The Science of Intelligent Achievement
How Smart People Focus, Create and Grow Their Way to Success
1. Edition December 2017
312 Pages, Softcover
Wiley & Sons Ltd
Smart strategies for pragmatic, science-based growth and sustainable achievement.
The Science of Intelligent Achievement teaches you the scientific process of finding success through your most valuable assets:
* Selective focus - how selective are you with who and what you let into your life?
* Creative ownership - how dependent are you on others for your happiness and success?
* Pragmatic growth - how consistently and practically are you growing daily?
First, this book will show you how to develop your focus by being very selective with where you spend your mental energy. If you've failed to reach an important goal because you were distracted, misinformed, or overcommitted, then you know the role focus and selectivity play in achievement. Second, you will learn how to stop allowing your happiness and success to be dependent on other people and instead, start taking ownership over your life through creative work. Finally, you will learn the art of changing your life through pragmatic decisions and actions. Self-improvement is not the result of dramatic changes. Instead, science has shown that personal and professional change is initiated and sustained by consistent, practical changes. To grow, you must leverage the power of micro-decisions, personality responsibility, and mini-habits. Your own biology will not let you improve your life in any other way.
What do you currently value? What are working to attain? Have you been taught to value your job title or your relationship with some other person above all else? Have you been convinced that the most valuable things in life are your paycheck, the number of people who say 'hello' to you at the office, and the number of people who say 'I need you' at home? Or, have you become so passive in what you value that you let anyone and anything into your life, as long as whatever you let in allows you to stay disconnected from the cold hard truth that when things really go wrong in your life, the only person who will be able to fix it and the only person will be responsible for it is you. If so...welcome to fake success. Passivity, dependence, and the sacrifice of practical thinking and personal responsibility to fuzzy, grandiose ideals and temporary feelings -- these are markers of fake success.
Intelligent Achievement, on the other hand, is not a moving target. It's not empty either. Instead, it's sturdy, full, and immovable. It's not something that's just handed to you. It's not something you're nudged to chase or coerced into wanting. Intelligent Achievement comes from within you. It's a collection of values that are aligned with who you are--values you have to protect and nurture. These values do not increase your dependence on other people and things. Instead, they relieve you of dependence. This kind of achievement is something that you have a part in building from the ground up--you know what's in it--you chose it, someone else didn't choose it for you.
Achieving real success means you must focus, create, and grow daily. The Science of Intelligent Achievement will show you how.
Preface: A Fool's Guide to Fake Success xxiii
Acknowledgments xxix
About the Author xxxi
Introduction:What is Intelligent Achievement? xxxiii
Part1 SELECTIVE FOCUS 1
1 WhyMental Energy is YourMost
Valuable Asset 3
The Fight for Your Mental Energy 4
Protecting Your Mental Energy 6
Surround YourselfWith Mental Energizers 7
2 How Busyness Leads to Burnout and
Manipulation 9
The Busy Life Versus the Productive Life 10
Busy People Become Average 11
Busy People Are Followers, Not Leaders 13
Why Busy People are Easily Manipulated 13
3 The Infection Known as "Other People's
Opinions" 16
You KnowWhat's Best For You 17
You Are BiologicallyWired to Copy Others 19
Negative Opinions Can Rot Your Brain 20
4 How Small-Minded People Block Big Goals 26
The Power of Suggestion 27
Your Brain's Herd Mentality 28
The Liberating Power of Defiance 29
5 Scientific Proof That 50% of Your
Friendships are Fake 31
Why Fake Friendships are Irrational 33
Signs You Are Stuck in a Fake Friendship 34
6 How to DealWith Negative People
Without Becoming Negative 38
The Fog Technique Versus the Investment
Technique 40
Negativity Versus the Void 42
Case Study #1: Rome Scriva 43
7 Why You Need to Go on a Relationship Fast 46
You Have to Say Goodbye First 47
What YouWill Learn During a Relationship Fast 48
Why Your Entire Life is Your Fault 50
8 Automaticity, Scaling, and the Rise ofMental Loops 52
Self-Regulation Versus Automaticity 54
