Success – Page 5 – mastery.fm

The Power of Reading

It’s insane to think that a person has poured years of their experience and imagination into a book and through the magical invention of words this person can beam their creation straight into our heads. Yet most people don’t read.

Imagine being inside Bill Gates’ head for a couple of hours. Do you think you might learn something new? Or what about a day in the life of Pelé, one of the greatest football players that ever lived. This is the power of reading. It is the closest thing we have to telepathy; yet the average person reads just 4 books a year, the average CEO 50 a year.

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Matchers vs Mismatchers

Steve Pavlina:

When I do creative projects today, I start with matcher mode. I work through the purpose and vision. I get enthusiastic about the results that will be generated. I think about the positive ripples. I get aligned with doing the project. If I share the idea, I prefer to share it with matchers, so they can help me better understand the idea’s potential.

When the idea is a bit more developed, I turn to the practical side. I identify the risks and list them out one by one. I look at the potential downsides. I consider problems that may arise and how to address them.

Matcher mode is faster. Mismatcher mode is slower. When I want to speed up and go faster, I shift into matcher mode. When I feel uncertain about the risks, I downshift into mismatcher mode and work through more details in advance.

And:

What problems don’t really matter much even if they happen? What problems could you fix later if they happened? What problems would be relatively easy to pre-solve or prevent if you just think them through?

Also think about the opportunity side: What opportunities are you delaying or at risk of missing because you’re fussing over potential problems? How will you feel if someone else beats you to the punch because you moved too slowly? Are you really being cautious… or merely sluggish?

And:

It’s common to see people pointing to problems as roadblocks. How many times have we heard people mention these or similar problems as reasons they can’t move forward in some area?

I can’t afford it.

I don’t have the time.

My family won’t let me.

I live with my parents.

I don’t have the skills.

If you lean too heavily on mismatcher mode, problems tend to become excuses for inaction. The existence of a problem is all you need to put the brakes on.

If you can lean towards matcher mode though, then problems can be seen as hidden opportunities, including all of the problems listed above. True matchers are advancing in all of these situations.

And:

Remember these final rules of thumb:

Shift into matcher mode when you want to go faster (or if you sense that progress has been too slow or nonexistent).

Shift into mismatcher mode when you want to be more cautious (or if you sense that progress has been too chaotic, unstable, or stressful).

The key is to apply these modes of thinking at different times, so they don’t interfere with each other.

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Mapping Out Your Life

Chris Sacca:

Generally, what all of this comes down to is whether you are on offense or defense. I think that as you survey the challenges in your lives, it’s just: Which of those did you assign yourself, and which of those are you doing to please someone else? Your inbox is a to-do list to which anyone in the world can add an action item. I needed to get out of my inbox and back to my own to-do list.

Tim Ferriss:

Most of our waking hours, we feel as though we’re in a trench on the front lines with bullets whizzing past our heads. Through 20 minutes of consistent meditation, I can become the commander, looking out at the battlefield from a hilltop. I’m able to look at a map of the territory and make high-level decisions. “These guys shouldn’t even be fighting over here. What the hell is Regiment B doing over there? Call them out. We need more troops around the ridge. For objectives, we should be going after A, B, and C in that order. Ignore all the other so-called emergencies until those are handled. Great. Now, deep breath, and … execute.”

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Lay Down the Synaptic Pathways

Kamal Ravikant:

If we are made of atoms and molecules, and they in turn from smaller particles which are empty space and energy, then what are we?

Are we our thoughts?

Ever catch your mind in a mental loop, replaying some old story, an old hurt, the same pattern? Who are you? The thought or the observer of the thought?

If you’re the observer, then what is the thought?

Or are you a thought observing another thought?

Perhaps we’re just biochemical storms within synaptic connections in a brain that evolved over millions of years. Or maybe there is an observer, a deeper self. No proof either way.

I’m fine with not knowing. I enjoy thinking about it, but mainly to remind myself that ultimately, everything is theory. I care about what works. What creates magic in my life.

This I know: the mind, left to itself, repeats the same stories, the same loops. Mostly ones that don’t serve us. So what’s practical, what’s transformative, is to consciously choose a thought. Then practice it again and again. With emotion, with feeling, with acceptance.

Lay down the synaptic pathways until the mind starts playing it automatically. Do this with enough intensity over time and the mind will have no choice. That’s how it operates. Where do you think your original loops came from?

The goal, if there is one, is to practice until the thought you chose becomes the primary loop. Until it becomes the filter through which you view life. Then practice some more.

Sounds like work. Perhaps. But the nature of mind is thought. Choose one that transforms you, makes your life zing. The one I found, “I love myself,” is the most powerful one I know. You might discover another. Regardless, please do it.

It is worth it.

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The Advantage of Commitment

Steve Pavlina:

If you think it’s difficult to commit to something for so many years, you’re right. It is difficult. That’s why average and below average results are more common than exceptional results. Most people aren’t going to commit. But therein lies your greatest advantage. If you simply stick it out longer than most people, your odds of success increase.

Your field may look crowded, but that’s most likely because it’s flooded with dabblers. They’ll be gone within a year or less, replaced by new dabblers. These people don’t represent any serious competition. In fact, they’re most likely helping you. They’ll introduce new people to your field before they give up. Think of these dabblers as your volunteer marketing team. They help to expand the market for the products and services that you’ll eventually deliver.

