The Mindset Mentor - 1% Better Every Day

Starting point is 00:00:00 Welcome to today's episode of the Mindset Mentor Podcast. I'm your host, Rob Dial. And if you have not yet done so, hit that subscribe button so you never miss another podcast episode. Today, we're going to talk about how to get better every single day. And I'm not going to talk about how to become exponentially better or how to wake up tomorrow and be 10 times richer than you are or wake up tomorrow and you're having the perfect body or the perfect relationship or any of that stuff. I'm going to talk about how to simply just focus on being 1% better every single day. That's it. And we're going to talk about the journey of life that you're on and what you're focusing on and what you're doing. And we're going to talk about the journey of self-improvement

Starting point is 00:00:48 because I don't see self-improvement as something that you just do, like a diet where there's an end point to it. I see it as a lifestyle. If you want to completely change your body, you don't just go on a diet. You change it and the new healthier version of you is your new healthy lifestyle. I see the journey of self-improvement the exact same way. I've lived my life since my very first mentor in 2006 under the impression of something called Kaizen. Kaizen is a Japanese phrase for constant never-ending improvement. In every single aspect of what I do, I'm constantly trying to grow and improve. So it's a constant, never-ending improvement. It's a journey of life. It's a lifestyle. It's

Starting point is 00:01:30 not something that you just decide that you want to do. And the whole idea is I don't expect to wake up tomorrow and be like this super ripped, 10 times richer version of Rob. I know that for me, it's just about how did I show up for myself every single day? How did I show up today? Do I feel like before my head hits the pillow that I'm 1% better than I was when I woke up today? And I'm curious with you, what do you think? When you went to bed last night, do you feel like you were 1% better or do you feel like you were the exact same person that woke up? Because if you're the exact same person when you woke up, nothing's going to change in your life. But if you're 1% better and you do that every single day for the next year, that's 365% better. That's 3.6 times better

Starting point is 00:02:17 than you are right now, simply by focusing on little teeny tiny things to get better every single day. And the reason why this is important is because your current circumstance in life, the way that you look, the way that you feel, the relationships that you're in, the amount of money in your bank account, the success or lack of success in your business, all of those are just lagging results of past habits, traits, behaviors, and actions. That's it. Results don't come right away. That's the interesting thing about them. So where you are right now is based off of decisions that you made in your past. Six months ago, three months ago, a year ago, two years ago. You don't get results right away most of the time. It usually takes time. They lag. So if you look at your life right now, if you don't like where you are, I'm going to give you a harsh reality. You chose to be there.

Starting point is 00:03:10 If you don't like where you are right now in your life, you chose to be there. Whether you realize it or not, there was a bunch of decisions that you made to allow yourself to be in the position that you're in. That's the beautiful thing about life, is that no matter where your life is, you can always blame yourself for it. If you look at your life, and this is one of the very first things my mentor, actually, my very first mentor, I don't remember anything else he told me in two years. I remember it was all really good. But I remember one conversation where he literally said that you have to become the CEO of your life. If you wake up one day and you're 85 years old and you don't like where your life is at,

Starting point is 00:03:45 it's your fault. But if you wake up at 85 years old and you love where your life is at, it's also your fault. Wherever you are in life, you chose to be there. And that can be something that's very empowering. But for some people, it can also be a really big smack in the face because your past decisions got you to where you currently are. Can't blame anybody else. You got to stop blaming other people. Don't take any blame and put it on anything external. Oh, well, my mom was this way. My dad was this way. My dad was an alcoholic. I was raised in this part of town. My sister always used to tell me I was ugly. I was raised with a bunch of poor people, so I never knew what it looked like to be rich.

