For my friend—
you . . .
"If you do not expect it, you will not find the unexpected, for it is hard to find and difficult."
Heraclitus, 500 B.C.
Introduction— A True Story
I’m sitting in a quiet room at the Millcroft Inn, a peaceful little place hidden back among the pine trees about an hour out of Toronto. It’s just past noon, late July, and I’m listening to the desperate sounds of a life-or-death struggle going on a few feet away.
There’s a small fly burning out the last of its short life’s energies in a futile attempt to fly through the glass of the windowpane. The whining wings tell the poignant story of the fly’s strategy—try harder.
But it’s not working.
The frenzied effort offers no hope for survival. Ironically, the struggle is part of the trap. It is impossible for the fly to try hard enough to succeed at breaking through the glass. Nevertheless, this little insect has staked its life on reaching its goal through raw effort and determination.
This fly is doomed. It will die there on the windowsill.
Across the room, ten steps away, the door is open. Ten seconds of flying time and this small creature could reach the outside world it seeks. With only a fraction of the effort now being wasted, it could be free of this self-imposed trap. The breakthrough possibility is there. It would be so easy.
Why doesn’t the fly try another approach, something dramatically different? How did it get so locked in on the idea that this particular route, and determined effort, offer the most promise for success? What logic is there in continuing, until death, to seek a breakthrough with “more of the same”?
No doubt this approach makes sense to the fly. Regrettably, it’s an idea that will kill.
“Trying harder” isn’t necessarily the solution to achieving more. It may not offer any real promise for getting what you want out of life. Sometimes, in fact, it’s a big part of the problem.
If you stake your hopes for a breakthrough on trying harder than ever, you may kill your chances for success.
– Price Pritchett
Chapter 1—
The Promise
Are you ready for this?
Right now, in this moment, you are capable of exponential improvement in your performance. You can multiply your personal effectiveness, hit new highs, and shatter your old achievement records. The results you can have will be hard for you to imagine.
You can become you squared.
You don’t have to settle for things as they are now. That can change. Dramatically. If you’re ready, life is prepared to give you a breakthrough experience. You can jump to a higher orbit of achievement . . . live the dream . . . enjoy a completely different plane of success.
Also, you don’t have to be content with improving things incrementally or gradually. Just as your level of performance can improve drastically, so can your rate of accomplishment. Furthermore, the you2 formula requires far less effort than you’ve given in the past.
You haven’t been reaching your full potential. So far, you haven’t even come close. No matter how you wish to measure success, regardless of how you define achievement, you have barely scratched the surface of what you personally can accomplish.
But maybe the time has come to change all that.
Maybe you’re ready to make a quantum leap.