Dan Waldschmidt's Blog, page 10

Stop Looking For Balance. Find Purpose.

There isn’t a problem hard work can’t fix. It’s the great equalizer in life.

Regardless of your gender, race, wealth, status, or education, hard work accelerates you from where you are to where you want to be. It catapults you past your competitors. Past your peers. Around your problems.

Nothing is more effective than getting things done.

To create progress, you have to build momentum. To build momentum you must put in the work. There’s no avoiding hard work if you want to be successful.

Successful people put in the time.

Sure, they try to work smart. But that’s not their main focus. Their primary focus is putting in the time. Investing in the grind. Doing whatever it takes.

What’s interesting is that business studies show that the most fulfilled workers are the ones who put in the most time. Quite seriously, those who work more than 80 hours a week label themselves as the happiest. Coincidentally, it’s those who work slightly more than average, between 45 to 55 hours per week, that complain about work-life balance.

You don’t put in the effort to show off.

You don’t grind because it makes you look good. You put in the time because you’re driven by a mission.

You do the time because you believe you’re doing your life’s work.

You are convinced that you have a divine purpose for your life. You aren’t going through the motions.

You’re not showing up just to get that raise or to impress your boss. You’re filled with an insatiable appetite for achievement.

You can’t stop yourself from working. It’s all you want to do. You can’t stop yourself from getting things done.

All you think about is the magic of momentum.

So if you’re feeling stuck, if you’re not sure why you don’t ever seem to get to where you want to be. If your work leaves you unfulfilled. If you hate what you do and who you’ve become. If you complain about work-life balance. Maybe it’s time to revisit your preconceived notions about hard work.

Maybe, just maybe, you need to fill in the gaps of your unhappiness with unabashed activity.

By the way, the awesome dudes at HubSpot overheard me ranting about this idea of hard work and happiness and invited me to record a video series about work and life balance. In turn, I invited my friend Bill Cortright to join me.

In our four-part series, which is absolutely free for you to watch, we discuss what it is to embrace hard work and enjoy life to the fullest. Take a look. Might surprise you.

Creating Your Own Bags To Riches Story.

As Kurt stepped out of his truck, the icy wind ripped at his face, turning his cheeks a splotchy red. He shoved his hands in his pockets. Making sure his finger tips could feel the cold coins inside.

He had run out of gas on the way back home. Not his home, mind you. He was living in the basement of his girlfriend’s parent’s house — with her two kids.

He had a dream of playing in the NFL but found himself working third shift at the local grocer.

Stocking shelves instead of throwing passes.

Touching those coins again in his pocket, he put his head down and pushed back against the winter wind.

It was a new truck. New to him, at least. His one luxury in life.

He was so proud of the truck he had just bought. Kurt knew they shouldn’t have been out driving, not on an empty tank. Not in the snow and cold. Not without any real money.

Stuck on the side of the road, Kurt, Brenda, and the kids dug under the seats and opened all the compartments — looking for any change they could find. It was less than two dollars.

Those were the coins in his pocket.

His chance to get back home and keep fighting for his dream — playing in the NFL.

Despite his current problems, he had made it.

Even though he was working all night at the grocery store, he was the first player at football workouts in the morning. Putting all the energy he had into getting noticed. He showed up. He worked hard. He pushed. He prayed. He believed he could do it.

And he finally did. Kurt Warner got a contract with the Green Bay Packers.

He used his signing bonus to buy that GMC pickup.

Kurt knew he had been training for greatness his whole life. He wasn’t going to be just another football player. He wanted to be a football player to be remembered for ever.

To call Kurt obsessive would be an understatement. You could see it in him as a small boy.

When he was in elementary school, he wore the same pair of ugly green jeans every day for two years. It wasn’t because he didn’t have any clothes. He just liked them.

He applied that same focus to sports. And it paid off. He barely knew defeat on the field as a child. Even as a teenager, he chalked up win after win and championship after championship.

Although he loved baseball and basketball and played them well, Kurt’s love for football couldn’t be missed. He practiced day and night.

Sometimes even throwing passes from himself to himself in the front yard. Regardless of how ridiculous he looked.

