A dozen great ideas are useless if youcan’t follow them through.
Instead, it’s crucial that you choose a small number of goals and focus your attention.
Our brains behave like a beach ball filled with bees.
Hundreds of conflicting impulses, pushing us in different directions.
People never want to do one thing.
We want to doallthe things.
We simultaneously want to exerciseandto learn Spanishandto go out for pizza.
Our desires are countless, independent agents, working to nudge our beachball in their own selfish direction.
And so usually, that ball is going nowhere.
It’s controlled more by the terrain than by the will of what’s inside it.
This is how most people live their lives.
We feel endlessly conflicted.
We never have enough time.
And what happens to us is stronger than our ability to combat it.
Let’s fix that.
But if you were determined to do all three simultaneously,you’d be absolutely nowhere.
It’s not enough to have great ideas.
Lots of people have great ideas.
The problem is thattoo manygreat ideas cancel each other out.
This is why a committee of smart people is called an “idiot.”
Leadership doesn’t always work in volume.
The more directions you’re being pulled in, the less distance you’ll travel.
How People Achieve the Impossible
Imagine an insanely ambitious goal for yourself.
Say you want to write a book, or land on Mars.
You’d simply drop everything else.
It’s a pattern found in everyone from Edison to Einstein.
They’re failing because their potential is spread in too many directions.
How to Tame the Swarm
You willalwayswant to attempt more than you’re able to achieve.
Unfortunately pulling yourself in too many directions is the single quickest way to ensure failure.
And putting your all into a single direction is the quickest way to ensure success.
So try this:
Aim higher.
If your ambitions are small, they’re easily overpowered.
Big goals are paradoxicallymorelikely to stick because they’re worth ignoring smaller goals for.
Each list only gets one objective.
If you absolutely must have more, just know that each addition quarters the odds of that area succeeding.
Anything which isn’t top priority now can be done optimally later.
Mark Zuckerberg was smart to start Facebook first andthen learn Chinese.
Your goals are the same, you’re just usually too attached to them in the moment to notice.
Beware your idle wants.
Watch out for “other things that you also want.”
They will feel comforting, harmless, and automatic.
They are deadly.One new direction will quarter what you’re free to accomplish.
Line up your bumblebees.
But you might be able to simultaneously become, say, a successfulandathletic CEO.
Success and fitness can be complementary goals: a healthier person can be a better leader.
They’re like two bumblebees, pushing in the same direction, and stronger for it.
If you want the power to follow your dreams, you have to say no to all the alternatives.
It’s not easy, but if that’s for you, at least you know the price.
Title image byBoBaa22(Shutterstock).
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