Aren’t I clever. It may be a cheeky little title, but their is truth in this little pun. I don’t claim to know much about the actual official system GTD (Getting Things Done) by David Allen, but do know a bit about accomplishing goals - especially from a psychological perspective.

We’ll kick things off with the following statement: (pretty much) everything you do is the result of a subconscious decision based on an also subconscious analysis of pros and cons of doing/not doing the thing in question. In other words, you’re doing something because you enjoy the results of doing it more than the lack of results of not doing it. This may sound painfully obvious, but goal setting and systems for going through a to-do list can often leave out this fundamental issue.”Just make a list”, they say but seem to ignore the psychological necessities of doing this. Whenever you see someone being very good at something, you can bet they’re enjoying not only the achievement of the goal but the actual process of executing. Professional athletes love training. Anyone who doesn’t will not make the cut. If you want to excel at something, it’s a psychological must to enjoy the process. How could you compete with someone who loves to train and practice when you hate it?

In our lives, we may not be training for the Olympics, but we all have a list of things to do - a set of steps to get us to where we want to go. But we need to enjoy the ride. Otherwise those little tasks become psychological mountains. If you are able to change some key perceptions, then you can make the opposite happen - turning those ominous, scary, risky, difficult tasks into enjoyable adventures. It’s not just about using the word “challenge” instead of “pain in the ass”, but it is a slight dabble in mind manipulation.

You’ll need to convince yourself of 3 key things:

1. the thing you need to do is super important and accomplishing it will add tremendous joy and happiness to your life
2. not doing it will ruin you
3. it’ll be fun! So doesn’t matter if it works out of not, it’s all about doing your best.

Do these have to be true? The first one should be (otherwise, why are you doing it?). The second one may not be, but you can lie to yourself just a bit to get the desired result. You lie to your muscles when you work out saying “grow! or we’ll be tiger food!”. The reality of it all is secondary, but the perception is what it all rests on. Will it really be your downfall if you don’t set up a meeting with that one person? I’m sure you’ll figure a way to bounce back, but if you can rationalize how devastating it would be if you didn’t, then it should feel so much more natural and effortless to do it. Thirdly, “it’ll be fun”…

Truth is, everything is fun if you do it right. Just like every moment is a chance to be happy, if you do it right. The things you are and the things you feel only have meaning through your own perceptions. The universe doesn’t really care. Is coding a website fun? Is writing a business plan fun? Is creating a 1000-man company fun? I think it depends more on you than on the actual task. Some people are more geared to certain tasks than others, no doubt. Don’t ask my wife to code anything. And don’t ask me to pick out a color scheme for the living room. But many many things could be either fun or annoying. Choose fun and see how much easier it gets.

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I’ve just finished reading Felix Dennis’ book “How to Get Rich”. Brilliant. Finally a guy who’s done it explaining how - not just in vague terms and endless passages of subtle self-praise but in real concise strategy and mental approach. As Dennis points out, many of the books on the market are written by those who have not attained any staggering wealth and are abound with all too obvious tips such as “be good at what you do” or “be a leader” (ok, he mentions these too, but goes into lots of juicy detail). Dennis also airs some distaste for the feel-good strategies of cooperation and partnerships abound these days, seeing the attainment of wealth as a more predatory undertaking. While I’m still in denial of that part of the equation, I can say that the book is a real page turner. It stirred me to the point of insomnia.

Book praise aside, Dennis’ dislike for self-help is understandable to a degree. It seems it was a conversation with a friend about the book “Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking” by Malcolm Gladwell which spurned him to write his own book. There does seem to be an accent on concepts and attitudes (positive ones, of course) which override the self-help industry. How could it be otherwise? My own theories purport self-help to be more akin to a skill like boxing - you need to start with a clear definition of rules and theory, but at some point you need to jump in the ring. From there, it is a constant back-and-forth of practice and execution, practice and execution. Perhaps in the business world, the execution is all you get (aside from occasional courses or your college degree), so you’ll need to use reflection as your trainer. So, self-help books focus largely on the principles and theory. They are text books, and did you really ever learn how to do anything from a text book? Nothing related to the outside world… I’ll bet.

