Many people are good at what they do. Some are even elite. A select few are entirely unstoppable.
Have you ever wondered why two people with the same credentials, similar experience has significantly different career trajectories? It comes down to their superpowers. High performers have mastered the technical skills needed for the job and have the right set of power skills to unlock their full potential. Top performers in a given role share a standard set of 20 or so power skills. Three to five of these power skills discriminate the top performers from good performers. We refer to them as your superpowers.
Those who are unstoppable are in their world. These folks do not compete with anyone but themselves. You never know what they will do — only that you will be forced to respond. Even though they do not compete with you, they make you compete with them.
During 2019, consider one of the thoughts below each day, I listed 31, and repeatly monthly as as reminder. They will be come habits for your journey.
Develop power skills
Soft skills get little respect, but they can make or break your career.” — Peggy Klaus
Soft skills are an essential element of your talent stack. Soft skills have a significant impact on how effectively you perform assigned tasks and duties. Soft skills include things like judgment, initiative, interpersonal skills, teamwork, and flexibility. They include an ability to communicate verbally and in writing effectively.
A Career Builder study of over 2,000 HR professionals found:
- 77 percent of the people believed that soft skills are just as necessary as technical (hard) skills
- 16 percent thought that soft skills are more important than technical skills
However, “Soft Skills” is A misnomer. The essential elements of the modern talent stack include critical thinking, persuasive writing, communications, and teamwork. A better term for soft skills is “power skills.” Even in the most technical fields, power skills are so vital to innovation and business success. So why are they so often overlooked?
Some of today’s most lucrative industries, such as data science, were invented less than ten years ago. Many workers are looking to up-skill their technical skills. However, a broader transformation of skills is happening in the workplace. It is impossible now to study one subject in school and never again return to the classroom. Unfortunately, many are unaware of the power skills that will make them successful in the new role. Jobs are becoming hybridized and need a mix of different skill sets.
Furthermore, you do not know if your power skills are strengths needed for your current role, or if they are challenges that you need to manage.
Do not think — know and act.
Don’t think. You already know what you have to do, and you know how to do it. What’s stopping you?” —Tim Grover
Rather than analyzing and thinking, act. Attuned to your senses, and with complete trust in yourself, do what you instinctively feel you should.
Every right decision I have ever made has come from my gut. Every wrong decision I’ve made was the result of me not listening to the greater voice of myself.” — Oprah Winfrey
The moment you start thinking, you have already lost. It pulls you out of the zone.
Always be prepared, so you have the freedom to act on instinct
Just as the yin-yang symbol possesses a kernel of light in the dark, and dark in the light, creative leaps are grounded in a technical foundation.” — Josh Waitzkin
Become an expert in your craft. While everyone else is relaxing, you are practicing and perfecting. Learn the left-brained rules in and out so your right brain can have the limitless freedom to break the rules and create.
With enhanced consciousness, time will slow down for you. You will see things in several more frames than others. While they are trying to react to the situation, you will be able to manipulate and tweak the circumstances to your liking.
Do not be motivated by money or anything external
Having beautiful things is, well, nice. However, for you, it is never about the money, prestige, or anything else outside of you. Take these things away, and nothing changes for you. You are still going to be pushing your limits and giving it your all. Give these things to you, and they will not destroy you like they do most people.
Never be satisfied — Be constructively disgruntled
The drive to close the gap between near-perfect and perfect is the difference between great and unstoppable.” — Tim Grover
Even after you achieve a goal, you are not content. For you, it is not about the goal — it is about purpose. It is about the climb to see how far you can push yourself. Does this make you ungrateful? No. You are entirely humbled and grateful for everything in your life, which is why you will never get complacent or lazy.
The way to enjoy life best is to wrap up one goal and start right on the next one. Don’t linger too long at the table of success, the only way to enjoy another meal is to get hungry.” — Jim Rohn
Always be in control
Unlike most people, who are dependent on substances or other external factors, you are in control of what you put in your body, how you spend your time and how long you stay in the zone.
Act based on instinct, not impulse. Just because you could do not mean you will do. Moreover, when you do, it is because you want to, not because you must.
Be true to yourself
Although 70 percent of US employees hate their jobs and only one in three Americans report being happy, relentless and unstoppable people purge everything from their life they hate.
Have the self-respect and confidence to live life on your terms. When something is not right in your life, change it. Immediately.
Never let off the pressure
Pressure can bust pipes, but it also can make diamonds.” — Robert Horry
Most people can handle pressure in small doses. However, when left to their own devices, they let off the weight and relax.
