On a scale of 1-10 how invested are you? What’s your level of commitment? How bad do you want it? What would you sacrifice to make your mental picture physical?
I started brainstorming this week’s post on a whim. Thinking on mentality and how it encroaches all aspects of life, not just fitness. The storm guided me here. I’ve cobbled a list that may be ever growing, may turn into simply part one, but currently stands as a collection of traits, habits, and to-dos that will propel you to greatness sooner or later.
The keys to success in life.
Take notes - let’s get it.
SECTIONS:
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What Is Greatness
Greatness is akin to success and success is defined by you. So what is successful for you? What can you look back on as an honorable state of being or accumulated notches of achievement?
Greatness comes from how you play your part with family and friends, the outside community, your career of course, and even how you craft the way you think. You want greatness, therefore you want satisfaction in life. You want to be proud before anyone else. Aside from loved ones, other’s opinions of you are a distant concern.
Greatness isn’t an outcome; it’s no singular result.. It’s a way of life.
You want to be great, for what you deem great isn’t possible without a great deal of happiness. The road to success and the road of success has potholes, U-turns, and broken streetlights, but when you commit, your vehicle will adapt to all terrain.
The Three Pillars Of Success
One: Be Consistent
I assure you these three pillars are in no particular order, since if you were to remove one your proverbial table shall fall, yet number one is number one. Minus consistency you can consider yourself minus whatever greatness means to you.
You don’t just Be Great once, it happens again and again. Greatness isn’t an act, it’s a way of life - consistent.
Dictionary.com publishes the definition of the contextual word consistent as “steadfast adherence to the same principles, course, form, etc.: IE there is consistency in his pattern of behavior.” [1]
You need a steadfast adherence to your course of action. Greatness is repeated.
The quests we place ourselves on vary with great unpredictability, yet there is commonality in the issue department. Frankly folks expect “it” to come rather effortlessly and swiftly.
I get it.. It’s human nature to want the oven to heat quickly, but if you even think of it from an outside perspective you’d agree the level of satisfaction drops precipitously when the barrier to achievement is low.
The natural high you undergo from succeeding after an extended accrual of effort is unparalleled. Be consistently relentless in your approach.
Next section we’ll get into process along with tangible examples and the same with mentality, but be clear.. You can have the perfect mindset, the perfect plan, and set up the perfect opportunity, nevertheless if you aren’t consistent in execution your dream will be executed - let's continue.
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Two: Manufacture A Process
No particular order.. Miss a pillar and you’ll miss your ride on the Be Great express, but I’d listen to one’s argument if they tried to tell me number two is number one. You can be consistent all you want, though if you’re consistent with the wrong plan of execution then what? *crickets*
Time to credit the homies at dictionary.com with two inserts this time. To manufacture is “the making or producing of anything; generation: IE the manufacture of body cells.” [1]
Process is a singular word meaning ”a systematic series of actions directed to some end: IE to devise a process for homogenizing milk.” [1]
Together now - you need a steadfast adherence to your generated systematic series of actions to create a desired end. Greatness is repeated.
Not that each day or strategy should be identical.. Alteration is part of the gumbo, so is adaptation. Your process is to include the sharpening of tools in order to better react to randomization and create the needed modifications.
48 Habits The Process Requires Of You:
1. Practice. No matter how naturally gifted you are or how easily your pursuit comes, never cease to work on your craft.
2. Organize. The alphabet soup that is the chasing of greatness will lead to many missed opportunities if you don’t have a semblance of order. File findings and results away for ease of access. The spoils go to the efficient.
3. Strengthen weaknesses. Everyone’s “game” has holes in it - work on making those subpar points serviceable and eventually strengths. If you have trouble with public speaking, work on public speaking.. Try giving mock presentations to your family.
4. Highlight strengths. Lean on what you do best as you continue to update other facets of your dealings. If you’re a great talker, talk. Great marketer, market. You have exceptional calf muscles, flex those calves ladies and gents.
5. Learn. Never stop learning.. Information is ever-expanding and trust me, forgetting what you already know is a thing too. No matter how much you’ve gathered, there’s more to mastering your profession.
6. Work for free. You might want to close the browser after seeing this bullet, but a senior key to success is working for free. From interning to producing content without receiving a dime and everything in-between - working for free is an investment in yourself that’ll pay tenfold in due time.
