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Hi Zenith Catcher, Mark Manson was right when he said, “Lots in the world is a war for attention, and our minds are the battlefield.” Phones initially designed to make us more productive leave us scatterbrained. Our impulse control gets constantly tested, and if we don’t pay careful attention in the blink of an eye, we fall into a hedonistic lifestyle. It has never been easier to be successful. Meanwhile, it has never been easier to simply do nothing. To just participate in the rat race of constantly checking your phone, playing signaling games on social media, and avoiding real-life experiences. Hence, controlling your impulses is a superpower in today’s world. Warren Buffett’s business partner, Charlie Munger, said: “I did not succeed in life by intelligence. I succeeded because I have a long attention span.” And I think this is largely what I needed to hear when I was younger. You don’t need to be the next Einstein. Instead, learn to focus for 12 hours straight, and you can outwork most people by an order of magnitude. I will leave you with this: “The ability to perform deep work is becoming increasingly rare at exactly the same time it is becoming increasingly valuable in our economy. As a consequence, the few who cultivate this skill, and then make it the core of their working life, will thrive.” — Cal Newport, Deep Work Much love, Nicola PS: Share this article with your friends here. Catch The Zenith PodcastI do a podcast where I pretend to have a Swiss accent (wink). 200+ episodes online about high performance and business. You can subscribe on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. This week’s episode: Episode 214: Most people think success means doing more. More habits, more hobbies, more hacks. But that’s wrong. In this episode, I explain why the key to success is living a simple, even boring life — and how energy, clarity, and focus come from doing less, not more. Listen here.
Next week’s episode: Episode 215: A new episode of Zenith Reflections, where I share some lessons learned from the week. Goes live tomorrow here. Things I’ve Learned This Week:1. “People act on problems more than benefits. Human beings are more motivated to take action to get rid of pain than they are to achieve benefits. If someone has a headache, they’re gonna take the Advil. But even if people know that there are health benefits to taking a multivitamin, people are far less likely to jump out of their seat to take one.” — Farrokh, Armand; Cegelski, Nick. Cold Calling Sucks (And That’s Why It Works) 2. A fact you didn’t know you needed to know. Roger Federer won 80% of matches as a professional tennis player by winning just 52% of the points. Quote of the Week:“Nothing is so necessary for a young man as the company of intelligent women.” — Leo Tolstoy
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