The Science of Intelligent Achievement

Book description

Smart strategies for pragmatic, science-based growth and sustainable achievement.

The Science of Intelligent Achievement teaches you the scientific process of finding success through your most valuable assets:

·      Selective focus – how selective are you with who and what you let into your life?

·      Creative ownership – how dependent are you on others for your happiness and success?

·      Pragmatic growth – how consistently and practically are you growing daily?

First, this book will show you how to develop your focus by being very selective with where you spend your mental energy. If you've failed to reach an important goal because you were distracted, misinformed, or overcommitted, then you know the role focus and selectivity play in achievement. Second, you will learn how to stop allowing your happiness and success to be dependent on other people and instead, start taking ownership over your life through creative work. Finally, you will learn the art of changing your life through pragmatic decisions and actions. Self-improvement is not the result of dramatic changes. Instead, science has shown that personal and professional change is initiated and sustained by consistent, practical changes. To grow, you must leverage the power of micro-decisions, personality responsibility, and mini-habits. Your own biology will not let you improve your life in any other way.

What do you currently value? What are working to attain? Have you been taught to value your job title or your relationship with some other person above all else? Have you been convinced that the most valuable things in life are your paycheck, the number of people who say 'hello' to you at the office, and the number of people who say 'I need you' at home? Or, have you become so passive in what you value that you let anyone and anything into your life, as long as whatever you let in allows you to stay disconnected from the cold hard truth that when things really go wrong in your life, the only person who will be able to fix it and the only person will be responsible for it is you. If so…welcome to fake success. Passivity, dependence, and the sacrifice of practical thinking and personal responsibility to fuzzy, grandiose ideals and temporary feelings — these are markers of fake success.

Intelligent Achievement, on the other hand, is not a moving target. It's not empty either. Instead, it's sturdy, full, and immovable. It's not something that's just handed to you. It's not something you're nudged to chase or coerced into wanting. Intelligent Achievement comes from within you. It's a collection of values that are aligned with who you are—values you have to protect and nurture. These values do not increase your dependence on other people and things. Instead, they relieve you of dependence. This kind of achievement is something that you have a part in building from the ground up—you know what's in it—you chose it, someone else didn't choose it for you.

Achieving real success means you must focus, create, and grow daily. The Science of Intelligent Achievement will show you how.

