Get my FREE newsletter that is helping thousands of people DO WHAT YOU WANT!
Geoff Blades

Harder Better Faster Stronger Masterclass

have you tried these masks?

I joked around last week running in my Black Panther mask.

Some people said it was wrong to play around like that, but I’ve just been trying to lighten it up a bit.

All the negatives of this situation are straight up obvious, when it can be valuable to look for a more positive side.

That’s what I did with the masks too.

Have you seen these training masks?

It sends a bad signal to me seeing healthy people wearing medical masks on the street.

And I figured so long as you’re wearing a mask you could benefit from a functional version.

In the old days when masks were like wearing your undies outside, I’d occasionally see people running or at the gym wearing these masks.

I didn’t get what it was all about, but having worn this training mask for a week or so…

Now I do.

Continue

Finally, you can wear this mask in public, or take ones off too

“I no longer have to wear my mask,” Gleefully my friend to said me.

She works in fashion, outside is always dolled up, one of those women who even wears makeup at the gym, so I was surprised when she said—

“It feels freeing that I’m not wearing any makeup or stilts.” (meaning high heels)

And then she added something really meaningful—

“I’ve gotten so used to looking at my face without makeup now that I like it, and I’m never going back.”

“I just get to be myself now,” she said.

One upside from this

There are of course plenty of downsides, but we’re also seeing things that might change for the better.

Whether women feel more free to wear makeup or not might not be such a big deal, yet what it means for our sense of self really is.

In some ways we’re stripping away the veneer, aren’t we?

Seeing more clearly some of the superfluous things that you can remove and never put back in your life.

And then there’s the other side too.

Continue

When the going gets hard, get harder, better, faster, stronger… EASIER

Yes, yes, we don’t have to keep going on about how hard it is right now, do we?

Nor the harder times that might be ahead.

That might be true, but as we’ve been talking about for weeks, all that matters is what you do about it.

Focus on what you can control.

Take your best actions.

I know you’re already doing this.

And I wanted to share with you this free video program that might make it easier for you.

My favorite program

I’ve built a lot of tech in the last 20 years, but this one program is by far my favorite.

That’s because it’s so simple, easy to put to work, and ridiculously powerful.

In the last few weeks I’ve listened to it a couple of times running and it’s been lightning for me.

Coz that’s what it was built to do.

It was built with one goal in mind that is particularly valuable right now.

Continue

Quarantine survey: 3 in 5 adults self-improving during lockdown, and 3 things I’m seeing

Beautiful roses grow in manure.

And there are lots of positive things that are coming out of this situation too.

We are spending more time at home with our loves ones, and pets.

“It gets you more focused on what truly matters,” people keep telling me.

Also you see we adapt fast, and as this survey suggests…

We are getting better!

“It would be so easy to give in to the bad mood, worry all day, and focus on all the things you can’t do,” the survey said but “Many adults are choosing to use the time wisely, and in a really encouraging way.”

3 in 5 adults said the lockup “represents an opportunity to catch up on long abandoned goals, ideas or hobbies.”

And they were “Planning on, or already started, self-improving and becoming ‘super human’ during lockdown.”

Pretty cool, ha?

Out of this tragedy might we see a new wave of human development?

Could this be a phase of creative destruction that forces us and our society to evolve?

So we’re not just making it through but coming out of this more super!

Continue

Advice from the ER—Especially now this 1 principle matters most

Now is obviously a hard time for many of us.

First and foremost all of our hearts go out to those who are sick and directly impacted by the virus.

For many others on the frontlines, in our medical and emergency services, it’s harder than ever.

Yet fortunately, this is what they are trained to do.

“It’s always chaos around here”

A friend in emergency medicine said to me.

His business is emergency, and he’s been conditioned to deal with it.

“You can’t know whether you can save the patient, or often even what surgery they need.”

But that’s when you fall back on your most basic training, he says.

“You do the most important thing right now that the patient needs, and go from here.”

It’s simple, right?

But especially in our hardest times, this can be very hard to do.

Continue

Now is your time… to show whether you’re forged of butter or steel

How quickly the world can change, right?

Just a few weeks ago it was business as usual and now…

Well, what is it?

Do we even know yet?

Certainly not the usual

Things aren’t just carrying on as they were.

There’s been a massive shock to the system, and we don’t know what it means.

It certainly looks like we’re headed into some tougher times.

Like after 9/11 and the credit crisis, many industries and businesses have already been massively hit.

Many people too.

It’s a time when we can fall over.

Continue

How to win more like AI, without being a robot

A client has an enormous opportunity in front of him.

But with enormous opportunity often comes an enormous challenge.

“There are steps I want to be taking,” he said “but I find it hard to get myself to do it.”

Perhaps like me you’ve faced the same type of problem?

He’s never procrastinated before.

Has a massive “why” for getting it done.

Yet it can be hard, can’t it, to take those most important steps that propel you forward.

The Resistance We Face

You may have seen me write about this topic before.

Over the years I’ve talked a lot about the ways we can get stuck in our massive goals.

See, the more important the task.

