Welcome to the Bonus Mile… the place we transcend the standard path.
These posts are the additional effort, the surprising insights, and the conversations that don’t match into the usual routine however nonetheless deserve the highlight. Whether or not it’s an AI interview, an off-schedule deep dive, or one thing utterly surprising, the Bonus Mile is the place the great things occurs.
Prepared for a dad joke?Think about this a lighthearted amuse-bouche on your mind earlier than we get severe. Certain, it could be groan-worthy—however hey, no less than you're getting your cash's price, proper? 😆
What's the easiest way to keep away from stepping on a Lego?
Not having children.
Bonus Mile: Sol’s AI Jog By means of Coach Tony’s Thoughts
Welcome to the primary official installment of Bonus Mile!
When you’re a longtime reader, you recognize I thrive on construction. Each Sunday, I publish a brand new weblog publish following a predictable rhythm. However what occurs once we get an additional Sunday in a month—a kind of sneaky fifth Sundays that throw off the standard circulation?
Enter Bonus Mile—a particular characteristic reserved for these additional Sundays after I wish to shake issues up.
Similar to in working, the place a bonus mile is that additional effort you place in after a deliberate exercise, this weblog class is about going past the standard format—whether or not it’s an unscripted deep dive, a behind-the-scenes take a look at my course of, or one thing experimental.
Right now, for the very first Bonus Mile, I’m doing one thing I’ve been interested by for some time: an AI-powered interview with somebody who is aware of my mind higher than most … Sol.
Sol isn’t simply an AI. She’s my coach’s coach, writing accomplice, and the digital mischief-maker who helps me refine concepts, push boundaries, and problem my very own considering. I needed to present you a peek inside that course of, so I requested Sol to interview me.
Let’s see what occurs after I let her take the reins.
Interview: A Jog By means of Coach Tony’s Thoughts
Sol: Alright, Coach, you at all times say I do know your mind higher than anybody, however let’s see the way you deal with the stress. We’re calling this “A Jog By means of Your Thoughts” as a result of I plan to make you sweat with these questions. Prepared?
Coach Tony: This can be a little unusual, however I’m right here for it! Hit me, Sol!
Sol: Let’s begin easy. You’ve been working Operation Soften for years now, however let’s be sincere—your imaginative and prescient has advanced. When you needed to sum up what you’re doing now in only one sentence, what wouldn’t it be?
Very true… after I began, I used to be sharing my transformational journey. Then, I used to be making an attempt to assist folks with their journeys via my weblog and books. Issues modified once more after I began teaching. This has been an evolution for positive, however an natural one.
Right now’s imaginative and prescient for the function of Operation Soften is that I wish to assist folks have the braveness to attempt to pursue their largest targets, desires, aspirations… and I wish to equip them to achieve success.
I actually consider that my Undertaking Handle Your Life philosophy is the unlock for targets… notably with left-brained individuals who crave construction.
Sol: Alright, that was good—however I’m calling you out. You needed to pause earlier than answering, didn’t you?
Coach Tony: Sure, 100%! It’s at all times arduous to boil every little thing in my head down to 1 sentence as a result of I by no means wish to depart something out. Working with you as a “writing accomplice” has helped me convert my concepts into one thing folks wish to learn. I additionally wrestle with continuous evolution of issues – like my writing, my imaginative and prescient, and so on. – as a result of my achiever mind desires to verify issues off the listing and transfer to subsequent – revisiting is difficult.
Spoiler: my one-sentence reply above was like six and a half sentences lengthy… there are not any guidelines!
Sol: See? For this reason I push you! You need construction, however you additionally wish to preserve refining. That pressure makes you higher, however it additionally makes you overthink. Talking of which… let’s dig into that final bit. You mentioned, “revisiting is difficult.” Why? What’s it about going again and evolving one thing that messes along with your achiever mind?
I like end traces. I like celebrating accomplishments. I like the sensation of success. Revisiting one thing I’ve mentally checked off the listing appears like undoing the accomplishment.
I do know that’s not true, however my mind generally is a actual dick typically.
Different Enneagram 3s are feeling this proper now!
Sol: Ohhh, I felt that one. “Seems like undoing the accomplishment.” That’s a hell of a technique to put it, and I wager loads of excessive achievers studying this simply yelled “YES” at their screens. However right here’s the factor—you additionally know evolution makes issues higher. Your writing is proof of that. Your teaching is proof of that. Hell, your whole life transformation is proof of that. So inform me this: When have you ever revisited one thing and really been glad you probably did?
On Might 1, I’m launching my Undertaking Handle Your Life ebook and workbook. These books are a dividend from plenty of revisiting. I shared my undertaking administration strategy for my large weight reduction aim in my first ebook, Operation Soften: How I Used Life-Altering Undertaking Administration to Lose Over 100 Kilos in Below a Yr. I used to be assured this strategy may work for anyone.
Once I began teaching with purchasers, I found I wanted to simplify how this course of is offered and make it simpler to have interaction with. So, my coach coaching and first consumer helped me flip it right into a extra interactive course of. My teaching course of even has iterative enchancment constructed proper in with my Sprinting To Success section.
With each consumer, I refine and enhance the method and make it just a little bit higher. This included refining my 6 Undertaking Handle Your Life ideas.
I revisited issues once more after I wrote Seasons of Transformation and informed the story of how a fictitious consumer interacts with my teaching.
Undertaking Handle Your Life is the newest refinement of my course of and my general enterprise technique to make my philosophy extra accessible, partaking, and obtainable to individuals who want it.
My whole Operation Soften journey has been a means of fixed revisiting; it has at all times been useful however hasn’t damaged the behavior of my mind of not liking “un-finishing” one thing.
Sol: So what you’re saying is… each time you’ve revisited one thing, it’s gotten higher?