Table of contents

  1. COVER
  2. TITLE PAGE
  3. FOREWORD
  4. PREFACE: A FOOL'S GUIDE TO FAKE SUCCESS
    1. The Carefully Crafted Veil is Lifted
    2. From Tragedy to Intelligent Achievement
  5. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
  6. ABOUT THE AUTHOR
  7. INTRODUCTION: WHAT IS INTELLIGENT ACHIEVEMENT?
  8. Part 1: Selective Focus
    1. 1 Why Mental Energy is Your Most Valuable Asset
      1. The Fight for Your Mental Energy
      2. Protecting Your Mental Energy
      3. Surround Yourself With Mental Energizers
      4. Notes
    2. 2 How Busyness Leads to Burnout and Manipulation
      1. The Busy Life Versus the Productive Life
      2. Busy People Become Average
      3. Busy People Are Followers, Not Leaders
      4. Why Busy People are Easily Manipulated
      5. Notes
    3. 3 The Infection Known as “Other People's Opinions”
      1. You Know What's Best For You
      2. You Are Biologically Wired to Copy Others
      3. Negative Opinions Can Rot Your Brain
      4. Notes
    4. 4 How Small‐Minded People Block Big Goals
      1. The Power of Suggestion
      2. Your Brain's Herd Mentality
      3. The Liberating Power of Defiance
      4. Notes
    5. 5 Scientific Proof That 50% of Your Friendships are Fake
      1. Why Fake Friendships are Irrational
      2. Signs You Are Stuck in a Fake Friendship
      3. Notes
    6. 6 How to Deal With Negative People Without Becoming Negative
      1. The Fog Technique Versus the Investment Technique
      2. Negativity Versus the Void
      3. Case Study #1: Rome Scriva
    7. 7 Why You Need to Go on a Relationship Fast
      1. You Have to Say Goodbye First
      2. What You Will Learn During a Relationship Fast
      3. Why Your Entire Life is Your Fault
      4. Note
    8. 8 Automaticity, Scaling, and the Rise of Mental Loops
      1. Self‐Regulation Versus Automaticity
      2. How Mental Loops Will Improve Your Life
      3. Notes
    9. 9 Tracking Emotions and Predicting Feelings
      1. When are Your Energy Levels and Emotions Peaking?
      2. Emotional Predictions Protect Against Emotional Decisions
    10. 10 How to Label and Close Your Brain's Open Loops
      1. How the Zeigarnik Effect Affects Your Energy and Emotions
      2. How to Start Closing Off Your Brain's Open Loops
      3. Notes
    11. 11 Keep it and Clarify it, or Delete it From Your Life Completely
      1. Actively Delete Your Open Loops, Don't Just Passively “Let Go”
      2. How to Make Your Open Loops Actionable
      3. Case Study #2: Yuri Klyachkin, PhD
  9. Part 2: Creative Ownership
    1. 12 Where Millennials and Baby Boomers Meet
      1. How Experience and Equity Combine to Create True Value
      2. Experiences That Create Equity and Wealth
      3. Notes
    2. 13 “Entre‐Employee” and Temp‐Employee are the Only Career Options Left
      1. What Is an Entre‐Employee?
      2. Why Employers Want to Hire Entrepreneurs
      3. Why The Temp‐Employee Class is Growing Exponentially
      4. Finding Creative Ownership in Entre‐Employment
      5. Notes
    3. 14 Content Marketing Is Creative Ownership
      1. What is Content Marketing?
    4. 15 Leveraging Walt Disney's Secret System of Creativity
      1. What You Should Write (or, Overcoming Writer's Block)
      2. Video Blogs are Not Just for the Writing Impaired
      3. Notes
    5. 16 Finding Your Voice and Letting the Right Audience Pick You
      1. What's the Message of Your Content?
      2. Finding Your Voice in a Noisy World
      3. Notes
    6. 17 Why a Good Story Will Make You More Money Than a Great Product
      1. How Storytelling Creates Influence and Ownership
      2. The Hero's Story
      3. Add Credibility and Practicality to Your Story
      4. Choosing the Right Words
      5. Notes
    7. 18 The Magic of Turning Your Message into a Magnet
      1. Lead Magnets Create Two‐Way Value
      2. How to Create an EBook Lead Magnet
    8. 19 How to Build up Your Virtual Rolodex
      1. Squeeze and Splash Your Followers
      2. What is a CTA Feature Box?
      3. Case Study #3: Tim Bushnell, PhD
      4. Notes
    9. 20 Developing and Automating a Message‐Driven Content
      1. How to Leverage an Email Subscription List
      2. Why Email Marketing Will Always be Valuable
      3. Email Marketing and the Last Gatekeepers
      4. Notes
    10. 21 Turning Your Message into a Minimum Viable Product
      1. What is a Minimum Viable Product?
      2. Remember the “M” in MVP
      3. Growing an MVP into a Flagship Product
      4. Note
    11. 22 What Happens When Your MVP Meets Your Market?
      1. The Prelaunch Phase of a Product Launch
      2. The Launch Phase of a Product Launch
      3. How to Fulfill an Online Product
    12. 23 The Addiction of Vanity Analytics and How to Really Use Social Media
      1. Social Media is a Means of Brand Awareness and Brand Protection Only
      2. The Big Five Social Media Platforms and How to Use Them
      3. Note
    13. 24 The Laws of Convergence, Replication, and Accelerated Returns
      1. What is the Law of Convergence?
      2. What is the Law of Replication?
      3. Case Study #4: Franco Valentino
  10. Part 3: Pragmatic Growth
    1. 25 Turning Pain into Productivity Through Pragmatism
      1. Transform Pain Through Pragmatic Thinking
      2. How to Use Your Negativity Bias to Your Advantage
      3. Notes
    2. 26 One Non‐Negotiable is Worth a Thousand To‐Dos
      1. To‐Do Lists are Time‐Wasters
      2. How to Leverage the Power of “No”
      3. Going Beyond “No” to “Never Again” and “Non‐Negotiable”
      4. Notes
    3. 27 The Real Theory of Relativity and the Law of Relaxed Productivity
      1. Your World is Relative to Your Mood, Focus and Motivation
      2. The Three Non‐Relative Relativity Exceptions in Life
      3. The Law of Relaxed Productivity and How to Follow it
      4. Notes
    4. 28 Avoiding Drama, FOMO, and “Blind Spot Ignorance”
      1. What is FOMO and Who has it?
      2. How Selective “Blind Spot Ignorance” Leads to Disaster
      3. Two Keys to Keeping Your Blind Spots in Full View
      4. Notes
    5. 29 Preventing the Deadly Eight Productivity Pitfalls
      1. Are You Living Your Life Eight Distracted Hours at a Time?
      2. Case Study #5: Catherine Sorbara, PhD
      3. Note
    6. 30 Is Everyone a Narcissist Now?
      1. Narcissism is a Buzzword for Self‐Pity
      2. Note
    7. 31 Seeing Through the Victim Illusion
      1. How to Deal With People Who Play the Victim (Yourself Included)
      2. Note
    8. 32 How Decision Fatigue Reduces Willpower
      1. How Are You Spending Your Decision‐Making Units?
      2. Notes
    9. 33 Hacking and Stacking Mini‐Habits to Success
      1. The Habitual Mouse Gets the Cheese
      2. Hacking and Stacking Mini‐Habits
      3. Turn Deliberate Action into a Habit
      4. Case Study #6: Jamie Johnston, R.M.T.
      5. Note
    10. 34 Leveraging Boredom and Filling the Mental Void
      1. Using Boredom to Build a More Creative Future
      2. Filling the Void with Vitality and Adventure
      3. Notes
  11. CONCLUSION: A PRACTICAL GUIDE TO INTELLIGENT ADVENTURE
    1. Notes
  12. EPILOGUE: LEGACY
  13. BONUS: ACHIEVING ALIGNMENT
  14. INDEX
  15. END USER LICENSE AGREEMENT

Product information

  • Title: The Science of Intelligent Achievement
  • Author(s): Isaiah Hankel
  • Release date: February 2018
  • Publisher(s): Capstone
  • ISBN: 9780857087607