THE ARCHER
There was a young archer who was winning competition after competition. Riding high on success he challenged the old master to a test of skills.
The young archer let the first arrow loose and it landed dead center of the bullseye. The second found its way home too.
"Ha! Beat THAT, if you can!" he boasted.
The master smiled nodding his head slowly. "Impressive. Let's take a walk," he said as he headed towards the nearby mountain.
Up they climbed all afternoon. The master said nothing. The young challenger grew more curious.
They finally reached a deep chasm with an old fallen tree acting as a natural bridge. The master calmly strode to the middle of the log, called a distant tree as his target, took aim, and let the arrow fly.
Dead center of a tiny knot in the trunk.
The master walked back to solid ground, and said, "Now you."
The challenger looked at how far he would fall if he made a single mistake with his footing, and knew he wouldn't even walk out on the log let alone shoot the arrow.
The master said patiently, "You have much skill with your weapon, but none with the mind that controls it."
#Thread
CURSE OF KNOWLEDGE:
This is a powerful cognitive bias, and the one that's probably most responsible for you staying stuck in your dead-end way of doing things instead of breaking out.
What is it?
The mind's inability to remember what it was like to not know something.
At first glance you may think this is a relatively unimportant thing. Completely harmless.
But it's robbing you of your freedom. Here's how.
To understand, we're going to use an example from my life: Magic Tricks.
I'm a professional mentalist; I've performed in Vegas.
I know how the mind works, and I understand why the simple methods of magic are so powerful; they leverage exactly these kinds of mental hiccups. So, here's the example.
I do a trick, and you want to know how it works. You'll do ANYTHING. Pay me $100, even. Great! Pay up!
Why is mindset so important? Sit down by the fire & let me tell you a story about a process I see all the time in my coaching experience.
Potential clients (whether its business coaching or personal/physical) will hop on the phone for a 45 minute deep dive into their situation.
This call is designed to help them clarify their real issues, identify where their roadblocks are, define their vision for future success, and plan a route to get there. It's the most valuable 45 minutes they're likely to spend for the whole year.
It's exactly the same processes I've used to create opportunities for myself that take me around the world, work with the US military, appear on national TV, navigate prolonged high stress environments, and more.
I operate on elite levels and know how to get people there too.