November 28, 2025 • 31 mins
In this episode of The Impossible Life Podcast, Garrett Unclebach and Nick Surface break down one of the most valuable — and rare — abilities in leadership: strategic thinking.
Most people react. Few people think. Strategic thinking is the discipline of stepping back, seeing the whole picture, and identifying what really matters so you can make decisions that have lasting impact, not just short-term comfort.
Garrett shares how this mindset has been one of his greatest assets and how learning to zoom in and out of problems changes your performance in every area of life. Nick dives into the practical tools for developing this skill, from managing your time and asking better questions to practicing reverse stress testing — simplifying until it’s not true.
If you want to stop living reactively and start leading intentionally, this episode will teach you how to think at a higher level.
In This Episode You’ll Learn:
Apply for the Mindset Mastery Scholarship by January 6th
Join a group of likeminded Impossible Life listeners in our FREE Skool community by clicking here.
Get the Purpose Playbook by clicking here
Get the FREE Basic Discipline Training 30 Day Program by clicking here
Join us in Mindset Mastery by clicking here
If you're a man that wants real accountability and training to be a leader, click here.
Level up your nutrition with IDLife by clicking here
GET IN TOUCH
Social Media - @theimpossiblelife
Email - info@theimpossible.life
Most people react. Few people think. Strategic thinking is the discipline of stepping back, seeing the whole picture, and identifying what really matters so you can make decisions that have lasting impact, not just short-term comfort.
Garrett shares how this mindset has been one of his greatest assets and how learning to zoom in and out of problems changes your performance in every area of life. Nick dives into the practical tools for developing this skill, from managing your time and asking better questions to practicing reverse stress testing — simplifying until it’s not true.
If you want to stop living reactively and start leading intentionally, this episode will teach you how to think at a higher level.
In This Episode You’ll Learn:
- What strategic thinking really means and why it’s essential for leadership
- The 3 questions strategic thinkers always ask:
- Where are we? – Developing awareness and reality-based evaluation
- Where are we going? – Defining purpose and direction
- What matters most right now? – Prioritizing for maximum impact
- How to zoom in and out to gain clarity under pressure
- The art of simplifying until it’s not true — breaking complexity down without losing truth
- The difference between planning and plans — how to adapt when things change
- Why imagination and evaluation are the hidden engines of great leadership
Apply for the Mindset Mastery Scholarship by January 6th
Join a group of likeminded Impossible Life listeners in our FREE Skool community by clicking here.
Get the Purpose Playbook by clicking here
Get the FREE Basic Discipline Training 30 Day Program by clicking here
Join us in Mindset Mastery by clicking here
If you're a man that wants real accountability and training to be a leader, click here.
Level up your nutrition with IDLife by clicking here
GET IN TOUCH
Social Media - @theimpossiblelife
Email - info@theimpossible.life
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
That's impossible.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
Let me tell you what I believe.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
It's your weakness, it's not your technique. Don't think you know.
Speaker 3 (00:12):
The Impossible Life Podcast and yes, sitting on a winning lottery.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
Second, an idea that is fully formed, fully understood that sticks.
This is the Impossible Life Podcast because Nick and I
are attempting to live impossible lives. What we know is
that nothing is impossible. So instead of using impossible as
an excuse to not try, we'll use the pursuit of
(00:37):
impossible as an accelerant for greatness. If something's never been
done before, that just means it's unexplored. If they tell
you it's too hard, it's just waiting to be simplified.
Impossible as a default label used by uncourageous people unwilling
to take a risk. The real truth is this. The
(00:58):
solution to any impossible task starts with this question, If
I had to what would it take?
Speaker 1 (01:05):
What would it take?
Speaker 4 (01:09):
Welcome to another episode of the Impossible Life Podcast. I'm
your co host Nick Serfs, and I'm looking across at
a man whose voice is used as bear repellent in
the woods of Northwest America.
Speaker 1 (01:18):
That's right, friends, but.
Speaker 4 (01:23):
Garrett, uncle buck a man who takes his responsibility as
APEX predator seriously. Now, yeah, but this is actually true,
So this might be one of the greatest messages that
we've got. Like Garrett, just just to let y'all know,
if you send us messages, there's like a ninety nine
percent chance I'm going to be the one that responds
to it and not Garrett. Like Garrett, Garrett does respond
(01:45):
to his messages like his DMS and stuff like that
when he can. But if you're emailing us at Infote
the Impossible dot Life, I'm the guy that answers them,
and I'm grateful for We get a lot of messages.
Speaker 1 (01:53):
G it's really cool to hear from people.
Speaker 4 (01:55):
So thank you to all y'all who uh send encouragement
and some people reach out questions.
Speaker 1 (01:59):
We have one of the coolest.
Speaker 4 (02:01):
There was a lady who got in touch with us
and just kind of casually mentioned She's like, oh, hey,
I listened to you guys while I'm working to keep
the bears away from me. Well, I was like, and
then she just kept going she had a question for me.
I was like, hold on a minute. So I copied
and pasted this and said it to our group chat.
I was like, this might be one of the coolest
like like comments we've ever gotten. So I wrote back
(02:22):
to her. She was asking us for our book list,
which we are going to release for everybody, because we've
had that question a lot.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
And so I wrote back to her.
Speaker 4 (02:28):
And said, here's the books we recommend, top five and
she's like, oh wow. She's like, yeah, I use you
guys because I put you on the speaker phone because
I have no signal up there, so I download them
put you on speaker because the voices drive the bears away.
Speaker 1 (02:40):
And I was just like, praise the Lord.
Speaker 2 (02:41):
Sure, sure, it's extremely effective.
Speaker 1 (02:44):
Of course it is, you know what I mean, Like
you're an apex prender sen.
Speaker 2 (02:48):
And who knows, you know, maybe the bears learn a
thing or two.
Speaker 4 (02:52):
You know what, there's some bears out there going. Man,
God made me for a purpose. I've got breath in
my lungs. There's a purpose in my life. As they
rip another like poor piece of prey apart or not. Anyways,
today's episode, because I could just keep talking about how
wonderful I was excited about that intro. So today's episode. Man,
So this is a question that we had so tools
and tactics. Right, We're just going to be like, look,
here's how you do something. This is the kind of
(03:13):
thing that I think people would be like, I don't
know that you can teach that how to develop strategic thinking,
which was a question that we had from a listener.
They requested, I would love for you all to teach
us how to do strategic thinking. Well, we used Garrett
gpt aka prompts for Garrett's Brain, and here we are
with how to develop strategic thinking. So gee, I want
to just go face first into this unless you have
anything to.
Speaker 2 (03:33):
Say, yeah, and I'll just say you know, as part
of that intro there on, this is a difficult thing
to teach. I just don't think it's a complicated thing
to teach. It's like day one of seal training. They said, Buds,
is easy. Do what we tell you to do, when
we tell you to do it, show up at the
right time, and you'll make it through seal training. I mean,
(03:55):
it is still the hardest military training in the world.
But what they said is true. And so the purpose
of today is we're going to simplify what strategic thinking is.
And I don't think it's as hard as steal training.
I think it's just if you understand these simple things
about strategic thinking, change your mindset a little bit. That's
a whole point of this podcast. We want you guys
to think better, change your mindset a little bit, and
(04:17):
then strategic thinking is going to be not easy, but
easier for you. So definition here of strategic thinking, let's
start with a proper definition. Strategic thinking is the ability
to see the whole picture, identify what matters, and choose
the actions that create the greatest long term impact. That's
(04:40):
what strategic thinking is. It's the ability to get to
the greatest end. Right, strategists in war, they want to
win the war. They're not trying to win battles. And
the opposite of strategic thinking is that you can only
see five feet in front of you. You can just
see like I can't really see very far beyond myself,
and we can get stuck there sometimes, which leads to
(05:01):
short term thinking, which leads to short term victory, which
leads to right. This why strategic thinking is not just
something I care about it, but it really fits inside
the frame of everything we teach and talk about here
at the Impossible Life. Strategic thinking is what's going to
help you get to Also one of the most important
things we talk about a well done, good and faithful servant.
(05:22):
Right if you can't see the end from the beginning,
you're not going to hear a well done, good and
faithful serving. You're going to do things that you thought
were good in the moment, but they did not serve
the greatest end.
