Marie shares where her philosophy of everything is figureoutable comes from, and how it has helped to propel her Meteoric success over the last two decades. Some fantastic insights are examined that can help with areas that hinder personal progress. Whether those inhibitors are around managing criticism, striving for the 100% not the 80:20, or overcoming lack of resources, there are strategies that can help anyone in any area. The aim is to use these strategies to remove obstacles in the way of success, however you choose to define it for you.
“Do the best you can do until you know better. Then when you know better, do better” – Maya Angelou
Big Messages/Key Quotes :
- The way in which you put questions to yourself is key. The human brain is wired to answer questions, so any positive or negative thought process is a consequence of asking either a productive or destructive question. Two main patterns can cause progress to be inhibited, “I know this already”, and “this won’t work for me”. Both questions are unhelpful as they encourage the brain into anti-learning mode. It is better to ask, “what can I learn from this”, or “how can this work for me”
- The process of creation, which governs how we relate to the world, can be expressed as a simple equation which is our beliefs (how we see the world or meta-model), lead to our thoughts, and our thoughts lead to feelings, these feelings drive behaviours, which ultimately deliver a result
- Beliefs can shape the way in which your life unfolds at the broadest levels, and are typically shaped by 5 key areas:
- Environment – the formative years where you get given some hand-me-down beliefs and an initial perspective on your overall capabilities
- Experience – a series of experiences help to cement how we see ourselves overtime. This about events and situations that ratify and validate how you see the world
- Evidence – equates to ideologies we adopt from subject matter experts, or authoritarian figures in the media
- Examples – fuel the imagination, if you can visualise something it is easier to accept e.g. if some else is getting to do what you want to do, it comes a possibility
- Envisioning – belief that something can be achieved, even though it has never been done before. Roger Bannister believed, based on no known data points, the 4 minute mile was possible
- Eliminate excuses for not achieving the results you desire e.g. knowing the difference between “can’t,” and “won’t”. In summary people who fall into one of 2 categories; those with reasons, and those with results. There is a big distinction between can’t and won’t. Can’t means that it is out of our control and we do not have the capability to move forward. If you won’t try something, that is a choice that we make not to even start the process or the journey. Sanity check with yourself what you really mean when it comes to inaction towards a specific goal
- If something is important enough, resources can always be found to make it happen… nothing is ever about having the time it’s always about making the “it is never about your resources, it is about resourcefulness” – Tony Robbins
- Strategies for managing and creating time and resources
- Eliminate or minimise media consumption
- limit your tracking of emails
- eat better, faster, and cheaper to save time planning for all meals
- Don’t over amplify fear and let it grind you down to a halt – “ there are very few monsters who warrant the fear we have of them” Andre Gide. It is much better to see fear as more of a compass/SatNav/Signpost, in that it helps us to calibrate our actions to ensure that we are going in the direction we intended to follow
- “Knowing what you want is the first step towards getting it” – Mae West. Clarity around goals and defining a direction that you want to follow does not come through the process of thinking, it comes through the process of engaging and acting. Picking several things that need to be achieved simultaneously is a sure-fire way to failure. It is much better to focus on one thing and to give that thing your undivided attention, with a measurement framework that is realistic
- If you wait for perfect conditions to start the journey, you may end up never starting, as there is no such concept of perfection in life. The best time to start is … Now! Waiting for perfect conditions, and waiting to define your idea perfectly just delays you
- Lastly never take no for an answer having resilience and grit is vital to stay on course until the job is done
Why read this book?
Everything is Figureoutable is a brilliant precis for driving focus when it comes to getting going with life goals; small and large. Written in a very accessible style with several quality questions and exercises, this book is more of a user manual which is what sets it apart from more academic considerations of success.
I have seen several of the ideas shared here used by many successful individuals, companies and entrepreneurs, and the results speak for themselves. It is about as close as you can get to an actual recipe for driving huge success in any endeavour. Again, this becomes particularly vital reading in times of COVID, when everyone’s mojo has taken a little bit of a battering.
