Advanced training guide

We stopped our previous training guide where you become productive and use what you learn. Only there is no evidence that the way you use your knowledge will be beneficial.  So we need to acquire skills associated with wisdom.

This part of the training is still a work in progress.  It will be finalized by the end of 2021, but you can already use it. I address the skills explained in the masterclasses.

Please expect some bumpy ride. For each step, use as much time as you need to do the job, between 1 and 12 weeks. If you are not pleased with your progress after 6 weeks, please contact me [email protected].

Prior to trying this procedure, complete the intermediate skills training.

Occasionally we need to realign our values with what we learned. This is a normal process. Some people do this once a month, others once a year. I suggest doing it every quarter. Only the first time we execute this procedure, it may take much more than three months. With time and practice, the entire list should be manageable in less than one day.

Value realignment [Teamwork/Investment]

1. Prioritize your strengths. Consider SWOT table.
2. Choose workable values. Something achievable that you can live with.
3. Consider diffusion from sunk costs and prior dreams.
4. Verify that your values are meaningful and modify them otherwise.
5. Write your values down as a sort of declaration

Good values will not make you happy, but bad values can make you miserable. Qualifying achievement: reasonably achievable values that make your life worth living and your future worth looking for.

Smart goals [Investment/Productivity/Anchoring]

1. Address your values you define smart goals.
2. Verify the goals are well-defined using SMARTER methodology.
3. Make sure you have enough resources to achieve the goals.
4. If the goals are not sufficiently stimulating, add extra challenges.
5. Translate the goals into specific steps and milestones.
6. Make sure your goals include all important life areas: family, work, health, and hobbies.
7. Consult the visualization of your future and past self.

Qualifying achievement: a map of what you want to achieve until the next reevaluation.

Deal with anxiety [Teamwork/Anchoring]

1. Procrastination and unwanted focus drifts are often signs of anxiety.
2. Deal with anxieties until they disappear.
3. Visualize yourself in possibly uncomfortable situations, model, and modify the situations until you are comfortable.
4. Diffuse yourself from possible fruits of your effort.
5. Commit to your goals and accept the risks.
6. Visualize your role model handling similar situations.

Qualifying achievement: willingness to do what needs to be done.

Consider alternatives [Investment/Analysis]

1. Brainstorm alternatives for every level: values, goals, milestones, and practical steps.
2. Evaluate the risks, required investment, and return on investment. If you do not see reasonable returns for a specific activity, it is a hobby and should be valued accordingly.
3. Try to gather supporting information for each decision. Analyze the quality of the supporting information.
4. When it is hard to decide, make some simulation or mockup. If you can add a prove of concept to the relevant milestones and delay the final decision, consider it.
5. Evaluate the long-term perspective.

Qualifying achievement: clear exponential growth in long-term perspective.

Feedback [Teaching/Teamwork]

1. To get good feedbacks we often need a mentor and/or a protegee.
2. Find at least one mentor for something new and one protegee for something you do expertly. Mentors provide wisdom, and protegee often provides enthusiasm.
3. Explain your plan and dilemmas to your mentor and protegee.
4. Did you stumble while explaining? Fix the issue. Did you get negative feedback? Address it. Were you offered a new perspective? Evaluate it.
5. Consider getting help with your goals.
6. Try to find someone you can report to as you progress.
7. A hint: our family members are often the most readily available mentors and protegee. Maybe you need to realign your values with values of family members.

Qualifying achievement: responsibility partner to discuss your progress with.

Balance stress levels [Lifestyle]

1. Most of our goals, especially stepping out of o comfort zone, increase stress levels.
2. Add comfortable hobbies to reduce the stress level. Travel/practice grounding/meditate/do sports/play musical instruments.
3. Add control tools and buffers for the emergency handling to your plan/
4. If the plan does not work, you are trying to make it better than it should be. Focus on workable and meaningful results.
5. Ensure that you have surplus resources: time, money, and focus.

Qualifying achievement: a year without a burnout…

Hands-on experience [Tinkering/Lifestyle]

Quite often to be happy we need to build something we can touch. Consider building a small project. Maybe run a blog or build a smart lifehack for your home. Also, consider painting or photography.

Having a second job is also an alternative. Our hobby can make money. It is best for growth potential, creativity, and resilience when the second job is very different from the main job.

Qualifying achievement: tangible results for some of your activities.

Reinvest the surplus [Investment]

Make sure you have financial surplus and reinvest it. Understand the alpha and beta of the investment. Consider dual momentum strategy. Verify you have insurance for risky situations as well as a highly speculative element with a great return on investment. After all, luck is important.

Learn something new [Investment/Intuition]

Make sure that every quarter you learn something new. Try to optimize growth,  return on investment, stress reduction, or intuition. It is possible to change the objective each quarter. You should mitigate the risk that your job or added value can become obsolete.

Iterate and scale [Productivity]

During the implementation every plan undergoes changes. Do not expect to generate a perfect plan. Make something workable and test it. Modify the plan and try again.

Notice that neither happiness nor success is instrumental for this solution. We expect a workable and meaningful life plan to bring happiness. It is also reasonable to assume that wise investment of surplus time and money will eventually make you rich. These are likely long-term results, but there are no guarantees. We can modify the chances, but luck is still important.