If you prefer to read this newsletter in your browser, click here.

💡 The Big Idea: Chase Your Dreams, But Abandon Your Goals.

I’ve been reading Inner Excellence by Jim Murphy for an upcoming Bookworm episode (the book made famous by A.J. Brown reading it on the sidelines during an NFL playoff game).

It’s a fascinating book with a lot of stories and blurbs from athletes and other top performers who need to be at their best both mentally and physically.

In the book, he explicitly details the difference between dreams and goals:

In this newsletter, I want to share why dreams are so vital and show how they connected to the most important level of The PKM Stack.

Identity: The Most Important Level of The PKM Stack

The PKM Stack is a framework for visualizing how information flows into and out of your PKM system.

Things start with the consumption of Information. This is the lowest level of the PKM Stack, and influences both the quantity and the quality of the Ideas that you have, and ultimately even the things you do at the Actions level.

Notice how this default approach works the PKM Stack from the bottom up.

This is a reactionary way to live, and it’s really stressful. But there is another way, though it requires another layer be added on top.

I call this layer Identity. It encapsulates who you are and who you want to be. This layer is comprised of your vision and values, and starting here creates alignment in all levels of The PKM Stack.

Part of the Identity level is something I call my LifeTheme, which is basically a one-sentence personal mission statement.

As an example, here’s my LifeTheme:

The LifeTheme does two very important things:

1. Creates motivation to consistently take action on the things that are important
2. Provides the clarity to cut the things that aren’t.

If I’m trying to decide whether to do something and I don’t see a way that it connects, it’s an automatic “no.”

I try to keep my LifeTheme top of my mind at all times. I’ve even added it to my Obsidian new tab page using the Beautitab plugin:

The more often I see my LifeTheme, the more likely I am to make decisions in alignment with it.

But that doesn’t mean that it has to be perfect. It just needs to be 1) accessible and 2) exciting.

A LifeTheme isn’t written in stone. In fact, I regularly review my LifeTheme, my personal core values, and my ideal future (all separate Obsidian notes) during my quarterly Personal Retreat process.

I actually walked through all of this in the webinar I did last week (click here if you want to watch the replay).

But the TL;DR here is that I give myself permission to make any changes if something doesn’t resonate.

Why the LifeTheme Works

In Inner Excellence, Jim Murphy talks about the importance of upgrading your beliefs about who you are and what’s possible for you.

It aligns very well with the process for developing a LifeTheme:

1. Identify your moments of impact (times when you felt most alive)
2. Dream Big
3. Create an Image of your ideal future
4. Identify your personal core values
5. Craft your personal LifeTheme

The first couple steps are focused on divergence and considering all the options, then at the end we switch to convergence and bring it all down to a single sentence LifeTheme.

There’s obviously a lot more to it, but that’s the gist of it.

Specifically, he gives three reasons why it’s important to picture yourself living your ideal future or dream life:

1. It’s crucial for developing the grit that will be needed to overcome the obstacles that will come
2. Your subconscious mind is constantly connecting with the pictures and feelings you have for your life, working to make those connections a reality
3. It’s important to deal with any disconnect that achieving your dream might create for you, in order to eliminate any subconscious sabotage

This may sound a little far-fetched, but Jim is a world-class coach who articulates something very important incredibly well:

We look at the world not as it is, but as we are.

And most of us have been conditioned to think smaller than we're capable of. We think small, which makes us (and our world) small.

And setting goals that are "realistic" just reinforces this small thinking.

Thinking small is the default. It's safe. We know what to expect. But it's necessary to break out of this if we want to live a life of meaning and purpose. And a LifeTheme can be the catalyst for helping you do the things you never thought you could do.

One of my favorite examples of this is Chris Upchurch, who joined us on the Focused podcast a few years ago. Chris got a hold of my Personal Retreat Handbook where I walk through some of this stuff, and went from being a metropolitan transportation planner to a whitewater rafting guide.

The whole episode is worth a listen, but here's the key expressed in Chris' own words:

It's not an exaggeration to say that having the Identity level of the PKM Stack dialed in is transformational to your entire PKM experience.

Want Some Help Crafting Your LifeTheme?

In the last LifeTheme cohort we led, I shared that my BHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goal) is to help 1 million people craft their personal LifeTheme.

So if you’re interested, I’ve got a couple of free resources for you:

1. Check out the free webinar I did last week (replay available here). I covered the LifeTheme process at the beginning of that webinar and showed how I use it during my Personal Retreat process.
2. I’ve also got a free 5-day LifeTheme email course. Each day for 5 days, I’ll send an email with a short lesson and an action item that will help you get started.

I’ve also got a package I put together for the webinar that includes a brand new LifeTheme Hybrid Cohort course, which is basically a combination of self-paced videos and live calls (the live feedback is important and will significantly shorten the process). The whole package includes lifetime access to all of the following:

• LifeTheme Hybrid Cohort (last time we did this cohort live, we sold it for $497)
• LifeHQ ($297)
• Personal Retreat Handbook video course ($47)

The price of this whole bundle is $397.

There are a few other bonuses I’m throwing in (😉), and we’ve got our first LifeTheme Q&A call scheduled for THIS FRIDAY! So if you want to jump in and do it with us, you can get instant access by clicking here.

Lastly, we’re getting ready to host our very first LifeTheme Live Event! The dates are May 15-16, but space is extremely limited (we have room for 10 people). I want to make this accessible, so the cost will be $399 (doesn’t include hotel or travel). Because space is so limited, this isn’t available publicly. But if you really want to come, just reply to this email and I’ll be happy to share more info 😉

😎 Something Else Cool: Wheel Tab Switcher Plugin

Some of my favorite plugins are small quality of life (QOL) plugins that do one thing to make Obsidian just a little bit nicer.

In this case, the Wheel Tab Switcher plugin lets you use your mouse wheel to scroll through open tabs in Obsidian.

If you (like me 😂) tend to have a lot of tabs open at once, this plugin is for you. The one downside is that it doesn’t work when you have your tabs pinned or stacked (i.e. Andy’s Mode).

📚 Book Notes: Inner Excellence by Jim Murphy

I honestly didn’t think I’d care for this book, but Inner Excellence by Jim Murphy is rocking my world. There’s a lot in here that mirrors some personal beliefs I’ve long had, though they are expressed with much greater clarity and his reputation working with the very best athletes in the world adds a lot more validity.

Basically, I want to be like Jim Murphy when I grow up 😂

Seriously though, this is a really good book. I would argue that the purpose of reading is to shift your thinking, and Inner Excellence does a great job of that. It’s hard for me to think of a better book I’ve read about reaching your full potential.

If you want to download my mind map book notes for Inner Excellence, click here.

— Mike