Transcription
Okay, before we get into the next model of this module, I want to go back to the Greatness Guide, which brings me to chapter number 101: Lay Claim to Your Greatness. And I thought if I read this chapter, at least a part of it, it would form a little bit of a segue into the model I'm about to teach you called the World Changers DNA.
So, lay claim to your greatness. Blame or claim? That's the choice each of us has to make each day. Blame what's not working, or claim the gift in the seemingly negative situation. The world needs more heroes. And heroes spend their days hunting for the best. They see the best amidst adversity. They see the best in others. They dig for the best in themselves. They claim their greatness, and in so doing, they get their best lives. It's never too late to become the person you've always dreamed of being.
So, with that excerpt from The Greatness Guide book, let's get into the World Changers DNA, which is another robust model. I want to live the 10x value obsession and give you 10 times more value than you can expect. And let's get right to the model.
So, the World Changers DNA, as you can see, there are nine elements. And there's nine, it's almost like the molecules that form the basis of a world changer. And I wanted to walk you through them. Let's start with number one: A heroic vision. You've got to have a vision. You've got to have a mighty ambition that towers over the everyday and gets you out of bed every morning with fire in your belly. The secret of passion is purpose. One thing I never want you to lose is your hope. And how do you get hope? Well, even in challenging times, you have this mission, this, what I often call, a compelling cause or an exciting crusade that is the front and center of your life. And so, knowing your vision is absolutely important.
It could be a vision to grow into your greatness by me being your mentor here in the Greatness Guide method. Maybe your vision is to live to start a business that will change the world. Maybe your vision is to have an incredible family life where your family is so well treated, and you feel loved, and you give love, and you live simply and beautifully. I don't know what your vision is, but it's really important as a world changer in your own unique way. When I say world changer, it doesn't mean you have to be a CEO. It doesn't mean you have to be on television. It doesn't mean you have to be the subject of documentaries. A world changer, to me, is just someone who is running their own race and sometimes quietly lifting other people up and leading by example by the integrity and mastery and excellence and impact with which they're living.
Second DNA: A mighty ambition. This is, you know, I think in many ways, ambition has got a dirty word or a negative implication to it. But a mighty ambition and honoring your ambition is so empowering to you being a world changer, you never losing that spark and never losing that fire in your belly. And that comes from those 11 elements I walked you through in the previous module, the Optimism Amplifier.
Third element of a real world changer is what I call trained minimalism. Steve Jobs said it beautifully: "The key to focus is getting great at saying no." It makes me think of that late 1990s meeting over at Apple. When Apple had got into printers, they got into this and all sorts of peripherals, and they got away from their core. And Steve Jobs was over at Pixar. He'd been at NeXT. He was brought back by Apple. Some people say when Apple was 90 days away from bankruptcy. Well, they brought the wonder child, he and Wozniak founded Apple, and so they brought Steve Jobs back. And here's what he did. It's the famous meeting. Big boardroom table. He said, "Bring in all of the things that we produce: the hardware, the peripherals, and cables, and printers, and this." And then he literally said, here, pointed to different products, and said, "We are no longer in this business. No longer in this business. We won't produce this. We won't produce that."
You see, one of the key elements of genius is simplicity. Do one thing really, really well. And if you're only doing one thing really, really well, and it becomes your monomaniacal obsession, then of course you're going to get great at it. So, a world changer trains in minimalism. Less is more. Do only a few things extremely well versus suffering from addiction of chasing every shiny toy that shows up in your days, weeks, months, years. And be a minimalist with your friends. I think three great friends that would show up for you on an emergency call at 3 AM is better than a thousand digital friends. Master five books versus skimming a thousand books. Just get really good at minimalism.
Fourth element: The exceptionalist's prowess. As a DNA of a world changer, have you ever noticed how few masters you encounter on a regular basis? Think about the last time you were in a hotel, last time you were on an airplane, last time you went into a store, last time you saw someone doing something. I mean, it makes me think of Picasso. One day, Picasso was in a market, and this woman ran up to him. She said, "Mr. Picasso, I'm a huge fan." He said, "Thank you." She said, "Mr. Picasso, could you please do a little drawing for me?" He said, "Sure." She pulled out a piece of paper and a pencil. He did a little drawing. She looked at it and she marveled. She said, "Mr. Picasso, you are a genius." Mr. Picasso said, "Thank you." The woman walked away. Pablo Picasso said, "Excuse me." Woman said, "What?" He said, "That'll be a million dollars." The woman looked at him and said, "Mr. Picasso, you're kidding. A million dollars? It took you 30 seconds to do that." He said, "My dear lady, it took me 20 years of daily practice to be able to do that in 30 seconds."