What self-help does achieve is the molding of a mindset - giving the reader the option of a life and set of beliefs different to the ones a mediocre, ignorant environment has drilled into his head from the start. You’ll need a good mind set when executing. As Dennis himself writes, you’re unshakable belief in yourself and your ability to control your fears are half the battle. This is mindset.

The other half, is indeed the work. There is no substitute for hard, focused, effective work. Work which leads to positive results. Once you get that, you’ll abhor anyone who is not a hard worker. Like a smoker who quits and becomes an uber-anti-smoker. Perhaps I am now partaking in the obvious tips Dennis rejects, but the fact of the matter is, you only need a few bits of wisdom to have the life you want. The trick is incorporating those bits into every fiber of your being. People are shaped by just a few events or thoughts, namely the ones with the most emotional weight behind them. Emotion is the welder of learning, without it, everything just glides right off. But I digress. Once you know what you want (no small feat), then hard work must follow. The beauty of it is, that hard work toward a most desired goal is enjoyable. Many people who have never had the pleasure of experiencing this are turned off by hard work. In effect, if you find yourself enjoying the hard work you are doing, then you will know that you are doing what you want. If you find your daily toils to be an unbearable burden, then you know that you are doing what you are made to do. Sort of working backwards, I know. Preferably, you know what you want before you start working on it, but things will not always be so clear for everyone. And indeed it is a pain to give something a try and then find out after months of invested time and energy that you hate it.

So, let us have a brief overview of the best way to begin hard work. And as I start to think up things, I see that they fall into categories, and I notice that self-help deals largely with the first category. Maybe it’s the most important one. If you have the first category set, the rest comes by itself.

Preparation
1. Find what you love
This is harder for some than others. A lucky few know what they want to do right off the bat, while others may look their whole lives. The mind is intricate and there are a million reasons why these differences may exist. What I’ve also noticed is that some people really don’t care what they’re doing. They feel no real passion for anything. Should they then have less drive and thereby less chance of being successful? I don’t know. Maybe less of a chance at being fulfilled. But if you are about to embark on a journey of hard work, you’ll be best prepared to be doing what you love. More so than by doing what you are good at, I would venture. Talent can be developed. More often than not, people love the thing they are talented in. But if you love something, but lack loads of talent, do not fret. Neuroscientists claim that anyone can become a virtuoso with about 10 years of hard work. Still, Paul McCartney was a talented motherfucker, and I can’t imagine anyone being able to emulate him with any amount of elbow grease.
2. Love yourself/Believe in yourself
These are the same thing really. Many books have been written on the subject and many therapists do quite well to help you along in this, so no need to go into details here. But notable is the relevance to hard work. People who work hard love themselves and believe in themselves. No point working towards a goal if you do not believe you can accomplish or if you feel the benefactor is not worthy of the rewards. Are you worthy? Are you capable? No more and no less than anyone else, I suppose. It is thereby, in reality, a neutral factor. Of course, in your mind’s eye, feel free to believe that you are slightly more worthy and capable than your peers. It can only help.
3. Choose to be positive
The truth is, all situations are neutral. Good and Bad exist in the minds of the men and women who experience a situation as one or the other. As Bugs Bunny used to say: one man’s meat is another man’s poison. This gives you carte blanche to judge any given set of circumstances as is most beneficial to you. Poor? You just have nothing to lose. Rich? You have the means to accomplish your goal. The economy is booming? Enjoy the plentitude of cash and options. Market is declining? Enjoy the low prices. There is good to be gotten from every situation and success will favor those most able to see it and prosper from the mental benefits this investment returns.
4. Get motivated
I used to (actually, I still do) marvel at the drive that world class athletes possess. They have to be the best. They have to win. I would like to win, and that is why I’ve never really been that good of an athlete. Motivation is nothing more than perceiving that the benefits of a result are in dramatic contrast to the consequences of not obtaining that result. In this sense, there are no lazy people, only demotivated people. Your brain, being the lump of malleable shit that it is, is fair game for self-inflicted brain washing. Grab a pen and paper, draw a line down the middle from top to bottom and make a list of benefits on the left and consequences on the right. Con yourself by making the left side into everything you’ve ever wanted and the right side into being absolutely unacceptable.  Keep the paper on file and look at it regularly with a dollop of emotion.
5. Plan it
As an entrepreneur myself, I’ve had to write a business plan. It was one of those things people recommend you do, but you think it’s silly, until you actually do it and you see how useful it is. It is so friggin’ useful, I can hardly imagine doing anything major in my life without some detailed plan prepared in advance. It’s not written in stone and no, it doesn’t suck all the spontaneity out of life and/or business. It gives the gift of clarity and keeps all your actions aligned. It can change dramatically from one day to the next but at least you know where you stand and what you’re dealing with. A good business plan will eliminate inconsistencies and justify every move you plan to make in the achievement of your goal.

