I woke up on a very cold December morning somewhere between 4 and 5 am. We turn off our heater when we go to bed, so the room temperature drops down to between 14-17 degrees Celcius (57-62 F) in the winter. We sleep on a futon on the floor and cover up with a very warm down comforter, so the contrast between cozy and cold is clear.
When I woke up that morning, I had a ‘Forrest Gump meets JFK’ moment. The prevailing thought was, “I gotta pee.” The second thought I had was, “Do I really have to?”. Then out of the blue, an internal yet powerful voice uttered, “Zero Hesitation Policy!” No joke. That is exactly what I heard. So I listened, got out of bed and did what I needed to do in that moment.
This Zero Hesitation Policy is a kind of software that I have downloaded into my system. Although I am not always 100% compliant immediately, I am clear when I am not, so I can reflect on it and handle it as quickly as possible.
What is a Zero Hesitation Policy?
A Zero Hesitation Policy works like this: As soon as you think of something, you zero seconds act on it! Zero is being a little too strict, so let’s give ourselves 3 seconds to take some form of action on it. It’s like the 3-second rule when you drop food on the floor; it’s still ‘good’ within 3 seconds😋
In some cases, you won’t be able to complete the action, so you just take a voice memo, write a text memo or write on paper what you are going to do and when you are going to do it.
Let me give you a brief personal illustration. Recently, I was having a conversation with a friend, and something mentioned sparked an idea for a blog post inspired by my 92-year-old Japanese grandmother, Sah-chan. Not wanting to lose this fleeting inspiration, I politely excused myself for a moment to grab a Post-it note from the counter. I quickly scribbled down the key phrase ‘Success Leaves Clues – Sah-chan.’ This brief pause took just a few seconds, but it was crucial. It allowed me to capture the essence of my idea sufficiently, ensuring I could revisit and expand upon it later without missing a beat in my conversation.
Challenges of Having a Zero Hesitation Policy
- It can be uncomfortable.
- Most of the time we hesitate because we want to stay in our comfort zone.
- It can increase your sympathetic nervous system – fight or flight reaction.
- You may fail to follow through fully in the beginning.
- You may feel the need to express something to someone that scares you.
Benefits of Having a Zero Hesitation Policy
- It increases your ‘thought to action’ speed, which can radically improve your entire life.
- It allows you to connect with far more people.
- You will honestly, kindly and authentically reach out to more people.
- It gives you instant feedback.
- The more this becomes a habit, the seconds it takes between the thought and action becomes ultra clear.
- It switches on your ‘Courage Moves’ button.
- “Courage Moves” are actions you take that require courage and are transformative in nature.
Putting Your Own Zero-Hesitation Policy Into Practice
I invite you to start putting this habit into practice. Know that you may not listen to ‘that great voice within you’ every time, but when you start taking immediate action 80% of the time, you will start to notice an inner transformation.
Start with the small things like:
- Making your bed as soon as you get up in the morning
- Washing, drying, and putting away the dishes after you eat
- Completing ‘that task’ that isn’t all that hard, but you just keep putting off because it’s tedious
- Taking a break from work when your brain and body tell you that you need a break
- Going to bed at a time that will allow you to wake up refreshed the next day
Once you start doing these small things, and completing them, bigger things will start to appear in your mind. Things that require more courage to act on. Your consistent training on the small things will empower you to level up to the big things and complete them powerfully and gracefully.
In essence, you are training your ‘Courage Muscle’. Courage is an emotion that needs to be trained exactly as the body is trained. When you start training your body for strength, you start with a few exercises using light weights. Over time, the weights you use in your warm-up sets are heavier than the weights you used to use in your heavy sets. Excellence requires dedication to practice. You got this!
Three Impactful Phrases Advocating “The Zero Hesitation Policy”
- Just Do It! – Nike’s world-famous slogan
- “Do it. Do it right. Do it right now.” – A quote by Spencer Kimball, a former president of The Church of Christ of Latter Day Saints.
- 🎵It’s Now or Never🎵– a melodic message from The King of Rock-n-Roll, Elvis Presely
There is no time like the present, friend, so strike while the iron is hot and get your Zero Hesitation Policy working for you😀
If this article speaks to you and you’re interested in deeper conversation about implementing your own “Zero Hesitation Policy” or about personal transformation, overcoming obstacles, setting clear goals, improving your diet, mindset, health, and fitness or just getting clear on a strength training program, please consider joining me here for a complimentary 60-minute Zoom session to explore any of these topics further.
Yours in Zero Hesitation,
Bodhi