#1776 Mining the Past

In our last +1, we continued our chat about how to forge a Confident Mind as we discussed one of the FOUNDATIONS of confidence…

Accepting the fact you are perfectly imperfect.

I also mentioned the fact that Dr. Nate Zinsser tells us we need to build our Psychological Bank Account of Confidence.

As Dr. Z says: “Just as the balance of any bank account at the end of the day depends upon how much is either deposited into it or withdrawn from it, the psychological bank account of confidence also rises and falls depending on how you are thinking in any given moment. ‘Deposit’ into that bank account memories of past successes, memories of progress or improvement, and thoughts about future improvements and accomplishments, and the ‘balance’ grows. ‘Withdraw’ from that account by replaying past setbacks and difficulties, or by fixating on possible future setbacks and difficulties, and the ‘balance’ shrinks. Gaining confidence, protecting confidence, and performing with confidence—winning that First Victory—is all about managing your psychological bank account.”

Now…

We manage our psychological bank account by making “deposits” via three different time horizons: The PAST, the PRESENT, and the FUTURE.

Today we’re going to talk about my favorite way to mine our PAST for a TON of Confidence-building gems.

Let’s get straight to work.

My favorite exercise from this chapter in the book is called “Your Top Ten.”

As Dr. Z says, this exercise is “about bringing the ten most-encouraging, most-energizing memories out of the dark recesses of your mind and polishing those jewels of thought so they radiate their brilliance back at you.”

Here’s the quick take...

Bust out a piece of paper. Put your name at the top.

Write down your Top Ten list of things you’re MOST PROUD OF.

After you’ve polished those jewels (!), put your NEXT BIG GOAL on the bottom of the page and *see* how your prior successes are fuel for and point to your future successes.

Then put that collection of Hero Bars somewhere you can see it all day every day.

I had fun doing this. Then I had even more fun doing it with Emerson.

If you feel so inspired...

DO THAT EXERCISE NOW!!!

If you don’t feel so inspired...

DEFINITELY DO THAT EXERCISE NOW!!! 😲

I repeat…

Take a moment to think about and WRITE DOWN “the ten most-encouraging, most-energizing memories” of YOU at YOUR BEST.

What TEN things are you MOST proud of?!

You, at your Heroic best.

1. ________________________________
2. ________________________________
3. ________________________________
4. ________________________________
5. ________________________________
6. ________________________________
7. ________________________________
8. ________________________________
9. ________________________________
10. ________________________________

That’s Today’s +1.

It’s time to mine our past for some Heroic gems we’ll deposit into our psychological bank account to build some confidence.

Aka…

It’s time to cook some Hero Bars.

It’s DAY 1.

We’re ALL IN.

LET’S GO!

P.S. For curious souls, my Top 10 “most-encouraging, most-energizing memories” include the fact that Heroic Public Benefit Corporation was blessed to make history as THE first company to ever raise $5 million via the SEC’s new crowdfunding regulations in 2021.

EVERY.SINGLE.TIME. I think about our 3,000+ investors from 75+ countries around the world (which is EVERY.SINGLE.MORNING!) and the fact that they expressed interest in investing $5 million within 24 hours of us sending out our FIRST email on the subject and $10 million within 100 hours (!), I get goosebumps. Making them proud while honoring my Sacred Vow and practicing my philosophy are tied for first for WHY I do what I do. (Bless you all!)

My Top 10 also includes some sacred opportunities to serve some military officers I deeply admire. Check out our recent letter update A Brief History of Heroic and a Quick Look at How We Intend to Forge an Antifragile Business and Fulfill Our Mission for more.

It also includes the fact that Sonja Lyubomirsky says the scientific research she did on our Heroic Coach program created results more powerful than ANYTHING she had ever seen in THIRTY-FIVE YEARS of research.

I capture that by writing “Science Says: 35 Years” then I write next to that I put “+23%” to represent the fact that, via the randomized control trial we study we did with Sonja on our Heroic app, we found that if you hit JUST ONE Target in the app, you are 23% more Energized.

Every time I read that, it deepens my CONFIDENCE in what we’re doing and our resolve to get our first 1 Million people to a Soul Force score of 101 en route to 51% of humanity flourishing by the year 2051.

Then I write down a bunch of other things including showing up on a Jumbotron celebrating with my friend John Herdman at his Toronto FC home opener and Coach Spo giving Areté to all his players for Xmas and other goodness that makes me smile and fires me up to go knock over the next domino to fulfill our Mission... 🤓

It’s hard NOT to feel more energized feasting on those Hero bars then getting back to work dominating Today’s WIN.

P.P.S. Emerson’s Top 10 includes hitting a 2000+ rating on Chess.com, winning the JV division for the Texas State Chess Championship last year and second place in the Championship division this year plus $700 in lifetime earnings (hah), winning the San Antonio Chess Championships, and hitting 75 days in a row on ChessTempo.com.

All those things fill his psychological bank account up. Those are really powerful deposits to give him confidence that he can hit his next targets.

All that leads us back to YOU and YOUR KIDS.

What are your Top 10's?