Articles - Page 5 of 36

Why going for it was easy for Jeff?

It’s ALWAYS obvious in hindsight.

With perfect 20/20 backward vision you could easily make your absolute best decisions.

And if you could turn back time, you might make plenty of different choices.

But foresight is entirely different, isn’t it?

Here you have less than perfect information.

You’re in the realm of uncertainty, risk, downside, fear, failure, loss, etc.

But also excitement, possibility, adventure, and potentially HUGE opportunity.

“It was going to be huge”

This is one of my favorite clips of Jeff Bezos:

It’s short yet it takes you back to where all this started for him.

Back to the mid-90s where he’s at MIT describing the exciting growth he was seeing online, Jeff says—

“If it was growing at 2,300% a year, pretty soon it was going to be huge.”

Of course in hindsight leaving his job to go after this opportunity seems a no-brainer, but keep in mind that the first question Jeff says he got from the 60 investors he first met was—

“What’s the Internet?”

Since he was a kid Jeff had imagined building things, he was drawn to the adventure and rewards of being an entrepreneur.

Yet it still could have been an extremely hard decision for him.

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Keep driving forward

On Christmas Eve 2008 Elon Musk was hours away from bankruptcy.

Major delays on the Tesla Roadster meant they were too slow getting cars off the production line.

Three failed launches at SpaceX left them barely scratching together enough money and parts for a fourth.

This night it was all on the line.

With most of his chips already on the table, when he might have lost it all, Elon went ALL IN.

He gave Tesla his last remaining cash. Other investors followed.

In the face of imminent failure, Elon drove through.

Something he’d need to keep doing just to keep his baby alive even nine years later.

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Keep swimming forward…ferociously

Do you know that most sharks must keep swimming?

They must keep moving forward to absorb oxygen from the water into their gills.

Otherwise they drown.

The same happens if they’re dragged backwards.

They are a creature built for moving forward.

Keep moving forward

I don’t get why you’d live any other way?

Maybe it’s a problem.

This year people have told me it is.

Because I refuse to stop and obsess about whatever they think they know from whatever news source they think is the accurate one.

This week a CEO told me that he’s scared the vaccine will sterilize his kids, while another told me that the unvaccinated kid next door would kill her father.

Especially when the waters are this filthy…

You’ve just gotta keep swimming forward.

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Saltigrade

Do you know what this word means?

It’s the word of the day that well captures what I’m experiencing right now.

Saltigrade is a verb which means, “Moving by leaping.”

In the context of your business or career…

Why move any other way?

Leap after leap

I’ve been experiencing something incredible this year.

For years I’ve been steadily pushing forward on all fronts.

But that’s never been my target.

I target quantum leaps.

That’s been my focus since I was a kid.

Not just how to make your life a little bit better.

But how do you make enormous transformational leaps from where you are right now…

To what you TRULY want?

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Watching Joe Rogan freeze on stage I saw we all face this problem

It was the most bizarre thing.

An hour before he was riffing on stage like he owned it.

But now he was frozen like a deer, following the GOAT around.

This part of the show was unscripted and Rogan was unprepared.

Standing up there next to Dave Chappelle he looked like a tired kid at Disneyland needing to be carried.

He was out of lines, but worse, he was out of confidence.

While Chappelle, who’d just delivered a crushing set, was on fire, in his zone, freestyling, lighting up the stadium.

Seeing the whites of his eyes

It was pretty awkward, I have to say.

I felt so much for the guy.

He’s obviously a highly accomplished performer.

An hour earlier he’d captivated the huge crowd, but now he was pottering around unable to even blurt out a line, let alone a funny one.

It was difficult to watch, and from our front row seats a little too close for comfort.

You could see the bulging whites of his eyes.

Feel the trepidation in his body along with the awkward silence his words were supposed to fill.

Watching his frozen body, I could “hear” the gears stuck in his head.

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Might you benefit from Jeff Bezos’ regret minimization framework?

Jeff Bezos did something crazy.

