Learn. Apply. Share.

Weekly Recap

Happy Tuesday!

Well, today hit exactly how I thought it would - weird being back to writing the 1159.

And late at night … we are SO back 🙃

Attempting a new thing is pretty easy - we’re naturally curious - but picking back up something you’ve dropped and getting back into an old (good) habit … whoaaaaaa that’s tough haha.

Anywho - pretty solid week on my end, ton of work and self-reflection.

How have you been?

Learn. Apply. Share.

Ok, so I am writing what I am pretty sure will become a series on identity.

I’ve been told parts of this is not worth subscribing to and is immature (“grow up and be a man”).

So I welcome the unsubscribing below (I made it easier through the link at the bottom).

That said, I’m still going to share because what you’ll realize is that it’s the most maturing thing we can do; to understand who God made us to be, and why.

It’s REMARKABLE once you see His pattern for the body, talents, gifts, in a not weird oooh-aaah way.

BUT, I’m not ready because my thoughts are as jumbled as the skittles in the family-size bag.

…. I 100% thought that analogy would land better … it did not.

SO. Here we are with a refresher since some readers are new here.

I have a personal motto I’ve held to for some time now and plan to indefinitely.

LEARN. APPLY. SHARE.

Continuous improvement is something I aspire to daily.

Am I the best at it, no way, but I certainly am doing my best to level up.

Each component of the flywheel of CI can be distilled into these three words, each meaning exactly what they say.

LEARN.

We should be lifelong learners.

Constantly discovering the next unlock, the next ah-ha, the next knowledge nugget (as Matthew calls them - love that name).

But what good is learning, or knowledge, if we aren’t applying the lessons we learn.

APPLY.

This is the hardest part.

Learning requires nothing more than not being apathetic, arrogant, or just downright lazy.

Applying requires action, discipline, diligence, and tenacity.

Application of lessons learned is 10X-100X harder imho.

But this is where we start making ground in our lives.

It’s not about being perfect, it’s about doing the best we can, with the most we’re given, at the time we’re placed in.

9/10 times you will look silly, and 10/10 times you will FEEL silly.

Do it anyway.

BUT - how do you keep getting better to the point where that applying is looking pretty “swanky” as they say?

I propose to you that it’s through sharing what you are learning and how you are applying that you create the most LEVERAGE (as it pertains to growing).

The only hard part about this is other people’s voices. Everything else is pretty simple about this phase.

Take the lesson you learned, share about it in your own words (you’ll probably just in this step alone realize you missed something or have ANOTHER ah-ha moment), and then share how you are applying this new found lesson.

This last part creates what we call ACCOUNTABILITY.

If you don’t have accountability in your life, you are so far less than you can be.

There, I said it.

Seriously, I’ve watched the strongest fail and fall so miserably because they didn’t have accountability.

And I have been so challenged by the lack of accountability in my own life (still working on this advisory concept, I'm really excited but really nervous at the same time).

It is ESSENTIAL to success, and being open about what you are applying, and having those people supporting you - man it's a powerful thing.

So back to sharing - you create three things when you share what you are learning and applying.

1. A mirror to look back at what you learned and how you stack up - more often than not, you learn something new in the sharing process
2. An accountability system - more often than not, you will have people check in and ask how it’s going applying “xyz” OR say “I thought you were [xyz] why are you [abc] right now?”
3. A feedback loop - more often than not, people will share their own discoveries, findings, lessons, applications, tools, resources, etc…. This likely will help you 2X-5X your learning/applying

And that’s one of the main reasons I have kept the 1159 alive (on life support these past few months, but hey, we’re making a comeback).

Because at the end of the day, I’m no more than a young guy just doing his very best to grow, create value, make an impact, drive transformation, and be present for those who matter most to me.

Some of my lessons probably feel small to some readers and big to others.

Some of my applications probably seem dumb and obvious to some and profound and enlightening to others.

I share regardless, not because I have it figured out, but because we’re all figurING it out together.

As you’ll see in my next few emails, the whole point is growing, building up, maturing.

It’s absolutely profound, and yet so freeing when you realize that no matter how dire the straits (believe me, I’ve been in better times too) there is always hope because the point was never perfection, it was perfectING in a journey-sort-of-sense.

Believe me, it’s edge-of-your-seat level discovering about to hit your inbox next week - and it’s live-time processing, so please, please, please reply anytime with pushback, feedback, suggestions, ideas, and even input to make the next email better.

In the meantime - have an INCREDIBLE week!

Live purpose-filled and relationship rich!

-DC