#078 – Self-Discovery & Dangerous Competitors

Good morning everyone,

Hope you’re having a great week!

Let’s jump in.

read online on my website 

read time 3 minutes 

#078 at a Glance:

• Quote: Knowing & learning.

• Podcast: The Art of Working Hard When Nobody is Watching.

• Show: Chris Williamson’s ‘Self-Discovery’ Tour.

• Hack: The 3 questions to ask yourself after consuming content.

• Tweet: The most dangerous competitor.

Quote I’ve been thinking about:

Podcast I listened to:

The Art of Working Hard When Nobody is Watching

The High Performance Podcast is a UK-based pod hosted by Jake Humphrey and Damian Hughes. The show speaks with some of the highest performing entrepreneurs, athletes, and entertainers from around the world to break down the unconventional and unexpected factors that often drive success.

This episode was a bonus edition between Jake and Damian where they reflected on a recurring theme that was consistently underpinning the majority of their interviews: ‘the art of working hard when nobody is watching’.

Really enjoyed this one as they reflected specifically on insights from their conversations with Liverpool Academy Director Alex Inglethorpe, Crossfit Coach Ben Bergeron, and Olympic legend Michael Johnson.

These were my biggest takeaways:

• When the bright lights are shining, your brain needs to be able to draw on tonnes of evidence that you ARE capable; that you are disciplined even when other people might not have been.

• Evidence = Confidence.

• “Average is easy, that’s why it’s popular.” – Mark Webber.

• You need to hold yourself to the VERY HIGHEST STANDARD when it's just you by yourself and no one is watching.

• The voice in your head that says, “Go sit down, relax, just watch another episode of Netflix, hit the snooze button,” etc. lives inside EVERYONE. Even the most ambitious and driven people. You have to actively drown out that voice.

• What is the thing that makes people listen to that tough/motivating internal voice? A deep sense of purpose and direction.

• There are 3 factors which drive true intrinsic motivation to undertake any endeavour:

  1. Purpose.

  2. Sense of belonging (feeling like what you do matters to the wider community and contributes positively to the world around you).

  3. Sense of control (feeling like you’re the one in the driver’s seat and you’re the one who chooses to do whatever it is that you’re doing).

Listen on Spotify or Apple Podcasts.

[Podcast Length: 16 minutes]

Show I attended:

Chris Williamson’s ‘Self-Discovery’ Tour – Sydney

The other week, I had the absolute privilege of attending Chris Williamson’s Live Tour at the ICC Darling Harbour Theatre here in Sydney.

The theme of the show was ‘Self-Discovery’ and was essentially a flawless consolidation of Chris’ most captivating insights that he’s accumulated over the last few years hosting his podcast, Modern Wisdom.

Apart from the educational value, it was just so cool to sit in a room and be surrounded by 2,500 like-minded people who live in the same city that I do.

It was an incredibly energising and uplifting feeling to see how many people are actively ‘aiming up’ in everything that they do.

These were some of my favourite takeaways from the night:

• The pain of inaction stings longer than the pain of incorrect action.

• In life, we must choose our regrets.

• Instead of evaluating decisions based on what it is that you think you want, think about which regrets you couldn’t bear to live with. Opt for a ‘process of elimination’ approach in your decision-making.

• We’re not afraid of failing, we’re afraid of what other people will say if we fail.

• Most people, most of the time, have got no idea what they’re doing.

• “Your boos mean nothing to me, I’ve seen what makes you cheer.”

• People with a low self-esteem will always find a way to be miserable.

• You have already achieved goals that you said would make you happy.

• Problems of opportunity will always receive less empathy than problems of scarcity.

• There is victory in the mundane.

So important to support those creators who dedicate their entire lives to their craft.

And even on a personal note, it is so beneficial to just get off the screen and get into the real world, interacting with people who care about the same things that you do.

Unreal evening.

Hack I’ve been using:

3 Questions to Ask Yourself After Consuming Content

Every time I spend a bit of time watching an educational podcast or diving into an interesting topic online, I’ve started implementing a 3-question reflection to help lock in whatever it is that I’ve learned.

Immediately after I finish consuming the content, I physically write down answers to these 3 questions:

1. In 1-2 sentences, what is my biggest takeaway or new thing that I’ve learned?

2. How can I practically implement what I’ve learned into some aspect of my life?

3. How can I extend/further this learning, or, is there anything that I came across that I didn’t quite understand but I would be well-served to know more about?

It’s been an absolute game changer for me.

Helps avoid inaction after dedicating time to learning something online.

Here’s a recent example of when I dived into researching more about the Indian economy:

1. India’s construction industry is the 4th largest in the world and is poised to grow exponentially in the coming years, yet despite export duties (tariffs) imposed by the Indian Government on high-grade iron ore, India still exports 3-5x the amount of iron ore than it imports.

2. Subscribe to newsletters and publications that provide updates on the Indian economy.

3. Why does India import more iron ore from Brazil in comparison to Australia?

Tweet I liked:

The Most Dangerous Competitor

Thanks for reading! Grateful for your support.

Stay hungry, stay humble, stay curious. ⚡

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