Years before the Internet was mainstream he decided to go after it.

Unlike a college kid with nothing to lose, he had a lot to lose.

He had a good, stable job on Wall Street.

Recently married with a new home, he had reasons to be risk averse.

But imagining what the Internet could be, he wanted to avoid looking back in regret.

He makes it sound easy

You’ll see him talk about it in this short video clip.

It’s a classic from 2001 where he’s talking about leaving Wall Street to start Amazon.

See, the thing is, of course now some 27 years after founding Amazon, and becoming the richest man in the world, it looks like an obvious decision.

But going back to when he was making it, the decision was anything but obvious.

What his boss said to him well captures it.

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The quality of your mind governs the quality of your life

Limitless Mind Gratitude is an important practice, right?

You know this because you’re often told it!

But why?

Why is it important to be grateful?

This seems obvious, doesn’t it?

You “should” feel grateful for what you have.

And certainly you want to feel the best you can about your life today.

But, REALLY, why are practices like gratitude so powerful?

The mind governs your life

See, this is the heart of the GREATEST mystery I’ve discovered in life.

It’s the mystery of mysteries that the ancients talked about.

But it’s a long way from where I began this work.

Back then it was all about—

How do you get what you want?

And come on, of course that’s a GREAT topic, right?

Who doesn’t want to live your absolute best life??

The problem is what was implied in my old definition—

You need your best life to feel your best!

But some tens of thousands of hours researching these topics taught me a new definition of “best life.”

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“Playing full out”

Sometimes you can be giving it everything you’ve got…

And it feels like HELL 🙁

You know what I’m talking about, don’t you?

You’ve got so much going on.

You’re cranking away at it.

Making progress.

But it can just feel like a grind.

It’s not the greatest, is it?

Look, I’d say it’s WAY better than sitting around feeling stuck not knowing what to do.

But still, it’s not as fun as PLAYING full out.

What is playing full out?

My brother got me started using this phrase.

It might come from the world of sports.

As in, “She’s really going after it, playing full out.”

Before I was using this phrase I was relying on some of my old lines like—

Going after it.
Cranking it out.
Getting it done, etc.

But this phrase has become powerful for me and some clients for a number of reasons.

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Do you believe enough to REALLY go after your dreams?

Do you know this jump program scene in The Matrix?

It’s when Morpheus first takes Neo onto the roof of a tall building and tells him to leap to the other building over there.

If you’ve seen the movie you of course know Neo looks at him like he’s nuts.

How can he do that Superman thing?

Leap from one gigantic building to another?

All Morpheus says to him is, “You have to let it all go, Neo…”

“Fear, doubt, disbelief.”

What do you dream?

We all have a dream, don’t we?

It might be a huge lofty dream.

Or simply be a more natural evolution from where you are today.

No matter what it is, you certainly have dreams of what is possible.

Yet, what does it take to actually bring your dreams to life?

Lots of things of course!

And this scene from The Matrix really hones in on one.

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The key to unlocking ALL your potential

People often talk about unlocking your full potential.

Or even the more elusive notion of using 100% of your brain capacity.

Most the time it’s seen as something mysterious.

When in fact it’s SUPER practical.

I’m NOT saying it’s easy to do.

Or how much is possible.

But there is a clear path to doing it.

It’s just, unfortunately, the path I’m sharing with you is one few people will ever want to choose.

Because it demands something that’s near impossible to do.

Set a near impossible goal

See, and this is going to sound obvious, BUT…

To unlock your full potential you need a reason why.

It’s like driving a Ferrari to the grocery store.

There’s little need or ability to really open up that powerful engine.

So most Ferrari owners never do.

They’re also not trained to drive to the limit so few even know what that car can do.

It’s the same with human potential.

If your goals only demand an average level of potential from you that’s all you’ll deliver.

Whereas, choose a massive goal that’s way out of reach…

And the only way you succeed is by unlocking more potential.

