Just finished reading Black Hole Focus. It’s rather well written to inspire action. But the fundamental principles in it boil down to visualise success, break how to get there, remind your self on a daily basis what success looks like.
A good summary can be found here. But here are my cliff notes:
The best inspirational story in the book was in my opinion this:
In the 1950s, Curt Richter, a Harvard graduate and Johns Hopkins scientist, did a series of experiments that tested how long rats could swim in high-sided buckets of circulating water before drowning. Dr. Richter found that, under normal conditions, a rat could swim for an average of 15 minutes before giving up and sinking.
However, if he rescued the rats just before drowning, dried them off and let them rest briefly, and then put them back into the same buckets of circulating water, the rats could swim an average of 60 hours. Yes, 60 hours. If a rat was temporarily saved, it would survive 240 times longer than if it was not temporarily saved.
This makes no sense. How could these rats swim so much longer during the second session, especially just after swimming as long as possible to stay alive during the first session?
Dr. Richter concluded that the rats were able to swim longer because they were given HOPE.
Visualise success
Your Core Principles
Which things do you currently value about/in your life?
Which of your strengths/traits are you proud of? Which of your strengths/traits have helped you achieve your current success?
Which traits do you admire in others? Which traits do you desire?
Write down your answers to these.
Now based on this write down your “core principles”. That is 6 words describing your future self in terms of traits.
Independence, vitality, success, toughness, relationships, openness, contribution, etc.
Your story
Write a list of all the things that inspire you.
Condense it to common traits of inspirational words.
Write a condensed blurb of your current story. That is who are you?
Now change this story to the future story you desire.
Then rephrase it to use your inspirational words and core principles.
Your slogan
Condense your story into a one sentence slogan.
Your meme
Condense your slogan into 1 word that inspires and motivates you.
Your vision board
Create a vision board and put it somewhere you will see every day.
Break down how to get there
Work backwards from your ultimate goal, your future story to monthly actions.
Remind your self on a daily basis
Look at your vision board, repeat your story and slogan on a daily basis, use your meme as motivation throughout the day preferably with the rest of your team.
10.000 hour rule
You’ve probably heard that gaining expert level proficiency takes 10.000 hours before. One interesting point in the book was that you perform activities that work towards multiple of your goals. Say you wanna be better at public speaking as well as stay up to date on a topic. Read research papers our loud while focusing on your delivery.