And:

Commitment doesn’t mean trapping or limiting yourself. It’s not about putting yourself in a box or a cage. It’s about choosing a certain line of development and running with it, which isn’t that difficult to do when you discover something you really love. Then your commitment is a commitment to enjoy your life and to express what feels good to you. It’s still going to involve a lot of work, but that work is mostly a labor of love. The question is whether or not you’re willing to put in the time.

Commitment and action bias are teammates. If you have a strong action bias but your actions are random and haphazard, you’ll pile up a lot of feedback, but it will be tough to make sense of it. On the other hand if you make a commitment to pursue a certain direction, and you cultivate a strong action bias too, then you’re going to acquire feedback that you can use to go further and further down that path. This is a terrific way to experience a fulfilling life that makes you happy and contributes to others.

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The Power of Compound

Ari Yeganeh:

And this is exactly why 80% of gym memberships are canceled within the first few months. People sign up excited about losing weight normally at the start of the year but after a few weeks they give up because they don’t see any results. Just like the magic wand, they don’t see the invisible 0.1% improvements to their health from each visit to the gym.

But in reality it is exactly these 0.1% baby steps over time that make all the difference. If you kept going just a bit longer, a year of 0.1% improvements everyday will result in a 44% total betterment of any field of your choosing. Two years, 107% improvement. And in 5 years, a massive 520% improvement.

This is the compound power of habits. Tiny actions over time can lead to massive results. This lesson alone made all the difference for me.

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New Problems

Grant Cardone:

Overcommit your energy, resources, creativity, and persistence. Know that you are all in on every activity, every time you take action, every day you’re in business.

Now, you might worry—as so many people do—about not being able to deliver. And that is certainly a problem; however, as we discussed earlier, you need new problems. They’re signs that you’re making progress and heading in the right direction. Learn to commit first, and figure out how to show up later. Most people simply never bother to perform and instead spend their time trying to wrap their heads around things that many never happen for them. Anyone who doesn’t face new problems but who instead grapples with the same old problems his or her whole life isn’t moving forward. Simply put: If you are not creating new problems for yourself, then you aren’t taking enough action.

You need to face new issues and dilemmas that will challenge you to keep finding and creating solutions. Wouldn’t it be nice if you had too many people to see at 2PM or if you had a line outside your restaurant because there were so many people waiting for a table? One of the major differences between successful and unsuccessful people is that the former look for problems to resolve, whereas the latter make every attempt to avoid them. So remember: Overcommit, be all in, and take massive levels of action followed up by massive amounts of more actions. You will create new problems and deliver at levels that will amaze even you.

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Concentration of Power

Tony Robbins:

I learned to harness the principle I now call concentration of power. Most people have no idea of the giant capacity we can immediately command when we focus all our resources on mastering a single area of our lives. Controlled focus is like a laser beam that can cut through anything that seems to be stopping you. When we focus consistently on improvement in any area, we develop unique distinctions on how to make that area better. One reason so few of us achieve what we truly want is that we never direct our focus; we never concentrate our power. Most people dabble their way through life, never deciding to master anything in particular. In fact, I believe most people fail in life simply because they major in minor things.

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You Are the Reason

Becca Martin:

If you think your life sucks, it probably does. If you think the world is out to get you, it probably is. If you think you deserve more, you probably do.

The only thing in the world holding you back from achieving greatness is in fact you.

If you think the world is out to get you it’s because you have a shit attitude towards life—you’re looking at everything the wrong way. You’re using the negatives to fuel you instead of the positives. You’re letting the negatives control your mind and in turn you’re allowing them control of your life. You’re letting the bad things win.

You will never amount to any form of greatness if you spend your life working some boring desk job that just drains you of your energy because you’re too lazy to get out and search for something more fulfilling—that is no one’s fault but your own.

And:

You will never be happy if you’re constantly looking at the negatives. You will never reach happiness in your life if you’re constantly surrounding yourself by people and things that drain you.

You are the reason you are unhappy, you are the reason you’re stuck in a rut and your relationships are poor and you’re constantly criticizing others and looking for more. That’s all on you.

There’s no way to sugar coat it. You are your own worst enemy; you are the only one who is standing in the way of your goals and your success.

And:

Don’t stand in the way of your own life, don’t give up when things get hard because quitting will never get you anywhere. Instead work harder and work smarter.

Believe in yourself when no one else does so you can look back and say, “I told you so.”

No one will believe you can do it until you do, so you have to want your own dreams. Others can want your dreams for you but you’re the only one who can make them happen and you’re the only one who can succeed or fail in reaching them.

Stop doing things that don’t fulfill you, stop blaming others for your problems and stop thinking life owes you something because it doesn’t. If you want your life to get better then start living like it. Start doing something positive in the right direction and don’t stop until you get there, then keep going.

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Go All the Way

Grant Cardone:

As they say in AA, “Half measures achieved us nothing.” For members, this means that you can’t get sober if you are drinking—even a little bit.

In the world of success and achievements, half measures achieve nothing in terms of results—except for tiring out the person engaging in the half measures. This is why most people refer to work as though it were an illness. Only those who go all the way and see things through until they’re done experience the rewards of the work.

Until an action is turned into a success, it is not done. Until you make the potentail client a client or the potential investor an investor, you have not gone all the way. This might seem harsh, but if you called a client 50 times and didn’t get the deal done, then you might as well have not called that person at all.

This is the point at which people become reasonable and therefore don’t make it. Commit to being completely unreasonable and going all the way. Don’t accept any excuses! No settling allowed!

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