Damn, and that’s just preparation. But I’m sure you’ve guessed that preparing for hard work is itself a lot of work. Does everything have to be perfect before you start? No, but it helps. Anything which is not set up at the start will probably come under the loop once you’re underway, and it will cost time, but hopefully will not cost much more than that.

OK, go!

How to work hard. As I outline the points, I see that Dennis himself has actually noted many of these. Will he sue me for plagiarism? Only time will tell. Despite the fact that most of these points are common knowledge, he probably has some good lawyers.

1. Stay focused/Keep your eye on the prize
I think these are the same thing. All the effort in the world will not help you if they are not directed at a specific goal. There are a million different distractions in life and you must stay vigilant to keep them at bay. Constantly ask yourself: is this helping me accomplish my goal? If not, scrap it.
2. Delegate
As Dennis points out, delegating is not avoiding hard work, it’s just being smart.
3. Get healthy
Hard work involves physical energy. Even the act of thinking is an enormous drain on your energy. The healthier you are, the less you’ll ake an excuse out of fatigue. Take care of your body in the same way you would a car which is taking you on a road trip. Find time to choose and eat healthy foods and work out regularly. Nothing wakes you up and energizes you like a good work out.
4. Study time management
Time is the one area in life where we are all equal. 24 hours in a day - for everyone. There must be a zillion books on the subject. Find one good one, apply it, and you’ll be way ahead of the rest of them.
5. Measure results
This may be a part of the whole “planning” thing. Your plan should have some clear and measurable targets - preferably with sub-targets. Are you getting them? If not, no big deal, but at least you can evaluate your strategy and change it accordingly.
6. Visualize your goal being achieved
Your brain doesn’t know the difference between something you imagine vividly and something that actually happened. This is why a bad dream can screw up your week and how athletes who visualize tend to perform better than those who don’t. Tons of literature on the subject, but the bottom line is, you want to be visualizing yourself attaining your goal regularly. Feel how good it feels with as much intensity as possible. If 80% of any game is mental, shouldn’t you be spending a good deal training mentally? Yes, the answer is yes.
7. Use the 80/20 rule
The rule is as follows: 20% of the things you do contribute to 80% of the results. Focus your efforts and give priority to that 20%. Do an evaluation from time to time of all your activities surrounding a particular goal and see which ones are part of the 20% and which ones are part of the 80%.
8. Make yourself happy
Make sure you are enjoying the process. Otherwise you’ll start to slack at some point. Your brain will take off like a bored party guest if he’s not having fun.
9. List the many different ways you can end up successful
If your goal is to build a successful company with 50 employees and 10 million in annual revenue, try making a list of all the other accomplishments you will be proud of. Not that you need to focus on them, but show that they come with the territory as well. A hitchhiker of sorts. Like, learning about financing, having employees, being interviewed by radio stations, giving speeches at conferences, etc. Anything which allows you to be proud of yourself along the way.