He developed a kind of self-motivation that would stick with him even into his adult life. Kurt didn’t need other people patting him on the back and telling him he was doing a good job. He only believed in himself and God. And so he developed a habit of self-talk to and prayer when he needed encouragement to push forward.

Some days were easier than others to pat himself on the back. When his team was taking a championship. When he was a starting quarterback. When there were victories. Those times were easy.

Walking through a winter storm. That wasn’t easy. His upcoming struggle to “make it” — that wasn’t going to be easy.

Weeks later, he was cut by the Packers. Before his career ever started. Kurt ended up playing Arena Football with the Iowa Barnstormers for two years instead of Green Bay.

His team was victorious both years.

It started to work. It seemed.

The St. Louis Rams noticed Kurt and signed him to play for them. But not stateside. He was sent to play for the Amsterdam Admirals of NFL Europe. Away from Brenda and the kids. Away from NFL scouts. Away from new team workouts. Sent to the other side of the world to try to catch his break.

And it worked. Kind of.

After one season overseas, Kurt Warner was back in the states. He was back with his family. Playing third string quarterback. Keeping his section of the bench warm for the whole season while Tony Banks and Steve Bono stood on the field where he dreamed of being.

The Rams got rid of Bono and Banks and signed a super-star — Trent Green.

There was no way Kurt was going to get on the field. Until he did.

A few weeks into the 1999 NFL preseason Trent went down with a horrific ACL tear to his right knee — shredding the ligaments. The Ram’s coaching staff were in tears at the press conference as they announced the change. Their season was over.

Head coach, Dick Vermeil — who hadn’t given Kurt any practice with the first-string offense through all of training camp or pre-season — tried to rally the support of the team, “We will rally around Kurt Warner, and we’ll play good football.” Little did he know how good it would be.

Kurt threw three touchdowns in his first game. He did it again in his second game. And then in his third game — the only NFL quarterback in history to accomplish that feat. He was just turning up the heat.

He threw five touchdowns in game four. Fourteen total in four games. And a 4-0 record. The following week, Sports Illustrated featured him on their cover with the question “Who Is This Guy?”.

This was his chance. And he was determined to make the most of it.

He put together one of the best seasons by a quarterback in NFL history. He threw for 4,353 yards and 41 touchdown passes — beginning what fans would call “The Greatest Show on Turf” — leading the Rams to a Super Bowl XXXIV championship.

He would take home the MVP trophy. Throwing for over 414 yards of offense — 45 passing attempts without a single interception. That too was an NFL record.

Two years later, Kurt Warner would again take his team to the Super Bowl — claiming the NFL MVP title for the second time in three years.

The rest is history. Literally. He wanted to be remembered. And it happened.

Kurt Warner is considered the best undrafted NFL player of all time.

His career is regarded as one of the greatest stories in NFL history.

He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2017 and is the only person inducted into both the Pro Football Hall of Fame and the Arena Football Hall of Fame.

Success wasn’t easy or automatic. Despite his will to win and the effort, he was willing to invest in his success, he faced outrageous challenges.

The same is true for you.

It’s not good enough to want to win. It’s not good enough to work to win.

You have to be willing to go through hell and back in pursuit of getting to where you want to be.

The bigger your goal, the greater the opposition you’re going to face.

Just because you want something really bad, doesn’t mean that it’s going to happen.

You’re not owed a happy ending. You don’t deserve for things to go right just because you’re doing the right thing.

The hard truth about accomplishing your dreams is that you have to be “all in” on your own success. Willing to do whatever it takes for as long as it takes.

You might find yourself in the basement of your girlfriend’s parents house. Trying to make it by.

Don’t give up the fight because you’re not where you want to be yet. Don’t stop fighting for your dream because you don’t see the results you’re expecting yet.

Success is what you make it.

When You’re Willing To Die Working For It.

Activity isn’t the same as focused effort. Trying isn’t the same as obsessing about the details. Learning isn’t the same as practice and rehearsal.

The activity itself isn’t what makes the difference. It’s the intensity with which you do it determines your effectiveness.

Anything else is just going through the motions.

Good motions usually lead to good outcomes. Bad motions usually lead to bad outcomes.

But intense, focused motions lead to great outcomes. Eventually.

Intensity doesn’t have a guaranteed deadline or finish line.

