Powerful tools to face destiny and reach your destination.
Taking a shortcut is not cheating. It is knowing the terrain and choosing the fastest path to the destination.
You have to take risks to achieve true happiness—the risks no one else is taking. The risks everybody should take if they don’t fear living. The risks that lead you to a meaningful life. The risks that make you grow as a person.
And to do that, you need to abandon the easy path and embrace the uncertainty of the little-traveled paths.
Why?
Because the uncertainty makes you think out of the box, it gives you new tools to face destiny and reach your destination. And because going through the unknown path transforms you into a new you: a better one.
I know this is easier said than done. But like Haruki Murakami once wrote, “When you come out of the storm, you won’t be the same person who walked in.”
Do you want to be that new you?
Check these three Uncommon paths to achieve “true happiness” and success I discover during my journey of 40 years walking down the sun.
There are hard to apply but accelerate the process. Use them; I promise you will start feeling better and making progress pretty soon.
1. You have to dream big but act small.
Consistency is the shortcut to efficiency. And efficiency is the ability to get the right things done.
Observe I say the “right things,” not “a lot of things” or “many things.” Just the minimum number of necessary things you must do to achieve whatever your version of happiness and success is.
And to do that and not get burned, you must act small daily. So choose the things that make you progress the most and do it first no matter what.
What are those things?
Well, 20% of things you do daily give you the 80% of the results you are searching for.
So with that in mind, grab a notebook and a pen and list the things you usually do daily. Then be honest with yourself and underline those things you do that make you feel good and progress more than others.
For me is 1) writing an article, 2) reading to grow my knowledge, and 3) taking care of my body.
It may be other things for you, but this principle acts similarly.
Do your little powerful things every day, and you will reach the goal you set out to accomplish faster.
2. You have to reduce the noise of your life.
No meaningful work can be done with an unmeaningful focus.
In his book “Outliers,” Malcolm Gladwell was not wrong when he formulated his ten thousand-hour rule. The point is that those ten thousand hours needed to become a master have to be of dedicated practice.
You can’t get better at writing if you listen to the tv news in the background.
You can’t get better at painting if you are running on a treadmill while painting.
You can’t get better at [Enter her the thing you want o master] if you check your phone several times during practice.
Once clear about this, we must reduce another type of noise/distraction: what people will say.
You can’t achieve any big goal thinking about what your mummy will say. Instead, you have to be bold and face criticism.
Everyone you love typically has a version of what your life should be but listening to others people’s plans for your life ruin any plan you have.
The short path between two points is a straight line. But in real life, that straight line is a wormhole, a portal that only appears when you hyperfocus on your mission.
So focus on your mission and mute all the voices around yourself that keep you apart from your success.
3. You have to use rejection as fuel
It is hard when life says no to you. It hurts when destiny closes doors in front of your face. It hurts when you have to eat rejection for breakfast one day and another. I know.
But you lose — only — if you quit: if you quit searching for opportunities; If you quit knocking at the doors; If you stop confronting the noes.
Let me give you an example,
I once worked in a real estate agency (the best in Madrid). The competition was huge, but they provided us with statistical tools to improve our performance. And once a week, they shared our results to optimize our processes.
For every 100 calls I made to potential customers, I got an average of 25 visits per week. And every 98 trips, I managed to sell a house.
That meant that out of a hundred calls a week, 75 potential clients refused to meet me to show them a house, and also that out of 98 visits I made 97 times, they would tell me they didn’t want the apartment, and only one would say yes.
When did I realize that? Do you know what I did?
I started to love No.
Why?
Because instead of making 100 calls a week, I started making 300, and out of those 300 calls, I was getting 75 appointments a week (I started working until Sundays to make them all). And out of those 300 monthly visits, I sold three apartments (the best month, I sold 7).
Thanks to the no, I saved enough money to set up my agency.
No is powerful because every no you receive brings you a little closer to yes, and once you understand this and apply it to everything, your life moves forward at breakneck speed.
So don’t be afraid to fail, let alone be rejected, because every fall, every mistake you make, every no you receive is a step closer to victory.
A virtual hug
AG
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