August 2nd, 2011 by KP

Key 2: Practice. Practice. Practice.

Practice is the magic formula, that’s the big fat magic secret out in the open. PRACTICE. Talent is important, but not nearly as important as is practice. Michael Jordan didn’t get selected for his college basketball team draft. Let me repeat that… MICHAEL JORDAN DIDN’T GET SELECTED FOR HIS COLLEGE BASKETBALL TEAM DRAFT!!!

So did he get to be the best basketball player to ever live through his ‘talent’? Was he always just a ‘talented’ basketball player? Or was it through his self discipline & dedication to PRACTICE that is what was the fertilizer for the growth of his so called ‘talent’?

The most important trait you need is tenacity. People try something once or twice, they don’t yet succeed, and they get it in their mind that they can’t do it. They’re right.

Then there’s the people who get faced with the same challenge, and they too don’t succeed the first & second time, but they have the tenacity to keep trying, and they believe in their mind that they can do it, and eventually they succeed. These people are also right.

This goes back to the saying “They can because they think they can”.

To be able to really get on the path of mastery – THIS IS OF THE UPMOST IMPORTANCE – you have GOT to be willing to spend most of your time on a plateau where you don’t seem to be learning very much. Where you don’t feel like you’re making progress. A looooooong time. Now suddenly after a long time on the plateau, it could be weeks, days, months (how about an 8 month plateau where you didn’t see a penny come in with IM!) almost ‘miracle’-like, you have a sudden jump up in learning & improvement, and you think, “ahhh I’m learning, I’m moving up the mastery mountain!”…wrong.

You are learning, but you are learning on the plateau. All of the time you are on the plateau, you have to be thinking about what you’re doing before you do it, by being on the plateau you are programming your automatic response system. And after thinking before you do it enough times, eventually you “just do” it without thinking, and that’s when you’ve learned, you learn from being on the plateau.

What a concept information is. Our library of information is directly relative to the value, status & power we have in this world. Knowledge is power.

The important thing is to take your ideas seriously. But to be critical of them, positively, while being a realist too. Don’t fall in love with your ideas, fall in love with the moment to moment aspects of the process, fall in love with the step by step progress. The rest takes care of itself.

Don’t feel that that the little things you have to do everyday are distancing you from your dream. Everything brings you closer to your dream. Every mistake, every lesson, every repetitive task (which is essentially practice) is all taking you another step closer to your dream. It’s just a mindset. It is in fact those seemingly “tedious” or “repetitive” tasks that are the stepping stones to mastery. You can never have too much practice. There is a direct correlation between someone’s level of ‘talent’ and the hours of practice that person has put in.

We are practicing all the time. Remember, what we practice, is what we excel at. So if someone is negative all of the time, they get very good at being negative, in fact they master it! If they’ve spent 40 years doing it, they are master coaches of negativity! They could teach negativity, and they will. So be VERY conscious of what you do, most of the time. Practice the right things, positive & a deep ignition for progress.

Most people take the path of least resistance. It’s much easier to accept the things that have happened to you, and that more of the same things are going to happen to you & that’s just the way it is. That’s the way most people deal with life. Then there’s that one tiny little path that is covered & filled with broken pavement, rocks, dark jungles, forests, rats, snakes, bears, lions, & all kinds of horrors. But the people that take that path, the ones who are willing to overcome all of those horrors & barriers, the hurdles, the conflicts, the obstacles that try to get in your way, and not only overcome them, but USE them instead of letting them ‘affect’ me. Use them to teach you the most important lessons, and not only use them to let you prosper, but also use them to give you the most satisfaction, because you can say “I did it.”

The size of the hurdle, barrier, conflict, obstacle, challenge, whatever you may call it, is ALWAYS relative to the amount of the gratification, satisfaction, & immense feeling of success that you get when you do struggle, you do fight & you do eventually overcome them.

Raw willingness will always win over raw “genius” or raw “talent”. The guy who is willing to go further, who is willing to push harder & through more challenges, will always come out trumps over the guy with raw “genius” or “talent”. Surprise surprise, the guy willing to go one more round when no one else wants to, also doesn’t want to, but he does anyway. That trait is the trait that will make you stand out in life. Raw willingness.

Life is like a UFC fight. The winner is the one who no matter how many times they get knocked down, they always get back up to fight again, no matter how much it hurts, no matter how much pain is causes or how much struggle it requires, until the obstacle or challenge in their path stays down and they overcome the challenge.

