12
WAYS
to be more
successful
Stefano Ganddini
C
ollegetopia
hange. Improve. Succeed.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction 3 Section 1: Develop A Success Mindset 5 Section 2: Do Less Better 8 Section 3: Get Comfortable With Being Uncomfortable 10 Section 4: Experiment More 12 Section 5: Improve Your Social Skills 15 Section 6: Find Mentors 18 21 Section 8: Take Control Of Your Habits 23 Section 9: Read More 26 Section 10: Write More 28 Section 11: Enjoy The Present Moment 31 Section 12: Show Up Every Day 33 About The Author 35
Section 7: Practice Objectivity // Page 2
INTRODUCTION
I believe that every single person is born with an incredible potential to achieve incredible things. The problem is that not everyone learns how to tap into that potential, which is why most people end up living ordinary lives full of “what if’s” and “if only’s.” A few years ago, I decided that I was tired of being ordinary. Since then, I’ve been obsessively researching what differentiates those who succeed from those who don’t. With all the scammy marketing crap that’s on the Internet these days, sometimes it can be hard to find the stuff of substance—you know, the stuff that actually works. The stuff that’s been proven by people who have gotten real results. And while there is some great stuff hidden in the small corners of the Internet, a lot of people seem to have forgotten that books are still the most condensed form of knowledge on the planet (more on this later). That’s why I decided to write this eBook. Over the last few years I’ve had my ups and downs experimenting with different ideas in my own life, trying to figure out what works and what doesn’t, and cataloguing the results on my blog. This eBook is my first attempt at compiling all of the most important things I’ve learned so far into a single, compact form. Given that I’m only a senior in college, I know that my successes are small and insignificant relative to the amazing things that Bill Gates and Warren Buffet and all the Mark Zuckerburg’s of our time have accomplished. So why should you listen to what I have to say? I don’t know. I guess you shouldn’t. It’s up to you. I didn’t write this eBook with the intention of it being some sort of be-‐all, end-‐all guide to success. I’m just trying to contribute what I can to the conversation. The ideas in this eBook are the ones that have had the biggest impact in my life, and seem to have also resonated well with the readers of my blog. They might not be revolutionary, but if I had gotten // Page 3
12 Ways To Be More Successful
my hands on something like this just a few years ago I could’ve avoided many, many mistakes. I guess I wrote this eBook as a sort of guide for myself, but I think it might be useful to you too. You might not agree with everything I have to say. That’s fine. But even if there’s only one thing in this entire eBook that motivates you to get off your butt and go do something, then all the effort I put into it will have been worth it. Which brings me to my next point: I’ve designed this eBook in a way that makes it easy for you to take immediate action. At the end of each section, I’ve included a set of “action items,” which are a set of specific, actionable steps that I highly recommend you do before moving onto the next section. It’s easy to get stuck in the cycle of reading article after article, only to never take any action. Reading is great, but real progress requires action. Knowledge is meaningless without application. !
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So let’s get started... // Page 4
The path to success
is to take massive,
determined action.”
