31. The Macro Mindset

One of the reasons I think personal training is such a fantastic investment is because it takes all the thought out of going to the gym. If you have a trainer, all you have to do is show up and do as you’re told. Without thinking, you can accomplish something that if given time to think, you may not do at all.

We think too much. We get worked up over minuscule details and get stuck in the micro when we should be in the macro. It’s not that the micro details of everything we do are not important, it’s just that they’re not the most important.

For example, the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada (FINTRAC) puts rather anal scrutiny on every real estate transaction in the country. Coming into the industry as a new real estate agent in 2020, I was taught a wild amount about FINTRAC and all the dangers of not properly filing client information and the detriments of incorrect identification documents. I spent a completely disproportionate amount of time learning about this compared to learning the duties of being a successful, respected realtor. It’s not that FINTRAC requirements are not important, it’s that generating business and providing exceptional service is more important.

Everything seems to be constructed around the micro details when the macro long term influence is neglected and treated like an afterthought. It took us about 1 focused afternoon to dial in a sound business model for our gym, but it took 2 years to get the city permits, construct the facility and fulfill all the inspection requirements. Again, it’s not that the little details don’t matter, but those little details nearly killed us before ever getting to serve our community with a brand new training facility.

Nobody checked in and said hey before we give you this permit to operate can we review your business plan and talk about the influence you want to have on the City of Abbotsford? Instead, they inspected our light fixtures and made sure we had the right toilets.

I’m getting off track here, but what I’m trying to say is that what we do should be the product of a larger vision. Elon Musk didn’t build Tesla because he wanted to take over market share in the automobile industry (though he did want that), he created Tesla to create long term sustainable energy for the whole planet. The micro is figuring out what kind of wiper will fit on the Cybertruck windshield, the macro is building Superchargers in every place you can get gas. Author Ashlee Vance gives us a great insight into the life and desires of Musk himself in his 2015 book “Elon Musk” in case you’re interested.

I imagine Musk himself has given precious little thought into windshield wipers. He knows they need to be produced, but he’s got people for that, and if he had to do it himself, I bet he wouldn’t spend long on it. Again, it’s not that the windshield wiper is not important, it’s that it’s not the most important.

Do take care of the small minuscule details. Do not give them big detail thought.

Cutting your fingernails cannot be neglected, but don’t think about it just do it and move on. Going to the gym is necessary, but if you spend too much time thinking about what to do when you get there you might get lost before you arrive.

As Jedi master Qui-Gon Jin once told a young Anakin Skywalker: “Feel. Don’t think. Use your instincts.”

The way I like to look at it is from a mechanical perspective. Just like when you put your foot down on the clutch before you start the car. It’s not something you need to think about doing. It’s mechanical. If you have an appointment with your personal trainer, you don’t have to think about going, you just have to go. Make it mechanical. You’ve already put in the work and decided that you have to take your health seriously.

When I sell a property, I always take care of the FINTRAC stuff first. I do it mechanically and file it away so I can focus on what’s important: negotiating the deal and ensuring the success of my client’s efforts.

Keep the main thing the main thing.

In order to do this effectively, you of course need to know what it is that you’re doing, which is what I think people are struggling with these days. We get so caught up in the micro because we don’t know what we’re doing in the bigger picture.

Do I need to make sure my personal training client has the perfect shoe for exercise? Or should I put my efforts into keeping them motivated and attentive to my instruction so they can live a long, healthy, abundant life? If question 1 interferes with question 2, we’ll make sure the shoes change, but not otherwise.

Know your mission, your role and your obligations. If you’re clear in that area, you can be mechanical in other areas. Don’t spend your time worrying about windshield wipers or shoes. Work towards bettering yourself and the world around you.

At the same time, remember that those little details I’m bashing do actually matter, so if you can’t be mechanical about them, double down and get better. If I didn’t learn about FINTRAC and Elon didn’t build a business big enough to have windshield wiper people, we’d have to spend a lot of time and effort into something that does not yield results (yes, I did just put myself and Elon Musk in the same sentance 🧐). Malcolm Gladwell would probably say something like it will take you 10,000 hours before you can become mechanical with certain skills, but that’s been heavily debated, so the point is that you need to be very direct with your efforts. Meaning, where are your efforts directing you? If the 10,000 hours spent perfecting a micro detail enables you to free up time and make a larger impact down the road, there’s your green light.

Recognizing the green lights is only possible if you know where you’re going. If it was up to Matthew McConaughey, where you’re going would be directly towards your dreams. If you’re to do that, you need to discover what it will take to go there. Then, if you see a green light, don’t think, just go.

— Cody

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