Investing time and effort often translates into pain |
There’s real pain that can be felt in giving up our personal time. And there’s no question that we’d much rather spend our limited waking hours doing the things that we genuinely enjoy, instead of activities and tasks that have now become requirements of the typical human experience. But will our choices keep us on a path to success?
A path to success requires focus
There’s also the pain that’s found in the experience of needing to focus on any one thing for very long (especially when it’s something that’s not particularly interesting to us). If regularly achieving intense focus was an easy task, there’d be no need for the sixty-thousand-plus books written about “focus” that are currently listed on Amazon.
The solution, it seems, would be to somehow decrease the pain so as to more easily and efficiently achieve the success we desire.
Create a path to success by finding happiness in your daily grind
Author and entrepreneur Gary Vaynerchuk (aka Gary Vee) often reminds his audience that the most successful people in the world don’t just “work hard.” He believes the secret formula for success requires that we love the process and the grind (which we encounter along our path) much more than the “pay off” that we’re ultimately seeking.
And unfortunately, implementing this concept is much easier said than done. The simple reason that high-quality work is so valued is because of the fact that it takes a large amount of effort and time to get the work accomplished. This means that in order to achieve whatever payoff or end-result that we’re seeking, we need to first invest, which is often interpreted as a sacrifice.
Gary has learned through his personal experience that what makes the path to success more easily achievable is genuinely enjoying the process (even more so than the results that the process will bring). He focuses on the enjoyment of taking the necessary action needed to achieve victory and understands that the path will be much harder if he’s not happy while “grinding it out.”
There is no way around the process of doing the necessary work, and this is why so many people will eventually give up before successfully achieving their goals.
Logically, there are two solutions to the dilemma of facing the things that you don’t want to do:
1. Spend your entire life doing only the things that you naturally enjoy doing, which limits the goals you can set for yourself.
OR
2. Train your brain to enjoy whatever process is in front of you at any given moment.
How can we train our brain to better enjoy doing the things we don’t want to do? Some of the most successful people in the world implement “brain hacks” into their daily lives that help to encourage more success with less effort. You can learn more in our article titled “Brain hacking your way to a growth mindset.“
Two factors at odds that inspire a path to success
As humans, our desire for success will vary greatly, and it all depends on the personal perspective of any given individual. According to Gary, his intense desire for success was realized upon accepting and understanding the limited time we’re all given in life.
“When I really think about it, being hungry is a perspective. It’s the genuine understanding that you only have one life and a certain amount of time to accomplish everything you want to do… You have to be SELFISH with the time you have left and GRATEFUL for the time you’ve had.” —Gary Vaynerchuk
These two factors that seem at odds (selfishness and gratitude) have the potential of becoming the main driving forces behind our motivation.
Since tomorrow is promised to no one, we need to consistently direct our thoughts towards gratitude. Being grateful for our past and all that we already have in the present moment can push us to take massive action in the direction of our dreams.
Additionally, we can also become more selfish with our time—remembering that it’s our number one asset! Gently reminding ourselves of our own mortality can help us stay motivated to more efficiently utilize the limited amount of our precious time.
Are you part of the 8% of people that actually achieve all of their goals?
The University of Scranton conducted a study that revealed this mind-blowing statistic. This means that the other 92% are missing out on the rewards of potential personal, career, and business milestones. What separates this 8% from everyone else?
Overachievement vs. High-Performance
Notable achievements take much more than just hard work, grit, and hustle. In order to reach an extraordinary level of success (according to High-Performance Coach Brendon Burchard), you need to ditch overachievement and embrace high performance.
What’s the difference?
Overachievement describes the achievement of superior results through excessive effort. High Performance describes the ability to be better, faster, or more efficient than others.
To clarify, overachievers work harder, but not necessarily better or faster. The danger of operating in a mode of overachievement for too long is what typically leads us to burnout. So how does one transition from being an overachiever to a high performer?
Below, we share what Brendon Burchard believes are the six essential, high performance habits we should be focusing on:
Six Essential High Performance Habits that encourage a path to success
1. Seek clarity.
Know who you are, how you want to interact with others, and what you want to achieve. Be intentional about your thoughts and actions.
2. Generate energy.
Build up significant reserves of energy so that you can maintain effort and focus for sustained periods of time. Care for your mental and physical well-being, and bring positive emotions to your work.
3. Raise necessity awareness.
Tap into the reasons why you need to perform well—both internal and external.
4. Increase productivity.
Focus on the highest leverage actions within what Brendon calls your “prolific quality output” (PQO), which is the area where you can drive the most significant impact. Forget about all other distractions.
5. Develop influence.
Connect with others to influence them to support your efforts and projects. Build trust with others to enable strong collaboration towards joint goals.
6. Demonstrate courage.
Advocate for your ideas, take bold actions, and stand up for yourself and others.
Recommended for you:
Joe Dispenza – “Learn the Science of Changing your Mind”
Get this FREE GUIDE to learn about his TOP RESOURCES you can start using NOW!
Explore the latest in neuroscience tools for growth-mindset brain hacks
What exactly is a brain hack? Some explain it as a “strategic technique centered around universal human biology, with the goal of altering functions such as perception, focus, or awareness.” Read on to learn what the experts (like Dr. Andrew Huberman of Huberman Lab podcast) are sharing.
GrowthLenses Roots
GrowthLenses Roots are short features created to inform readers about some of the latest concepts and tools that inspire personal growth.
GrowthLenses MindSet
GrowthLenses MindSet articles were created to educate and inspire readers, featuring our favorite thought leaders, authors, and resources.