– Tony Robbins
Section 1:
Develop A Success Mindset
Most people think that successful people were born with more natural ability than the rest of the world. They think successful people were born with more talent, or more intelligence, or more physical strength. Or they received a better education, or they had more resources, or maybe they just got “lucky.” That’s bullshit. It doesn’t matter how smart you are. It doesn’t matter how much money you have. It doesn’t matter where you come from. Some of the most successful people in the world started out with absolutely nothing. Look at Oprah Winfrey. Not only is she black and female—the two demographics that have faced the most discrimination throughout history—but she was also born to an unmarried, teenage mother, spent her first six years living in rural poverty, and was sexually abused when she was nine years old. Few people have suffered as much as she has. But did she spend the rest of her life feeling sorry for herself, wishing her life was different? No. Instead, she went on to become the richest self-‐
made woman in America, and the first black woman billionaire in history. How’d she do it? How’d she manage to become so successful, even with the cards stacked against her? She overcame the biggest obstacle to success, which is the invisible barrier that exists inside our heads—the only barrier that truly keeps us from achieving great things. // Page 5
12 Ways To Be More Successful
It’s this internal barrier—not ability, not resources, not luck—that keeps people from becoming high achievers. It’s the little voice in our heads that tells us that we’re not good enough that convinces people there’s no point in trying. But once you overcome this mental obstacle, no external obstacle can ever stop you. Think about how many barriers, or things we thought to be barriers, turned out to be only mental obstacles… • People used to think it was impossible to fly. Then, on December 17th, 1903, the Wright brothers constructed and flew the first successful airplane. • Pilots used to think it was impossible to fly faster than the speed of sound. Then, on October 14th, 1947, Chuck Yeager became the first person to break the sound barrier. • Runners used to think it was impossible to run a mile in less than 4 minutes. Then, on May 6, 1954, Roger Bannister ran it in 3 minutes 59.4 seconds. These are just a few examples. History is littered with exemplary people who have proven again and again that with the right mental attitude and some patience, nothing is impossible. Sure, you might hit some road bumps along the way, you might have to take another route, and it might take longer than you had expected… but eventually you will get there. When you really, genuinely believe this—that in the end, you will win, no matter what—then, and only then, are you are on the path to living a life of great success. I know that I still have a lot to learn; but, I’ve started to realize how incredibly important it is to have this success-‐oriented mentality, if nothing else. // Page 6
12 Ways To Be More Successful
You didn’t get the job you wanted? You bombed a test? The girl you like doesn’t like you back? That sucks, but it’s not the end of the world. Learn from your mistakes, and move on. You have to believe you were born to succeed, even when you feel like a complete failure—especially when you feel like a complete failure. It’s hard to do, I know. If it was easy, everyone would be successful. But if you’re reading this, you’re probably not like everyone. !
ACTION ITEM This is a great exercise I heard about from author Michael Hyaj: Write down 3 limikng beliefs you have. Then, cross them out and replace them with 3 liberakng beliefs. Examples: “I’m just not cut out to be successful.” “I was born to succeed.” “I’m never going to ﬁnd out what I want to do with my life.” “I’m taking small steps and moving closer and closer towards where I want to be.” “I’m such an awkward person.” “I am working on improving my social skills, because I enjoy conneckng with people. It is uncomfortable right now, but soon it will come more naturally to me.” The next kme you catch yourself feeling overcome by a limikng belief, remind yourself of this exercise. // Page 7
SECTION 2:
Do Less Better
We can only give our full, focused attention to so many things. As David Allen, creator of the Getting Things Done (GTD) time management method, says: “You can do anything, but you can’t do everything.” Everything has an opportunity cost, and time is our most valuable resource. Every successful person lives by this principle. They’re ruthless with their time. I read an article not too long ago that explains how Warren Buffet, the second richest man in America, has been able to achieve as much as he has. He uses the following 3-‐step strategy. Step 1: Write down your top 25 career goals. (These can also be goals that you wish to complete on a shorter timeline—like 25 things you wish to accomplish this year, or even this month—and they don’t have to be limited to career goals). Step 2: Review your list and circle your top 5 goals. (Pause right now and do these first two steps before reading step 3). Step 3: You should now have two lists: the 5 things you circled are List A, and the 20 things that you didn’t circle are List B. Here’s the crucial part: List B is now your Avoid-‐At-‐All-‐Cost List. This means that no matter what, everything on your Avoid-‐At-‐All-‐Cost List gets no attention from you until you’ve succeeded with your Top 5. It’s about giving your full, focused attention to only a few select things, the most important things, and avoiding anything that distracts you from those things. // Page 8
12 Ways To Be More Successful
It’s easy to recognize and eliminate (or at least minimize) the obvious distractions, like TV and social media. It’s not so easy to eliminate things that are important to us —the things that we might consider “second priority items”—when we don’t even recognize them as distractions in the first place. But if they’re not the MOST important things, that’s exactly what they are
—distractions. But second priority items are the enemy. Second priority items are the reason why you currently have 25 half-‐finished projects. Anything that’s not directly helping you to achieve your most important goals is, directly or indirectly, preventing you from achieving those goals. Since implementing this “2 List” strategy in my own life, I’ve been making huge leaps of progress on my Top 5 goals. But defining your Top 5 is only half of the equation. The other half is identifying your “why” for each goal. Ask yourself why each goal is important to you, and don’t settle for superficial reasons. Dig deep. Keep asking “why” until you get down to the real reason. If you don’t have a genuine reason, you’ll probably end up giving up on it, because you’ll forget why the goal was important to you in the first place. !
