In this episode, Shawn Rider discusses the importance of simplicity in achieving success and personal growth. He emphasizes the need to cut out unnecessary complexity in life and focus on the basics that yield the most significant results. By applying the 80-20 rule, listeners are encouraged to identify high-leverage actions in their lives and prioritize them. Shawn provides practical strategies for simplifying routines, decision-making, and overall life management, while also advocating for a mindset shift towards efficiency and effectiveness as we approach 2025.
Takeaways
Simplicity is essential to success, not complexity.
The year 2025 is about returning to the basics.
Focus on the 20% of actions that yield 80% of results.
Eliminate non-essentials to reduce overwhelm.
Create simple, repeatable systems that support your goals.
Reflect and adjust your actions regularly to stay focused.
Set boundaries on your time to enhance productivity.
Prioritize high leverage activities in family, fitness, finance, and freedom.
You need to slow down to go faster in your pursuits.
Implement less and leverage the 20% for significant improvements.
Chapters
00:00 Introduction to Simplicity
06:07 Strategies for Simplifying Life
Episode 176
[00:00:00] What's up, ladies and gentlemen, it is Sean from the Tactical Empire. I'm going to be riding solo today. I wanted to do an episode on the presentation that I gave to the men in the inner circle at our second meetup of the year, which was in Scottsdale, Arizona, a few weeks back. And the presentation I gave, uh, was titled Cut the Shit.
Master the basics. And so I'm going to go through that for you real quick. Basically what we've all done is we've overcomplicated the fuck out of everything. We've made too many systems. There's too much variety, too many things to do. Too many habits, too many people to follow, podcasts to listen to, and books to read.
I don't care what you do for a living. If you're single, if you're married, if you have kids or don't have kids, if you're a high W 2 employee, if you're a business owner, whatever you are, if you're listening to this podcast, that means you're trying to be a high achiever, which means you've probably implemented way too much shit, which means you've overcomplicated the [00:01:00] fuck out of everything.
Everything. So I am telling the universe that the year 2025 is the year of simplicity and returning to the basics. This is the year that we eliminate the unnecessary complexity in our lives, in all areas of our lives. Simplicity is essential to success, not complexity. Okay, simplicity clarifies your goals.
It reduces overwhelm and in the long run, it will keep you focused on what truly matters. So in a world that, uh, Constantly pushes for more simplicity will help streamline. Your efforts will create sustainable progress. Keyword there is sustainable. Everyone that's listening to this probably has had burnout in the past because they went too hard for too long and they implemented too much complexity and it created chaos.
Simplicity eliminates distractions, [00:02:00] learning that you need to say no way more often than you say yes, and it helps you stay centered. Consistent and purposeful, which is how we succeed and reach our goals. So you're probably someone that has heard of the Pareto Principle. The Pareto Principle is the 80 20 rule, and it's quoted as saying 80 percent of outcomes are the result of 20 percent of causes.
Another way of saying that is 80 percent of your results In any area of your life are yielded by 20 percent of your actions. So simplicity, for the sake of this conversation, is magnifying the 20%. It is allowing you to find your zone of genius, your strength zone, and that of everyone around you. And letting those people and you do more of that, but better.
That is what I mean by simplicity. I don't mean dummying it down. What I [00:03:00] mean is removing the 80 percent of things that only yield 20 percent of the results. Amplifying. The 20 percent of things that yield 80 percent of the results. So your goal is to take the 20 percent and realistically, can you get it to be 100 percent of your focus and time and effort?
No, taking that 20 percent and turning it into 80 percent because the additional 20 percent that's left over is for you to test new things. And that is one new thing at a time, not 20 new things. Here's what you have to understand about complexity. It's not Necessary. Complexity distracts. Complexity pulls attention away from your core activities and it creates unnecessary stress.
Because more doesn't mean better. Here's what you have to understand about complexity. Think of your life as a machine. Adding more moving parts leads to [00:04:00] inefficiency and burnout of a machine. There's more that can go wrong. And here's the kicker. Even if you improve each individual part of that machine it does not mean that the entire machine is better.
Let me say that again. Just because you improve every individual part of a machine, it does not mean the machine or the system is better. Because what matters is how the parts interact with one another. That's what matters. So it's about the software. Not the system. It's about the software, not the parts of the machine.
And so you, in your life, could make every area of your life better. But you could still fall apart. Because all those better things came with more complexity. And it crushes you. Okay? [00:05:00] So how do I unwind complexity? 1. Prioritize the fundamentals. What does that mean? Focus on high leverage activities, the 20%, in the core areas of what?
