Read this closely, because in this essay I’m going to show you how to get so locked in that you inspire other people to level up and strive for their highest potential.

They’ll ask about who you are and when they hear about your story, they’ll literally wonder how you do what you do.

The only times in my life where I leveled up like crazy is when I got insanely focused on my goals.

That’s how I went from looking like the skeleton in my 10th grade biology classroom (as one of my classmates so eloquently put it), to being shredded af in my late 30s.

It’s also how I found the courage to leave my corporate 9-5, move to Europe, and start The Focus Algorithm.

Naturally, people who’ve witnessed my journey have reached out for advice because they’re at an inflection point in life where they’re ready to make some sort of major decision.

They’re usually ready to stop doing something that’s holding them back — something they know is not aligned with their broader vision for life. And they’re ready to start a new chapter that’ll propel their life forward.

I noticed that most people in this position merely dabble with the idea of making a change. They think about it for longer than they should. They rarely take decisive action, and when they do, they half-ass it.

Because big changes come with big risks. They’re extraordinarily uncomfortable, and they inevitably introduce adversity into peoples lives.

It’s at this point of tension were most dreams die.

Because when it comes time to actually commit to a process and take meaningful steps to a better lifestyle, people get so caught up in their own minds that they never fully lock in.

So in this article I’m going to give you the same mental process that I go through to take the difficult path in life with supreme confidence in my decisions no matter how uncomfortable it is and no matter how much adversity it entails.

Purpose, meaning, your mission in life requires difficult times. It requires you to be uncomfortable

And I don’t mean the whole “you have to step outside of your comfort zone” cliche.

Because what does that even mean? I can step outside when the weather is really hot or cold, and be outside of my comfort zone. That’s not exactly what’s going to change your life.

Being uncomfortable means being extraordinarily uncertain as to whether you’re making the optimal decision.

It means “crossing the Rubicon”, “burning the boats" — taking decisive action and being prepared for whatever comes of it, good or bad.

And it’s this kind of discomfort that keeps people stuck in life because they avoid it like the plague.

But if you frame what lies before you in a very specific way, it’ll completely change how you think about the discomfort of making major lifestyle changes.

You’ll go from hesitating, to feeling like you’re obligated to take the difficult path that leads to growth and personal development.

In my experience, it’s this mental shift that gets a person to be so locked in, so focused on some sort of mission in life, that basically nothing can get in their way.

This is not elaborate. Your purpose is most likely not to save the world or end world hunger. While those are noble ambitions, let’s keep it closer to home for now.

Your purpose is to overcome the greatest pain point in your life. That’s it. Your pain is your purpose.

And by pain point I don’t necessarily mean something bad or tragic. Your pain point is whatever is bothering you and keeping you up at night.

The reason your purpose is so incredibly important is because it’s what gives you the fortitude to endure discomfort.

What’s strange about this is that, the benefit of overcoming your greatest pain point is not the pleasure you experience on the other side. It actually lies in the growth that happens through the struggle.

One final point about your purpose — it must be ONE thing, and one thing only.

Yes you have multiple obligations and ambitions in life. But you should only have one priority at a time.

This is a common mistake that I see members of my private network make. On the very first day, I have them draft up a purpose statement and they typically come up with a laundry list of things that they’re trying to focus on.

This is literally the opposite of focus or being locked in.

All that will do is lead to mediocrity across the board, rather than driving transformational change in the one domain that is highest importance in this particular chapter of their lives.

We’ll talk through it and it turns out that there is usually one thing that is significantly more critical for them while everything else can wait.

I probably talk about having an anti-vision more than anything else.

The rationale is that most of us don’t really know what we want in life. One day we want this, the next day we want that.

But when it comes to setting the direction of your life, focusing on what you want misses the forest for the trees.

Because the real motivator in life is avoidance of pain.

You want your anti-vision to be so vivid that when you compare future pain to not taking action with the present day discomfort, it’s undeniably obvious that choosing the path of discomfort today is better than staying in your comfort zone only to experience the pain of regret in the future.

This is what anti-visioning does. It brings the future pain (the future cost of inaction) forward into the present day and it gives you way more clarity about about which path is the right path for you.

You’ve done the hard part by setting your anti-vision.

So now you’re not going to reinvent the wheel by trying to build your vision from scratch.

Your vision is the equal opposite of your anti-vision.

You get the idea.

So use your anti-vision to set your vision, then you’re ready to move onto the next step.

This is where things start to really come together.

Because your purpose, your anti-vision, and your vision are not things that you walk around with on a daily basis.

You’re not necessarily navigating through your daily life thinking about your vision. So you need something that you can keep in your mental back pocket and use every day.

That’s where your values come into play.

Your values are your decision filters. When you’re faced with a tough decision, especially one that might require you to sacrifice comfort today for future delayed gratification, your values are going to point you in the right direction.

Your values are going to be 3 to 5 single words that capture the essence of your vision.

For example, my values are:

So when I was faced with the decision of staying with my job and collecting a steady paycheck or venturing out on my own and moving to Portugal, my values of autonomy and exploration applied.

Or when I decided to give up alcohol my values of health and connection came into play.

And when I gave up 99% of my material possessions, my value of simplicity gave me the guidance I need.

So you’ll do the same. You’ll set your values, and hold them true no matter what.

Do not live for someone else’s values, unless they also align with yours.

I genuinely think this is where many people are led astray, because they really don’t know what they value. Or they know but they have never explicitly stated them, thus they get stuck when it’s time to actually put their feet on the pavement and walk the talk.

Goals are just targets.

I’ll be honest, I’m not a huge fan of long-term goals.

Because who you are today is not who you will be 5 years from now.

I believe we all go through mini self-reinvention cycles every 5 years or so, where we pick up new interests, new worldviews, etc.

In fact if you look back at your life 5 or 10 years ago, you might even cringe at some things were doing or beliefs that you had. That’s a testament to how much we evolve over the years.

So I personally like goals that give you clear and actionable direction today. There are a few timeframes that I suggest, depending on your level of motivation and the nature of your goal:

Within one of these timeframes, you’ll want to set an ambitious, yet realistic target.

For example, if your vision entails entrepreneurship, then you may set a 1-month goal to landing your first paying client or customer.

Ambitious? Yes.

Unrealistic? Nope.

In fact, it may seem ambitious, but when you’re actually locked in, you’d be amazed at what you can accomplish in such a short amount of time.

Now that you’ve set a goal now you just need to set a small subset of ultra-high-leverage non-negotiable rules for locking in.

You don’t want a million rules. The aim isn’t to be perfect. Rather it is to immediately capture the low hanging fruit that’s going to account for 80% of the behavioral changes you need to make to succeed in your goals.

And remember, these must be ultra-high-leverage, meaning small changes yield asymmetric results.

An example of ultra-high-leverage rules to follow for the duration of your lock in include:

This is not a collectively exhaustive list, but you can probably see that these are small adjustments that have cascading effects on multiple domains of your life.

For those who’re at an inflection point in life and ready to take decisive action, then consider joining the next cohort of my private network so we can work together in getting you locked in for your next major chapter.

Or schedule a one-time consultation with me.