People that “work hard” are doing something wrong. I don’t work long hours, I play around with the computer, software & hardware, a lot. It just takes a lot longer than you think. But when you’re playing, it isn’t a ‘long’ time, it isn’t boring or strenuous, because it is playtime. This is a good thing, because if you realized how long it takes to master your passion, you’d never get anything done, you’d just give up in disgust. Because you enjoy the process & it is something you enjoy, you don’t focus on how long it might take, you just take each baby step as it comes. You actually like the details, you enjoy the fine tuning & zooming in with a telescope on the tiniest detail that no one will ever even realize was an issue. That’s when you know you’re on the path to true mastery.

In order to achieve one’s goals, there has to be a serious level of dedication, not just verbal, in fact VERBAL IS NOTHING. Fuck all of the verbal dedication. What’s the point in saying you’re going to do something? Unless it’s to yourself, you’re most likely just doing it to get the short term pleasure of someone saying “good on you”. Actions & results speak a million decibels louder than words ever will on this planet. People say “I’m really dedicated to this project”, then they spend their nights out partying & then the next day they don’t do what they need to because they’re hung over or whatever. For me, this isn’t a 9-5, this isn’t 12 hours a day, or 18 hours a day, this is 24/7 365 life-long passion. It is nothing other than “me”. So of course it is #1 priority.

When I get done with progressing on that, I look at what I need to do next, or the next day, and then I get as much sleep as I possibly can so that I’m fresh and ready to go again early the next morning. As little fooling around as possible, as little booze as possible, as much sleep as possible. That’s when I’m in the zone of quantum progress.

There is a time to let loose & release. That’s when you’ve earned it. When I achieve peaks & levels of success & I earn my release, then I am 100% releasing in the moment. And that’s a whole other side to the coin. 🙂

It’s ok to have a release & to let loose. In fact sometimes it is necessary to have a release & ‘recharge’. Just don’t get addicted to the release. There’s a fine line between releasing & seeking the short term gratification. Releasing can recharge. Chasing the short term fix is a sure fire way to butt fuck yourself in to static land where you aren’t moving forward. And if you’re not moving forward (not practicing) you’re not just staying put or being static, but you’re actually taking steps backwards, and dying in that area. That’s a fact. As humans we are creatures of motion, to evolve we have to be moving, not sitting still.

“You can be on the right track, but you’ll get run over if you just sit there.”

You have to be willing to be the glorious fool. The person who is willing to take chances, to jump, and to fall & stumble & look foolish is the one who is on the path to being a master. You’ve got to be willing to look foolish to truly be a master. Take your ego out of it. No one cares, no one gives a flying fuck about you, they’re way too busy worrying about what everyone thinks about them to think about you!

Anything that was truly hard was usually worth the struggle.

Motion attracts success & wealth. Always be moving, even if you feel like it’s around in circles. It’s better than standing still. And even if you feel like you’re on a plateau, and you don’t know where to go or if you even are moving forward, the main thing is that you just keep showing up.

What’s the best way to stop a top athlete from performing? Not to taunt them, or to boo them, that just fires them up more. It’s easy, don’t let them practice for a month. Then they lose their ‘touch’. Practice is the key to mastery, to “greatness” (read my post on greatness to find out what greatness really is).

I get really bored not having anything to do. The thought that I’m not making progress towards a goal, the feeling I get is similar to that of the feeling the character gets in the film “Limitless” when he takes the pill (sick film that takes mastery to a whole new level! It’s loosely based around my life. 🙂 ). I feel like if I’m not progressing or moving forward, then I feel this anxiety building up inside me and if I don’t do something about it fast (make progress on something, anything) then I feel like I’m going to explode. It’s crazy. I love it.

The practice, is living what I do, what I am, what I love. That thing is ‘you’, so practice being ‘you’ everyday, and it’s no longer practice. You’re just getting better at being ‘you’ everyday. That’s why it is essential you press pause, take a step back & re-evaluate life & where you’re headed. Is this where you want to be going, is this what you were destined for, is this path why you were put on this earth? Is this your life-long purpose, your dream? Take some time off from the world, and take the time to be with yourself, to figure this out. Figure out what your passion is, what path you are destined for.

The mark of the masters is one who is not only willing to stay on a plateau for a long period of time & keep training diligently, but it is to love the plateau, to cherish the plateau. Even to say “Fine I’m on a plateau, now if I stay on this plateau I am destined to have a jump upward”.

Let “the highlight of your life” be the ignition. Imagine that, standing there and realizing, this is the best moment of your life. That’s what all of this is for.

Discipline yourself, diligent, patient, long-term practice & you’ll be ok.

Practice, work your ass off, practice, one baby step at a time, practice, you cannot take no for an answer, practice, willingness, dedication, tenacity, practice, practice, practice. You often get to the point where you don’t quite know where to go, and the most important thing is that you continue to show up.

Until Key #3, no better time than the present than to go practice.

KP