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Elon Musk’s winning is driven by this ONE thing

System For Winning

Many of us are fascinated by BIG winners.

Often we want to celebrate them.

Be fans.

Put them on a pedestal.

Point to them for this or that reason.

I like to model them for one SELFISH reason.

Do what they do

The first leader I modeled publicly and wrote a book on got me in trouble.

Because that leader was Donald Trump!

I never intended to get caught up in the political dumpster fire.

My ONLY intent was to break down his winning influence.

So others like you (and me) can take over the world too 🙂

See, that’s what I care about in modeling other people’s winning.

I could care less talking about that person and what they’ve achieved.

My focus is on getting clear on how they win, so you can do it too.

It’s the same with Elon Musk.

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For driving your goals, you can’t be missing wheels!

A car doesn’t drive without wheels!

And the same is true for driving your goals.

Missing just one part can destroy your success.

It might be obvious to say, yet it can be easy to miss.

It’s obvious with a car, isn’t it?

Remove the wheels and it no longer drives anywhere!

But in your goals, how do you know if you’re missing a part?

What parts must come together?

I met with a fund manager “trying” to raise capital.

He’s a seasoned manager who’s already sitting on $3 billion in assets.

But for the last 6 years, he’s been unable to raise more.

“I’m doing everything right,” he said.

“But I’m just not getting the results.”

Then catching what he’d said, he joked, “I guess that means I’m NOT doing everything right.”

“Touché,” I said.

“So what I am missing?”

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April Fool’s is no jokes, but remember to have a laugh

I wondered what we might wake up to on this April Fool’s Day.

Like maybe all this has been a practical joke.

Perhaps some great truth would be revealed.

Hahahahaha, we’d all try to have a good laugh.

And then keep getting on with our lives.

Unfortunately not.

Still a heavy time

The energy is heavy right now.

So heavy that no-one could expect to even crack an April Fool’s joke and get away with it.

You might even be dragged through the public square by the social enforcers.

But we also know this time hasn’t been ALL bad, has it?

Families have spent more time together.

Certainly some parts of the economy and financial assets have been on a tear.

Some people’s businesses are better than ever.

Still, it’s hardly a time for anyone to be celebrating.

But we can still be…

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This one thing is what we all REALLY want

Ultimate Days

You know something strange I’ve discovered?

It’s that we’re NEVER really seeking what we think we want.

Not saying you don’t actually want it.

I’m saying that behind that “thing” is MERELY a feeling.

That’s what you want.

The feeling.

The experience you get from this thing that you “think” you want.

You know the problem?

The feeling is fleeting.

We all know this, don’t we?

You dream of getting that house or job or partner or money or whatever…

And then you get it!

Yippee!!!

You feel this way for, how long?

Honestly??

How long do you get this BUZZ from this thing you so much wanted?

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3 steps from stuck to keep moving forward

System For Winning

It can feel hard when you’re stuck, can’t it?

And stuck can mean a lot of things.

Sometimes you can feel stuck in a way that’s temporary.

Say, at a time in your career or life you’ve just gotta work through.

But other times you’ve gotta make a leap.

Maybe that’s a defensive leap because you don’t see things playing out as you planned.

Or my favorite, offensively leaping to what you TRULY want.

Either way it can feel hard, when you want it to feel natural, like you’re just taking steps.

Or leaps!

“I’m seeing the next level,” said a client.

Now I will say, for decades all he’s done is keep reaching the next level!!

And he’s very good at it.

Over this time he’s made a number of HUGE career leaps.

Changing jobs at his firm.

Moving geographies.

Strategically leaping to different firms to skip a couple of rungs on the ladder.

Doing this he’s catapulted himself to near the top of a huge business.

And now he’s looking at two different leaps from here.

They’re both awesome.

But this too is where OPPORTUNITY can turn to stuck!!

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This ONE thing drives ALL confidence

What leads you to feel confident?

You don’t often hear that question, do you?

Instead, what you most often hear is when someone lacks confidence.

