Here is a test I run on myself before I sign up for anything: a week from now, will I still be thinking about this, wishing I had said yes?
If the answer is no, I already have my answer. I do not need to run the rest of the numbers.
Most people skip this step entirely. They feel the FOMO, they picture their friends doing it without them, and they sign up before they have checked anything else.
FOMO is not a strategy. It is a feeling, and feelings do not know what is already on your calendar.
I had a client add two programs to an already packed schedule because both felt like a yes in the moment. Feeling yes is not the same as having room for yes.
Run the week-from-now test first. It is the fastest no you will ever get, and it saves you from doing the rest of the math on something you were never going to want in seven days anyway.
What is something you signed up for that you forgot about within a week?
Transcription:
So step one, simple step, step one, do I really want this?
Like how bad… A week from now, will I still be thinking about this and regret that I didn’t sign up for it? When I hear other people talking about it, will I be like, “Oh man, I should’ve signed up for that.” Figure that out and recognize your FOMO level. When you say no, you need to be okay with your friends signing up for it and having a great time, and it works out for them.
You’ll sign up next time. If the timing is wrong, it’s a no. So if that first one, if you’re like, “Eh, I probably will forget about it in a week,” you’re already a no. You can move on. You don’t even need the rest of this. Step two, what will the time commitment be for me to really be successful in this and to enjoy the learning?
I like to learn. I want to learn not by the speed of gulping it like from a fire hose, but in the like nice digestible portions. So I actually have some equations that I use. For every page of reading, if I know there’s gonna be a lot of reading, I figure that out and I ask. I equate 2.5 minutes per page of listening, reading combo that I have to do.
Number of assignments due each week, the number of videos they’re gonna have us watching. I signed up for one course, and there were like 10 videos that were 30 minutes a piece. I didn’t have that… trust me, that one’s sitting on a shelf somewhere just for that reason. I didn’t assess that properly.
That was before the five-year mark, by the way. Here’s the real difference maker for us unconventional thinkers, and that Is this teacher trainer, are they going to give you the information that is in your learning style? That you best consume information, best learn? If it is not, you need to double the amount of time you think it’s going to take to do this course, because you will be converting things over into your learning style.
You will need to be successful. So don’t pretend like it’s not there. If you’ve followed them before, if you took their workshop, if you’re taking other classes from them, number three, pencil it into your calendar. Truly, open up the calendar and be like, “Okay, if this is gonna take this much time, I’ve already spent 10 minutes figuring this out where am I gonna come up with that time?
Where is that time available, and is it really available?” I don’t consider it available if you’re mowing over family time. I don’t consider it available if you’re gonna take away from your health time, working out, those types of things. What days of the week? What hours of the week? When is this really fitting into your schedule?
And who are you going to be accountable to for it when you first start? That accountability is key when you’re first starting these types of things.