Driving a car you must make constant choices about what to do.
Speed it up. Slow it down.
Turn here. Turn there.
But a train on the rails, well, it’s all locked in from here.
You just need to keep it moving and the rails lead you where you’re meant to go.
This is what I mean by putting it on the rails.
Take the thinking out of it
And just get doing.
Where do you get stuck in driving your goals?
Ultimately, in all the thinking that gets in the way of doing what you know you want to get done!
I’ve seen this is the method to top performance in basically every pursuit.
You might be watching a boxer stand around talking about stuff, and then they just get moving.
Jumping rope.
Shadow boxing.
It’s those small actions that pull their mind into what they’re doing right now.
Some boxers even need to get hit a few times before their brain really pulls into gear.
But once it does, they’re very hard to stop from here.
What about you?
I know you know what I’m talking about, don’t you?
That if you’re like me and the many high performing people I know, you still have days when it’s not so easy to get yourself focused.
You might be thinking about something you want to do.
But you don’t feel like it.
You can waste minutes or even hours this way, can’t you?
Sometimes, especially when it matters most, like a kid in school avoiding studying, that brain can resist doing, can’t it?
And then there are other times, right, when there’s nothing that could stop you.
It might not even be because the task is fun or you’re certain you’ll get the result you want.
For some reason in your brain, you just have this feeling of—let’s do this!
Let’s do this!
See, the point I’m making here is that we all know what it’s like to be somewhat stalled.
Like the car, do you do this or that, drive here or there, all that thinking can really slow you down.
But, then, if you can just find your way into where you’re just doing this, it’s easy to get yourself moving, and keep yourself moving, right?
There are lots of metaphors for this.
A rolling stone gathers no moss. Eat that frog. Momentum begets momentum.
We all know that once you get moving it’s so much easier to just stay in it.
Yet, what we often need to do is find the switch.
The switch
A train can be going down this one track, and then at the flick of a switch something changes.
That switch now moves the rail, and the train effortlessly glides onto another track.
It didn’t involve anything dramatic.
Not all this effort to make a change.
Just the flick of a switch and that train is now going down a different track.
This is what you’re looking for in your brain.
Simple, easy, highly effective methods to catch your brain where it’s at, and put it where you want to be.
2 steps to being the freight train
I thought about going deep into this, but I want to keep it more simple.
My System For Ultimate Days is all about this, and you can check out the free video program here.
I have lots of ways of doing this for myself and clients, but most importantly you want to find your best ways.
And although you can go real deep on this, these two steps keep it super simple and powerful.
Step 1: Flick the switch
The fancy phrase is—You need a pattern interrupt.
Meaning, you need ways of catching your brain driving down that wrong track and hitting STOOOOPPP!
Just see this for yourself now.
What might it be?
How might you best stop that brain of yours going down the wrong track and redirect it?
Step 2: Lay out the rails
What I mean by this is, and ultimately this is the System For Ultimate Days, f you know exactly the tasks you want to get done, it’s much easier to just get the brain into it.
You want to go for a run in the am, but you can’t get yourself to do it?
Set your alarm. Put your shoes next to your bed. Lay out the breadcrumbs that get you out the door.
Same with your work.
Know what is on the rails.
And just get yourself moving down this track.
Like that boxer, often all you need to get running is to start bouncing a bit and taking a few steps.
And then your momentum begets momentum from here.
The same with your tasks.
Lay out the rails.
Flick the switch.
Keep driving the freight train.