When you look at successful and influential authors like Robert Greene and Ryan Holiday, it’s easy to think they are geniuses whose greatness comes easy to them. This gives us an excuse not to put effort into achieving what we want. In order to write their books, they have to enhance their identity, put a lot of work and intensity into that project, and have freakish commitment to accomplishing that thing. They may look like overnight successes, but if their lives look easy now, best believe they did the hard things over and over for a long time. 

We’re no different. Whether we want to thrive in this market, achieve a bigger goal in our businesses or write a book ourselves. We don’t have to be geniuses, we just have to apply work and intensity to what we do. We have to commit to being the people who deserve the higher thing we want. 

Dustin Runyon and I recently got to see Robert Greene and Ryan Holiday speak in LA. Today we’ll share what we got out of the event, what we learned about achieving great things and other insights from the last few months. 

Key Points  

48 Laws is a warning, not a how-to manual 

Many people haven’t read the 48 Laws of Power because the concept of power itself makes them uncomfortable. People look at power the way they look at money - it’s taboo, but power is very important. It’s why you want to have the right people in power. It’s why we want to be successful - it gives us the power to do what we want to do. 

What living through history feels like

When people are going through historical moments, they don’t realize it’s historical, they’re just tackling what’s in front of them in the moment. When you think of defining moments in your life, it’s the same thing. It won’t feel pivotal in the moment, but the moment after is what makes it feel important. It’s your behavior after said moment that makes it historical or not. 

History is also made by what didn’t take place

History isn’t just about what happened, it can also be about what didn’t happen. If you think about the fact that the Mongols were about to invade Austria but didn’t because Genghis Khan died, you realize how powerful something not happening can be as well.  

Be the person who deserves the higher thing you want 

When you look at authors like Robert Greene and Ryan Holiday, it’s easy to attribute their accomplishment to genius. Of course, they are brilliant, talented and intelligent people, but they are also hard workers. You have to write and read the equivalent of 100 books to produce that 1 great book. To get their results, they’ve had to enhance their identities many times over. We’re capable of putting in the same level of commitment and work. 

Talk to an expert in an avenue you’re exploring

We have to enhance our identity if we want to achieve something new or bigger than what we have now. Sometimes that enhancement is through gathering information from people who are experts in that field. Dustin will pay for time with an expert in the avenue he’s exploring. You’ll discover that people are eager to help if you’re willing to notice the work they’ve done.

Investing in event attendance 

There’s tremendous value in putting ourselves in rooms where people are doing better and differently than us. We can go to an event because of who’s speaking at it, or who is going to be attending or both. Sometimes it’s swing and miss, but it pays off more often than not. There are a lot of successful people who will refuse to go to an event unless they are speaking, but that means you cut yourself off from a lot of learning opportunities. 

Head to https://www.dustinrunyon.com/ for more information. To sign up for Fired Up Fridays visit https://firedupfridays.com/. 

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