Obsession beats talent

There is this notion out there that talent is the big deciding factor that will determine how far you will get in life. And it’s one of the great myths that we all sort of grew up with, until you start looking at the world around you and you realize that there are so many things that we take as facts, but which in reality function as restraints because they keep us back.

Sure, a bit of talent helps.

But it’s also over-rated, because it comes cheap.

It’s just there and you don’t need to work for it.

It’s the 1 percent, and all the rest is Hard Work and Working Hard.

And this really takes a while to wrap your head around, because it’s so easy to just believe that someone just “got the talent”, or even worse, to say that someone just “got lucky”. Both of these are just excuses that sort of explain away why it “would never happen to you”.

Well, that ends today.

Because luck is something that you can feed into. And this means that you can use this to your advantage to get leverage. Because “Being lucky” will be the latest addition to your war chest.

The secret is that “Being lucky” is a tool.

It’s a way of looking at yourself.

And it’s a way of approaching new situations.

Because if you see yourself as a lucky person then that will feed into the rest of your life. It may get you to think that things just go your way, but what actually happens is that it will get you to take more action, to look at things differently, to look for opportunities and to forge a path where none exists. Because seeing yourself as a lucky person is just a proxy for bias for action, it will make you pro-active and turn you into the go-getter that you always wanted to be.

And all of that ties into being totally obsessed to the point where it’s top of mind at all times. This is where you wake up in the morning, and your obsession is the first thing you think about. It’s where it’s the last thing you think about before going to bed, and every free moment when you’re not taking care of your business, your family, your house, your chores, your job: it’s your obsession that you relax with, your obsession is where you pour your energy into, your obsession is your way of realizing a better future for you and your family.

And people will not get it that you’re not up to speed on certain things. They might not get it that you don’t care about a big game, and don’t know all the ins and outs of the big players, they don’t get it that you don’t really care about the news, that there are so many things that other people just do for fun that you just don’t do. Because if you’re obsessed about something you limit your scope to just that thing. And this will be your secret weapon.

Because it truly is the only way to really make a move on anything. Because if you strike the right balance, where you’re obsessed, where you’re clear on your mission, where you can dedicate time and energy, while you still maintain a good relationship with your wife and kids, then you are well on your way to realize great things.

It’s then that hours don’t matter, and it’s then that you will achieve far more in a few months than what others will accomplish in a few years. It’s then that you will blast straight through talent and luck, and instead you lean into action, you will be getting things done and you will be getting what’s yours.

But you have to do one thing that will enable you to do all of this: you will have to be clear on your obsession. If you can’t put it in two or three words and literally see and feel the thing before you, then you don’t have a proper obsession yet. If it takes you more than a few sentences, then it means that you need to hone down, it means that you need to lean in, and to just cut out all the unnecessary stuff. And you will have to be relentless until you’re left with the bare minimum. And what you are left with is something to truly obsess over.

But you have to be cautious as well: when you roll like this for a while, there ain’t no turning back. You will not want to live without a proper obsession for the rest of your life. Because you will find out that it will give you the spark in your belly that you had when you were way younger, and everything was exciting because it was all still very new. Well, this will get your spark back, and it will get you to go further than anything else has ever done before. Now ain’t that something?

If you ever got knocked down, this is for you!

Many ideas are simple

In fact, the best ideas are simple.

It’s usually just a line, and usually the line is “just around”.

It’s the sort of stuff that was always there, but you just sort of had to be ready to “hear it”.

So that’s this.

It’s one of those lines.

Don’t just hear, adopt.

Walk around with it.

Give it a bit of feel, a bit of a beat, a bit of you.

Sling it out as much as you can.

Get others to hear it.

Get others to repeat.

Get others into it.

Then keep it close.

Repeat it some more.

And then some.

So here it is, it ain’t mine exclusively.

Without the fluff stripped down to its core.

It’s raw, it knocks hard, it will knock you out if you let it.



When I get knocked down, I’ll get up again.

They never gonna keep me down.

When I get knocked down, I’ll get up again.

They never gonna keep me down.

When I get knocked down, I’ll get up again.

They never gonna keep me down.

When I get knocked down, I’ll get up again.

