The Incredible Advantage of Learning Through Action

/
The Incredible Advantage of Learning Through Action

In 1896, two brothers named Orville and Wilber Wright had a preposterous idea.

“What if we could be the first ones to create manned flight?”

There was no reason to believe that the brothers would be successful. They had no formal education in engineering. They had no experience with any kind of aviation. And they had no financial backing – only the meager profits from their bicycle repair business.

They were also competing against the best and brightest minds in the country.

Read More

Moral Licensing - Why Feeling "Good" Justifies Doing "Bad"

/
Moral Licensing - Why Feeling "Good" Justifies Doing "Bad"

How can this be?

The researchers thought. They were testing to see whether people who were half way to completing their overall goal would be more likely to finish it if they were focused on how far they had come, or how far they still had to go.

The researchers thought they had a sure winner in the group that focused on their progress. After all, wouldn’t feeling good about how far you have come make you that much more committed to seeing the goal through to the finish?

Apparently not.

Read More

Why Talent is Overrated - And What Will Really Lead To Success

/
Why Talent is Overrated - And What Will Really Lead To Success

When Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was a mere 7 years of age, he began performing his music in the capitals of Europe.

He would dress up like a court minister and his sister like a princess play music to bedazzled audiences that happily paid to see the youngsters display their marvelous talents. [1]

They drew such large crowds that it was Wolfgang and his sister who supported the family – not their father Leopold who was a court musician and instructor.

Read More

Win the Battle You Are In

/
Win the Battle You Are In

In 1997, Michael Dell – founder of Dell Computer – was asked what he would do if he were the head of Apple.

“What would I do? I’d shut it down. And give the money back to the shareholders.” [1]

Apple had seemingly lost all hope. Since kicking its founder, Steve Jobs, out of the company in 1985, it had been through the wringer of CEOs that just did not understand what made Apple special.

But in 1997, with Apple seriously considering selling off its assets, the board offered the original founder his rightful position as head of the company once again.

Even with Steve Jobs back at the controls, things did not look promising.

Read More

How To Be Comfortable With Failure

/
How To Be Comfortable With Failure

My knee was scraped, my elbow was bruised and all I wanted to do was give up.

Most kids in my neighborhood didn’t know how to ride a bike anyway. My training wheels weren’t so bad. And some of the other kids weren’t even at that point!

So why keep trying to ride a bike?

I had spent a full hour with my dad riding around in this parking lot doing nothing but falling over and over again. I was crying and screaming bloody murder for him to let me stop.

But my dad demanded that I keep trying. If nothing else, I was going to learn to stay persistent. Besides, he knew that I was getting closer each time I gave it a try. 

Read More

The Overwhelming Power of Small Wins

/
The Overwhelming Power of Small Wins

During one of his many serious contemplations about suicide, Eric Clapton was saved by only one thought.

If he killed himself, he would no longer be able to drink. [1]

He had brief periods of addiction with coke and heroin, but neither of them were as important to him as his relationship with alcohol. After several times in which he seriously thought about ending his life, however, he finally checked himself into rehab.

After completing rehab, he remained sober for several years before one summer day.

Read More

The Boring Truth About Improving Your Productivity

/
The Boring Truth About Improving Your Productivity

Drew Carey looked at the huge stack of paper on his desk, the hundreds of emails in his inbox, and the dozens of voicemails on his phone.

He just couldn’t do it - how was he supposed to have a life? 

“There was no end to it. I felt like the more that I did in one area, the work would just start piling up in another area.”

At this point, Carey was one of the hardest workers in Hollywood. He was the host on Whose Line is it Anyway, he had his own hit TV show and hosted many events as the key speaker.

With all of these pulls on his time, improving his productivity was absolutely crucial. 

Read More

The Phenomenal Power of a Keystone Habit

/
The Phenomenal Power of a Keystone Habit

All seemed lost for Lisa Allen.

She was overweight, unemployed, clinically depressed and addicted to both alcohol and cigarettes. Her husband had just left her for a younger, more attractive woman and she began stalking the two of them; contemplating violent action.

To make matters even worse, she was standing on over $10,000 in debt without any means of repaying it. Even before her life was completely in shambles, she had never held a job for more than a year. 

She had absolutely nothing going for her in her life. 

Read More

The Huge Learning Mistake We All Make

/
The Huge Learning Mistake We All Make

“What am I doing wrong?!”

Thought the world-class missionary and linguist, Daniel Everett.

He had been sent deep into the heart of the Amazon jungle to teach Christianity to a tribe known as the Piraha. [1]

The Piraha language has been called THE hardest to understand on the planet. It seems to have no grammar structure to it, no alphabet, and one phrase has incredibly different meanings.

Read More

Why Bad Luck is Not a Bad Thing

/
Why Bad Luck is Not a Bad Thing

e could hardly hold his excitement in. His father was going to come home with 5 year-old Ray Bourque’s first ever pair of ice skates.

Then he laid his eyes on them. They were used, they were old, but they were his! He could hardly contain his excitement. 

Growing up in a poor neighborhood, in an apartment building with siblings stacked from floor to ceiling, he was just so grateful that his father was able to give him skates at all.

He was not going to let them go to waste.

Read More

How I Scientifically Created the Habit of Eating Healthy

/
How I Scientifically Created the Habit of Eating Healthy

t was January 2014 and I was in complete agony.

One week earlier I had set a new diet plan for myself. I was slowly starting to climb the ranks of the Spartan Race and I needed something to give me an extra edge.

