelmed with busy work and not really the super productive work. It's just so easy to do, and particularly in this day and age, Um, with an overwhelm of information and opportunities and options, it can, um, it can frighten us. A confused mind can't make a decision, and because there's so many options out there, for a start, um, you'll, uh, you won't make a decision and you won't move forward from point A to point B. So, um, it could be really difficult. I've, uh, I've found this all the time. And you mentioned being lazy. It's, it's not necessarily that we're lazy, but we have overwhelm. It just consumes, uh, so many calories. I heard it said a lot of our, um, the food we eat, the calories we consume, uh, burnt up through our thinking. Because most of us sit— a lot of us sit behind a screen all day doing thinking, thinking work, and it's just really time-consuming. So we take the path of least resistance, and sometimes that means getting stuck in busy work. It feels good because it feels like you've had a productive day, but you haven't necessarily moved the needle. Uh, and so that's why being really clear with the first two lenses, when you've got those things rock solid, you know where you're headed, you know what you want to achieve, you can start to make a value judgment on the, the tasks that you spend your time on and eliminating those things, um, that aren't serving you very well.

Yeah, I mean, I wanted to ask, kind of to go a little bit deeper into that, how do you even know what's just taking away from your time, right? I think on previous episodes here on this podcast, we've discussed a lot of things that necessarily everyone kind of knows they take away from their day, but just happen anyway, right? Like scrolling or mindlessly, you know, just reading your messages and pings and I don't know, being on LinkedIn and whatever that looks like, right? But when it comes down to work, I think it also is true that when I sit down and, you know, just start working for the day, yeah, it feels like I've been busy all day and I'm exhausted when I get back. But sometimes you look at the list and you're like, oh my Oh my God, I could have done so much more. Um, and I think at least for me, one of those big things is like making a list every night, right before the next day. Um, and I think when I make a list of things to actually accomplish, then it's like the next day when I'm able to accomplish that and hopefully a little bit more, then you feel like, all right, you know, you've exceeded your goals. Um, and if you're able to do that, then maybe you feel a little bit more, but you know, if you were to challenge any of our listeners today to either stop or start doing something this week, what would that be?

Yeah, well, as you say, so if you can set up systems that you follow that give you a little dopamine kick, when, whenever you tick off something on your list, you get that little dopamine buzz. We're getting our dopamine fried in our brain. I mean, I'm no psychologist, but I know that most of us are spending far too long on social media and it gives us that dopamine fix. And so we exhaust that in our capacity. So if we can create ways of effectiveness and efficiency and ticking things off, if it's a simple list— I mean, I always have a list that I prefer pen and paper, so it feels good to have things marked off the list. Now the list always grows, so this is the challenge throughout the day. There's new tasks. And so for me, I have the second list, so I start scratching down what I need to do. Quickly on the second page. So I'm not— that's for tomorrow, that's to deal with tomorrow. So I still get the reward for today because if it's a never-ending list, um, you never feel like you've completed anything and you never feel rewarded. So your dopamine never gets that recognition, and then so you'll start scrolling to get that kick, and then it's an endless cycle of, um, you know, unhealth— unhealthy habits.

Yeah, I think on that point of that dopamine hit or what gets you started, I mean, the reason so many people need it is just that's what motivates them, right? Or that's what gives them a little bit of momentum. Like, you know, and I don't know if, you know, our generations are necessarily aligned in whether this is the truth, but I mean, I have friends that literally need a motivational Instagram reel to get them to go to the gym, you know? Like if they don't see David Goggins, they're not going to go to the gym. And this is one of those things where you introduce momentum, right? And I think this is such a big turning point because when people stop kind of piling on these monotonous tasks, hiding behind excuses, which is something you also talk about, right? They finally get to momentum, which is what matters. Um, and I think at the end of the day, when you're able to put your goals down into a list, into some sort of format that lets you track your progress and keep going, it gives you that momentum, right? And I think that's, it's such a weird concept because it isn't just an idea, right? Like you can feel it. When you have it. When you have momentum, right, like you wake up lighter, you make decisions faster, you don't need that hype, you don't need the David Goggins video, right? When I've been going to the gym every single day, then that last Friday, you know, even though that's the 5th day I've gone, I'm still gonna do it. But even after just 2 days of sleeping in on the weekends, it's hard to get back on Monday, right? And when you don't have momentum, everything feels so heavy. And I think most people assume momentum will come from some big breakthrough, right? A new job, a big move, right? A big life change. But You know, when you mention in your book, it feels like momentum just comes from smaller things, right? Movement, rhythm, consistency. How do you define momentum in real life, right? What does that look like during an average week for a business owner, but also for, you know, a normal person who's just going about their day-to-day lives?