So, the exceptional prowess, the fourth element of the World Changers DNA, is about doing the work required to become so good at what you do that we cannot take our eyes off of you when you do what you do. I see so many people who are doing their job, and then you ask them a question that goes beyond the surface, and they don't have any domain knowledge. They don't read about their job. They don't model. They don't have mentors. They don't study. They don't read the books on their craft. They don't watch the videos on their craft. They don't have coaches for what they do. And then they wonder why they're not promoted, and they wonder why they're not legendary. And the marketplace always rewards mastery. The marketplace will always pay for the best.
You look at the great actors. Why do they get paid many tens of millions of dollars? Is because, so here's a key point, so few people can do what they do. It's very crowded at the 95% of any industry. And in the rare era of mastery, there's almost no competition. The people dealing with competition are where the majority are. There's in the rare earth mastery, there's very little competition. And people will absolutely pay you multiples of what most people are paid because the value you can bring is so scarce.
Which brings me to element number five of the World Changers DNA. As you can see from the screen here: Unreasonable relentlessness. It is striking how many people quit just before they reach their gold. It is interesting to me how many people wave the white flag of absolute surrender on their first encounter with a setback. It is stunning how far you can get if you simply refuse to stay in to leave the ring and stay in the game. And as Steve Jobs says, "Keep showing up at the party." I mean, Benjamin Disraeli, the former British Prime Minister, said it beautifully: "Success lies in a constancy of purpose." Pick your bet. Stay with your vision through thick, through challenge, through rain, through storms, through sunshine. It is just stunning what happens when you adopt a mentality of relentlessness.
What most people do is they start, and then they pick another thing, and they start another business, or they start another career, or they start another project, or they start another venture, and they never get traction on what they're doing. The people who really get traction are people who say, "Here's the vision. I see where the marketplace is going," and they just stay with it. It is stunning how powerful relentlessness is. Again, it's what I call a GCA, a gargantuan competitive advantage in a world where so many people give up too quickly. I guess the master skill of legendary, in many ways, is patience. Patience with your idea. Patience with your team. And if you're not in business, patience with your ambition for a world-class life. Patience with your love relationship. Patience with getting to pro athlete level health. Patience with your spirituality, understanding that it's a journey of a lifetime.
Number six: An obsession with perfection. Well, key to the Greatness Guide method is being one of those rare air individuals who, when you're going to do something, you do it right. A lot of people, what they do, I'm just observing, but they rush their work. I always, one of the reasons I love Italy, is because people love quality. That boot maker who, he or she, has been in the boot-making field for 17 generations. I remember reading about Rolls-Royce and the front console, and there was a village where people worked on that console, and they've worked on it for many generations. I think of the great pasta in the South of Italy, in Puglia, the orecchiette, or I think of in Rome, the cacio e pepe, and the way it's, it's, it's not a difficult dish, but it's an extremely difficult dish. And what I mean by that is, cacio e pepe is simply pepper, pecorino cheese, and the right pasta. But it's the calibration, the way it's put together, the timing of where you cook the, you use the starch water from the pasta with the cheese to get the sauce just right. Simple ingredients, very skillfully prepared.
I love watching a master in action, whether it's an actor who has studied, and you know, I think of that movie *The Joker* with Joaquin Phoenix, masterclass. I think of *Darkest Hour*, Gary Oldman portraying Winston Churchill in World War II, masterclass. I think of one of my heroes, J.D. Salinger, *The Catcher in the Rye*. I watched a documentary about J.D. Salinger. He literally, at his New Hampshire home, would lock himself away in a concrete bunker for months on end, writing his stories. You know, people think he never did another book after *Catcher in the Rye*. He wrote every day, but it was all about quality for him. He would not put out anything that was less than his best.
