Adam Markel argues that fear of failure keeps people mediocre, and small consistent changes compound into big results. A 5-degree shift in direction, repeated over time, transforms your life. He walks through how to reframe mistakes and build new rituals.
Chapters
How many of you in 2016 would like to fail three times more often than you did in 2015? Wow. That's incredible. There's actually. Hands raised. Holy smokes. And now I'm going to ask you, so how many of you would like to fail less than you did in 2015 and 2016? That's the issue. That's it in a nutshell. You see, we've been trained. Haven't we all been trained? Come on. Yes. We've all been programmed and trained since the time we were little kids. The only question is, what have you been trained for? True. Many of us, from the time we were four or five years old, we were trained to believe that mistakes are wrong, that there are certainly consequences for making mistakes. You get punished, or you. You bring home bad grades. And back in those days, there was some corporal punishment that existed too. You know, there were consequences for making mistakes. Yes or yes. And so what consequently happens is we grow up. And in the process of our growing up and maturing as human beings, we have this dendrite in our brains, this neurological pathway that says mistakes cause pain. And so what ends up happening is that we very much try to live our lives one of these. A straight line, you know, without making too many mistakes. Yes or yes. I'm sorry? Yes or yes. Thank you for that. And what that does, unfortunately, it leads to something that we commit ourselves to. And I'm sure you know people in your life that are committed to the status quo. How many of you know somebody that's committed to the status quo for safety reasons? Yes. Yeah. And they may even be sitting in your seat. Ouch. Yeah. The problem. Say, Adam, what's the problem with status quo? I just want to hear you say my name. Come on, guys. Adam, what's the problem with status quo? You guys are awesome. Thank you. Here's the problem with it. It leads to something else which is epidemic in our world today, unfortunately. What's that word? What's that word? Mediocrity is an epidemic, and it comes from people that are playing it safe. You know, it may sound counterintuitive, but I say to our teams, we have about 80 employees. We do about 120 live events a year at New Peaks, Deep Dive, transformational trainings. We're inner game and outer game because we don't believe that you can just have the outer game without being supported by who you are as a human being. I was having a conversation behind stage just a half hour ago about this. You have to be the person you want to Be a success. How many want to be a success in this room? Say I do. To be a success, you have to be a success. Meaning, who are you as a human being? How do you show up? How do you speak to people? What are your rituals, the daily rituals that you have? How connected are you to source to other people, to your family, friends? How giving are you by nature? How giving can you be because of the success of your business? This is what we're all after. Yes or yes. But mediocrity is safety. It's playing it safe. It's that tepid bath, that warm bath, that lukewarm bath of life so that everybody can get to the end safely. Think about the irony in this. People want to be safe all the way through to the day they die. That means they want to become safely dead. Safely dead. Here's the way I want to go out. Can I show you? This has been the most incredible wild ride. I love my life. Holy moly. Gone. There's. There's something inside of you that's just dying to seek more expression. Yes or. Yes. And mediocrity and status quo will not inspire it to come out. What it does is it makes it safe to just go at certain some point. It's like atrophy. If you don't use your muscles. What happens to them, folks? They atrophy. They just waste away. So what's the answer? I call this a pivot, and I wanted to share it with you. I think it's very powerful. It's changed my life. And it looks like this now. That's a massive change. Yes. You can barely even see that there's a change in the direction. True or true? Come on. True or true? Thank you. But let's look at what a 5%, a 5 degree change in direction looks like. This is the most incredible thing to me. And this is math, this is science, this is physics. Anybody that thinks this. Right. Brain stuff, I don't get it. You know, it's like I don't believe in things I can't see. Well, then my question for you is, why do you pay your electricity bill? Right? But this is what it looks like mathematically, right? You just extend that line out over time. Three months, one year, two years. In my case, transitioning. Reinventing. What's the word? Reinventing. Reiterating, iterating something new, disrupting the status quo. All it takes is a small almost, you know, almost a change you can't even see. A 5 degree change in direction creates this. This word is transformation. It creates transformation in your life very quickly. I'm a product of the product. I eat the cooking. So when I say this to you, I only know it to be true for myself, my family, and the hundreds and hundreds of thousands of people that we've had the pleasure to train all over the world. Small change. Pivot. What's the word? What's the word? A small change in direction. Done methodically, done consistently, done with integrity. What's the word? What's the word? Integrity creates transformation over time. It's life altering. Now, how many of you would love to experience what it's like to be able to pivot in your business, in your personal life, in your health and your relationships? Who'd like to create a pivot that creates massive transformation for the better in your life? Raise your hand if that's you. I hope that's every hand. Keep your hand up for a moment because, see that? This is a signal to the universe, to me. Now bring the other hand up. Bring the other hand up. You see, what you create right here is a funnel. And what I love about a funnel is that it's an opening. It's what? Opening. It's an opening. It's an acknowledgement of all the blessings that are there for you. And all you ever have to do is accept them. What do you have to do? Say, I accept them. Say, I accept all the blessings. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Put your hands down.
