Sometimes the best way to achieve more… is to do less.
TRANSCRIPTION:
Exponential growth, the ability to just keep expanding and moving and achieving and producing without limit. Sounds pretty awesome, right? Well, if you really want to experience this, then you’ve got to look at it a little differently than most of the world does. Because if you think about it, look at most of the world. Most people are not terribly productive, and I don’t mean that as an insult. That’s just kind of the observation. You can see people spinning their wheels, trying the same things over and over, and nothing’s working the way that they originally thought it would. And if that’s every happened to you, and I know it’s happened to me, then this will be valuable for you.
If you want exponential growth, then you’ve got to be able to experience exponential productivity, right? Makes sense, productivity equals growth. But exponential productivity doesn’t necessarily come from working harder. It doesn’t come from getting smarter. It’s not about information. It’s actually quite counter-intuitive, and this is a very unconventional way of thinking about this.
Think about athletes, entertainers, people who are performers who get paid for living in flow. They actually spend most of their time resting and rehearsing, not performing. If you want to be an actual peak performer, then you’ve got to take a page out of their book. Your greatest power actually happens in between your performances. It’s the reflection in between performing and learning and then performing again. It’s those in between spaces. Think about it from a fitness perspective. You don’t grow muscle when you’re in the gym or you’re lifting the weight. You don’t build endurance while you’re out there on the trail. All of that happens when you’re resting.
It happens when you’re growing new muscles, when your body’s repairing. Well, the same thing is true for your mind. You want to have increased productivity? You want to experience exponential growth? Then give some attention to your downtime. And the most powerful way that I’ve experienced this is through meditation. And whatever that word might mean to you, taking time for yourself without external input is what allows your brain to go to work and to begin to make unique sense out of all this activity that you’ve been up to. Doesn’t sound terribly attractive, I know, to just stop and do nothing, but I promise you it is an absolute super power when it comes to turbo charging your creativity, your productivity, and your growth. So you want to rise above the ranks of the masses?
You want to leave average behind forever? Give yourself a little more intentional downtime. Come back to your work. Come back to your project with a fresh brain. And while you’re in that in between space, while you’re in that silence, while you’re in that particular private sanctuary of your own meditation, you may just find that you connect with something incredible. You may find yourself connecting with a deeper wisdom, a deeper intelligence. This is your actual zone of genius. This is where you can go for ideas. This is where the best ideas of your life will come and find you if you’ll let them. So you want to go faster? Go slower first.