They never gonna keep me down.

That’s it ya’ll.

When to say NO.

Ain’t dropping it high.

Ain’t dropping it low.

If i ain’t feel it no way i will go.

It has to be heavy.

It has to be thick.

If it ain’t that, no way it will stick.

If it ain’t time no way i will roll.

If it ain’t right, bet I'll go slow.

Laying low ain’t no way mean no.

It just means there ain’t no fat pitch for me to go throw.

If it ain’t the right time i always go no.

If it ain’t hell yes, the answer is hell no.

It ain’t no mystery, just way how i roll.

I got an idea of where i go cause i know what i know.

Just abide until my body, mind, heart screams go.

Then I make it double, no time to go slow, no time to go easy when i’m on the roll.

No time to recover.

No time to sweat, no time to go easy, no time to go dread.

No doubt in my mind that’s when i will roll.

When it’s screaming out loud that’s when i go.

When it screams at me left, right, center in and out.

That’s all there is to it,

That’s all for now mo.

Jelmer out yo.

The Comeback.

One of the greatest things that you can do to propel yourself forward is to reinvent yourself.

It’s the ability to tear everything down.

It’s about questioning every protocol, every life-style habit, every relationship, every characteristic that made you “you” until that point in time.

It’s about going back to zero.

It’s about doing so with the heft of a lived life, and then to use that as a sling-shot towards realizing great things.

And this is hard. And this is against human nature. This is against our innate habit to accumulate stuff around us. This is about cutting things out. This is about being relentless. This is about rewriting your past. This is about re-imagining your future.

And the only way to do that is to start with a clean slate.

So that’s why you can’t do this while you’re “in it”.

You can’t do this while you roll with your current crowd, while you do the things that you always did, while you move and shake like you have always done.

To clean the slate, you will have to disappear.

You will have to go at it alone.

You will have to go to your core.

Because this is the only way that you can come back stronger than ever.

And people will start to wonder: where is he? Did he dig a hole that he can’t come out of? Did he loose himself? Did he loose his mind?

It doesn’t matter. Because what other people may think ultimately isn’t the stuff that you should be worried about.

Except for this: the moment when you return to the stage.

Because that’s when people start talking about the ways at which you “turned your life around”. And it’s then that people will start to wonder: how did he do it? And that’s when you will leave them guessing. You do this to maintain the enigma. You do this to build your power. You do this to up your game. And then whatever the new thing is that you do: this is the new you. You did come roaring back. You have obliterated the old you. And now you have become bigger and better than ever before. Now ain’t that something?

Never ever give up.

Never ever give up.

This is the secret to getting further than most: just never give up.

It’s the secret to getting further than those who are smarter than you, who have more money than you, and who are better connected than you.

Just never give up.

That’s the secret.

Because there will be times when you are tired, when you question whether it’s “all worth it”, when you question whether you got what it takes. And when you wonder if it’s “meant to be”.

We all have those experiences from time to time, but that in no way means that you should just give in. It in no way means that you are not doing “what you are supposed to do”. It simply means that this is a moment when the seed of doubt can be planted. Because that’s the real enemy. You can't doubt yourself to get where you want to be. So it’s up to you to say: never—-no. No way.

Never give up.

You will come across people who are smarter than you. Who had it easy when they grew up. Who went to the right schools. Who scored the right credentials. Who had the right group of people around them. But they never really made much of themselves. Why? They gave up.

And you will also notice it the other way. The folks who start with way less than you. Who had it hard. Who had it tough. Who started with disadvantages back, front, center, in and out. And they are way further in life than you were at a similar age. They may have the drive. Sure. But they also did one thing: they just never gave up.

And that’s just how it is when it comes to the big stuff: just never give up.

Just never ever give up.

Just don’t do it.

Because no matter how big your ambition, or how tough your journey, the fact of the matter is that the only obstacle between where you are now, and where you want to be, is simple grit, perseverance, endurance and just wanting “the thing” more than anything else in the world. It’s about doing the thing, and doing it again, and again, and again.

It’s about pushing through.

Because never ever giving up is what separates you from everyone else.

Never ever giving up is what will make you exceptional.

