19 of the top highlighted ideas from millions of readers

19 of the top highlighted ideas from millions of readers19 of the top highlighted ideas from millions of readersWhat are you doing right now to change your life?How much time do you think you really have?In the incredible book, THE GOAL, authors Eliyahu Goldratt and Jeff Cox explain that making progress is all about bottlenecks.If you dont give the proper attention to the areas of your life that are slowing everything else down, you wont make great progress.Most people are completely inconsistent. They have a good day here followed by a few bad days there.Theres something going on here. Yet, few people will figure out whats truly going on.If you want consistent and rapid growth in your life, you need better ideas and systems. You need to completely change up your approach.According to Dan Sullivan, the founder of Strategic Coach, true learning means you now can produce a desired result. If you cant produce new results, you havent learned.Most peoples lives are continuous patterns. So me things they do well, but most of their life is kind of a mess.If you want a new approach to continuous and rapid learning, this article could potentially change your life. To be clear, the principles and strategies discussed in this article arent commonly practiced.Without question, if you apply even a few of these, your whole life will be different in 12 months.Youll be making mora money.Youll have more freedom and autonomy to do what you love.Your relationships will be more powerful.Youll be able to more fully experience the incredible world we live in.Ready?If youre bedrngnis motivated, youre either not experiencing enough pain, or youre not curious enoughIf youre not feeling motivated - youre either not experiencing enough pain to change, or youre not curious enough about the power of possibility. - Chris SmithIf youre not making tangible progress, things can feel boring or not worth the time.So you need to start making tangible progress.You need a future vision that landsee ms exciting. And you need to get back to feeling like what you want to achieve is a game.In the book, MY LIFE IN ADVERTISING, Claude Hopkins says, If a thing is useful they call it work, if useless they call it play. One is as hard as the other. One can be just as much a game as the other. In both there is rivalry. Theres a struggle to excel the rest. All the difference I see lies in attitude of mind.Your work needs to become play again.Ordinary people seek entertainment extraordinary people seek educationIf we encounter a man of rare intellect, we should ask him what books he reads. - Ralph Waldo EmersonOrdinary people seek entertainment. Extraordinary people seek education and learning. When you want to become the best at what you do, you never stop learning. You never stop improving and honing your skills and knowledge.Nearly every second spent on social media is consumed time. You cant have that time back. Rather than making your future better, it actually made your future worse . Just like eating bad food, every consumed moment leaves you worse off. Every invested moment leaves you better off.When you learn something, you should get a return on that learning. Far too many people read books now just to say theyve read lots of books. If youre not applying what youre learning, your consuming and wasting your time. Moreover, the quality of books you read matters. To quote Ryan Holiday, If you read what everyone else reads, youll think like everyone else thinks.Entertainment is all well and good. But only when that entertainment is an investment in your relationships or yourself. Youll know if it was an investment if that entertainment continues to yield returns over and over in your future. That may include positive memories, transformational learning, or deepened relationships.Even still, life isnt purely about being entertained. Education and learning is also key. And although both are essential, education will provide far greater returns in your future.The worlds most successful people are intense learners. They are hard readers. They know that what they know determines how well they see the world. They know that what they know determines the quality of relationships they can have and the quality of work they can do.If you are constantly consuming junk media, how can you possibly expect to create high value work? Your input directly translates to your output. Garbage in, garbage out.Work on yourself, not on your jobWork hard at your job and you can make a living. Work hard on yourself and you can make a fortune. - Jim RohnYour work is a reflection of you. If youre not getting the results youre looking for, stop looking for better strategies.Instead, look inside.Are you currently the rolle who would attract the level of success you seek? Your outer conditions are a reflection of your inner reality. As James Allen has said, Your circumstances reveal you to yourself.Where you are right now thats you.If you want something different improv e you.Most people focus on their craft or their job. Thats all well and good. However, youll get far more bang-for-your-buck by focusing on yourself.20% of your energy should be devoted to your work.80% of your energy should be devoted to rest and self-improvement. This is what fuels your work and makes it better than anyone elses. Self-improvement is more than books and true rest is renewal.When you get an idea, take a second to pause and reflectWhen you get a core insight, pause and reflect. Pull out your journal and begin connecting that idea with your most pressing goals and priorities and relationships. Quickly, another connection will be made. A deeper insight will present itself. Eventually, youll stumble upon something very practical. Something youll need to act on immediately.That something may be a conversation you need to have. It may be an article you need to write that morning. It may be something you can do for someone to dramatically move the needle.You need THAT insi ght. The one that leads to immediate action and makes immediate impact on what youre trying to do.This is how you make quantum leaps, day-by-day, in your progression. When youre