Accelerated Learning
Last week I shared:
The seeds of my first book were born in posts to a Web 1.0 electronic bulletin board. My book was a bestseller in its niche and covered a topic I knew nothing about five years earlier.
From Zero to Bestseller in Five Years.
In finance, Summer Internship to Partner, Five Years.
In my athletic career => first Ironman (11 hour finish) to Ironman Podium (8.5 hour finish), Five Years.
It’s been a similar playbook each time.
Do
Do Less
Niche Down, Then Niche Again
The Guide Who’s Done It
The Offer The Mentor Can’t Refuse
Environment
Team
Today, I offer you my playbook. It works across domains.
Back to the three things I want for my kids
I want them to be prepared to live without me.
I want them to have the skills to self-direct their lives.
I’d like them to avoid ruin.
Choosing well is an important skill but, choosing well, is not enough.
After choosing, we need to act. I think we all understand the need to act. Where we tend to break down is pacing. Having faith that action over time will move us forward.
The two most powerful concepts that follow are: Do Less; and Solve Your Team’s problems. This combination has enabled me to get close, and stay close, to people who’ve been critical to my development.
Do
The real world can’t be experienced via textbook.
This belief has held me back at times. It’s slowed my learning by causing me to discount useful advice from people who can’t execute their own best ideas.
So there’s a tip.
Build a habit of executing other people’s best ideas.
Writing, Finance, Athletics… those five year blocks.
What set me apart was not my talent.
It was the volume of work I did.
And my capacity to see, and correct, my mistakes.
The journey starts from being able to “do.” At the start, “do” matters more than the specifics of what we’re doing.
Do Less
When performance matters, get comfortable with giving a “nice no thank you” to most everything else.
It’s easy to decline the things we don’t enjoy. In that sense, high performance gives us a convenient excuse to avoid tasks we don’t enjoy.
What’s tougher is passing up attractive opportunities and interesting ideas we dream up.
Here’s how I deal with those:
Start A Notebook
Make A “Not Yet” List
Get Back To The Core To-Do List
Keep the Core To-Do List tight. Mine, in 2023:
Marriage
Train
Write
I don’t expect to make progress on areas where I’m not willing to put in a lot of days. For example, from 2012-2022 my #2 was Kids and that meant my training had to take a backseat.
In the periods of my life where I made rapid progress. There was only one thing on my Core List.
Niche Down, Then Niche Again
I hear this with regard to online writing but it applies to many things. Given the near infinite reach of the internet, the more narrow the niche, the better.
If you’re seeking to build a business then it helps to choose a niche with mediocre competition.
Narrow Niche
Mediocre Competition
Wealthy Participants
What do doctors, lawyers, CEOs and tech professionals like to do when they are not working?
Whatever it happens to be, there’s a niche business available if you’re willing to put in the time.
If you apply the principles of Core Capital then small business opportunities can buy you significant freedom.
Add a bit of talent, time and the right teachers… you may become world-class at your niche. As a business owner, I realized it was more important to become great at helping other people achieve their goals.
Separate from business creation, early success helps motivation. With my kids, and self, I try to find opportunities to win.
The Guide Who’s Done It
Back in 2000-2010, I had to hire people to teach me. Still do, when the opportunity arises.
Today, we can quickly educate ourselves, for free, via podcasts, YouTube and the internet.
But there’s more required than learning. With the firehose of information available, it’s easy to spin our wheels.
In each domain, I benefited from connecting with a guide.
Someone who’s done it
Someone, with whom I could work on a shared “problem”
The Offer The Mentor Can’t Refuse
Where am I weak?
Ask this with respect to your goals, and your niche.
We’re drawn towards people who are externally successful.
We’re drawn toward people similar to ourselves.
This can lead us astray.
Look for gaps and opposites. For example, if you’re good at getting stuff done then an ideal partner can be someone who’s not great at execution.
Don't limit yourself to a single relationship. The highest performers build teams with the following characteristics:
Strong where we’re weak
Problems to be solved together
Willing to speak uncomfortable truths
Different blindspots
Direct prior experience
Why are these people going to want to work with me? Because I can help them solve a problem.
Problems, I’ve helped solve:
Write A Book
Have Fun
Get Noticed
Have More Personal Time
Get In Shape
Learn How To Teach
Learn How To Communicate In Writing
Build Confidence To Charge More
Find Customers
Learn How To Write
Learn How To Present Better
Go On A Free Trip
Get Paid To See Old Friends
A Desire To Teach About A Favorite Subject, while I learn about another
Behind each of these bullets was a person, FAR more successful than me. They were willing to teach me because I was helping them solve one of their “problems.”
Environment
How does my desired outcome fit with my location, peers and habits?
Places & Strategies I’ve used:
London & Hong Kong => great for learning about money, not great for living an active outdoor life close to nature
New Zealand & Colorado => great for living an active outdoor life close to nature
Changing Hemispheres => a tactic to get more work done as an endurance athlete, make it as easy as possible to do the work required for success
Staying Put => stop using travel as an avoidance strategy with respect to my family, stay put and make my life work from home
When I hear environment, I often think climate. I’m not talking about the weather.
Environment is the social pressure to take useful action.
Environment is the lack of friction between ourselves and the actions required for success.
Environment helps up remove habits that hold us back.
Who’s On Your Team?
Over on my other publication, my team consists of:
Triathlon Champions, and their coaches
Olympic Champions, and their coaches
World Champions, and their coaches
Medical Experts in Orthopedics, Sports Medicine, Cardiology, Nephrology and ICU Care.
This is not an accident. My team, and my attention, form my environment.
Who’s on your team?
Write down the five most important people in your life.
Help them solve their problems.
The higher we get up the performance pyramid, the easier it is to forget our mutual need to share experiences.