How To Get There

​Have you ever outkicked your coverage? Well, I’m living that life right now. I never expect to be as happy, healthy and fulfilled as I have been for the past few years. I didn’t land here on accident, although I do consider myself immensely blessed. Over the years I have identified what makes me happy. I am most happy when I am producing or creating something of significance. I don’t enjoy leisure and I don’t require significant rest time because I get all antsy in my pantsy. Maybe you are the opposite of me and want a plan to establish more productive time. I believe this plan will work for both types of individuals and I’m excited to share some of the methods I use with anyone who will listen.
I break down my goals into timeframes of Daily, Weekly, Monthly and Quarterly with subcategories of Do, Have, Go, Be. This list has been formed by trial and error over the last few years. To put it all on paper takes about 2 hours of uninterrupted time (hard to wrangle, I know*) but now the marching orders are in place for the next 90 days. I’d say that is a decent ROI!  
*“Too Busy” excuse; If you can’t carve out 2 hours somewhere in your life, you don’t have a life. 

Value	Daily	Weekly	Monthly	Quarterly	Random
Do	​100 minutes screen free time with my kids.   Prehab my body. Sprint at the park. **   5 minute journal.   Workout.   Read something that educates me.	​Coach rugby.   Date night with Anne.   Teach at homeschool group/yoga.   Fun project at my house ( <120min).   Reach out to an old friend.   Talk to my parents.	​Weekend trip with Anne and the boys.   Write a blog post.   Watch a complete rugby game.   Give a gift to someone I love.   Host friends 1-2x in our home.	​Set Quarterly goals with Anne.   Set quarterly goals for myself.   Eval past goals with/without Anne.
Go	To work (5-7x/week). ​ Outside for at least 60 seconds.	​To the park or activity with Blaise. ​ To Church.	Haircut. Chiropractic adjustment. Massage.​ Yoga 1-2x.	​+/- 5 day trip with family.
Be	Empathetic to my patient’s conditions. ​ Confident in the direction of my goals. An energetic and passionate example to my friends and family. Confident in my environment unless I choose to challenge myself for growth purpose.	A supporter of local business. ​ Consistent in my preparations for the week.	Quantifiably physically stronger. Repair and shelf an old injury.** Reduce my screen time by 5%.	​Generous to a charity or friend in need.	Value
Have	Coffee. Cold Shower.** Prayer time. Healthy smoothie. Restful sleep. ​ Supplements.	Have more peace about intentional rest time.** ​ Designated time to handle semi-regular responsibilities like budgeting, taxes, continuing education.	A new book.   Fix 1 thing that I already own.	1 new business opportunity to consider.   Mentor a former player.
Random	Value	Quote to chew on throughout the week.	Discover a new blind spot and begin to resolve it.	Reduce lazy purchases.**

**Special Notes**
Daily Do** Sprint in the AM. Fast twitch muscle fiber recruitment is paramount to my prehab and psyche. Typical program is 6-10 reps of 80-120 meter sprints of slightly uphill dirt track running. Rest/work ratio is roughly 5-1. Done in less than 12 minutes. Boom.
Weekly Have** More peace about rest time. I intentionally keep my phone more than an arm’s length away so I can be in the moment without reactively reaching into the internet. Seems to be working.
Monthly Be** Shelf an old injury. I have been playing hot potato with injuries my whole career and now that I am retired, those nagging injuries need to be put to bed. Some issues will never be fully corrected due to the extent of the damage but if they are managed properly, they will never be more than occasionally annoying. I liken it to a small fire in the middle of my house: if you spray water on it every day, it won’t burn the whole house down. Sure it smells like smoke but it is managed.
Quarterly Random ** Reduce lazy purchases. When I don’t make lunch the night before work I almost always buy lunch the next day. 

​I have blind spots in this list, obviously. It wasn’t intended to be a life plan or even the sole North star for my life. 90 days is a statistically significant amount of time to assess one’s short term efficacy. 90 days is short enough to project out your schedule while long enough to form habits and rituals when done consistently. For the science nerds out there, n=90 contributes enough significant data points to draw conclusions in your own life.

Perhaps you are happy with your routine, life and trajectory! In that case, scroll on by! But for me, I found myself going an inch in a million directions. More specifically, I compiled this list for 3 main reasons:

1. To establish ritual in my daily life. Top performers tend to automate their necessary and daily tasks that don’t necessarily move the needle but if left unattended, would lead to disastrous results. Think about direct deposit. It is no longer a good use of your time to go deposit your check on Friday afternoon 2x/month. Yet, failure to get that check cashed would be huge. So, we automate. Same thing for my prehab, reading and personal growth.
2. To create systems that are reproducible for the results that I want. Ever walk into the gym, see some dude doing a weird lift (Bosu ball squats with 225# on their back for example…😊) and assume that this must be the secret to their power like Samson and his flowing locks? We WANT that to be the shortcut but the truth is, consistency will always beat intensity. We tend to attribute success to our positive actions and failure to circumstance beyond our control (bad luck) but when we FAIL to CONTROL our CIRCUMSTANCES you can usually point to a lack of strategy and structure. You are not lucky or unlucky. You are in control of your happiness whether you like it or not. So, might as well track what works and repeat those actions a lot.
3. To Lead. I have coached 60+ young men every week for the last 4 years who look to us (the coaching staff) for more than just rugby knowledge. I have hundreds of patients who rely on my expertise to avoid injury. My sons learn from my actions on how to be a man of principle and integrity. If I don’t improve EVERY DAY I let them down. Others are looking to us to help navigate their lives through good times and bad. This is my map.

It would take far too much time to explain the WHY behind my priorities but I’m confident you can see the patterns; set a solid platform for myself so I can dial in fully to my family, craft and friends. I am always learning, modifying and yes, failing to live up to own expectations. I hope my list inspires you to create your own goals with the purpose of being the best human you can be 90 days at a time

To asses your own personal goals in the same fashion as Dr. Zach, download the file below! 

how_to_get_there_chart.pdf
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