You’re not going to finish what you don’t start. Sounds obvious, but most people live their entire lives never starting the things that actually matter. Here’s something less obvious. Once you start something, you’re significantly more likely to finish it. Not because you suddenly develop willpower or motivation or discipline, but because your brain doesn’t…
I wrote an article way back in 2012 about the good habits you need to develop to build the inertia for change. All of these habits are common sense, you may think. We’ve already talked about common sense earlier in our courses, and the lack of it is not doing the obvious, even when it’s…
There’s a simple equation that’s been used for years when working with top athletes, helping them achieve peak performance. Tim Gallwey first framed this as Performance = Potential − Interference in The Inner Game of Tennis, and John Whitmore built modern coaching practice on it in Coaching for Performance. It’s one of the most useful…
Critical mass and inertia are great concepts and ones you can apply to your own life. Understanding these two principles will change how you approach everything you’re trying to achieve. First, let’s start with critical mass. Reaching Critical Mass Critical mass is the term used when the minimum amount needed for something to happen is…
You’re Not the Same Person Who Started This Course Think back to where you started. Maybe a week ago, maybe longer. Think about the version of you who opened this course for the first time, probably with that familiar mixture of hope and quiet scepticism that you’ve felt before, the part of you that wanted…
You’re focused on the destination. The goal, the achievement, the finish line. That’s what drives you, what gets you out of bed, what keeps you pushing forward. But here’s what you’re missing while you’re fixated on where you’re going. The journey itself is changing you in ways the destination never will. I learned this the…
You took the first step. Congratulations. That was the hard part, right? Wrong. You’re still early in your journey. You’ve got to the starting blocks, you’ve taken the leap, and now you’re continuing to move forward in the new situation you find yourself in. Before long, something will start to become clear. This new situation…
For nine years, nobody could do it. For decades before that, people had been getting closer. And then the record just stopped, like it had hit an invisible wall. The four-minute mile. 240 seconds. A barrier that scientists, doctors, and athletes believed was close to the absolute limit of human capability. It’s a story about…
Most achievements happen one unremarkable step at a time. Not dramatic. Not inspiring. Not worthy of a motivational poster. Just you, showing up, doing the same thing, and repeating. Small steps every day in the right direction. Building momentum. Keeping going. And eventually, if you stay on track and keep moving, you get to where…
You’re stuck. You know you need to move. You’ve been stationary too long, but you’re not moving. What you need is leverage. Archimedes, the ancient Greek mathematician, is supposed to have said something that’s stuck with me throughout my career: give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum to place it on, and I…