So, you’re sick of your life of silent mediocrity and you’re ready to make a change. You’re ready to sacrifice and work and get results. What now?
First, edit sentence #2. You’re ready to sacrifice and work and get results. Only 2/3 of that sentence gets to live.
You’re ready to sacrifice and work.
Forget about results, for now. Most people are overly focused on results. Don’t be most people. Get yourself overly focused on the right work — and the results will come. This mindset is so crucial — yet so simple — that most people overlook it. They get so caught up in the worlds of goals and progress and results that they forget to focus on the work first. And yet it is the work that is crucial: the work and how you do it.
When we were preparing for the 2010 CrossFit Games, some of us were a little concerned about ticket sales. We had just moved into a huge venue and we needed a crowd to cheer on the athletes that we knew would do amazing things. How could we get that crowd? How could we get more people to come? There was one person who was not worried: Greg Glassman. He told us to forget about selling tickets and instead focus on making the best possible Games yet. We did. And the next year we didn’t have to worry about ticket sales at all. The year after that, we sold out way in advance. The secret? Focus on the work, not the results.
Now, don’t mistake this attitude for the belief that results don’t matter. They do. But you have to get your priorities in order. Work, then results. Focus on the task at hand with laser-like intensity. Then, reap the results. Success doesn’t come in the other order.
