How To Stay Hungry

“I’ve lost 8lbs and have been to the beach recently. I felt confident there.. but I think I can do even more. How can I avoid being complacent?”

I got this question recently on a call with a client called Mark.?

The experience of Mark is common: It’s easy to be hungry when you’re in pain and frustrated. It’s harder to be hungry when your initial goals are reached and you’re already semi-satisfied.

If you find yourself in a similar situation as Mark, here’s 3 things you have to remember:?

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This is obvious on a macro-scale: Successful companies or civilizations tend to become complacent.?

But also on the micro-scale: Successful individuals tend to become complacent.?

‘The job is not finished", was one of the most insightful quotes of Kobe Bryant. Already having won multiple championship titles, it’s obvious that Kobe never saw himself as successful (enough).?

Neither did Thomas Edison: ‘Show me a thoroughly satisfied man and I will show you a failure.’

No matter how successful you are...

No matter how grateful you are for the position you’re in..

.. it is beneficial to remind yourself that there is always something more to do and achieve.?

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Competition with yourself is crucially important at two stages: At the absolute beginning - and at the absolute end.?

When you learn a new skill, such as exercise and nutrition, it’s important to compete with yourself at first. Why? Because looking left and right, it can feel that others are doing way better than you. This can lead to you quitting on yourself.?

When you’ve already mastered a skill, such as an exercise and nutrition, it’s important to compete with yourself again. Why? Because looking left and right, there’s no one to compete with. This can lead to you quitting on yourself again.?

The reality is that very quickly, if given enough effort, you’ll find yourself at a mountain top that is sparsely populated.?

Tim Ferris claims that if you read 3 good books on a given topic you’re already considered a subject matter expert. Knowing more about a topic than 99% of the population.?

I’ve read 89 books on health & fitness alone, along with about 1,000 studies that I haven’t tracked. Due to that, not a single Youtube video or podcast in the last 2 years has taught me anything new about that topic.?

I have resorted to exclusively reading university-level textbooks now. Which can easily cost a few 100-dollars a piece.

Why do I go through that turmoil??

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Look in the mirror and ask yourself truthfully and honestly: Are you the best that you can be??

If you’d need to give yourself a rating of 1-10:?

#1 being not maxxed out your potential at all, to #10 being the best you can be. Where do you fall in between??

The best answer should neither be a 10, nor below 9. If it’s anything else, there’s still work to do.?

Thomas Edison is quoted as saying: “If we did all the things we are capable of doing, we would literally astound ourselves.”

This year I tried: I had a period of 2 months, between July and September, where I worked 12-hours every single day - and slept for no more than 6. I trained in martial arts 3x a week and went to the gym 4x.?

Although physically exhausting, this was the only time in my life where I felt I was coming close to even scraping the surface of my potential.?

In 2022, I’d urge you to try to reach your potential as well. Although this is not for the faint of heart, nothing is more rewarding and more exciting.?