How Can The Romans Taking Over The World Help Us Take Action Right Now?

"In life, if you want it, write it down, and go get it" - Kelsey Plum

Ben Wilson recently told this story on the My First Million Podcast discussing the importance of having a bias toward action! Classic Sam Parr Voice “Ahhhh yes the old Greeks & Romans…”

Greeks were much better academics in geometry, algebra, and philosophy. Whereas the Romans were more so just dumb jocks. Turns out Roman construction and bridges were much better than Greek ones. Greeks would sit down trying to figure out the perfect way. Romans did not. Romans just went out and built a bridge, and it kind of crumbled, “ehhh what if we did this”, and they rebuilt it, and that didn’t work well. Over generations, they went out and did stuff until eventually, they had the perfect way for bridges that would stand forever. They never knew the math behind it they just tried stuff until they found out what worked best. That’s what helped them take over the world.

Ben Wilson MFM Ep369

Romans took action repeatedly over time to figure out what works and what doesn’t. Instead of expecting planning for perfection to deliver results.

I shared this story with the teams I coach regarding writing your goals. It’s tough sometimes, deciding what you want and then writing it down when staring at a blank sheet of paper. 2022 WNBA Champion Kelsey Plum’s tweet helped get the ball rolling. We previously discussed “you don’t rise to the level of your goals you fall the level of your (actions) systems.” by James Clear. Building off that understanding I wanted to dive deeper to get more clarity on personal goals.

Kelsey Plum’s recent tweet after winning the WNBA Championship couldn’t have been more perfect timing. Write down what you want, then write down what it means, then write out what actions you can take toward those goals. Instead of writing on your to-do list plan for a time to plan on writing down your goals. Take action, write it down, and iterate. Romans.

The only wrong answer is not starting or writing them down in the first place.

This rings just as true for my newsletter and podcast right now. Bias toward action. Instead of trying to figure out what hits, and what doesn’t just go all in on creation.

Improve at the craft by creating in public instead of working behind the scenes for the “perfect episode” or only collecting great ideas to share without the writing. Creation over consumption.

Be Like A Roman. Build, iterate, & keep going.

Best Day of The Year… Until Tomorrow.

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