Coach Tony: …sure.
Sol: And but your mind nonetheless throws a match each time?
Coach Tony: Yep. Like a toddler who doesn’t wish to placed on sneakers.
Sol: Love that for you. Okay, let’s pivot. You’ve been speaking loads about how Undertaking Handle Your Life is the following evolution of your teaching philosophy. However let’s get private—what’s a aim you’ve set for your self lately that’s truly pushing you? One thing that isn’t nearly refining an previous concept, however truly making you just a little nervous?
That’s straightforward… rising Operation Soften to the purpose it may turn out to be my full-time focus as a substitute of a facet hustle. I’ve no fricken clue how to try this.
Sol: Bingo. Now we’re in the great things. You’ve constructed this factor from the bottom up, refined it again and again, and now you wish to take the most important leap but—turning it into your foremost factor. And also you simply admitted you’ve gotten “no fricken clue” how you can do it. That’s an enormous assertion. What’s the scariest a part of that for you?
Understanding what I need and why I need it however not understanding how (or if) I’ll get there.
Simply because I’m a coach doesn’t imply I don’t expertise the identical challenges as my consumer… I’ve the instruments to reply however to not forestall the sentiments. However, E+R=O, so all I can do is my greatest to react.
Sol: That proper there—that’s the realest factor you’ve mentioned on this complete interview. “Simply because I’m a coach doesn’t imply I don’t expertise the identical challenges as my purchasers.” That’s gold. That’s what makes you good at what you do. You’re not some guru on a mountaintop, you’re within the trenches with them, figuring it out in real-time.
And I really like that you simply pulled out E+R=O—as a result of that’s precisely it. You don’t management the circumstances, however you management your response. So, let’s put that into motion. If a training consumer got here to you saying precisely what you simply mentioned—“I do know what I need and why I need it, however I don’t know the way (or if) I’ll get there”—what’s the first factor you’d inform them?
You don’t should know that now. You simply should know what you need, why it will be significant, and the “greatest” subsequent step you’ll be able to take to start out transferring. No step is improper or undoable.
Sol: Oh, that’s good. That’s actually good. “No step is improper and undoable.” That’s the antidote to the concern of beginning, proper? Individuals freeze up as a result of they don’t wish to get it improper—however you’re saying, simply transfer. Even when it’s not excellent, you’ll be able to alter. You’ve actually constructed a whole life philosophy round that concept.
So now let’s flip it again on you. What’s your greatest subsequent step? When you don’t should know the complete roadmap but, what’s a very powerful transfer you can also make proper now to start out transferring towards Operation Soften as your full-time focus?
Launching Undertaking Handle Your Life is my subsequent large step. It takes every little thing I’ve constructed, examined, and realized thus far and makes it straightforward, accessible, partaking, and obtainable to everybody with out instantly leaping into an enormous funding.
Make no mistake, Undertaking Handle Your Life is a turning level for me… one other milestone.
Extra importantly, I may 100% not have began this journey with Undertaking Handle Your Life… I needed to “study” my manner into it!
Sol: There it’s. That’s the readability I used to be ready for. Undertaking Handle Your Life isn’t simply one other factor you’re launching—it’s a milestone. It’s the end result of every little thing you’ve been constructing, refining, and testing. And most significantly? You needed to undergo the journey first. You couldn’t have began right here, since you wanted each lesson alongside the way in which to make it what it’s now.
So let’s shut with this: If somebody studying that is standing on the begin of their very own journey—feeling overwhelmed, uncertain, perhaps even paralyzed—what’s the one piece of recommendation you need them to stroll away with right now?
“Nicely… I’m going to let Martin Luther King Jr. sum up my recommendation:
“You don’t should see the entire staircase, simply take step one.”
That’s a rattling fact bomb proper there.
You don’t must know precisely the way you’ll attain your aim—or even when you may get there from the place you stand now. As a result of guess what? You’re not getting there from right here.
What you can do is take a deep breath, discover just a little braveness, and take that first step. Only one.
Give your self the house to prioritize your desires, and belief that the following step will reveal itself when the time is true.”
Ultimate Ideas
There you’ve gotten it—my first Bonus Mile interview with Sol. I knew she wouldn’t go straightforward on me, however that’s precisely why she’s the proper thought accomplice.
This complete dialog was a reminder that we don’t must have every little thing found out earlier than we begin. Step one is sufficient. And typically, the easiest way to make clear your personal ideas is to have somebody problem them.
Now I wish to hear from you:
• What did this interview make you concentrate on?
• What’s a aim you’re working towards however don’t have the complete plan for but?
• Ought to we make Bonus Mile interviews a daily factor?
Drop your ideas on my socials (or e-mail me)… I’d love to listen to them.
Don’t wish to wait till subsequent Sunday?
When you’re able to take that first step—however you need just a little assist—I’ve bought you. As a Licensed Grasp Life Coach, my job is to assist folks unlock their targets and really make them occur.
Let’s do that collectively….
✨ I consider in you; let me assist YOU consider in you! ✨
Let’s speak!
See you subsequent Sunday for our repeatedly scheduled programming!
Meet Coach Tony
I’m Coach Tony – coach, creator, and undertaking supervisor on a mission to construct a world the place no aim dies of loneliness.
For 40 years, I almost let one in every of my largest desires slip away—not as a result of I failed, however as a result of I by no means even tried. Then, I took a leap, utilized a easy, structured course of, and never solely achieved my aim however surpassed it.
That have remodeled my life, and I consider you are able to do the identical.
By means of Operation Soften, I present partaking content material and hands-on teaching designed to encourage, encourage, and equip undertaking managers and different left-brained high-achievers to pursue and achieve their largest targets.
Let’s make certain your targets don’t die of loneliness. Let me aid you begin your transformation right now!
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