In this week's episode, you'll hear all the secrets to becoming a peak performer in both your personal and professional life. Alex is going to be giving you all the tools you need to set goals for yourself, manage each and every one of your days, and combat the inner voices that might be saying: "you can't do it."
Do you ever wonder how the most successful people manage their day to day lives to set themselves up for big wins? There are steps to follow in order to become a peak performer, and on today’s episode of No Bullshit with Alex Willis, you’ll be guided on how best to incorporate some of these steps into your own life.
Life is a marathon, not a sprint. And as the race goes on, more and more people fall to the wayside while the most committed and disciplined lead the pack, living the best lives they can. Regardless of how you feel about your life now or up to this point, Alex is here to tell you that you have full control over what comes next. This week, you’ll hear what it takes in order to shift your routines, mentally and physically, in order to best prioritize the things you want most.
What to look out for in today’s episode:
In our third segment, The Foundation, it’s time to go back to the basics when trying to create new, healthy routines. Alex will show his own virtuous cycle that he follows each day, and challenge you to think about what your ideal one might look like. Remember to be a little selfish by intentionally carving out time each day for yourself, we all need it.
Tune into our final segment, The Frame Out, where Alex will help you in combating those voices in your head that tell you “you can’t do it!” He will also arm you with more strategies you can utilize to maintain a positive outlook on and off the jobsite.
Be sure to subscribe wherever you get your podcasts as well as the YouTube channel to watch full video episodes and be notified as soon as the next episode is live.
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[00:00:00] Alex: All right, my friends. Welcome to the foundation, man, where we are going to lay down the law on how you make this shit happen, right? How do you become a peak performer, uh, as you tuned in? Hopefully. And if you haven't, go back and check out the uh, uh, previous episodes. We talked a little bit about identifying what you want, understanding the power of the what.
[00:00:29] Alex: We talked about the power of the why, understanding how not to negotiate with yourself, how to create leverage on yourself to get that thing done, as well as identify the 20% right for doing that. And then the most important part in our last segment, man, we talked about the have it all lifestyle, the four Bs.
[00:00:45] Alex: I'm not even telling you what the four Bs are. You gotta go check that episode out. If you wanna know what the four Bs are to give you what we say you can have, which is you can have it all right? But in order to do that, It comes down to foundational work, right? And this is what I like to call the blocking and the tackle, right?
[00:01:00] Alex: I love sports analogies. Blocking and tackling refers to us going back to the basics, right? Going back to the basics. And so in this segment, the foundation, I wanna go back to the basics of how do you show up and be your best self, where it starts with how you start your day. Understand that now, at every level of football I've ever played, Coaches all say the same thing for the start of a game.
[00:01:25] Alex: Here's what they say. My friends, they say, Hey, listen. The first player of the game, they tell every player, no matter if you're on offense or defense, they say, Hey, go knock the shit out of somebody the first play. Why? Why do they tell players that? Here's why. Because ideally, you are studying the tempo and the tone for the rest of the game.
[00:01:46] Alex: You're letting that player know, Hey dude. It's going to be like this all night long, so prepare for the worst. Get ready cuz I'm coming right now. The same thing is true in life. My friends. We have to do the same thing when we set the temple and the tone for our date. Now in our first segments we talked about big concepts of.
[00:02:07] Alex: Peak performers and what they do, how they do it. We're talking about the X's and Olds now, the blocking and tackling, bringing it down to the micro level to say, well, how do you start doing that? Well, taking control of your day. I want you to think about this from another sports angle really quickly. How many professional teams or college teams have you ever witnessed drive up to the stadium to play a game?
[00:02:32] Alex: Get directly off the bus and go directly on the field and start playing. Zero. Zero. My friends, no one does that shit. Why? Because they understand the power of preparation. Understand. We see professional athletes all the time in the locker room before games, listening to their music, stretching, doing yoga, some of 'em doing, you know, meditation, all kind of different things to end their own routine, right?
[00:02:57] Alex: Because they understand the power of preparation so that by the time they get on the field, on the court, on the baseball diamond, I can be my best self and I'm ready to knock it out and go rock and roll. Well, if that's the case, if we need to treat ourselves like athletes, why is it then that we, in the construction industry, we roll our asses outta bed, drive to the job site, jump out of our car after downing a couple Red Bulls and Vienna sausages and think we're gonna be our best self bullshit?
[00:03:22] Alex: Man, you're not going to be your best self at all. And if you're doing a good job, trust me, you could be way better, my friends, if you adopt this one principle of what we call a virtuous cycle. A virtual cycle, so, so what's a virtual cycle? Well, it's the cycle in which you implement in your life and how you operate and how you show up in the world every single day, right?
[00:03:43] Alex: So you'll see if you're watching, you get a chance to see Alex's virtual cycle. If not, if you're just listening, I'll ex do my best to explain it to you. Right. But understand, before I show you my virtual cycle, you don't have to do it exactly Like Alex, yours made me different. Now I'm a wild man. My wife looks at my, my cycle and she's like, dude, you're nuts.