Intensity is something that you have to maintain in order to reap the benefits. You can’t be intense one moment, give it up the next, and then expect to realize outrageous outcomes. 

Intensity is about extending and amplifying your momentum. Your ability for realizing results beyond the limits of your usual expectations. 

When you focus intensely you are single-minded. You’re not multitasking. You’re not zoning out. You’re not going with the flow. 

You know what you want and what you want to achieve.

There is no ambiguity. No mystery. No subterfuge. 

You’re all in. Completely consumed by what you want to see happen. 

When that happens—when you bring intensity to your work—you start to see the magic you’ve witnessed in the lives of other highly successful people. 

Intensity is a choice. It’s a skill. 

The amplifier you’ve been looking for to take your game to the next level.

Don’t ask what needs to be done. Ask yourself what you’re willing to die working for.

Let History Decide The Rest

There really isn’t much you can accomplish in life if you’re not willing to work hard.

Effort isn’t just the great equalizer, it’s the cornerstone on which all greatness is built.

Accomplishing goals takes time and energy. No one else is going to do your work for you.

Most people aren’t even going to do their own work. To do yours is absurd.

Which is why you need a mindset of activity.

You need to be constantly thinking about what needs to be done.

How can you be more efficient? What could you do to accomplish more by optimizing how you spend your day?

There are those who are always getting ready to get started. Those people are never successful. They have the same big plans that you do. They just don’t put in the effort to achieve progress and build momentum.

What makes hard work such a powerful weapon is that so few willingly engage in it.

Hard work is often viewed as what you do if you’re not smart.

It’s supposedly the result of not getting a college degree or what you do if you have an hourly job.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

The Spartans of old spent years developing skills for combat that many warriors would never actually use in real battle. They trained, prepared, ate right, and sacrificed entertainment in pursuit of their ideals. 

According to historians of the day, their focus and hard work seemed like overkill to the rest of the Grecian Empire who openly mocked them: “Why put in so much work when life is so good?”

Those questions were answered at the Battle of Thermopylae.

They held off the greatest army in the known world for 3 days, changing the course of the war and Western Civilization.=

The hard work of those 300 warriors was validated by their results and their place is forever in our history.

It might seem like what you are doing doesn’t matter. Put in the work. Let history decide the rest.

Hopers Quit. Winners Don’t.

Belief is a powerful drug. When you believe something is possible, your entire being springs into action to support that belief.

You see things differently. You feel things differently. You interpret what goes on around you differently.

You can’t help it. It’s automatic. Your belief is what inspires your perspective. It determines if you quit or not.

Which is why hoping isn’t good enough.

Losers hope. Winners believe.

The problem with hope is that it’s not a drug. It is just a feeling. Like fear or joy or sadness. It’s not all consuming. It won’t change your perspective in a way that makes you a winner.

It doesn’t drive you to do more work or help you find that extra bit of creativity.

Hope allows you to think that you can skip the training. You don’t need to do anything when you’re hopeful. You can just think about it — hope that it happens.

Belief drives you to action. Hope allows you to take the easy path.

No extra effort expended. No failure to have to endure. A set of goals that seem awesome and some memories. It’s not good enough to be hopeful. It’s not good enough just to want more for yourself.

You have to let yourself be consumed with belief. You have to pump yourself full of belief. Not what other people believe is possible. What you believe is possible.

Hope has you thinking about your destiny. Belief has you achieving it.

Don’t forget that. If you’re not getting closer to where you want to be, you need a different set of beliefs. 

You need to upgrade the thoughts you allow yourself to have.

The hoping business is a losing business. Full of people who quit on their dreams when things get tough or life treats them unfairly.

Believe you can and you will. That’s the stuff of winners.

11 Inspiring Movie Speeches To Motivate Your Greatness.

You’re not the first person attempting greatness. And you’re certainly not the first person to think about giving up along the way.

The truth about doing something amazing is that it requires massive amounts of focus, effort, and human resolve. Whether you call it inspiration, motivation, or the will to win, you’re going to need it along your journey.

If you don’t have a collection of things that inspire you, you’re going to find yourself struggling to stay productive. When things get bad, and you get scared, it only takes a little bit of inspiration to remind you of what really matters.

