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July 25 - August 15, 2023
He flew two thousand miles to hear these two words: Don’t think.
That’s how you become unstoppable—by placing no limits on yourself. Not just in sports, but in everything you do. I want you to want more and get everything you crave.
Being relentless means demanding more of yourself than anyone else could ever demand of you, knowing that every time you stop, you can still do more. You must do more.
The minute your mind thinks, “Done,” your instincts say, “Next.”
I’m not going to tell you how to change. People don’t change. I want you to trust who you already are, and get to that Zone where you can shut out all the noise, all the negativity and fear and distractions and lies, and achieve whatever you want, in whatever you do.
From this point, your strategy is to make everyone else get on your level; you’re not going down to theirs. You’re not competing with anyone else, ever again. They’re going to have to compete with you. From now on, the end result is all that matters.
the Zone, that deeply personal space where you can quiet your mind until you have no thoughts, it’s just you and your instincts, focused and unemotional.
We never saw obstacles or problems, we only saw situations in need of solutions.
relentless in his belief that there’s no such thing as “good enough.”
Relentless is about never being satisfied, always driving to be the best, and then getting even better. It’s about finding the gear that gets you to the next level . . . even when the next level doesn’t yet exist. It’s about facing your fears, getting rid of the poisons that guarantee you will fail. Being feared and respected for your mental strength and toughness, not just your physical abilities.
“In order to have what you really want, you must first be who you really are.”
relentless means never being satisfied. It means creating new goals every time you reach your personal best. If you’re good, it means you don’t stop until you’re great. If you’re great, it means you fight until you’re unstoppable. It means becoming a Cleaner.
There’s nothing wrong with being great. It’s better than being good. Being great means you excel, which is hard to accomplish and something to be proud of. But it doesn’t make you the best.
Each time his Chicago Bulls sealed another championship—there were six—he wouldn’t just hold up the number of fingers for the rings he had already won; he’d hold up an extra finger for the next championship.
Remember, it’s not about talent or brains or wealth. It’s about the relentless instinctive drive to do whatever it takes—anything—to get to the top of where you want to be, and to stay there.
A Cleaner’s attitude can be summed up in three words: I own this. He walks in with confidence and leaves with results.
one thing that defines and separates him from any other competitor: He’s addicted to the exquisite rush of success.
Coolers, Closers, and Cleaners. Good, Great, and Unstoppable.
THE RELENTLESS 13 When You’re a Cleaner . . . #1. You keep pushing yourself harder when everyone else has had enough. #1. You get into the Zone, you shut out everything else, and control the uncontrollable. #1. You know exactly who you are. #1. You have a dark side that refuses to be taught to be good. #1. You’re not intimidated by pressure, you thrive on it. #1. When everyone is hitting the “In Case of Emergency” button, they’re all looking for you. #1. You don’t compete with anyone, you find your opponent’s weakness and you attack. #1. You make decisions, not suggestions; you know the answer
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If you’re serious about going where you’ve never been, pushing higher and further than you or anyone else thought you could, it’s time to trust the voice inside telling you to do what you know you can do and become truly relentless.
you train like a pro by committing to work at the highest level of intensity, every moment, in everything you do, constantly working on your body, your skills, your preparation, leaving no detail to chance.
Physical dominance can make you great. Mental dominance is what ultimately makes you unstoppable.
Do. The. Work. Every day, you have to do something you don’t want to do. Every day. Challenge yourself to be uncomfortable, push past the apathy and laziness and fear.
crave the result so intensely that the work is irrelevant.
If you do what you always do, over and over, you’re always going to get the same result.
Am I willing to push this a little bit further? Because if I do, his progress is going to double in half the time. But he has to be willing to deal with what I’m asking of him.
But I’m not going to make it comfortable. Why should I? Comfortable makes you good. We’re going for unstoppable, and there’s a price to pay for that.
Ask yourself where you are now, and where you want to be instead. Ask yourself what you’re willing to do to get there. Then make a plan to get there. Act on it.
And once you’re there, you have no fear, no worry, no emotion. You do what you came to do, and nothing can touch you.
But once a Cleaner steps into the Zone, he’s detached from everything on the outside. Whatever else is going on—personal, business, anything—it can’t affect him until he’s ready to return. That, by definition, is the Zone.
