Okay guys, this is big. What is it that motivate us? I’ve studied the subject for a long time. And I’ve drawn some conclusions that might be very useful for you if you want to perform at the next level.

I wrote this article and I didn’t remember to post it here on the blog. Now I reviewed it and expanded it. You can read the article here. Even if you didn’t read the original, don’t worry, because the revised version is simpler, more effective, and more direct!

Hope you like it, guys :)

Cheers, Vasco

(Photo from FreeFoto.com)

Let me share with you a small technique to perform better immediately: Just want to.

Yes, just want to. It’s that simple. How does it work?

We all have an identity, rules and patterns for how to act. We think we can’t do this or that. We think we need to do this before we can do that.

If, for a moment, you can discard all your rules, you will perform much better immediately.

If, for a moment, you think you don’t need to be great to accomplish a task, you’ll accomplish it.

If, for a moment, you think you can do it in the best way right now even without practice, you’ll do it in the best way right now.

It takes a bit of faith, a bit of confidence, but those are not the defining factors. Or they might be, but you won’t access them trying to access them. You’ll access them by letting them be and just focusing on wanting to do it better.

Notice, I’m not talking about how much you like what you do. That is an important subject, but by all means not what I’m talking about right now.

I’m talking about wanting to do a task. A logical something. And wanting to do it might not mean liking it at all. It can be just because you want to step on to the next task, because you want to get rid of an obstacle.

But whatever it is, just want to do it, and you’ll do it.

Hello everyone!

Sorry for not posting in some time, but I’ve been brainstorming some new ideas. I’ve produced three new articles.

How Making It Yours Can Help Achieve Peak Performance
This is an article about what belongs to us. When you do something, do you do it just because you do it, or do you have a passion, a drive? This article explains how a connection to the subject can help you achieve more results.

110% Is the New 100%
This is the article of the original idea that named this blog. It’s about the effort you put into what you do and what you get back from it. It’s a very interesting article, if I may say so myself! :)

Just the Next Level, Please
How hard should we try? How much information should we take? How much should we do? This is an insight on the amount of effort we should put into what we do, and the results we get from it.

I hope you enjoy them :)

We live in a total blackout. We have so many possibilities we get lost in them.

Imagine you want to start a new hobby. Person A already does it, and he does it in a way. Person B also does it, but he does it in a totally different way.

When too many options are presented to you, we tend to feel less intense about them.

What is the solution? Create a unique way you’re going to follow. Then calibrate.

Imagine it like this. You want to start a company.

Some people start companies with 200 employees and take personal care of many tasks.

Some people start companies with 4 employess and outsource most tasks.

There is an infinite spectrum of possibilities halfway. So you get lost in it and just think “Bah, people do it so many ways either way works”.

False assumption. You need to filter out the best way, regardless of what others are doing.

To do so, just have a unique opinion when deciding: I’ll create my company with 4 employees.

Then, if it’s too little, increase it.

If it’s too much, decrease it.

Take the first step, then calibrate. It doesn’t matter if it’s a good or bad step, it only matters that you take a step.

Because in life there are many times in life where we don’t know what to do.

You’re buying your first home. You’re choosing your first job.

And then we see so many people doing it in different ways. So we guess anything works.

Remember this, just because there are many ways, it doesn’t mean they’re right. You still need to filter out the best way.

Don’t take anything for granted. Have certainty in something.

If you’re taking a bad step but you have certainty behind it, you’ll realize what you’re doing wrong and can work it out immediately.

If you’re not taking either a bad or good step, you never know what works.

So take a first step towards something. Good or bad. Doesn’t matter.

You can always improve. But you can only improve if you have already started.

Never label anything.

People, companies, products, nothing.

People think labeling makes life easier. It’s precisely the opposite.

First, let’s clarify something. We had two paradigms of thinking:

The old one: Get all the information you can at the same time. Stockpile, ignore information, discard it even if it’s important, but stuff yourself full of it.

The new one: Don’t get all the information you can. Get some information, use it well, add a little bit now and again. You might even add information frequently. But process what you have before you take in more.

Labeling belongs to the old paradigm of thinking.

If you had to know about all punks of the world, it was easier to call them “punks”. You could meet a young guy that painted and rode a bicycle, and another one that skated and worked in a marketing firm.

Now, when trying to recall who they were, it was easier to recall “I knew two punks” instead of “I knew a young man that (…) and another one that (…)”.

But the thing is, we don’t need to maintain information about all the punks in the world. We just remember each punk as we meet him.

This works for punks, businessmen, or any other label you can put on someone.

When you label someone or something, the possibilities for that person are immediately limited.

If you meet a young man, that even though he might have punk clothing and such, you talk with him and he suddenly tells you “I want to work in stock market consulting”, you think “okay, considering him as a human being, just like we all are, the possibilities are endless. Of course he can”.

If you meet that same person but you think he’s “a punk”, if he tells you he wants to work in the stock market, you immediately think “hold it. He can’t. He’s a punk”.

