How to Become a World Champion in Any Field

Key points from The Art of Learning, by Josh Waitzkin

You may think that world champion athletes have trained in their chosen sport since they were children. Yet Josh Waitzkin, the chess prodigy who was the subject of the film Searching for Bobby Fischer, only discovered the martial art of Tai Chi Chuan after he retired from competitive chess. In only a few short years, he was able to become a World Champion in the sport.

The secret is that, instead of learning how to play chess, he learned how to learn. The skills and techniques he developed to become the Under-18 World Champion in chess are the skills and techniques that he used to catapult himself to the top of Tai Chi Chuan.

How to Get Free of Problems Slowing Down Your Progress

You notice that your progress isn’t as fast as it was. You spend more time or effort to get the same results. You’re blocked.

There’s a reason great ideas often come in the shower. As we involve ourselves in a mindless, repetitive task and relax, our subconscious can bubble up inspiration.

The inspiration rarely has to do with the actual shower. But in this case, my inspiration came from cleaning the drain before even starting the shower. I realized it was just like how problems appear in life — almost unnoticeable at first. But if you don’t handle them, sooner or later, they become huge.

How to Stop Negative People From Pulling You Down and Killing Your Dreams

Are you a lobster?

Growing up, we took a summer trip to Cape Cod every year. There wasn’t a lot to do in the town where we stayed, so eventually we’d go down to the docks to see the fresh seafood for sale. It surprised me that the lobsters were kept in large, open buckets.

You see, they don’t need to be contained. They keep each other in the bucket. When one lobster starts to climb out, the other lobsters pull him back down. (The lobsters for sale in stores are usually kept in a tank with a lid, because their claws have been rubber-banded shut.)

People do that, too. If you start to move ahead of the people you spend time with, they’ll pull you back to where they are.

4 Goal Setting Hacks to Transform Big Goals into Easy Tasks

Easily transform big yearly goals into powerful sub-goals and worthwhile tasks

Most people are able to set goals. There’s something they’d like to get done within a certain amount of time. Write a book. Run a marathon. Start their own business. Lose weight.

Where it breaks down is turning those big, inspiring goals into sub-goals and tasks. Without sub-goals, your time frame is too long, and looks impossible.

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