Need a Breakthrough? Try Working the Impossible...

For the longest time, I couldn’t squat more than 200 pounds. Though training 5 days a week had quickly pushed me from squatting zero to 195 pounds, adding five extra pounds to the bar felt like adding 1000.

I knew this limit was artificial, manufactured in my brain that tried as best as it could to preserve itself by not taking risks. Regardless, I couldn’t break through. So I looked to a friend and fitness coach for some expert advice:

“Throw 300 pounds on the bar,” he said. “Don’t try to squat it, just put it on your shoulders. Feel the weight, hold it, then re-rack it. Do this a few times, then drop back to 200 lbs and try squatting again.”

It worked.

In theory, nothing had changed. I hadn’t gotten any stronger. I hadn’t learned a new technique or used some new device to artificial increase my lift. I had simply forced my mind to believe that it was possible to hold more weight. And after holding 300 lbs, squatting 200 felt much, much lighter.

What seemingly impossible task are you dealing with right now? What is holding you back from taking that next step towards your goals?

Acknowledge it, but move quickly to build tasks that challenge you. If someone has achieved what you are trying to achieve before, study them. Open your mind to the possibility that, if they can do it, so can you. Push yourself to operate at a new level, even if only briefly. When you come back to your work, what seemed impossible before may be that much easier.

Sometimes, when you get stuck and can’t seem to break through to the next level—when you hit a plateau that prevents you from furthering your goals—showing yourself the impossible is possible can be the breakthrough you need.

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About the Author

Mike Mehlberg

In Search of Breakthroughs

Mike is constantly searching for breakthroughs for high-achieving entrepreneurs. Contact him to find out how you can get more productive, align your passion with your vision and purpose, and crush your goals with a balanced, achievable plan for success. 

Faster, Better, Cheaper: Two to Survive, Three to Thrive

Faster. Better. Cheaper.

This was the mantra of our business.

In every customer presentation, every water cooler discussion, and every company memo, our CEO could find a way to weave “faster, better, cheaper” into the conversation.

These three things are, after all, what every customer wants. They are what anyone and everyone wants.

Faster. Better. Cheaper. Three words that perfectly summarize the desire of any modern human.

Faster

We want results, and we want them now. We want revenue immediately. We want products shipped and delivered same-day. We want our goals accomplished, and our visions realized tomorrow.

Better

We want the best. We’ll settle for good, but we want great, and we crave the best. The best price (see below), the best food, the best information that will lead us to the best version of ourselves.

Cheaper

We want it all to be extremely affordable. The best goods available as quickly as possible, and cheap as shit. We want inexpensive products and free shipping. We demand free apps, customer service, and support.

Two Will Survive, Three Will Thrive

Faster. Better. Cheaper. Companies that can deliver two out of the three will survive.

Deliver the best service the quickest (but at a higher cost)? You’ll live. Build inexpensive products quickly (albeit with lower quality)? Your customers will buy. Provide the best coaching cheaper than your competition (but provide slower results), you’ll make a living.

But show your customers how you can be all three and watch your company thrive.

About the Author​

Mike Mehlberg

Business, Productivity, and Organization Writer

Mike Mehlberg helps high-achieving entrepreneurs maximize their time with purpose-driven business, organization, and productivity tools and techniques. Contact him for strategies to transform your vision into goals, goals into action, and action into results.

Minimizing Risks vs. Maximizing Gains in Business

One word.

It’s the most common investment advice you hear.  

You do it with your assets, your wealth, investment types, even investors.  

Diversify.  

Diversifying protects your downside. It prevents massive losses and minimizes risks to your portfolio. Diversifying is arguably one of the most important concepts for wealth management. After all, if all your eggs are in one basket, you can’t afford to drop it. 

But diversifying isn’t the way to maximize growth in business. Quite the opposite. 

In business, you must constantly stay ahead. You must find your unique perspective and use it to claim (and protect) a portion of your market. Then, with that as a foothold, you have to grow your market share and squeeze out the competition, or at least prevent your competitors from encroaching on your territory.  

To do that requires learning — continuous, focused learning.

Take, for example, a “diversified business owner.” He spends one part of his day selling technology, then rushes over to work on marketing for a bakery, finally finishing the day with a trip to his hair salon to manage the books.

Clearly this is not optimal.  

The problem is, this owner can’t apply the lessons he learned in from business to the next. His actions are fragmented and unfocused. He can’t use the experiences from one company to make the next better.  

Entrepreneurship requires focus.  

Focus on learning the right things. Focus on learning the right skills. Focus on applying what you learn to run a more efficient, productive, and profitable business. 

When it comes to your investments, diversify. When it comes to your business, focus.  

About The Author

Mike Mehlberg​

Co-Founder | Focus Master​

Mike just crushes focus and productivity in business for entrepreneurs. Right when they feel the weight of too many things to do, Mike can jump in and focus their efforts on achieving their vision and goals. Just don’t ask him about investing...