Speaker 4 (05:32):
Right now, that was a Garrett uncle back original definition there,
and we're going to dive into that because what's so
cool about breaking this down is basically we broken strategic
thinking down to three core questions, what the components are,
and the skills that you need. So this is literally
going to be like, look, just grow in these things
and you will become a strategic thinker. But here's one
of the things that I've realized you as we're doing
(05:53):
basic discipline training and as we do so much, you
have to like one of the hardest things to give somebody,
And we cover this on our previous on a previous podcast,
is the desire, right because you have to want to
think strategically because if you don't want to do that,
It's like I used to tell people whenever I was
when I was coaching soccer, for example, you have to
teach people how to defend. Now, everybody wants to score
(06:15):
a goal in soccer and be like, yeah, I'm Christiano Ronaldo.
You know what very few people want to do. Sprint
their guts off, close people down, do all the dirty work,
and like nobody's going like wow, let's let's like, let's
just focus on what a great defender this is. It's
decide that that gets no glory but is absolutely necessary.
Speaker 1 (06:31):
And I used to coach kids, and I say.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
A player who didn't touch the ball, but he closed
the player off and controlled his portion of the.
Speaker 1 (06:38):
Field, don't interrupt route.
Speaker 4 (06:42):
Uh no, yeah, it's it's basically I couldn't give them
the desire. What I would say to them is, don't
give them. I can't give you the desire to defend.
You have to want that. I'll show you everything that
you can do, but you've got a desire. And so
this is this is the same with strategic thinking. And
so I think one of the things that people struggle
on is they don't necessarily understand what it'll do. Your
number one strength and something you use daily without even
(07:03):
really thinking about it is strategic thinking. So what what
would you say to somebody it's like, well, what's strategic
thinking going to do for me?
Speaker 2 (07:09):
Uh? Strategic thinking will break it down into three basic questions. Right,
already gave you the definition of strategic thinking that it
leads to the greatest outcome. But let's simplify it, or
you put it into a system of three core questions,
and then we'll talk about some of the things that
help you answer these questions. I want to give all
three really quick, give the overview, and then we'll step
(07:31):
into each one. So three core questions. This is what
strategic thinking will do for you. And when you do
these things, you will be a strategic thinker. Right, here's
the first question that strategic thinking answers. This is where
are we right two? In war?
Speaker 1 (07:48):
Right?
Speaker 2 (07:49):
This is where we are. You've got to know that.
What's the status of my troops, what's the location of
all of my troops? What's the status of the entire battlefield?
You've got to be You've got to know where you are.
This is awareness, This is your ability to see reality.
A General Eisenhower in World War two, he had to
know the status of all of the men. What's the
(08:12):
status of all of these battles. If you don't see rightly,
if you can't see reality, you can't lead people or
lead yourself to the greatest ends. That's the first question.
It's a very important question, where are we right? Second
question that strategic thinking answers. And one of these by
themselves is good, But when you have all three of
these together, that's what really completes a strategic thinker. Number
(08:34):
two is where are we going? Now that I know
where I am, I've got to know where I want
to go. If you don't know where you want to go,
you can't do very much. Know where I am, but
I'm not really sure what to do next.
Speaker 1 (08:49):
And then the.
Speaker 2 (08:49):
Third question is what matters most right now? It's a
question I love. It's a leadership question. I call it
the leadership question of what's next or what's required of me?
But what matters most right now? This is your ability
to make unemotional decisions. This is the ability to discipline
(09:11):
to prioritize in the moment what matters most right now. So,
when you've answered question one and two correctly, where are
we right? This is awareness, my ability to see reality.
This is where are we going? Having an understanding of
the big picture, having clarity about the short to long
term transition. What is the midterm going to look like?
Maybe this is some tactical steps. And then number three,
(09:34):
what matters most right now? Right? And that's in relation
to you if you don't answer one and two And
this is what a lot of people do right Nick,
you remember in EOS the IDs system, identified, discuss solve
a lot of people just jump straight to solutioning. And
because you didn't identify and discuss, you miss a lot
(09:54):
of what is really happening. A lot of people skip
one and two. Just what do I need to do
right now? With no understanding of where are we? Where
are we going? And your number the answer, the way
you answer number three without one and two will be poor.
Speaker 4 (10:07):
You know, it's so interesting when you say this. So
if you if you say, hey, your strategic thinking is
where are we? Where are we going? What matters most
right now? The greatest I understand why you love map
and compass so much because your number one is strategic
thinking it and really what this is this is just
you if you, if you're old enough, and I think
most of our listeners are, to remember what it was
to actually use a map. You didn't have like, uh,
(10:28):
you know, you didn't have the little the little you
know button on your maps where you could just go,
this is where I am, and like it draws a
line to where you're going. You had to you had
to look and go, Okay, here's where I'm going. You're like, okay,
where am I at? And you have to basically look
around and figure where you're at in relation and then
you know, okay, now I need to take a left
or right. It's you know, it's like being in the
mall and you look at that like you're going to
the shops. It always gives that you are here, because
(10:49):
otherwise it's it's not really that useful.
Speaker 2 (10:51):
It's a pert Yeah. No, that's a perfect example. And
not just mapping compass the way that we've taught it,
you know like wildlife or outdoor map and compass, but
the way people used to have to drive, you know,
from California to Florida. How did you do that?
Speaker 1 (11:04):
Well?
Speaker 2 (11:05):
You you here's where I am, here's where I want
to go, and then here's here's the plans that I'm
going to make. Then as you're going, it's like, oh
look a road closure, Oh that exit doesn't exist. Oh
there's there's you know, there's a new highway here that's
not on the map. And then you're going to say, okay,
so what do I do right now?
Speaker 4 (11:23):
Right For those of you that aren't old enough to
remember that, you actually had to have a physical map
and you would.
Speaker 1 (11:27):
Sit there and re route your own thing. It was
really useful.
Speaker 4 (11:29):
Still didn't give me a directional sense, but you know
I got around anyways. So gee, let's the way we've
broken these down is we've got components of each of
these and then the skills you need to develop in
order to do these. So for where are we you
you gave a little bit of it, but you said
it's like our awareness and our ability to see reality,
which we did a podcast on so you know, if
you if you're wondering how to get better at that,
we have a whole podcast on it.
Speaker 2 (11:51):
But like the fun that's the fun part of this
podcast is how connected everything is. We got it is
we make a couple on each episode, like well that's
really like this one episode or this two episode. But
if you were truly indexing our entire show, each episode
is referencing at this point, you know, four to five
other shows.
Speaker 4 (12:11):
Well, people dm us questions sometimes and I just send
them a link to the podcast, which is actually really
helpful because it's the best, well because it's the best
way to be a blessing to them. And it's also like,
hey don't it's more than what I can write in
a DM on Instagram, So it's like, here, just check
this episode. So yeah, I'm grateful that we have that
as a and you actually said that when we started.
You're like, this will be There's a lot of things
that I get asked a lot. I'd rather just have
(12:31):
a podcast like go go listen to this, and that's
exactly what's happened.
Speaker 1 (12:35):
All right.
Speaker 4 (12:36):
So if our components are awareness and the ability to
see reality, that sounds great, but like, what are these
what's this look like?
Speaker 2 (12:43):
Practically yep, So here's the skills. Okay, let's jump into
the skills of each of these. So coming back to
question number one, where are we You've got to have
strong awareness, which you've also done a podcasts on that one.
I actually really enjoyed teaching awareness to people, but awareness
the ability to see reality, and again, these are some
skills you could take these questions, where are we where
(13:05):
are we going? What matters most right now? You could
look at them through a leadership framework. What we're doing
today is just talking through a strategic thinking framework. So
it may feel like I've left some things out, but
I'm just we're just looking today through the lens of
strategic thinking. So here's the skills that go with answering
this question, where are we? Okay? Number one? And by
(13:26):
the way, if you're not with us in mindset mastery,
you should be. If you're not with us in mindset mastery,
we have terms or definitions for what skills are. Skills
are things that you develop.
Speaker 1 (13:36):
Right.
Speaker 2 (13:36):
I can teach you a skill in a moment, but
you're probably terrible at that skill the first time you
try it. You develop it over time through intentionality, through
consistent training, then you get better at that skill. Okay,
so here we go. Skills question number one, Where are we?
Speaker 1 (13:53):
First?
Speaker 2 (13:53):
Skill? Constant evaluation. I was saying to Nick this is
if you don't know, I'm a bit of a math nerd.
It's not high level math that I like to do.
I just do a lot of like computation all the time.
I'm curious of distance. What's the distance of that what's
the weight and the size of that? If I put
(14:14):
all these numbers together, what is that? If I see
something that's here's here's a metric over a week, what
is that over a year? What is that over five years?