When we label people, we make a model. And whatever doesn’t fit that model is ignored.

So break all the models. Break all your presuppositions.

This doesn’t just apply to people. This applies for anything in life.

Imagine you have a product your company is selling. It has three steps:

First you develop it, using your current team.

Then you finish it and materialize it.

Then you market it using determined agencies and methods.

If you consider this as a fixed model, you cut out all possibilities.

If you suddenly remove the label from it, you take a whole new perspective.

If these three steps are not fixed, can we change one of them?

Can we switch their orders?

Can we add or remove steps?

When you remove labels, you free your way of thinking.

Most people that aren’t successful think they need to follow certain models or have certain labels so they’re not free.

They think they need to get a job in an existing company so they never found a company.

They think they’ll only enjoy life when they’re retired so they never travel or fulfill their dreams while young.

They think they need to date a woman 8 times before they enter a relationship with her so they discard being with a fantastic woman the first time they meet her.

They think they need to respect certain people that don’t contribute to their life so they don’t free themselves of them.

They think they need to work on a certain schedule, do things in a certain way, so they never try different.

If you want to succeed in life…

Remove all labels.

I have a more in-depth article about this which I’ll post later.

If you want to make decisions effectively, do them quick.

Is it that easy? Yes, it is.

Let’s look at things this way:

You can either make a decision immediately, or wait in indecision.

If you wait a long time before you decide, during all that time you did nothing.

If you make a decision, even a wrong one, you’re already knowing what works and what doesn’t.

It’s better to take a bad step than a no-step.

Most people think the need ALL the information in order to make a decision.

Decisions aren’t about who has more information. They’re about who uses their information better.

If you make a decision, you can always calibrate later. But the thing is:

If you haven’t made a decision yet, you’ll get more information and you’ll calibrate a plan that’s not field-tested.

If you have made your decision, you can calibrate what you’re currently doing.

Imagine you have to develop a strategy for your team to win a war.

You can either A) Attack quickly B) Plan an attack.

In a first scenario, you decided immediately. You attack quickly. In the meanwhile, you receive weather reports. You’re on the field, you know where your soldiers are, the spots that will be affected by the weather change, and calibrate your plan.

In a second scenario, you haven’t decided. In the meanwhile, you receive the weather reports. You will think “if we choose to attack quickly, we might have to change soldiers from this zone to this one, or from that one to that one”.

When you’ve decided already, you’re only following your direction. When you haven’t decided, you’re trying to follow all and not following any.

Note, this has nothing to do with having an open mind. You consider all directions in both scenarios. But you only follow one.

If you decide, you know all options and choose one.

If you don’t decide, you know all options and try to choose all, and end up choosing none.

Forget well-thought plans. Forget strategies.

Don’t make a strategy. Develop one once you’re in the field.

This applies to everything. Starting a project? Don’t try and plan all the details. Start working right now and details show up as they are needed.

Studying for an exam? Don’t try and schedule and plan your study in advance. Start studying immediately, and then make small changes and calibrate.

And yes, you might have to switch plans. If you make the wrong decision, what gives? You discard it, and decide on a different direction. The difference is:

Deciding the first time isn’t rigorous because you don’t know what’s good or bad in each side. You only know in theory.

Deciding after you’ve left your current decision is rigorous. You know exactly what didn’t work and why you’re changing directions.

In sum: Decide quickly, and if you need to switch, switch quickly. Never let yourself fall into the trap of paralysis by analysis.

Another specific example:

Two people have to race through a lap. They have two cars available: Car 1 and Car 2. We have person A and B.

Person A spends 3 hours thinking about why Car 1 might be better than Car 2, and this and that, theorizing. After 3 hours he chooses Car 1.

Person B took Car 1 immediately and went for a test-drive. After 10 minutes we knew due to the tight turns throughout the track, Car 1 has horrible. So he ditched it and chose Car 2. This took 20 minutes.

Due to real-world experience Person B took the right choice. He actually took the wrong choice but corrected it.

Because A never took a choice, he could never change it, so he’s stuck to choosing by ignorance (or theoretical previsions, which are not that different).

We can even add a little twist if you want.

Person B test-drove Car 2, for more 20 minutes, and realized due to its limited top speed, he did worse times in all of the straight segments of the track. And this was actually even worse than the limitations of Car 1. So he chose Car 1 again.

Person A was still theorizing by that time, but he chose Car 1 too.

Now, are these people equal? Never.

Person A made the right choice, but he doesn’t know why it’s the right choice. He might have planned or thought about it, but does he know why it works in the real world? Nope.

Person B made the same choice, but it’s because he knows exactly what is right and wrong with each choice.

So, in sum. Decide quickly, hang to your decision to infinity. If you can, you’re successful. If you can’t, switch to a new decision and hang to it to infinity.

Repeat until successful.

It’s so simple yet so effective.

The word momentum was invented for a reason. We might have found it today.

So, in sum, the lession is:

Don’t think about acting before you actually act.

Act first, think later.

