Start and do not stop: the guide to peak achievement
There are only 2 steps to getting what you want
- Start
- Do not stop
There are no shortcuts. No secret formulas. No hacks.
Anything offering rapid achievement is only a gimmick. A distraction. A well intentioned lie.
The only way to move forward is to hunker down behind something you believe in. Something you’re willing to slog over for an extended period of time.
Something that you’ll want to keep doing even if there is no recognition. No accolades. No rewards. Something that’s so core to you that you won’t lose your will without external validation.
If you do that, you will reach the peak at the thing you pursue.
Why?
It comes down to math. Compounding, to be specific, a scientific phenomenon which Einstein himself referred to as the 8th wonder of the world.
The power of compounding
You’ve probably heard of compound interest, but this mathematical principle has applications in all realms of life.
For examples, customers in your business, your cardio health, your kid’s science lessons, or your Medium follower count.
You must start somewhere, but with small incremental effort consistently over time you get incredible results.
This concept is so powerful, even Einstein stood forever in its awe.
“Compound interest is the most powerful force in the universe.” — Albert Einstein
The formula for compound interest looks like this:
Let’s reframe the variables:
A: Final position (result)
P: Initial position (starting point)
r: rate of change (how much your improve in a set space of time)
n: number of times improvement happens per time period
t: number of time periods
Let’s play that ouy. If you start at 1 (P=1) get just 1% better (r=1%) every day (n=1) for 3 years (t=1125 days), you have your hockey stick.
Just 1% growth every day for a long enough space of time. That’s what’s behind every massive success. If you keep working, 1% growth is absolutely achievable. You can’t help but naturally improve one tiny increment at a time. Anyone can be 1% better at something tomorrow than they were today.
Now, as you can see, everything that happens before day 800, even day 1000, is so small it’s often invisible. That’s why you can sometimes see an illusion of overnight successes in the world. It wasn’t overnight, it’s just that day 0–800 wasn’t too small to matter to most of the universe.
That’s why choosing something that doesn’t require external validation is so important. Something where you can drive yourself — from your heart, your mind, your soul — with something bigger than praise or recognition.
Because it’s going to be a while before you get any.
Simple is not the same as easy.
As a species, humans are terrible at picking things to start and not stop. We attach extensive value to the opinions of others — parents, family, friends, lovers — and the cost is tuning out our inner voice. The consequence of this is we end up with a good understanding of what others value but very little understanding of what WE value.
In sum, we end up not knowing ourselves at all. We’re easily swayed by the potential of attaining status, power, love, acceptance, belonging, recognition and external validation. That is how we get stuck on journeys that we don’t have the warewithall to finish. We go after the things that will deliver the above when the progress doesn’t happen as fast as we wish or the rewards aren’t what we imagined, we so often give up. Only to be distracted by the next promise of quick success at something that could deliver status, power, love, acceptance, belonging, recognition and external validation.
I wish there was a fast track to that promotion, hockey stick revenue growth in your business, or the washboard abs you’ve been dreaming about.Rewire your brain
The human brain is an inefficient beast, more reptile than human really, and is unhelpfully drawn to the promise of instant success. Fast growth. immediate triumph. We go after the promise of a reward without considering if we really want it.
I’ll say this again because it’s important. We go after the promise of a reward without considering if WE really want it.
We may have been conditioned to want something by our environment, like to look a certain way or make a certain amount of money. We may believe that achieving that something will make us more attractive, or lovable, or powerful. But that doesn’t mean WE really want it.
How many times have you been baited by such promises:
- “Get flat abs in 7 days.”
- “The foolproof plan to doble your revenue in 30 days.”
- “How to get a 30% raise in 3 easy steps.”
There’s no shortage of commercially minded souls pushing this approach.
You can feel your pulse quicken, can’t you? The excitement of reward stimulating dopamine. Boom.
Let me tell you, the only way to get those flat washboard abs is to work hard, 3–4 days a week, every week, for 3 years. (p.s. I did it, and yes it takes a while.)
The only way to get that revenue growth in your business, is to keep showing up and pursing it, day in and day out, sometimes alone, for years.
We get lured by these headlines, don’t even bother to think about the stuff we actually want, and start pursing them to tick the box of achievement.
It takes us off course. Pursuit of the apparently easy rewards only makes us blinded. And when the promise doesn’t deliver we feel knocked back. We don’t realise there was no way it could deliver to begin with.
We fail not because it’s unattainable. We fail because we didn’t pick the right thing for ourselves.
Start and do not stop
While the two steps seem simple, they are incredibly hard to execute. You won’t get it right every time, and that’s ok.
The sooner you start practicing the better.
