🔑 My one super power (that anyone can learn)
Welcome to The Business Academy.
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I have one skill that has led me to achieve most of my goals so far.
It's this...
I'm willing to put in an unreasonable amount of repetition to achieve the goal.
That's it.
The difference between me, and most people is I will do a very large volume of activities to succeed.
Let's look at a few examples together:
Imagine you want to learn to speak French.
You take one class a week for two hours for a couple of years. You can say a few phrases and order food at a restaurant. But that's it.
Your friend Bene studies French too. But she's taking classes 7 days a week.
Her rate of learning us 7x faster than yours. The compounding value is hard to grasp. Here's a visual after just 8 months.
It's the same thing in business.
To find a great investment I'm willing to look at thousands of potential opportunities.
To find investors in our project, I'm willing to talk to hundreds of investors.
Anyone can learn this skill. But it didn't come naturally to me. It took a lot of practice. Because our brain is playing tricks on us.
Any activity you do you will reach what I call The Resistance Wall.
Think of the last run you took. At some point in the run, no matter your fitness level, your body will start to become exhausted, and you will be compelled to stop.
This is your brain creating the resistance wall.
Your brain is looking out for your best interest. It's doing this because it wants to protect your life.
We evolved in deserts and jungles. If you pushed yourself too much, you would not have the energy to reach your next food source and you could die.
But that's no longer the case.
If you push yourself too hard on a run. You can walk into any store afterward to buy a Gatorade. You'll be OK.
But your mind has trained you to believe that this resistance wall is your limit.
I learned early on to identify when my brain is creating this resistance wall and I taught myself to push through. Because grit is a muscle you can develop.
This applies to business.
Your mind is fabricating resistance walls in your career. It thinks it's protecting you. It wants you to be safe, it wants you to be well rested, it wants you to avoid embarrassment. Your mind fabricates an invisible wall that slows you down from achieving your greatest potential.
If you learn to identify this resistance wall, you can apply strategies to push through to keep going.
Some examples of how I've pushed through the resistance wall:
- I went on 150+ first dates before I met my amazing wife
- I met with 250 investors to raise money for my first company
- I posted 200+ pieces of content on social media last year
Think of going on 150 first dates...
I'm only human. Many times I was bored, or it was inconvenient and expensive. I could have given up and said "I'll find my person when I find them". But I refuse to leave important things up to chance. I take control.
Keep in mind, to go on 150 first dates I likely spoke connected with over five hundred people. The numbers are truly insane when you think about it. I can be shy. I can be awkward. But I was committed to finding my partner and kept going.
It was the same for fundraising for my first business.
I had no experience and no network. My business idea was mediocre. Not a lot of people wanted to take a chance on a 22-year-old's first company. But I was determined to raise the capital and bring this company to life.
Living in San Francisco I was surrounded by entrepreneurs raising money for their companies. I spoke with one founder who needed to raise money for his business. He spoke with 7 investors, hated the experience, and decided to give up. That sounded absurd to me.
I connected with 1,000+ people over cold email, Linkedin, and Angelist. From those connections, I spoke with 250 investors. Of those ~24 people took a chance and invested in my first business. Looking back on this, I'm amazed at my horsepower. The volume is stunning.
But it was useful. I compressed a decade of learning into 5 months. I'd speak with an investor. Learn from their feedback. And tweak my business or story before the next conversation.
Adam Grant published a book called Originals. It chronicled some of the most famous creators of our time like Mozart, Picasso, Thomas Edison. One of the core differentiators he identified in studying these greats was an extremely high volume of production. By creating a lot of work, they were able to break away from the mold and create something truly great and original.
Mozart produced 600+ compositions. Thomas Edison had 1,000+ patents. Picasso produced over 50,00 paintings, engravings, and statues.
The numbers are astounding. Let me frame this up for you:
While some painters are making a few paintings a year, Picasso cranked out on average two pieces of art per day over 78 years. There was no doubt he was going to be successful.
So what does that mean for you?
Increase the Volume: Identify your goal this year, and commit to increasing the volume of your input to get there. Can you double the volume? If you're learning a language, can you practice for an hour daily instead of one a week?
Learn to identify the resistance wall: You can practice this every day. By the end of your work day, you're tired, and lack focus. When you get home you just want to melt on the couch. These are all fabricated resistance walls. Learn to identify them.
Push through: When you feel that resistance wall, register it and take action. You can even say out loud "I feel the wall". Then stand up and challenge yourself to take on a new task that you otherwise wouldn't have. Go for a walk. Or just sit up straighter. Be more energic. Be more focused.
This is a muscle. The more you practice. The better you'll be at this exercise.
You'll realize that you've been limiting your life. Your career and your loved ones deserve your full potential. So this practice will give you a better life, I guarantee it.
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🔑 One good read
How Kentucky became the home of Bourbon - In 1791 the US Government levied a Spirits Tax which led to a rebellion in Pennsylvania (remember the Government had a lot of debts to pay from the Revolutionary War). To suppress the rebellion President George Washington brought in the troops to PA. This led many of the farmers involved to flee to Kentucky where the tax was lenient. And so Kentucky Bourbon was born...
Have a great week,
Sieva
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Disclaimer: nothing here is investment advice. Please do your own research. The information above is just for information and learning.
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