Not you. You never take the pressure off yourself. Instead, you continuously turn-up the force. It is what keeps you alert and active.
Do not be afraid of the consequences of failure
Most people stay close to the ground, where it is safe. If they fall, it will not hurt that bad. However, when you choose to fly high, the fall may kill you. Moreover, you are OK with that. To you, there is no ceiling, and there is no floor. It is all in your head. If something goes wrong — if you “fail” — you adjust and keep going.
Do not compete with others. Make them compete with you
Most people are competing with other people. They continuously check-in to see what others in their space (their “competition”) are doing. As a result, they mimic and copy what’s “working.”
Conversely, you have left all competition behind. Competing with others makes absolutely zero sense to you. It pulls you from your authentic zone. So, you zone out all the external noise and instead zone into your internal pressure to produce.
Never stop learning
5-Hour Rule: If you are not spending 5 hours per week learning, you are being irresponsible.
Ordinary people seek entertainment. Extraordinary people continually look for education and learning opportunities. When you want to become the best at what you do, you never stop learning. You never stop improving and honing your skills and knowledge.
Your unparalleled preparation is what gives you power. No one else is willing to pay the price you have paid.
Success is not enough — it only increases the pressure
For most people, becoming “successful” is enough. However, when you are relentless, success only increases the pressure to do more. Immediately following the achievement of a goal, you are focused on your next challenge.
Do not get crushed by success
Success can become a catalyst for failure.” — Greg McKeown
Most people cannot handle success, authority, or privilege. It destroys them. It makes them lazy. When they get what they want, they stop doing the very things that got them there. The external noise becomes too intense.
However, for you, no external noise can push harder than your internal pressure. It is not about this achievement, but the one after, and the one after that. There is no destination. Only when you are finished.
Completely own it when you screw up
No blame. No deception or illusion. Just the cold hard truth. When you mess up, you own it. Moreover, as the leader, you own it when your team fails. Only with extreme ownership can you have complete freedom and control.
Let your work speak for itself
Well done, is well said.” — Anthony Liccione
Cal Newport’s book, Deep Work, distinguishes “deep work” from “shallow work.” Here is the difference:
Deep work is:
- Rare
- High value
- Non-replicable (i.e., not easy to copy/outsource)
Shallow work is:
- Common
- Low value
- Replicable (i.e., anyone can do it)
Talking is shallow. Anyone can do it. It is easily replicated. It is of little importance. Conversely, deep work is rare. It is done by people who are focused and working while everyone else is talking. Deep work is so good it cannot be ignored.
Always work on your mental strength.
Mental resilience is arguably the most critical trait of a world-class performer, and it should be nurtured continuously. Left to my own devices, I am always looking for ways to become more and more psychologically impregnable. When uncomfortable, my instinct is not to avoid the discomfort but to become at peace with it. My instinct is always to seek out challenges as opposed to avoiding them.” — Josh Waitzkin
The better you can be under pressure, the further you will go than anyone else. Because they will crumble under pressure.
The best training you will ever do is mental training. Wherever your mind goes, your body follows. Wherever your thoughts go, your life follows.
Confidence is your greatest asset
You have heard it before: Running a marathon is far more mental than physical. A person’s ability to run a marathon — or do anything hard — is more a reflection of their level of confidence than their actual ability.
- The size of challenges/goals you undertake
- How likely you will achieve those goals
- How well you bounce back from failures
If you are not confident, you will never put yourself out there in the first place. When you are optimistic, you do not care how many times you fail; you are going to succeed. Moreover, it does not matter how stacked the odds seem against you.
Surround yourself with people who remind you of the future, not the past
When you surround yourself with people who remind you of your past, you will have a tough time progressing. Therefore, we get stuck in specific roles, which we cannot break free from (e.g., the fat kid or shy girl).
Surrounding yourself with people whom you want to be like allows you a fresh slate. Your past no longer defines you, only the future you are creating.
According to “the Pygmalion Effect,” the expectations of those around you in no small measure determines how well you perform.
Let things go, but never forget
The science is clear: forgiveness improves not only your emotional health but also your physical health.
Being unstoppable needs carrying no unnecessary mental or emotional baggage. Consequently, you will need to at once and completely forgive anyone who has wronged you. However, forgiveness does not mean you forget. Moreover, it does not say you have to do further business with those who have hurt you.
