[00:00] I sent that text message. It changed my life, and it could change yours too. What’s that message? What’s that one thing? That one catalyst, that one small thing. It might take you 20 seconds to send that text message, but it will set the ball in motion. Welcome to another episode of. Through failure, the show for successful people and for those who want to become successful, the only show that reveals the true nature of success.

[00:31] This is your host, Jim Harshaw, Jr., and today I’m bringing you a solo episode. This is kind of like a part three of a three part series. I set an episode 393 that this was a two-part series, but then I identified a piece that was missing that I wanna share with you. So episode 393 for the, for those of you who are new listeners, I alternate almost every show.

[00:53] So it’s a, it pretty typically is a solo episode. And then after that, it’s an interview episode, then a solo episode and an interview, and it rotates back and forth every once in a while. I do two interviews in a row, or two solos in a row, but episode 393, I did a solo episode about internal catalysts for change, like how to create change.

[01:13] And there are some internal things to do there. And episode three 90. Is about external, like environmental catalysts for change. This third part is about micro tactics, like the easiest, smallest, simplest, no-brainer things that you can do to turn failure into success. The things that have been on your to-do list for a long time are things that you’ve been wanting to do, or you’re like, I’m just not, you know, consistent at this enough, or I can’t stay focused.

[01:42] That’s what this episode is about. These. Catalysts for change. And these are, like I said, I call ’em micro tactics, and these are all, every single one of these I’m gonna share with you today, they take five minutes or less. Some of them are 30 seconds or less, like you have no excuse not to do some of these, and sometimes those 30 seconds could change your life.

[02:05] Let me give you an example. I sent a text message a few years ago. To a friend, and this was kind of one of those things I’ve been wanting to do for a long time, and reach out to some people and do some networking and connect with some old friends. And this message that I knew I had to get out, I wanted to get, you know, get in touch with this guy.

[02:24] I didn’t know if I should be a phone call or an email or, or set up a call with him or, and I just decided to send him a text. And that text message led to. Tens of thousands of dollars in revenue and income for my business and allowed me to quit my job and go full-time into my business. And it was literally a, when I say 30 seconds or less, it was probably more like 15 seconds.

[02:47] But that catalyst, that small text message set off a, a snowball of activity that happened. He responded to the text and then we ended up jumping on a call. And it wasn’t until months later when this actually turned into business. That text message turned into business. And I’ll be honest, that text message actually is still leading to new business.

[03:07] There’s other business that has been generated from that, and it absolutely changed my life. So some of this stuff is going to change your life. If you feel, like I said, if you feel like you’re failing, you’re not consistent enough or you’re not focused, you’re not locked in, you’re not doing the things you feel like you should be doing, this is going to help you.

[03:23] This is how you create. Success through failure, taking small actions. All right, so now before I dive into the specific tactics that I’m gonna share with you, and there are 12 of them, but before I get it to those, I wanna share with you an exciting promotion that we’ve got going on. So episode, this is episode 397.

[03:43] Episode 400 is coming. Episode four freaking hundred is coming, and it’s a great episode. We’ve got it all mapped out. I’m really excited about, I’ve been working on it for about a month, but what we’re doing is a. To really promote that 400th episode, and I’m doing a giveaway, so this
[04:00] is a giveaway for the first ever success through failure t-shirt we’re giving.

[04:06] 10 of them away. And so if you go to any of my social media platforms right now, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, you’ll see a pinned post talking about the 400th episode and talking about the promotion. All you have to do to enter to win one of these shirts is number one, like the post. Number two.

[04:29] Make sure you’re following me. And number three, tag three friends. In the comments. Okay, that’s it. Like the post follow me, tag three friends, and if you want to get entered a second time, a bonus, share that post. Right? So just share it on whatever platform it is. If you share it now, you’re entered in twice.

[04:49] And again, I’m giving away 10 success through failure. T-shirts, these things are awesome. They’re nice shirts, they’re well designed, and they feel good. They’re a nice fit as well. So, Make sure you’re
[05:00] entered in. Make sure you don’t miss out. And obviously, you know, this is a promotion, this is a contest.

[05:04] I’m trying to get as many people to, to do this as possible. And you know, I’m excited to give the shirts away, but really also excited to, to promote episode 400. Get this message out to more and more people. Alright, so don’t miss out after this episode or maybe right now. Go check out those social media profiles and enter yourself into the drawing.

