Whether it’s on my Facebook, Instagram, or website, I enjoy interacting with my fans and followers.
It’s never a dull moment and if my recent Reddit AMA was anything to go by, I’d love to do that again soon.
I truly appreciate all the warm and heartfelt comments and it never ceases to amaze me how someone like myself can inspire others.
The world can always do with more love, so pour it on!
While I’m humbled and honored in many cases, I still feel it’s important to remind everyone that I’m not perfect.
And you shouldn’t just follow me. Or at least what I do.
This probably sounds crazy given how I’m trying to get more people to listen to my podcast and visit my website.
But yet, it’s a truth that needs to be said.
During one of my recent solocasts, Cody and I had a candid conversation about the routines of successful people.
I’ve harped on routines both on my podcast and in my blog. I swear by them.
Despite how much I revere routines, I understand that they may not work for everyone.
We were quick to put out a disclaimer. Don’t act as I do.
And it’s not because my actions are inherently flawed.
Rather, it’s because circumstances and situations can differ greatly from person to person.
And simply following what Rich Franklin did may not help you. In fact, you could even fail at your goals simply by following what I did.
I’m so used to water cooler conversations that it’s almost second nature to dispense “five minutes” worth of nutrition and diet advice.
Eat this, train that. Do 4 days a week, take a day off. Etc.
Does that fully account for your current dietary habits or pre-existing medical conditions?
Just because I make my bed in the morning and have relied on it as a keystone habit to go about my day doesn’t necessarily mean you need to do the same.
Maybe you’re more of a night owl and can actually get deep work done past midnight.
I fail to realize that my followers, fans or even friends aren’t my “clients”.
I’m not a certified nutritionist or dietician. Neither am I a professional trainer or productivity guru.
As much as possible, I’ve always tried to distill complexity into simple rules and fundamental principles.
Even when I was competing in the UFC, I took the most general advice and worked on becoming better.
I drilled the familiar, stuck to the basics and honed my techniques.
It was bland but effectively boring, as my results in the octagon would prove.
I’ve sought to replicate the same formula in my daily life. By sharing what has worked for me.
With the hope that by sharing this information, you can make the odd tweak and fine adjustment to get the best formula or process that works for you.
The allure of imitation, particularly as it relates to “successful” or “high-status” individuals is very pronounced.
Just because I’ve achieved success in the UFC does not mean I have all the answers.
In fact, the sport has evolved since I last competed. What was effective then may be useless today.
During a study of chimpanzees and humans, a chimpanzee and a child both saw a person perform a series of irrelevant actions first followed by a single useful action to get a piece of food.
Researchers discovered that to get the food, the chimpanzee knew to skip the irrelevant actions and instead went straight ahead to perform the necessary action.
The child, on the other hand, copied all the actions, including the unnecessary ones.
It’s been theorized that this links back to our prehistoric survival instincts. Most humans learned how to survive by copying others that were “successful”.
I’ve even shared a blog post about how I successfully copied and imitated the techniques of other fighters before me.
While it’s a great way to accelerate your learning and development, it can also at times be a lazy and ineffective solution.
We’ve all seen the “Day in a life” videos about successful entrepreneurs reading books, waking up at 4 am and meditating in the morning.
Rather than follow their routines wholesale, it’s more effective to appreciate the principle behind these actions and see if you can apply them to your own.
Perhaps reading is their means to acquire knowledge, or keep busy while they go about mundane tasks.
For example, don’t just read what they read, instead ask yourself how can I be more effective in accessing and retaining information?
Maybe a cold shower every morning isn’t the answer for you but doing something uncomfortable every morning may help give you the flush of endorphins to kickstart a productive day.
Always remember, find what works for you.
What have you taken from me and made your own? Do share in the comments!