How Mental LoopsWill Improve Your Life 55
9 Tracking Emotions and Predicting Feelings 59
When are Your Energy Levels and Emotions
Peaking? 60
Emotional Predictions Protect Against
Emotional Decisions 62
10 How to Label and Close Your Brain's
Open Loops 64
How the Zeigarnik Effect Affects Your
Energy and Emotions 65
How to Start Closing Off Your Brain's Open
Loops 66
11 Keep it and Clarify it, or Delete it From
Your Life Completely 69
Actively Delete Your Open Loops, Don't Just
Passively "Let Go" 70
How to Make Your Open Loops Actionable 71
Case Study #2: Yuri Klyachkin, PhD 73
Part2 CREATIVE OWNERSHIP 77
12 WhereMillennials and Baby Boomers Meet 79
How Experience and Equity Combine
to Create True Value 82
ExperiencesThat Create Equity andWealth 83
13 "Entre-Employee" and Temp-Employee
are the Only Career Options Left 86
What Is an Entre-Employee? 89
Why EmployersWant to Hire Entrepreneurs 90
WhyThe Temp-Employee Class is Growing
Exponentially 91
Finding Creative Ownership in
Entre-Employment 93
14 ContentMarketing Is Creative Ownership 97
What is Content Marketing? 99
15 LeveragingWalt Disney's Secret System of Creativity 101
What You ShouldWrite (or, Overcoming Writer's Block) 104
Video Blogs are Not Just for theWriting Impaired 105
16 Finding Your Voice and Letting the Right Audience Pick You 108
What's the Message of Your Content? 110
Finding Your Voice in a NoisyWorld 111
17 Why a Good StoryWillMake YouMore MoneyThan a Great Product 115
How Storytelling Creates Influence and Ownership 116
The Hero's Story 118
Add Credibility and Practicality to Your Story 120
Choosing the RightWords 121
18 TheMagic of Turning YourMessage into aMagnet 125
Lead Magnets Create Two-Way Value 126
How to Create an EBook Lead Magnet 128
19 How to Build up Your Virtual Rolodex 132
Squeeze and Splash Your Followers 133
What is a CTA Feature Box? 134
Case Study #3: Tim Bushnell, PhD 136
20 Developing and Automating a Message-Driven Content 139
How to Leverage an Email Subscription List 141
Why Email MarketingWill Always be Valuable 142
Email Marketing and the Last Gatekeepers 144
21 Turning YourMessage into aMinimum Viable Product 147
What is a Minimum Viable Product? 148
Remember the "M" in MVP 150
Growing an MVP into a Flagship Product 152
22 What Happens When Your MVPMeets YourMarket? 154
The Prelaunch Phase of a Product Launch 155
The Launch Phase of a Product Launch 157
How to Fulfill an Online Product 159
23 The Addiction of Vanity Analytics and How to Really Use SocialMedia 162
Social Media is a Means of Brand Awareness and Brand Protection Only 164
The Big Five Social Media Platforms and How to Use Them 165
24 The Laws of Convergence, Replication, and Accelerated Returns 170
What is the Law of Convergence? 171
What is the Law of Replication? 172
Case Study #4: Franco Valentino 174
Part3 PRAGMATIC GROWTH 177
25 Turning Pain into Productivity Through Pragmatism 179
Transform PainThrough Pragmatic Thinking 180
How to Use Your Negativity Bias to Your Advantage 182
26 One Non-Negotiable isWorth a Thousand To-Dos 186
To-Do Lists are Time-Wasters 187
How to Leverage the Power of "No" 189
Going Beyond "No" to "Never Again" and "Non-Negotiable" 191
27 The Real Theory of Relativity and the Law of Relaxed Productivity 194
YourWorld is Relative to Your Mood, Focus and Motivation 195
The Three Non-Relative Relativity Exceptions in Life 196
The Law of Relaxed Productivity and How to Follow it 197
28 Avoiding Drama, FOMO, and "Blind Spot Ignorance" 200
What is FOMO andWho has it? 201
How Selective "Blind Spot Ignorance" Leads to Disaster 202
Two Keys to Keeping Your Blind Spots in Full View 204
29 Preventing the Deadly Eight Productivity Pitfalls 208
Are You Living Your Life Eight Distracted Hours at a Time? 211
Case Study #5: Catherine Sorbara, PhD 214
30 Is Everyone a Narcissist Now? 218
Narcissism is a Buzzword for Self-Pity 219
31 Seeing Through the Victim Illusion 222
How to DealWith PeopleWho Play the Victim (Yourself Included) 224
32 How Decision Fatigue ReducesWillpower 227
How Are You Spending Your Decision-Making Units? 229
33 Hacking and StackingMini-Habits to Success 232
The Habitual Mouse Gets the Cheese 235
Hacking and Stacking Mini-Habits 236
Turn Deliberate Action into a Habit 238
Case Study #6: Jamie Johnston, R.M.T. 239
34 Leveraging Boredom and Filling the Mental Void 242
Using Boredom to Build a More Creative Future 244
Filling the Void with Vitality and Adventure 246
Conclusion: A Practical Guide to Intelligent Adventure 250
Epilogue: Legacy 256
Bonus: Achieving Alignment 259
Index 261
"This is a good read full of personal insights from the author, but also ideas we can all adopt." (FT Adviser, May 2018)