The 4 F's. Family, fitness, finance, and freedom. Number 2. Eliminate non essentials. What does that mean? Review your routines, your processes, your goals. Cut out anything that doesn't directly contribute to your main objectives number three build systems Well create simple repeatable systems that support your goals Instead of complicating them instead of complicated systems adding more SOPs adding more softwares Your business used to have one simple software, now you got five.
Really? Is that what's moving the needle? Number four, simplify decision making. [00:06:00] How? Reduce the number of decisions by automation, delegation, and eliminating low priority tasks. Okay, we talk about that often in the Tactical Empire. You should be working in your zone of genius. Things that you're passionate about and make you money.
Both. Not just one of those things. Lastly, number five, reflect and adjust. Coming in to Q4. Uh, we're almost halfway through Q4 and into the new year. This is the time where you want to audit the year. Audit what worked, what didn't work. Remove the things that don't. Regularly audit your actions to ensure you're staying focused on simplicity and the basics.
So my call to arms, my call to action for you guys this year is to Pareto the fuck out of the 4Fs. Your objective is using the 80 20 rule. Identify the high leverage actions in the 4Fs, family, fitness, finance, freedom, that if prioritized [00:07:00] will lead to significant results. It's not about doing more, it's about doing less more often, but better.
Okay, so for your family, It may mean intentional time, it may mean improving communication, it may be you needing to lead by example. Fitness, move your body, eat mainly real food, rest and recover. A lot of you tout your work ethic but you have dog shit rest ethic. Those three things, the 20%, you don't eat all day long.
Eating is like one to one and a half hours of your day. If that, but you need to get that right. Okay. Finance, keep it simple, increase your income, manage expenses, create a family bank, invest in cashflow assets. Once you have that system system in place, which is our seven levels of financial freedom. You have the education.
You have [00:08:00] the system. Rinse and repeat. That's how you simplify your life. You do not simplify your finances by having one different account for every single financial goal you have. 529 plan, Roth IRA, extra brokerage account, a crypto account. I'm investing in five individual stocks. I only own two properties.
I'm trying to build a business. Simplify that shit. Create a family bank and invest in cash flow assets. That's either real estate or a business, most likely. Okay, finances also means investing in yourself, your team, and your business. Do not downplay that. Freedom. Delegate anything that doesn't pay you or you're not passionate about.
Read the book, Buy Back Your Time by Dan Martell. And 10x is easier than 2x by Dan Sullivan. Yes, I said earlier that we have Put too many books on our list. Those are the two that I think business owners should be reading going into 2025 to simplify their life, buy back. Your time will reinforce delegation and working in your zone of genius.
10 X is easier than two X is going to make you psychologically. [00:09:00] Okay. With, uh, walking away from certain people in your life as a business owner. Uh, we know that the higher up the mountain you climb, the less people there that are there. That's why entrepreneurship, being a high achiever, being a high W 2 income earner, um, even an executive at a business, um, it's a very lonely road to tow.
And here's what you have to understand. Not everyone is meant and able to breathe at these altitudes. The higher up the mountain you go, the less people you will have To interact with, okay, set boundaries on your time, okay, time blocking, uh, allocating certain hours of the day and certain days for focus buffer and free time.
For me, it's 11 a. m. to 2 30. That's when I do all my work and I do not work for those three and a half hours straight. Also pursue personal hobbies, okay? You need to have freedom of time. Here's the thing. You need to slow down to go faster. So the mindset you need going into 2025 is being deliberate, thoughtful, and strategic on when you work.
On what? How big? For how [00:10:00] long? Especially relative to anyone else. I do not give a fuck what anyone else is doing. I do not give a fuck about their projects. I don't care how hard they work. I don't care how long they work, how often they work. They are not me. So relative to anyone else, it needs to be relative to me.
Okay, but being deliberate about what you do relative to anyone else doesn't mean you have a lack of ambition or urgency This is about efficiency and effectiveness. I don't want other people's lives Yes, there are other people that are in the podcast space that are in the coaching space that have built huge businesses They will they will have way more millions of dollars than me And I don't care because I have something that they have enough.
I have the perfect amount of time with my family. I have the perfect amount of time with my wife. I have the perfect amount of time by myself. And I have the perfect amount of time for me to work on my projects. I have enough in this season of my life and it feels damn good. So 2025, your mantra. I need you to pick one [00:11:00] of these.
Write it down, put it as your phone background, put it on a sticky note and put it in your mirror so you brush your teeth and look at it. I got four mantras for you. One, cut the shit, master the basics. The second option, set the pace. Fast enough to move, slow enough to last. Three, go slow, win fast. Four, win slow.
Well that's weird, you just said win fast versus win slow. Yeah, I don't give a fuck. Whichever one connects with you, use that one. Ladies and gentlemen, 2025 is the year of simplicity, implement less, leverage the 20 percent that yields 80 percent of your results. And I promise you things will improve in your life.