Here are few inspiring speeches from popular movies to help you find your greatness:

1. Your profession is warrior. Not winner.

You might think that you are in the business of making money, closing deals, drafting marketing that gets clicks and opens, or landing that new promotion. But really, you are in the business of being a warrior. Your mission is to train for battle. To be ready to go to war for your dream. Remember that it only takes a few strong warriors to change the course of history. Be one of those people.

2. The odds are meant to be broken.

Just because no one has ever done it before doesn’t mean that you won’t be the first. What matters is that you try. You’ve heard the expression that it’s the “size of the fight in the dog” that matters. History has proven this battle after battle. You deserve everything that you are able to earn for yourself. Sometimes that means you drive ahead even when the odds aren’t in your favor.

3. Getting back up is the most important skill to master

Being a tough guy isn’t about punching the enemy in the face. It’s about being punched in the face, knocked to the floor, and getting back up. Resilience is massively important. So is courage. You have to want success more than you want to not fail. You are going to get knocked down. It’s going to happen. What are you doing to cultivate your will to win?

4. Massive progress comes in inches.

Getting to where you want to be isn’t about massive lunges forward. It’s about clawing for the inches of progress all around you. If you want it bad enough, you’ll do whatever it takes. Success demands relentless improvement. And you don’t have to be special to improve. You just have to be willing to die to get from where you are right now to where you want to be. Go get some.

5. Miracles are for everybody. That means you.

Getting lucky isn’t just for the movies. It’s a possibility for you. You are the miracle maker of your own destiny.  When you train and train and train and learn from your mistakes, you put yourself in the position to achieve epic levels of greatness. Don’t expect it to be easy to automatic. But you should make it a habit of betting on yourself. Keep trying. Keep pushing. This is your moment.

6. Life doesn’t need to be fair for you to be awesome.

Even the best people get treated unfairly. It’s going to happen to you. You are going to push towards success and find people standing in your way unnecessarily. It is in these moments that you need to push harder. Drive longer. Obsess more. What you do has the chance to not only change your life but inspire all those who watch you achieve greatness in spite of the storm.

7. Just because you have a pulse doesn’t mean you are living.

Being alive isn’t the same as living. Going through the motions isn’t the same as making progress. The truth about life is that you can achieve anything if you put in the time and effort to see it through. No matter where you are in life right now — even in the worst of personal situations — you can have it all. But you have to start working towards it. Giving up won’t get you anywhere.

8. Heart beats talent most days.

Tragedy and failure happen to us all. Life hurts. There are times you don’t think you can make it — especially when the things you love the most get ripped away from you. Don’t give up. Don’t back down. Don’t walk away. Remember that heart wins a lot of battles. You might be beaten down, but you are not beaten. Reach down inside yourself and find the heart to continue. You got this.

9. If you want it, go take it.

Stop talking and start doing. Stop spending so much time getting ready to get ready, and just get out there and take it. You don’t need permission to do what needs to be down. You just need to get out there and do it. You only have so much energy and creativity in your life. Use it to conquer — not sitting around planning to conquer. It’s simple. If you want something, go get it.

10. What you do with your life can change the world

You are changing the world. What you do changes your future. Whether you like it or not, your actions have a direct impact on billions of people who come behind you into this universe. Isn’t that amazing? You aren’t a nobody. You are mighty. You are without limits. You are a noble warrior. So act like it. All the time you have spent improving and battling is going to pay off big time.

11. Don’t let anyone talk you out of being awesome.

Just because other people doubt you doesn’t mean that you should doubt yourself. Be the cheerleader of your destiny. Believe that you are destined to achieve greatness; even if it hasn’t happened yet. By the way, even good people can stop you with their criticism and skepticism. Ignore the haters. Ignore the un-believers. Just do whatever it takes to get to where you want to be.

Success demands inspiration.

You’re going to face failure and consider quitting. You’re going to be told that what you want to achieve isn’t possible, and you’re going to consider believing it. You’re going to wake up exhausted and in desperate need of a reason to keep fighting.

Save this post for when you need it most. Share it with your team. Send it to a friend who is feeling distraught.

After all, inspiration is what you lose just after you stop looking for it.

There Is No Triumph Without Struggle.

At 11 years old, Wilma’s mother caught her playing basketball outside–in her bare feet. No special shoe. No leg braces. Just bare feet and a grin that stretched ear to ear.

