How to Consistently Accomplish 100x More Results With 1/10th Your
Usual Effort
In the first 4.5 years of my writing, I
accomplished practically nothing. After 54 months, I had 180 subscribers, I
averaged 50ish views/day, with no income, no influence, and, frankly, no hope.
At the time, I was writing frantically and
sporadically, posting several times a week for months on end. I was pitching
guest posts to every single blog I could think of. I was reaching out to other
bloggers, podcasters, authors (I once sent an actual letter to a best-selling
author asking to connect — he sent an email saying thanks, but he was too busy).
I thought more action was the
answer. So I doubled down on action, again and again — I was always doing
“more.” But after 54 grueling months, “more” hadn’t helped.
But around year 5, I changed my beliefs. I began
carrying myself as an elite writer. For the first time, I began to genuinely
believe I had what it took. I shifted my focus from action to “mindset.”
The results? To name a few:
·
20,000+ new email
subscribers in 6 months
·
200,000+ views/month
average
·
I was offered my first
traditionally-published book deal
·
I began making $1000’s
of dollars in writing income from 2 new online courses
·
I made friends with
several other top-tier writers
Basically, I began seeing 10x, 100x, even 1000x
growth in my endeavors; I literally started getting 100x more views. I saw a
1000% increase subscriber rate. I started making $1000’s of dollars/month where
I had made…$40 in 4 years!
I realized action doesn’t matter if your beliefs are wrong. That’s like
trying to sail a boat that’s still anchored to the harbor; you can thrash
around all you want, but you’re not going anywhere.
This what Abraham Lincoln meant when he said:
“If I had 8 hours to chop down a tree, I would spend 6 of those hours
sharpening my axe.”
If you want to succeed in your endeavors, you need
to shift your frame of mind first.
If you want to achieve enormous, 100x, even 1000x
times results (while only spending a tenth of the usual energy), here’s what
you do.
What You Truly Believe
About Yourself Determines What You Become
“As a man thinketh, so
he is. As he continues to think, so he remains.” -James Allen, As a Man Thinketh
Most people miss this simple truth: what you
believe determines what you become. You see what you look for; you attract what
you are.
Most people don’t realize their beliefs determine
the success or failure of the rest of their life. Your beliefs today have an
enormous effect on the results of tomorrow.
If you believe you can
can, odds are you probably will. You reap what you sow.
But the opposite is also true — if you know you can’t,
you’re probably right. If you sow disbelief in yourself, no amount of action or effort will change your end result.
Bruce Lee put it this way: “One will never get any
more than he thinks he can get.” What you truly, deeply believe is true
about yourself and your future is most likely what will happen.
What do you believe?
As Michael Jordan once said:
“You have to expect things of yourself before you can do them.”
What you truly believe about yourself — your ability, income,
relationships, self-worth, potential — is what you become. If you’re not seeing the results you want, the problem almost always
lies in your beliefs about yourself.
Fortunately, 100x and even 1000x results don’t
require 100x or 1000x effort. Small changes can lead to big results. You don’t
need to get a PhD, run an Ironman, or change your entire diet to significantly
upgrade your life. The answer is in the small things. Done consistently, small
things become big.
Therefore, start upgrading your belief systems and
neural pathways (more on that in a minute) by focusing on doing small things well.
“Small, seemingly
inconsistent steps completed consistently over time will create a radical
difference.” -Darren Hardy, former editor of SUCCESS Magazine
If You Don’t Change Your
Beliefs First, More Action Won’t Help.
More action in the wrong frame of mind won’t help.
Action can help — I’m not saying it
doesn’t. But action executed from a fundamentally flawed mindset can only reveal what
you need to fix. You can’t have
sustainable success with the wrong mindset; you’ll never have enough of what
you’re seeking.
If you don’t change your limiting beliefs first, “more action” is like trying to paddle a boat with a
kitchen spoon; you’re spending enormous getting virtually nowhere. Outward accomplishment is always preceded by
mental creation; you must envision your future first before you can
secure it.
Your frame of mind before you start an endeavor is
vastly more important than the endeavor itself. This is the difference between
an amateur and a professional; the beginner begins his or her task without much
thought, but the elite professional first gets him or herself in the right
frame of mind, then acts.
If, deep down, you don’t really have the belief of
yourself, you’re practically guaranteed to fail. Mental creation always
precedes physical accomplishment.
Internal belief
precedes external achievement.
In college, I was a hopeless, heart-sick romantic.
You could always find me pining over the next cute girl, getting swept in the
intoxicating whirlwind of maybe-she’s-the-one without ever really working on
myself. In the end, nothing worked; I hoped to find a long-term serious
relationship, but only ended up heartbroken from toxic flings.
