Kay:
Hey there Questers and welcome back! It’s weird week, which means the week between Christmas and New Year’s. Today is December 28th, and this is episode 256.
Shi:
Alright. We’ve got a quote to you today from Joe Frazier, who was a famous boxer, and actually, probably his most famous claim to fame is that he was the first boxer to beat Mohammad Ali.
Kay:
“Smokin’ Joe.”
Shi:
Yeah. “Smokin’ Joe,” tells us, “You can map out a flight plan or life plan, but when the action starts, you’re down to your reflexes, that’s where your road work shows. If you cheated on that in the dark of the morning, you’re getting found out now under the bright lights.”
Kay:
Oh, Shila and I can feel this in the depths of our being, because prior to 2020, we used to speak a lot on live stages and go around to conferences and speaking on stages and see other people perform. And it’s very clear who is prepared to be on the stage and who is not prepared to be on the stage because when the lights turn on and it’s thousands of eyeballs on you, it is difficult to perform if you aren’t ready for that performance.
Shi:
Right. I love that he talks about here, but when the action starts, you’re down to your reflexes, I mean, there are a lot of things that say you lower down to your level of habits. So, this is basically the same thing, and thinking about what it is that you do habitually in the dark on the regular Tuesday or Monday on weird week ultimately does show when it is time to perform. Whatever performance means to you, whether it’s giving a presentation or turning in a term paper or trying to build a relationship or anything like that, when, once you get into the mode, you’ve got to rely on what it is that you’ve prepared for.
Kay:
A really good, real-life example of a time when somebody moved forward into the light and wasn’t ready for it was in 2017 or 2018 with the whole Fyre Fest incident. If you haven’t heard of the Fyre Festival, what ended up happening was there was a gentleman who kept saying, “I got it, I got it. I got it. I’m going to throw the best festival ever and it’s going to be on this private island, and I got it and don’t worry. I got it.” And he kept just dazzling people with his great presentation skills and his beautiful PowerPoints and all of the things. But it turns out he was cooking books on the backend. The festival wasn’t really what it was meant to be and when the lights shone he wasn’t ready, and it became a complete debacle. The guy is actually in jail now and there are a couple of documentaries about it.
Shi:
I was going to say yeah, the dude landed himself in jail. We got to hear Ja Rule speak about this experience. Ja Rule was one of the other main organizers…
Kay:
One of the partners that got bamboozled.
Shi:
Yeah. Got bamboozled by this guy, this real con man. It is a great example of this because there has to be some kind of work. You can’t just have the plan, the map, the dazzle. The plan is great, but it’s only great if you work the plan and you take the steps that it actually requires to get to the end goal.
Kay:
I think we see some people misinterpreting this idea with the line that’s very popular right now in motivation, which is “fake it ’til you make it.” Well, if you don’t feel it, just fake it until you make it. So, I want to unpack that a little bit right now, because I think some people think that fake it till you make it means to be fake until you’ve made it, but that’s not what it means. Fake it ’til you make it means that if you want to act like a champion if you want to be a champion, you’ve got to act like a champion which means doing the things that a champion does. So, you might not be a champion today, but the champion wakes up at five o’clock in the morning and the champion works out from 5:15 to 6:15 and the champion has a routine set down and the champion hits their email inbox at the time where they’re most energized. So, it’s not about faking it and then you’ve made it, it’s about acting as if, and actually doing the work.
Shi:
I think that’s a great distinction there because really, we’re talking about being the embodiment of that champion in whatever field or achievement that you’re trying to make. So, it’s not just fake it and be insincere or fake it as in I don’t really know what I’m doing but fake it if you need that sense of self or belief in yourself so that you can get in alignment with what are those actions that you’re going to do day after day so that it becomes a reflex. “Smokin’ Joe,” he got incrementally better at being a boxer, at throwing the punches, defending himself, and making those moves so that he could ultimately have a great achievement being the first person to knock out Muhammad Ali, beat the unbeatable.
Kay:
Yep. So, as “Smokin’ Joe” reminds us, you can map out a flight plan or a life plan. But when the action starts, you’re down to your reflexes, that’s where your road work shows. If you cheated on that in the dark of the morning, you’re getting found out now under the bright lights.
Shi:
Alright. So, it is “weird week” Monday. We call it that because…
Kay:
It’s just a weird week. So, between Christmas and New Year’s up is down, left is right.
Shi:
Cheese is breakfast, you don’t even know.
Kay:
Most people are still drinking.
Shi:
Today though, we’ve got a quest for you that can help you combat some of that weirdness this week. It’s the last Monday in 2020. So, last Monday, get it done day, and we’ve got some roadwork for your reflex. Nurture a healthy habit by drinking at least one gallon of water to start your week off feeling hydrated, strong, and energized. It sounds like more than it is…
Kay:
It is only eight, eight-ounce cups…
Shi:
…and your body will be so happy.
Kay & Shi:
Are you ready? Let’s quest!