This is just a primer, but again, you’ll only need to have a few of these sink in for real effects. This stuff applies to everything, not just making money. Use it in relationships, in sports, arts, you name it. It’s the framework for success at anything, even if your goal is just to be happy. Those of you who want the Quan, the Good Life, had better be prepared to work. Hard! Look at all your idols, all the people you think have it all and, on closer inspection, you’ll see that they work their tails off. Maybe you didn’t notice because they’re enjoying it so much.

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Everywhere you look there are people underachieving, living dreary lives, or just not living the life they want to live. So why aren’t they? In the age we live in, there should be no excuse.  There is one example after another of someone whose life has quickly gone from crappiest to happiest. Here are the 4 reasons why people aren’t getting the good stuff.  

1. They don’t really want them
Ask people what they want in life and they tell you all kinds of standard things: a cool job, lots of money, good friends, plenty of free time, and good relationships. Dig a little deeper and you might find they don’t really want the things they say they want. Money often means hard work and hassles. Good relationships require intimacy which itself require a whole lot of honesty and openness - something many people subconsciously or consciously avoid. A cool job will require initiative, potential insecurity and maybe even a lackluster salary. It’s the same in all cases - one part of you wants something but another part knows of a possible downside and keeps you from going after it.

2. They don’t know/believe they exist
You can’t do or have something if you don’t know it exists. A happy family life? Indeed many of us have been sold the notion that all families fight and all kids hate their parents. ‘Tis not so. Happy families do exist but unless you know this, you will never set out to get it. Recently, I’ve had to get up early for work and there’s a little voice inside me that says I should be tired. If my body doesn’t feel tired, then there is a dissonance - one part saying I should feel tired and another part saying I feel pretty good. Eventually the first part tells the second part to shut up. It thinks waking up at 5:30 and feeling good isn’t possible. It’s only when I present it to myself as a possibility that I can actually feel good that early. A good part of the wellness movement must be geared to educating the public of the existence of these “products”. We are confronted more and more with evidence that every human experience can be reproduced and we are not limited in taking some person’s good reality and making it our own. The first step in getting something is dropping the idea that something is impossible for you. “Easier said than done”, you say? Drop the idea that it’s easier said than done… It really is just like a light switch but you first have to drop the idea that it’s impossible that changing your life is easy. Get it?

3. They don’t believe they can/should have them
I saw an interview with Tom Cruise once (ok, it was on Oprah) where he said he used to believe that the life he lives was for “other people” and it was the point that he changed that belief at allowed him to actually live it himself. Many people feel subconsciously unworthy of having good things in life and surrender to not even trying to get them. Lots of money, a good job, a partner who treats them well - you see on a constant basis people all around settling for the things they subconsciously think they deserve. Belief systems are all-powerful. Everyone beliefs something different and you see that all combinations are possible and that all belief systems lead to their eventual reality - so feel free to choose the one you want - not the one you think belongs to you.

4. They don’t know how to get them
And just sometimes you might find all the other three points are ready and waiting but you just don’t know how to get them - how to break the patterns that dictate your behaviors or how to find and approach the mate you want or how to get the job that’s perfect for you. And that’s what human technology (psychology, self-help, personal development, GTD, etc) is all about.

Now what?
What’s so great about the age we live in is that there is a whole army of experts who dedicate their lives to these 4 points. If people don’t know about this army and what they do, they’ll never look for it. But they do exist and they can work wonders. Try and think of these 4 points in relation to your life and what’s holding you back from getting more of the good stuff. Don’t feel like thinking about it? Maybe you think it won’t lead anywhere? That’s kind of my point.

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