[05:23] Alright? I told you there are 12 micro catalysts, the smallest, easiest things you can do. You can’t say no to doing these things. I’m gonna give you 12. You don’t need to do 12. You need to do one, maybe two at the most, three. All right, I’m gonna rattle these off pretty quick. These are all gonna be in the action plan.

[05:42] Number one, make your. You’ve heard of the book by Admiral McCraven. Make your bed This one small thing, this one small catalyst to get your day going. Well, how long does it take you to make your bed? A minute, couple minutes, whatever. It’s quick. It’s easy. I have another Pathfinder, one of my clients in my inner circle.

[06:02] His sort of make your bed activity. His small catalyst for having a quality day setting off his day right, is to do some kind of yard work, some kind of clean up, like out in his yard, front yard, driveway, just kind of cleans up out there. And when he does that, it just puts him into this productive mode, this productive mindset.

[06:19] And it works for him. Like, what works for you? What is it? Is it making your bed? Is it, you know, cleaning the kitchen before you go to work? Or, you know, starting out your day with a workout, like whatever it is, even if it’s like. Sitting and doing some deep breathing for a couple minutes or meditation for five minutes, two minutes, like one minute, whatever.

[06:36] It, like, what’s the smallest thing that would just put you in a little bit better of a, a position. Now listen, I’m not talking about, I’ll take, take workouts, scratch, workout off that list because that’s, that’s big. That’s not micro something small. What is the smallest thing? We’re not time, I’m not trying to overload you with something that’s that’s heavy and hard.

[06:55] What is the easiest, no-brainer thing that you can’t possibly say no to that, you know,
[07:00] just put you in a, a little bit. A place do that. That’s the sort of make your bed philosophy. Quick interruption. If you like what you’re hearing here and you want to learn how you can implement this into your life, just go to jim harrow jr.com/apply to see how you can get a free one-on-one coaching session with me.

[07:20] That’s JimHarshawJr.com/apply. Now, back to the show. All right, that’s number one. Number two, set one deadline. One, put it on the calendar. Here’s an example of how I use this. Recently in my life, I’ve been wanting to interview this guy, author of a book, and I’ve been like, okay, I’m gonna read the book first and then I’m gonna reach out to him and he’s a friend so I can, I know I can get him on.

[07:45] I’m like, okay, I’m gonna read the book first, then I’m gonna reach out and get him on the podcast. Like, and this is not, this has gone on for months and so here’s what I’m doing. I. Set the interview with them. I reached out, we set, we set the deadline, we set the interview, and guess what? Now I gotta read the book because, I’ve set the deadline.

[08:03] It was just the one outreach, just the the message, reaching out to him, setting the deadline, and now everything else is going to happen because there’s a deadline. You know, you operate better under pressure. You know that if you’re going on vacation tomorrow, you’re gonna have a more productive day today just because you’ve got stuff to do and you have to get it done by the end of the workday.

[08:24] Same. Set a deadline. What’s the thing that you need to set the deadline for? Right? Instead of ready, aim, fire. Ready, fire, aim. All right. Pull the trigger. Make it happen. All right. That’s number two. Number three, set an alarm. Set an alarm on your phone to recur weekly. Maybe it’s every Monday morning at 8:00 AM or Monday, Wednesday, Fridays at 5:00 PM Like whatever it is.

[08:48] Set the. For you to do the thing and maybe that thing is reading your goals or maybe it’s stating your mantra, or maybe it’s just taking five deep breaths or maybe that that one thing is to do, you know, one networking outreach. For me, I have one set on Sunday. My watch, my, my Garmin watch here actually will vibrate once in the morning, I think it’s 9:00 AM and then another time it’s 7:00 PM as a reminder for me to do a check-in with Allie about the week.

[09:17] Like who’s going, what direct. We have four kids and you know, life is busy. It’s, it’s busy, and so I always wanna do this check-in at the beginning of the week. It just keeps us, gets us on the same page, keeps us on the pa, same page throughout the week, but I often forget to do it, but I set an alarm. Set yourself an alarm.

[09:36] That’s number three. Okay, number one, make your bed. Number two, set one deadline. Number three, set an alarm number. Send a text message to that person about that thing, whatever that person, whoever that person is, whatever that thing is. You know, maybe it’s about finding a personal trainer or that course that you heard some, a friend of yours took that you might want to take as well, or some networking outreach or somebody who’s doing the thing that you already wanna do.