ACTION ITEM Follow the 3-‐step strategy outlined above. Pay close attention to what’s on your Avoid-‐At-‐All-‐Cost list, and realize that you have to be willing to sacrifice good things in order to do great things. After you’ve identified your top 5, identify your why’s. // Page 9
SECTION 3:
“
Get Comfortable With Being
Uncomfortable
If you are willing to do only
what’s easy, life will be hard,
but if you are willing to do
what’s hard, life will be
easy.” – T. Harv Eker
If you want to achieve anything great in your life, you have to get comfortable with being uncomfortable. Instead of sticking to what’s familiar all the time, seek out opportunities that put you in uncomfortable positions. Instead of acting out of fear, practice acting in spite of fear. In fact, use your fear as an indicator—let it guide you toward the things that you know will make you a better person. As Steven Pressfield, author of The War of Art, says: “ The more scared you are of doing something, the more certain you can be that you have to do it.” Stop over-‐thinking it. Planning is good but, at a certain point, planning just becomes another form of procrastination. The most successful people in the world are master executors. When they have an idea, they don’t sit on it for days, or months, or years before deciding to act on it. They act immediately.
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I first started thinking about starting my blog nearly two years before I actually started it. If I had started my blog the day I first thought about it, I would be two years ahead of where I am right now. Don’t make the same mistake I made. Work on closing the gap between thinking of an idea and executing it. Don’t overwhelm yourself by looking too far ahead. Focus on making one move at a time. Break down big projects into small, bite-‐size pieces, and start with the easy part. Once you’ve built some momentum, move onto the more difficult parts. Anything worth achieving requires some level of discomfort. Everyone knows how important it is to work out our bodies. But we forget that our mind is also a muscle—the more we work it out, the stronger it gets. Start by doing small things… Talk to strangers, take cold showers, sign up for an improv class. It doesn’t matter what it is, just do something, and do it on a daily basis. By doing something as simple as taking cold showers every day (I’ve written pretty extensively about this on my blog), you build your tolerance for discomfort. A high tolerance for discomfort enables us to keep calm in times of stress, to adapt to the obstacles that life throws at us, and to fearlessly take on new challenges. !
ACTION ITEM Think of one thing that makes you uncomfortable. Maybe it’s talking to strangers. Or maybe is public speaking. Or maybe it’s taking a salsa class. Whatever that one thing is, go do it. // Page 11
SECTION 4:
“
Experiment More
Many of life’s failure are
people who did not realize
how close they were to
success when they gave up.”
– Thomas A. Edison
Any time you see someone successful, know that they had to overcome many obstacles, and many failures, to get there. Think of any great success story and you’ll find that the turning point was, invariably, the result of some sort of epic failure that forced him or her to think of an alternative way of doing things. Look at Steve Jobs. When he was 30, Apple’s board of directors fired him. But he didn’t let that stop him. He went on to found a new company called NeXT, which was eventually acquired by Apple. Within two years, Jobs saved Apple from near bankruptcy, and the rest was history. Redemption at its finest. In a speech Jobs gave at Stanford University, he said being fired from Apple was the best thing that could have happened to him. It is through failure that the world’s greatest innovations are born. As author Ryan Holiday says, “Failure shows us the way—by showing us what isn’t the way.” And yet most of us continue to do everything we can to avoid any situation that might put us at even the slightest risk of failure. We have to realize that failure is not as catastrophic or as permanent as
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we often make it out to be. Unless we allow it to be. It might help to stop labeling everything we do in our lives as success or failures, and instead start thinking of everything as an experiment. As Thomas Edison said, “I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work." Edison didn’t “fail” 10,000 times. He was simply experimenting. When one experiment didn’t work, he tried something else. I don’t know if it actually took Edison 10,000 tries to invent the light bulb, but I bet he wouldn’t have given up even if it had taken him 100,000 tries. That’s what it takes. Ruthless persistence. How many experiments do you usually conduct before giving up? When was the last time you failed? When was the last time you even gave yourself a chance to fail? !
