What do you know that others think is untrue?
A few days ago I read a fascinating cover story in Fast Company magazine on Peter Thiel. Peter is a billionaire investor who co-founded PayPal, which was sold to eBay in 2002 for $1.5 billion. Since then he was one of the early investors in Facebook; he later invested in LinkedIn, Spotify, SpaceX and Airbnb. He obviously has a knack for determining what makes a successful company. So when I found out he had written a book, Zero to One, I ordered it immediately and read it in one day. I learned a lot about what it takes to grow [...]
Failure is not an option
In an attempt to reduce mistakes and failures and to increase the rate of success, people who manage or coach others often tell them: “You need to operate as if ‘Failure is not an option’.” By this they mean that you should have a mindset that has you do whatever it takes to insure success, that has you persist in the face of obstacles, that has you give it all you’ve got and then some. There’s nothing wrong with that type of mindset; it’s actually quite valuable. I spent years trying to acquire that mindset myself. At some point I [...]
Mistakes lead to breakthroughs
If you’re an expert in a certain field, many people think that you are supposed to have all the answers and never make a mistake. I’m not so sure about that. I think I am an expert in the fields of human behavior and change and I certainly don’t have all the answers and I make mistakes all the time. One mistake I’ve made was thinking that because most people think they can “see” their beliefs “in the world,” everyone could. When I realized I had made a mistake, I had a breakthrough. Actually, “mistakes” are like course corrections, in [...]
What is the single biggest barrier to achieving your dreams?
If you really want to understand why you haven’t achieved what you want—why you haven’t been able to manifest your dreams—answer the following five questions. Are you usually afraid of starting something new? Do you have a lot of ideas but you never seem to put them into action? Do you procrastinate a lot? Do you tend to do things the same way all the time? Do you wonder why you aren’t more creative and innovative? If you answered, “yes,” to any of these questions you probably have a fear of failure. Let me explain why. Why would anyone be [...]
What's Really Behind The Fear Of Taking Action… And What You Can Do About It
“I’m not afraid of failing, why would you think that?” This is a common response when I suggest to people who are afraid of taking action that what is really stopping them is a fear of failure. They explain that they aren’t thinking about failure; they are only aware of a vague sense of fear just before they are about to take some action. Nonetheless, let me explain why a fear of taking action is always a fear of failure and what you can do about it. How I know fear of taking action is a fear of failure I’ve [...]
You said that fear was your biggest problem
Whenever we do a survey of people on our mailing list, asking them to list the biggest problems they face, the most common answer is always a fear of failure. One common way that fear manifests is through procrastination, which is the third most common problem listed. In other words, people don’t take action because they are afraid to fail. But what’s wrong with failing? Why does it cause fear? And why would a fear of failing stop us from taking action? What is fear and what causes it? Fear is an emotion that results from a perceived threat to [...]
How To Change “Human Nature”
Are you bothered by a psychological problem that you aren’t even trying to get rid of because you think it’s “human nature” and can’t be eliminated? If so, you aren’t alone. For example, Seth Godin recently published his 13th book, Poke the Box, that explains most people’s failure to take action by claiming that people have to overcome their natural resistance in order to take action. His Domino Project also published a book by Steve Pressfield, Do the Work, that also emphasized how resistance is the single biggest barrier to creativity and innovation, and it includes tips on how to [...]
Why we have negative emotions … and what to do about them
For many years I had asked myself the questions: What is the real source of our negative emotions? Why do so many things cause fear in our lives that aren’t inherently scary? And why do some people experience negative emotions while other people don’t in similar situations? About eight years ago I wrote a paper for myself on the source of negative emotions. Today’s post is a summary of that paper. I think you’ll find some fascinating material here and I’m excited to get your responses and start a conversation. ***** What is an emotion? An emotion is the experiential, [...]
How the Mind Determines Athletic Success
In order to make this blog post personally valuable to you, I'd like to start by asking you a couple of questions. First, whatever sport you play, how often do you play up to your potential, in other words, if you rate your best performance a 10, how often do you play at a 10? ... The next question I'd like you to answer is: If you can play at a 10 sometimes, why can't you do it more frequently? You obviously have the physical skills and ability or you wouldn't have been able to do it that one [...]