What is that on a day? Is it the same
in a day as a If I take a day
multiplied by seven, is that the same as what it
is in the week. I'm always picking numbers apart because
debt numbers. Numbers reveal things to you. And I use
(14:34):
the math as an example of constant evaluation because because
I do that, if you ask me a math question,
it's not really challenging for me to answer. Because I
like math. I do it all the time. It's really
easy for me to put two numbers together and create
a sum of the total number. Now, how this relates
to constant evaluation. A lot of people don't start asking
(14:56):
the question of gosh, why did this happen to me?
Until something terrible happens. When something terrible happens, then they'll
ruminate on, gosh, why did this happen? I ask why
did this happen? All the time?
Speaker 1 (15:09):
Right?
Speaker 2 (15:09):
Why did you do exactly what I thought you would do?
Why did you not do what I thought you would do.
I enjoy understanding people. It's part for me. People is
the hardest part of leadership. So you should be good
at understanding them if you want to be good at leadership,
And I'm constantly asking this question, why did this happen?
Why did this happen? And what this allows you to
do is the same way with math, where when you
(15:29):
do the numbers all the time, it's really good at
getting to the outcome. If you never do math and
I ask you to do math, you're going to really
struggle with putting the numbers together to get the final solution.
Now take the numbers out of it. But if you're asking,
if you're doing computation all the time, of well, how
come you responded this way? Why did this situation work out?
(15:50):
Why did this team work good together? Why did this
team not work good together? Every scenario. If you're constantly
doing the computation, there, you're going to get really good
at an when you've looked at the math and said, Okay,
this plus this equal this. What that's going to allow
you to do in the future is become very strategic
where you can say, like, here's how we want to
(16:10):
get to this outcome. Well, that means we need this
and this, or like an algebra, somebody gives you one
number and they say, what's the other number that needs
to go here to get to this outcome? Because that's
what happens to us all the time. Things get given
to us. A situation gets given to us, and we
know what we want that situation to become. This is algebra.
(16:31):
What's the missing piece here? And so constant evaluation is
a huge part of understanding where you are and where
you're going and then the self assessment because some of
these skills lend to both. Okay, so constant evaluation takes
reality and when you understand reality, you begin to understand
how could I get to where I want to go?
And then the other piece of constant evaluation is self assessment.
(16:55):
Like in navigation, the thing that will mess with your
compass or mess with your GPS the most is you.
We me nick you when you're listening to or when
you're looking at your situation. You're the one who creates
great interference in your situation. So this is through emotion,
through distraction. There are a lot of things that can
(17:15):
mess up your compass. We're the interference. So what you've
got to be good at self assessment? And I could
go much longer on that. We don't have time to
talk all about how to be great at SELFSS.
Speaker 1 (17:25):
You don't have to gee real quick.
Speaker 4 (17:26):
So just because we talked about this, we talked about
how it's the ability to see reality. That's episode two
fifty and you actually just said self self assessment and awareness.
Self assessment is episode fifty four and awareness is episode twelve.
So to the point you made, it's almost like we're
building on top of each other. But like I'm looking
these up as we're doing them because I forgot to
do it in the prep. So I'll keep giving these
go ahead, what's what's what's another skill?
Speaker 2 (17:48):
Second skill? Here? This is one that I really enjoy,
And I'm going to go fast through these skills because
we can't take three hours to talk about all these skills.
Simplify until it's not true. Okay. I do this with
people that I coach. Often they'll give me their situation
that is complex and nuanced, and it will frustrate them,
(18:09):
but I will really mega oversimplify their problem to They'll
talk for fifteen minutes about all this situation they got
and I said, well, it's basically just this. I simplify
it to the point that it's nearly offensive to them. Okay,
and I've simplified it to the point that it's not broken,
but we're like on the edge of what you're saying
is different than what I'm talking about, right on the edge.
(18:31):
And when you simplify to that level, it allows you
to focus on, Okay, here's what are some of the principles.
But then you start saying, well, you forgot about this,
and you forgot about this, and you forgot about this,
and much of the things that get left out are nuanced,
which are things that like maybe bothered you or really
bugged you, but they're not principal. They're not really relevant
to what's going to change the situation. It's just the
(18:53):
things about your problem that have bothered you the most,
but they're not the things about your problem that are
the most influential. And so I will simplify something until
it's nearly not true, bring it down to its lowest level,
and this allows you to see your situation for what
it really is. This is a forest from the trees situation, right,
just I'm gonna wipe out all the trees. I'm gonna
(19:15):
rip them all out just for a moment, and we're
gonna look at where we really are.
Speaker 4 (19:20):
Yeah, And if you're looking for more insight on that,
both episodes twenty eight and eighty two we talk about
problem solving and troubleshooting, and that was that was actually
a real I've used the problem solving. It's one of
the two of those I've used all the time because
you were the one that was like you got to
start doing one thing at a time. That was really
my takeaway from it. So I solve problems all the
(19:42):
time in my house now using that exact process. And
it's amazing how how much you feel like a genius
and it's actually really simple. So very good, let's keep
going the g So question number one was just to
recap for people, is where are we? And it's your awareness,
it's your ability to see reality. That's really what it's
made up of. But the skills you need is constant
evaluation and simplification until it's not true, and then a tool.
Speaker 2 (20:04):
So that's skills. We have a tool here with where
are we? Plug Tools are things that we can give
to you. Tools are something here here you go, right,
You're gonna learn his skill is knowing how to use
a hammer. But a tool is a hammer. Here's a hammer.
You're a lot better off with a hammer than without
a hammer. Here's a tool. Tool that goes with where
are we Well, we actually just released a new product
(20:27):
over a week ago called the Purpose Playbook. Nick, you
want tell them about the Purpose Playbook?
Speaker 4 (20:33):
Yeah, And this has our time management framework in it.
I mean, if you were to most people will are
getting to the end of the year and they're thinking,
I'm going to set goals for next year. And what
Garrett and I realize is that goals are fun things
until they're tied to purpose, and then they become the
most compelling thing in the world to you. And so
the Purpose Playbook is where we basically show you how
to cast vision with an understanding of your potential, understand
(20:56):
your priorities. We're going to go more into this, but
there's reasons why goals break down, and so you understand
your priorities, you cast vision, and then you set goals
that are process based in line with that, that are
absolute musts. Garrett and I've been doing this, We've taught
it in person, for the past two years, and this
year we're not teaching it in person. We made it
a lot more affordable. It used to be eight hundred
and fifty bucks to do it in person. It's forty
(21:17):
three dollars to basically get the exact same course. And
it's actually upgrade because we've rearranged it. We added to it.
You can learn it on demand at your own time.
It's got video teaching, it's got a workbook, and part
of that workbook is we give you a time management framework.
Because you can't just set a goal. This is what
we're saying. You don't just say hey, we're going here
and then you just start walking and go like, yeah,
we're still going. It's like no, you need to keep
reassessing your progress and that's where a time management framework
(21:40):
comes in. So we give that to you in the
Purpose Playbook. We also give you a simplified version of
that for free in our blog. So if you go
to our website and look in our blog, we have
our time management framework on there. But this is we're
here to just equip people.
Speaker 1 (21:50):
Man.
Speaker 4 (21:50):
I hope you guys know that. After two hundred and
sixty three episodes and this is just.
Speaker 1 (21:54):
So joint to really help you.
Speaker 2 (21:55):
So you can join. You can join our group on school.
It's free and the Purpose Playbook is a one time
purchase and everybody likes those people have a hard time
with well, I got to join this group and it's
gonna cost You shouldn't think that way. You should be
thinking about constantly investing in yourself. But Purpose Playbook makes
it quite a bit easier to join our free school group.
(22:16):
And then it's a one time purchase for Purpose Playbook.
Let's keep going. So second question here, second question.
Speaker 4 (22:22):
Because it'd be irresponsible if you go to the www
dot the Impossible dot Life, it's on the homepage. You
can find it there, but it's www dot the Impossible
Dot Life forward slash Purpose and the link is also
in the show notes if you are looking at the
Purpose Playbook. So question number two, where are we going?
Speaker 2 (22:37):
Boom? Where are we going? Okay? Where are we going?
Is both like purpose big picture. We're just talking about
that Purpose. It's the big picture, right, This is seeing
the entire battle plan. But also clarity, right, Clarity allows
you to navigate. Clarity allows you to see the next steps.
What do we need to do in the short to midterm.