getting powerful insights that improve how you live, your life changes. Thats why learning every day is so important.If it doesnt suck, its not worth doingThe pain is a kind of challenge your mind presents - will you learn how to focus and move past boredom, or like a child will you succumb to the need for immediate pleakoranvers and distraction? - Robert GreeneIn his book, Living with a SEAL, Jesse Itzler tells the story of being inspired by a certain Navy SEAL and consequently inviting him to live at Itzlers home for a month. Itzler admitted being in a personal rut and wanted to shake himself out of his routine.Day 1 SEAL asked Itzler, How many pull-ups can you do? Itzler squeaked out eight shaky pull-ups.Take 30 seconds and do it again, SEAL said. 30 seconds later, Itzler got on the bar and did six, stru ggling.Take 30 seconds and do it one more time, SEAL said. 30 seconds later, Itzler got on the bar and did three, at which point his arms were exhausted.Alright, were not leaving here until you do 100 more, SEAL stated. Itzler was puzzled. Alright, were gonna be here a long-time. Cause theres no way I could do 100. However, Itzler ended-up completing the challenge, doing one pull-up at a time. Thus, SEAL convinced Itzler that he could do way more than he thought he could.The principle SEAL taught is what he calls the 40% rule - which essentially means people feel maxed-out mentally and physically, and thus stop, when they are at only 40% of their actual capacity. Going past this 40% capacity is when it becomes uncomfortable. Thus, SEALs mantra, If it doesnt suck, we dont do it.Like Itzler who shattered a mental barrier by completing 100 pull-ups, you too can get out of your rut by pursuing tangible objectives.The concept is Do something and dont stop until its complete, no matter h ow long it takes.Commitment is external more than internalIf youre interested, you come up with stories, excuses, reasons, and circumstances about why you cant or why you wont. If youre committed, those go out the window. You just do whatever it takes. - John AssarafWhat is commitment?How do you know if youre truly committed to something?When it comes to achieving goals, commitment involvesInvesting upfrontMaking it publicSetting a timelineInstalling several forms of feedback/accountabilityRemoving or altering everything in your environment that opposes your commitmentIf youre truly committed to something, in your mind, its as though youve already succeeded. All doubt and disbelief are gone.If youre committed to running a marathon, youre going to put everything in place to make sure it happens. Youre not going to leave it up to chance.Youre going to start by signing up for a race (investment). Youre going to make it public (phase one of accountability). Youre going to get a running partner who holds you accountable. Youre going to track your progress (feedback) and account your progress to your accountability partner. Lastly, youre going to remove things in your life that keep you from running.Commitment means you build external defense systems around your goals. Your internal resolve, naked to an undefended and opposing environment is not commitment.No matter how much internal resolve you have, you will fail to change your life if you dont change your environment.This is where the willpower approach fails. The willpower approach doesnt focus on changing the environment, but instead, on increasing personal efforts to overcome the current environment. What ends up happening?Eventually you succumb to your environment despite your greatest efforts to resist.The environment is more powerful than your internal resolve. As a human-being, you always take on the form of the environments you continually place yourself.You arent stopped by obstacles, but by easier paths to lesser goalsWe are kept from our goal not by obstacles but by a clear path to a lesser goal. - Robert BraultYou want clarity so bad that youre willing to settle for lesser goals, simply because the path to getting your true goal is less obvious.When youre trying to accomplish something big, you have the why but rarely the how. The path to achieving your goals is far from obvious.You have no clue how youre going to do what you want to do.According to some scholars, fear of the unknown may be the foundation of all other fears. In order to avoid the unknown, most people bail on their dreams.Youre the average of the 5 people around youWhat stands in nearest proximity to you has enormous implications. As Jim Rohn has wisely said, You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with. Similarly, Tim Sanders, former Yahoo director, said, Your network is your net worth.If youre feeling stuck and struggling to make the progress you want, take a look around you.If you want t o improve and succeed in your life, you need to surround yourself with people who have higher standards than you do. As Tony Robbins has said, your life is a reflection of your standards, or what youre willing to tolerate. Most people are willing to tolerate unhealthy relationships, poor finances, and jobs they hate. If not so, those things wouldnt be in their lives.Most people are a direct reflection of those around them. If the people around them have lower standards, they drop theirs as well. If the people around them have higher standards, they raise their game.Youve been around people who, simply by being around them, elevated your thinking and energy. Those are the kinds of people you need to surround yourself with. Those are the kinds of people you need to be like yourself, so that others are better simply by being around you.The quality of your life and the quality of your work is determined by the standards you have for yourself, and the standards of those around you. If yo ure fine doing mediocre work, than those around you are as well.If you genuinely want to become better, you must surround yourself with people who will hold you to a higher standard than you currently hold yourself. You want to be around people with a higher and better vantage-point than you have, so that you can quickly learn from them.Your level of talent and potential are irrelevant if youre surrounded by people