A greatness mindset means you act on the ideas inside you and do the uncommon things others skip. I call the alternative the Graveyard of Greatness, the place where great ideas end up when people only think about them. You stay out of it by defaulting to imperfect action, choosing your uncommon actions and finding the fire in your belly.
- The graveyard is filled with great ideas that people only thought about.
- Uncertainty leads to inaction, so default to imperfect action.
- Ask what you are willing to do that others aren't, and earn your confidence.
- Find the fire in your belly. It keeps you creating every single day.
What is the Graveyard of Greatness?
The Graveyard of Greatness is where great ideas end up when the people who had them keep thinking about them and wait. The graveyard is filled with lots of great ideas. Is yours going to be one of them?
The idea came from a phrase that drove me nuts: "I'm thinking about it." So many people came to me for coaching or for help launching a podcast and said, "Rob, I've been thinking about launching a podcast." I would ask how long. "I don't know, a year or two." They had something inside of them they wanted to get out, and their wheels just kept spinning.
One day you might wake up and say, "Man, I really regret not..." A greatness mindset is a decision to live without that regret.
Why does "thinking about it" keep you from greatness?
Uncertainty leads to inaction. When someone tells me they are thinking about it, I hear that they are uncertain about the journey they are about to go on. Excuses, fear and self-limiting beliefs fill the space.
The way through is to default to imperfect action. You can start before everything is set up in your mind and before you know the exact strategy. When you take imperfect action, you get a lot closer to great results than the people who do nothing. I go deeper on this in how to start before you have certainty.
Action is the separator from good to great.
What are you willing to do that others aren't?
This question sits at the center of a greatness mindset: what are you willing to do that others aren't, so you can have what others don't?
It popped into my head one morning on a three mile run at 6am. I saw zero other runners. I loved running in the dark when the stars were out, and in that moment it built confidence in me right away. I did it for myself, because I knew the results it created in me.
Two other areas of my life ran on the same mindset.
- Morning self-cultivation At least an hour and a half every morning on personal growth. Reading for 30 minutes, then meditating, journaling and speaking my declarations out loud.
- Value-driven content One piece of content turned into a full video, a full podcast and a blog post, plus micro content for social media.
Most people have a million excuses for skipping these things. I've got kids. I've got a job. I don't wake up with enough time. The uncommon move is to make it a non-negotiable. That is where confidence actually comes from.
And by being on this frequency and doing things that others don't, that's how you create confidence. You earn that confidence. It's self-created.
Rob Cressy
How do you build a greatness mindset?
- Name the outcome. Ask what you would love to create in your life. Maybe you want to be a better version of yourself or share your voice with the world.
- Catch your language. Notice every time you say "I'm thinking about it." That phrase is uncertainty talking.
- Default to imperfect action. Take the first step before the plan is perfect. You already know the answer, and thinking about it longer only delays it.
- Find your uncommon thing. Look for the place where you look around and you are a one of one, the outlier doing what few people do.
- Make it a non-negotiable. Protect it from the excuses about time.
- Play the long game. Do it the right way every time and let it drip, drip, drip. Some things work and some won't. Over time, they add up.
Every uncommon action pulls you out of your comfort zone. Pair it with a higher standard of excellence, and once you start, finish what you start.
Where does the fire in your belly come from?
Someone once told me, "Rob, if you ever hope to get paid to do what you love, you better be doing it already." I got it immediately. How would anyone ever pay me to talk about sports for a living if I wasn't already talking about sports?
I had never created a podcast, never been on camera and knew nothing about brand building. I also knew I would regret it for the rest of my life if I didn't give my dreams a shot. That decision lit a fire inside me that kept me creating.
A strong why helps. The fire is what you feel inside that makes you excited for every single day. One line I read each morning was "I am living my dream today." A dream lives in the day to day things you do, in this exact moment.
The how of almost anything is formulaic. What you need is the commitment that says you will figure it out because this is what you are destined to do. If you can't feel the fire yet, go find it. That single piece is the key to everything.
Do this today
- Pull one idea out of the graveyard. Write down the thing you have been "thinking about" and take one imperfect action on it today.
- Answer the question. Write what you are willing to do that others aren't. Then do it once today and notice the confidence it creates.
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What are you willing to do that others aren’t?