(22:59):
Not like what's five feet in front of me? But
how do I go from five feet away to five
miles away? Right? Purpose is like five miles to you know,
the edge of the world. It's the entire thing. What's
the most what's the biggest pieces, what's this mission all about?
What's the commander's intent? And clarity is being able to
(23:20):
take that commander's intent and translate it down into reality
a little bit. So there's a couple of skills that
I want to give that go with this. This is
a fun one skill Number one this is imagination and invention. Right,
imagination can be a bad thing for you, but imagination
can also be a wonderful thing for you. You've got
(23:40):
to be able to look at your look at your family, right,
look at you the business that you're in. You may
think they're small, but think about them in the context
of what if this was, you know, ten times bigger.
What if everything that I ever set out to do
worked and you start to believe and dream of and
how could this really be? What would actually be possible?
(24:02):
The reason God gave us that ability because it's if
you think about like we take it for granted, it's
actually a strange ability. It's the ability to see something
that your eyes don't see right, and so it's not
just a curiosity, but it truly is invention. You're painting
a picture in your mind, you're beginning to you know,
you can start on a picture and not finish it,
(24:24):
or you know if you want. I'm not an artist,
but if you watch artists right like paint a picture,
which I enjoy watching them because I don't have that gifting,
they begin to they put an layout on the picture,
and then they keep adding detail and they keep adding detail,
and then there's this crazy transition in watching a paint
or paint where it's like the painting just comes to life.
(24:44):
It's like this kind of looked like weird for a second,
but now he knew what he was doing the whole time,
and he could see all of it from beginning to end.
But like in that last twenty percent of the painting,
it's like, wow, this is a mazing. It like just
jumps off of the page or the canvas at you
and imagine. And an invention is this ability to think
really big, to be able to dream, to paint a
picture in your mind of something that you see right.
(25:07):
And then second skill here I would call it this
is planning versus plans, Eisenhower said, one of them. Here's
a great strategist. Eisenhower said, planning is our plans are useless.
Planning is priceless. Right, So the plans that you came
up with don't need them. But planning is one of
the most important thing you can do. And so in
(25:29):
the where are we going? This is understanding the difference
between having a perfect plan perfect plan. There's no such
thing as a perfect plan except for the one that
you just made.
Speaker 1 (25:38):
Right.
Speaker 2 (25:38):
When you just made a plan, you think it's a
perfect plan. But tomorrow the plan you just made is
not going to be the perfect plan. Things change, right,
and so what what strategic thinking is is it this
ability to do planning, to shift your plans and understand
what is the next best option? Right the same way
that you created that plan, right by you took everything
(25:58):
that you could see understanding of where am I get
an understanding of where do I want to go? And
then you created a plan. Well, here's what's going to
happen tomorrow. The weather's going to change, and now your
plan's going to change. Tomorrow, someone's going to come over
to your house tomorrow. You're going to lose a contract,
whatever it is. Things are going to shift, things are
going to change, and you have to be able to
replan and come up with the next best option.
Speaker 4 (26:23):
Yeah, and that's where I think a lot of people
fall down is because they're so committed to a plan,
and it's you know, the great philosopher Mike Tyson. Everybody's
got a plan until they get punched in the face
real quick, because I want to keep moving g But
if you're looking for these things, episode six was on
clarity and episode one sixty was breaking through the most
frustrating limitation purpose. So and if you just by the way,
(26:43):
if you go into Spotify, the app on your phone.
They don't do it on desktop for whatever reason, but
the app on your phone, you can go to the
show and search by keyword. And that's how I find
all our podcasts really fast. So if anybody's ever wondering, like, oh,
did they ever talk about this, just go to the
Spotify app on your phone and go into the show
and search and you'll find it's It's amazing how much
we talk about It's nice.
Speaker 2 (27:02):
There there is a there's a podcast tool for you.
I'll just let last thing really quick and we'll wrap up.
We'll go to the last question is on the planning
versus plans. This is unemotional decision making. You cannot be
married to a lot of people. They spend so much
effort on a plan, they get married to that plan,
and that you should You should stay married to your wife.
You should not stay married to your plans because that
(27:25):
that plan becomes irrelevant very quickly, and the longer you
stay with it, your your inability to abort a messed
up plan. It's not a lack of endurance. You've just
got to understand that the battlefield has changed. And again
that's unemotional. When you know you're not influenced by pain,
you so you know you can make you can change
the plan effectively when you are when you allow yourself
(27:48):
to be influenced by plan, you're also having to fight this.
Speaker 1 (27:51):
Well.
Speaker 2 (27:51):
I know, I just need to you know, stay committed
and push through. When you don't have to battle that
in yourself, you know you can make wise decisions on
should I change the plan?
Speaker 1 (28:02):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (28:04):
Last question here, number three. So we've got where are
we We've got where are we going? And The next
question is what matters most right now?
Speaker 1 (28:13):
Right?
Speaker 2 (28:14):
This is prioritization. It's very it's very important that you
can understand what matters most. You think if you think
everything is a priority, nothing is a priority. You have
to be able to say what is the priority right now?
And then this is also discipline and focus. So two
skills here, right, two skills here, they go with what
(28:34):
matters most right now? This is one of my favorite skills.
We've talked. We've taught this one quite often on the podcast.
This is the ability to zoom in and zoom out.
So this is this is perspective and lens changing. Look
at the big picture, come back to the little picture.
Look at the big picture, Come back to the little picture.
When you are stuck on a map and you're not
sure where you are, you'll look, you'll zoom out, and
(28:56):
you'll zoom in, and you'll zoom out, you'll zoom in.
You look the big thing, and then you're trying to understand, Okay,
where exactly am I? Okay, I know I want to
go to this long, faraway place. Let me come back
to where I am really quick for a second. Okay,
come back to the big picture, where is it that
I want to go again? Now I can see here's
my next step, here's my next step in relation to
(29:18):
some of the recent events of my lives, in relation
to what's happened, and that constant zoom in zoom out.
It keeps you from being stuck in one place or
the other. It allows you to take what's happening in
the moment and connect it to what's happening in the
big picture. And then the last we've talked about zoom in,
zoom out a ton. I'm just referencing it here because
it's one of the skills of what matters most right now.
(29:38):
People get stuck and they make wrong decisions on what
matters most right now because they're stuck in one lens
there's way zoomed out or they're way zoomed in, and
you have to be able to both articulate your lens
zoom in and zoom out. Then you will make better
right now decisions. Last thing that goes with what matters
most right now is focus and concentration. We're just up
(30:00):
in mindset Mastery for November. We just talked about focus
right and focus and concentration. We distinguish those two a
little bit in mindset mastery. But it comes down to
this ability to drown out the distractions. That is a skill.
It's a muscle that you must say. So what skills
are their muscles?
Speaker 1 (30:16):
Right?
Speaker 2 (30:16):
I can show you how to do bicep curls. You
got to put in the time and the effort to
build stronger arms. I can show you how focus works.
I can teach it to you, but you have to
put in the time to develop great concentration ability and
be able to drown out all of the distractions. So
decide that you want to be a strategic thinker, that
you're going to be someone who looks at your life.
(30:37):
I'll navigate the difficulty. I'll take on the lessons of awareness.
I'm going to determine what my purpose is and how
I'm going to live purposefully in my life, and then
I'm going to develop all the skills that I need
to develop to take where I am, where I want
to go, and know what matters most right now so
that I can get to the greatest possible long term impact.
Speaker 3 (30:58):
Thank you very much for listening. Guys, remember to share,
like subscribe if you think that this would be something
that someone would enjoy please send it to them.
Speaker 1 (31:06):
We appreciate it all.
Speaker 3 (31:07):
If you want to get in touch, you can follow
us on Instagram at the Impossible Life. You'll find us
on there. You can also email at Impossible Life Podcasts
at gmail dot com if you have any questions. If
you want to get in touch and find out about
Carrett's personal or business coaching, that's the way to do it.
Thank you again for listening. Go out there and think
better and live the impossible. You see again soon
That's impossible.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
Let me tell you what I believe.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
It's your weakness, it's not your technique. Don't think you know.
Speaker 3 (00:12):
The Impossible Life Podcast and yes, sitting on a winning lottery.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
Second, an idea that is fully formed, fully understood that sticks.
This is the Impossible Life Podcast because Nick and I
are attempting to live impossible lives. What we know is
that nothing is impossible. So instead of using impossible as
an excuse to not try, we'll use the pursuit of
(00:37):
impossible as an accelerant for greatness. If something's never been
done before, that just means it's unexplored. If they tell
you it's too hard, it's just waiting to be simplified.
