AutonomyFirst: Well Designed Tempo

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  Hey, this is Kimsia.

 Today, I want to talk about a foundational template that I discovered back in 2017. And I want to share with you today. This foundational template, I called it the "Well-Designed Tempo".

Birth of the Tempo

This was the third time I was trying to get in shape. And the third time I was trying to do that by hiring a personal trainer. I've been through stages where I went out to get a personal trainer trying to get in shape. Went back to normal. Get another different personal trainer trying to get back in shape and it went back to normal. So this is the third time.

But this time, I swore to myself, it was going to be different. Instead of immediately going out and getting the third trainer, I told myself, okay. I gotta get a very good one. So it's going to be expensive. But before I go and do that, let me make sure that I have established the gym going habit first.

I set myself a challenge, which is.

I need to first be able to go to the gym three times a week for six months. Uninterrupted.

 And on my own.

 And if I can do that then, and only then can I go out and get the expensive trainer. And I managed to do that.

So that was back in 2017. First I gave myself a challenge. On my own. I need to go to a gym. Three times a week for six months. If I can do that, I'll graduate to the stage two, which is going out and get this expensive trainer.

 I was with that trainer for almost a year. After that i was on my own.

Since then, I've been still going to the gym regularly. And as of last week, I got a breakthrough, which is I can now deadlift two times my body weight. Now that would have been unthinkable unimaginable to the younger version of myself, say five years ago.

So that's what I meant by a well-designed tempo.

Three Characteristics of Well-Designed Tempo

There are three characteristics. Number one, there is a stage one and stage two. Stage one is this challenge I gave myself. Stage two is, in this case, hiring the very expensive personal trainer.

The second characteristic is these stages. They are finite.

I gave myself six months. If after six months it doesn't work out, okay, we try something else. Or, maybe I give up on the whole idea altogether.

The third characteristic is actually psychological safety. In the sense that I purposely lowered the standards of what counts as going to the gym.

How I Created Psychological Safety for Going Gym Regularly

When I go to the gym, as long as I stepped foot physically into the gym, I turned back. That still counts as going to the gym once. On my own. If I'd gone in and finished whatever I planned to do, that still counts as one. If I'd gone in, do the planned session, left halfway that still counts as one.

For stage one, as long as I've physically stepped foot, it still counts as one. That really lowers the standards of what counts as going to the gym regularly in stage one. That is how I generate psychological safety in this case.

Coming Back to Video Log Challenge

Now, coming back to this video log. I actually failed to follow this template.

Initially, I said, I was going to do this daily video log in order to get more camera confident. I didn't plan for stage two. There is no clear e nd point to this challenge. There is also no psychological safety. So I'm going to correct this.

Instead of having no clear end point, a clear end point of 50 published video log on YouTube.

Instead of no stage two, stage two would be rewarding myself with an expensive camera. That I expect to use going forward for future video logs.

Instead of having no psychological safety, I'm going to create it by decreasing the frequency. Instead of publishing it every day, I am going to change to just publishing it on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. I'm going to increase psychological safety even more. Creating a buffer by filming and editing ready to go videos. Just in case.

So there you have it. I think this is going to work out a little bit better now. For your own reference, maybe you can try out this well-designed tempo on your own challenges, all right? Thank you.