Everyone has lied to you.
It has been happening for years. You are strong enough and good enough, just not in the way you have probably traditionally thought you were. Your motivation and your willpower are not what set you apart and will not make you successful.
Willpower and motivation have NOTHING to do with success.
When old-time wisdom and superstition fail to be true, finding new mental models is important. Finding new ways to approach life’s various situation can come through trial and error, through mentors, and through the books, you read.
To Grow, You Must Learn
I read 200 books over the past 2 years and 400 books over the past 6 years, I know there is one book will be one of the top 4 books you read this year. If not, you need to tell me what you are reading! The one book everyone needs to read this year to understand the way achievement and changes are actually created is Willpower Doesn’t Work by Benjamin Hardy.
If you read and apply what is found in Benjamin Hardy’s book, your life will change. You will be more productive, you will accomplish more than you ever thought possible, and your life will get exponentially better.
Contemplate And Apply What You Learn
After reading the advance copy of Willpower Doesn’t Work multiple times over the past few months, here are the 3 most important things I learned:
1. Your Environment Shapes You
“Social norms are more powerful at controlling your behavior than your deepest ideologies and desires.” – Benjamin Hardy
So… change your environment! Surround yourself with people who you want to be like and want you to succeed. If you want to be healthy, hang out with people who are healthy. If you want to create wealth, hang out with those who know how to create wealth. Your contribution and value changes based on your environment, it is relative, and not absolute. You can grow and change, it just depends on what you are willing to do and what role you are willing to play.
Since your environment is so powerful, the best way to get new results is to adjust your environment to give you’re the results you want.
2. Get Into Your Peak State
This can mean different things to different people. This state is when you have ultimate clarity, you know your plan. When you are in your personal flow, time flies, everything becomes easier and you make better decisions.
“Peak experiences change the trajectory of a person’s life and career. It is only by having powerful and paradigm-shifting experiences that you can truly see what’s happening in your life for what it is. You can then make powerful decisions while in an elevated state to elevate your life and your standards for yourself.” – Benjamin Hardy
To get into a peak state, you need to give yourself time. Time to think, to write, and especially time to focus. This includes writing (journaling) and your physical space. Your brain functions best within the first 3-4 hours of waking up. You need time to think and you need to be in a place where you can focus.
3. Remove Distractions
Your environment can either hurt you or help you. If something or someone takes you away from your goals, you will always be fighting against your environment. If it supports you, it can propel you forward. Anything that doesn’t help you, hurts you.
“If you want to evolve to another level, you need to let go.” – Benjamin Hardy
If you have daily tasks, or meetings, or relationships that do not enrich your life – remove them. Your ability to take away the possibly good, but irrelevant fluff from your life is the final competitive advantage you need to take your next step in personal growth.
Simplify your “to do list” and your “accomplished list” with explode. Choose to do more by focusing on less.
Take Action
By living your potential, you are finding and acting on your truth. What is truth? What is real? You will never know unless you work every day to find it.
In order to achieve anything, there are a few things that separate the best from the rest.
It is all about commitment, environment, and action. You do not need willpower if you are willing to change your habits and environment.
All three must be aligned for anything incredible to happen. The good thing is, you can influence and even control to an extent all three of those elements. You can always control your commitment level.
With the right models and practices found in this book, you can control your environment. And with a simple decision to get going, you can take all the action required to begin living the life you know you were meant to have.
By reading this one book, you can change a million lives, including your own.