That was the end of the helpless little girl and the beginning of a legend. From that moment on, she was a “normal” kid.

None of it had been easy.

In 1940, Wilma Rudolph was born dangerously premature. At only 4.5 pounds, no one expected her to live. Not the doctors. Not even her parents. But they would soon learn that this precious child of theirs was a fighter.

As a toddler, she battled pneumonia and scarlet fever.

She never seemed to stay healthy for long. And just when her parents, Ed and Blanche, thought she was out of the woods, she was stricken with polio. A deadly and debilitating disease that was largely untreatable in the early 1940’s.

He family watched as their frail, sickly child deteriorated again. This time, worse than before. Ravaged by the punishing effects of the disease. She became emaciated. Her left leg atrophied. She lived through it, but doctors were clear–she would never walk again on her own.

The best she could hope for was to walk with assistance.

At age four, she was fitted for a heavy, metal leg brace and a special shoe to try to correct her twisted leg. The doctor ordered physical therapy and heat and water therapy. Wilma would have to go twice a week.

Getting treatment was an outsized fiasco.

Because of segregation laws in her home state of Tennessee, Wilma could not be treated in her rural town of Clarksville. Her mother had to take her on the bus to Nashville, fifty miles away.

They all fought together to help Wilma get a second chance on life.

But little Wilma hated the brace. She hated the shoe. She hated not being able to play like the other kids. She just wanted a normal life. She wanted a normal leg.

At five years old, she decided that she was going to play with the other kids. She was going to have a normal life. She was going to have a normal leg. Whenever Wilma was by herself she would take off her brace and try walking.

But all she did was fall down.

Every time. She fell. Then she got back up. Five years old.

Through the pain and agony of walking on a dead limb. She had never wanted anything so badly in her short life.

She tried for a year. Nothing. She turned six and was still trying. 300 days of falls. Then 500. 700. More than 1,000. Getting stronger — but in agony.

She turned seven and was still trying. Her eighth birthday came and went. Still trying. Alone in her room. Alone in her yard. Alone with her determination.

It took her five years of agonizing practice. Almost 2,000 days. But it was worth it to her.

She shocked the doctors and her family one day by removing her leg brace and taking a few steps — shooting them all a triumphant smile.

That was the last day she ever wore the leg brace.

But she still had to wear an awkward orthopedic shoe. It was there to “make her life easier,” the doctors told her. She disagreed.

She was only nine when she decided that she was all done with any life that included leg braces or ugly shoes or special therapies.

It was when her mom caught her playing outside a few years later that she had a license to be awesome. Her parents told her to “just do her thing.” Which is exactly what she did.

It seemed like she never stopped moving.

At 13, she was running track for school. Her first season, Wilma ran five different events and won them all. She averaged 32 points per game for her high school basketball team. They nicknamed her “Skeeter”.

She was little. And fast.

Wilma spent her summers training on the Tennessee State University campus with Ed Temple, the man who discovered Wilma. Pushing her. Grooming her for greatness. Long before she was ready to start college.

Day after day in the blistering Tennessee summer sun.

Wilma had never even heard of the Olympics until high school. But as soon as she knew the Olympics existed, she wanted in. It didn’t matter that to her that she was black. It didn’t matter to her that she was a woman. She had been defying the odds since birth, and Wilma wanted an Olympic medal.

At sixteen, the summer before Wilma was set to start college, she made it to the Olympic trials in Seattle and qualified for the 1956 Melbourne Olympics, but only in the 4x100m relay.

She lost her favorite race — the 200m.

Her relay team won a bronze medal, but she was strangely disappointed when she tried to polish it. Bronze doesn’t shine. Only gold does that. So gold she would have.

Wilma visualized herself standing on the podium. Not to the left. Not to the right. But in the middle. The high one. The one that came with the shiny gold medal.

She trained fiercely. Pushing herself to the limit. She pushed so hard that, two years before the 1960 Olympics, Wilma couldn’t run at all. She was sick. She was nauseous. She was weak.

She was pregnant.

Wilma gave birth to her daughter and had to fight to stay in college.

At the time, young mothers in college were unheard of and being a “young mother athlete” was something that never happened. But Wilma wanted what she wanted. And she wanted to run. She wanted an education. She wanted a gold medal.