Starting point is 00:04:26 And it's all of their fault. It's the government's fault. It's the president's fault. It's the president before him's fault. It's the president before the president's fault. You can blame everybody if you want to, but it's not going to change your circumstances. You've got to learn to take all of your blame

Starting point is 00:04:39 and put it on yourself, which for some people can feel stressful, but it can also be extremely empowering because you realize that you're the only one that's going to change your life. That's empowering. So if you don't like where you are, you chose to be there based off the decisions that you've made in the past. And your habits come from a story that you are telling yourself about yourself. This is where it gets interesting. We're going to start talking about your identity, okay? Your habits and actions that you take come from the story that you're telling yourself about yourself. So if you say stuff like,

Starting point is 00:05:15 I'm lazy. I procrastinate. Being overweight runs in my family. That's why I'm overweight. overweight runs in my family. That's why I'm overweight. I love to sleep in. I'm always late. I love food too much to lose weight. If you tell yourself any of that shit, that's the identity that you have created for yourself. And you are going to take the actions that align with that identity. So if you say, oh, my family's all overweight, so I'm going to be overweight as well. If you say that, you have now placed an identity on top of yourself. My family's overweight. I'm going to be overweight as well. If I take the identity of I'm going to be overweight because my family's overweight, then I'm going to take actions that line up with that identity. Why the hell would I ever work out if I think to myself, I'm going to be overweight no matter what I do?

Starting point is 00:06:05 Because if I'm going to be overweight no matter what I do, why the hell would I go to the gym? That doesn't sound fun. I'm still going to be overweight. So I'm going to take actions, not going to the gym, that line up with my identity, being overweight, which is going to then make my identity, being overweight, a reality. I will be overweight. If I say to myself, oh yeah, you know, I love food too much. It's just a part of the way I was raised. It's my culture, you know, for us to eat big meals together and all that. If that's your identity, then you're going to eat more than you probably should. And you're going to have a hard time breaking the habit of eating something that's bad for you or

Starting point is 00:06:40 too much for you into something that's healthy. If you have the identity of that's just the way I am, I'm always going to be overweight, why would you ever eat a salad? If I had the choice, if someone came to me and said, hey, Rob, I've got a salad right here and I've got a pepperoni pizza right here. Which one do you want? Pepperoni pizza is going to win every damn day. Why? Because it's so much freaking better than salad. We can all agree on that, can't we? So if I know that I'm going to be overweight no matter what I do, why would I ever eat healthy? Why would I eat a salad when I can eat pizza? I'm going to be fat anyways, right? I'm going to be overweight because that's just my reality. That's the results that I'm going to have. So why don't I just do what I need to do? I have created an identity in my head. I'm taking actions that line up with that identity and my results from

Starting point is 00:07:26 that identity will create the identity that I have, which is still overweight. And this goes with lazy. This goes with broke. This goes with I procrastinate too much. This goes with I'm late all the time. Your actions and habits will stem from what you believe about yourself. So if you want to become 1% better every single day, guess what you're going to have to do? You're going to have to work on your mindset every single day. Your mindset's going to have to get 1% better every single day because your identity needs to shift. You're under no obligation to be who you were five minutes ago. It's what Alan Watts always says, right? If you want to be a different person tomorrow, you've got to shift your belief in who you are today. If you think you're overweight, you're not going to work out. If you think you're

Starting point is 00:08:09 going to be overweight no matter what, you're not going to eat healthy. You're going to be overweight anyways. Why would you put your body through stress and eat something that doesn't taste as good? You have to change your internal story in order to change your external results. in order to change your external results. So you got to change your behaviors, but true behavior change is actually a change in identity. That's what people don't realize. I heard a crazy statistic the other day. For people who lose weight, at least 20 pounds, do you know what percentage of them keep the weight off? Let me ask it another way. Out of 100% of people that go and they lose 20 pounds, what percent of them do you think actually go back to that weight? Say it out loud to yourself. What do you think it is? I asked my videographer before she started.

Starting point is 00:08:57 She said 50%. The number is 97%. 97% of people, 97% of people that lose at least 20 pounds gain it back in the next couple years. 3% of people keep it off. There's a lot of reasons why. One of them has to do with their identity. Another really big reason why is who they surround themselves with. If you lose weight and then you hang out with a lot of other people who are overweight, you're more likely to be overweight. If you have one friend that's obese, you have 57% higher chance of being obese if you have one friend that's obese. So if you lose weight, but all your friends are still overweight, you're probably going to gain all the weight back.