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Read the full transcript
What are you willing to do that others aren't so that you can have what others don't? What's up? It's Rob Cressy and this morning I was on a three mile run at 6am. And you know how many other runners I saw during that time? Zero. And it's something that created confidence in me and this is something that has happened often when I run early.
And I love running in the dark when the stars are out or the sun is about to rise because I don't see anybody else. And this is certainly both during the week as well as on the weekends. And while I was looking around just enjoying the peace and the solitude, that little thought popped in my head. Hey, what are you willing to do that others aren't? I looked around and I was like boom, I got that right now and immediately it built confidence in me.
And I was like, hey, let's create a podcast about this. Because to me, this is a mindset and a lifestyle and a way of being doing things that others don't, doing things that others don't. And this is something that I do for myself. Not because other people don't do it, but it's for me. And there's really two main areas of my life outside of just the running side of things in which I'm a shining star for this.
And this is foundational to the way that I create myself in the best version of myself every single day. So number one is spending at least one and a half hours every single day, first thing in the morning on my personal growth and self-cultivation. That way, I can be the best version of myself every single day.
And why is this something that so few people do? Because there's a million excuses for why I don't have time to invest in creating a morning routine. I've got kids. I've got a job. I've got, I don't wake up with enough time. You name it. For me, this is a non-negotiable. Because when I look at the architecture of the best version of myself, well, number one, I read for 30 minutes first thing in the morning.
Because the average CEO reads 60 books a year. Cool. I'm about that life. I'm going to make it important. And so many people are going to create the excuse, I just can't do that. Then we've got meditating and journaling and speaking my declarations out loud to create myself every single day, more than a decade. Boom, doing this. Boom, doing this. And I don't do this for others. I do it for myself because I know the results that it creates in me.
And this is one of those uncommon things that I do, that I preach out loud and I create resources for. And I've created coaching programs around. Remember, success leaves breadcrumbs. Boom. Create your own version of this. So that's number one for me. This is a non-negotiable personal growth and development and self-cultivation at least an hour and a half every single day.
And then number two for me is creating value-driven content everywhere. Podcast, YouTube, blog post, live streaming, you name it. When everybody else is complaining that, oh, I just can't find time or I'm not going to do it, I'm already moving on to the next. Because for me, my dream was to be a creator and be an entrepreneur and to create full time for a living.
This is what I love to do. So while everybody else is tripping on the results or feeling time guilt or I don't know if I should be doing this, boom, I'm moving on and doing this. And I share this one because when I think of content, I turn one piece of content, so what you're watching or listening right now, into a full video, a full podcast, micro content, and a blog post and social media content at minimum. And I'm going to rinse and repeat that. And I have for more than a decade.
Boom. Now we've got that long-term mindset, SEO, know, like and trust factor, helping people and making the world a better place. God forbid we do that in our content. This is something where that's why I show up. And this is uncommon because everyone, they cut corners in the process. But for me, one of the things that I teach and certainly on the podcasting side of things is one perfect podcast, or in this instance, one perfect piece of content.
And what does this mean? Every single time we do every single thing perfectly from a systems and processes side of things because we know we've got long-term vision for where we're going and what we're doing. And these things add up. You might not see that organic SEO juice today or tomorrow or next month or even next year, but you just drip, drip, drip, drip, drip, drip. Some are going to work. Some are not going to work. But you know you've got the long-term vision that over time, all of a sudden some of these things start working for you and you're like, whoa, sure glad I invested in that process.
So for me, like I said, doing things that others won't so that I can create what others don't. This is something that is a mindset and a lifestyle and a way of being for me because I want to do things that are uncommon because I am building and living a very uncommon life in the best way possible. Lifestyle by design, baby.
So I wanted to share this to inspire you to think about what are the uncommon things that you are doing in your life where when you do them, you look around and you're a one of one or you're an outlier and there's not many people like you who do this. I would love for you to share that with me.
I would love to cultivate or I guess curate all the people who are doing uncommon things to see what are those uncommon things and there's so many of them in our life and oftentimes just looking for those little micro opportunities but I shared three of them in mine. And by being on this frequency and doing things that others don't, that's how you create confidence. You earn that confidence. It's self-created. Boom.
Why would I ever stop creating confidence for myself when I know the amazing things that are going to happen? The same is true for you. So really excited and inspired because this confidence got created by a 6 a.m. run this morning.
Transcript cleaned up for reading.