Unlimited: How to Build an Exceptional Life (22 page)

A
t this point you should take a moment to acknowledge the fact that you’ve come a long way. You’ve learned how to figure out what it is you want. And you’ve learned how to do the internal work to go after it full force.

Awesome!

Now what?

As I’m sure you know, no one has succeeded just by thinking positively and feeling good about themselves. To succeed in life, you have to take action. But how? What’s the first step? Taking action without focus is a recipe for disaster. Luckily, you don’t have to worry about that. Step Three is all about the specific moves you can make in order to go after your dream. Some of the things I talk about will apply more to the professional side of life, some more to the personal, but whatever part of your life you are focusing on, I’m going to give you the tools you need to achieve everything you have in mind and more.

But first, let’s go back to school …

CHAPTER NINE

HIT THE BOOKS—THEN THE DECK

W
e will change anything if we feel that it’s worth it and that we are able. Ability is where the education aspect of this plan comes into play. Ninety-nine point nine percent of the time we fail because we were improperly prepared. You’re not lazy, you weren’t born under a bad sign, and your genetics have not sentenced you to a life of failure. You may simply have been unable to move forward because you didn’t yet
know how;
you didn’t have enough information on what to do.

The solution lies in continued learning. Whether it’s learning from your mistakes or learning something totally new, every bit of knowledge you gain is an extra tool for growth and for meeting new problems and working them out.

Knowledge truly is power. With the right information, you can make informed choices that will help steer any outcome in your favor. Education brings focus to all your endeavors, and in professional settings it gives you the edge over your competition. Without it, your actions can become like a wrecking ball, out of control and potentially counterproductive. So be sure to learn everything there is to know about the goal you are hoping to achieve. Don’t wait for it to come your way—pursue it. Here are a few ways to start.

DO YOUR HOMEWORK

Before you pursue any endeavor, do your homework! Much as in our skydiving analogy in
Chapter 8
, getting informed allows you to plan an advantageous course of action that helps keep you out of harm’s way
and
helps ensure results. Planning isn’t hard or costly. All it requires is a little diligence and patience. Spend time studying up on the subject you are about to pursue. Read books on the topic, watch documentaries, listen to podcasts, and search the Internet. Technology provides countless resources for information on almost anything. You may not have direct access to an expert, but the great thing about today’s technology is, you’re not reliant on others to get you the info you need.

You can’t imagine how many people come up to me on a daily basis, discouraged and overwhelmed, and tell me they “can’t lose weight.” They are misinformed. Every human being can lose weight—it’s part of our genetic makeup. The key is addressing how they’re going about it. When I ask them questions, it becomes clear to me that they aren’t educated about the scientific facts of weight loss and so aren’t able to take effective action.

They don’t know how many calories to eat, how many calories they are burning, how various foods affect their natural metabolism, and so on. After I teach them Weight Loss 101, they are able to make the proper food and exercise choices so that the weight falls off. This information is out there, however, and they could have saved themselves years of struggle and heartache had they bothered to look for it.

I can hear some of you right now:
I’ve bought book after book, followed fad diet after fad diet, and still not gotten results or “right” information?!
If you’re thinking that, you bring up a great point. There’s so much conflicting info out there, how do you know which sources to trust?

Seek out information from reliable sources that have a proven track record. And always look for evidence, facts, and testimonials that back up and validate the credibility of that information.

For example, if I want to learn about snowboarding, I’m first going to see if Shaun White has a book, video game, DVD, or podcast on the topic. Considering that he is an Olympic gold medalist in the sport, I feel that qualifies him as one of the foremost experts. Same with Roger Federer and tennis, Meryl Streep and acting, Suze Orman and money. In other words, don’t take diet advice from your brother-in-law, for God’s sake! Unless of course he’s a registered dietitian or a certified fitness trainer. By seeking out knowledge from the foremost authority on the topic, someone who delivers tangible results consistently, you buy yourself huge peace of mind.

Sometimes you might find more than one authority offering “more than one way to skin a cat.” That’s another reason that being well versed in a subject is critical. You want to ingest all the information you can, apply it to your unique personality, and then pick the course of action that is right for you.

In most cases, the path to knowledge is fairly well established and straightforward, whether it’s medicine, law, or snowboarding; but in certain instances, as with weight loss, you will come across shysters. And where you find half-truths and misinformation, you will always find greed. If something sounds too good to be true, IT IS! Use your common sense, and trust your gut to weed out bullshit. We
all
know that you can’t eat anything you want and lose weight, there’s no miracle pill that replaces exercise, and you can’t just take the stairs. Don’t look for shortcuts. Be prepared to put in the time and work. Ninety-nine percent of the time we allow ourselves to be misled because someone has played upon our apathy, but they can sell you a crock only if you’re willing to buy it.

Having the
proper
knowledge before taking action is a critical factor in whether you succeed or fail. It doesn’t matter how you get the information—from a person, book, Internet, DVD, radio, or podcast. The answers
are
out there. Seek them out, and then use them as tools to improve the effectiveness of your choices and the quality of your life.