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Would you like me to give
you a formula for success?
It's quite simple, really:
Double your rate of failure.”
– Thomas J. Watson
But don’t just fail for the sake of failing. The one way to guarantee we don’t benefit from failure is to not learn from it. And while it’s true that humans only learn from mistakes, that doesn’t only apply to the mistakes we make on our own. If you see someone touch something hot, and it burns his hand, would // Page 13
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you go on to touch it too? Of course not. You don’t have to touch it to know that it will burn you, because you already learned that by seeing someone else do it. You can learn from other people’s mistakes as much as you can learn from your own. There’s no need to reinvent the wheel. Similarly, if you’re doing the same thing, over and over again, but expecting to get different results, you will go insane. If something’s not working, for God’s sake, stop doing it and try something else. Avoid making the mistakes that can be avoided, but don’t be afraid to go out on a limb and try something new. If it doesn’t work out, good. You’re now one step closer to finding out what does. !
ACTION ITEM Write down three new “experiments” to try in your life, in any area where you’re not currently getting the results you want. Here are some examples: If you want to be more productive, try waking up earlier. If you want to get better grades, try using the Feynman technique. If you want to gain more muscle, try consuming more protein. // Page 14
SECTION 5:
Improve Your Social Skills
Many intellectually brilliant people never earn the recognition they deserve, simply because they have poor social skills. By the same token, people with average intelligence but outstanding social skills can often achieve great success. Whether you like it or not, the fact remains: people with amazing social skills are more successful than those without. “
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The most important single
ingredient in the formula of
success is knowing how to
get along with people.”
– Theodore Roosevelt
It amazes me that, while social skills might be one of the most valuable skills one can possibly have, we rarely look at it as a learnable skill that can be systematically improved. After all, it is a skill, and just like any other skill, it can be improved—all it takes is some practice. But first you have to genuinely want to improve your social skills. For a long time, I would say that I wanted to become more social, but deep down I was holding onto a strong resentment towards extremely social people. The reason why it took me so long to start making an effort to improve my social skills was because I had a subconscious bias against socially adept people. I would tell myself I wanted to be more social, but I didn’t want to become one of those “douchebags” and start changing the way // Page 15
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I talked. I thought people should like me for who I was. Now I realize how stubborn and judgmental I was being. Over the last few years I’ve learned that a big part of being social is less about you and more about others. It’s about exhibiting a genuine interest in the people you meet, listening to what they have to say, and understanding where they’re coming from. But you can’t do any of those things without first overcoming any psychological barriers you might have. Once you’ve done that, forming genuine connections with other people will be much easier. Then, it’s just a matter of putting yourself out there. This means talking to people as often as you can… Talk to your classmates, talk to the person standing next to you in line, talk to random strangers on the street. During the fall of my sophomore year I did a 30-‐day challenge to talk to someone new every day. Even though I failed and only managed to talk to someone new for 18 days out of the 30, in those 18 days I think I met more people than I had the entire semester, some with whom I’m still in contact today. Before doing this challenge I was terrified of approaching people I didn’t know—especially girls. But today, if I see someone I’m interested in talking to, I’ll immediately walk up to him or her and start a conversation. If you don’t think you’d be able to do that, to reframe the way you think about talking to strangers, realize that you’re actually doing them a favor by talking to them. Think about the last time a stranger started a conversation with you. How’d it make you feel? Pretty good, right? You weren’t weirded out were you? No, you were probably pleasantly surprised. Human beings are social creatures. We like being talked to. We like it when other people take an interest in us. Even introverts like myself. // Page 16
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Being social is about making that extra effort to show people that you’re interested in what’s going on in their lives. Try to understand their points of view and why they believe what they believe. Help them in any way you can. And, if nothing else, just have some fun. !
ACTION ITEM Talk to someone new today (or at the next opportunity you have) using “the 3-‐second rule”: if you see someone you’re interested in talking to, you have 3 seconds to walk up to them and start a conversation. Simple, yes, but also extremely effective. Here’s why it works: if you wait any longer than 3 seconds, you’ll probably end up over-‐thinking it and never say anything at all. Stop worrying about what to say. Anything is better than nothing.