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7. Wake up with a purpose. Start the day like you mean it and you’ll get meaning out of it. Don’t roll around playing with the snooze button - get busy.
8. Stack incremental wins. You won’t win the super bowl in week three, but you can learn a play that’ll help you get that w later. Build your foundation brick by brick and a house is coming soon. Even the minute lessons hold weight.
9. Clarify the mission. Have a general idea of what it is you want and the path will become clearer the further you go. It’s easier to hit a target you’ve identified. Micro and macro; short-term and long-term.
10. Surround yourself with inspiration. Never leech, but gravitate towards a crowd that’ll inspire motivation. It’s easy to settle for less when your peers are doing the same.
11. Create a routine. Put together a few daily habits that’ll establish a sense of normalcy and give you a foundation to build on. I.e. read, exercise, walk your kid to school, meditate, (insert something that’ll add to your knowledge library pertaining to your vocation), etc..
12. Exercise. Whether you make it routine or not, do it at least twice weekly. Stress relief, better mental capacity, health, on and on - put those muscles to use and you’ll be better at whatever you do.
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13. Set aside time to reflect. Take a bird’s eye view of your process daily, weekly, monthly; just do it. Ruminate on what went right or wrong. What should be duplicated? What should be tweaked? What should be abandoned altogether? Also safe to take this as a moment to smell the roses. Sometimes enjoyment will pass by if you never open your eyes to what you’ve managed to accomplish.
14. Get sleep. Log 7-9 hours of sleep nightly and when you fall short squeeze in a quick pick-me-up power nap. You won’t be at your best without enough rest; physically and mentally. Don’t fall for the hype, the grind does require you to snooze.
15. Set tangible goals. Aka smart goals: specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-based.
16. Hold yourself accountable. Produce a standard for yourself and hold your own feet to the fire when you break tradition. Show yourself tough love and you’ll grow.
17. Have integrity. Integrity should be your way of life whether you’re bagging groceries, playing a hand of spades, or cutting deals with a board of directors. Don’t do bad business, don’t miss-sell, don’t mislead, don’t do anything you wouldn’t want done to you. You hurt yourself anyway, for the word eventually gets out. Then the profession takes a dip all because a less than ethical person wants to cut corners.
18. Take calculated risks. You can’t be completely risk averse and successful. There are no guarantees and if there were you probably wouldn’t be successful, since it wouldn’t qualify as your definition of success. Calculate pros and cons then take appropriate action.
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19. Sweat the details. Everything matters from branding, to how often you present yourself, to when you reach out to a potential partner. Whatever your field is, you basically do the same thing as another, so minor details is what’ll separate you from the competition.
20. Be able to articulate a point. Effective communication is a skill of the greats. Getting others to understand precisely what you want or mean will boost productivity and lower the amount of errors. This helps in your love life too, by the way.
21. Actively listen. Another one that’ll improve your relationships too, but listen with the intent to understand. This helps identify the wants/needs of the communicating party, which allows you to gather ways to provide value. Also allows you to pick up cues that may assist you in bettering how you go about tailoring a service. When you actively listen the benefits can go in many positive directions - you simply learn more. Body language, tonality, sentence structure, word emphasis, what isn’t said.. Gather it all.
22. Don’t waste time on unproductive activities. Don’t kid yourself either.. You know what qualifies as productive and unproductive. You know when you’re distracted and when you’re locked-in. The area is more gray than ever with many of us using social media as a tool of production, yet there’s a task - stay on it when you’re supposed to be on it.
23. Go above and beyond. What is your dream job description? Do that plus more. Made a deal with a customer? Promised a service or goods? Provide an experience they’ll remember and you’ll get referrals along with them sticking around. A surplus of deliverance will lead to a surplus return on time invested.
24. Plan. The day before or each morning prepare a to-do list. This’ll guide your day and raise productivity. On the macro level outline how you want things to pan out over the next few months and years. When reflecting you can adjust accordingly.
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25. Network. Networking can build relationships and bring you into situations you may not have been privy to without that dot connection. Sometimes who you know puts you ahead of the competition, still provide value.. No leaching.
26. Master the rulebook, then break the rules. Foundation is the word of the day, once you build that and have a sense of expertise you begin to see things outside of the “rules” that can produce even better results. This is when you can begin changing the rules.