TAKE A HISTORY LESSON

Sometimes we can overlook the importance of knowing the history of whatever business, craft, or endeavor we want to master. Are there experts that you can study? Are there statistics and trends you can track? Have there been changes over time that you should be aware of? Every generation builds upon the knowledge of the last, and the more you know about what’s transpired in the past, the more equipped you are to kick butt in the present and be an innovator in the future.

For a very clear example, let’s look at the world of astronomy. (I’m not sure you want to go out and become a physicist or cosmologist, but bear with me, you’ll see where I’m going.) For hundreds of years people believed the earth was the center of everything. Then Copernicus came along in the sixteenth century and posited the heliocentric model of the universe, in which we revolved around the sun, not the other way around. After that, somewhere around 1610, Galileo came along, built the first telescope—minor accomplishment—and corroborated Copernicus’s theory. But he made one small change: the sun was the center of our solar system, he said, but not our universe. Then Kepler came up with the laws of planetary motion, which he based on the observations made by astronomers who’d come before him. A century later Sir Isaac Newton built on that to arrive at his theory of gravitation. Then Einstein shook that theory up with his work on relativity.
Then
Stephen Hawking came on the scene with his groundbreaking studies of the big bang and black holes. Today theoretical physicists are pondering a “theory of everything,” or an ultimate explanation of nature, or reality, studying new and exciting fields like string theory and membrane theory.

I’m not trying to give you a headache with all this physics talk; I’m trying to illustrate how a field evolves over time, and each new development is made possible by the study of what came before. Yes, starting your own clothing business (to take just one example) isn’t exactly discovering the keys to the universe. But
the same principles apply. If I hadn’t studied what came before me in the field of nutrition and dietary science, I never could have written
Master Your Metabolism
. (But having a world-class endocrinologist and medical researcher as writing partners didn’t hurt either!) So take note: if you want to rise to the top of your field, study it so that you can expand, revise, and innovate!

SOMEONE TO WATCH OVER ME

Having a mentor can save you a lot of time and accelerate your success. In most things we undertake, there’s no guidebook telling us what to study, what to master, and in what order. If we are new to something, figuring out what skills to hone and what action to take can be a difficult task. As you start out, there’s nothing wrong with asking for help and guidance from those wiser than you. I guarantee you that a lot of the most powerful, successful people you can think of did so, too.

I’ll tell you a personal story. My business partner, Giancarlo Chersich (affectionately known as G.C.), and I met and connected with Suze Orman through a speaking engagement she and I were signed up for in 2008. Although the event ended up never happening, G.C. and I were fortunate enough to have Suze and her partner, K.T., take us under their wings. Suze counseled us on all kinds of amazingly useful things, from working with QVC to protecting ourselves legally. She warned us that as I got more high profile, litigious people would “inevitably” look to make a quick buck by filing lawsuits against our company. She advised us to get something called an “errors and omissions” insurance policy to cover legal costs in the event of such a lawsuit, and to make sure we were indemnified with all our partners (meaning they would cover our legal costs).

Sure enough, eighteen months later we found ourselves in a baseless lawsuit, and her advice turned out to be incredibly useful and prophetic. Suze counsels us to this day, thank God, and even
advised me on the best time of year to release this book you are currently reading. Finding a good mentor is not easy, so let’s go over a few strategies to help you find your match.

What do you need?
What kind of guidance do you want? Do you need advice, introductions, and networking help? Or do you want someone who can listen and be neutral and helpful when times are trying? If you narrow your focus, it will be easier to find someone who can help you in the way you need it most.

Make a list
. With the above in mind, identify experts that have the qualities you are looking for. It’s important here to keep an open mind and consider a wide range of people. Someone you may not have originally thought of could turn out to be exactly the mentor you need. He or she may be able to help you in ways you hadn’t expected, or in ways you didn’t think you needed. Mentors come in many forms. Your immediate circle of friends and family is the place to start your search, and from there you can move on to teachers and coworkers. If you belong to any groups, what about looking to the group’s leader? Do you have a spiritual guide in your life? Really think about everyone among your acquaintances, since it’s always easier to approach someone you know than someone you don’t, although don’t rule out the idea of contacting strangers out of the blue. This brings me to my next point.

Decide on your approach
. Have a game plan in place and a script ready before you ask a person to mentor you. If you don’t already know them, start by learning a little about them so you get an idea of how you can put your best foot forward and be taken the most seriously. Think about how you are going to contact them: by phone, e-mail, written letter, a lunch, a meeting, and so on. Explain why you’ve chosen the person, and what type of advice you’re looking for. If the person is not able to help you, don’t be discouraged. Ask for suggestions of other people who might, or just thank the person for their time and move on. Above all stay
positive and open. The right person will come when the time is right.

Aspire to be the person you admire
. The people you most look up to may be inaccessible to you for one reason or another. I realized pretty early on in my career that Oprah was probably too busy to take a reality-show fitness trainer under her wing. So maybe I couldn’t have coffee with her—but I
could
study her and learn
from
her by learning
about
her. Studying the life stories and trajectories of people who have achieved things you want is a very powerful educational tool, not to be underestimated. Aspiration is elusive without role models. Master chess players are famous for studying historical matches between old masters until they are cross-eyed, comparing moves they might have made and identifying mistakes.