There is this pretty common idea that you become pretty darn good at something with 10,000 hours under your belt. You become one of the best at what you do.

In the past, I have written that talent takes you only so far. The rest of your time, when you really want to get good at something, is when you start pounding away at your skills. That is what differentiates you from the rest. Becoming more and more skilled at something. But if there was one thing I ever took away from watching 4 seasons of Mad Men, it was the following photo.

+ and – . Life only works well when this equation is balanced. When you start adding a whole lot of things, you really do need to start subtracting other things too. Don’t believe me? Look at your New Years resolutions. Did you make room for those…or just decide to tack them on? No wonder most of them failed. Whenever I goal set, I also look at what I have to delete. It doesn’t always have to be good things that go away, in fact, I really hope that you keep those. We can delete bad habits out of our life, and that does make room for extra positive habits. See what I am saying?

Keep it simple. I have been guilty of complicating my life to extreme measures. In fact, I have downsized a lot of the drama that was going on in my life significantly over the past year. Downsized might have even been generous…I would say more like…I just dropped it. In the end, you really have to decide what is worth it and what isn’t. Sounds simple, but sometimes we just carry things that shouldn’t even be on our radar. We worry about things that we can’t control. One of the things that baseball taught me, especially while pitching, is to control the controllables. You may throw your best pitch, but the umpire behind the plate didn’t think so. You can’t change his mind. On to the next one.

“In this moment. There is nothing. No past. No future. Nothing to fix or change. It is perfect. From nothing, I create the possibility of being (insert what you want here)”

This little phrase changed a lot for me. Because we can truly change our whole physiology if we command it the right way. I have used this little phrase to keep me calm, help me become bold, strong…you name it. Whatever we tell our mind to do, in the right way of course, it will go to work on it. Over and over this phrase has delivered for me…and it will deliver for you if you believe.

The only person who can stop you from achieving your potential is you. There will be obstacles, some of the times those obstacles will be made out of flesh, but if you keep at it long enough and working hard enough, the universe will get out of your way. Good things happen to those who are worthy. No doubt.

Evan Sanders
The Better Man Project