Episode 25 - A Lifestyle of Winning
Welcome to Happiness Simplified, a weekly podcast about the simple things that can make your life awesome. In this episode, Kayvon and Dai talk about the continuous battle we have in sticking to our goals. We set goals—like taking care of our health, for instance—and all too soon, we cave and have a doughnut or postpone that next workout for another day. So how can we set the habits that lead us in the right direction? Kayvon and Dai discuss the do’s and the don’ts for how to follow your goals to success and use their own personal goals as an example.
Time Stamped Show Notes:
00:28 – Introduction to the podcast
00:50 – Kayvon and Dai talk about the hockey game they went to the night before
01:21 – Kayvon missed the goal because he went to the restroom
02:30 – Dai shares how he had ideas for future episodes when they were at the game
03:07 – Dai talks about his six cities, Canadian tour
03:48 – Dai shares the importance of prioritizing our health
04:38 – Dai welcomes listeners and explains what they can expect from the podcasts
05:30 – Kayvon shares how priorities can change when life happens
06:11 – Kayvon refers to the book The Achievement Habit by Bernard Roth, that discusses how to apply “design thinking” to your personal life; stop wishing and start doing
07:06 – “Most of the time we are coming up with reasons, because we think we should appear reasonable”
07:48 – Kayvon asks people to answer the question, “Who are the three people they really admire?”
08:22 – Dai answers Steve Jobs, Simon Sinek, and his wife, Christie
09:09 – Are what these people do, in order to be admired, considered reasonable?
10:25 – “Our priorities are our priorities, everything else comes secondary”
11:17 – It is OKAY to be unreasonable
11:58 – Kayvon shares about his goal to be healthy and how he is currently training in Crossfit
12:15 – It might seem unreasonable for others that he spends 3 hours in the gym, but it is his priority
12:50 – Dai shares that it’d be easier to not do things
14:30 – Maintaining health is more critical, especially when travelling
15:05 – It is important to pay attention to the emotional connection of feeling great after working out
15:43 – “Do not rely on your will power”
16:21 – Kayvon’s 1st piece of advice is to stick to a routine and commit yourself to that
16:39 – When you travel, you do not have access to the food you have at home
16:58 – If you made a commitment to yourself that you are not eating sugar, you should commit to that even when you are travelling
17:52 – Sometimes the commitment is about exercising and you can start by taking small steps
19:15 – Turn your commitments into doable, small steps and you may eventually do what you intended in the first place
20:01 – Those are the little victories and winning is contagious
20:24 – Making a daily to-do list and remind yourself about your goals
21:00 – Kayvon completely covers the item on his list with his pen, expressing his total dominance over the task
21:50 – Start small in your goals like adding whole, unprocessed food to your diet
22:45 – The Japanese have “kaizen” which means continuous improvement
23:35 – Constant improvement of 1% adds up at the end of the year
23:55 – Dai mentions how his friend, Jeff Keith, sets up realistic milestones for his team and engages in constant communication with them
24:37 – “How can I create an opportunity to win for myself”
25:15 – Kayvon’s 2nd piece of advice is have a structure and prepare yourself for the things that might happen in order to stick to your goal
26:10 – Kayvon’s 3rd tip is have a community or a support group
27:33 – Dai talks about the tribe he created
27:55 – A member of the tribe shared about her daughter having negative feelings about exercise, but the parents still did the workouts and she eventually joined them
29:21 – What we do for ourselves has an impact on the people around us
29:30 – Dai uses social media to inspire, motivate, and instill confidence
30:20 – “In helping ourselves, we can help others”
31:40 – “If you want to change the people around you, change the people around you”
32:00 – Kayvon and Dai would appreciate feedback and your reviews
3 Key Points:
It is important to prioritize your health and stick to that goal.
Create a routine and commit to it—this is better than relying on willpower to achieve your goals.
Take small measurable steps in achieving your goals—each victory will fuel the next.