Are You Collecting a Pile of Underpants?

Today I want to talk about a very serious subject.

Underpants.

A pile of underpants, to be specific.

These underpants will help you achieve success in every facet of your life, from looking better to living better, eating better to feeling better, and even starting your own company.

I guarantee that today’s blog post will be so ridiculous that you’ll never forget it.

Now, I’ll also need some help from a few friends to get my point across.

I want you to meet the Underpants Gnomes. 

Who the hell are the Underpants Gnomes?

Let me tell you the tale of the Underpants Gnomes.  

In the town of South Park, Colorado, Underpants Gnomes sneak into people’s houses during the middle of the night and steal their underpants.

They even have a theme song that they sing while working…sort of like the seven dwarves, but with more underpants:

“Gotta go to work, work work, we won’t stop til we have underpants!”

Can you see where I’m going with this yet? I hope not, because if so, you’re most likely messed up in the head. Don’t you worry that pretty little head of yours though – I promise this will all make sense by the end and you’ll go “AHHHHHHH…Steve you’re too damn smart and good looking and modest”

…or you’ll stop reading Nerd Fitness immediately and decide I belong in the nuthouse.

Either way, let this one play out before making your decision.

The secret lies in the Gnomes’ (complete lack of a) business plan.

You see, they’re collecting underpants to build a big business…apparently.

The Gnomes’ Business Plan

When the Gnomes are questioned why they collect underpants, they say “Collecting underpants is just Phase 1!”

However, when asked about Phase 2, not a single gnome knows!

Following the chart, you’ll see that Phase 3 is ‘Profit’, which is awesome.

But they have no clue how to get there.

This means that these gnomes spend all day and all night collecting underpants without having any clue how to move onto Phase 2 or Phase 3.

You can watch the quick clip here (typical NSWF South Park, but nothing awful).

Underpants Gnomes Business Plan Video

Your Phase 1

Whether you realize it or not, you probably spend most of your day collecting underpants:

• Reading about exercise and diet and fitness and health, learning every thing you know about how to do a push up, how to build a workout, how to learn Parkour, and more.
• Reading about how to build an online business, researching the 4-hour workweek, or even paying big bucks to learn from other entrepreneurs.
• Reading every personal finance book and blog to learn how to get out of debt.

Welcome to Phase 1.  This is your pile of underpants!

Phase 3 is what you hope to accomplish after starting to build your pile….your level 50, if you will.

Which brings me to the point of today’s article:

Successful people dominate Phase 2

You can spend all day every day learning and collecting and researching.  In fact, you could be the best information gatherer in the entire world.

You know what that will get you?

A big pile of underpants.

Phase 2 is figuring out WHAT TO DO with that knowledge to get to “profit” or “health” or “love.”  People who dominate Phase 2 take action.  People who dominate Phase 2 understand that trying and failing and learning from previous mistakes is so much more valuable than spending more time researching without attempting anything.

Here’s my advice:

• Learn how to eat right and then try to cook a healthy meal TONIGHT.
• Learn about personal finance (seriously read this book) and start paying down your debt, even if you can only spare five dollars, TONIGHT.
• Learn how to build confidence and then go up and talk to the next cute person you see IMMEDIATELY.
• Learn how to speak a new language and then find somebody on Skype who speaks it fluently and start speaking FROM DAY ONE.
• Spend all day researching how to build something, and then try to make it TODAY (even if it turns out sh**ty)

I get a few emails every day from people who say something like “I’ve done the research, I know what I’m supposed to do, but I don’t have the motivation to start, can you give that to me?”

Unfortunately, I can’t.  

Phase 2 and what you do with your pile of underpants HAS to come from you…the desire to change, live better, look better, feel better….and then the guts to try things out and see what works!  Phase 2 is the ability to fail repeatedly and continue to attempt new things.

Success and Phase 3 comes when you learn to take things you’ve learned and researched and successfully put them into practice.  

People ask me how I started Nerd Fitness and built a business around it.  Simple. I started. I read The 4 Hour Workweek, I read Chris Guillebeaus’ “279 Days to Overnight Success“, and then just started writing…5 articles a week for nine months until I discovered what worked and what didn’t…and then cranked out two 2500-5000 word articles a week, every week, for the past 2.5 years.  I didn’t spend money on blogging classes, internet marketing books, SEO strategy, or writing courses (that’s a lot of underpants).  I started writing crappy articles that got less and less crappy, put my focus on helping people and learning how to make more of an impact with my writing, and years later here I am.

Ask Jim of Beast Skills how he became a gymnastics guru – he taught himself.  He read books and watched videos, watched other people doing these things, and then he went out and did it!  He probably fell, busted up his body repeatedly, but he got better and better…and now he teaches people this stuff for a living.

Want the secret? Spend 10% of your effort on Phase 1 and 90% on Phase 2 trying new stuff!

• Pick up some weights and try to strength train.
• Go into your gym, put the bar across your shoulders, and attempt your first squat (hint: go DEEP)
• Ask somebody out and get shot down.
• Build a business that sucks.
• Start a crappy blog.

Why?

Because You’re ACTUALLY DOING SOMETHING.

Learn from the gnomes’ mistake – don’t get stuck with a pile of underpants.

Dominate phase 2 and make Profit.

So, I ask you: what type of underpants are you collecting, and what are you going to do with them TODAY?  

What’s one actionable step you’re going to take TODAY to turn those underpants into profit?

-Steve

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 Photo Source: South Park Kids.