Aloha Reader,

I'm in Maui right now with my amazing girlfriend.

8 months ago she was a stranger in a cafe.

Now, she's one of my favorite people in the world.

(You're on that list too, don't worry).

You don't need dating apps to meet people.

You need courage and a willingness to look silly.

In fact, courage + repeated willingness to look dumb = everything you want in life.

So go BIG for something you want this week.

The worst thing that can happen is nothing (i.e. things stay the same).

The best thing that can happen is EVERYTHING.

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What I'm learning about 🧠

Jeffy B's meeting rules for Amazon.

The baldest man in the world has rules for more effective meetings.

First, he has the two-pizza rule, which limits the # of people in a meeting.

If two pizzas can't feed everyone, you have too many people,

His second rule is even simpler.

No PowerPoints!

He opts for a pre-meeting memo that is read by all attendees prior.

But the most interesting rule is this one.

Apparently, you aren't allowed to use pronouns (i.e. he, she, they, them) in meetings.

Not for politically correct reasons, but because pronouns are too vague.

Instead of saying "They need a report by Monday", you'd say "Tom from HR needs a report by Monday"

Eliminating pronouns forces everyone to know who is accountable/responsible.

Try this strategy in your next meeting and let me know what you think!

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What I'm thinking about 💭

What if it's supposed to be hard?

I had a powerful mindset shift last week that's helping me a ton.

Like all good stories, this one starts in the depths of my despair.

When I was studying for the CFA, my life objectively sucked.

I was working 40+ hours per week and studying nonstop.

I'd wake up, study for an hour, work 8 hours, then study for another.

8 hours of studying per weekend day was expected.

Okay, we get it! Your life was freaking' awful!

But amidst all this suckiness, I felt (occasionally) inspired.

I knew the CFA was one of the hardest tests out there, so putting in the HARD work felt validating.

I never once felt like I should be studying less.

I never beat myself up for having to try so hard.

And when I passed the test, I was elated.

The pass rate was 44% in 2018 and I was one of the victors!

Scoring in the 95th percentile my ego would like to add!

Now let's fast forward to last week.

I was beating myself up for feeling like I should have a bigger coaching practice by now.

Telling myself I should be more successful already.

Until I had the thought, "What if this is just as hard as the CFA?"

So I went to look at some statistics.

90% of coaches fail in their first year.

If we put that in comparable terms, building a successful coaching practice has a "pass rate" of 10%.

My paradigm shattered as I realized:

That's 4x as difficult as passing the CFA...

So instead of beating myself up for struggling with this challenge, I am celebrating it.

I am taking pride in the long hours I am putting in to build my coaching practice.

I am realizing that what I am doing is supposed to be hard.

And that has been incredibly freeing.

In your own life, where are you telling yourself:

"It shouldn't be this hard"?

That belief is probably causing you more pain than progress.

Trade it in for pride in the fact that you are working hard on something you care about.

Once you've "made it" you'll look back on this period as the glory days.

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What I'm reading 📖

​The Compound Effect by Darren Hardy.

This little book is going on the shelf next to Atomic Habits.

It's an important reminder that the little choices we make each day are ultimately what make us.

Another huge takeaway is that the person who is making great daily decisions and the person who is not, will look the same at first.

A year might go by and no noticable changes emerge.

Yet eventually, as the decisions compound, the differences will be enormous!

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Quote of the week 📜

“Never ask the advice of someone with whom you would not want to trade places." - Darren Hardy

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Sent with love,

Gregory Russell Benedikt

Talk to me: hello@gregoryrussellbenedikt.com

Website: gregoryrussellbenedikt.com

Writing: Medium

Connect: Instagram & LinkedIn