A friend of mine who owns a gym suggested that I try a new thing called the “Paleo Diet for Athletes”. It was a relatively new diet at the time – at least for use by athletes – and it was completely non-conventional. 

It advocated that I cut what were the staples of my diet – pasta, oatmeal, peanut butter, etc. – and replace them with non-processed foods like meat, fruit and nuts. 

Read More

Want Power – How to Tap Into Your True Potential

/
Want Power – How to Tap Into Your True Potential

It was 10 hours into the Ironman Triathlon. Kara, a first-time Ironman Triathlete, felt so close to the finish yet she still had so far to go.

She had completed the 2.4 miles of swimming, the 112 miles of biking and half of the 26.2 miles of running. So much done, but she still had another 13.1 miles of pavement in front of her.

It was then that the physical toll of the event hit her. Her shoulders were aching, the blisters on her feet were excruciating, and her legs felt completely hollow. She felt like there was no way she could make it through the last 13.1 miles.

Read More

The Long Journey to Realizing a Dream

/
The Long Journey to Realizing a Dream

I was standing in the gym in early February, 2013. It was empty.

A month before I could hardly move there were so many people. All of them with enthusiasm. All of them with ambition. And all of them with the hope that 2013 is the year that they finally summon the willpower to become the person that they truly want to be.

The one who is fit.

The one who is healthy. 

The one who creates a goal and sticks with it to completion.

Yet there I stood. Looking around to empty treadmills, empty bikes, empty benches and merely a handful of people who exercise regularly.

It was then that it hit me. It shouldn’t be this way. 

Read More

How Small Details Make Incredible Differences

/
How Small Details Make Incredible Differences

At 24 years of age, Mark Cuban was far from what many would call a success.

“I was living in a 3-bedroom apartment in Dallas. I didn’t have my own bedroom. I slept on the couch or floor depending on what time I got home. I had no closet. Instead I had a pile that everyone knew was mine. My car had the usual hole in the floorboard, a ’77 FIAT X19 that burned a quart of oil that I couldn’t afford every week.”

Until that point, Cuban had been working exclusively in the service industry. His prospects were poor and he was essentially coasting through life. That all changed when Cuban landed a job with Your Business Software â€“ the first retail software store in Dallas.

 

Read More

Instantly Double Your Willpower by Leaving Yourself No Retreat

/
Instantly Double Your Willpower by Leaving Yourself No Retreat

The year was 1519 and Hernán CortĂ©s, with some 600 Spanish soldiers, had landed on a vast inland plateau called Mexico.

The Span­ish con­quis­ta­dor and his men were about to embark on a con­quest of an empire that hoarded some of the world’s great­est trea­sure. But, with only 600 unarmored men, con­quer­ing an empire as vast as Mexico was a mission that was doomed to fail.

This fact was even more clear when you look at the history of Europeans invading Mexico. Many with more soldiers and more resources had tried and failed to conquer the empire.

So Cortés devised a different strategy.

Read More

3 Powerful Reasons Heroes Strengthen Your Willpower

/
3 Powerful Reasons Heroes Strengthen Your Willpower

“Tell me who your heroes are and I’ll tell you how you’ll turn out to be.” – Warren Buffet

My childhood room was lined with posters of them. 

Michael Jordan 

Wayne Gretzky

Arnold Schwarzenegger

Ken Griffey Jr. 

Will Smith

They were my wall of heroes. They represented everything I dreamed of becoming. I wanted to be a sports star. I wanted to be famous. I wanted to be admired. I wanted to become something bigger than the average person.

Read More

Fear Doesn't Kill Dreams. This Does.

/
Fear Doesn't Kill Dreams. This Does.

Carol is in one of the most universally dreaded positions - she is about to give a public speech.

Her palms are sweaty. She can feel her knees trembling. She begins to look down on her notes, then up at the stage where the spotlight is on the person introducing her. Her heart feels like it is about to completely beat out of her chest.

How is she supposed to go up and talk in front of all of these people?!

She is certain that she is going to make a mistake, miss a key part of her speech and have the entire crowd ridicule her. It feels as if she fears the next 30 minutes more than any other 30 minutes she has ever faced in her life.

Read More

The Top 10 Willpower Questions

/
The Top 10 Willpower Questions

What is the key distinguishing factor in willpower success and failure?

Why do I have willpower some days and not others?

Is there a difference in willpower between men and women?

Willpowered now has almost 30,000 email subscribers (who all rock) and I receive about 20-30 emails from you every single day. Many of which have very good questions!

So I wanted to share some of the best and most frequently asked questions from subscribers so everyone can see their answers!

Read More

The Confirmation Bias - Why Self-Justification is Just So Easy

/
The Confirmation Bias - Why Self-Justification is Just So Easy

“Sleep?! Sleep is for people who are broke. I don’t sleep. I have an opportunity to turn a dream into a reality.” – Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson 

I think about that quote every time I am up late working, and realize that I have more work than hours that I planned to stay awake. I know the extraordinary value that sleep has on my willpower, but when I want to keep working, I just think about that quote.

Then I turn to other anecdotal stories about people achieving greatness through a lack of sleep and strong willpower to overcome their body’s natural urge to sleep and persevere toward their dreams.

Read More

How To Defeat Procrastination by Being Present-Minded

/
How To Defeat Procrastination by Being Present-Minded

The clock has just struck 5pm on Wednesday and Susan takes a look at her gym bag.

"Ugg. There is no way I'm going to be able to make it to the gym tonight."

Susan is on an 8-week exercise program. She has been trying to create a regular exercise habit for years now, but no matter how hard she tries, nothing ever works.

Read More