How to Get the Results You Want Using the Lightbulb Flicker Explosion Strategy
This is an old post that I retrieved from the Internet Archives.
I’m rewriting this post when I’m done with my book.
2021 Kevin: This post has a lot of good ideas but written in cringe. I’ll rewrite this.
In case anything happens that causes me to be unable to continue I want to give this to you.
Author’s note: I worked on this Manifesto twice.
Once when I stayed at Sean’s place for dinner and the other one was at my Dad’s place during Christmas Vacation.
Next to my Call Center Training Tip’s Guide This is my favorite writing work.
I don’t know why.
I wrote this on a jeep going to the Bartolina (Sean’s apartment) and have not stopped working on it since I got there.
I then procrastinated and left this work for a few months then picking it back up and working in finishing this.
What is the Lightbulb Flicker Explosion Strategy?
The Lightbulb, Flicker, Explosion Strategy.
(sounds better yeah? It’s originally called Ding, Woosh, Bang after how the main character in ninja and samurai films think up his next move, zooms across the battlefield and obliterates all opposition)
The light bulb signifies the idea.
It’s something that you want to do and usually makes sense at the moment. “Ding”
The flicker represents the movement.
A flash.
Like watching a ninja or samurai movie and you see the hero moving quickly as if teleporting and delivering flashing blows “Woosh”
The Explosion represents the action (like a killing blow) delivered without hesitation. “Bang”
You’re not supposed to plan your next move or think about what’s next get up and move now! -my mom (when waking me up to prepare for work)
My life had been composed of wins and losses I have projects, jobs and experiments that resulted in success or failure.
I recently did a few experiments where I got results that I liked and it happened enough times that an unstoppable momentum had built up and I was always in the zone or “on fire” every time I did those activities. It never felt so good.
I looked at my wins and I was able to remember that this unstoppable momentum happened many times and while pondering if I can control it or at the very least do it more often.
I was able to find out that there are only a few things that I did that resulted in great results.
In the past I was able to:
- Quit smoking
- Get out of debt.
- Start Saving.
- Become a trainer.
- Overcome shyness
- Convince girls to date me. I was undatable in high school and college.
- Became a pick up artist
- Lost 7lbs in 2 weeks.
- Did a marketing site that ranked number one in Google, Yahoo and a whole bunch of other search engines
- Became a minimalist.
- Became super efficient at work.
- Made money from my mobile phone and a bag of skin care
- Made a six figure income selling real estate
- Helped grow a couple of small businesses
- Became a mixed martial artist
- Learned to play the guitar
- Became a writer.
- And a whole bunch of other things
So What?
I don’t claim to be great.
I don’t consider my results to be exceptional.
It’s not at the “best in the world” level.
I am however proud of the fact that I was able to give it a shot and ended up with the benefit of being satisfied at the results.
I’m no expert or pretend to be one on the web.
What I’m sharing is from my experience.
Each of those endeavors yielded exactly the results I wanted.
I realized that they had only a few things in common and although I believe that situations are different, I also believe that sharing this strategy I discovered with you is worth a shot.
It’ll be useful for you if you’re planning to work on something new.
I love you and I wrote this for you.
Yes you.
I’ve had you in mind for a while now and should I never be with you again I’d like to leave this as my best work offered to you.
The short explanation: I have an idea about something I want to do, I get on it immediately. Ding “lightbulb” woosh “flicker-me going at it” Bang! The sound of the accomplishment delivered.
Here it is the rationale.
If you have a good idea, start immediately.
Rush in the first chance you get and do the first smallest thing you needed to do to attack your project right away.
Majority of our challenges are internal and attacking while our inner demon’s guards are down gives us an opportunity to gain a foot hold.
Do it five times or for five days doing the two most important things and you’ll have the results to keep going. It takes me about five attempts or five days straight to get me excited and hooked to keep going to the point that I don’t feel like stopping.
I felt lazy writing this and lazier typing this Sean is calling me to eat already and I’m now ignoring her to finish this.
Okay I couldn’t resist now I’m back to ignoring them again after my meal.
Stop at set times and never work yourself to the point of exhaustion but exhaust yourself to the point of enjoyment.
While working, work as if you are already the person you want to be and have fun doing it.
The art I’m creating is more important than any of the tangible results so I hack away like a madman. If this fails there’s always another project for me anyway.
This strategy is really effective for new projects.
What happens if I lose track of old projects?
Drop it.
You probably lost your passion already.
Too much defeat results in even more defeat for your troops (mainly you)
Retreat and accept defeat after a while to fight another day.
Pick the project back up when you’re ready.
Learn to say: “I’m sorry I’m not too excited about this anymore and It would be worse if I continue.
I used to be a fan of writing every bit of idea and seeing tons of unused useful ideas.
All my ideas will never be implemented and all my work will never be complete and that’s okay. I make it a point to miss some of my ideas regularly to make way for other ideas.
The really big ones, the ones that matter, I implement them, then I get results.
Ding! Woosh then Bang!
If you had a “that seems like a good idea moment, without assessing how you feel about it or weighing the pro’s and con’s, just rush in and start. Doing something does not always have to be logically or emotionally evaluated and there shouldn’t be much to think about.
I remembered that while watching discovery channel a study was made on brains of criminals and it turns out that the frontal love of their brain (the area where self control comes from) has something different about it where when they have an idea they act on it immediately (usually on impulse without a conscience or thought) Hello robbery, master escape artist and killer instincts.
I was thinking to myself that good people need that for connecting with the one they like, experimenting on different projects and doing great work. You know to the ability to do good things without any resistance from our self doubt or laziness.
Now What?
Ding! that seems nice. Pull out what you need to pull out then start.
How do you get awesome things done without needing discipline or motivation?
Don’t ask yourself.
Don’t compare.
Don’t measure.
Don’t check difficulty or if you have enough.
Don’t measure your results or intentions against the Bible. You’re not planning to kill, steal, hurt rape or destroy people right?
Sometimes my laziness, self doubt pretends to be my conscience to talk my way out of doing. It happens when I have to clean up and do the laundry and happens more often when I have to do something.
Let’s go now.`
Thank you for reading.
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