Grab the Right Part of the Model

The big premise behind Zero Formula is that we're about frameworks and ideas, not formulas. There's not one "magic way" to get to your goals. The idea is that I'll give you things to break down and look at and ultimately implement yourself. There's a few "wrong" ways to use this information, you know.

First, Don't Just Read This and Go About Your Day

There's zero value to reading my newsletter and then going on with your day. "Oh, that was interesting," you might say. Or "Oh, that really got me thinking." Who cares? That's not important. That's not all that valuable. You've got millions of thoughts already. You need action-drivers.

The ideas I give you might serve you better if you take a moment or two and reflect on them in your journal. They work great if you think about the problems you're working on and try to apply it to those problems, or the prep that might help you mitigate problems in general. And that leads me to the other mistake you're likely making.

Grab The Right Part of the Model

I was watching a clip from Mel Robbins on YouTube, only it wasn't published by Mel. Someone gathered up her ideas and made a video of their own. (Whether or not there's value in these kinds of scrapers, I'll leave for another article.) I could tell rather quickly that they got her idea wrong. They copied the wrong part of the model.

Mel's point was that every successful person has a morning ritual, but that the reason the ritual is important isn't specifically about the ritual itself. It's about all the deliberate mindset work that has to be present in that morning ritual.

My Point, Just So We're Clear

It's great to learn from lots of people. But it's super important that you learn the right lesson. Mel's point above was practice every morning throwing away all your habitual thinking and instead focus on deliberate mindset work. That's ultra smart. That's a vital piece of information and one of several reasons why people follow and learn from Mel Robbins.

So when YOU stumble into learning lessons from people, it's important to ask yourself over and over, "What am I supposed to be learning here?" That's one good question. "What part of this can I take and reconfigure for my own situation?" You can even do some "reverse" thinking, where you say, "I think this person is WRONG. What would I do differently?"

Keep Your Eye on the Problem to Solve

I get two variations of the same question all the time: "What should I read?" and "Where do you go for research?" Often, I like to answer these with "Theoretical Cookbooks" and "Restrooms." Why? Because the question is wrong to begin with. Why bother giving a real answer?

Don't wander around consuming learning. I mean, you can and there are worse things to do. But try to read and learn with your own life and challenges and problems in mind. I just finished reading a book called "Buy, Then Build" about how to buy existing businesses as an asset class. If you're not planning on buying any companies any time soon, maybe it's not a useful book for you. I wouldn't read a book about how to impress the boss, because that's not a problem I need to solve. See my point here?

So let's tie it all together:

1. Read to absorb new tools into your frameworks
2. Determine the "right" part of the lesson to learn
3. Be specific in what you seek out to read/learn from

That should all make sense, right? That's easy enough. I think we accidentally slip on this one because we think of learning and reading as good for us. And technically, it is. But if we just do it to do it, that falls into my category of "noble masturbation." It feels good and feels like the right thing to do, but it's not THE thing.

You with me?

Chris...