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SECTION 6:
Find Mentors
Don’t be afraid to ask for help. Tiger Woods is the greatest golfer in the world, and even he has a coach. He knows that, in order to stay on top of his game, he has to keep learning. As good as he is, he knows that he can’t figure everything out on his own. Last summer, I interned at a large global consulting firm and each intern was formally assigned a “peer advisor”—a recent new hire to teach the in’s and out’s of working at the company. While most of the other interns barely talked to their peer advisors, I made a conscious effort to develop a strong relationship with mine. I asked him questions almost every day. I asked him how I could differentiate myself from the other interns, how to work more effectively on projects, and how to get put on the projects I wanted. Guess what? Every time he answered a question for me, he gave me super useful advice that made me more confident, productive, and knowledgeable than the rest of the interns. Towards the end of my internship, I was the one intern (out of 147 interns in the nation) invited to attend conferences in Las Vegas with some of the top managers and directors of the company. I was flown out to Vegas to attend workshops, network, and eat fancy dinners at really, really nice restaurants—all expenses paid. Coincidentally, my peer advisor also happened to be working on a project in Vegas at the time. I’m not saying that I got invited to attend these conferences solely because of my relationship with my peer advisor, but it couldn’t have hurt. Now, I realize that we’re not usually assigned mentors like I was in my
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internship, but you can find mentors everywhere. If there’s someone that you want to learn from, just reach out to them. For example, the other day, I came across a great article by entrepreneur Max Ogles, so I decided to shoot him an email. Why not? As Ryan Holiday says, we must be confident enough to ask, humble enough not to expect. Here’s the email I sent him: !
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I didn’t expect him to respond, especially after a few days of not hearing back, but then he did. And he gave me some really great advice. I don’t ask for feedback enough. This is something that I really need to start doing more frequently. I replied back to him thanking him for his advice and letting him know that I will be trying to get feedback on the next few pieces I write. I plan on following up with him again in a month or so letting him know what the results are. As long as you’re not asking for too much and are respectful of their time, people are usually more than happy to help. That being said, if you
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email Bill Gates right now, you probably won’t get a response. Your best bet is to look for mentors who are one or two levels above you in whatever skill you’re trying to improve. They’re the ones who will be more willing to help you, since they were just in your shoes not too long ago. Another thing to keep in mind is the importance of taking action. If you ask someone for help, take his or her advice to heart. Implement his advice, and then follow up with him on your results. This is what will separate you from everyone else—you take action, they don’t. If you do this, he will more than likely be happy to help you again in the future. ACTION ITEM 1.
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Find three people you would like to mentor you who are one or two levels above you. Look for any advice you can find from these people that’s publicly available. Read their books, blogs, social media profiles, etc. If you can contact them personally, ask them one—just one—very specific question. Implement their advice. Follow up with them on your results. // Page 20
SECTION 7:
Practice Objectivity
In every situation, there is the event itself and the story we tell ourselves about what it means. There’s the observation and the perception. For example, the phrase “this happened and it is bad” is a combination of the two. The observation—“this happened”—is objective. The perception
—“it is bad”—is subjective. Being able to recognize the difference is crucial. Just because your mind tells you that something is terrible or catastrophic or unwanted doesn’t mean you have to agree. The story we tell ourselves usually makes situations worse than they actually are. A couple weeks ago I got some bad news from the doctor, and I started to freak out. Until I remembered, I’m not going to die from this. Whenever you catch yourself starting to freak out over something, whenever you feel that anxiety begin to creep up on you, stop. Ask yourself, “am I going to die from this?” Evolution has left our brains wired to respond to danger but, in most of our day-‐to-‐day struggles, we are not in life-‐or-‐death situations. It might help to repeat it over and over: I am not going to die from this. I am not going to die from this. I am not going to die from this. Once we are able to control our nerves, then we are able to see things clearly—for what they actually are, without distractions, exaggerations, or misperceptions. Most of our problems come from applying judgments to things we don’t control, from creating expectations about the way we think things should be, as if there were a way they were supposed to be. Here’s how you can stop doing that:
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Whenever you’re facing an obstacle, remove “you”—the subjective part—
from the equation. Take your situation and pretend it is happening to someone else. What advice would you give them? Suddenly you will know exactly what to do. Just think about how easy it is to give others advice. The solutions to their problems are crystal clear to us. We wonder why our friends can’t see them—it’s so obvious what they have to do. But when we’re dealing with our own problems, we become completely blind to the obvious solutions. We’re able to give others advice so easily because we are viewing their situations as a third party (objectively). But when we’re the ones facing problems, we lose that objectivity. It also helps to expand the context of your situation. In isolation, the obstacles we’re facing may seem unfair and unbearable. But when you remove yourself and look at the bigger picture, you see that everyone faces obstacles. You see that people have overcome much more intimidating ones than your own. While we can’t change the obstacles themselves, what we can do—and all that really matters—is change how we see them and how we react to them. !
