How many of you think you'll replicate the image of Brad Pitt with just a pencil and a piece of paper? Well, I'm getting to show you ways to try to to this. And in so doing, I'm getting to offer you the skill necessary to become a world-class artist. And it shouldn't take quite about 15 seconds. But before I do this, what percentage of you think you'll replicate this image of a solid grey square? all folks. And if you'll make one grey square, you'll make two, three, nine ... the reality of the matter is, if you'll be made only one grey square, it would be very difficult to argue that you simply couldn't make every grey square necessary to duplicate the image in its entirety. And there you've got it. I've just given you the talents necessary to become a world-class artist.
I do know what you're thinking. "That's not real art, certainly wouldn't make me a world-class artist." So let me introduce you to Chuck Close. He's one among the highest-earning artists within the entire world, for many years, he creates his art using this exact technique. You see, what stands between us and achieving even our most ambitious dreams has far less to try to to with possessing some magical skill or talent, and much more to try to to with how we approach problems and make decisions to unravel them. and since of the continual and compounding nature of all those many decisions that we face on a daily basis, even a marginal improvement in our process can have an enormous impact on our end results.
In 2011, he became the amount one ranked men's athlete within the world, started earning a mean of 14 million a year in prize alone and winning a dominating90% of his matches. Now, here's what's really interesting about all of those very impressive statistics. Novak doesn't control any of them.
What he does control are all the small little decisions that he must make corrections along the way so as to manoeuvre the probability in favour of him achieving these sorts of results. and that we can quantify and track his progress during this area by taking a glance at the share of points that he wins. Because in tennis the standard point involves one to maybe three decisions,
I prefer to ask this as his decision success rate. So, back when he was winning about 49% of the matches he was playing, he was winning about 49%of the points he played. Then to leap up, become number three within the world, and truly earn five million dollars a year for swinging a racquet, he had to enhance his decision success rate to only 52 per cent.
Then to become not just favourite but maybe one among the best players to ever play the sport, he had to enhance his decision success rate to only 55 per cent. and that I keep using this word "just." I do not want to imply this is often easy to try to, clearly, it's not. B
ut the sort of marginal improvements that I'm talking about is definitely achievable by every single one among us during this room. And I'll show you what I mean. From kindergarten, all the way through to my high school graduation - yes, that's high school graduation on behalf of me - (Laughter) all of my report cards basically said an equivalent thing: Steven may be a very bright young boy if only he would just calm down and focus.
What they didn't realize was I wanted that even quite they wanted it on behalf of me, I just couldn't. And so, from kindergarten straight through the 2nd year of school, I used to be a very consistent C, C- student. on the other hand, going into my junior year, I'd had enough. I assumed I would like to form a change. I'm getting to make a marginal adjustment, and I am getting to stop being a spectator of my decision-making and begin becoming a lively participant.
And so, that year, rather than pretending, again, that I might suddenly be ready to calm down and specialise in things for quite five or ten minutes at a time, I made a decision to assume I would not. And so, if I wanted to realize the sort of outcome that I desire - doing well in class - I used to be getting to even have to vary my approach. then I made a marginal adjustment.
If I might get an assignment, let's say, read five chapters during a book, I would not consider it as five chapters, I would not even consider it together chapter. I might break it down into these tasks that I could achieve, that might require me to focus for just five or ten minutes at a time. So, maybe three or four paragraphs.
That's it. I might do this and once I was through with those five or ten minutes, I might rise up. I'd go shoot some hoops, do a touch drawing, maybe play video games for a couple of minutes, then I come.
Not necessarily to an equivalent assignment, not even necessarily to an equivalent subject, but just to a different task that required just five to 10 minutes of my attention. From that time forward, all the way through to graduation, I used to be a straight-A student, Dean's List, President's Honor Roll, every semester. I then went on to at least one of the highest graduate programs within the world for finance and economics
I do know what you're thinking. "That's not real art, certainly wouldn't make me a world-class artist." So let me introduce you to Chuck Close. He's one among the highest-earning artists within the entire world, for many years, he creates his art using this exact technique. You see, what stands between us and achieving even our most ambitious dreams has far less to try to to with possessing some magical skill or talent, and much more to try to to with how we approach problems and make decisions to unravel them. and since of the continual and compounding nature of all those many decisions that we face on a daily basis, even a marginal improvement in our process can have an enormous impact on our end results.
Novak Djokovic
And I'll prove this to you by taking a glance at the career of Novak Djokovic. Back in 2004, when he first became a knowledgeable athlete, he was ranked 680th within the world. It wasn't until the top of his third year that he jumped up to be ranked third within the world. He went from making 250,000 a year to five million a year, in prize alone, and in fact, he did this by winning more matches.In 2011, he became the amount one ranked men's athlete within the world, started earning a mean of 14 million a year in prize alone and winning a dominating90% of his matches. Now, here's what's really interesting about all of those very impressive statistics. Novak doesn't control any of them.
What he does control are all the small little decisions that he must make corrections along the way so as to manoeuvre the probability in favour of him achieving these sorts of results. and that we can quantify and track his progress during this area by taking a glance at the share of points that he wins. Because in tennis the standard point involves one to maybe three decisions,
I prefer to ask this as his decision success rate. So, back when he was winning about 49% of the matches he was playing, he was winning about 49%of the points he played. Then to leap up, become number three within the world, and truly earn five million dollars a year for swinging a racquet, he had to enhance his decision success rate to only 52 per cent.
