Harder Better Faster Stronger Masterclass

Raising your Highline

How happy would you say you are?

If you score yourself out of 10, what would you say?

Of course we all know that this thing called “happiness,” or I prefer to label “feeling good” bounces around for each of us each day, week, so on.

But, in general, where would you say you are out of 10?

And by “10,” btw, I mean, that’s your peak.

10 is as good as it can possibly get, it’s the absolute best feeling you’ve ever experienced.

This is your Highline.

Your Highline

The Highline is your peak.

It is the high watermark of sorts for being your absolute happiest.

Contrast, in our system of therapy and transformation, Rapid Sustained Transformation, RST, your Baseline is where you are on average right now, and your Lowline is your darkest pit.

So if you think about every moment of your life so far, looking back, can you identify your Highline?

Maybe it was just one moment?

Where for whatever reason you were feeling at your peak, such as a client who “smells the sunshine.”

Or one day?

Like your wedding day, or some other special day?

Perhaps you are hitting new Highline peaks a lot of the time?

Such as a day I refer to as my Top of the World, which was this one most magical day when I was living in the mountains of Vail, Colorado launching off a peak.

Whatever this moment is, or these moments are, really challenge yourself here to find these times.

So you can relive and raise them.

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Best year ever?

Happy new year.

How was it for you?

I hope you finished the year with a bang and are already rocketing into this year.

Is this how you’re feeling?

Of course none of us know what will happen in our world, and perhaps it won’t be that good.

Still, you can have your best year ever.

Best year ever?

What do you say?

How are you currently seeing this year playing out?

If you went deep into this “High Light Real,” I’m curious what it led you to see for last year and this year.

We’ve heard from many people how valuable it was.

And I hope it was valuable for you because I’m REALLY trying to convey that even in these bizarro times, you choose.

Every day of every year miserable media will program the worst of the world and focus attention on what’s wrong.

It’s all good, misery is their business and many people love the madness.

If you allow them to infiltrate and infect your brain, however, you’re likely focused on a worse year.

Or, just as easily as changing the channel, you can focus on your best year ever.

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“We are the champions, my friends” :)

This war to control your brain is not new

“Chinese brain control warfare work revealed.”

This was a “revealing” headline from a couple weeks ago.

It can get you to think that brain control warfare is new when it might be the oldest form.

“Psyops” or psychological operations are central to winning every war, and even influencing civilian populations in peacetime.

You don’t often hear about these programs but even the government-owned Canadian Broadcasting Corporation reported an unsanctioned psyop the Canadian military ran to influence the public during Covid. (Here’s Vice explaining why it was in the public interest)

Controlling minds wins peace and war.

Art of War

You might know that Sun Tzu wrote perhaps the definitive book on warfare, The Art of War.

Written around the 5th century BC it’s still lauded, Chinese leaders still use it as a playbook, and even with special forces here I’ve talked A LOT about some of the most important principles.

One is—All warfare is based on deception.

As Sun Tzu wrote, “Hence, when we are able to attack, we must seem unable; when using our forces, we must appear inactive.”

Another dominant principle is, “.”

This is the ultimate goal of psyops, as this book Mindwar details.

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Roaring off the line?

I don’t really think we’re headed into the Roaring 22s.

To me there are more red lights out there than green.

Another variant.

Continued lockdowns.

Dysfunctional social narratives.

Reckless money printing and delusional crowds.

Gutted economies, businesses, lives.

More warmongering.

Lucky I’m color blind.

Green lights

You might know this quote I’ve shared before from Albert Schweitzer—

“An optimist sees a green light everywhere… while the pessimist sees only the red light… but the truly wise person is color blind.”

I am medically color blind, although I’d never claim wise.

I’m more like a racecar driver looking for green lights because I’m built to drive.

I’ve always been that idiot sitting at the lights looking left to right ready to roar off the line.

And then just keep driving, fast.

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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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“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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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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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.

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“Leveraging” the great to go for your best

All of us want to live our best life.

We want the best for ourselves.

Best for our kids.

Families.

Friends.

The best for the world around us.

So why do so few of us live it?

What holds us back from living our best lives?

“Giving up”

You know the phrase—

“Giving up” the good to go for the great.

On the surface it can be inspirational.

But do you see why it holds people back?

What’s implied in this?

Do you see why I’m calling out the words “giving up?”

It’s an ambiguity of course, equating to quitting.

Coz that’s true.

That’s why so many people live a shadow of the life they TRULY want.

But it’s another definition of “giving up” I’m pointing out here.

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1 and 5 principles for getting what you want

System For Winning

“Not all seats are created equal…”

An old colleague reminded me I said that to him back in the day.

He’d wandered down to my office and as usual I was ranting about these topics!

It’s sounds exactly like what I’d say.

And I use a line like it in my Do What You Want books.

Yet it’s funny because…

This one principle I’d used for decades and just blurted out stuck with him to this day.

The power of principles

I like Ray Dalio and his principles.

In the business world, he’s the most accurate thinker I’ve discovered on these topics.

Yet, fact is, hundreds of principles are NOT principles.

As educator Harrington Emerson said—

As to methods, there may be a million and then some, but principles are few. The man who grasps principles can successfully select his own methods.

Even more specifically, what I gathered from my first 14 years R&D’g these topics is…

That with just 5 principles of winning you can master anything!

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Shoot for the moon and stay the course

If you boil down my method to one phrase it’s this.

The other way I often say it is—

Dream MASSIVE and keep going.

See, this is where we often get stuck or fail.

If you’re going for what you TRULY want, it likely won’t work right away.

So people never commit.

Give up too soon.

Or constantly changing their method, fail to build momentum any way.

But if you stay the course…

It ALWAYS works.

Certainly, you can never control outcomes.

So there’s lots of reasons you might not achieve that goal you might have set your mind on.

YET…

If you just keep moving forward towards your grandest vision…

Continuously getting better and better and better along the way…

You’ll land where you’re destined to be.

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A method for building more and more momentum, without the ad hockery

System For Winning

“When it pours it pours,” a client says.

He of course gets that’s the “wrong” phrase.

But it’s the right phrase for him.

He remembers what it was like the other way.

And now he ONLY wants to remind himself of how much more you can keep it pouring!

Stuck begets stuck

Earlier in his career.

When he was first building his business, he felt stuck.

“Actually, it was way worse than stuck,” he says.

“It was like I couldn’t get a win edgeways.”

He was working harder than ever.

“Hustling” harder than ever.

But it wasn’t enough.

And worse.

Feeling like nothing was working…

Like a car stuck in the mud, spinning wheels, he felt himself getting stuck more and more.