The speaker argues that pure work ethic without focus on outcomes leads to burnout and wasted energy. Instead, adopt a results ethic: choose actions for their direct impact. For weight loss, use the minimum effective dose approach with small, sustainable adjustments rather than overnight overhauls.
Chapters
So one of the absolute keys that I've found is required for us to actually move forward and actually achieve the results that we want is an ability to reframe the stories and the narratives that we're allowing to run us. Now, what I mean by that is quite often we have these ideas, these beliefs, and these rules and so on that we have going on in our mind, often in the subconscious, that will dictate how we show up and operate on a daily basis. Now, that's all well and good as long as they are serving us and allowing us to get the results that we want. But the catch for many of us is the stories that we have running are not actually getting us there. And one of the key stories that I find tends to disrupt us is the idea that we must have a good work ethic. So, if you have a good work ethic, that means that you're willing to work hard and put in the time and the effort and the energy and the resources to get the job done, to get things done, to even get results and so on. But the catch is when it's a case of, I know that the only way to be successful is to work hard. What we then end up doing is actually committing to working hard and not committing to getting results. Now, there's a key distinction. We don't necessarily want to have this work ethic without a result ethic. We must have a results ethic also, because if it's just the commitment to working hard, that's what we'll provide for ourselves. We'll find every obstacle we can and every challenge we can to put in our own way to make the job seem harder, to make it take longer, and so on. And then what we end up doing is, for many of us, committing to crazy long hours, starting at 6 AM, finishing at 10 PM, and things like that. And we're doing 12 to 16 hour days on a regular basis, sometimes 5, 6, 7 days a week, and so on. Or just excessive amounts in general, trying to win the perfect life and to be super successful in our body and in our business and in our relationships and so on. But the catch is we're not really moving forward. It looks like we're putting in a lot of effort. It feels like we're putting in a lot of effort, but we're not actually getting the result that we want because again, we were committed to the work and not to the results. So it's one thing to be work committed and to have a great work ethic. You know, it's, it's a good thing to be willing to do work when it's required. But not with the— or not if it comes at the sacrifice of results. So we need to be willing where possible to say, you know what, maybe some of the work and the effort, the energy that I'm putting in is actually being wasted. Maybe just working hard isn't enough. Maybe I need to be smarter about this and maybe I need to ensure that the specific actions that I'm taking on a daily basis are actually going to get me to the result that I want. Because clearly just working hard isn't working. Just having a work ethic isn't enough. Maybe I need to switch that up and also have a results ethic. Maybe I need to only take the actions that I know are going to yield a specific outcome, not just create the illusion that I'm working hard. Because unfortunately, many of us, we get caught up in the virtue of that. We love to be able to tell other people about how hard we're working and how many hours we've done and what lack of sleep we've had and how traumatic and challenging life can be. And of course, that is the case for many of us. It does feel that way. But quite often, it's because of the things that we're choosing to partake in on a day-to-day basis that are just surplus to requirements. They're just effort with no actual return or yield on that effort that's actually going to be of true benefit, apart from serving this particular sense of virtue that we maybe have. So, if we can make that mindset shift and go, you know what, okay, well, I can still work hard when it's required, but that's not the goal. The goal isn't to work hard. The goal is to get results. So therefore, I'm going to shift that work ethic, and instead, as I move into the coming months and over the next year and so on, I'm going to shift that to a results-based ethic. And then that way, I'm committed to getting an outcome and not, not just creating an input. Because yes, it's good to have an input, and an input is required to get an outcome, but we need to be careful about the type of input that we're using or applying in order to guarantee the specific outcome that we want. So let's say, for example, oh, I want to lose weight. So if you want to lose weight, there's going to be some specific things that you're going to need to do. The catch is, for many of us, is we try to do it the hard way. We try to overhaul our whole lifestyle overnight. We try to then start training 6 days a week. We try to make sure that all 3 or 4 meals a day are absolutely perfect, and so on. And we try to kind of shoehorn this perfect lifestyle into our current hectic lifestyle that's already going on that we're already struggling with. And then what we find is we can't maintain it because we've jumped straight into work ethic. We thought, oh, I need to work hard in order to get results. And that's not to say it won't be challenging, but you don't necessarily need to work hard because what we often find is that the minimum effective dosage is going to be enough to start moving the needle. For many of us, we don't need to have a perfect diet. We don't need to train 6 days a week. In order to start getting results. We just need to start tweaking things and make them slightly better. So that's what I'll leave you guys with today. If you know that you're one of these types of people that sits there kind of on the, I guess, up on your horse, on your high horse, so to speak, where you kind of feel virtuous about working so hard, I know I used to be this person as well. And believe it or not, when I actually dug into it and broke it down, I found that I was basically trying to prove to the outside world that I'm not lazy, that I'm a hard worker. And that at the time was more important to me based on these stories in my mind than actually getting the results that I wanted. Instead, I wanted to be perceived as somebody that worked hard, that wasn't lazy, that was willing to do more than anybody else and so on, and, and more hours. But the catch is, if you're doing all those hours and putting in all that effort but not getting the outcome that you want, sooner or later, guess what happens? We come to resent it, we come to despise it, And essentially we end up realizing that we've just been a complete idiot. So that's what I'll leave you guys with today. If you have any questions on this, drop them in the comments below. Or if you have maybe some insight into your own stories and narratives that might be holding you back that you want to share with us, drop those in the comments too. And if not, I look forward to seeing you guys in my next video. Take it easy, people, and I shall chat to you soon.