The bigger the opportunity.

Often, the more you want it.

The more likely it is that your brain throws roadblocks in your way.

Fear of failure. Fear of success. Fear of getting it wrong.

Such things can cause you to resist taking actions that lead to what you want.

Continue

Soft Skills Hardcore

I met with a CEO who had a problem with one of his lieutenants.

The guy was super smart.

Excellent at the technical aspects of his job.

But he was near impossible for others to work with.

Negative mindset. One upping teammates. Seeking more leadership without first proving his performance.

The CEO didn’t know how to manage him, so he just kept rambling on about developing his “soft skills.”

“What Soft Skills?”

I asked him.

“What do you mean by that?”

He looked at me blankly, “You know, those soft skills.”

And maybe this sounds strange to some people but I haven’t heard that term in years.

I’ve certainly never used it in the context of my work.

I do remember back in the day people using that phrase.

But no-one whose serious about winning thinks about skills that way.

When you think about it, it’s a strange phrase, right?

Are the skills themselves “soft” in some way?

We diminish them as though they are.

Like they’re skills that don’t really matter, that perhaps maybe you might want to learn.

Yet, when you look at what “soft skills” actually are, you see they’re the…

Continue

“I Don’t Have A Breaking Point”

They push you until they find the point which you break.

They can’t break me.

I don’t have a breaking point.

Says CIA operative Valerie Plame in the movie Fair Game.

Harder Than CIA

You may remember the story of Valerie Plame.

A covert CIA operative in some of the most dangerous theaters in the terrorist world.

When she and her husband got on the wrong side of politics, questioning the obviously questionable existence of Iraq’s WMDs…

Overnight, by our own government, her cover was blown.

Career ended. Friends shocked.

A life of secrets exposed, she and her husband didn’t back down.

They stood for what is right and pushed forward into their new life.

Continue

“I Can’t Afford To Be Slower, Weaker…”

“If I can’t build this business faster I fail,” a startup CEO wrote me.

From my time in Silicon Valley I know it’s often true.

Get big fast is a mantra because in a world of innovation there’s no rewards for slow.

“Unless we get harder, better, faster, stronger, we lose,” he echoed.

Clarity…

Is a beautiful thing, right?

See, one of the reasons I’m so deep into these topics is because when I began asking, How do you get what you want?

I had no clue what I was looking for.

People say, you’ve gotta have goals.

OK. Great, but what if you don’t know what you want?

And once you’ve got goals, how do you make them happen?

You’ve just gotta keep working at it.

Real helpful, thanks…

I wanted a method.

A simple and powerful approach I could put to work every day in getting what you want.

Continue

When 100 Workweek Isn’t Enough

You’ve just gotta work harder.

Hustle, hustle, hustle. 

Grind, grind, grind. 

No, it’s not just about working harder, it’s about working smarter…

Ugh, whatever.

We’ve heard it all before.

What If There Are No More Hours?

To work harder?

To work smarter?

And you’re still not winning, what do you do?

That was the problem I faced.

Working hard is easy for me.

100 hours a week, whatever.

I’ve worked 7 days since I was 16.

Working smarter. Duh!

But what if it’s still not enough?

Continue

Intel 3

My best learnings on the mind are called Intel 1-4.

I can’t say where I got this intel, only that these are the most important commandments I follow.

Intel 3 describes the endless cycle of thinking and doing that keeps humanity stuck on the treadmill.

Ultimately…

As you see in the diagram, this cause and effect circle jerk goes—

  1. Our thoughts merely reflect the energetic state of the body-mind machine
  2. The computer-like thinking mind computes we need to do something to change it
  3. So we can achieve a result
  4. So we can feel different
  5. So we can have different thoughts
  6. Which only circles back to our thoughts are based on energy

Hence, if we succeed in changing our energy, our thinking changes.

But, as tends to be the case, ultimately the thinking machine reverts back to its energetic set-point.

And so we go…

Continue

“I’m Lovin’ It”

Hmm, is it wrong for me to use that headline after the CEO of McDonald’s just got fired for McLovin?

I guess it’s all about context, right?

A wise mentor at Goldman once taught me you’ve gotta be careful how much lovin’ you do in the workplace.

At least with other employees.

But is there any limit to how much you should be lovin’ your job?

Lovin’ It?

Too few of us adults seem to be lovin’ it.

A kid laughs some 400 times a day, when us oh so serious adults are somewhere around 12.

Even many adults who are doing what they love.

Having reached the highest levels of business, achieved ridiculous success…

How many are lovin’ it?

After a first meeting with a new client she found herself smiling, beaming, walking the streets of Manhattan.

People kept looking at her, as if to say, what are you so happy about?

Nothing. Nothing had changed.

She’d simply unlocked an awesome feeling and was lovin’ it.

Continue

“You Probably Think That You Are Better Now…”

Better now…

They’re the only lyrics worth me citing from Post Malone’s track Better Now. 

As you know I only use lyrics about personal development.

When his song deteriorates into the typical love you girl pop.

If I were writing for Post I’d say, man you can keep getting better now.