Starting point is 00:09:40 If you lose weight and you start hanging out with people who are extremely fit, you're probably going to be in that 3% that continue to keep the weight back. If you lose weight and you start hanging out with people who are extremely fit, you're probably going to be in that 3% that continue to keep the weight off. It has to do with your community that you surround yourself with. It has to do with the identity of the way you actually see yourself. Same thing works if you think of someone who grows a successful business and they keep it and they continue to grow it and grow it and grow it versus running into the ground. The person who grows it and grows it and grows it usually is somebody who is surrounding themselves with other people who are growing their business as well. That's keeping them motivated to go in that direction. And a lot of it has to do with the community. And the other bit of it has to go with, obviously, the identity that they have.

Starting point is 00:10:17 So changing your behaviors, true behavior change is actually a change in identity. It's saying, this is who I am. that this is who I am will dictate the actions that you take all of the time, just the way that it goes. This show is sponsored by BetterHelp. Hey, you ever wish that you had a user manual for your life or your mind or everything else around you? Well, unfortunately, life doesn't come with a user manual. So when it's not working for you, it's normal to feel like you're stuck. Navigating through any of life's challenges can make you feel unsure, whether it's a career change, a new relationship, or becoming a parent. And therapists are trained to help you figure out the cause of

Starting point is 00:10:52 the challenging emotions and learn productive coping skills, which makes therapy the closest thing to a guided tour of a complex engine that's called you. And BetterHelp has connected over 3 million people with licensed therapists. It's convenient and accessible anywhere, and it's 100% online. And if you know me, you know that I recommend that everyone sees a therapist at least once in their life so that they can understand themselves at a deeper level. And as I said before, as the world's largest therapy service, BetterHelp has matched 3 million people with professionally licensed and vetted therapists 100% online. Plus, it's affordable. Just fill out a brief questionnaire to match with a therapist. And if things aren't clicking, you can easily switch to a new therapist

Starting point is 00:11:28 anytime. It couldn't be simpler. No waiting rooms, no traffic, no endless searching for the right therapist. Learn more and save 10% off your first month at betterhelp.com slash dial. That's betterhelp, H-E-L-P.com slash dial. Your bank account, just so you know, is a result of your spending and earning habits. Let's make this as simple as possible. When you look at your bank account, if you don't like your bank account and how much is in it, your bank account is a result of only two things, how much you earn and how much you spend. Nothing else. How much you earn, how much money comes in, how much you spend, how much money you let go out of it. So if you want to change your bank account, you've either got to earn more or you've got to spend less or both. That's it. Your body

Starting point is 00:12:15 is a result of your eating habits, your working out habits, and how you take care of yourself. So if you want to change your body and make it better, you've either got to change the amount of working out that you do and the way you work out, or you've got to change the way that you eat or both. That's it. Your business is simply a result of the hard work, the dedication, the work habits, and the commitment that you have to your business. That's it. It's very simple. People make life and happiness and success so hard. They struggle their way to get there. But when you take a 10,000-foot view and you go, let's look at it from 10,000 feet, you go, yeah, it's really not that hard. If I want to lose weight, I got to work out more.

Starting point is 00:12:57 I got to eat healthier. If I want to lose weight, I've got to have a deficit in my calories. I've got to burn more calories than I consume. That's it. There's nothing else. If I want to make more money, have more money in my bank account, in my savings, I've got to either make more money or spend less money or both. That's it. There's nothing else that's to it. And so you just make simple habits around it, but you've got to ask yourself, what is your identity around that? If my identity is I've been broke my entire life, my entire family is broke, we've always been poor, we've always struggled, rich people have to screw people over in order to make their money. If that's the identity that I have around myself and around other people who

Starting point is 00:13:33 are rich, then I'm going to have a really hard time taking the action that I need to, to become wealthy. Simply because my identity is wrapped around this fake story. It's this narrative, this story that we're telling ourselves at all points in time. And James Clear has a quote that I love, and it's, every action is a vote for the person that you want to become, whether you realize you're doing it or not. Every action is a vote for the person that you want to become. So how are you voting? Are you voting to become the person that you want, with the body that you want to become. So how are you voting? Are you voting to become the person that you want with the body that you want, with the bank account that you want, the relationship that you want? Or are you voting and not realizing it for becoming the person that