27. Provide value. At all times. To yourself, family, clients, potential clients, mentees, and the rest of the living breathing world. Be of value and you’ll always be needed. You’ll be irreplaceable, but in particular provide value before asking for favors. No handouts.
28. Adapt. What works today may not work tomorrow, yet if you know how to do what you do with a little authority you can tweak it to tomorrow’s needs.
29. Stay ahead of the curve. Part of this is identifying trends. History repeats itself and change is inevitable. If you’re able to stay slightly ahead of the pack you’ll be early to all new benefits.
30. Differentiate yourself. What makes you better than the cheaper person providing the same service? Why you instead of them? What unique proposition do you offer? Differentiation.
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31. Perfection is a goal, not a precursor. ‘Tis the case you must plan before executing, yet if all you do is plan and wait for the “perfect'' moment you’ll forever live in limbo. Eventually you have to put yourself out there. Let the chips fall where they may and adjust accordingly.
32. Avoid procrastination. Don’t put “it” off do “it” and you’ll free yourself to do other things, whether goal-related or recreational. When you procrastinate a dark cloud hangs over you. When you limit procrastination you get more out of a day and free mental space for additional thoughts that could be the game changer you need. The ability to freely think is underrated.
33. Do the little things every day. Whether it’s looking over notes before consulting your team, warming up before exercise, or planning tomorrow today. The little things become big.
34. Find motivation when needed. When you need a spark, keep handy maneuvers to give you the spark. You can’t afford to go without action because you don’t feel like it. Use quotes, external motivators, internal, short term, long term, and whatever else works.
35. Innovate or invent. That’s straightforward. Make something better or create a new way of doing it.
36. Evade distraction. It may require drastic measures, but remove what’ll shift you out of gear. If this means turning off the music, tv, closing the door, muting the group chat, etc.. You have work to do.
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37. Take care of the family. If you don’t do that what’s the point? All of the success in the world will leave a feeling of emptiness if you aren’t involved with your loved ones.
38. Sacrifice. And still you’ll have to sacrifice somewhere. Undoubtedly socially.. You won’t be at all of the parties. You’ll miss some nights at the bowling alley. You won’t have a ticket stub to every movie premier, but this is the choice you made for greatness and that’s okay.
39. Mentor. To teach is to learn, so there’s a self-propelling aspect to being a mentor, but lending your ear and know-how to others will create kinship and improve the field as a whole.
40. Be willing to take the l. Some battles you’ll need to lose now to win others later. Giving up on a deal, cutting a long running advertisement before breaking even, or whatever applies. There will come not only a, but many a points in which you’ll have to cut your losses or walk away from something you saw potential in because it requires more than you should objectively give.
41. Think before acting. I think intuition is a myth.. All it is referring to is an enhanced ability to subconsciously analyze situations. So analyze, then act, however you may have to act in a faster manner than usual at times.
42. Connect with people. Leave lasting impressions, make people feel commonality.. Share some of yourself. This builds trust and trust leads to better dealings as long as you sustain integrity.
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43. Maintain enthusiasm. Energy. Express energy, express excitement. If you’re into what you do make others feel it and they’ll catch the happy bug along with you; it’s contagious.
44. Consider advice, but make the ultimate decision. There are two fools: the fool that thinks he knows it all and the fool who believes their knowledge means nothing. Be somewhere in the middle. Listen to credible advice, but the ultimate decision is on you.
45. Learn from others, including competition. You don’t have to reinvent the wheel if someone else brought it to life. Watching other’s tribulations can grant you knowledge without having to go through said situation in real-time. ‘Tis particularly wise to learn from another’s experience.
46. Be healthily competitive. Competition brings the best out of you so use it to your advantage, yet don’t lose focus. Don’t veer out of your lane for the sake of keeping up with the joneses.
47. Manage time. Don’t waste any time and an effective way to get the most out of your minutes is to create segments. 6-8 am is for a, 8-10 is for b, 10-12 is for c, and so on.
48. Execute. Create the plan and put the plan in action. Over and over again.
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Three: Have An Intentional Mentality
Things are getting interesting. I started with no particular order, they all matter, still consistency is focus one. Then I was willing to listen about the process, but mentality?