Yeah. So it's, it is so difficult sometimes. So we're all at point A and we want to get to point Z and we don't know the in-between. So because Z is so far away and it feels like we're not precisely sure exactly how we get there, we, we don't start moving. But you've got to start moving towards your goal, and it, it's not linear, it's up and down, it's sideways, it's, uh, always correcting course. But if you've got that end vision in, in mind, the smaller tasks and the smaller, um, jobs that you can move towards that just seem more, um, reliable And so you need to really be clear on that end goal and just move slowly toward it. Uh, it's easier, as you say, it's easier to keep going than to start. It's just like starting any kind of vehicle. Um, as you're starting off, you're quite slow, but as you get the acceleration happening and you get to speed, um, you can maintain that speed with very little fuel. Um, but yeah, you burn up a fair bit of fuel just getting to that. That speed that you want to get to. And it's the same with everything in life. Once you get to a speed in which you can maintain for the long term, that's the ideal. And so you don't want to think about burning all your fuel tickets too soon because you've got a long— it's a long journey. Um, so if you, if you rush in and try to do too much too soon, you'll probably burn out and not have fuel for the, for the full, uh, full journey. So it's, it's about balance, I think. As businesses, entrepreneurs, we're really driven type people. So we have sometimes have the tendency to rush in and do things too much. But I would say make your movements as quickly as you can, as soon as you can, but don't think about them as trying to solve everything all at once. Just move toward the, to the end goal. I think that's the only way of doing it. Movements, movement and momentum is really what takes us to the next level.

I feel like it's really cool because you talk about this process of getting started, right? Getting past your excuses, not just laziness, but also feeling like you're overburdened with so much. And then this aspect of momentum and taking small steps to feel like you have movement, right? But when someone starts building that momentum, right? And they get to that steep learning curve, they usually run into another problem that you kind of bring up, right? Which is blind spots. Because you can be trying hard, right? Improving, showing up, and you can still feel like things are off at times, especially when you reach that level where it's not, I'll use the example of building a company or startup or an MVP, right? When you start off and you have your team and everyone's excited and you're coding really fast and taking these nights and everything, and you're able to see real work being done, right? It's exciting, that's momentum. But once you get to where you have a steady product or the iterations just seem so monotonous, right? That's when things start to get a little tougher, right? And that's why so many startups, so many companies fail. And that's why even when, you know, you see on January 1st how many people show up to the gym, that's not the same amount of people that are there in, you know, July. So I think the scary part is sometimes it's not just a lack of effort, right? It's sometimes even mistakes you don't know you're making, right?

Yeah.

And when it comes down to business and your personal life, this is where you talk about this idea of what you don't know can hurt you. Right. So I want to ask you, what are those invisible mistakes people make that, you know, quietly make their life a little bit harder, whether that's with money, health, relationships, opportunities, businesses, and more?

Yeah, well, I think that to get sucked in too deeply with any one guru who feels as though they've got all the answers— no one's got all the answers. And certainly oftentimes you've just got to read between the lines and realize, hey, these people are selling programs and courses. And while there's benefit in it, they've also got the goal to create an income and, you know, a long-term income. So it's good to glean ideas from a range of experts, but understand that you can't possibly do everything that all of them suggest you do. It's not possible. So you've got to get selective, and that's a difficult thing. So what I think is one of the, one of the key things is to get genuine mentors into your life, people who have legitimately done what you want to do and model on their success. So copy to a degree what they've done to achieve the results they're achieving. Not every— not everything will fit and align with how you are and what you want to do, but you'll learn by observation. And modeling on the success of others is far better than just following any one guru who sometimes doesn't have a full perspective of what the nuance of your own circumstances and business and industry. So I think we all get sucked in at times because there's just so many polished professional speakers who are very persuasive. So we've just got to be careful with all of that, I think.