Starting point is 00:14:13 you don't want to become? Not in the shape that you want, not with the relationship that you want, not with the bank account that you want, not with the business that you want. And it's little teeny tiny habits. That's why it's 1% better, not 400% better tomorrow. And it's little teeny tiny habits. That's why it's 1% better, not 400% better tomorrow. 1% better. It's little teeny tiny habits. Nobody dies from eating one hamburger. They don't. They don't have a heart attack from eating one hamburger. They have a heart attack from a bunch of decisions over 5, 10, 15, 20, 30, 40 years. Decisions, little tiny decisions. They accumulated over years and years and they compounded to get them to a heart attack at 55 years old, whatever it is. No one gets fit from one pushup. No,

Starting point is 00:14:53 you guys know that. It's a lot of work and time put into it. And then one, two, three years down the road, now they've got the body that they want. No one gets smart from reading one book. No, it's a bunch of reading books and having a dedication to knowledge, having a dedication to the body that they want, having a dedication to the relationship that they want, having a dedication to the bank account that they want, having a dedication to whatever it is that you want. Tiny habits make up who you are. What are your tiny habits? If I were to follow you around, I always ask this. I said, if I were to follow you around, I always ask this. I said, if I were to follow you around all day, every day with a pen and paper and write down every

Starting point is 00:15:29 single thing that you do, what habits do you have that you'd be worried about me seeing? What actions do you take or not take that you would be like, oh shit, I don't want Rob to see this? Think about that for a second. Because those are the ones that have got to go. Those are the ones you've got to get rid of. Are you the type of person to wake up on time? Or are you the type of person to hit the snooze button 17 times every single day? Are you the type of person to spend money? Or are you the type of person to save it? Are you the type of person to eat that unhealthy food? Or are you the type of person to say no to the unhealthy food and go for the food that you know you should? Are you the type of person that says, oh, I need a glass of wine every single

Starting point is 00:16:06 night? Or are you the type of person that says, you know what? I've come to realize that it's not good for me to be able to drink every single night, so I'm going to not drink every single night. I saw a study not too long ago about what one glass of wine over the course of an entire week does to your brain compounded over 10, 20 years. And it literally, if the guy's name is Dr. Amen, if you want to go to him, he's got a book called Change Your Brain, Change Your Life, A-M-E-N. Dr. Amen literally puts holes in your brain from having one alcoholic drink every single week. Holy shit, right? But if you look at someone's brain at 60 years old who decided to drink a little bit and they've got a brain that isn't complete, when you look at the scan, it's because of just decisions that they made. There's no right or wrong. There's no judgment. It's just simple. You're going to get the results

Starting point is 00:16:55 of your life based off of the decisions and the actions that you take. That's it. There's nothing else. You're going to get the results based off of decisions and actions that you have in your life. That's it. Those things come from your identity. And that's what we're trying to shift every single day to become 1% better, right? We only see people who are successful in their end result at the end, but we don't see the little teeny tiny things that they did for 5, 10, 15, 20 years to get there. The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. And we start something brand new and we're excited to start about something brand new. And then within two weeks, we're pissed off because we're not at mile 1000 yet. No, dude, you're at mile, you're literally step 14 and you're pissed

Starting point is 00:17:32 off that you're not at mile 1000. Every single day is another step. You got to know that the journey, as long as you're on the right path, as long as you're on the right path to get there and you're progressing there every single day, it's a win. And you've got to just know that eventually time will get you to where you want to be. You can't be pissed off that you're not where you want to be two weeks into starting a brand new business. You're not there yet. It's not time. You can't look on Instagram and see somebody who has a Lamborghini or the body that you don't have and be like, oh yeah, well, they were just born with money or they were just blessed with that body. No, they fucking took action to make the money that they wanted to, to get the Lamborghini, or they worked out and ate in order to get that body.

