The TRY HARDER Newsletter by Jerred Moon: Edition 019

Hey Risers,

Today, it’s EDITION 019 of the TRY HARDER Newsletter.

I break down a simple cycle for business growth, discuss how to challenge your brain to force improvement, and wrap up with a lesson from the discovery of the second-largest diamond ever found, highlighting what it teaches us about effort.

Save it for later. Read it now. But don’t ignore this one!!
And if you like it, share it with a friend 🙏🏻.

Enjoy!

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In this Edition:

Building the Business

Business Growth Cycles

Building the Human

Brain Gains

Try Harder

Diamonds and Effort

Building the Business:

Scale & Fail 📈

Goal Setting is great, but Goal-Achieving is better ✅

I achieve my goals by making 100 micro-adjustments as I learn what in the hell actually works. Some people view these adjustments as failures and frustrations…I view them as the standard for growth. Here’s the process I’m implementing to stack failures in my favor:

Step 1: Aim High (and Miss)

I set a “Slight Stretch Goal.” Translation: I aim for something just outside my grasp. I’m supposed to struggle. If it’s easy, I’m not growing.

Step 2: Weekly Reality Check

I meet religiously with my team to confront the cold, hard truth: We’re probably off track. That’s okay. It means we’re pushing boundaries.

Step 3: Plan to Correct (and Repeat)

This isn’t about elegant strategies. It’s about scrappy, on-the-fly adjustments. Each week, we brainstorm, implement, iterate. We fail fast, we learn faster.

Step 4: Document Your Wins

When something finally works, we don’t just celebrate. We create a “Playbook.” This isn’t some dusty manual; it’s our battle-tested solution.

Step 5: Rinse and Repeat (Forever)

Business growth isn’t linear. It’s a cycle of ambition, setbacks, and hard-won victories. Each playbook adds to our arsenal, fueling future growth.

This process isn’t glamorous. It’s relentless. But I’m willing to embrace the struggle because I know I’ll end up with a stack of playbooks and a business that’s unstoppable.

Building the Human:

Brain Gains 🧠

Recently, I was digging into research on backward running and its impact on running economy (nerd 🤓). Fascinating stuff, but I also stumbled upon some interesting tidbits about how it affects the brain. It reminded me of a conversation I had years ago about neuroplasticity.

What is neuroplasticity?

Neuroplasticity is the brain’s remarkable ability to reorganize itself by forming new neural connections. By engaging in novel and challenging activities, we can stimulate this process, enhancing cognitive function, memory, and adaptability. Translation: When you do hard or new things, your brain gets better.

Learning a new language…
Playing a musical instrument..
Practicing mindfulness meditation…
…All promote neuroplasticity.

Even unconventional activities like attempting to run backwards or brushing my teeth with my non-dominant hand can challenge my brain and encourage the formation of new neural pathways.

I’m not going to lie…my neuroplasticity game is low at the moment (I bet you never thought you’d read a sentence like that - you’re welcome).
🤔 How’s your neuroplasticity game (NG)?

Here’s what I am doing to up my NG:

Run Backwards - I read enough research to make me want to try it. And, hey, it may only help my brain.
Rubik’s Cube - I learned it. Forgot it. Now, I am going to learn it again.
Fake Stories - I may even read a fiction book 🤢

I’m getting older every day, but I refuse to be the “old man” stuck in his ways. I’ll continually look for ways to challenge my brain and embrace the power of neuroplasticity.

Try Harder:

The Diamond That Redefines Effort 💎

Did you hear about this 2,492-carat diamond?
Yep, a few weeks ago, in Botswana, the second-largest diamond ever was found. The first largest was in 1905 and they just got lucky 🍀

There’s a cooler story to this one, I promise you.

Here’s what I found fascinating about the entire thing. They said that most diamonds this large get destroyed before they ever find them. They’re crushed in the ore-processing stage. Don’t know about the ore-processing stage? Me either. Apparently it’s a stage where diamonds get destroyed.

So they TRY a little TOO HARD… and crush it?

I don’t call that trying harder. I call that trying stupid.
So what does effort or trying harder actually look like to find a diamond of this magnitude?

Years of research, development, and a whole lot of intellectual “trying harder” - and you get Mega Diamond Recovery X-ray technology. No, it’s not a superpower from a Marvel character (I checked).

It’s a high-tech scanner that spots precious stones before they’re ruined in that ore-processing stage. It’s like a super-powered metal detector for diamonds.

This discovery reminds us that true effort isn’t always about brute force. It’s about challenging conventions, investing in innovation, and finding new ways to achieve our goals. It’s about stepping back from the shovel and picking up the drawing board. Sometimes, the hardest work happens not in the field, but in the lab, the workshop, or the quiet corners of our minds.

So next time you face a challenge, remember the diamond diggers of Botswana. Don’t just try harder at the same old thing. Try harder to find a better way. You might just uncover a gem of an idea in the process.

Try harder,