[10:01] Maybe it’s a, it’s the meeting with the mentor that you wanna have. Send a text message. I told you about my example already. I sent that text message. It changed my. And it could change yours too. What’s that message? What’s that one thing? That one catalyst, that one small thing. It might take you 20 seconds to send that text message, but it’ll set the ball in motion.

[10:26] That’s number four. Number five, send an email. This feels a little longer than a text message, and it is, but you can keep it short. You can keep it simple, you know, just open it up, you know, and start typing in, Hey, can we schedule coffee or can you email me that p d f download? Or what’s the name of that new workout that you’re doing, or that book you were telling me about the other day?

[10:47] Keep it short. Keep it simple. Send the. Just send the email. All right. I’m not telling you to send 10 emails. I’m not telling you to, to write a huge, long diatribe. I’m saying send a short email. Keep it short. Keep it simple. That’s number five. Send the email. Number six, do a Google search. That’s it. That’s all.

[11:09] Just a search. You don’t have to take action. You don’t have to even sign up for the course or or commit to the thing. Just do the Google search. That’s it. And then, It gets the juices flowing, it creates momentum, and that’s what we’re looking for here. That’s what these catalysts do. They create momentum, right?

[11:27] Maybe it’s about that new career you’re thinking about. Do a Google search. Maybe find a YouTube video or an article or a book. You bookmark it. You maybe order the book or you like the video, or save it for later. Maybe it’s about, I don’t know, handling a, a, a tough conversation that you need to have with a colleague.

[11:43] Maybe you wanna do a Google search about how to train for a marathon. For me, it was something that I’ve been wanting to do a lot lately is, , talked with my son. My sons actually, , all my kids, but I’ve talked to him about this. But my oldest son is interested in learning about real estate investment.

[11:57] Well, I’ve done a little bit, we’ve owned a couple of properties, but he wants to learn a little bit more about it. And I’ve been, we’ve been talking about it, thinking about it, maybe, yeah, we’ll get around to it. We gotta do this. And we’ve talking about like getting a real inve real estate investment like calculator, like a calculator, like a worksheet, you know, like a Google spreadsheet you can punch the numbers in and just start running the numbers and kind of getting some practice just looking at deals.

[12:19] I realized the only thing holding me back was doing a freaking Google search. I did a Google search and I found it, and I got a free Google spreadsheet, Google Doc, and I saved it to my account. And when he comes home from school today, I’m like, Hey man, I got the worksheet. Like let’s just sit down and do it Like it was a Google search.

[12:35] That’s all it took. And who, who knows where this goes, right? May, maybe this changes his life and it certainly gets me doing something with him that I’ve, I’ve wanted to do for a long time. All right, so that’s number six. Do it. Just do a simple Google search. Number seven, plan your day. Just keep it simple.

[12:51] What are the three things that are gonna help you win the day today? Plan your day. Keep it simple. It doesn’t have to be some long, you know,
[13:00] 10 bullet point list or 20 bullet point, 20 bullet point list may maybe it is, right, but. It can be three. Like, how do I win the day today? Okay, I’m gonna work out.

[13:07] I’m gonna get that project done and I’m going to make dinner. Whatever it might be. Plan your day. Keep it simple. That’s number seven. Number eight, do three burpees, , or whatever it is for you, that gets your juices flung for me. I have to do this when I need to get productive and I’m just not feeling it. I have to change my physical state, and for me it’s three bur.

[13:33] It might be something totally different for you. Might be going up and down the steps once. Might be doing some squats, might be doing some deep breathing. Might be splash your face off with water, whatever it is. What is your version of three burpees? For me, three burpees makes a shift in my physical state and it changes my emotional state and gets me ready.

[13:52] Right? It’s so easy. It’s such an easy small catalyst, right? It’s a microt tactic number. Buy something. You know, for me, you know, this changed my afternoon, my afternoon. I used to, and I’ve talked about this recently on a podcast episode where, you know, I eat really health. I, I do intermittent fasting. I don’t eat in the morning.

[14:15] I’ve bulletproof coffee for breakfast and then, which is technically not intermittent fasting, but don’t tell anybody. and I have a, a big salad for lunch. And then usually, usually like three o’clock I’m getting hungry and like, eat any junk. Process carbohydrate that’s in sight. And so I’m like, man, I need to stop doing that.

[14:33] And so I just mentioned to Alexa, actually I did a quick Google search first. I said, what are some great healthy snacks for the afternoon? There’s a list of like 20 on this website. I picked two of them, right? Celery with peanut butter and yogurt and cottage cheese. Simple. I just said, Hey, Alexa, put these things on the grocery list.

