BreakingYour life will get busy.
If not this week, then next week, or the week after that, or sometime in the future.
It's inevitable that things will eventually unhinge, problems will occur, or something unexpected will happen: life is uncertain.
And at some point in the future, your focus will shift entirely to the few urgent things right in front of you, and the less urgent (but often more important) projects will fall by the wayside.
When things get busy, projects and plans start breaking.
There are lots of people starting things every day.
This can seem overwhelming to the person looking to enter the arena. After all, with all this competition, what are the chances that you can make it - that you will succeed where so many fail?
Simple: there are lots of people starting, but very few finish, and even fewer ship.
The reason? Most people don't commit.
When things start breaking, they quit.
And because most quit, there's a lot less competition than you might imagine.
The majority of men meet with failure because of their lack of persistence... [Think and Grow Rich]
To build your empire, you don't have to be the most talented, the smartest, or the most creative.
All it requires is that you take one small action every day, no matter what.
All you need is grit - the resolve to finish, even (especially) when things start breaking.
The weakest person with grit will always outlast the strongest person with zero resolve.
So don't focus on creating the perfect schedule or setting up the most efficient and productive routine - life will get in the way.
Instead, focus on the one thing that really matters - the one thing you have complete control over - your work.
Do it every day and see your project through to the end, regardless of what life throws at you.
When things start breaking, have the resolve to finish; have grit.
Your life's work depends on it.
Never give in, never, never, never, in nothing great or small, large or petty, never give in except to convictions of honor and good sense. Never yield to a force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy. [Winston Churchill]
Starting down the path to success is simple.
To be successful at anything, you must commit.
But committing to anything means you make a transition.
When you commit, you transition from someone who dabbles to someone who goes all in; from someone who quits when things break to someone who takes it all the way; from someone who lets the claustrophobia of determination keep them from pursuing something worthwhile, to someone willing to face the loneliness of creation without hesitation.
When you commit, you make the transition from Hobbyist to Professional.
This transition changes everything.
Transitioning from Hobbyist to Professional changes your priorities.
When you finally take yourself and your work seriously enough to sell your product, you will find that things in your life start to prioritize themselves organically.
The things you thought were important - like watching the news or knowing pop culture trivia - fade to the background and become superfluous.
The things you had initially avoided as unnecessary discomforts – waking up early, writing every day, or never ending the day without a sale – become your lifeblood.
Transitioning from Hobbyist to Professional not only alters your priorities, it forces you to identify your focus.
In order to instigate (start, finish, and ship) successfully, you will need to focus entirely on one end-state, and this end-state will require all your time, energy and creativity to bring to fruition; it requires everything you've got.
To feel ambition and to act upon it is to embrace the unique calling of our souls. Not to act upon that ambition is to turn our backs on ourselves and on the reason for our existence. [Turning Pro]
Becoming a Professional is no joke.
Nothing great is created by half-hearted commitment, lack of follow through, or someone unwilling to take it all the way.
The Professional understands this and acts accordingly.
Success requires commitment and only the Professional, not the Hobbyist, is ready to take on the pain, heartache and seriousness of commitment.
Committing itself is simple: all you have to do is choose one end-state and make sure you get there (no matter what).
The difficult part of commitment isn’t the focusing on one end-state, nor the grit it takes to bring that end-state into existence (although that requires something special too); the difficult part is what focusing on one end-state means for everything else in your life.
Commitment means purposefully ignoring other end-states, other projects, and other courses of action.
Commitment to anything (a healthier lifestyle, a new project, your life’s work) means you discriminate; that you choose one goal over another.
Commitment means you close doors; that the only door you leave open is the one that leads to your chosen goal.
Wishing never solved the problem. If you wanna get it big time, go ahead and get it, get it big time. [Yeasayer]
When we commit, we inevitably lose out on other paths, other ambitions, and other goals.
Sometimes it even means losing out on the people closest to us.
To do that willingly is tough. It’s scary. It's madness.
There’s nothing easy about commitment, which is exactly why most people don’t commit and instead “keep their options open” into eternity…
But here’s the catch: We think keeping our options open gives us safety, or power, or certainty.
That couldn’t be further from the truth.
The only way to guarantee failure is to never close any doors at all.
