Stay Sane in an Insane World

That’s from Chapter #2: “What Makes Them Different.”

What makes THE MOST ELITE performers different?

It’s NOT something reserved for the elite few.

Greg tells us that YOU have it, too.

Anders Ericsson, the guy whose research led to the 10,000-Hour Rule Malcolm Gladwell popularized tells us that we ALL have this gift.

In Peak, he tells us: “Why are some people so amazingly good at what they do? Over my years of studying experts in various fields, I have found that they all develop their abilities ... through dedicated training that drives changes in the brain (and sometimes, depending on the ability, in the body) that make it possible for them to do things that they otherwise could not. ... the clear message from decades of research is that no matter what role innate genetic endowment may play in the achievements of ‘gifted’ people, the main gift that these people have is the same one we all have—the adaptability of the human brain and body, which they have taken advantage of more than the rest of us.”

George Mumford echoes this wisdom in HIS great book, Unlocked.

He tells us: “You may be familiar with what Michelangelo said about his approach to sculpting. He didn’t actually create statues for which he is famous; rather, he ‘released’ them from the stone in which he worked. His process stripped away, laid bare. That is the process we all go through to unlock. We remove the extraneous, the layering of our conditioning and defenses, and the ways that we have been untrue to who we really are until we find what is authentic within us—an authenticity that is always there, waiting to be revealed.

I call this greatness inside of us the masterpiece within. We might also think of it as our essence. The people we most admire, who are accomplished, masters at what they do, are in touch with this essence.

But everybody has that masterpiece within them. We need to uncover it. The degree to which we can see it and let it express itself is going to be reflected in the quality of our lives. The masterpiece within is ours and for no one else. It is always unique. There’s only one; only one you.”

How do we unlock this potential?

Greg tells us that it all comes down to THESE three things:

• “being coachable and hungry to learn;

• being committed to the process of continual self-improvement;

• believing that you have that special ‘extra gear’ to call on when you really need it, and that win, lose, or draw, you’ll rise above fear and self-doubt (your greatest enemies) and give everything you’ve got, no matter the outcome.”

How are YOU doing with each of those?

That’s from Chapter #4: “Control the Controllables.”

This is the chapter in which Greg walks us through Tom Brady’s UNBELIEVABLY inspiring story.

According to Wikipedia: “When he initially enrolled at Michigan, Brady was seventh on the depth chart, and struggled to get playing time. ... He worked closely with assistant athletic director Greg Harden, who met with Brady every week to build his confidence and to maximize his performance. Brady told 60 Minutes in 2014: ‘He will always be somebody I rely on for sound advice and mentorship. He has helped me with my own personal struggles in both athletics and in life. Greg really pushed me in a direction that I wasn’t sure I could go.’”

Brady was drafted as the 199th (!) pick in the 2000 NFL draft. Yet... He KNEW he was ready to take advantage of that opportunity. In fact, Greg tells us that Brady “famously told the owner of the Patriots, Robert Kraft, ‘I’m the best decision this organization has ever made.’ Then he got to work.”

In Call Sign Chaos, the great U.S. Marine General Jim Mattis talks about being ready when an opportunity presents itself and quotes Winston Churchill to make his point.

Churchill once said: “To each there comes in their lifetime a special moment when they are figuratively tapped on the shoulder and offered a chance to do a very special thing, unique to them and fitted to their talents. What a tragedy if that moment finds them unprepared or unqualified for that which could have been their finest hour.”

In Leadership in Turbulent Times, Doris Kearns Goodwin tells us: “Any man who has been successful, [Theodore] Roosevelt repeatedly said, has leapt at opportunities chance provides.”

The very last Note I created (earlier this morning!) was on Matt Higgins’s Burn the Boats. He echoes this wisdom when he tells us: “Opportunity is not an inexhaustible resource, and when you see an opening you have to take advantage.”

And: “I’ve seen hesitation kill more deals than speed ever will. And when you hesitate, or when you hedge, or when you divide your attention between your goal and the safety net you think you need to build, it all just begs the question: What are you waiting for?”

How about YOU? Are you doing the HARD work to make sure YOU’RE ready when opportunity knocks? Fantastic. Keep on crushing it. Get ready to answer the call to your Heroic adventure.

This is one of my FAVORITE ideas from the book.

This is one of my FAVORITE ideas from the book.

(I got goosebumps typing that.)

You activate your Soul Force like that all day every day, and there’s literally (pretty much) NOTHING you can’t do.

Greg continues by telling us: “The greatest competition you’re ever going to face is yourself. If you can take yourself on and be better than you were yesterday, you can take on anybody. So imagine this for me: If you train yourself to give 100 percent, 100 percent of the time, to the stuff you hate, how phenomenal are you going to be when you get to the stuff you love?

This is where I’m trying to take you, and as I said earlier, it’s one of the most important things I’m going to say to you in this entire book: If you make it your mindset, your vision of who you are, that you’re going to make it a habit to give 100 percent, 100 percent of the time, in everything you do—if you make that your norm, your base level, your default mode—then on your absolutely worst day, even when you slip, you’re still going to be better than the average person on their BEST day.”

Remember... It’s ALL about giving 100 percent, 100 percent of the time.

And... Know this: If we needed to summarize that sentence in a single word it would be... ARETÉ. Close the gap. Give us all you’ve got. TODAY.

That’s from Chapter #22: “The Value of a Short Memory.”

So many things come to mind when I read this... First, there’s Sean Casey and his call to his mental toughness coach, the great Harvey Dorfman. (See this +1 on Go 0 for 12 Lately? and the Notes on Coaching the Mental Game for more.) Sean was struggling. He called Dorfman. All Dorfman cared about was whether or not Sean was WORKING HIS PROTOCOL.

Then there’s another mental toughness coach, Jason Selk. He’s more generous than Greg and gives his peak performers 60 seconds to whine before they shift to a Relentless Solution Focus.

Then there’s Tom Brady. I can vividly remember watching one of the seven Super Bowls he won forever ago. He threw an interception in the Red Zone. As I recall, the VERY next drive, he was in the VERY same position and ran the VERY same play. TOUCHDOWN. He seemed to run that play out of spite to the Heroic gods for disrupting his plans on the prior attempt. Great performer, terrible short-term memory. Complete amnesia for failures after the lesson has been learned.

How about YOU? Got anything YOU need to alchemize and let go of?

If you feel so inspired, practice some Targeted Thinking. Radically accept whatever is happening. Get clear on what you want. Decide what you need to do RIGHT NOW to get a step closer to getting it. Dominate that next WIN. Repeat. Forever.

Those are the final words of the book.

I have nothing to add to that except… AMEN.

YOU are the Hero we’ve been waiting for. Let’s go!