I didn’t “sharpen my axe” first, as Abraham
Lincoln would have suggested. So in my senior year, I stopped focusing on girls
and started focusing on myself — going to counseling, therapy, and prepared to graduate and enter
my career.
That was the year my now-wife Kimi and I started
dating. Ironically, I wasn’t looking for it — I was busy working on
my beliefs and values. As a result, I achieved what I wanted: a committed relationship with an incredibly beautiful and amazing
young woman.
If you don’t change your flawed core beliefs, more
action and gritted teeth won’t help. If you’re not seeing the results you want,
you probably need to change your frame of mind first.
“You got this far
operating under one set of assumptions. Abandoning those assumptions and
embracing a new, bigger set may be exactly what you need to to do get to the
next level.” -Seth Godin
Not Being You Will
Destroy You
“Personal incongruency
is what causes so much of our pain.” -Tim
Denning
If your actions aren’t aligned with your core
beliefs and principles, you won’t get anywhere. If you do, any progress will
always include feelings of frustration and emptiness.
Growing up, I constantly struggled with
pornography. I was hooked, and it became a crutch for me whenever I felt any
discomfort of any kind. I knew it was wrong, and as a Christian it went against
my core beliefs. But I couldn’t stop. I didn’t stop.
No matter what results I achieved — win sports
championships, nominated for high school “Big Man On Campus,” successfully get
cute girls to date me — my actions (compulsive pornography consumption) were
completely unaligned with my core beliefs. As a result, no amount of action or results satisfied me.
It wasn’t until my early 20’s that I went to
counseling and therapy for the emotional chaos and devastation behind my
obsessive addiction. After I started to resolve that, I began seeing results.
My relationship with my now-wife upgraded tremendously. My self-confidence increased ten-fold. My writing career (and self-belief in my
potential) took off and I was able to earn a full-time income.
Not being you will
destroy you. If your actions
keep falling outside your core beliefs and values, you’ll always end up
frustrated and empty.
Create New Neural
Pathways That Lead to an Upgraded Mindset
“The neural pathways
you create become mindsets that tend to dictate how you think and what you
visualize most easily.” -Kris Valloton, Best-Selling author
Many people have formed numerous well-worn ruts of
negative thoughts in their mind that lead to negative, self-defeating
conclusions. These are called neural pathways, and they’re strong; one neural
scientist compared this process to dropping a hot steel ball bearing into a
hunk of cheese.
This is why it’s so hard for people to change — these ruts are deep.
Once they’re created, these pathways
become familiar to us. And if there’s one thing we like, it’s comfort and
familiarity.
This is why so many top-tier athletes, performers,
entrepreneurs, actors, and leaders have experienced so much personal evolution and constant mindset upgrades. As the old saying goes, “what got
you here won’t get you there.” In the words of Leonardo DeCaprio:
“Every next level of your life will demand a different you.”
What old beliefs have been holding you back?
What mental ruts are you sick of walking in?
What new beliefs do you need to start believing?
I’ve had to create lots of new neural pathways.
I’ve made a lot of embarrassing mistakes in the past few years; some people get defensive and deny their
mistakes, but my tendency is to begin intense self-hatred and self-loathing.
It’s been difficult to create a new, better response.
But I’ve worked hard at it. The other day, I was
cycling up a long, steep hill (those are great for thinking), and I just
started saying the phrase to myself,
“It’s OK. It’s OK. It’s
OK. I made a mistake, and that’s OK. People make mistakes, and that’s OK. I’m
OK. it’s OK. I made a mistake, but that’s OK.”
It might sound silly and hokey to you. But I felt
way better after. That’s because I was literally teaching myself to have a
better response to a mistake than to hate myself. Tony Robbins has told similar
stories of repeating truths to himself during physical exertion.
We all need new neural pathways. The truth is,
you’re not a piece of shit. You’re not hopeless. You’re not a loser — even if that’s the same
refrain you’ve been hearing for years.
Want better results? Then stop operating in
mediocre frames of mind and develop new neural pathways that lead you towards
truth and growth.
In Conclusion
The idea of achieving 100x the results with 1/10th
the effort might seem silly to you.
But I’ve seen it myself. I tried to change things
for years — my writing, my addictions, my behavior, my relationship — and I mean I really tried. I worked my butt off.
But it wasn’t until I relaxed, took a step back,
and reset my frame of mind. You know, it takes more energy to dwell in mediocrity
than to start being successful. It’s exhausting to constantly be fighting off
discouragement, fear, anxiety, and frustration all the time.
Instead of going virtually nowhere despite
exerting massive energy, stop. Reset your frame of mind. Nurture your
self-belief. Then go out and do it.
That’s how you get big results with a fraction of
the effort.
Anthony Moore
https://theascent.pub/how-to-consistently-accomplish-100x-more-results-with-1-10th-your-usual-effort-40dafb8e01dc
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