who dont help you realize it. We all know many people who have unfulfilled potential. Dont let that be you.Successful people initiate, they dont wait (they are agents, not objects)Most people only do what they are asked, doing only the minimum requirement. They need specific instructions on most things they do.Conversely, those who become successful are anxiously engaged in a good cause. They dont need to be managed in all things. They dont just do the job, they do it right and complete. They also influence the direction for how certain ideas and projects go.Most importan tly, those who become successful initiate. They reach out to people, ask questions, make recommendations, offer to help, and pitch their ideas.RIGHT NOW there are brilliant opportunities around you. But it doesnt matter how many resources you have. What matters is how resourceful you are with those assets.Right now, the most influential and successful people in your industry are available to you. You could learn from them. You could be mentored by them. You could collaborate with them. But you have to initiate. You have to be a giver, first. You have to come up with ideas and use those ideas to help other people solve their problems and achieve their goals.This is how you accomplish MULTIPLE goals at one time.You work to learn, not to earnYou give you time and energy to the RIGHT PEOPLEs goals, not your own at firstYou learn from the right people and promote their work, or help them grow their businessAll the while, youre learning and developing deep connections that will take you 1 0X or 100X further than you could ever go on your ownWin-win-win-win relationships are the best. Where there are multiple parties all going further than they could go without each otherInitiation always involves some degree of risk. Youre putting yourself out there and there is a chance you could fail.Every next level of life will demand a different youEvery next level of life will demand a different you. - Leonardo DiCaprioAccording to meta-analytic data, confidence isnt what leads to success. Instead, successful behavior is what creates confidence.Unlike dopamine which only lasts short-term, confidence is something you own, once youve earned it. Short-term pleasure and long-term joy are two fundamentally different outcomes.Once youve begun succeeding at any endeavor, youll reach a threshold where you must decide if youre ready to go to the next level. Most people get comfortable at a certain stage because they dont want to deal with the emotional purging involved in up-leveling.Wh en you decide to up-level and go bigger, your life becomes very difficult for a short period of time. You may have mastered algebra, but now youre in a calculus class and feel completely disoriented. As bestselling author, Shane Snow has said, If youre freaked-out, that means youre a professional.Lobsters are soft squishy creates that house themselves within hard shells with rigid and spiky insides. As a lobster grows, its shell becomes constraining, even suffocating and painful.Once the lobster becomes too uncomfortable it hides from predators under a rock, jettisons its old shell, and fashions a new one. This process repeats throughout the lobsters life.Each of the lobsters shells may look drastically different from the previous one. Indeed, in its new shell, the lobster may be unrecognizable to its closest friends and even to itself.Likewise, the various scenes in your life may demand you to be someone you never intended to be. Although you may have been timid and quiet in the pr evious scenes, your new situation may require you to lead and speak boldly.Each situation is different.Dont plant a tree, plant an orchardBefore writing the first chapter of Harry Potter, J. K. Rowling planned for seven years at Hogwarts. Harry Potter is one of the most read books of all-time.Before creating the first Stars Wars movie in the 1970s, George Lucas planned for at least six films and started at episode four, rather than episode one. Almost 40 years later, the entire world continues to be excited with the release of a new Star Wars film. This would not be possible if Lucas hadnt thoughtfully and largely planned ahead.The principle is simple Dont just plant a tree, plant an orchard.How different might Harry Potter have been if Rowling started the book without any intentions or plans beyond the first book? It may have just been a book about a boy who went to school and killed a bad guy. Perhaps, at the conclusion of that story, Rowling might or might not have decided to wri te a sequel.Yet, by beginning with the end in mind, Rowling was able to direct and ort the first book much differently. The first book, although amazing in itself, was a means to an end, clearly leading the reader to the next book.Not only that, but by having a long-term objective, Rowling was able to create a much bigger story. She was able to foreshadow to things the reader wouldnt learn about for sometimes several yearsBut she planted those seeds early and thoughtfully, and as a result, each book was a continuation of the next, rather than several disconnected and random stories.6 other life-changing ideasSuccess is taking 20 steps in one direction rather than one step in 20 directions. Take one step in the right direction. Then do it again. Productivity and success are not complicated.A mind that is stretched by a new experience can never go back to its old dimensions. - Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.Lose an hour in the morning, and you will spend all day looking for it. - Richard WhatelySuccess is continuously improving who you are, how you live, how you serve, and how you relate.Every area of your life affects every other area of your life. Hence the saying, How you do anything is how you do everything.If you measure your current-self against your previous-self - where you were when you set your goals (and even before) - youll experience happiness, satisfaction, and confidence.Ready to upgrade?Ive created a cheat sheet for putting yourself into a PEAK-STATE, immediately. You follow this daily, your life will change very quickly.Get the cheat sheet hereThisarticlewas originally published onMedium.