I wish i'd known this earlier

Hi Venkat,   Just sitting here in my creative room thinking about the things I wish I'd learned years earlier. It's been a busy few months with June's sold-out The 48 Hour Transformation event, an intense speaking tour through Africa, working on my new book and iterating all the exciting online innovations my team and I are developing to serve you and your highest aspirations. Today I just got reflective. Considered the past. And the things I wish someone had taught me a lot earlier... Thought I should share a few of them with you... ...so you avoid the costly mistakes I made... ...so you accelerate your success... ...so you do world-class work... ...so you lead the field and rise to iconic... ...so you make your mark on the world. So with much respect, here's my sharing: --I wish I'd learned earlier that imagination's more valuable than logic. You really need to "20X" your thinking and then let the "how" follow. Most people try to figure out what's logically possible and then develop a strategy around that. That approach breeds mediocrity versus greatness. --I wish I'd learned earlier to stop over-analyzing opportunities and to trust my instincts more quickly. My costliest errors happened when I failed to listen to my gut. It's wiser than the head. --I wish I'd learned that "the discomfort of transformation is always much better than the heartbreak of regret" a lot earlier. --I wish I'd learned earlier how essential it is to surround yourself with people performing and living at dramatically higher levels so that their ways of thinking, producing and living influenced my mindset and achievement levels. Just having a few conversations with the right people can be the event that triggers a tsunami of excellence for you. This year alone I've invested in 3 expensive mastermind groups to ensure I was around people who lifted me higher. The return on my investment has been 10X. --I wish I'd learned the system I now use to plan out and then schedule my annual, quarterly, monthly and weekly goals in the way that gets them done unbelievably effectively much earlier. I'd have saved so much time. And doubled my output. So much of ultra-success comes down to the time management tool you use. Please get this piece right. --I wish I'd learned earlier how to build elite project teams of fanatically focused and passionate people who deliver superb results (took me years to crack the code on this one but once I did, my business transformed...you can't build a great company with a merely average team). And you're wasting your talent if you're trying to do everything yourself. --I wish I'd learned earlier that "the key to energy is recovery" and the way to have rare-air stamina is to learn how the brain and body needs to be refueled (again, I've developed some pretty unique rituals via trial and error that pretty much give me more energy than I could ever use). --I wish I'd learned earlier that the best way to get more done is to work less. It's truly is about smart work versus hard work. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise. That's just not true. --I wish I'd learned earlier how to "retrain" my brain so as to clean out negativity and toxicity so I felt better, stronger and faster when I was first starting out. [Instead, when was a young litigation lawyer, my mindset was negative, I focused on problems and lacked the full-on inspiration that you absolutely must cultivate to achieve extraordinary results in your life]. --I wish I'd learned earlier that "people smell fear" so it's key to approach all business and personal opportunities from a position of strength and confidence versus from a place of scarcity and weakness. Your belief in yourself will become contagious. Trust me. --I wish I'd learned earlier that super-successful people run their businesses and lives in a completely contrarian way than average people do. It was only when I began advising the titans of business and other star performers to that I discovered the "eccentric" habits and processes that the best best run each day [More people need to know these and I'm committed to sharing them]. --I wished I'd learned earlier that life can change in a moment. And it's wise not to postpone all the important things you really want to do today until some fantasy time off in the future. That time never comes. [Re-read Tuesdays With Morrie to know what I mean]. --I wish I'd learned earlier that world-class business and personal results are less about luck and more about a specific strategy and a series of proven practices that guarantee awesome outcomes. --I wish I'd learned earlier that the true measure of success is not net worth but self-worth...and that the depth of your character is so much more important than the size of your home. --I wish I'd learned earlier that each of us can achieve immortality by contributing value to the lives that follow ours. [And that's really what the game's all about isn't it?]. Anyway, those were a few of my reflections...Hope they're helpful, as always.