Overview
This book was a fast and easy read. While if definitely another self-help book, there are some good pieces of advice and analogies that are worth remembering and keeping in mind from time to time.
Above all, what this small book made me realize how, by changing a few habits, working smarter and not necessarily harder, we can upgrade our life, enjoy more, be less busy and start accomplishing our goals.
Notes and Highlights
Today, innovation is so fast that we accomplish more in a day than previous generations did in a lifetime.
The highest pursuits available are those that literally require exceptions to the rules, because such aims cannot be done conventionally. You not only desire, but need miracles, luck, wormholes, or whatever you want to call it.
Nobody achieves the impossible without thinking they can.
Those who don’t believe in magic will never find it.
If a task is perceived to be unimportant, it will take enormous amounts of time to complete. Conversely, if a task is perceived to be important, it will get done soon—sometimes immediately, depending on how important and urgent.
The question is, how bad do you want to go to Hawaii?
Most of us are scrambling to reach goals or acquire things we don’t even want. Because we do not know what we want or where we are headed, we jump at every opportunity that comes our way— filling our time and speeding up our lives.
A person choosing to spend large portions of time in an unsatisfying job in order to make ends meet is on a fast track to his deathbed
The problem with pursuing happiness is that it is elusive. Wayne Dyer has said, “There is no way to happiness. Happiness is the way.”
Important Questions
We cannot be everything and everywhere. We can’t go one way and expect to land somewhere the opposite direction. What if you could have a conversation with your future self?
What vital information would your future-self give you?
What is your vision for the future?
What would you like the people to say about you? What would you like them to say about your character and contributions? What achievements would you want them to remember?
What impact would you like to have made in their lives?
Start living today with that picture of your own 80th birthday clearly in mind. In that picture, you will nd your definition of true success.
Time is the ultimate currency.
Not only is time the ultimate currency, but in actuality time is our only currency. Our time is the only thing that really belongs to us. Everything else belongs to the world and the universe.
Novelty and change are what create memories.
Jim Rohn has said, “Don’t wish it was easier. Wish you were better."
Dieter Utchdorf has said, “What do you suppose pilots do when they encounter turbulence? A student pilot may think that increasing speed is a good strategy because it will get them through the turbulence faster. But that may be the wrong thing to do. Professional pilots understand that there is an optimum turbulence penetration speed that will minimize the negative effects of turbulence. And most of the time that would mean to reduce your speed. The same principle applies also to speed bumps on a road. Therefore, it is good advice to slow down a little, steady the course, and focus on the essentials when experiencing adverse conditions.
Congruence and authenticity are far more valuable than anything external.
Focus. The Paradox of Choice
In our world with limitless options, limitless books to read, limitless clothes to wear, limitless paths to take, it is extremely important to be picky. Excess is a suppressant to abundance. Excess represents the broad path which most people travel. With too many clothes in their closets and too many competing priorities, paralysis by analysis is at an extreme.
We live in a world that values choices—even if many of those choices are not conducive to our overarching goals. We have this inherent obsession with freedom. We don’t like the idea of having doors closed to us. Thus, we enter one door but try to keep our foot in another.
I’ve studied, the fewer the priorities in our lives the better. The few the goals we are pursuing the better.
Those who become the greatest and go the farthest are highly selective about what they take on. They are clear on where they want to go and recognize that most of what life offers will not get them there.
Almost everything in life is a non-essential distraction.
Commitment
Goal commitment is the fortitude to accomplish a goal and persistence in pursuing it over time. Empirical research has found that commitment to difficult goals increases when goals are made public, when locus of control is internal
True commitment can only occur when turning back is no longer an option. This moment constitutes conversion in the highest regards. Failure is no longer caused by a lack of commitment. If you are going to fail, you are going to fail epically.
Essentialists are people who make fewer decisions, but take the time to contemplate those decisions. By doing so they make fewer, better choice
Others may think you have everything “all figured out.” Yet, on the inside, you feel like an imposter, a fraud.
Skin in the game
The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again,
Never take advice from someone you wouldn’t want to switch places with.
Live in the Moment
The goal is to be present while simultaneously moving in a desired direction. Take it all in. Be open to inspiration.