It takes about 10,000 hours to achieve mastery in a particular field, according to Malcom Gladwell, author of The Tipping Point. Monty Hall, host of 70’s hit TV show “Let’s Make a Deal” said, “Actually, I’m an overnight success, but it took twenty years.”
Several years back when I was teaching music at the University of Colorado, in what turned into an all night private class with a handful of my students and guest instructor Darrel Anger, fiddler in The Turtle Island String Quartet, The David Grisman Quintet and others, I asked him, in so many words, how he got to be such an outrageously great and successful musician. His answer was stunningly simple:
“You just have to log the hours.”
Wait a minute, you mean that’s it? No, there must be more, some magic formula, secret technique, a rare method, DNA, a great uncle somewhere…
“Nope, just log the hours…”
Okay, so what do you think, check out my schedule last week – does this qualify?
- Monday PM: Mastermind in Fort Collins and take my son out to dinner
- Tuesday PM: Voluntary service at committee meeting as webmaster for a non-profit group in Boulder
- Wednesday PM: Deliver webinar
- Thursday AM: Network in Denver at GKIC Chapter Meeting,
- Thursday PM: More networking in Westminster at special event “The Edge”, sponsored by Infusionsoft
- Friday – Sunday: Content marketing retreat with Jeff Herring and Maritza Parra at their “Hacienda” in San Antonio (Awesome “experiential” event – make note for your marketing)
That plus cranking out the usual volume of content, consulting and new products. Did everything go according to plan? No Hectic? Yes. Stressful? At times…
Why am I doing all this?
Well that leads me to my point, which is this: Success eventually comes out of massive intelligent action. Getting smart stuff actually DONE, in spite of obstacles.
So this week I want to share something with you from the mindset department.
It’s a little (well, actually huge I think) tool for accomplishing more when the chips are seemingly down that I learned from Jeff and Maritza: When a big challenge gets in your way, replace “I can’t” (No such thing anyway) with one of these four questions:
1. Can I do this?
2. How can I do this?
3. In how many ways can I do this?
4. In how many ways can I do this, serve other people, make a lot of money and have a blast?
See the progression?
For me, I went straight to question #4 and some incredible things happened. More on that later…
Helpful? Let me know, keep sending your success stories!
You are awesome!