After giving birth, she continued to train. She trained harder than she ever had. She had to get her strength back. She had to get her speed back. Nothing was going to slow her down.

After a year of relentless training, she was finally able to compete again, but Wilma pulled a muscle during a competition between the United States and the Soviet Union. Broken hearted, she did not win.

“Winning is great, sure, but if you are really going to do something in life, the secret is learning how to lose. Nobody goes undefeated all the time. If you can pick up after a crushing defeat, and go on to win again, you are going to be a champion some day.”

Wilma returned to college to train.

Day after day. Meter after meter. She trained ferociously. She made it to the Olympic finals. She qualified. Finally, the day came for her ferocity to pay off.

She stood in the stadium, in Rome, what seemed like a million miles from home. She walked the track, letting her feet get a feel for the turf. Taking in the smell of the Italian air. Making a plan of action for the win that she was sure she would take this time.

But disaster was about to strike.

She was in her own head, daydreaming, not paying attention to where her next step was going. And stepped right in a hole. Violently wrenching her ankle. Looking down, she could see the swelling begin.

The pain seared in her foot, but not nearly as much as in her heart. She just ruined her chance at greatness. She lost, in one step, everything she had worked so hard for. Could this be happening? She wondered.

The answer was No. Wilma was not going to let it happen.

She controlled her destiny. She always had. Wilma wrapped her ankle for support and headed to her running lane. She had not trained this hard to stop now.

She could feel her heartbeat in her foot as she placed her hands on the warm track. The pain would have to wait until she crossed the finish line.

Three times that day, and in the Olympic days that followed, Wilma broke world records. She ran 100 meters in 11 seconds, 200 meters in 24 seconds, and she ran the final leg of the 4×100 meter for a team record of 44.5 seconds. All with a badly sprained ankle.

And she didn’t just barely win either. Wilma finished more than three yards in front of her closest competitor. The French nicknamed her “la gazelle” for her speed and grace, even with a damaged ankle.

Wilma Rudolph finally got to stand on the middle podium just like she dreamed — three times in seven days.

A record that had never been done before in the history of the Olympics.

She was invited to represent the USA in the 1964 Olympics but she declined. “I couldn’t top what I did, and I want to be remembered for when I was at my best.”

Wilma’s life continued on at a runner’s pace. She got her degree, married, became a teacher, had three more children, became a divorcee and a single mother of four. She opened and helped run numerous inner city sports clinics. She served as a consultant to university track teams. She founded her own organization, The Wilma Rudolph Foundation, to promote and fund amateur athletes. And she continued to fight for Civil Rights.

In 1994, the same year she was inducted into the US Olympic Hall of Fame, she lost her life to brain cancer.

Through it all, from leg braces to Olympic champion, single mom to Civil Rights advocate, college degree to cancer  — she never stopped fighting life on her own terms.

She didn’t buy into other people’s beliefs about what was possible for her.

She lived her life enduring the pain in the moment so that she could experience the wonders and glory of achieving greatness.

She defied the odds. She was persistent. While others gave up after listening to the advice of respected doctors and accepted their fate — she was absolute in her determination.

Her life is an inspiration for how you can achieve everything you’ve ever wanted. The truth is that it’s going to cost you pain. Success is going to demand more from you than you think possible. People are going to tell you that what you want to do isn’t possible. That it can’t be done. That you are just wasting your time.

You have to fight for yourself. You have to fight for your dream.

You have to fight for your chance at achieving greatness.

No one owes you anything. You aren’t promised fairness. You aren’t even promised another day. All you have is what you make of yourself and the opportunities around you. That’s what Wilma did. That’s what we should all do.

Tennessee lowered their flags to half mast to honor the passing of Wilma Rudolph and her legend.

Three years later, on June 23rd, the state declared that day Wilma Rudolph Day and in 2004, the US post office created a stamp in her honor reminding us all that “triumph can’t be had without the struggle.”

Use Your Superpower.

Do you know what makes you special? What’s your superpower?

Maybe it’s your ability to be blunt. Your ability to see the big picture when one of the people get bogged down in the details. Your knack for befriending almost anyone.

Creating wealth is a skill. Strategic insight is a skill. So is bringing smart people together, convincing other people to give you their money, being a source of inspiration, and fierce focus.