Impossible as a default label used by uncourageous people unwilling
to take a risk. The real truth is this. The
(00:58):
solution to any impossible task starts with this question, If
I had to what would it take?
Speaker 1 (01:05):
What would it take?
Speaker 4 (01:09):
Welcome to another episode of the Impossible Life Podcast. I'm
your co host Nick Serfs, and I'm looking across at
a man whose voice is used as bear repellent in
the woods of Northwest America.
Speaker 1 (01:18):
That's right, friends, but.
Speaker 4 (01:23):
Garrett, uncle buck a man who takes his responsibility as
APEX predator seriously. Now, yeah, but this is actually true,
So this might be one of the greatest messages that
we've got. Like Garrett, just just to let y'all know,
if you send us messages, there's like a ninety nine
percent chance I'm going to be the one that responds
to it and not Garrett. Like Garrett, Garrett does respond
(01:45):
to his messages like his DMS and stuff like that
when he can. But if you're emailing us at Infote
the Impossible dot Life, I'm the guy that answers them,
and I'm grateful for We get a lot of messages.
Speaker 1 (01:53):
G it's really cool to hear from people.
Speaker 4 (01:55):
So thank you to all y'all who uh send encouragement
and some people reach out questions.
Speaker 1 (01:59):
We have one of the coolest.
Speaker 4 (02:01):
There was a lady who got in touch with us
and just kind of casually mentioned She's like, oh, hey,
I listened to you guys while I'm working to keep
the bears away from me. Well, I was like, and
then she just kept going she had a question for me.
I was like, hold on a minute. So I copied
and pasted this and said it to our group chat.
I was like, this might be one of the coolest
like like comments we've ever gotten. So I wrote back
(02:22):
to her. She was asking us for our book list,
which we are going to release for everybody, because we've
had that question a lot.
Speaker 1 (02:27):
And so I wrote back to her.
Speaker 4 (02:28):
And said, here's the books we recommend, top five and
she's like, oh wow. She's like, yeah, I use you
guys because I put you on the speaker phone because
I have no signal up there, so I download them
put you on speaker because the voices drive the bears away.
Speaker 1 (02:40):
And I was just like, praise the Lord.
Speaker 2 (02:41):
Sure, sure, it's extremely effective.
Speaker 1 (02:44):
Of course it is, you know what I mean, Like
you're an apex prender sen.
Speaker 2 (02:48):
And who knows, you know, maybe the bears learn a
thing or two.
Speaker 4 (02:52):
You know what, there's some bears out there going. Man,
God made me for a purpose. I've got breath in
my lungs. There's a purpose in my life. As they
rip another like poor piece of prey apart or not. Anyways,
today's episode, because I could just keep talking about how
wonderful I was excited about that intro. So today's episode. Man,
So this is a question that we had so tools
and tactics. Right, We're just going to be like, look,
here's how you do something. This is the kind of
(03:13):
thing that I think people would be like, I don't
know that you can teach that how to develop strategic thinking,
which was a question that we had from a listener.
They requested, I would love for you all to teach
us how to do strategic thinking. Well, we used Garrett
gpt aka prompts for Garrett's Brain, and here we are
with how to develop strategic thinking. So gee, I want
to just go face first into this unless you have
anything to.
Speaker 2 (03:33):
Say, yeah, and I'll just say you know, as part
of that intro there on, this is a difficult thing
to teach. I just don't think it's a complicated thing
to teach. It's like day one of seal training. They said, Buds,
is easy. Do what we tell you to do, when
we tell you to do it, show up at the
right time, and you'll make it through seal training. I mean,
(03:55):
it is still the hardest military training in the world.
But what they said is true. And so the purpose
of today is we're going to simplify what strategic thinking is.
And I don't think it's as hard as steal training.
I think it's just if you understand these simple things
about strategic thinking, change your mindset a little bit. That's
a whole point of this podcast. We want you guys
to think better, change your mindset a little bit, and
(04:17):
then strategic thinking is going to be not easy, but
easier for you. So definition here of strategic thinking, let's
start with a proper definition. Strategic thinking is the ability
to see the whole picture, identify what matters, and choose
the actions that create the greatest long term impact. That's
(04:40):
what strategic thinking is. It's the ability to get to
the greatest end. Right, strategists in war, they want to
win the war. They're not trying to win battles. And
the opposite of strategic thinking is that you can only
see five feet in front of you. You can just
see like I can't really see very far beyond myself,
and we can get stuck there sometimes, which leads to
(05:01):
short term thinking, which leads to short term victory, which
leads to right. This why strategic thinking is not just
something I care about it, but it really fits inside
the frame of everything we teach and talk about here
at the Impossible Life. Strategic thinking is what's going to
help you get to Also one of the most important
things we talk about a well done, good and faithful servant.
(05:22):
Right if you can't see the end from the beginning,
you're not going to hear a well done, good and
faithful serving. You're going to do things that you thought
were good in the moment, but they did not serve
the greatest end.
Speaker 4 (05:32):
Right now, that was a Garrett uncle back original definition there,
and we're going to dive into that because what's so
cool about breaking this down is basically we broken strategic
thinking down to three core questions, what the components are,
and the skills that you need. So this is literally
going to be like, look, just grow in these things
and you will become a strategic thinker. But here's one
of the things that I've realized you as we're doing
(05:53):
basic discipline training and as we do so much, you
have to like one of the hardest things to give somebody,
And we cover this on our previous on a previous podcast,
is the desire, right because you have to want to
think strategically because if you don't want to do that,
It's like I used to tell people whenever I was
when I was coaching soccer, for example, you have to
teach people how to defend. Now, everybody wants to score
(06:15):
a goal in soccer and be like, yeah, I'm Christiano Ronaldo.
You know what very few people want to do. Sprint
their guts off, close people down, do all the dirty work,
and like nobody's going like wow, let's let's like, let's
just focus on what a great defender this is. It's
decide that that gets no glory but is absolutely necessary.
Speaker 1 (06:31):
And I used to coach kids, and I say.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
A player who didn't touch the ball, but he closed
the player off and controlled his portion of the.
Speaker 1 (06:38):
Field, don't interrupt route.
Speaker 4 (06:42):
Uh no, yeah, it's it's basically I couldn't give them
the desire. What I would say to them is, don't
give them. I can't give you the desire to defend.
You have to want that. I'll show you everything that
you can do, but you've got a desire. And so
this is this is the same with strategic thinking. And
so I think one of the things that people struggle
on is they don't necessarily understand what it'll do. Your
number one strength and something you use daily without even
(07:03):
really thinking about it is strategic thinking. So what what
would you say to somebody it's like, well, what's strategic
thinking going to do for me?
Speaker 2 (07:09):
Uh? Strategic thinking will break it down into three basic questions. Right,
already gave you the definition of strategic thinking that it
leads to the greatest outcome. But let's simplify it, or
you put it into a system of three core questions,
and then we'll talk about some of the things that
help you answer these questions. I want to give all
three really quick, give the overview, and then we'll step
(07:31):
into each one. So three core questions. This is what
strategic thinking will do for you. And when you do
these things, you will be a strategic thinker. Right, here's
the first question that strategic thinking answers. This is where
are we right two? In war?
Speaker 1 (07:48):
Right?
Speaker 2 (07:49):
This is where we are. You've got to know that.
What's the status of my troops, what's the location of
all of my troops? What's the status of the entire battlefield?
You've got to be You've got to know where you are.
This is awareness, This is your ability to see reality.
A General Eisenhower in World War two, he had to
know the status of all of the men. What's the
(08:12):
status of all of these battles. If you don't see rightly,
if you can't see reality, you can't lead people or
lead yourself to the greatest ends. That's the first question.
It's a very important question, where are we right? Second
question that strategic thinking answers. And one of these by
themselves is good, But when you have all three of
these together, that's what really completes a strategic thinker. Number
(08:34):
two is where are we going? Now that I know
where I am, I've got to know where I want
to go. If you don't know where you want to go,
you can't do very much. Know where I am, but
I'm not really sure what to do next.
Speaker 1 (08:49):
And then the.
Speaker 2 (08:49):
Third question is what matters most right now? It's a
question I love. It's a leadership question. I call it
the leadership question of what's next or what's required of me?
But what matters most right now? This is your ability
to make unemotional decisions. This is the ability to discipline
(09:11):
to prioritize in the moment what matters most right now. So,
when you've answered question one and two correctly, where are
we right? This is awareness, my ability to see reality.
