Lean in a bit closer, I've got a secret to share with you...
| I have a super-power.
With that super-power I have founded multiple succcessful companies, written best-selling novels in three different genres, won elite chess tournaments, traveled the world as a professional athlete (in multiple sports), held black belts in three different martial arts, paid my way through college playing internet poker, and earned a handful of degrees. All before turning 30. My super-power is called Hyperfocus and with it I want to teach you everything I’ve learned about what I call the Four Spheres of Influence. Now, the thing you need to understand about my super-power is that, for a long time, it was my super-curse. Hyperfocus is a direct result of a disorder everybody has heard of (but very few people actually understand). It’s called Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Most people misunderstand the diagnosis, because the disorder itself isn’t named accurately. I do not have a deficit of attention. Rather, I have the inability to moderate my attention. That means when I get focused on something interesting...I get really interested. Hyperfocus is an intense state of focus. The kissing-cousin of hyperfocus is what famed behavioral psychologist Mihaly Csikszentimihalyi dubbed the flow-state. In fact, he wrote the definitive book on the topic called Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience. We’ve all experienced the flow-state. It’s where all the pieces magically come together and transcend our typical cognitive limitations in the pursuit of a challenging task. Flow-state is the ideal state. Once entered, we become profoundly effective at whatever task is before us. The challenge, for most people, is in finding that flow-state. But that’s where my super-power comes in… Because with hyperfocus, I can more-or-less enter a flow-state at will. How did I manage this? I did it by modeling the behaviors and habits of the people who'd already made it to where I wanted to go. I did it by studying the psychology of peak performers for the past fifteen years. I got a degree in psychology, obsessed over what separates peak performers from the merely average, and consumed everything I could on the topic of human behavior. Whether you want to build great wealth, craft a chiseled body, develop deep, meaningful relationships that last, or learn how to communicate effectively with anybody, anywhere, anytime, it all comes down to one thing: Where you focus your attention. Attention is the most valuable resource you have. (Yes, even more-so than time.) Where (and in what quantities) you apply your attention inevitably determines the level of success you achieve in life. So where should you direct your focus to make the most impact? Well, there are multiple ways to calculate overall life satisfaction, but really I’ve found that despite all the studies and all the fancy metrics, life satisfaction really boils down to five categories. The Four Spheres of Influence.
Now you know The Four Spheres of Influence, but it’s not enough to simply name a thing. We must break it down and study it. That’s why we’re here. So what do you say we get to it? |
