My Willpowered Plan to Finish Kickstarter Strong (and Put My Money Where My Mouth is)
/I feel like my whole life has built up to this moment. It is truly make or break time.
I have spent the last 5 years researching the science behind how normal people used their willpower to achieve extraordinary success. Then writing about the simple, proven ways you can follow their lead.
I claim to have the answers about what it takes to will yourself through the hard times and come out the other side victorious.
So it is time for me to put my money where my mouth is and prove it.
For those of you who don't know, Kickstarter is "all or nothing". If we don't reach the goal in time, we don't receive any funding to publish the book.
With just over 9 days left, we are 2/3rds of the way to getting The Will of Heroes published and share the unbelievable true stories of willpower with the world.
So here is how I plan to use my willpower to finish these last 9 days strong and come out the other side victorious.
1. REMOVE AS MANY TRIVIAL DECISIONS AS POSSIBLE
Making decisions is one of the biggest wastes to your willpower there is. [1]
As you mentally rehearse your options and their consequences, you waste valuable mental energy that can be used for more important things like creativity, problem-solving, and focused productivity.
Over these final 9 days, I’m going to need all of the willpower I can get.
So I have all of my meals planned, the exact clothes that I will wear on each day picked out, and as many tasks that I can plan ahead on my calendar as possible - with the exact time and place so I know what to do and when.
Obviously there are still a lot of decisions that I cannot plan ahead of time. I’m going to have to learn and adapt as I go through this. But any decisions that I can make ahead of time, have now been made.
That way I focus my willpower on executing my pre-loaded decisions.
2. EATING THE FROG FIRST
Mark Twain once famously said:
“Eat a live frog first thing in the morning and nothing worse will happen to you the rest of the day.”
Of course, he wasn’t actually advocating that we all eat live frogs in the morning. His "frog" is that task on your to-do list that is so awful and disgusting that you want to procrastinate it more than anything else.
It is hard.
It is boring.
It is uncomfortable.
It is outside of your comfort zone.
Whatever your reason, you will do yourself a huge favor by getting it out of the way first thing in the morning.
Even if you are not a morning person, your willpower is still at its highest whenever you start your day. Your brain has had time to rest and turn your body’s food into glucose, which it will then use as willpower throughout the day. [2]
So if you need to eat a frog, then you better do it when you have the most willpower.
My frog is reaching out to people about publishing the book. Whether it’s an old college friend, a fellow blogger with an interest in one of the heroes, or a journalist at CNBC that I am trying to convince to do a press release about Warren Buffett’s willpower.
I hate doing it. I’m a writer and researcher, not a salesman!
But without being vulnerable and reaching out to people, I would never have gotten this far. So I need to do it.
First thing in the morning, I will eat my frog, and will myself to reach out to people.
3. MAKE UP FOR LOST SLEEP WITH OTHER WILLPOWER FUEL
Quality sleep is one of the most important factors for long-term willpower health.
Without sleep, your brain doesn’t create glucose (willpower fuel) as effectively, you cannot regulate emotions as easily, and you will get cravings for junk food much more frequently. [3]
But these last 9 days are not meant to be sustainable. They are my last push toward the finish line, and I’m going to spend as many hours as I can making sure that the project reaches its goal.
However, I should not pretend that I can just “suck it up”, or that "sleep is for the weak".
If I’m going to have less willpower fuel because I cut back on sleep, I have to make up for it in other ways.
So I am going to make the most out of the hours that I can spend asleep by:
1. Making my room completely dark for a more restful sleep. [4]
2. Meditating an extra time per-day. [5]
3. Eating strictly willpower-packed foods. [6]
This probably won’t entirely make up for the lost hours of sleep, but I'm betting the extra time over these last days will be worth it.
4. MAINTAIN THE PROPER PERSPECTIVE
It is very easy to feel sorry for yourself during challenging times.
Things don’t go the way you hoped.
You envy the success of others who seem luckier than you.
You let self-doubt creep in and start to lose faith that you’ll make it.
This has happened several times to me so far. I suppose anyone who starts a Kickstarter just hopes that somehow it is going to go viral and be one of the projects like these that are insanely successful.
I certainly dreamed of it. And when it didn’t happen, and I realized I was going to have to fight to make this dream a reality, I started feeling sorry for myself. I started blaming “luck” and letting self-doubt about reaching the goal set in.
But then I thought back to what Joe DeSena taught me about perspective.
By feeling sorry for myself, all I was doing was increasing my chances of having something to be sorry about in the end.
And I cannot afford to do that over this final push to the finish.
So when I am tired, I will think about Jure Robic, who biked as fast as he could for 7 days straight while only getting 90 minutes of sleep per night!
Compared to that, is it really that hard to sit in a comfy chair and work on a computer?
When I am worried about what others may think, I will remember Temple Grandin. Who was ridiculed all of her life due to her autism. Yet, she was still bold enough to take risks.
Compared to that, is it really so bad to pick up a phone or send an email?
And when I begin to lose faith in raising enough money to get the book published, I will think about Joe DeSena. Who was told by 4 doctors that he would never be able to run again – but worked relentlessly in rehab and has since run over 25 Ironman Triathlons!
Compared to that, my challenge doesn't seem so unconquerable.
CONCLUSION
My plan was to continue writing about the Heroes to share with you a glimpse of how incredible their stories are. But throughout my research, I have always wondered one thing that I may never know about them...
It is fun for me to read about their stories, because I know it's a happy ending.
But what were they thinking when they didn’t know the end of their story?
JK Rowling didn’t know if Harry Potter was even going to get published! Yet she willed herself to write every day as a single mother living in poverty.
Arnold Schwarzenegger had almost no shot at becoming a professional body-builder – yet he spent thousands of hours lifting weights.
If they had the chance, what would they write when right in the middle of facing their hardest challenge?
This is my chance to tell you my story before I know whether or not it's a happy ending. And I am honored to have you along for the ride.
I Want to Earn Your Support
Select any Kickstarter reward before November 5th & receive FREE access to my new course: Warren Buffett's Willpower Formula for Financial Success ($29 value)!
Sources:
- Baumeister, R., Bratslavsky, E., Muraven, M., & Tice, D. (1998). Ego depletion: Is the active self a limited resource? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1252-1265.
- Baumeister, Roy F., and John Tierney. Willpower: Rediscovering the Greatest Human Strength. New York: Penguin, 2011. Print.
- Spiegel, K., Tasali, E., Leproult, R. & Van Cauter, E. (2009) Effects of Poor and Short Sleep on Glucose Metabolism and Obesity Risk." Nature Reviews Endocrinology 5.5 253-61
- Chatterjee, A. (2012) Meditation as an Intervention for Cognitive Disturbances following Total Sleep Deprivation.(2012) The Indian Journal of Medical Research 136.6 : 1031-038
- Dijk, D., & Archer, S. (2009). Light, Sleep, and Circadian Rhythms: Together Again. PLoS Biology, E1000145-E1000145.
- Gailliot, M., Baumeister, R., DeWall, C., Maner, J., Plant, E., Tice, D., ... Schmeichel, B. (2007). Self-control Relies On Glucose As A Limited Energy Source: Willpower Is More Than A Metaphor. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 325-336.