[14:53] That’s. Think of what it is that you wanna put onto your grocery list and whether, whether you maybe use Alexa, maybe you use Google or Siri, or you got a handwritten note. Note, whatever it is, add it to your grocery list to buy something healthy, simple. It’s so simple. Like just do that thing so that whenever you go to the grocery store, next it happens.

[15:16] Like you buy the healthy food, you want to eat healthier, put something healthy on your grocery. All right, so that’s number nine. All right. I’m got a quick, quick review here. All right, before we get to the last few, number one, make your bed. Number two, set one deadline. Number three, set an alarm. Number four, send a text message.

[15:33] Number five, send an email. Number six, do a Google search. Number seven, plan your day. Number eight, do three burpees. Number nine, buy something healthy or at least put it on your grocery list. Here’s number 10. Go to. 30 minutes earlier tonight. I’ve talked about this before. Bedtime is a keystone habit. Go to bed 30 minutes earlier.

[15:56] Can’t do it 30 minutes earlier. Go to bed 15 minutes early. Can’t go to bed 15 minutes earlier, do it 10 minutes earlier. Sleep is the keystone habit. If you get to bed on time and you wake up on time, then you start your day well and well rested. Or if you get to bed late, then you’re either gonna wake up on time and be less rested, or you’re gonna sleep in and miss your morning routine, whatever that might entail for.

[16:19] Get to bed just a little bit earlier. That’s number 10. Number 11, this is personal. This is not for everybody, but for me it’s read one Bible verse, and I know for a lot of listeners it’s the same for you. If you’re a believer, read one Bible verse. Just one. Right? Don’t feel like you have to open the Bible and read for a half an hour.

[16:36] That’s great if you do, but just, just one Bible verse, one message you can plant into your brain. If you’re, if you’re not a Christian, you’re not a believer, what is it for you? the one short thing. That you can read to put a good message into your brain, right? One thing that’s gonna lift you up, and for me, it’s the Bible and just reading one Bible.

[16:56] How long does that take to read One Bible verse 30 seconds or less. Okay. Another catalyst. Here’s the final one, number 12. Start a timer for five minutes. Five minutes, that’s it. And do the thing, whatever the thing is, right? The grinding of the gears to get started doing something is at the beginning.

[17:17] It’s the start that stops most people, and it’s the start that stops you from doing the thing, whatever it is. Maybe it’s making the sales calls. , do it for five minutes and at the end of five minutes, you don’t wanna do it anymore. Cool. You’re done. You have a free pass to not do it anymore. Five minutes.

[17:32] You wanna apply for a job or, or, or start talking about that new career. Do it for five minutes. You want to start networking on LinkedIn. Do it for five minutes. Exercise, meditation, journaling. Five minutes. That’s it. Five minutes or less. This is a catalyst. All right, so you’ve got 12. All right. Make your bed, set one deadline, set an alarm, send a text message, send an email.

[17:58] Do a Google search. Plan your day. Do three burpees. Buy something healthy, or at least put it on your grocery list. 10 is sleep. 11 is read a Bible verse and number 12, start a timer for five minutes. I call this the five minute rule. Listen, none of these are gonna guarantee success. You will fail, you’ll fail and you will learn.

[18:17] But if you’re failing to be consistent and to be focused, these microt tactics, these micro catalysts for change, can change your life. Pretty much guaranteed to change your day, maybe your week, maybe your month, potentially even your. None of this works unless you do it. Every single one of these things I just read to you, they’re guaranteed to fail.

[18:41] If you don’t do them, you miss a hundred percent of the shots you don’t take. Take action. Good luck.

[18:50] Thanks for listening. If you want to apply these principles into your life, let’s talk. You can see the limited spaces that are open on my calendar at JimHarshawJr.com/apply, where you can sign up for a. One time coaching call directly with me and don’t forget to grab your action plan. Just go to JimHarshawJr.com/action.

[19:09] And lastly, iTunes tends to suggest podcasts with more ratings and reviews more often. You would totally make my day if you give me a rating in review. Those go a long way in helping me grow the podcast audience. Just open up your podcast app. If you have an iPhone, do a search for success through. Select it, and then scroll the whole way to the bottom where you can leave the podcast a rating and a review.

[19:34] Now, I hope this isn’t just another podcast episode for you. I hope you take action on what you learned here today. Good luck and thanks for listening.

Note: This text was automatically generated.