THE LEVEL UP LETTER

Hi All!
Here is your weekly Level Up Letter. This week’s focus is on simplicity. We’re giving you…

• An audit for your life

• A lesson from jujitsu

• The simplest way to achieve your goals

If you one read one part of today’s letter, please make it that last section and put it into action.

Read on for the goods….

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

THE SIMPLICITY AUDIT 

This is a great exercise from Sahil Bloom on reducing complexity in both your work and your personal life. You can see his tweet thread on it here but these are the basics.

For each item in each environment, ask two questions:
1. Is this necessary?
2. Is this energy creating?

There are three potential outcomes:
1. "No" to both—Remove!
2. "Yes" to both—Keep!
3. "Yes" to one—Think! The item is either necessary or creating energy in your life. How necessary is it? How much energy is it creating? Think on it to decide. 

The hardest part of going through this exercise for us was finding the time to sit down and actually do it. In the end it was totally worth the effort to remove a bunch of items and time sucks out of our lives. If you give it a try, let us know how it worked for you!

MAKE THE CIRCLE SMALLER

How a 75yr old woman took down a 280lb man with no effort - by Andy Brohard

One of the first things I learned in Jujitsu (real Japanese jujitsu, not Brazilian) was an escape technique called Katate Hazushi Ichi. It goes like this.

• Someone grabs the outside of your wrist.

• You rotate your wrist so that the radius bone is toward the weak part of their grip (where the thumb and index finger come together)

• You then pivot your arm so that your hand is coming towards your body and your elbow is moving towards them (in a horizontal plane)

• That lever opens their grip and you’re free!

You can watch a demo here.

When I first learned it, it was big, slow and clunky. Kinda like the guy in the video. I learned it well enough to pass my white belt test and move up into yellow. As I progressed up the ranks we’d keep coming back to those initial escapes. Some days I just wanted to work on bigger throws, or new techniques and would say “I already know this. Can’t we do something more?” My sensei would respond with, “we’re going to do it again but make the circle smaller.”

What he meant was, how can I make the movement smaller and get the same result? This is the true difference between a white belt and a black belt. Using minimal amount of movement for maximum amount of effect.

Essentially a spiral fracture type lock that rotates his ulna and radius, locks up his elbow, which locks up his shoulder. Adding the smallest amount of pressure feels like your arm is going to simultaneously shatter, and rip off your body.

So how does this relate to keeping things simple? The hard truth is, sometimes, making things simple takes thousands of repetitions.

Keep doing the work but always remember to make the circle smaller.

JUST TWO QUESTIONS

If you take anything away from this letter today, we hope it’s this. If you want the simplest way to get things done, ask yourself these two questions.

1. What is the single most important thing for me to work towards?

2. What am I committing to do towards it today?

DO THAT THING. Do this everyday and we guarantee you’ll get results.

Don’t over complicate it. Send the email, make the call, ASK for what you want but DO the most important thing every day.

READY TO LEVEL UP?

Looking to Level Up your life or your business? Find out more about how we can help through our Coaching, Mastermind Groups or Consulting services.