Because the brain works on “deletion,” often people ONLY talk about confidence when it’s lacking.

But you rarely hear about all the ways someone is confident, do you?

Which, as it turns out, is the shortest path to solving any lack of confidence.

Confidence is contextualized

What I mean here is, when people lack confidence they tend to “generalize” the problem.

Meaning they’ll make an overarching statement like—

“I lack confidence.”

Or lacking confidence in a certain context, they’ll generalize this too—

e.g. “I lack confidence at public speaking.”

If you point out to them, “You’ve been speaking in public your entire life!”

They’ll say, “Hahaha, you know that’s not what I mean.”

But, actually, that is what I mean.

It’s an obvious fact that you speak to people in public!

Yet, in their brain, and for many of us, something changes when the context is “public” speaking.

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What would you do differently if you changed just one belief?

Limitless Mind

You know how much your beliefs govern your life.

Just one powerful belief can lead you to do amazing things.

In the same way one equally powerful limiting belief can amazingly limit you.

Consider for instance, if you believe that—

Anything is possible, and even if you fail it’s fun to try.

What might this belief lead you to do differently?

What beliefs most govern you?

Let’s play with the two parts of this belief for a moment.

Do you believe that anything is possible?

Or that your opportunities are limited?

And here, I’m not being TOTALLY literal.

You of course can’t right now click your heels and fly into space, but you also know that with the right process we’ve put people in space.

How might this relate to some or one of your beliefs in your career, business, life?

Do you generally believe that you can get what you want?

Or do you think that your life is forever limited?

How you answer this question governs what you even believe is worth going for, let alone how strongly you go after it!

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Hitting peak velocity

Ultimate Days You may have never jumped from a plane but you know the notion of terminal velocity.

This is the maximum velocity achievable by an object as it falls through fluid.

Or in the case of jumping from a plane, your maximum velocity as you punch through air hurtling toward the ground!

For this reason, I avoid the word “terminal.” 🙂

And use “Peak” velocity instead.

Peak velocity in your goals

You see this theme of velocity everywhere in my work.

Words like driving, momentum, flow, they all connote movement.

At the most fundamental level, that’s the opposite of being stuck!

When you don’t know what to do or you find yourself in the same old cycle, there’s zero momentum at all.

And what I learned early in my work is the power of getting moving.

Even if you don’t know where you’re headed, just building momentum is the crucial step to becoming that rolling stone gathering no moss as it rolls down the hill.

Peak velocity is the extreme.

It’s the maximum velocity you can build in driving forward your goals.

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What does it ACTUALLY mean to work harder?

“Nobody Cares, Work Harder.”

That’s the name of a track from rapper Dizzy Wright.

The song I’ve barely rotated.

But the title keeps hitting me!

It captures a theme in his music too.

When I came across this track a couple years ago he was working hard to break through.

Perhaps he has now, tbh I don’t pay attention.

But when I see his track it always makes me think…

Can you work harder?

What does it even mean to work harder?

What does it mean to you?

Is it raw hours?

Volume?

Production?

Getting more done in less time?

Doing harder things?

It means these and many other things to me too.

But when I was faced with having to find another gear to win…

I went deep on SIMPLIFYING it down to these two PRINCIPLES.

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Surround yourself with people who dream even bigger than you

“I didn’t meet many people at HBS like that,” a client said.

He came from an immigrant background.

Grew up with little.

Since he was a kid he’d been dreaming big of what is possible in his life.

Growing up he didn’t have many like-minded people around him.

Nor even at Harvard Business School.

Something I hear all the time

I think this is the loneliest path.

They say that about leading, and perhaps this is a version of leading too.

When you’re dreaming big.

Have a massive vision.

It can be hard to find people who think massive along with you.

And worse, you’ve gotta be careful who you tell it to.

Napoleon Hill has a phrase, “Tell the world what you intend to do, but first show it.”

The notion being as another axiom goes—

You must avoid people who talked themselves out of chasing their dreams “trying” to talk you out of yours.