Activity isn’t the same as focused effort. Trying isn’t the same as obsessing about the details. Learning isn’t the same as practice and rehearsal.
The activity itself isn’t what makes the difference. It’s the intensity with which you do it determines your effectiveness.
Anything else is just going through the motions.
Good motions usually lead to good outcomes. Bad motions usually lead to bad outcomes.
But intense, focused motions lead to great outcomes. Eventually.
Intensity doesn’t have a guaranteed deadline or finish line.
Intensity is something that you have to maintain in order to reap the benefits. You can’t be intense one moment, give it up the next, and then expect to realize outrageous outcomes.
Intensity is about extending and amplifying your momentum. Your ability for realizing results beyond the limits of your usual expectations.
When you focus intensely you are single-minded. You’re not multitasking. You’re not zoning out. You’re not going with the flow.
You know what you want and what you want to achieve.
There is no ambiguity. No mystery. No subterfuge.
You’re all in. Completely consumed by what you want to see happen.
When that happens—when you bring intensity to your work—you start to see the magic you’ve witnessed in the lives of other highly successful people.
Intensity is a choice. It’s a skill.
The amplifier you’ve been looking for to take your game to the next level.
Don’t ask what needs to be done. Ask yourself what you’re willing to die working for.