When you feel jealousy, you shift all your attention and energy to whoever is making you jealous. Doesn’t matter if it’s a colleague’s success or your girlfriend’s new man; either way, you’re thinking about something other than what you’re supposed to be doing. And you fail.
right now, right this minute, you know they’re still there, in the part of you that you don’t show anyone else, the part that refuses to be taught, refuses to conform and behave. That’s the dark side of your instinct. You cannot be great without it.
Stay in the cage long enough, you forget those basic instincts.
“In order to have what you really want, you must first be who you really are.”
The ability to show up at the gym every day and do what no one else is willing to do, that comes from the dark side. The drive to get to the top and stay up there, year after year? Dark side. A
they do what they have to, so they can ultimately do what they want to.
I tell my guys, “Pressure, pressure, pressure.” Most people run from stress. I run to it. Stress keeps you sharp, it challenges you in ways you never imagined and forces you to solve issues and manage situations that send weaker people running for cover. You can’t succeed without it. Your level of success is defined by how well you embrace it and manage it.
Cleaners never feel external pressure; they only believe what’s inside them. You can criticize, analyze, demonize a Cleaner, but he’s still only going to feel pressure from within. He knows what he’s doing right, and what he’s doing wrong. He does not care what you think. He steps out of his comfort zone and challenges himself to get to the next level.
I am 100 percent certain that if you bring me into any situation, I’m going to have a positive impact on you. There’s no way I’m going to show up and not be prepared, and not have something to offer you. If you’re willing to listen to what I’m asking you, tell me what I need to know, and follow what I say, you’re going to have some improvement.
If you want your opinions to have value, you have to be willing to put them out there and mean what you say.
Prepare yourself with everything you’ll need to succeed, then act. You don’t need a hundred people to back you up and be your safety net. Your preparation and your instincts are your safety net.
No matter what had happened the night before—good game, bad game, soreness, fatigue—he was up working out every morning while most of the other guys slept. Interesting how the guy with the most talent and success spent more time working out than anyone else.
It all comes back to this, no matter what you do in life: Are you willing to make the decision to succeed? Are you going to stand by that decision or quit when it gets hard? Will you choose to keep working when everyone else tells you to quit? Pain comes in all sorts of disguises—physical, mental, emotional. Do you need to be pain-free? Or can you push past it and stand by your commitment and decision to go further? It’s your choice. The outcome is on you.
At some point, you got a gift: maybe you were blessed with talent, or you inherited the family business, or someone took a chance on you and let you in the door. Then what? Doors swing two ways. Did you shut it on the competition or on yourself?
If you want to be elite, you have to earn it. Every day, everything you do. Earn it. Prove it. Sacrifice. No shortcuts. You can’t fight the elephants until you’ve wrestled the pigs, messed around in the mud, handled the scrappy, dirty issues that clutter everyday life, so you can be ready for the heavy stuff later. There’s no way you can be prepared to compete and survive at anything if you start with the elephants; no matter how good your instincts are, you’ll always lack the basic knowledge needed to build your arsenal of attack weapons. And when you’re surrounded by those elephants, they’ll
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Most people are looking for an elevator instead of taking the stairs—they want the easy route. People quit their workouts and diets because they’re too hard. They stop advancing in their careers and lives because it’s too much work. Guys make it to the pros and then don’t want to play for coaches who are too tough. They can’t deal with being uncomfortable so they seek the shortcut, and when they can’t find it, they quit.
Cleaners don’t care about instant gratification; they invest in the long-term payoff. Ask yourself honestly, what would you have to sacrifice to have what you really want? Your social life? Relationships? Credit cards? Free time? Sleep? Now answer this question: What are you willing to sacrifice? If those two lists don’t match up, you don’t want it badly enough.
those are the same people who look around at others who have more success and say, “I can’t believe how lucky that guy is, I could do that if . . .” Stop. You could do that if . . . what? If you put in more time and effort? If you commit to whatever is making it work for him? If you’re willing to pay the price he’s paying? What’s he doing that you can’t do? That’s what I thought. You could do the same, and so much more. What’s stopping you? And even if you can’t do it his way—and why should you?—why aren’t you doing it your own way? Don’t be jealous of someone if you had the same opportunity
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In anything you do, it takes no talent to work hard. You just have to want to do it.
Anyone can start something. Few can finish. Priorities change if you don’t constantly protect and defend them.