All you have to do to make sure you never build your empire, or develop that healthy lifestyle, or create your life’s work, is to keep all your options open, to never close yourself off to anything, and to stay available ad infinitum; to seek and scan for success, but never focus to bring it into existence.
Closing doors is scary; you might choose the wrong one, miss a great opportunity, or regret the choice you make.
Close a door and something bad might happen.
You might fail.
Keeping all your doors open is comforting; you never have to live with the pain of second-guessing your choice, the regret of choosing wrong, or the responsibility of creating your life's work.
Keep all your doors open and nothing will happen.
You're guaranteed to fail.
There is no scarcity of opportunity…only scarcity of resolve to make it happen. [Wayne W. Dyer]
The choice is yours.
This is a word not used often enough to describe the type of product we SHOULD be trying to produce.
When we create a remarkable product, it means we’ve built something that not only impacts the person receiving the product (consumer, purchaser, reader, etc.), but we’ve impacted them in such a way that they tell others about the product.
This is the quintessential element to virality.
Viral content becomes viral because it’s something worth sharing, spreading, and talking about with others.
If the product or project isn’t remarkable, it can’t become viral (the product can be remarkable and not viral, but a viral product cannot be unremarkable).
Remarkable does not mean good; it doesn’t mean perfect; it doesn’t mean cheapest, fastest or strongest; it doesn’t even mean best.
Remarkable means, for whatever reason, the person receiving the product wants (is compelled) to share and spread the word.
That’s exactly how I felt with Seth Godin’s Kickstarter project for The Icarus Deception. And I’m actually not even talking about his new book, The Icarus Deception (which is in and of itself remarkable), but about his limited edition compilation book: “This Might Work / This Might Not Work” (an abridged, physically smaller version will be released around Christmas and it’s titled: Whatcha Gonna Do with That Duck?)
The pictures don't do the actual product justice:
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It’s massive, it’s beautiful, it’s unique, it’s spellbinding, it’s impressive, it’s unexpected, it’s one of a kind, it’s generous, it's epic, it’s art…
It is remarkable.
This book - “This Might Work / This Might Not Work” – just raised the bar in terms of producing something worthwhile, epic, and generous; it raised the bar for remarkable.
Of course, that doesn’t mean the next thing you must produce should be an enormous compilation of your work via a successful Kickstarter campaign.
What it means is that if you care hard enough to be remarkable, the product you create will show it.
Keep working, keep creating, and keep building.
And, above all, never stop caring – we need more remarkable products.
p.s. Thanks Seth for caring and making something remarkable
Today I thought I’d try something a little different.
Instead of writing a mindblowing and inspiring blog post (at least that’s my intention with every post I write), I decided to interview a successful entrepreneur, published author and good friend of mine, Al Pittampalli.
This is the first in a series of interviews I'm doing with some really incredible people.
I'm calling it "In The Trenches: The Resistance Broadcast Interview Series"
You can probably guess the type of content we talk about, but I will say this: it's all about those people who are doing creative work, fighting the Enemy daily to build their empire, and making big things happen. The guests will include entrepreneurs, founders, CEO's, authors, bloggers, philosophers, scientists, and psychologists (among others).
You can press play below to listen to the interview immediately (it's hosted via dropbox and anyone should be able to access it - let me know if you have any problems):
UPDATE -- this interview has been republished on my podcast "In The Trenches." Click here to listen to my interview with Al Pittampalli on "In The Trenches" here.
Al knows what it means to instigate and lead, and, if you’re looking to create something from scratch successfully (aspiring writers and entrepreneurs take note), I promise this interview will blow your mind and inspire you.
There are some truly profound pieces of wisdom in here and you really need to hear them from someone who’s in the trenches and knows what it means to fight and strive for something.
So click this link to start listening.
A little more about Al Pittampalli:
Al is the founder of The Modern Meeting Company and a self-proclaimed meeting culture warrior. He's on a mission to change the way organizations hold meetings, make decisions, and coordinate action (and when you listen to the interview, you’ll see he’s most certainly doing just that).
Al is a published author. His book Read This Before Our Next Meeting was published by Seth Godin’s Domino Project, and during the week of its release it was the most popular Kindle book in the world.