One final note: Don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying just “act first”. I’m saying “act first, think later”. You do have to think and develop a strategy.

But you do it AFTER you know what the field is, who your opponents are, what are your strengths and weaknesses. It’s useless to think in advance.

Don’t invent facts based on thoughts. Invent thoughts based on facts.

Hope you liked the message :)

This idea came to me when reading this Trizle article. I suggest you read it first. Besides just being plain cool, it’s very useful.

A subject related to Trizle’s article, but not exactly the same, is something I’ve been studying for a long time, searching for peak performance.

We have the tendency to grow when we face stimuli. However, what happens when we reach the top? There’s nothing challenging us. So we don’t train our capabilities. We let them die.

Now, the thing is, we can create imaginary stimuli to challenge ourselves.

Let’s say you’re the best at what you do.

However, there was a time when you were just “one of the others”.

When you were not superior to anyone, when you were just the plain same and had to fight for your piece of the game.

When you had to give your all.

Imagine that, starting today, it’s going to be like that all over again.

Imagine suddenly a new competitor hidden until now shows up, that’s as good as you.

Imagine that you’re not superior anymore. That someone, somehow, has managed to attain your level and is now threatening your position.

How will you react?

You’ll probably try your hardest again. You won’t let your growth die anymore, and you’ll force yourself to become better and better.

Or imagine that for some reason your business, your capabilities can disappear just like this.

You snap your fingers and they’re gone. Imagine all the securities you have are actually not secure at all, and can vanish.

How will you fight to maintain your security?

This is something I’ve noticed in people who succeed. When there are no external stimuli, they create them.

This is valid not just for competition, but for anything.

You were motivated to read a new book. Now you’re done with it and you’re not motivated anymore.

Can you, just like that, imagine you’re motivated again, feel exactly the same things, feel that heat inside, that happiness, that motivation?

You can. It’s a matter of effort.

You can do anything you want to. Stimuli present or not.

Try it!

You read a book once. You get the general picture of it.

You read the book again. You get deeper knowledge about it. You read it again and again, maybe in the period of days, maybe in the period of years.

The thing is, you reach a point where you know the book forward and backward. You know exactly how many principles the book defends for doing a certain thing, how many chapters there are, and so on.

This is great. But it might also be a trap.

You have to obtain all the knowledge of a book, but then induce from it. You know the saying about the student always surpassing the master? It’s the same with a book.

You have to get all the knowledge you can from it, but then add more. Mix it. Transform it. Add a bit of spice to it. Add your own twist to it.

Many people read a book and capture its knowledge, but they think it’s a fixed thing. It can’t change.

The solution for that is: Capture the OLD fundamentals of a book, but use them to think of NEW ramifications.

You read a book about mounting a business from the 1980s. It might have some fundamental information, but in this new age of course some things have changed.

Don’t just consider “there’s the old way” and “there’s the new way”. Don’t separate them. Mix them both. Use the knowledge of the past and of the present. Mix them together. Integrate them and use them to jump to the next level.

So, don’t separate the knowledge of a book from the rest of the knowledge you obtain.

If a book contains the principles for setting up a business, how would those principles evolve in the present? How would the author do it?

If a book contains techniques for better life quality, would they still be valid today? What would the author add?

Don’t consider book knowledge static.

In sum: Don’t just capture what every book says. Capture what it would say if it had accompanied the evolution up to the present.

This might be hard to do at first. But it’s one of the best ways to generate knowledge ever. It has the book’s base, but it has your twist.

Become an interpreter of knowledge, someone that cuts it, reforms it, integrates it and transforms it.

Think about it. This just blew my mind the first time I thought about it.

I’m going to convey to you an idea that might be counter-intuitive, but that is extremely effective. Your limits don’t define you, they empower you.

Anyone can act with the same limits. If I have the same budget as my competitor, I can pretty much do the same thing as him. However, if I have a smaller budget and I do the same, then I’m better.

It’s like the efficiency formula. Your efficiency is what you produce based on what you had. So, if you produce the same thing as before, but now you have a smaller starting point, you’re more efficient.

There are two elements that affect our performance: Our resources and our ability to use them.

If you have a great car and you’re a bad driver, you’ll do a mediocre lap. If you have a bad car and you’re a great driver, the same thing. There’s a balance between resources and your ability.

Most people try and change their resources. “We need more money”. “We need more time”.

Instead of changing your resources, change your ability. Force yourself to work under worse conditions than before, so when you return to the normal conditions they seem easier.

Anyone can be great when conditions are favorable. It’s when conditions are bad that truly talented people surface.

So, try this little secret. Try doing things in stricter conditions than usual, and you’ll be better than usual. Try doing your job in half the time. Try learning all the concepts of a book the first time you read it. Try playing the same videogame, but with a more limited character or a worse car.

Your ability is proportional to the resources. If you’re good with normal resources, if you become good with bad resources you’ll automatically become great with normal resources.

So, remember. Your limits don’t limit you. They empower you. Use them to your benefit.