ACTION ITEM Take one obstacle you’re currently facing, and remove yourself from the equation. If someone else were in your situation, what advice would you give that person? Take that advice. // Page 22
SECTION 8:
Take Control of Your Habits
We are creatures of habit. One study done at Duke University found that more than 40 percent of the actions people perform in a single day are done out of habit. It’s no wonder that there is a direct correlation between a person’s habits and his or her level of success. Take a look at this infographic: Source: http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/230918
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Are your habits working in your favor, or against? If you want to be successful, find the people that are where you want to be and copy them. More specifically, copy their habits. We all know that changing habits is hard, but studies show that simply understanding how habits work makes them easier to control. The first thing we have to understand about habits is that they are made up of three parts—the cue (or trigger), the routine (the habit itself), and the reward. This is often referred to as the habit loop. It’s also crucial to understand that we can’t eliminate a habit; we can only change it. Meaning, we can't remove a habit without putting something else in its place—something else that follows the same cue and delivers the same reward. Finally, a great way to ensure that a habit sticks is by tracking it. One way of doing this, often referred to as the Seinfeld method, is to track how many consecutive days you can succeed with your new habit. Marking an X for each day that you succeed, you begin to create a chain. The goal is to not break the chain. This alone is extremely helpful, but I recently read an article by Max Ogles that takes the Seinfeld method one step further with what I’ve started calling the 3-‐2-‐1 method. This method tracks not only frequency of behavior, but also quality. Here’s an example of how it works. Say I’m trying to write for a minimum of 1 hour every day. Each day that I write for 1 hour, I mark that day on a chart (I just use an Excel spreadsheet). But instead of putting an X, I use a simple 3-‐2-‐1 scale to rate how well I did it. A 3 means “Yes, I did it”; a 2 means “I did it, but I cheated a little”; a 1 means “No, I didn’t do it at all.” At the end of each week, I can calculate my success rate by adding up the numbers. Over time, I will have sufficient data to track my performance and notice any (hopefully positive) trends. // Page 24
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If the 3-‐2-‐1 method sounds cool to you, try it out. If not, don’t. It doesn’t matter what method you use, the most important thing is that you start taking control of your habits—or risk letting them control you. !
ACTION ITEM Pick one bad habit that’s been holding you back (watching TV, eating junk food, spending too much time on Facebook, smoking, drinking, etc.). Whatever it is, break it down. Figure out what triggers this behavior, and the reward it provides. Then, find something to replace it (remember, whatever you replace it with must follow the same trigger and deliver the same reward). Example: If you turn on the TV every day as soon as you get home for stress relief, try opening up a book instead. Same trigger, same reward, better habit. // Page 25
SECTION 9:
Read More
Successful people read A LOT. Warren Buffet says he reads 500+ pages per day. He estimates that he spends 80 percent of his working day just sitting in his office reading and thinking. In an interview, Bill Gates was once asked, “If you could have a superpower, what would it be?” He responded, “Being able to read super fast.” There are hundreds and hundreds of years of the human experience available to us in the form of books. While there are some great blogs on the Internet, books are so much better, at least in terms of ROI. While most bloggers might spend a few days writing a blog post, authors spend years—sometimes an entire lifetime—writing a single book. Reading a book might seem like a big commitment, but when you look at what you get in return (years of knowledge) for that commitment, it’s definitely worth it. A book is the most radically condensed form of knowledge on the planet. That’s why one of my biggest New Year’s resolutions for 2015 is to read more. As I’m writing this, it’s the second week of January, and I’ve already read two books. That’s two more than I read last year. It’s actually a lot easier than it sounds. If you read just 20 minutes a day, you can finish a 200 page book in 10 days (assuming a rate of 1 page/
minute—if you’re a slow reader, check out this article where I explain how I increased my reading speed from 230 wpm to 600+ wpm). If you don’t have 20 minutes, then do 10 minutes. You’ll still be reading
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more than a book a month. If you need some book recommendations, check out these sites: Tai Lopez’s Top Book Recommendations Ryan Holiday’s Reading List !