This is where are we going? Having an understanding of
the big picture, having clarity about the short to long
term transition. What is the midterm going to look like?
Maybe this is some tactical steps. And then number three,
(09:34):
what matters most right now? Right? And that's in relation
to you if you don't answer one and two And
this is what a lot of people do right Nick,
you remember in EOS the IDs system, identified, discuss solve
a lot of people just jump straight to solutioning. And
because you didn't identify and discuss, you miss a lot
(09:54):
of what is really happening. A lot of people skip
one and two. Just what do I need to do
right now? With no understanding of where are we? Where
are we going? And your number the answer, the way
you answer number three without one and two will be poor.
Speaker 4 (10:07):
You know, it's so interesting when you say this. So
if you if you say, hey, your strategic thinking is
where are we? Where are we going? What matters most
right now? The greatest I understand why you love map
and compass so much because your number one is strategic
thinking it and really what this is this is just
you if you, if you're old enough, and I think
most of our listeners are, to remember what it was
to actually use a map. You didn't have like, uh,
(10:28):
you know, you didn't have the little the little you
know button on your maps where you could just go,
this is where I am, and like it draws a
line to where you're going. You had to you had
to look and go, Okay, here's where I'm going. You're like, okay,
where am I at? And you have to basically look
around and figure where you're at in relation and then
you know, okay, now I need to take a left
or right. It's you know, it's like being in the
mall and you look at that like you're going to
the shops. It always gives that you are here, because
(10:49):
otherwise it's it's not really that useful.
Speaker 2 (10:51):
It's a pert Yeah. No, that's a perfect example. And
not just mapping compass the way that we've taught it,
you know like wildlife or outdoor map and compass, but
the way people used to have to drive, you know,
from California to Florida. How did you do that?
Speaker 1 (11:04):
Well?
Speaker 2 (11:05):
You you here's where I am, here's where I want
to go, and then here's here's the plans that I'm
going to make. Then as you're going, it's like, oh
look a road closure, Oh that exit doesn't exist. Oh
there's there's you know, there's a new highway here that's
not on the map. And then you're going to say, okay,
so what do I do right now?
Speaker 4 (11:23):
Right For those of you that aren't old enough to
remember that, you actually had to have a physical map
and you would.
Speaker 1 (11:27):
Sit there and re route your own thing. It was
really useful.
Speaker 4 (11:29):
Still didn't give me a directional sense, but you know
I got around anyways. So gee, let's the way we've
broken these down is we've got components of each of
these and then the skills you need to develop in
order to do these. So for where are we you
you gave a little bit of it, but you said
it's like our awareness and our ability to see reality,
which we did a podcast on so you know, if
you if you're wondering how to get better at that,
we have a whole podcast on it.
Speaker 2 (11:51):
But like the fun that's the fun part of this
podcast is how connected everything is. We got it is
we make a couple on each episode, like well that's
really like this one episode or this two episode. But
if you were truly indexing our entire show, each episode
is referencing at this point, you know, four to five
other shows.
Speaker 4 (12:11):
Well, people dm us questions sometimes and I just send
them a link to the podcast, which is actually really
helpful because it's the best, well because it's the best
way to be a blessing to them. And it's also like,
hey don't it's more than what I can write in
a DM on Instagram, So it's like, here, just check
this episode. So yeah, I'm grateful that we have that
as a and you actually said that when we started.
You're like, this will be There's a lot of things
that I get asked a lot. I'd rather just have
(12:31):
a podcast like go go listen to this, and that's
exactly what's happened.
Speaker 1 (12:35):
All right.
Speaker 4 (12:36):
So if our components are awareness and the ability to
see reality, that sounds great, but like, what are these
what's this look like?
Speaker 2 (12:43):
Practically yep, So here's the skills. Okay, let's jump into
the skills of each of these. So coming back to
question number one, where are we You've got to have
strong awareness, which you've also done a podcasts on that one.
I actually really enjoyed teaching awareness to people, but awareness
the ability to see reality, and again, these are some
skills you could take these questions, where are we where
(13:05):
are we going? What matters most right now? You could
look at them through a leadership framework. What we're doing
today is just talking through a strategic thinking framework. So
it may feel like I've left some things out, but
I'm just we're just looking today through the lens of
strategic thinking. So here's the skills that go with answering
this question, where are we? Okay? Number one? And by
(13:26):
the way, if you're not with us in mindset mastery,
you should be. If you're not with us in mindset mastery,
we have terms or definitions for what skills are. Skills
are things that you develop.
Speaker 1 (13:36):
Right.
Speaker 2 (13:36):
I can teach you a skill in a moment, but
you're probably terrible at that skill the first time you
try it. You develop it over time through intentionality, through
consistent training, then you get better at that skill. Okay,
so here we go. Skills question number one, Where are we?
Speaker 1 (13:53):
First?
Speaker 2 (13:53):
Skill? Constant evaluation. I was saying to Nick this is
if you don't know, I'm a bit of a math nerd.
It's not high level math that I like to do.
I just do a lot of like computation all the time.
I'm curious of distance. What's the distance of that what's
the weight and the size of that? If I put
(14:14):
all these numbers together, what is that? If I see
something that's here's here's a metric over a week, what
is that over a year? What is that over five years?
What is that on a day? Is it the same
in a day as a If I take a day
multiplied by seven, is that the same as what it
is in the week. I'm always picking numbers apart because
debt numbers. Numbers reveal things to you. And I use
(14:34):
the math as an example of constant evaluation because because
I do that, if you ask me a math question,
it's not really challenging for me to answer. Because I
like math. I do it all the time. It's really
easy for me to put two numbers together and create
a sum of the total number. Now, how this relates
to constant evaluation. A lot of people don't start asking
(14:56):
the question of gosh, why did this happen to me?
Until something terrible happens. When something terrible happens, then they'll
ruminate on, gosh, why did this happen? I ask why
did this happen? All the time?
Speaker 1 (15:09):
Right?
Speaker 2 (15:09):
Why did you do exactly what I thought you would do?
Why did you not do what I thought you would do.
I enjoy understanding people. It's part for me. People is
the hardest part of leadership. So you should be good
at understanding them if you want to be good at leadership,
And I'm constantly asking this question, why did this happen?
Why did this happen? And what this allows you to
do is the same way with math, where when you
(15:29):
do the numbers all the time, it's really good at
getting to the outcome. If you never do math and
I ask you to do math, you're going to really
struggle with putting the numbers together to get the final solution.
Now take the numbers out of it. But if you're asking,
if you're doing computation all the time, of well, how
come you responded this way? Why did this situation work out?
(15:50):
Why did this team work good together? Why did this
team not work good together? Every scenario. If you're constantly
doing the computation, there, you're going to get really good
at an when you've looked at the math and said, Okay,
this plus this equal this. What that's going to allow
you to do in the future is become very strategic
where you can say, like, here's how we want to
(16:10):
get to this outcome. Well, that means we need this
and this, or like an algebra, somebody gives you one
number and they say, what's the other number that needs
to go here to get to this outcome? Because that's
what happens to us all the time. Things get given
to us. A situation gets given to us, and we
know what we want that situation to become. This is algebra.
(16:31):
What's the missing piece here? And so constant evaluation is
a huge part of understanding where you are and where
you're going and then the self assessment because some of
these skills lend to both. Okay, so constant evaluation takes
reality and when you understand reality, you begin to understand
how could I get to where I want to go?
And then the other piece of constant evaluation is self assessment.
(16:55):
Like in navigation, the thing that will mess with your
compass or mess with your GPS the most is you.
We me nick you when you're listening to or when
you're looking at your situation. You're the one who creates
great interference in your situation. So this is through emotion,
through distraction. There are a lot of things that can
(17:15):
mess up your compass. We're the interference. So what you've
got to be good at self assessment? And I could
go much longer on that. We don't have time to
talk all about how to be great at SELFSS.
Speaker 1 (17:25):
You don't have to gee real quick.
Speaker 4 (17:26):
So just because we talked about this, we talked about
how it's the ability to see reality. That's episode two
fifty and you actually just said self self assessment and awareness.
Self assessment is episode fifty four and awareness is episode twelve.
So to the point you made, it's almost like we're
building on top of each other. But like I'm looking
these up as we're doing them because I forgot to
do it in the prep. So I'll keep giving these
go ahead, what's what's what's another skill?
Speaker 2 (17:48):
Second skill? Here? This is one that I really enjoy,
And I'm going to go fast through these skills because
we can't take three hours to talk about all these skills.