Have clear goals
While a fixation on results is certainly unhealthy, short-term goals can be useful developmental tools if they are balanced within a nurturing long-term philosophy.” — Josh Waitzkin
According to loads of psychology research, the most motivating goals are clearly defined and time-bound.
Your goals can either be focused on your behaviours (e.g., I am going to write 500 words per day) or on the outcomes you are seeking (e.g., I am going to get published on The New York Times by June 1, 2017).
For most people, behaviorally-focused goals are the better and more motivating choice. However, when you crave the results so much that the work is irrelevant, your aim should be directed straight at the outcomes you want. However, results-focused goals are better when short-term and grounded in your long-term vision and philosophy. When your why is strong enough, the how will take care of itself.
Respond at once, rather than analyzing or stalling
He who hesitates is lost.” — Cato
The anticipation of an event is always more extreme than the event itself — both for positive and adverse events.
Just do it. Train yourself to respond at once when you feel you should do something. Stop questioning yourself. Do not analyze it. Do not wonder if it came from God or yourself. Just act.
You will figure out what to do after you have acted. Until you move, it will all be hypothetical. However, once you commit, it becomes practical.
Choose simplicity over complication.
If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.” — Albert Einstein
It is easy to be complicated. Most of the research and jargon in academia and business is over-complicated.
Cutting to the core and hitting the truth is hard because it is simple. As Leonardo da Vinci has said, “Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.”
Very few people will give you the truth. When you ask them a question, it gets complicated. “There are so many variables” or “It depends,” they say.
Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge? Where is the knowledge we have lost in information?” — T.S. Eliot
Wisdom is timeless and pure. Learn wisdom and choose it. It along with skills, knowledge, behavioural traits, and accomplishments make up your talent stack.
Never be jealous or envious of someone else’s achievements.
Being unstoppable means, you genuinely want what is best for everyone — even those you would consider your competitors. Jealousy and envy are the ego — which runs out of fear.
The reason you are happy for other people’s success is that their success has nothing to do with you.
You are in control of you. Moreover, you are different from every other person. No one can do precisely what you can do. You have your superpower with your unique ability to contribute. So, that is what you are going to do.
Take the shot every time.
You miss 100% of the shots you don't take." — Wayne Gretzky
Most people do not want to take the chance. Fear of failure paralyzes them. In other words, you cannot succeed unless you try.
The only way you can become unstoppable is if you stop thinking about it. Just take the shot. Please do not do it only when it is convenient or when you feel ready.
Just make whatever adjustments you need after the fact.
Do not get caught up in the results of your success. Always remain focused on what got you those results: the work.
When you start doing noteworthy stuff, some benefits can become distractions. It can get easy to “ride the wave” of your former work. Keep practicing. Perfect your craft. Never forget what got you here.
Think and act 10X.
When 10X is your measuring stick, you immediately see how you can bypass what everyone else is doing.” — Dan Sullivan
Most people — even those you believe to be “world class” — are not running at 10X. In truth, you could surpass anyone if you radically stretch your thinking and belief system.
Going 10X changes everything. As Dan Sullivan has said, “10X thinking automatically takes you ‘outside the box’ of your present obstacles and limitations.” It pulls you out of the problems most people are dealing with and opens you to an entirely new field of possibilities.
When you take your goal of earning $100,000 this year and change it to $1,000,000, you are forced to work at a different level. The logical and traditional approach does not work with 10X.
10X progress is built on bravery and creativity instead. Working smarter.” — Shane Snow, author of Smartcuts: How Hackers, Innovators, and Icons Accelerate Success
The question is: Are you willing to go there? Not just entertain the thought for a second or two and then revert to conventional thinking. No. Are you ready to sit with 10X thinking? Are you prepared to question your thought processes and open yourself to believing an entirely distinct set of possibilities?
Could you convince yourself to believe in your 10X potential? Are you willing to undertake goals that seem lunacy, to you and everyone else? Are you ready to take the mental leap, trusting “the universe will conspire to make it happen”?
10X thinking is hard to fathom until you experience. Once you experience it, you realize it not only possible but even possibly conservative. Going from six figures to seven figures can happen within a few short years. If you think big enough and are willing to act boldly and intelligently sufficient, it is not that crazy.
All the tools are in place in our global world. Moreover, if they are not, then build them. There is plenty of people doing it. You have no excuse, only that you do not really want it, and are thus not willing to pay the price.
Set goals that far exceed your current capabilities.