[00:04:01] Alex: Get the hell out of here. Right? She's like, just do that in another room. I'm sleeping in here. Right? But, but here's the deal. Alex's cycle, I start waking up at four 30. I'm a four 30 wake up guy every day, probably 90% of the year. I'm a four 30 wake up guy. And when I get out of the bed, man, I am on all cylinders.
[00:04:17] Alex: What you see right now is what happens when my feet hit the floor at four 30, which is why my wife Sabrina's like, dude, get out of the room right now. When I get up, the first thing that I jump into is prayer and meditation and journaling. So for me, it's getting my mind right and journaling. I wanna challenge you to do this.
[00:04:33] Alex: It's creating a gratitude practice. I think about the first three things that come to mind that I'm grateful for that happened the previous day. These are things like hanging out with my kids, maybe something well on the job health, finances, a home to stay in. It really centers my focus for the day, right?
[00:04:53] Alex: And so starting off with prairie meditation, and then from there I go on to a five to eight minute personal development time. I want you to think about this. So that personal development is maybe getting better at my job, being a better leadership coach, reading and understanding some type of leadership principle, understanding something that makes me a better father, uh, better husband, whatever it is that I may want to do at that point in time, I'm focusing in on that right now.
[00:05:17] Alex: I'm reading something called Young Forever and it talks about principles on what you can do. So I literally listen to this podcast five to eight minutes, and then I cut it off. And from there I do a short workout anywhere between five to 15 minutes. Understand. I don't have a lot of time. I'm practicing what we talked about in the last segment, that 80 20 rule, right?
[00:05:36] Alex: The 20% of things, chest, back, squats, abs, oh dude, we're done. We're good. Right on that right there to give me the results I want. And then from there, joking and laughing with my wife and kids so that I can feel that bucket up with them. If I'm on the road traveling, it's a text message or a video call. If I'm here at the house, it's joking around with them.
[00:05:54] Alex: And then the next thing I do, which is, is usually around six o'clock. It's me setting and planning what I call the MVP of the day. Now the MVP of the day means the most valuable priority of the day. This is the most important thing that I can do, understanding this, that, hey, listen Alex, if everything got tied up and you could only do one thing today, what's the most important thing that you could do?
[00:06:18] Alex: So by identifying that before your day starts, you know how you can win your day. So I want you to think about that four 30 wake up. Prayer, meditation and journaling. Personal development, five to 15 minute workout planning. My mvp, who am I focused on for the first half of my day in the morning? You right me.
[00:06:43] Alex: Very selfish. Extremely selfish with my time. Shit. My dog even knows. Don't mess with me during that time. Right? Why? Here's why my friends, because I'm filling myself up. So that I can be my best self and give that out to the world, to my team, to my family, to the construction industry. I'm giving that away.
[00:07:04] Alex: Once I finish that development time, most times, my friends, we never spend time developing ourselves and pouring into ourselves. And so we are doing what I like to call operating on fumes because understand this, by the time your family gets up, by the time you make it to the job site, everyone that you encounter, Your team, your supervisor, your employees, your customers, and clients.
[00:07:30] Alex: They're what I like to call takers. They're taking energy and life from you. And if you're ever going to be a peak performer, you have to be at such a level that you've prepared yourself, you've poured into yourself that you can then give out at extreme levels to be the best that you can be. But oftentimes, we're stressed, we're irritable.
[00:07:52] Alex: We're frustrated simply because we haven't spent that me time investing in us. So if you're listening or if you're watching, what I need you to do is pause the tape in the words of my 10 year old Aubrey. Pause. Pause, pauses, right? Pause the tape and think about that. Your morning cycle. What should that look like?
[00:08:16] Alex: If you're going to show up and be the best you that you can be, what should you implement in that cycle? And understand, maybe it's not as intense as Alex's. I have one foreman who lives in Miami, Florida, his virtual cycle in the morning. He said, Alex, if I could just add one thing to my cycle in the morning before coming into work, it would be to just sit down on the couch and eat a big bowl of fruity pimps.
[00:08:40] Alex: I'm like, well, damn dude. You need to just adjust your schedule so you can sit down and eat that big old bowl of fruity Pebbles, brother, if that's gonna make you your best self. That me time. I had someone last week that said, Hey Alex, if I could just go outside and watch the sun coming up for five minutes, man, with a cup of coffee before I come into work, that'll be phenomenal.
[00:08:58] Alex: Understand, it's my friends. Oftentimes, those things that make us our best self, they're small, and it only takes a little bit of time to make adjustments. Especially when we change our mindset on this concept of not trying to hit home runs, but hitting singles. Maybe it only requires me to get up five extra minutes a morning.
[00:09:16] Alex: Maybe it requires me not to hit that snooze three times, only hit it two, so that I can get this thing done and incorporate it in my virtual cycle and show up and be my best self. By you doing this, my friends. By the time you enter the work, you're your best self. It says, if you've done the mental preparation as an athlete, getting ready to have the best game of your life.
[00:09:37] Alex: So what do I do after getting in? Well, the first thing if you can, is organizing your day in such a way that you can spend the first 90 minutes of your day working on your mvp. Working on what you said was the most invaluable priority because understand, it's kinda like the concept of eat that frog first, right?