ACTION ITEM List three books you want to read. Now go get them (I’d suggest buying them from Amazon, it’s usually cheaper than a bookstore). // Page 27
SECTION 10:
Write More
Some of the greatest minds in history were famous for having kept daily journals. Marcus Aurelius, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Winston Churchill… among many others. Tim Ferrris, #1 New York Times best-‐selling author of The 4-‐Hour Workweek, gives two very good reasons why he journals nearly every morning: 1. It helps him figure things out. 2. It helps him get on with his day. Or, in his own words: “I’m just caging my monkey mind on paper so I can get on with my fucking day.” Even if you consider yourself a terrible writer, writing is a great tool that you can and should use. There are so many benefits to writing, even if it’s not intended for anyone but yourself. “Morning pages,” as Tim Ferris calls his morning journal entries, “don’t need to solve your problems. They simply need to get them out of your head, where they’ll otherwise bounce around all day like a bullet ricocheting inside your skull.” Putting our thoughts onto paper gets rid of all the noise inside our heads and allows us to focus on getting on with our day. Tim Ferris concludes with the following: “Could bitching and moaning on paper for five minutes each morning change your life? As crazy as it might seem, I believe the answer is yes.” I agree with him. Writing has had a profoundly positive effect on my life. Whenever I feel overwhelmed, or whenever something bad happens to
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me, or whenever I feel like I have no idea what I’m doing with my life, I just sit down and write. It calms me down and helps me see things more clearly. It’s almost like a form of therapy. But people also write for other reasons. Entrepreneur Robyn Scott talks about another way she uses writing as a tool in her life: “
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Immediately after every lecture,
meeting, or any significant
experience, she takes 30
seconds—no more, no less—to
write down the most important
points.
It’s harder to do than it sounds. I started implementing this 30 second habit about a month ago and it’s helped me gain so much more value out of the things I experience in my day-‐
to-‐day activities. It forces me to pay closer attention to slight nuances that I would’ve otherwise missed while keeping in mind the bigger picture. It’s entirely different than note-‐taking. It’s hard work deciding what few things count, instead of just writing every single thing down like we often do in meetings or lectures. Deciding what’s important is sort of like a brief mental-‐
sprint. It makes your brain hurt. It’s the same idea behind the Feynman technique—taking a complex idea, simplifying it, and putting it into your own words. In part, this describes my motivation for writing Collegetopia. It’s common knowledge that one of the best ways to learn something, // Page 29
12 Ways To Be More Successful
and to learn it really well, is by teaching it to someone else. That’s exactly what blogging allows you to do. I’ve learned so much more about the topics I write about on Collegetopia than I ever would have otherwise. Blogging also serves as a form of personal accountability. When I’m writing about different ways to become successful, I often go back to what I’ve written to remind myself to practice what I preach. A lot of my writing is nothing more than advice for myself. !
ACTION ITEM Take 30 seconds to write down 2-‐3 of your biggest takeaways from this section.
