“Genius is 1% talent and 99% hard work.” – Albert Einstein.
Behind any incredible achievement, you’ll find an incredible amount of effort.
The most successful people – whether in health, fitness, family, business, finances, art, etc – they’re the best because they outwork everyone else. Guaranteed.
So hear me when I say that it doesn’t matter whether you won the genetic lotto or couldn’t have given yourself a worse set of genes if you tried…
The majority of your success is going to come from you DOING things that you have COMPLETE control over and which require ZERO talent, luck, or genetics!
How cool is that?!
I really wish I had known this 10 years ago when I blamed my lack of progress on bad genes and crappy luck. It would have made my life a LOT better.
24 Ways that hard work beats talent:
- The kind of food that you choose to keep in your house (if you’re buying junk food and bringing it home, you’ll obviously be eating junk food – the same goes for healthy food).
- The thoughts that you allow yourself to focus on.
- Who the people are that you spend the most time with (do they make you better or worse?).
- The goals that you set for yourself.
- The actions that you take consistently to achieve those goals.
- Showing up every single day, over and over again.
- Time management (think of as priority management).
- Creating time to think about your priorities, values, morals, and standards (who are you?!).
- Being coachable and open to other perspectives.
- Doing some kind of personal development every single day.
- What you schedule, diarise, and remind yourself of (those are your real priorities).
- Going the extra distance rather than only doing enough to get by.
- Minimising distractions.
- Doing important things first.
- Doing unimportant things only once important things are done.
- How you plan ahead and prepare (The 7 Ps: Proper Planning and Preparation Prevent Piss-Poor Performance).
- Making non-negotiable time to de-stress and have fun.
- Being respectful, grateful, and appreciative.
- Taking care of yourself first (you can’t pour from an empty cup).
- Being curious, asking questions, and seeking to understand.
- The environment that you design around yourself.
- Smiling.
Almost any achievement is the result of countless habits and behaviours rather than some mystical ability that you might not have.
Are you holding yourself back because you’re too focused on the things you can’t control and not focused enough on what you can?