[00:09:54] Alex: Eat the frog. If you could do the most difficult, most important thing that you said in the first 90 minutes of your workday, shit, man, it's all downhill from there. And if you can begin to do that, you can begin to master time in how you do it right now as you begin to think about that. From there, I would love for you to, at some point in time, have at least a to-do list and don't put it in your head, have it on paper.
[00:10:16] Alex: But what I would need you to do with this virtual cycle is to have a to-do list, the to-do list that we call on steroids. What do I mean by that? Most times people make a to-do list and they have all of these items that they need to do, and they leave it at that. How often does that to-do list roll over day after day after day?
[00:10:32] Alex: Most times a shit load. Well, here's why. My friends, what I wanna challenge you to do is as you're talking about your virtual cycle, when you make that to-do list after your mvp, all of those other items that you have on that list, when you write 'em on that list, the next thing I need you to do is this.
[00:10:47] Alex: My friends. Write down a guesstimate of how much time you think each of those activities will take you to do. The elite do this. That's what peak performers do. They identify what they're up against. It's like putting a game, playing together. Now, the first time I did this, my friends, my to-do list, I'm wondering why I'm not getting shit done.
[00:11:06] Alex: Well, hell, my to-do list was 18 hours long, dude. It's like, shit, dude, you're not getting this shit done today. Right? When you begin to do that, you can begin to identify what's reasonable and what's doable. Because you don't just kind of fly by the seat of your pants. You've actually thought through and guesstimated it right.
[00:11:23] Alex: Now, once I begin to guesstimate the time, the next thing I need you to do is prioritize what's most important. Because understand, as you're going through that list, you want to kind of shift and go with those things that are most important on that list. So by writing them down, actually coming in to understand how much time each of them are going to take you and prioritizing them, you know exactly what you're in for today to get all of that done from a time standpoint.
[00:11:48] Alex: From there, I wanna challenge you to put it on the calendar. If you put it on the calendar, put it in places. The reason you wanna do that, my friends, is because here's the deal. Every one of us in here, we know that you're going to have interruptions in your day. Guaranteed people are going to blow your shit up.
[00:12:03] Alex: But if you've thought through your to-do list, if you've mapped out the time and how much each of these activities take you, and you go on that extra step of putting it on a calendar, You know where you have gaps in your schedule so that you can reschedule someone to come in. So instead of just doing exactly what they need right now, especially if it's not urgent, and you can say, Hey, wait a minute.
[00:12:23] Alex: I'll get to it today, but hey listen, I need you to come back at 1130. I have 15 minutes at 1130. If you could hold off to 1130, we can get it done. We'll come back, I'll circle back around with you at that time. It keeps you focused on what's most important so that you can knock out your list so that that to-do list doesn't just continually repeat day after day and you can really begin to get things done.
[00:12:43] Alex: Alright, here's the next principle I need you to incorporate here. Uh, in this, the foundation. It's understanding this, and I'm gonna talk about a sports concept really quickly. Every sport. Let me make sure of this. Baseball doesn't, but you know they have endings where they can do that. Now, what's halftime?
[00:12:59] Alex: Well, this is where players rest coaches regroup. They re-strategize, they come back to the second half of the game, right? The best coaches are able to make adjustments at halftime and come back to win. I wanna challenge you to implement this concept in your day. What do I mean? Well, I want you to take a break midday and assess how you're doing.
[00:13:21] Alex: How you're doing emotionally, mentally, spiritually, as well as physically and how it's affecting your day. You may have to readjust your game plan so that you can be most effective for the next half of the day. When you begin to do this, this is what we like to call hitting the reset button. Sometimes just closing your eyes, taking a two minute meditation, thinking about what went on that day, how you can change it, what you may need to focus on more, and make adjustments you can begin to win that day.
[00:13:48] Alex: The last two things are this, my friends connecting with family. You wanna make sure that you have that in your schedule, in your virtual cycle. For me, that's me getting home. Uh, if I'm on the road, it's me texting or calling my family. And then last one, not least, finding time to refresh, recoup, get in the so you can get sleep, man and wake back up to do it all again the next day.
[00:14:08] Alex: The elite understand the power of discipline schedules such as this, having a virtuous cycle that you say, Hey, you know what, I re refuse to negotiate with myself. This is my cycle. This is what I do. I'm going to do all that I can to invest in myself that first piece of the day. So that can be the best leader that I can be as we go forward, right?
[00:14:30] Alex: So we've talked a little bit about that, the foundation, the Xs and Os of how you show up and how do you be your best self and how do you knock the shit out of life, the first step in the morning so that you can set the tempo and the tone for the entire day. Right? In these, in this last segment, we're gonna really begin to frame it out to show you.
[00:14:50] Alex: What you need to focus on, what you are up against, right? And, and how you ultimately can win this thing and pull it all together. So I look forward to seeing you in the frame out when we really frame out the have it all lifestyle as well as the habits of people. Yes. Hey, my friends, I want to thank you for tuning in.
[00:15:12] Alex: I wanna challenge you to make sure you check out the next segment, and I wanna remind you to subscribe to our podcast.