Championships Are Won in the Darkness of Practice

I’m no hustle culture activist. Nope. I deeply believe that productivity without recovery will leave you empty. Having said this, people regularly feel at their best when they sense they are spending their days being focused and productive around smart pursuits. Counterintuitively, when we push ourselves to do difficult things, our lives grow easier. And happier.

This is what my latest book The Wealth Money Can’t Buy is all about. Real wealth versus fake success. True winning versus spending your life climbing a mountain, only to find out at the end that it was the wrong one. You can order it now by clicking here.

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Transcript

Championships are won in the darkness of practice. Championships are won before a foot is put on the court. Championships are won when no one's watching. You look at any genius, whether it's in sports, whether it's in business, whether it's in finance, whether it's in the science, whether it's in the humanities, most of these people spent 10 to 15 to 20 years anonymous. It's a key point. While everyone else was playing and distracting and in entertainment and being busy, busy and chasing shiny toys that made them feel good. The great ones were quietly pursuing their mission. They were quietly getting the job done. They were quietly toiling in sacrifice and in joy and making their monuments of mastery that when they presented them to the world, the world said, wow, that's an amazing Taj Mahal. That's an amazing Moonlight Sonata. That's an amazing Eiffel Tower. That's an amazing invention. What we don't see from the geniuses is that they started off ordinary, but they were like a dog with a bone and they wouldn't let go of their ambition and their mission. And they kept on practicing steadily each day and steadily each day because small daily seemingly insignificant optimizations when done consistently with time really do lead to stunning results. And they prepared themselves. The first hour of your day is the most sacred hour of your day, my friend. The Spartan warriors say it so well, sweat more in training and you'll bleed less in war. If you want to climb your Mount Everest, here's a metaphor for you. It's the Mount Everest daily preparation metaphor. If you want to climb Mount Everest, build a great base camp. If you look at any person who gets to the top of Mount Everest, they built an amazing base camp and they stayed there and acclimatized themselves for many, many weeks. And they had their supplies there and they strategized there and they had team building sessions there and they prepared themselves in their base camp. And because of a great base camp and the right strategy and the right tools and the right tactics, they went to Camp 1, Camp 2, Camp 3, Camp 4, the Hillary step, the summit. I very much want you to get to your summits. So develop a great base camp. And what is this first hour preparation tactic all about? It's about giving yourself a victory hour. I talked a lot about it in The 5AM Club, but the way you start your day sets up the way your day unfolds. It sets up the tone of your day. Here's a pro tip. The way you feel when you first wake up isn't necessarily how you'll feel an hour later. Some days I wake up, maybe a little cranky, maybe a little tired. I get on the elliptical, I do my MVP, I feel so much better. And then I get out of bed, I drink some water, I get on my trusty elliptical, I get those arms moving, I get those legs flowing. I've got the information from a good podcaster, a good audiobook.warming up my brain, cleaning out my heart, feeding and nourishing my soul. Then I drink my morning drink and I'm feeling better and better and better. And then I lift some weights after the 20, 30, or 40 minutes on the elliptical and I'll do some mobility exercises to loosen myself up and feel good. And now what time is it? It's six o'clock and I'm on fire. I feel fantastic. The way you wake up isn't necessarily the way you'll... field an hour or two later if you do the right things. So make your first hour of your day your victory hour. And you will find the things you do will be so much more powerful. And remember the day creator's mindset. The way you start the morning sets up the way your day becomes. Your day becomes great. That's a great week, great month, great quarter, great year, great decade, great lifetime.