On this element, number six of the World Changers DNA, an obsession for perfection. I think about Khalil Gibran, who wrote that masterwork *The Prophet*. He carried it around with him for four years because he said, "I wanted to get every single word perfect." I think about Michelangelo, who damaged his eyes working on the fresco of the Sistine Chapel ceiling. I think about Hedy Lamarr. In his quest for magic. I think about Hedy Lamarr. I don't know if you know who Hedy Lamarr is. There was a time, I think it was in the '20s, she was one of the most famous actors in Hollywood. But in her free time, Hedy Lamarr designed a system which many say was the precursor to Wi-Fi. She was an incredible scientist. The documentary, in case you want to watch it, is called *Bombshell*. She just was meticulous in the way that she would do her craft.
I think about Ferran Adrià, who is widely recognized as one of the greatest chefs in the world and a master at molecular gastronomy. And he had a restaurant called El Bulli, and it was in Spain. And to get a reservation would literally take you three years. And I met Ferran Adrià. I read his book. I want you to find his book. I want you to study his book because that will tell you not the superficiality, but the granularity that the great ones possess. Literally, the smallest thing that he'd focus on had to be perfect. Even in his restaurant El Bulli, everything was meticulously prepared. And get this, at the height of its fame, with a three-year waiting list, he closed it because he didn't want to be a caricature and rest on his laurels. He needed to move on to another challenge. That to me is a world changer.
I think about Eleven Madison Park, a fantastic restaurant. And here is something I love about Eleven Madison Park: Before the dinner service, all of the servers are trained to ensure that the insignia of Eleven Madison Park is perfectly positioned in the same place at every place setting. But here's the thing: it's under the plate, so the diner will never see it. You might say, "Robin, why would Eleven Madison Park ensure that everything is so perfect, and to even the insignia of Eleven Madison Park is in a certain position at every place setting, and the diner can't even see it?" Well, the leaders at Eleven Madison Park say that practice helps people get into the mentality of OAD, or an obsessive attention to detail, where every little detail counts.
Brings me to number seven, which is disregard for social convention. In an earlier module, I hinted at that. But you really want to strengthen your inner core through meditation, autosuggestion, visualization, reading the books of your heroes, because that is having a conversation with them. And the more you're around your heroes through their books and audiobooks, the more their example and vibe and energy and philosophy and ways of being will subtly influence you. You do become the people you associate with. Why not associate with legendary producers and movement makers through their books? And the more you can do that, and through prayer. Prayer helps me a lot. Every morning, I pray for about half an hour. And meditation helps me a lot. And writing in a journal about the man I want to be and the life I want to create. I write in a journal about my struggles. I write affirmations. I write those pre-commitment strategies that I talk to you about that are supported by science. People often ask, "Well, how do I beat procrastination and get up early and install the habits of world-class and become a better human being?" One technique is you write about it every morning for a page or two. And that is a pre-commitment strategy. And that starts the process of reconditioning and reprogramming your conscious and subconscious mind to become the person you want to be. So, using those tactics, you can start to install a disregard for social convention and own your pirate nature.
Social conventions and dogma are so restrictive because social convention is, well, "Here's the way it's been done in the past, and this is how you have to keep on doing it." Well, you can't innovate and disrupt and be a visionary if you're just producing what everyone else has produced. That's why one of my favorite movies, I wish I could remember the name, but it was about Vincent van Gogh. It was something about eternity. Something about eternity. And Willem Dafoe acted as Van Gogh. So you can find that film. And you know, Van Gogh only sold two paintings in his lifetime. And I remember at one point, it's such a beautiful, beautiful film. And at one point, you know, Vincent van Gogh has been so laughed at and ridiculed and humiliated for what he believed to be beautiful art. He's put into an insane asylum. And the authority figure here at this insane asylum really is holding a Van Gogh. And he looks at Vincent and he really does say, "Vincent, do you really think this is art?" And Vincent van Gogh said, "Yes, I believe it's art." Vincent van Gogh died poor. He died misunderstood. Now, so many years after his death, a Van Gogh will sell for tens, if not hundreds of millions of dollars. Vincent van Gogh became Vincent van Gogh because of his disregard for social convention. You cannot be a genuine genius if you're doing what everyone else is doing. And that's why there is no payoff in being a copyist. What most people do is they do not have the bravery to think for themselves and to produce work that shatters the status quo. It's coming from insecurity. They have not owned their voice. They have not fallen in love with their native genius. So what they do is they look at the successful people in their field, and they just copy what others are doing. You see it in technology. You see it in the arts. You see it in businesses. You see it all over the world. And yet, any disruptor, any real legend, they're doing something fundamentally different from what's been done before. So, disregard of social convention, absolutely important to be a world changer.
