The 10% Advantage

Have you ever wished you could upgrade your skills and talents and gain a real advantage in your quest for success? Have you ever wondered how to compete with the people who might have the benefits of a better education, a smarter brain or natural talent on their side?

It sounds like an impossible challenge, doesn’t it?

Even if you try to play catch up by upgrading your skills with further education, it seems that you’re always trailing behind the people who’ve already acquired the necessary competences and capability to excel. How on earth can you level the playing field? How can you tilt the odds in your favour?

Perhaps the problem with this particular challenge is that we may be looking at the kind of metrics and comparisons that rarely favour those who are coming from behind. We’re easily tempted to look at the people who seem to be successful and then we assume that we can follow in their footsteps and create the same success simply by doing what they’ve done. This is the message that’s repeated in countless books, videos and online courses.

Yet, this doesn’t seem to have created a new generation of highly-successful individuals. In fact, there are far fewer new, successful start-ups and entrepreneurial breakthroughs today than there were twenty years ago. Clearly, something’s missing from the current approach to achieving success.

The difference between ordinary and extraordinary is that little extra.

― Jimmy Johnson

If you’re driven by the need to succeed and aspire to outperforming the competition, there is something eminently practical that you can do to put the odds in your favour.

Of course, education, training and skill-enhancement are all very helpful. But the simplest game-changer is so obvious that almost everyone ignores it.

The fact is that the difference between the best and the rest is rarely more than ten percent. That's right. You don’t have to be twice as good as your competitors to overtake them. You only need a relatively small margin of additional performance to outpace them.

And the most direct way to create that advantage can be found in the way you use your time.

I'm a great believer in luck and I find the harder I work the more I have of it

― Thomas Jefferson

Let’s think about this for a moment. Imagine the advantages you would enjoy if you could create an extra day in the week for yourself. Does that sound crazy to you? The rest of the world struggles to fit everything into the seven days a week that are available. But what if you could create an extra day for yourself? What if you could create a week that offered you an extra working day? It’s much easier than you might imagine.

All you need to do is start your work an hour or so earlier than usual and aim to finish an hour or so later at the end of the day. However – a word of warning. It’s very important to understand at this point that working longer hours on its own is usually a complete waste of time and energy.

The key to success is to identify very clearly the activities that will bring you closer to your goals.

Sitting behind a desk, spinning your wheels and trying to impress everyone by staying late is an exercise in futility. When you understand clearly what needs to be done and you refine your task list to exclude all unnecessary activities, this is where you can devote those precious extra hours – to the critical tasks that will advance your project for success.

Hard work beats talent when talent fails to work hard.

― Kevin Durant

So, when you consider the advantages of creating a handful of extra hours for yourself every day, you can probably appreciate the accumulative effect of adding critically focused effort day after day to your workload. It’s an advantage that surprisingly few people consider - yet it can make a huge difference to your plans for success. Your efforts will help you catch up with the talented people who usually shine so effortlessly in most organisations. Your persistency, plus the weight of your secret weapon – those extra hours you apply every day to your critical tasks – will lend momentum to your efforts and help you move ahead of the pack.

It might be something as simple as making extra calls, booking more appointments, attending more sales meetings, closing more deals – but the effects will be unmistakable.

We could interpret this beautifully effective method as a simple aphorism – that the universe always rewards action – and perhaps there’s an obvious truth to be found in this observation. But the mathematics are even more persuasive. Increase the frequency of key tasks and you increase the frequency of successful outcomes.

So, if there are twenty-four hours in every day and we extract ten percent of those hours, add them to our regular working schedule and dedicate them to performing high-value activities, we will enhance our performance and break through into new levels of success.

Some people dream of success while others wake up and work hard at it.

― Barbara Rubel

One of the less obvious advantages in this fabulously effective method is that you will also be taking greater control of your life and directing your future with much greater certainty. No matter how gifted, talented or privileged the competition may be, your ability to outwork them will win the race. And that’s an advantage you can begin to exercise right now.

And, if the prospect of harder work disturbs you, take a tip from one of the most effective training organisations on the planet -

No one ever drowned in sweat!

― USMC

Are you ready right now for a completely fresh approach to life’s great adventure? Get in touch with us today for a free session to discover how the growing global movement for personal growth, success, change and empowerment can enhance your life! Learn how to take control of your life and start enjoying each day with greater focus, more energy, more fun and meaningful success.

Greg Parry created The Wellness Foundation and the Cognitive Empowerment Programs specifically to help people master their stress, overcome their limitations and explore the power of their true potential.

If you enjoy these blogs, you can imagine how much fun it is to have Greg in the room as an inspirational and highly perceptive speaker. If you’d like to invite Greg to talk to your company or organisation or event, feel free to get in touch.

?

You can contact Greg at:

[email protected]