Simplify until it's not true. Okay. I do this with
people that I coach. Often they'll give me their situation
that is complex and nuanced, and it will frustrate them,
(18:09):
but I will really mega oversimplify their problem to They'll
talk for fifteen minutes about all this situation they got
and I said, well, it's basically just this. I simplify
it to the point that it's nearly offensive to them. Okay,
and I've simplified it to the point that it's not broken,
but we're like on the edge of what you're saying
is different than what I'm talking about, right on the edge.
(18:31):
And when you simplify to that level, it allows you
to focus on, Okay, here's what are some of the principles.
But then you start saying, well, you forgot about this,
and you forgot about this, and you forgot about this,
and much of the things that get left out are nuanced,
which are things that like maybe bothered you or really
bugged you, but they're not principal. They're not really relevant
to what's going to change the situation. It's just the
(18:53):
things about your problem that have bothered you the most,
but they're not the things about your problem that are
the most influential. And so I will simplify something until
it's nearly not true, bring it down to its lowest level,
and this allows you to see your situation for what
it really is. This is a forest from the trees situation, right,
just I'm gonna wipe out all the trees. I'm gonna
(19:15):
rip them all out just for a moment, and we're
gonna look at where we really are.
Speaker 4 (19:20):
Yeah, And if you're looking for more insight on that,
both episodes twenty eight and eighty two we talk about
problem solving and troubleshooting, and that was that was actually
a real I've used the problem solving. It's one of
the two of those I've used all the time because
you were the one that was like you got to
start doing one thing at a time. That was really
my takeaway from it. So I solve problems all the
(19:42):
time in my house now using that exact process. And
it's amazing how how much you feel like a genius
and it's actually really simple. So very good, let's keep
going the g So question number one was just to
recap for people, is where are we? And it's your awareness,
it's your ability to see reality. That's really what it's
made up of. But the skills you need is constant
evaluation and simplification until it's not true, and then a tool.
Speaker 2 (20:04):
So that's skills. We have a tool here with where
are we? Plug Tools are things that we can give
to you. Tools are something here here you go, right,
You're gonna learn his skill is knowing how to use
a hammer. But a tool is a hammer. Here's a hammer.
You're a lot better off with a hammer than without
a hammer. Here's a tool. Tool that goes with where
are we Well, we actually just released a new product
(20:27):
over a week ago called the Purpose Playbook. Nick, you
want tell them about the Purpose Playbook?
Speaker 4 (20:33):
Yeah, And this has our time management framework in it.
I mean, if you were to most people will are
getting to the end of the year and they're thinking,
I'm going to set goals for next year. And what
Garrett and I realize is that goals are fun things
until they're tied to purpose, and then they become the
most compelling thing in the world to you. And so
the Purpose Playbook is where we basically show you how
to cast vision with an understanding of your potential, understand
(20:56):
your priorities. We're going to go more into this, but
there's reasons why goals break down, and so you understand
your priorities, you cast vision, and then you set goals
that are process based in line with that, that are
absolute musts. Garrett and I've been doing this, We've taught
it in person, for the past two years, and this
year we're not teaching it in person. We made it
a lot more affordable. It used to be eight hundred
and fifty bucks to do it in person. It's forty
(21:17):
three dollars to basically get the exact same course. And
it's actually upgrade because we've rearranged it. We added to it.
You can learn it on demand at your own time.
It's got video teaching, it's got a workbook, and part
of that workbook is we give you a time management framework.
Because you can't just set a goal. This is what
we're saying. You don't just say hey, we're going here
and then you just start walking and go like, yeah,
we're still going. It's like no, you need to keep
reassessing your progress and that's where a time management framework
(21:40):
comes in. So we give that to you in the
Purpose Playbook. We also give you a simplified version of
that for free in our blog. So if you go
to our website and look in our blog, we have
our time management framework on there. But this is we're
here to just equip people.
Speaker 1 (21:50):
Man.
Speaker 4 (21:50):
I hope you guys know that. After two hundred and
sixty three episodes and this is just.
Speaker 1 (21:54):
So joint to really help you.
Speaker 2 (21:55):
So you can join. You can join our group on school.
It's free and the Purpose Playbook is a one time
purchase and everybody likes those people have a hard time
with well, I got to join this group and it's
gonna cost You shouldn't think that way. You should be
thinking about constantly investing in yourself. But Purpose Playbook makes
it quite a bit easier to join our free school group.
(22:16):
And then it's a one time purchase for Purpose Playbook.
Let's keep going. So second question here, second question.
Speaker 4 (22:22):
Because it'd be irresponsible if you go to the www
dot the Impossible dot Life, it's on the homepage. You
can find it there, but it's www dot the Impossible
Dot Life forward slash Purpose and the link is also
in the show notes if you are looking at the
Purpose Playbook. So question number two, where are we going?
Speaker 2 (22:37):
Boom? Where are we going? Okay? Where are we going?
Is both like purpose big picture. We're just talking about
that Purpose. It's the big picture, right, This is seeing
the entire battle plan. But also clarity, right, Clarity allows
you to navigate. Clarity allows you to see the next steps.
What do we need to do in the short to midterm.
(22:59):
Not like what's five feet in front of me? But
how do I go from five feet away to five
miles away? Right? Purpose is like five miles to you know,
the edge of the world. It's the entire thing. What's
the most what's the biggest pieces, what's this mission all about?
What's the commander's intent? And clarity is being able to
(23:20):
take that commander's intent and translate it down into reality
a little bit. So there's a couple of skills that
I want to give that go with this. This is
a fun one skill Number one this is imagination and invention. Right,
imagination can be a bad thing for you, but imagination
can also be a wonderful thing for you. You've got
(23:40):
to be able to look at your look at your family, right,
look at you the business that you're in. You may
think they're small, but think about them in the context
of what if this was, you know, ten times bigger.
What if everything that I ever set out to do
worked and you start to believe and dream of and
how could this really be? What would actually be possible?
(24:02):
The reason God gave us that ability because it's if
you think about like we take it for granted, it's
actually a strange ability. It's the ability to see something
that your eyes don't see right, and so it's not
just a curiosity, but it truly is invention. You're painting
a picture in your mind, you're beginning to you know,
you can start on a picture and not finish it,
(24:24):
or you know if you want. I'm not an artist,
but if you watch artists right like paint a picture,
which I enjoy watching them because I don't have that gifting,
they begin to they put an layout on the picture,
and then they keep adding detail and they keep adding detail,
and then there's this crazy transition in watching a paint
or paint where it's like the painting just comes to life.
(24:44):
It's like this kind of looked like weird for a second,
but now he knew what he was doing the whole time,
and he could see all of it from beginning to end.
But like in that last twenty percent of the painting,
it's like, wow, this is a mazing. It like just
jumps off of the page or the canvas at you
and imagine. And an invention is this ability to think
really big, to be able to dream, to paint a
picture in your mind of something that you see right.
(25:07):
And then second skill here I would call it this
is planning versus plans, Eisenhower said, one of them. Here's
a great strategist. Eisenhower said, planning is our plans are useless.
Planning is priceless. Right, So the plans that you came
up with don't need them. But planning is one of
the most important thing you can do. And so in
(25:29):
the where are we going? This is understanding the difference
between having a perfect plan perfect plan. There's no such
thing as a perfect plan except for the one that
you just made.
Speaker 1 (25:38):
Right.
Speaker 2 (25:38):
When you just made a plan, you think it's a
perfect plan. But tomorrow the plan you just made is
not going to be the perfect plan. Things change, right,
and so what what strategic thinking is is it this
ability to do planning, to shift your plans and understand
what is the next best option? Right the same way
that you created that plan, right by you took everything
(25:58):
that you could see understanding of where am I get
an understanding of where do I want to go? And
then you created a plan. Well, here's what's going to
happen tomorrow. The weather's going to change, and now your
plan's going to change. Tomorrow, someone's going to come over
to your house tomorrow. You're going to lose a contract,
whatever it is. Things are going to shift, things are
going to change, and you have to be able to
replan and come up with the next best option.
Speaker 4 (26:23):
Yeah, and that's where I think a lot of people
fall down is because they're so committed to a plan,
and it's you know, the great philosopher Mike Tyson. Everybody's
got a plan until they get punched in the face
real quick, because I want to keep moving g But
if you're looking for these things, episode six was on
clarity and episode one sixty was breaking through the most
frustrating limitation purpose. So and if you just by the way,
(26:43):
if you go into Spotify, the app on your phone.