Number eight: Resistant to critical opinion. Well, when the king's caravan goes by, the barking dogs come out to play. I want you to be so strong and so intimate with your human greatness that you take the stones people throw at you, and you build them into monuments of mastery that are a testimony to the power of humanity. You can do beautiful work, or you can have no haters. You don't get to do both. The very nature of doing your Taj Mahal, the very nature of you producing your magic and your poetry, means that you're going to threaten people who are playing small with their talent. Your standing in your possibility is going to awaken people's self-loathing and it's going to remind them, "I could have done that, but I didn't put in the work. I didn't have the vision. I didn't put in the sweat equity. I didn't have the persistence." And so it's much easier to be a critic. Sit back. I mean, J.K. Rowling of Harry Potter fame started off as a single mother in poverty, now one of the richest people in Britain. You know what she said? She said, "For some to love you, some must loathe you." You know what Bob Dylan said? He said, "Don't criticize what you don't understand."
So, element number eight of the World Changer's DNA is, please trust your voice. Please remember that your instinct is so much power than your intellect. Block out the noise of the haters. Understand. Jay-Z said it well: "I knew I was doing really well in pop culture, and I knew I was successful when everyone started hating on me." And stay true to yourself. And put your vision of magic into the world. Put out beautiful work. Work that will lift humanity by its beauty. The world does need more beautiful work.
And then number nine of this powerful module on being a world changer is: Never lose what I call the optimizer mindset. Nothing fails like success. You never want to rest on your laurels. This idea of laurels actually comes from Greek athletes, and what they would do is they would take laurels, which was a plant, and they would make it into a wreath, like a crown, and they would place it on the head of the championship athlete. And the idea became, you don't want to rest on your laurels. One thing about a champion is they never want to stop being a champion. I think of Michael Jordan right away. You know, there was in the docu-series *The Last Dance*, which is all about the Bulls' rise. And Michael Jordan, in one scene I've never forgotten, they lost in the NBA Finals. Yes, they had a legacy and they were unbeatable for many years. But at one point, they lost one year. And the trainer was interviewed. He said, "I never forget it. He said, 'Usually Michael would take the summer off after a championship.' But he said that year, he said, 'Michael, when will I see you next?'" And Michael said, "Tomorrow morning at 5 o'clock."
It's hard enough to become a world champion. Do you know why so few people are legendary? Because so few people are willing to continue to do the sacrifice, the early practice, the learning, the relentlessness, protecting the fire in the belly and the warrior's mentality after they've become a champion. I never want to retire. If you want to retire, if that's one of your goals, absolutely. To me, I have an anti-retirement mentality and emotionality. I'm doing my best. I'm not saying I'm doing it, but I'm doing my best as I age. I want to get more nimble. I want to become better at my craft. Just imagine if I live another 20 years. 20 more years of practice. 20 more years of humble service to as many people as possible. 20 more years of learning. 20 more years of optimizing.
And so, if you look at the best of the best, as athletes and as entrepreneurs, and every single billionaire that I have mentored over 25 years has this optimized mindset. They want to make their business better. They want to make their nutrition better. They love investing in coaches. Okay, I want a mindset coach, mindset coach, a talk therapist, a financial manager, a nutritionist, a biohacker, a spiritual mentor, etc., etc. They're always going to conferences. I remember there was one conference I went to. I shared the platform with Jack Welch when he was the CEO of General Electric. Guess where he was? Not hobnobbing in the green room with the VIPs. He was in the front row. In the front row when I was speaking, taking notes. When I had Richard Branson at the Titan Summit on my stage, in the green room or backstage, Richard and I were talking, and I've gotten to know him. He was all about learning and asking great questions. When Steve Wozniak, the co-founder of Apple, every interaction, every conversation we've had, when he came to speak at one of my events in Zurich, he was all about listening, asking questions, optimizing. When I shared time with Shaquille O'Neal, the NBA legend, and I'm just offering these names not to in any way name-drop, to just give you some real-world names of people who are just extraordinary people. They all had the optimizer's mindset. When I met Bishop Archbishop Desmond Tutu, one of the greatest heroes of all time, he was asking questions. He was learning. He was mentally taking notes. You could see he was all about learning and growing.
So, the ninth element of the World Changer DNA is absolutely: Always leave everything you touch better than you find it. Leave every person you meet better than you found them. And never rest on your laurels. So, tomorrow is even better than today.