Yeah, I think it's all about being able to also place yourself in the right place, in the right position at the right time, right? I mean, obviously with today's social media and kind of ability to be able to see anything you want at any time you want, It's very, very possible to get the wrong advice, the wrong, I don't know, guru or guy on your feed who's telling you what to do. And it's equally as right, or as possible to come across the kind of audience, customer, people that might understand and recognize you, right? And I think this is where Lens 4 position kind of comes into being, right? Because even if someone isn't running a business, position matters so much. It's just about being understood at the end of the day, right? I think a lot of people have had this experience of thinking, oh, you know, That's not what I meant, or why are people just mislabeling or misunderstanding me, right? And I think, you know, obviously over time as we build our reputations, our identities, and our social kind of dynamics, people tend to categorize you fast, right? When it comes down to business, that's how you market yourself. That's how you build the kind of brand that you want. There's been companies and startups that have created and provided the exact same services, but the way that they marketed themselves and branded themselves have led to either their success or their demise, right? Now I think bringing that even to a bit more of a personal standpoint, you say people are quick to categorize you, right? Now in everyday life, what should someone communicate early or be able to show about themselves early and how do they go about doing that so that they don't get misunderstood, give off the kind of you know, vibe or essentially the kind of energy that they want, whether that's for them, their business, or anything else.

Yeah, it is a challenge because no one's any one thing. And so we're all diverse. There's diversity in even how we present ourselves to different people. So if we're speaking to our grandparents, we probably speak slightly differently than we would to our mates, to our friends. And so we're the same person, we've got the same intentions and thoughts and ideas, but we just present in a slightly different way that's suitable for the context in which we're speaking. So it's a balance of that sort of thing and also to be truly who you are all the time so you can build an authentic brand that's around your values and your position and what you stand for. And sometimes if you do that, if you're a values-based business, sometimes it feels like you're going against the grain and that you're swimming against the stream and that can be, that can feel difficult at times, but it's worthwhile because you certainly do stand out. It's a noisy marketplace out there and you're not going to appeal to everybody and, but those that are drawn to you, if you're distinctive and you're clear on who you are and what you're about, there'll be those that are drawn to you and want to do business with you and or hire you or whatever it is. They want to connect with you because you're— you are who you say you are and you show up as you presented yourself.

Yeah, I think this always kind of conversation about a noisy world or a world where there's so many people, opportunities, groups, uh, always brings me back to like the day I graduated high school and was kind of getting ready to, you know, go to college, right? Um, because that was the next step. And I remember when I was packing up and getting ready for that kind of transition. And like, I was talking to my parents and my mom was talking about, you know, college is a great place because it's obviously a place where you can find a lot about yourself. It's a place where you will, um, be able to, you know, learn, grow, meet people who align with your values as well as your passions and personality and all this stuff. But it's also a place where you'll meet people who don't, right? Um, and where there's equally as much risk as there is to get out of it. And I think that's why For students, obviously college is such a fun and, you know, a great place that a lot of people look back with fond memories. And for parents, it's equally as distressing sometimes, right? I think it's just kind of this funny dichotomy because obviously you want what's best for you, and your parents want that more than anyone, and they're able to kind of see both sides of that coin. So I think, and you know, maybe I'm harping on college a little too much because that's the stage of life I'm in, but But when it comes down to that fact that you don't have to be in college or in this sort of space where you're constantly being exposed, we're being exposed every day, right? Whether that's through our social media feeds, through the news, through the media. And the fact is what happens across the world is available to me, you know, in minutes. So, yeah, I think on that similar note, right, how do you How do you go about filtering out that noise, the people who may be giving you advice or things like that that may not apply to you, especially when it comes to a business strategy, when it comes to living your life? You know, there's your people that will be like, hey, you know, when you're starting companies, I know this is something I've thought a lot about and kind of had to consider because when starting a startup or working in a field like that, there's people who will be like, no, you know, you got to put your head down and just block out all the noise. Don't talk to anyone. Don't interact with anyone, just do your own thing, right? And then there's people who are like, no, like building the product is important, but equally as important is going out and meeting a bunch of other people who are doing it and all this other stuff, right? So kind of when it goes along those lines, what's your feedback for a lot of people going through those things?

