Athlete, Actor and Artist, Bruce Lee embodied the growth mindset and was always looking for ways to improve and increase his performance. That said, he was ever conscious of the baggage that he carried forward through life. He was constantly looking for ways to remove the unessential.
“It is not daily increase but daily decrease, hack away the unessential. The closer to the source, the less wastage there is.”
Bruce Lee
Bruce Lee applied this idea primarily to his martial art, but he also applied it in life —moving towards simplicity of movement, thought, and being. Cutting away everything that isn’t essential, and restraining our impulse to keep adding on and accumulating.
Running, is all about elimination
Physically, as a runner I always consider the fine balance of lean muscle to weight. The stronger my legs are, the faster I can run. Yet the more strength training I do the heavier my legs get. I don’t skip leg day, but you won’t find me bench pressing 100kgs or even doing heavy leg presses.
On long runs, I take nutritional drinks in my backpack that replace the need to eat, they’re mixed with water, so I process them faster and don’t need to stop for drinks, and I layer so that I don’t have to stop to get changed. A series of optimisations that give me seconds and minutes of advantage on race day.
The last thing we work on is eliminating pain. It’s a constant battle in recovery, with foam rollers, massage and dry needling all having varying degrees of effectiveness. In the race, it’s the nagging companion you do your best to ignore, try to bury, then embrace to drive you to the finish. It’s there where you can finally pay pain lip service and get ready to do it all again.
Watch for shiny things in business
In business a relentless growth mindset and focus on profits can have you chasing the next shiny thing, adding new lead generation platforms, multiple marketing and sales channels, new features and new products for your customers.
Delegate and focus on your expertise
Focusing on what you’re good at and enjoy and delegating tasks that are unimportant will not only accelerate progress, but with the right selections improve your work day. Call it specialisation, or T-shaped knowledge and skills. Keep an awareness of the latest developments and trends in your realm and sphere of influence in order to measure the effectiveness of your delegation then go deep where you can have the greatest impact.
“Smell the cheese often so you know when it is getting old.”
Who Moved My Cheese? by Spencer Johnson
DELETE the unnecessary
So often we hang on to activities that are giving us results but also weighing us down. Take a hard look at your daily or weekly “To-Do” list and add a “To-Don’t” or two.
Are you keeping a customer for revenues sake who is a pain in the neck, taking up loads of time with support? Are you using a marketing channel that brings that type of lead, just to keep the optics/metrics/growth curve looking good?
Brutal hard deletes like the above are the goal, but maybe some substitutions can get you rolling. Here’s a list of new deletes and replacements that have cropped up in 2020
- Business trips – Zoom
- Movies – Netflix
- Office space – work from home
- Mailing or faxing documents and contracts – use FileInvite
Do your own review. Let me know what you’ve deleted this year to make space for growth, your family, your business goals, your life goals, and your wellbeing.
Nick Allen - Marketing, Growth & Running 
I like the idea of “deleting to make space for growth.” I am retired now, but I am clearing space in my garage in order to expand my workshop. In a way, I am following that suggestion. Great post, Nick!
I’m guessing you have headspace for even more creative workshop projects now too Dan. Does the workshop have AC for the heat?
Having an expanded shop will allow me to work there during more if the year. I can warm up the workspace with space heaters, but the tools remain cold. Cooling may be easier, but the space stays pretty cool, even on hot days. It doesn’t get any sun until mid afternoon. I’m just excited to have one large space instead of two smaller spaces and to have them at the same level.