I have been reading and listening to Tim Ferris since I picked up his book, The Four Hour Work Week back in 2009. I love that Ferris pulls back the curtain in his own life and mindset so that you can learn from his approach and tailor the principles to meet the demands of your own dream life. Everything Tim does seems driven by his desire to help others achieve freedom through pushing themselves to optimize every personal and professional resource they have available at the time… and to dare to push further than what you believe is comfortable. It is there on the other side of comfort that your greatest opportunities live.

I recently came across a video in which Tim and fellow entrepreneur Noah Kagan, help a part-time yoga instructor attempt her dream of going full-time with her coaching and business. The video breaks down Ferris’ framework for creating clarity and momentum when starting a business. The acronym D.E.A.L. (Definition, Elimination, Automation, Liberation) lays out the four steps needed to move you from start to finish from dream to dream life. 

What I love about the D.E.A.L. framework is that you can apply it to just about any goal in your life. The steps to follow could help you grow a business of your dreams so you can retire to a private island or they can help you meet your sales goals in the next week, quarter, or year. I’ll leave a link to the video below but I wanted to highlight the first step in the D.E.A.L. system because it is the most important step when going after a goal or trying to achieve more for your life. 

“Definition,” Ferris says, is about “quantifying your goals and overcoming any fears that keep you from getting started.” The first step is to get exceptionally specific about your goals. If your goals are not clearly defined you will expend a lot of energy in a bunch of different directions without making progress on what you claim to be important to you. Clarity around what you really want and what you are really after helps you stay the course  when chaos attacks or cynicism sets in. So, ask yourself, “What is it that I want to achieve?” “What is my goal this week, this quarter, this year?” Get clarity around that and then aim single-mindedly at it. 

Now, here is where Ferris sets himself apart from other coaches. The second part of Definition is to Define Your Fears. When you identify what you are afraid of you can begin to do the work – internally and externally – of disarming these fears and keep them from impeding your progress. Ferris suggests breaking down your fears through a series of small, silly tasks meant to get you comfortable with the uncomfortable. In the video, he challenges the yoga instructor to straight-up ask for a discount on her coffee for no reason other than she would like a discount. The point is that she will be asking and inviting people to be a part of her yoga business and if you are afraid to ask small… you will never ask big. 

Ferris goes through a few other aspects of Defining what you want and what you need to make your dream a reality but these first two steps: Defining Your Goals and Defining Your Fears can set you up to achieve right now.

Take a few moments today to define what you want and to define what might be keeping you from going full-bore after that goal. Shine some light on your goals and that light will help drive away the fears that are holding you back.