The Scientific Recipe for Greatness
The traits of successful people have fascinated us since at least the 1930s. That was the era when Dale Carnegie founded self-improvement industry (which now worth $11 Billion per year in the US alone).
It was also in the late 1930s that a group of social scientists quietly began the ambitious Grant study exploring the lives of 268 Harvard-educated men.
Sixty years later (the study still going strong) they have basically given up hope of discovering the secret recipe of greatness which they were after. (They also didn't achieve their other lofty aim of easing "the disharmony of the world at large.") However, they have at least identified seven primary factors that predict healthy (physical and psychological) living and aging.
They are:
- getting an education;
- having a stable marriage;
- not smoking;
- employing "mature adaptations;" (see below)
- not abusing alcohol;Â
- having some exercise and
- maintaining a healthy weight.
All of these strike me as surprisingly simple, str...
How to Be More Focused
What single activity would keep you fascinated and motivated for the rest of your life?
Do you know what that would be?
It’s not simply sitting on beach, doing nothing. Not for the rest of your life, every day.
And it’s not just something that pays well, because we’re assuming you could do anything.
And it doesn’t have to be something you already do.Â
Think about it. (Seriously, think about it).Â
This is a powerful question. In fact, this question is worth as much time as it takes you to find your answer. Because you can (if you want) organise your whole life around it. You can start doing more of your one activity and doing less of things that aren’t that. You can slowly start to become so good at your One Activity that it becomes your job --if you want.
That’s the kind of world we live in these days; we have room for all kinds of specialists. Everyone admires focus. And everyone admires a person who knows what they want. Some people make their money playing video games.
If yo...
How to Get a 45 in IB
Life is full of complicated trade-offs, but when you make the decision to be the best at something you're also saying no to almost everything else.
Only when we commit to being the best can we focus completely and do the necessary work.
That kind of commitment takes courage and most people aren’t willing to act with that kind of courage.
Most people never really commit to ambitious goals. They mention things that they’d like to achieve, but they never actually DECIDE to achieve them. So they don’t. And this results in lower self-confidence and confirmation that they should also aim for less next time around.
Making a real decision cuts off all other possibilities. If you decide to be the fastest runner, you don’t have to decide which days you’re going to train. You’re going to train every day. A lot of little decisions have already been made, so you can get on with it. You can do the work and become the best.
If you decide half-way you might never get anywhere.
So, it’s not easy ...
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