Settle down please class. I know everyone is excited and still probably mentally on summer vacation still, but it’s time to buckle down and get to work.
First, my name is Mr. TIM, and I will be your instructor for this class. As background, I was like you two and a half decades ago, probably worse. Scrawny, lacking social skills, a total nerd. But my advantage over the other students was that I sought out people who knew more than I did and worked my butt off. Those of you who make that same sort of commitment will be between somewhat and wildly successful.
Secondly, those of you who don’t want to work, there is the door. Might as well leave now so that you don’t waste my time and that of your peers. Seriously. If you are not willing to work to the point of exhaustion, don’t bother. As my father taught me: work half days. Any twelve hours will do. You are not working at the DMV, you are compensated with results. If you are satisfied with being a sloth and sucking the oxygen from others, please exit stage right.
Third, this is not Shakespeare. This is business. If you mess up a single word of your script, the critics are not going to cry havoc and let slip the dogs of war on you. Communication is 95+ % NOT the words you use, the carefully crafted verbiage. It is your body language, your confidence, your belief in the words and the philosophies behind them. If you have studied the logic and reason behind the words and believe their intent, you will be powerful and persuasive. Perfection is the enemy of The Great as surely as The Good is. Reflect on that.
This being said, I DO expect and demand that you practice every day for at least an hour of hardcore dedicated skill improvement. I will be able to tell within a day or two which of you are exerting effort, and which of you are destined to fail. I will not care about your future more than you do.
Fourth, while I expect you to pour your heart and soul and brain into this course of development, I get that you aren’t robots. You need to have outside interests to help you recharge, thus allowing you to bust your hump for those sixty hours a week you are working. I want you to do at least thirty minute of physical activity a day, of whatever form interests you. This is the minimal threshold for telemeric health and a brain scan would indicate the increased mental acuity from a good half hour of sweat. As Sir Richard Branson said, the greatest productivity tool is to work out more.
I also want you to take the time to appreciate beauty in the world around you because it is fleeting and will make your ultimate rewards sweeter balancing effort and enjoyment. Watch the sunrise. Send pictures of flowers to those you love. Eat the chocolate. I might kick your butt but this is not Sparta.
And finally, please remember Class that balance with great effort is the ultimate path to happiness. Loving the effort to become a champion makes the results more likely, and rest is as important as training. Pushing hard but knowing when to lighten up. Humour as a counter to seriousness. This is the Yin and Yang of your future, and Jocko Willink summarizes it well in his book The Dichotomy of Leadership:
“So what does it take to win? Yes, you have to be determined. Yes, you have to be driven. Yes, you must have the unconquerable will to win. But to really win, to truly win at all cost, requires more flexibility, more creativity, more adaptability, more compromise, and more humility than most people ever realize. That is what it takes to win.”
Now class, let’s get to work.