Because the simple fact of the matter is that everything is hard.

Especially when you start.

And every journey worth taking has huge obstacles that you thought you would never get around.

Because every journey worth taking has vast parts of it which are foggy, hazy, and it feels like you are moving into uncharted territory—-because you are.

And it’s scary. Sure. And it’s lonesome. And sometimes you may not know exactly what you should do. And it may feel like you will never get to where you want to be.

So you push through.

You keep going.

No matter what.

Because what’s the alternative?

There is no alternative.

Because that is what separates you from everyone else: you simply never give up.

And then you roll like this for a while. And then you don’t even have to tell yourself these things anymore. It’s then that you have become a machine that’s just “in motion”. And all you have to do then is to give it enough time. Because if you add “time” to “never ever give up”, then you got the secret figured out to really get anywhere in life. Now ain’t that something?

Wolf is at the door.

One of the big “mysteries” is why some people crumble under pressure, and others thrive. It seems that some people just freeze and lose all ability to act in any reasonable capacity. Then there are others who suck it up, they want the pressure, they want to be pushed in the corner. They need constant pressure in order to survive. This is you. This is the new you.

You need the wolf at the door. 

You need to hear it growl.

You need the fear of hearing it howl at night.

You need for it to show its teeth.

You need its claws scraping on the front door.

You need the wolf to ram the door.

You need it hungry.

You need it ready for bloodshed.

You need its shadow on the wall under a blood red moon.

You need it to get ready. You need what makes others crumble. You need to be stressed out of your mind, heart pounding, knees buckling. You need more fear than most can take. You need to be inches away from your breaking point.

You need it to build a wall. To build a fortress. To build a moat. To put together an offense. To fill a war chest. To get so strong and so powerful that nothing can get through.

You need the wolf at the door.

You need the pain, the fear, the urgency.

You need to prove everyone wrong.

And that’s why this is the new you. If you can manage to live with a wolf at the door, while you have a hundred bucks, the rent is 300, the wife is pregnant, and the landlord is pounding at the door. If you can perform under this level of stress, then you can do it all.

And then when you have done it. When you did roll like this for a few years: you look back and you realize that you have been playing on hard mode all this time, and then you imagine the way at which you can dominate if you switch back to easy mode. And this is when everything finally falls into place. Now ain’t that something? 

 

The Lonely Chapter.

Sometimes you just have to go into uncharted territory. And to go boldly. And to keep on going when things get really tough. The easiest thing to do is always to turn tail and to go back to wherever you came from. It’s the easiest, and the option is always there, and that’s exactly why you should never do this.

The hardest things are usually also the most fulfilling, and if you manage to do something that’s really hard, and it’s something you enjoy and feel good about, then it just becomes obvious: then that is exactly what you should be doing.

But you will discover early on that these are rarely the sort of things you do with a group of people. Everything worthwhile will require some degree of going at it by yourself. This means that there is no one who is cheering you on. This means that you may have some indication that you are on the right track. But there is no certainty. There will be a little voice popping up in the back of your head that’s telling you that “it will ever work out”.

This means that you shouldn’t give in.

To give in is for the weak, and that ain’t you.

There will be these statements popping up about how most people give up “three feet before striking gold”, or you will see graphs that show a flat line and a little arrow pointing at “this is you” and then some indefinite time between that and striking it big.

And that’s where it’s really tough, and it’s really lonely. Because by that time you are at an intersection: you no longer really fit in with your old crowd, but you also don’t have the credentials to fit in with a new group of people. At this stage you are still a wannabe, no matter how hard you grind and keep going at it.

It will feel like every day is an uphill battle, and around every corner there is another obstacle that you couldn’t have anticipated. Even though you planned all the way to the end, you just end up doing the best that you can. And that little voice starts nagging again: is this enough? Do I have what it takes? Will this ever workout?

So you just keep on going, because it also feels like there is no turning back. And you keep going, and you keep going, and it will feel like it will never happen, and then you forget about thinking, you just keep on going.

And then a few years later, you take a minute, you look around at where you are at, and it’s then that you realize that you are right where you are supposed to be. Things did work out, and way bigger and way better than you ever imagined. Now ain’t that something?