Yeah, yeah, there's so much that you've— and it's so true, the, the people that you associate with, you learn so much from, and there's diverse diversity of people that you can associate with. I remember that was the— my experience certainly going studying at university. Because, you know, you grow up in a certain place and everyone's kind of— it feels as though to me everyone was kind of the same as me. But going to university, people were coming from all sorts of places. So some people were coming right from the regional areas and some were from the city, and just diversity of background. So it's a, it's a great opportunity to understand people, and by understanding other people, you start to understand yourself a whole lot more. It's very difficult to understand yourself without the context of how you fit into a community. So I think it's a powerful opportunity. The authenticity of thinking of it from a business perspective, one mistake oftentimes people make is a small business or even a microbusiness will try and present themselves as a large business, but by doing so, they're giving away some of their key advantages. As a small business, it's founder-led. So the person who owns the business, you get to speak to, and they really care about the outcomes because it's their business. And I mean, you're not dealing with employees and so on, and they're probably the expert in the field. It's not someone who's just fulfilling a task. It's someone with deep expert knowledge in the field in which you're working. So it's a massive opportunity, and sometimes people discard it from a marketing perspective, wanting to appear bigger for some reason than they are. It's curious to see that the bigger companies try and appear more personal and more connected and relational because they realize it's a weakness of theirs that there's so many departments and everything's siloed and one part of the company doesn't speak to the other. And you know, that's difficult for customers if they've spoken to tech, for example, in the company and then all of a sudden they're talking to the warranty people or something and it has something hasn't aligned. It can be really difficult. But in a small company, you're dealing with the same people all the time and they get to know you. So these things, use wherever you are as a key advantage as opposed to thinking about it as a negative because there's always opportunity no matter where, what position you're in. And of course you might want to grow and so on, but there's a key advantage in the position you are right now that you can leverage and take that further and grow as a business if you want to.

I love it. I love it. And with that, we'll wrap up our part 3. You know, I know we've come to the end of our time. It's felt pretty quick, but I really enjoyed this episode. It was jam-packed. I know we talked about lens 3 and 4, and I feel like this episode really takes this kind of simple manifesto, right? But it takes it from ideas to real life, right? It's not about just constantly doing more and, you know, always just in this rut of monotonous work. It's about actually being able to cut the fat, cut what doesn't matter, building momentum through small moves, catching, you know, the blind spots that quietly tend to trip people up and Also being able to communicate yourself clearly, not just to your customer and the people you're trying to appeal to, but also the people you're building with, building your company with, building your life with, building your identity with. To our listeners, I'm sure a lot of you who are going along this journey, going along this process of building, right? If you're feeling overwhelmed, I hope some of this lands, right? You don't need some sort of a total life reset. You just need a few simple moves, I think pulling from this momentum part. That you can repeat until they become your new normal, until that's what motivates you to get up every day, until that's what keeps you going, right? This was a fantastic time. I know obviously the book is a lot longer and has a lot more content that we weren't able to cover. So for a lot of our readers that are probably curious about where they can find this book, a little bit more about you and what it's about, Wes, just a quick— I'll hand it over to you to share about where they can find your work.

Yeah, it's in all good bookstores, as they always say. You can definitely find it on Amazon, the physical book or the digital, even in your local bookstore. You can request, they'll get it sent in. It's distributed globally, so you'll find it, The Simple Manifesto, and they should be able to get it in for you.

All right, fantastic. This was an absolute pleasure, Wes. Thank you so much for joining us for these episodes.

Thank you, it's been a pleasure.

And a big thank you to our listeners. Thanks for tuning in. We'll see you next time on Readers. And until then, keep on learning, keep on changing, and keep on growing. We'll see you next time.