Here we go again that Tim Denning guy is making up phrases like self-disrupt.

Yup and I do it because it’s the best way to communicate with you concepts that have helped me achieve massive success.

Just like a startup, unless we disrupt ourselves, we get stuck in the same groove of life and forget to change – we forget to innovate on ourselves and question the meaning of our life. Do these three things first.

Check in with your energy levels. Are they low?
Are you following patterns?
Do you feel down?

If you get a yes to one or more of these questions, then it’s time to self-disrupt. You must put in the work to improve your current situation. It’s driven by you, for you so that you may serve others.

I had a yes to two out of the three of these questions and that’s why I went into self-disrupt mode.

Here’s how to self-disrupt yourself:

Do something with less than 48 hours notice.

“We all want to drown in a foreplay of planning rather than get to the main event and be surprised by the sudden climax”

That’s why in my self-disrupt process I did what I’ve never done before: I booked a trip to Japan with only 48-hours until take off.

Kind of crazy, especially as I don’t speak any language other than English. I had no idea where I was going or whether North Korea would even bomb my destination point as people hinted they might. I didn’t give a damn.

Self-disruption requires rapid and immediate action. You need to make a decision that’s going to teleport you a million miles away from your current reality. Come up with a rapid plan and then enable it with less than 48 hours notice.

Enable the flight mode emergency protocol.

Captain, we have an emergency. It’s time to get all hands on deck. If you’re going to go into self-disrupt mode then you better also enable flight mode on your phone. This process will not work if social media is reminding you of everything that has put you in this situation.

Become a ghost for a bit so that you can return as Bruce Almighty. People will understand. Make them understand.

Do it by yourself.

Avoid the temptation to bring others with you. This is the one time where you need to be completely alone. Self-disruption is a solo journey that needs only you. It’s a selfish endeavor in a way, but it translates to helping others at the end of the process.

I did my recent self-disrupt process by myself. It was hard considering I started a romantic relationship with a new girl the day before. None the less, it was crucial so I could return home and make her even happier.

Some things in life must be done on your own. The decisions you need to disrupt yourself have to be made by you. You can’t transfer the responsibility for these decisions to someone else.

Allow plenty of time for complete reflection.

Make sure there are blocks of time in your schedule filled with nothing. I chose to do mine in an Onsen (Japanese Hot Spring) because water helps me think. I have my most productive thinking in the shower and a hot spring has a similar effect (I’m sure there is science behind this).

For your self-disrupt process, you’ll need to contemplate every aspect of your life. This takes huge amounts of time to do properly so schedule it in. I did two full days at the hot springs and it worked perfectly for me.

Take down morsels of wisdom.

Do it on paper if you can’t avoid the temptation of your “not so smart” phone. Reflection will bring out some nuggets of gold and you’ll lose the game if you don’t record them. I found myself running in and out of the hot spring to write down these morsels of wisdom every 30 mins or so.

Ask yourself a question about your life’s work that is crazy.

What if everything I ever did online was deleted?
What if I quit my job or business tomorrow?

These are the two questions I asked myself during my recent self-disrupt. I realized I had been in the same job for a while and doing this blogging thing for a number of years. The answer to the first question was that if all my online work got deleted, I’d be okay because I still got the growth from all of the content.

The second question was a bit harder but either way, I realized the answer would be fine too. Ask yourself a crazy question and see if it’s something you should do to interrupt the pattern of what you’ve been doing. You can’t grow unless you try new things. This lack of growth is why you’re probably on this self-disrupt quest in the first place.

Redefine your passions.

Mine’s blogging. Yours might be cooking French pastries for the local bird watching community. It doesn’t matter what it is. Do you still love this passion? How does it make you feel? Are you still serving people?

“Our passions evolve and we need to check in to ensure that there isn’t a version 2.0 of our passion hiding somewhere in the dark”

For example, I’m currently doing written blogging. I redefined my passion to ensure that it didn’t need to evolve to video form.

Your passion doesn’t really change that much but the vehicle you use to define it may. A good self-disrupt ensures that you still have the right vehicle and it’s traveling on the correct freeway, at the right speed.

Interview yourself about your stored treasure trunks of value.

What I mean with this one is think about all the value you’ve created. Is that value continuing to increase or is it depleting? It’s fundamental to be investing and spending the value you’ve created wisely. The self-disrupt process involves doing a minor calculation to see where you stand.

For example, if you have no money to spend on trying a new path then you’ve saved your stored value poorly. Be brutally honest and see where you’re spending your resources. Think about how you use your time as well. This process always reveals wastage somewhere which you can reign in.

Contemplate whether you are reproducing more Jedi Knights.

You’ve become a Jedi Knight and I salute you. That’s all well and good but to self-disrupt you must think about whether you are reproducing more leaders to take on the clone armies of negativity.

Remember that our mission as human beings and the way to be fulfilled is to serve others and give everything we have. That’s how we can create abundance in our own life.

Through this exercise, it reconfirmed that the mentoring I have been doing is positive and that I need to take on about 20% more to get the full benefit. I’m only one person and I need more leaders to lead the way through self-development.

Think through your dead woodpile you’ve accumulated.

Are there people you’ve collected in your life who have become a burden on your potential? There sure have been in my life. To self-disrupt, you need to burn the dead wood with a match stick. It’s not easy and that’s why you’ve procrastinated on burning this pile of junk.

I know it sounds harsh and that’s because life is harsh. To self-disrupt, you need new inputs. Those inputs will be partly in the form of people and you can’t have 1 million friends that you all know by first and last name.

Do that one thing you’ve cheated yourself out of.

Mine is public speaking. I’ve done a bit of it but I stopped at speech number two in Toastmasters. I got busy with life and finding a woman, so I stopped doing it. As part of my self-disrupt process, I’ve committed to getting back on the horsey.

I’ve told people too (including you guys) so I won’t back down.

There’s a goal you’ve wanted and put to one side. As part of your self-disrupt process, I want you to pick up that goal and start it over. You’ll feel so good when you do and it will feel like a weight off your shoulders.

Go back to the one thing that made you who you are.

In my case, it was inspiring others through personal development and entrepreneurship. In a way, I had veered off track slightly and begun to do other closely related passions. When you self-disrupt, your aim should be to remember what has gotten you to where you are.

Once you know what that is (it should be easy) then you need to add a few new ingredients to strengthen that one thing and take it to the next level. This whole self-disrupt process is designed to take you to the next level of your life.

You must break the pattern.
Question old philosophies.
Do a clean out.

Go out there and disrupt, and innovate on yourself. You’ll thank me later.

If you want to increase your productivity and learn some more valuable life hacks, then join my private mailing list on timdenning.net