Starting point is 00:18:11 Like just simply look at it. Stop giving excuses to why you're not having the body or the Lamborghini that they have and simply realize they did actions that got them that body or that Lamborghini. And if I take actions, I can get that body or that Lamborghini as well. It's that simple. Don't compare yourself to other people. And also don't compare yourself, if you're week one in the gym, to some woman who's been working out for five years and be like, well, I'm not where she is. You can't compare your chapter one to somebody else's chapter 20. As long as you're on the journey and trying to improve every single day and noticing, oh, you know what? Well, at least I'm working out four times a week now. Three weeks ago, I wasn't working out at all. At least I've

Starting point is 00:18:48 lost a pound in the past couple of weeks. At least I'm not eating the food that I was eating. You're on the path to where you want to go. That's all that really matters. It's the path of just changing yourself and becoming a little bit better every single day. You can't compare yourself to other people because some people have been on the path, the same path that you're now on or starting to get on for a lot longer than you. Stop comparing your chapter one to somebody else's chapter 20. Stop shaming the other people and stop making excuses as to why you're there there because they're blessed with certain genetics and because they're blessed with being in a family that gave them enough money to get a Lamborghini or whatever it is and go, you know what? Good for them. They've gotten, they're just a little bit further along in this journey than I am. I'm going to be there one day

Starting point is 00:19:27 as well. Who do you want to be in 10 years? What do you want your actions to line up with? What actions do you need to take in order to line up with that life? Do your actions right now line up with that future 10 years from today? Do your current actions look like the habits and the actions of the person that you need to become? Because if they don't, shift them, move them, change them just a little bit. It's never what you need to do in order to get to the life that you want. It's who you need to become in order to make that life happen. That's the interesting thing about it is most people think, oh, I need to do all of these things, which I agree with. But if I become the type of person who is healthy and I tell myself that I'm healthy and stop telling myself, oh, my entire family is just overweight,

Starting point is 00:20:13 that's what I'm going to be. But if I tell myself I am a healthy person, I will start to make healthier decisions. It's not about what you need to do in order to get the life that you need or you want. It's about who you need to become in order to get the life that you want. And if you become that person, you will simply start to do the things that that type of person will do. And you have to change a lot less about yourself than you realize, a whole lot less. There's maybe five or 10 things that you really need to change about yourself to have massive changes in your life. And I'm talking about little tiny changes. It's not 50 different changes, not a hundred different changes 100 different changes. It's like wake up earlier, have a morning routine, meditate a little bit, read a little bit, eat food that's good for you

Starting point is 00:20:53 and realize that food is medicine. Stop poisoning your body. Stop procrastinating and just start taking action. Stop making excuses as to why you're not where you want to be. Take full ownership of your life. Work out three, four, five times a week and stop watching TV and the news. And if you do most of those things, you're going to have a pretty damn good life in about 10 years. It's not a million things that you need to change. It's just a few things throughout your day. It's just about being 1% better. So it's not about being a brand new person tomorrow. It's about being 1% better when you go to bed tonight than you were when you woke up. And you have to decide, is this journey that I'm on, is it a hobby? Is it something that I'm

Starting point is 00:21:30 just trying out? Or is this a lifestyle? Is this a lifestyle of me just trying to be better every single day? And all you have to do, and this is what I want you to do, an assignment I'm going to give you if you're listening to this, okay? I want you to identify three to five small habits, not massive habits, three to five small habits that you want to implement and start implementing into your day every single day. And then once you write those down, I want you to ask yourself, how can I make taking action on these easier and make a plan to make these easier? And eventually, if you just keep improving a little bit every single day, you'll wake up a year from today and you realize, holy shit, I'm in a much better place than I was 12 months ago at this

Starting point is 00:22:05 very moment. So that's what I got for you for today's episode. If you love this episode, please do me a favor. Please go ahead and go to iTunes, Apple Podcasts, however you listen to us and give us a rating and review. It helps the podcast more than you could possibly know. It helps us pop up in the organic rankings. It helps us pop up and become more identifiable to people who don't know who we are. And we grow organically in the podcast gross from as well. So please go ahead and give a rating review if you've ever gotten any information that's been valuable for you. And if you want to receive an email from me every single Monday, I have a Monday mindset email with my intention going into every single week. All you have to do is go to mondayemail.com.

Starting point is 00:22:46 It is absolutely free. You can see what my intentions are going into every single week. And if you like it, you can take those intentions and start to put them into your week as well. So go to mondayemail.com right now. Sign up. It's absolutely free. And once again, I'm going to leave you the same way I leave every single episode. Make it your mission.

Starting point is 00:23:01 Make someone else's day better. I appreciate you. And I hope that you have an amazing day.

The Mindset Mentor - 1% Better Every Day

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