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You don’t reach the top of your profession or field of endeavor only to then start behaving like a champion.
You reach the pinnacle of excellence by living and breathing the actions and habits of a champion.
Shifting your mindset and behavior comes first.
Once you flip that switch and commit all you have to it, everything else tends to fall into place.
It won’t be immediate, but if you pursue it all day every day you’ll catch excellence in the end.
Reaching the top and achieving your wildest dreams is simple.
Figure out where you want to go, what it’ll take to get there and chart a plan to make it happen.
That’s a simple formula, but it’s not an easy one.
It requires lots and lots of hard work.
Most of all it requires discipline.
The discipline to:
It takes doing your best at everything you do; reading, working out, laundry, loading the dishwasher, making good food choices, and listening to your spouse.
It’s a simple road, but the hardest one you’ll ever walk.
That’s why most people avoid it.
Hard work and discipline aren’t what they’re looking for. Most people want a quick fix and an easy win.
But your not most people. You have a drive and commitment to excellence that bewilders the common man.
You get up and get after it all day because you’re chasing down excellence like a lion on the Serengeti.
Every decision and every moment bring you closer and closer to victory.
A victory that isn't bought, or negotiated for. But one requiring character, strength, and patience.
A victory paid for in the small daily habits of a disciplined life.
A thousand different things determine the outcome of your life.
Of those thousands of things, you have control over only a handful.
The temptation is to waste energy and effort focusing on things outside your control.
Resisting it takes discipline.
The discipline to identify the handful of things within your control and own them like crazy. To forget about the rest and banish them from your mind. The discipline to live in the present moment undistracted by what’s going on around you.
Discipline keeps you on the path when those thousand different things come calling.
How you define success is critically important.
Focus on things within your control, not circumstances over which you have none.
Winning, for example, is something you have little control over. Other competitors and external factors could derail your chances.
You’ll be crushed if things don’t pan out. Worse still, you won’t reach your full potential. You’ll be focused on beating the next guy’s potential instead of your own.
Doing your absolute best, however, is fully within your control. You can do something about it.
Define success in these terms. Define it by your level of effort instead of a scoreboard.
Of course, effort means nothing if you haven’t prepared.
Make giving full effort to preparation part of your definition of success.
Redefine success to mean giving maximum effort every day to everything in your life—family, friends, work, training, helping others, etc.
Do this and you’ll walk away a winner no matter what the scoreboard says.
There is a principle in physical training called the Overload Principle.
It’s used to force your body and mind to grow by consistently pushing past your limits.
It’s why you can and should put more weight on the bar every training session until you’ve acquired significant strength.
The military uses the Overload Principle to forge warriors of steal. The most visible example is what the Navy Seals call Hell Week.
Things like Hell Week have a remarkable impact on those who make it through. They inoculate them to stress by overloading their minds and bodies. They push them to their limits and develop within them the ability to endure almost anything. Navy Seals can move forward and win when things go bad on the battlefield because training prepared them.
The same principle applies not only in the gym or ranks of the military elite but in your life as well.
You are going to live through some pretty awful days. Bad things are going to happen and the plan you have for your day, your year, your life is going to get off track.
This will ruin you and your chances of reaching your goals if you fail to prepare for adversity.
Preparing for adversity is simple. Overload and stress your mind, your body, your everything to the max.
Put yourself in uncomfortable and scary positions.
Think about the worst possible scenarios and plan for how you’ll respond.
If you want to get stronger physically, put more weight on the bar, train when it’s extremely hot/cold, do things that fill you with fear.
If you want to give a remarkable presentation, practice every possible disaster scenario. Practice without slides, without handouts, without power to the building. Practice overcoming brutal objections and rudeness. Think through how you’ll respond under the worst of circumstances.
You get the picture.
They say circumstances don’t make character but reveal it. That’s hog wash in this case. Harsh, trying and nearly impossible circumstances can help you grow like nothing else can. They will stretch you and force you to grow in ways comfort never can.
Step out of your comfort zone and embrace adversity.