It’s important that you know what makes you special.

If you don’t know, you can’t use it.

You can’t be special. You can’t do special things.

Your life will be a series of mediocre undertakings. Always limping along. Never at the bottom of the class, but never rising to soar where you belong.

You’re different than the people around you. You’re different than the rest of your family. You’re different from the people you go to church and work with and the people in your association.

How you achieve success will be different from how others achieve their success.

Copying someone else won’t get you there any faster.

In fact, it might just create a lot more confusion for you.

A lot more frustration. The reality of life is that each of us brings something new and fresh and different to the game of life.

No one talent is better than the other. They all have their place. Which is why it matters that you know what makes you special.

If you’re not sure, start with your hobbies.

What is it that you’re drawn to automatically?

That’s a hint. Think about your last few success stories. Big or small. What happened? How did you achieve that success?

Once you figure that out, think about how you can use your special power in everyday life. Do the super part and outsource everything else to the people around you who are super at those things.

You’re Not Looking For Results.

Can you feel it? Can you feel it? 

Can you feel momentum pushing you from where you are to where you want to be? 

The single greatest power you have is to create and manage your own momentum. 

The first time you do anything is the hardest. You don’t exactly know what you’re doing and you’re not sure what results you should be expecting. 

The movement feels uncomfortable, and you haven’t practiced enough. 

Over time, if you keep working at it, you’ll be smooth and polished. Efficient and effective. 

That is the power of momentum. 

There is tremendous danger in not maintaining momentum. It sucks the energy out of you to stutter step. To stop and start and stop and start again. 

Usually, you stop because you don’t see results quick enough.

Or what you’re going through is uncomfortable and you don’t feel like continuing. 

No matter your reason for losing momentum, know that it is costing you the success you want for yourself. Start slow. Continue slow. Improve. Get better at what you’re doing. 

Never let your foot off the gas pedal. 

Your effort fuels your dream — not just for today but for tomorrow as well. By continuing to work hard and move towards where you want to be, you don’t just make progress today, you build the energy, focus, and experience to slingshot yourself past the obstacles in your way. 

That’s the power of momentum. 

It may not seem like much at first, but your commitment to doing something that matters in tiny bits each day leads to progress long after you’ve put in that first try. 

The simplest way to maintain momentum is to challenge yourself to do one thing that matters each day. Not 5 or 15, 3 or 7. Just do one thing that matters. 

If you haven’t been doing that, start today. 

Then keep working at it until you get to where you want to be. Don’t quit when you don’t think you see results fast enough. 

Remember, you’re not looking for results. You want to feel momentum.

Why Success Demands Extreme Behavior.

If you can solve a complex problem with easy answers, then do that. If you can make a lifetime of bad choices disappear by pushing a button, that’s the wise choice.

The hard truth is that achieving turn-around in your life is a little more difficult than pushing a button, yanking a lever, or wishing it to be so.

You can’t just wish your way to better outcomes.

You can’t just execute a series of micro-tweaks and hope that your problem is solved.

Success demands extreme behavior.

There’s no way around that.

It doesn’t matter how you feel or what your personal opinion might be, you have to be extreme if you’re going to achieve success.

And not just a big success. Even small successes, the things that you would expect to be easy and simple and ordinary — they require a massive commitment as well.

That might seem absurd to you. Almost unbelievable.

But put it into context with what you want to achieve.

That’s pretty big, isn’t it? Your big goal isn’t easy or automatic or even something that other people think is likely.

That awesome goal you have requires an awesome amount of effort. It requires an awesome amount of focus.

That’s the essence of extreme behavior.

It’s not you being radical simply for the sake of being radical. It’s you believing in your soul that nothing is more important to you than achieving success. And then letting that feeling of obsession push you to do whatever it takes.

That attitude of desperation mixed with effort is exactly what extreme behavior is all about.

A powerful focus of your obsession. It’s an attitude. It’s a religion. It’s a belief.

It’s a reason to get up in the morning. And a reason to do the hard things — even after you’ve spent years already doing hard things.

Quit chasing easy ideas and quick fixes. You’re losing momentum.

You could already be a lot closer to your goal if you simply committed yourself to doing whatever it takes.