Al has been featured in Forbes, the Telegraph, Huffington Post, CBS Money Watch, and many others publications.
You can read his blog and find out more about him and his company at his website: www.modernmeetingstandard.com
Al is a sought-after speaker and writer and an all-around awesome guy.
Here are just a few of the subjects we touch on:
I hope you enjoy the interview.
*note: I had originally recorded the interview on a better recording system, but that version ended up crashing on me, so what you’re listening to is the unedited, unabridged, backup version. There’s nothing sexy about it, but I think the sound quality is good enough to sit through and enjoy.
Definitely give the interview a listen and pick up Al’s book – you won’t regret it.
I’d like to hear your feedback too – let me know in the comments below or shoot me an email and let me know if you want to hear more interviews like this one!
p.s. If you haven't subscribed to The Resistance Broadcast, click the link below and receive a free copy of my book The Art of Instigating, as well as broadcasts (newsletter publications) 3 times a week - Monday, Wednesday and Friday - to help you build your empire.
Whether you recognize it or not, you’re at war.
This is not a conventional war:
The battle lines change every day. The warzone is rarely defined.
Sometimes the enemy is very clearly in front of you, pummeling you with everything they've got; other times, the enemy is lurking in the shadows right beside you, waiting for a moment of weakness before they attack.
And your allies aren't who you would expect – but they’re more powerful than you realize.
The warzone is not your physical environment – although the physical environment can help (or hinder) your campaign.
The enemy is not a person – in fact, the enemy is nothing external at all.
And your allies are not your friends or family, nor are they the people in the cubicle next to you at work.
This is a war fought in the neural trenches of your brain.
The enemy is the army of bad habits you've accumulated over the year – building and expanding its empire one brain-map territory at a time.
Your allies, if you choose to call upon them, are the virtuous and productive thoughts you put into your mind; they will support you when you are weak, and help you expand your territory when you are strong.
And you are the insurgent because you seek change, you desire improvement, and you want to build something of value.
You are outnumbered and outgunned.
The enemy controls nearly all brain map territory.
Your allies can help, but they can't fight the battle themselves; they need you to lead.
Will you choose to fight? Will you lead? Will you instigate?
You're at war whether you recognize it or not.
Right now, as you read this, the nerves in your brain are battling one another for territorial command of brain space.
In fact, if you continue to read this (and all the other blog posts I write), you’re helping one side dominate the other (the nerves associated with reading, learning and instigating).
Who are these nerves fighting?
They’re fighting the multitude of bad habits you've accumulated over the years. Things like smoking, comfort eating, spending money you don’t have, staying home instead of going for a run, watching tv instead of writing…the list goes on (and on, and on).
Every single one of these actions represents a series of nervous system input (reaching for a cigarette, lighting up, inhaling deeply, etc.). The more consistent time you spend on an activity, the larger its brain territory becomes.
“If we stop exercising our mental skills, we do not just forget them: the brain map space for those skills is turned over to the skills we practice instead.”
Norman Droidge [The Brain That Changes Itself]
Over the course of 20 years of bad eating habits, you have terrain completely dominated by the enemy.
Every time we repeat a bad habit, it gains more control over the map. The territory expands and the territorial lines strengthen.
On the flip side, you may have good habits you'd like to cultivate or new habits you'd like to start (workout more, eat healthier, learn a new language, write a book, start a business), but they control so little territory it’s like trying to take over China as the commander of Monaco.
The reason it’s so hard is because we’ve had the habit of starting ground out of us.
If you’re like most people, the habit of hiding replaced your natural instinct to start. Instead of being encouraged to instigate, we became masters at hiding. We’ve had lots of practice too: hiding in the back of class; hiding from advanced placement; hiding by taking 7 years to graduate college with a bachelor’s degree; hiding by going with the crowd, never trying to stand out, and never testing the limits of our own abilities.
This habit of hiding (of avoiding starting at all costs) is costing us our sanity, our happiness, and our self-respect.
We want desperately to begin, to build good habits, but we’re fighting decades of bad habit. By now, our maps are almost entirely controlled by our bad habits. Trying to reconquer the territory is a serious undertaking, something that takes more than a day and more than good intentions.
