Not too long ago, we chatted about Emerson’s loss to a brilliant 9-year-old kid in one of his tournament chess matches.
We talked about the fact that that loss, for whatever reason, catalyzed a level of clarity in Emerson’s mind that, if he wanted to go to the next level in his chess performance, he’d have to change the way he was training.
It also catalyzed an EVEN MORE aggressive timeline on which he wanted to hit his goal to become a chess master.
So…
Long story slightly shorter, Emerson and his coach decided that if he wanted to go to the next level (more specifically, hit the 2000 U.S. Chess Federation rating required to become a candidate master!), he needed to do ONE THING.
Literally…
ONE THING.
If he wanted to go next level, he’d need to do ONE HOUR of tactical puzzles on a website called ChessTempo.com.
That’s it.
One hour of tactical puzzles on ChessTempo.com.
But…
His brilliant coach Nick said…
He’d have to do that one hour EVERY SINGLE DAY.
Nick *promised* Emerson that, if he did that, his game would go to the next level.
I actually have tears in my eyes typing that because Nick was so clear and Emerson believed him so much and then became SO COMMITTED to dominating it.
Now…
I’m typing this the morning after Emerson had done THIRTY days of those puzzles in a row.
And…
That’s pretty much ALL he did chess-wise.
He stopped watching all his favorite chess streamers. He didn’t even play ANY games for the first two weeks of his new training.
Just that hour of puzzles.
Every.
Single.
Day.
And…
You know what happened?
He just went next next next level.
In fact, he won twenty-two games in a row yesterday. (With a single draw in there.)
To be clear…
That’s crazy. (Hah.)
(Nick said the most he’d ever won in a row was something like a dozen games—which is also amazing!)
And, over the last two weeks, Emerson’s Chess.com rating went up nearly THREE HUNDRED points—from 1635 to 1930–placing him in the top 99.6 percentile of all chess players on Chess.com.
To be clear…
That’s crazy. (Hah.)
Now…
Of course, I’m a proud dad.
But…
I’m also a REALLY fascinated philosopher and teacher and coach.
I’m literally ASTONISHED that something THAT simple could lead to something THAT powerful.
It’s THE PERFECT DEMONSTRATION of how OUTCOME goals are BY-PRODUCTS of solid PROCESS goals.
And that’s Today’s +1.
What’s YOUR #1 WILDLY IMPORTANT GOAL in your life right now?!
Could be going next level in your Energy.
Could be going next level in your Work.
Could be going next level in your Love.
What is it?
Get clear on that.
Then…
Get even MORE clear on what you think is THE #1 THING you could do to have THE BEST shot at hitting that wildly important target.
Got it?
Great.
Now go focus on the PROCESS for the next 30 days and let the outcomes take care of themselves.
It’s Day 1.
We’re ALL IN.
Let’s go.
Unlock this Heroic +1 (and over 1,000 more)!
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