#101 - CES 2023 - What Are You Optimizing For?

WHAT ARE YOU OPTIMIZING FOR?

 

Why are you doing what you are doing?

 

I ask you this question because last week I was asking myself this question.

 

The question came up on my radar when I was reading Atomic Habits, by James Clear. It's a fantastic book and I highly recommend that you read it, or listen to the audio version, or I james Clear says himself, READ A BOOK LIKE A HAWK SEARCHING FOR PRAY, you don't need to read the whole book, just go looking for the key moments of inspiration - more on that later.

 

For me, I've chosen to optimize for IMPACT.

 

- I don't want to make the most amount of money

- I don't want to have the biggest team

- I don't need to have the largest business 

- What I do want, is to make the largest IMPACT that is possible.

 

Specifically, first I want to make the largest impact in the irrigation industry. Second, might be to impact the greater landscape industry, and after that, I would like to make an impact on every person who would like to carve their own path. That is my why - I want to create an impact, and influence change - we will hit on CHANGE later in this episode.

 

So instead of optimizing for money, ego, status, etc., I realized that optimize for my time. Time is my currency, and wasting my time is the number one reason I can be easily triggered - if I know there is a better, easier way to do something, and I'm forced to do it the slower way, I get very very frustrated. If you know me, you know this, hahaha. I know this, but I didn't stop to think about why! Time is my currency, and I want to create impact - so it comes down to efficiency, execution, and effectiveness - experimenting with this, making changes, and trying it again.

 

Okay, let's get back to how this relates to the CES Show.

 

I've talked about the concept of becoming your future self - and if you are new to the show - go listen to episode #91 - I talk specifically about becoming your future self.

 

To become your future self, and in this case, becoming your future self means creating IMPACT, and in order to do this, it all starts with, What I think about, WHO I learn from, What I consume, and what I create.

 

The reason I wanted to attend CES is so that I could put myself on the playing field with people smarter than me so that I could see what is coming, and what might have an IMPACT.