What do superachievers all have in common?
Authors Camille Sweeney and Josh Gosfield set out to find the answer with their book, The Art Of Doing: How Superachievers Do What They Do And How They Do It So Well. They interviewed dozens of superachievers from all professions and found some underlying traits that they share.
One of the biggest things they found was that success doesn't come with an instruction manual. Instead, there's a lot of trying, failing, and constantly struggling: "What we found in our conversations with these superachievers was that success did not come to them in the thunderclaps of their Eureka! moments," they write. "Talent was just the beginning ... their progress toward their goals was furthered by their fierce dedication to the day-to-day struggle for achievement."
Thanks to Sweeney and Gosfield for permission to publish some of the best advice from the talented people they interviewed for their book.
When you try to emulate someone successful, you end up with a second-rate version of it.
Mark Fraunenfelder, Blogger and founder of Boing Boing:
"If you try to emulate a successful blog, you'll just be a second-rate version of something already out there, and who needs that? Make the blog that doesn't exist yet, but that you'd want to read...Depending on your idea, starting a blog might not be the way to make a lot of money, but it is a way to live a fulfilling and engaged life."
Source: The Art Of Doing
You can't always change your conditions, but you can always change the way you deal with them.
Jessica Watson, Australian teen who sailed solo, nonstop around the world:
"One of the big tricks when you're out there [in the ocean] is to not over think things. I'd stop myself and say, 'hey, it's cold and I'm in a bad mood, but I'm going to get through the day, and eventually I'm going to warm up and feel better.' You can't change the conditions, but you can change the way that you deal with them. I learned to accept it when I was in a bad mood or lonely. I learned to accept it when I was tired or cold... I ended up being a lot better at coping with my emotions than I'd expected. And anyway, chocolate always helped!"
Source: The Art Of Doing
If everyone else thinks your idea is ridiculous, then you have no competition, and higher potential rewards.
Bill Gross, founder and CEO of business incubator Ideallab:
"Going against conventional wisdom with a new idea can be risky if you're doing it just to buck the trends. But if you have a solid business plan for that idea, it can be a high-reward opportunity. If everyone else thinks your idea is heresy, they won't compete with you."
Source: The Art Of Doing
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