Coz, well, who wants to be…

Worse Now…

Worse now…

None of us want to sing along to that, do we?

No parent has a bumper sticker—My kid failed 4th grade.

Or My son was dropped from the synchronized swimming team.

No adult brags—I’m into personal stagnation, operating at a fraction of my potential.

No one proudly posts a picture on LinkedIn with their little glass award for worst performer in the company.

Everyone likes to sing how they’re better now.

But how many of us actually are?

Continue

Failing To Be Stronger

Not many people aspire to be weaker, do they?

Yet, how many are willing to do what it takes to be stronger?

Physically, emotionally, mentally.

More capable.

Requires doing things many are unwilling to do.

Risk Failing

You don’t get stronger lifting a puny weight.

In the same way you fail to get stronger doing things that are easy for you.

We get stronger doing hard things that challenge us.

Push us beyond our old limits.

You test the capacity of a truck by loading it up and seeing where it buckles.

And us humans must test our limits the same way too.

Sadly, terrified of buckling, many of us fail to risk getting stronger.

Continue

“Does Anyone Make Real Sh*t Anymore?”

Raps Kanye in his track, Stronger.

Sampling Daft Punk’s, Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger.

In my ears they’re both preaching personal development.

A craft that is easily confused with a motivational speech.

Cool sounding TED talk.

Podcast. Inspirational tweet.

Is REALLY about getting harder, better, faster, stronger.

Isn’t This What We Want?

How many of us strive to be—

Softer.

Worse.

Slower.

Weaker?

How many of us pick up a self-help book for fun?

Watch an inspirational video or podcast coz we can’t think of anything better to do?

We do it because we’re looking for more in our lives.

Yet, how do we?

Get beyond the noise and actually get harder, better, faster, stronger?

Continue

To Become Your Greatest, Get An Anvil

For years I sought better ways to characterize the pursuit of success.

I could see that, ultimately, success is the pursuit of development, that it’s not only (or perhaps at all) about what we “achieve” but much more about who we become.

A real goal is one that is bigger than us and requires growing if we are to succeed.

If you’re not strong enough to pick up a heavy load, then you either leave the heavy lifting to someone else, or you choose to get stronger.

We fail to grow if we’re not stretched, and to forge ourselves into our greatest, we need a goal that forces growth.

I call this an anvil.

Forging Steel

To forge steel you heat it up with a flame, and bash it against an anvil.

Of course nobody asks the steel if this is a pleasant experience, but one would like to believe that it’s worth it to be forged into what you’re destined to be.

Success can feel much the same.

Our society likes to celebrate those who have achieved, but we seldom like to go too deep into what it took for that hero to become this way.

Watching Elon Musk in the world, does anyone think it looks like a laugh a minute?

Sure, plenty of people would love to be a billionaire, but how many would step into the heat and beat themselves against the anvils of SpaceX, Tesla, Boring, SolarCity, and all else that man does?

(I don’t know how he does it without Geoff Blades yet on his side… struggling is how :). Let’s take it to another level, Elon!)

Many of us dream of achieving great things. We dream of becoming great men and women. But we shy away from the anvil because we want an easier way.

Continue

One Change To Help Stop Active Shooters

Stop making them famous.

How?

Stop disclosing their name—Call them busted person X

Stop broadcasting their face—How does it help anyone knowing what they looked like?

Stop telling their stories—Killing innocent people shouldn’t be a six-part mini-series like celebrating the work of Jeffrey Dahmer.

Stop spreading their fear—Terrorists’ terror spreads because we spread it.

Stop glorifying their violence—Our “entertainment” complex is the greatest promoter of violence (TV, movies, games, sports) on the planet because we demand it.

Stop tuning in—There’s a difference between being “informed” about another lunatic vs. rolling around like a pig in their murder like you’re watching CSI.

Fame-Obsessed World

We live in a fame-obsessed world and sick minds will do just about anything to break the Internet.

Continue

Relive Your Best Times

Constantly I am reminded of the power of the mind and the importance of putting your mind in the “best” place.

It’s not just about getting your mind out of a “bad” place, but to make your life better and better.

Much, if not all, of what we think and feel is habitual, so the more we choose to focus on good things, the more habitually our mind elevates.

While we all know this intuitively, it helps to have reminders.

Back To The Future

Last week I was back in Vail, Colorado.

After living in the mountains for a few ski seasons I hadn’t been back for a couple of years, and last week I got to relive some of my best memories from Vail.

Some of them of course relate to skiing, but most of my great memories come back to the joy of living in the mountains. Waking up to the snow. Looking out on the mountain. Wandering through town. Eating at my favorite restaurants. Hanging with the locals. My time with friends who came to stay with me.

Just being in Vail these memories came flooding back to me and I realized that I want to keep reliving them.

A Daily Practice

If you’ve read my Limitless Mind book or these newsletters you’ve seen me talk about running mental movies.

In re-watching mental movies of the greatest times in your life, not only do you get a chance to keep reliving these times, but you can also use these movies to “pull” state.

Continue

✕