I’m a little partial when it comes to your mindset. Number three might actually be number one because I’ve seen it stop so many from even starting.
I’ve seen it take so many out midrace.
I’ve seen it crush so many with so much potential - it’s sad, but not beyond repair.. So we launch.
You guessed it! Dictionary.com is schooling us one more time today:
Intentional - “Done with intention or on purpose; intended: IE an intentional insult.” [1]
Mentality - “The set of one’s mind; view; outlook: IE a liberal mentality.” [1]
Altogether now: you need a steadfast adherence to the purposely crafted set of your mind and generated systematic series of actions to create a desired end. Greatness. Is. Repeated.
Make this or some version of this your ethos. Whether you want to drop 7 pounds or create a new form of usable energy; this is how.
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32 Habits To Fill Your Mindset With:
1. Be confident. You should expect to win and even in a losing effort your confidence shan’t waiver, for you know you’ll regroup better than before. No one can give you confidence though it’s on you; self-esteem.
2. Find comfort with yourself. You are who you are and what you are at the moment. Why not be comfortable in that skin? You don’t need to be a finished product to be okay with yourself. Big, small, short, tall, ugly, or attractive it’s you. What benefit do you gain from being coy about it? There are no rules on who can or can not be comfortable in their own skin.
3. See joy in the process. When you love what you do you love all that comes with it. The end result is usually only brief, what lasts is the process; enjoy.
4. Exercise objectivity. Seeing things from a biased perspective won’t assist you or anyone else impacted by your decisions. Stand back and view the cold-blooded facts, absent attached emotions.
5. Passion. Your field of choice should ignite a fire in your soul. It should plague your mind with urgency. Passion is what gets you through the dark days.
6. A genuine desire to contribute. Naturally you crave payment for what you partake in, the bills have a due date, but you should truly want to add to society with your work.
7. Aggressive patience. Patience is a must, yet don’t confuse patience with idling. Your mindset should have understanding that things take time, while simultaneously understanding work is to continue in the meantime without restraint.
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8. March to the beat of your own drum. Don’t flounder at the sign of disapproval, ridicule, or lack of synergy from others. Stay the course, if you have to trot along alone for a period of time, it is what it is. You have an aim and you are to remain on target. Be immune to peer pressure.
9. No hate. Never hate. Never let jealousy linger. Never fret over what the next man has that you don’t. Learn from it, in fact use it as fuel. Be happy for others, authentically. It doesn’t take away from you, but if you feel like you deserve similar outcomes - make it happen ‘shawty’.
10. Exude positivity. Always know better days are coming. When things go wrong? See it as a real life lesson in what not to do next time. The glass is half-full and when it’s empty you clean it and start pouring again.
11. Control your pride. Have enough pride where you expect certain realities of yourself, but don’t take yourself so seriously that you can’t handle a joke. That’s the happy medium of an ego.
12. Be action-oriented. Talk is cool, but action is cooler. Show more than you tell.
13. See problems as unsolved equations. That’s all they are. Hold off on being flustered and going on about the lack of fairness or how things never go right. Save your time. See a problem, evaluate a problem, consider solutions for a problem, solve a problem. When a problem is unable to be solved salvage any information you can for future reference and move forward.
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14. Remain undeterred and un-encouraged by outside opinions. If you allow praise to build you up you are open to criticism bringing you down. Be unaffected by what those uninvolved have to say - they like to hate anyway. I can’t tell you how many steroid comments I get per week, I find it comical.
15. Live by your word. All about integrity. Stuff happens, but when you say you’ll do something every intention in your being should be to do that something.
16. Be realistic. You won’t lose 76 pounds or go from $10 to $10 million overnight. Taper your expectations appropriately.
17. Accept blame. Sink or swim it’s on you, no one else to blame. You’re the captain of the ship jack. In all situations in life look at what you could have done better before you start correcting others.
18. No such thing as bad days. Every day is a good day, for every day is a learning day. Every day is a step in the right direction even when things go “wrong” - no such thing as a bad day on this path.
19. Don’t take much personally. Take almost nothing personally. Humans are selfish by nature.. People generally don’t go around like “how can I f up your day?” They’re focused on themselves. This may result in them treading on your yard, but don’t take it personally; that’s their internal issue being projected.
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20. Relentlessness. Can’t emphasize this enough.. Unwavering determination. That passion burns so fiercely that one way or another you know it’ll be.