They don't do it on desktop for whatever reason, but
the app on your phone, you can go to the
show and search by keyword. And that's how I find
all our podcasts really fast. So if anybody's ever wondering, like, oh,
did they ever talk about this, just go to the
Spotify app on your phone and go into the show
and search and you'll find it's It's amazing how much
we talk about It's nice.
Speaker 2 (27:02):
There there is a there's a podcast tool for you.
I'll just let last thing really quick and we'll wrap up.
We'll go to the last question is on the planning
versus plans. This is unemotional decision making. You cannot be
married to a lot of people. They spend so much
effort on a plan, they get married to that plan,
and that you should You should stay married to your wife.
You should not stay married to your plans because that
(27:25):
that plan becomes irrelevant very quickly, and the longer you
stay with it, your your inability to abort a messed
up plan. It's not a lack of endurance. You've just
got to understand that the battlefield has changed. And again
that's unemotional. When you know you're not influenced by pain,
you so you know you can make you can change
the plan effectively when you are when you allow yourself
(27:48):
to be influenced by plan, you're also having to fight this.
Speaker 1 (27:51):
Well.
Speaker 2 (27:51):
I know, I just need to you know, stay committed
and push through. When you don't have to battle that
in yourself, you know you can make wise decisions on
should I change the plan?
Speaker 1 (28:02):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (28:04):
Last question here, number three. So we've got where are
we We've got where are we going? And The next
question is what matters most right now?
Speaker 1 (28:13):
Right?
Speaker 2 (28:14):
This is prioritization. It's very it's very important that you
can understand what matters most. You think if you think
everything is a priority, nothing is a priority. You have
to be able to say what is the priority right now?
And then this is also discipline and focus. So two
skills here, right, two skills here, they go with what
(28:34):
matters most right now? This is one of my favorite skills.
We've talked. We've taught this one quite often on the podcast.
This is the ability to zoom in and zoom out.
So this is this is perspective and lens changing. Look
at the big picture, come back to the little picture.
Look at the big picture, Come back to the little picture.
When you are stuck on a map and you're not
sure where you are, you'll look, you'll zoom out, and
(28:56):
you'll zoom in, and you'll zoom out, you'll zoom in.
You look the big thing, and then you're trying to understand, Okay,
where exactly am I? Okay, I know I want to
go to this long, faraway place. Let me come back
to where I am really quick for a second. Okay,
come back to the big picture, where is it that
I want to go again? Now I can see here's
my next step, here's my next step in relation to
(29:18):
some of the recent events of my lives, in relation
to what's happened, and that constant zoom in zoom out.
It keeps you from being stuck in one place or
the other. It allows you to take what's happening in
the moment and connect it to what's happening in the
big picture. And then the last we've talked about zoom in,
zoom out a ton. I'm just referencing it here because
it's one of the skills of what matters most right now.
(29:38):
People get stuck and they make wrong decisions on what
matters most right now because they're stuck in one lens
there's way zoomed out or they're way zoomed in, and
you have to be able to both articulate your lens
zoom in and zoom out. Then you will make better
right now decisions. Last thing that goes with what matters
most right now is focus and concentration. We're just up
(30:00):
in mindset Mastery for November. We just talked about focus
right and focus and concentration. We distinguish those two a
little bit in mindset mastery. But it comes down to
this ability to drown out the distractions. That is a skill.
It's a muscle that you must say. So what skills
are their muscles?
Speaker 1 (30:16):
Right?
Speaker 2 (30:16):
I can show you how to do bicep curls. You
got to put in the time and the effort to
build stronger arms. I can show you how focus works.
I can teach it to you, but you have to
put in the time to develop great concentration ability and
be able to drown out all of the distractions. So
decide that you want to be a strategic thinker, that
you're going to be someone who looks at your life.
(30:37):
I'll navigate the difficulty. I'll take on the lessons of awareness.
I'm going to determine what my purpose is and how
I'm going to live purposefully in my life, and then
I'm going to develop all the skills that I need
to develop to take where I am, where I want
to go, and know what matters most right now so
that I can get to the greatest possible long term impact.
Speaker 3 (30:58):
Thank you very much for listening. Guys, remember to share,
like subscribe if you think that this would be something
that someone would enjoy please send it to them.
Speaker 1 (31:06):
We appreciate it all.
Speaker 3 (31:07):
If you want to get in touch, you can follow
us on Instagram at the Impossible Life. You'll find us
on there. You can also email at Impossible Life Podcasts
at gmail dot com if you have any questions. If
you want to get in touch and find out about
Carrett's personal or business coaching, that's the way to do it.
Thank you again for listening. Go out there and think
better and live the impossible. You see again soon
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
The Burden
The Burden is a documentary series that takes listeners into the hidden places where justice is done (and undone). It dives deep into the lives of heroes and villains. And it focuses a spotlight on those who triumph even when the odds are against them. Season 5 - The Burden: Death & Deceit in Alliance On April Fools Day 1999, 26-year-old Yvonne Layne was found murdered in her Alliance, Ohio home. David Thorne, her ex-boyfriend and father of one of her children, was instantly a suspect. Another young man admitted to the murder, and David breathed a sigh of relief, until the confessed murderer fingered David; “He paid me to do it.” David was sentenced to life without parole. Two decades later, Pulitzer winner and podcast host, Maggie Freleng (Bone Valley Season 3: Graves County, Wrongful Conviction, Suave) launched a “live” investigation into David's conviction alongside Jason Baldwin (himself wrongfully convicted as a member of the West Memphis Three). Maggie had come to believe that the entire investigation of David was botched by the tiny local police department, or worse, covered up the real killer. Was Maggie correct? Was David’s claim of innocence credible? In Death and Deceit in Alliance, Maggie recounts the case that launched her career, and ultimately, “broke” her.” The results will shock the listener and reduce Maggie to tears and self-doubt. This is not your typical wrongful conviction story. In fact, it turns the genre on its head. It asks the question: What if our champions are foolish? Season 4 - The Burden: Get the Money and Run “Trying to murder my father, this was the thing that put me on the path.” That’s Joe Loya and that path was bank robbery. Bank, bank, bank, bank, bank. In season 4 of The Burden: Get the Money and Run, we hear from Joe who was once the most prolific bank robber in Southern California, and beyond. He used disguises, body doubles, proxies. He leaped over counters, grabbed the money and ran. Even as the FBI was closing in. It was a showdown between a daring bank robber, and a patient FBI agent. Joe was no ordinary bank robber. He was bright, articulate, charismatic, and driven by a dark rage that he summoned up at will. In seven episodes, Joe tells all: the what, the how… and the why. Including why he tried to murder his father. Season 3 - The Burden: Avenger Miriam Lewin is one of Argentina’s leading journalists today. At 19 years old, she was kidnapped off the streets of Buenos Aires for her political activism and thrown into a concentration camp. Thousands of her fellow inmates were executed, tossed alive from a cargo plane into the ocean. Miriam, along with a handful of others, will survive the camp. Then as a journalist, she will wage a decades long campaign to bring her tormentors to justice. Avenger is about one woman’s triumphant battle against unbelievable odds to survive torture, claim justice for the crimes done against her and others like her, and change the future of her country. Season 2 - The Burden: Empire on Blood Empire on Blood is set in the Bronx, NY, in the early 90s, when two young drug dealers ruled an intersection known as “The Corner on Blood.” The boss, Calvin Buari, lived large. He and a protege swore they would build an empire on blood. Then the relationship frayed and the protege accused Calvin of a double homicide which he claimed he didn’t do. But did he? Award-winning journalist Steve Fishman spent seven years to answer that question. This is the story of one man’s last chance to overturn his life sentence. He may prevail, but someone’s gotta pay. The Burden: Empire on Blood is the director’s cut of the true crime classic which reached #1 on the charts when it was first released half a dozen years ago. Season 1 - The Burden In the 1990s, Detective Louis N. Scarcella was legendary. In a city overrun by violent crime, he cracked the toughest cases and put away the worst criminals. “The Hulk” was his nickname. Then the story changed. Scarcella ran into a group of convicted murderers who all say they are innocent. They turned themselves into jailhouse-lawyers and in prison founded a lway firm. When they realized Scarcella helped put many of them away, they set their sights on taking him down. And with the help of a NY Times reporter they have a chance. For years, Scarcella insisted he did nothing wrong. But that’s all he’d say. Until we tracked Scarcella to a sauna in a Russian bathhouse, where he started to talk..and talk and talk. “The guilty have gone free,” he whispered. And then agreed to take us into the belly of the beast. Welcome to The Burden.