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SECTION 11:
Enjoy The Present Moment
My biggest fear in life is not living up to my fullest potential. I don’t like standing in one spot for too long, because when you stand in one spot for too long, you start to sink. When you’ve sunk too far, you get stuck. I don’t ever want to get stuck. But sometimes, because I’m always rushing from point A to point B, I forget enjoy the present moment—the only thing that’s actually real. It’s good to look back and learn from your mistakes, and it’s good to look forward and set new goals, but the best thing you can do is look at what’s around you, right now, and appreciate it. That doesn’t mean become complacent. It means be grateful for what you have. After all, this moment could be your last. There’s no guarantee for tomorrow. Focus on what is right here, right now. Focus on what is in front of you. Whatever that is, make the most of it. Enjoy it. We like to think that reaching certain milestones in our lives will make us happier, but if you’ve noticed, we usually don’t end up feeling much different. We might experience a short burst of “happiness” after certain milestones, but that happiness quickly fades away. The truth is that happiness doesn’t come from money, or fame, or any type of external “success.” It comes from appreciating every passing moment, listening to every person you meet, and contributing what you can to every situation you find yourself in. It comes from feeling the sun rays hitting your face and the wind blowing through your hair. When you’re happy just to be alive, // Page 31
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that’s when everything else falls into place. Studies actually show that happier people are generally more successful, not the other way around. I’m sure we can all think of an extremely successful person, someone who seems to have it all, who is far from happy. They’re completely miserable, and they have no idea why. That’s what happens when you set foot on what’s known as the “hedonic treadmill. ” If you’re not happy now, and you think becoming super successful will finally make you happy, you’re wrong. If you’re not happy now, in this very moment, you’ll never be happy. !
ACTION ITEM Write down three things you’re grateful for right now. Here are three things I’m grateful for right now: 1. You. The fact that I wrote this eBook in Los Angeles, and now you’re reading it, wherever you are in the world. 2. My education. The opportunity to be attending one of the greatest universities in the world. 3. My girlfriend, who’s sitting in the other room, waiting patiently for me to finish writing this section so that we can cook a delicious Italian dinner and drink some wine. // Page 32
SECTION 12:
Show Up Every Day
The following is an anecdote from The War of Art by Steven Pressfield: “Someone once asked Somerset Maugham if he wrote on a schedule or only when struck by inspiration. ‘I write only when inspiration strikes,’ he replied. ‘Fortunately it strikes every morning at nine o’clock sharp.’” That right there, is how you become successful – by showing up every day, rain or shine, whether you feel like it or not. Amateurs want the results, but they don’t want to follow the process. At the beginning of a new endeavor, they are overly enthusiastic and they have unrealistic expectations. Of course they fail. They set themselves up for failure from the beginning. Success is the result of small, but consistent improvements, day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year. That’s why successful people prepare their minds for the long haul. They understand delayed gratification. They aren’t discouraged by temporary set backs, because they know that eventually—inevitably—they will get to where they’re headed, no matter how long it takes. There’s no way around hard work. There are no shortcuts. You have to put in the time. You have to follow the process. For once, forget about the prize, forget about the end goal, and just focus on the task at hand. Focus on finishing the smallest little thing you have in front of you, right now. Don’t worry about what you’re going to do after that. Take it one step at a time, one day at a time. Work your ass off and, whatever happens, don’t stop. // Page 33
12 Ways To Be More Successful
ACTION ITEM There’s something you should be doing right now. There’s an email you need to send, or a workout you need to do, or an assignment you need to get started on. As soon as you finish reading this, go do it. // Page 34
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Stefano Ganddini is the creator of Collegetopia.co, a blog where he writes about unique, and sometimes unusual, but incredibly effective things that will help you start making small changes in your life to start achieving your biggest goals. He is currently a senior at the University of Southern California where he studies systems engineering. He is on four different merit-‐based scholarships. He started his senior year with a full-‐time job lined up for after he graduates, and last summer he was the one intern at his company (out of 147 interns in the nation) that was selected to attend a conference in Las Vegas with some of the top decision makers in the company. Stefano has written guest posts on notable sites like HackCollege.com and also been interviewed on the podcast shows of College Info Geek and Asian Efficiency. You can find those interviews here: This Dude is Winning at College… with Stefano Ganddini (Ep. 44) EP22: Cold Showers w/ Stefano Ganddini CONNECT WITH STEFANO If you have any questions, or want to let Stefano know what you thought of this eBook, you can connect with him here: Blog | Twitter | Facebook | Email // Page 35