21. Do it for you. Your family and friends could benefit from your actions, but for success to be had you have to do it for you, because it has to bring you satisfaction to qualify.
22. Be mentally tough. Cultivate an impenetrable wall of confidence. This doesn’t mean arrogance or to ignore all input from credible sources - it means to be so locked-in no set of words can rattle your cage.
23. Keep composure. Never panic, always be in control. When fight or flight kicks in and that flutter of panic courses through your veins, snap out of it and reclaim composure. Nothing positive comes from a fear-based reaction.
24. Prepare to perform in spite of fear. Fearless might not be a thing, but what is a thing is doing what you have to do whether fear is present or not. You may reach a point where feeling fear is like a challenge you’re now forced to accept, since you have something to prove.. To yourself. Regardless, to succeed you’ll be facing fears.
25. Unphased by rejection. You will be rejected in life umpteen times. The earlier you grasp that the more successful you open yourself up to being.
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26. Adopt a business-like outlook on the process. No matter how dire the picture may seem. It always has been and always will be an equation waiting to be solved; approach it as such.
27. Self-discipline. Another way to say hold yourself accountable and to a standard. Accept nothing less from yourself and when you find yourself beneath the standard take appropriate action for future compliance. Resist temptation.
28. Control reactions. When you’re fighting for something you have to keep it in the forefront of your mind.. Whether being provoked into a physical altercation or tempted to resort to an unrelated get rich quick scheme you have to think - how does this fit with my bigger picture?
29. Don’t make it easy, make yourself better. The game is mental gymnastics and you have to frame situations properly. Fight against the thought of “this is hard” and fight for the thought of: “alright how do i improve to accomplish this mission?”
30. Self-belief. Believe in yourself. If you don’t believe in yourself it signifies you have a malfunction you feel you need to work on. Work on the malfunction and while under construction you can start immediately believing in yourself, for the corrective process is underway.
31. Not afraid to lose. The reward is worth the risk. Win, lose, or draw you live with the result when you are consistent, follow the process, and craft the right mentality.
32. Hold the excuses. A strong habit of greatness is owning your destiny. You might not have the advantage of the next person or access to the same information, but if you want it bad enough you’ll find a way. Either you get results or you don’t. You won’t achieve success by giving yourself an asterisk.
Note: don’t let the bullets fool you. This post could be hundreds of pages long and some of the points could standalone as a detailed column. Take each bullet with serious consideration.
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My Thoughts
Whether you do fitness, DJ the best music, competitive sports, entrepreneurship, sales, work in a factory, build spaceships, or play professional dominoes these habits will boost your results.
Another aspect of this whole shindig is work-life balance. You have to find that line and go right to the edge to prevent insanity and total isolation. You have to go hard enough for success without crashing mentally, physically, and emotionally (how to prevent overtraining).
Do quality work and you get quality results. It’s nothing to do with luck, it’s about putting yourself in position so often that good things have no choice, but to happen.
Don’t underrate knowing or finding your passion. Mine was in my face all along without me ever connecting the dots. I was always into sports, always into writing, always into learning, always into teaching, mentoring, or helping others, and always into making my own rules.. This combo platter created what I do and because it’s exactly what I want I never feel like I’m working; find that for you.
I joked throughout on what pillar is more important than another, but the truth is it doesn’t matter. If you miss one eventually you lose or never get a win in the first place.
I won’t mar you with details, but here’s an example for more clarity. To achieve greatness through my three pillars I have to be:
Consistent with: exercise, diet, rest, learning, creating content, being a present father, and husband.
Process includes: improving techniques, adopting new techniques, understanding the science, dispelling some of the science, putting the science to use in the real world, daily writing, photos, videos, editing, communication, and quality time.
Mentality is: stopped, I will not be.
Still I’m leaving a lot out, but you catch the drift.. The reward is so grand.
So, It’s About That Time
We all have goals. We all have questions like: is it working? What path am I to take? How do I know if I’m right? What do I do when I’m wrong? We all have mental roadblocks. We all wonder if it’s even worth it in the darkest moments. But with consistency, a solid process, and the right mindset you’ll be in there like swimwear. So how bad do you want it? Put those muscles to use and Be Great.
Source:
[1] Dictionary.com