You need to aim beyond what you are capable of. You need to develop a complete disregard for where your abilities end. If you think you’re unable to work for the best company in its sphere, make that your aim. If you think you’re unable to be on the cover of TIME magazine, make it your business to be there. Make your vision of where you want to be a reality. Nothing is impossible.” — Paul Arden
If your goals are logical, they will not force you to create luck. Being unstoppable means your goals challenge you to be someone more than you currently are.
Don’t wish it was easier, wish you were better.” — Jim Rohn
Be available for recovery and rejuvenation.
Wherever you are, make sure you’re there.” — Dan Sullivan
When you focus on results, rather than being busy, you are 100 percent on when you are working and 100 percent off when you are not. This approach not only allows you to be present now, but it will enable you the needed time to rest and recover.
Your ability to work at an elevated level is like fitness. If you never take a break between sets, you will not be able to build strength, stamina, and endurance.
However, not all “rest” produces recovery. Certain things are more soothing than others.
Recovering from my work consists of writing in my journal, listening to music, spending time with my wife and kids, preparing and eating delicious food, or serving other people. These things rejuvenate me. They make my work possible, but also meaningful.
Start before you are ready.
The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second-best time is now.” — Chinese Proverb
Most people wait. They believe they can start after they have enough time, money, connections, and credentials. They wait until they feel “secure.” Not people who are unstoppable.
Unstoppable people started last year. They started five years ago before they even knew what they were doing. They began before they had any money.
They started before they had all the answers. They began when no one else believed in them. The only permission they needed was the voice inside them prompting them to move forward. So they ran ahead.
If you need permission, you should not do it.
A mentor of mine is a phenomenally successful real estate investor. Throughout his career, he has had hundreds of people ask him if they should “go into real-estate.”
He tells every one of them the same thing: that they should not do it. He tries talking most of them out of it. Moreover, in most cases, he succeeds.
Why would he do that? “Those who are going to succeed will do so regardless of what I say,” he told me.
I know so many people who chase whatever worked for other people. They never honestly decide what they want to do and end up jumping from one thing to the next — trying to strike quick gold. Moreover, repetitively, they stop digging just a few feet from the gold after resigning the spot is barren.
No one will ever allow you to live your dreams.
Do not make exceptions.
Zig Ziglar used to tell a story of travelling one day and not getting in bed until 4 a.m. An hour and a half later (5:30), his alarm went off. He said, “Every fibre of my being was telling me to stay in bed.” However, he had committed, so he got up anyway. Admittedly, he had a horrible day and was not productive at all.
He says that decision changed his life. As he explains:
“Had I bowed to my human, physical, emotional and mental desire to sleep in, I would have made that exception. A week later, I might have made an exception if I only got four hours of sleep. A week later, I only got seven hours of sleep. The exception so many times becomes the rule. Had I slept in, I would have faced that danger. Watch those exceptions!”
Hence, Zig was unstoppable.
Concluding thoughts
From this point, your strategy is to make everyone else get on your level. You are not going down to theirs. You are not competing with anyone else, ever again. They are going to have to compete with you. From now on, the result is all that matters.” — Tim Grover
When you study lastingly successful people, you find that they have one thing in common: they focus on their strengths and manage their weaknesses. Our talent analytics identify your unique talent stack and development areas. The development areas are specific to the given career you want to pursue.
Today, it is more than skills—it is your entire talent stack— knowledge, wisdom, power skills, accomplishments and technical skills. Companies and business leaders are reassessing the talent stack they deem critical to success in their employees and job candidates. For employers, our best-fit staffing process is designed to fill this void. The next generation of workers and leaders will need to have a hybrid skill set of hard skills and power skills to achieve career success.
As an individual, our career assessment provides you with insights regarding your power skills and shows how they align with high performers in your current or any prospective role you may be considering. Your technical acumen and accomplishments will get you the interview. However, your power skills will get you the job. The insight we provide positions you to ace the problematic interview question — “tell me about your strengths and weaknesses.”
When you are unstoppable, you will make sure to get what you want. Everything you need to know is already within you. All you need to do is trust yourself and act.
Insights About Your Behavioural DNA Can Advance Your Career
We are incredibly passionate about Behavioural DNA and the impact this scientific insight can have on you. Using SuccessFinder, you can discover your behavioural strengths and challenges.
High-performers in the same role share a common subset of behaviors. Our talent analytics compares your talent stack — behavioral traits and competencies — with high performers. We show you how to leverage your unique talents to achieve career satisfaction and success.
Focus on your strengths and manage your challenges. You complete the assessment online, we then provide you report and personal feedback via video call. We offer the service worldwide. We’d love to hear from you!