If you want to take back control of your brain territory, you have to understand you don’t have the upper hand, all momentum is in the opposite direction, and you will be fighting an uphill battle.
To take back territory, you need to play by the rules of the brain map insurgent:
Don’t try to regain control over every territory at once. It won’t happen. You’ll lose focus and your bad habits will crush you. Focus on one specific area. Use the power of concentrated effort to break through enemy lines in order to gain a foothold before you move on to something else.
If you want to eat healthier, manipulate your environment to make it easier. Get rid of junk food. Never go shopping for food hungry. Only keep food in the house that you consider healthy (sorry, no hiding snacks).
For the first few weeks, focus all your effort on getting control of this territory before moving on to something else.
The only way to break through enemy lines and expand friendly territory is through consistent, daily action over the course of 4 weeks. That’s right, 28 days. This is the amount of time it takes for the neural pathways to strengthen and for the action to go from an activity to muscle memory.
After 4 weeks, it doesn’t mean that you stop doing the activity – and it doesn’t mean the new muscle memory has become effortless habit. It simply means you’ve developed strong synapse connections, allowing you to more easily repeat the activity. So keep going even after 4 weeks!
Brain maps are topographical, meaning the portions of the body’s surface that are close together are mapped close together in the brain.
Similarly, when we perform an action that requires multiple motor movements (or multiple sensory inputs), the brain maps these neural pathways close together. Running, for example, requires multiple inputs from various body parts, but the composite action is mapped locally on the brain.
You can apply this knowledge by building good habits on top of other good habits. Have you already created a habit out of waking up early? Expand on this good habit by sitting down for 10 minutes to write before work. Your brain will begin associating early rising with writing.
After 28 days, expand topographically again: spend 30 minutes writing, or focus on making a healthy meal before you sit down to write, or after writing, go for a quick 15 minute run.
Understanding the brain, how neural pathways strengthen and weaken, and how focus and repetition expand brain map territory, is the science behind what I talk about on this blog and the cornerstone to my concept of the art of instigating.
The habit of starting is a real thing. There are very real neural pathways that develop your brain map territory, and the habit of starting (like the habit of working out or eating healthy) requires that we practice every day to maintain and expand that territory.
If you don’t develop the habit of starting, you won’t be successful – period.
Every single successful person in the world (whether you measure success in terms of money, fame, happiness, or by some other criterion) has developed the habit of starting – they’ve made instigating a way of life.
Empires aren’t built in a day.
We build empires one day at a time, one habit at a time, one successful action at a time.
Create the habit of starting, learn the art of instigating, and build the empire you’ve always wanted to build.
Don’t wait. Start now.
After a long day (or a long week of 14 hour days) it’s normal to want to unwind, call it early, and go to sleep.
I wanted to (I mean, I REALLY wanted to), but instead I made the conscious (and uncomfortable) decision to stay up just a bit later to write another post.
As easy as it could have been to call it early, I wanted to end the day with a victory.
That's the commitment I've made to myself – to write one blog post (or develop one of my other projects) every night.
It's small. One post doesn't mean anything by itself. And because it’s so simple, I could easily convince myself to skip tonight and catch up later.
But I don't, because I know this simple truth:
Actions repeated consistently over time create habits…
And habits create momentum…
And when that momentum's going, I want it to be in the right direction.
If I don't write tonight, nothing happens. If I don’t write tomorrow, same thing, nothing happens. There is no dramatic, immediate effect to doing nothing.
And in a year from now, I’ll reap exactly what I sowed (you guessed it – nothing). Resistance will have won.
But if I do write tonight, and tomorrow, and every day for the next year, I'll have over 300 pages of content. That's a book.
If I keep this up for a few years, I'll have thousands of pages of content (and tons of experience). You can’t create that in a day (not with all the coffee in the world).
The point is this: you can't complete the project you're working on by waiting until tomorrow. And don't try to fool yourself into thinking you'll catch up this weekend (you won't).
But you CAN create an empire in 30 minutes - just 30 minutes every day.
All it takes is action right now. Don't worry about tomorrow - it doesn't exist, not to you, not when you’re staring your project in the face.
Start creating - immediately. Don't go to sleep until you've added another stone to the castle.
I added another stone.
Did you?