Then to become not just favourite but maybe one among the best players to ever play the sport, he had to enhance his decision success rate to only 55 per cent. and that I keep using this word "just." I do not want to imply this is often easy to try to, clearly, it's not. B
ut the sort of marginal improvements that I'm talking about is definitely achievable by every single one among us during this room. And I'll show you what I mean. From kindergarten, all the way through to my high school graduation - yes, that's high school graduation on behalf of me - (Laughter) all of my report cards basically said an equivalent thing: Steven may be a very bright young boy if only he would just calm down and focus.
What they didn't realize was I wanted that even quite they wanted it on behalf of me, I just couldn't. And so, from kindergarten straight through the 2nd year of school, I used to be a very consistent C, C- student. on the other hand, going into my junior year, I'd had enough. I assumed I would like to form a change. I'm getting to make a marginal adjustment, and I am getting to stop being a spectator of my decision-making and begin becoming a lively participant.
And so, that year, rather than pretending, again, that I might suddenly be ready to calm down and specialise in things for quite five or ten minutes at a time, I made a decision to assume I would not. And so, if I wanted to realize the sort of outcome that I desire - doing well in class - I used to be getting to even have to vary my approach. then I made a marginal adjustment.
If I might get an assignment, let's say, read five chapters during a book, I would not consider it as five chapters, I would not even consider it together chapter. I might break it down into these tasks that I could achieve, that might require me to focus for just five or ten minutes at a time. So, maybe three or four paragraphs.
That's it. I might do this and once I was through with those five or ten minutes, I might rise up. I'd go shoot some hoops, do a touch drawing, maybe play video games for a couple of minutes, then I come.
Not necessarily to an equivalent assignment, not even necessarily to an equivalent subject, but just to a different task that required just five to 10 minutes of my attention. From that time forward, all the way through to graduation, I used to be a straight-A student, Dean's List, President's Honor Roll, every semester. I then went on to at least one of the highest graduate programs within the world for finance and economics
The same approach, same results. So then, I graduate. I start my career and I am thinking, this worked rather well on behalf of me. you recognize you're taking these big concepts, these complex ideas, these big assignments, you break them down an excessive amount of more manageable tasks, then along the way, you create a marginal improvement to the method that ups the chances of success in your favour.
I'm getting to attempt to do that in my career. So I did. I began as an exotic derivatives trader for credit Swiss. It then led me to be global head of currency options trading for Bank of America, global head of emerging markets for AIG international.
It helped me deliver top-tier returns as a worldwide macro hedge fund manager for 12 years and to become founder and CIO of two award-winning hedge funds. So it gets to 2001, and I am thinking this whole idea, it worked rather well in class, it has been serving me well as knowledgeable, why aren't I applying this in my personal life, wish to all those big ambitious goals I even have for myself? So at some point, I'm walking to figure, and at the time my commute was a walk from one end of Hyde Park to the opposite, in London.
took me about 45 minutes each way, an hour and a half each day, seven and a half hours every week, 30 hours a month, 360 hours a year, once I was awake, aware, basically dalliance, taking note of music on my iPod. So on my way home from work that day I ended at the shop. I picked up the primary 33 CDs within the Pimsleur German program, ripped them and put them onto my iPod.
But I didn't stop there. Because the reality of the matter is, I'm an undisciplined person. and that I knew that at some point, I'd switch faraway from the language and return to the music. So I removed that temptation by removing all of the music. That left me with only one option: hear the language tapes. So ten months later, I'd listened to all or any 99 CDs within the German program, listened to everyone 3 times each. and that I visited Berlin for a 16-day intensive German course. once I was done, I invited my wife and youngsters to satisfy me. We walked around the city.
I spoke German to the Germans, they spoke German back to me. My kids were amazed. I mean they couldn't close their jaws. But you and that I, we know, there's actually nothing amazing about what I've just done. I made this marginal adjustment to my daily routine. This marginal adjustment to my process. And now I could speak some German. then at that moment, I'm thinking, it isn't alleged to beat his easy for a man like me - an old guy - to find out a replacement easy for. You're alleged to do this when you are a kid. And yet here I had done it.
This marginal adjustment. So what other big ambitious goals I've been holding onto, adjourning until retirement, that I could potentially achieve if I just made a marginal adjustment to my routine? So I started doing a marginal adjustment car racing license. I learned the way to fly a helicopter, did rock-climbing, skydiving. I learned the way to fly planes acrobatically. Well, if you are like me, back in 2007, you would possibly have an equivalent goal I had.
I used to be just moving back from London. I used to be about 25 pounds overweight and out of shape, and that I wanted to rectify that. So I could attend the standard route, you know, I could write a check to a gym I'd never attend. Or I could swear to myself that I will be able to nevermore eat those foods that I really like but do all the damage. and that I knew that going that route rarely leads to the result you desire.
So I made a decision to become a lively participant. I assumed about the habits and passions that I've developed in my life, and that I thought, am I able to make just a marginal adjustment to them in order that they add my favour as against me? then I did. I've got a habit where I have been walking for an hour and a half each day for the last seven years, and I have got this passion for being within the outdoors. then that year, I didn't actually set the new years resolution to lose 25 pounds.
I set a resolution to hike all 33 trails within the front country of Santa Barbara Mountains. And I'd never been on a hike before in my life. But the reality of the matter is, it isn't about the 33 trails. you've got to interrupt this big ambitious goal down into these more manageable decisions - the kinds of selections that require to be made correctly along the way so as to enhance the chances of achieving the sort of outcome you desire. it isn't about even one trail. It's about those tiny little decisions, you know, like once you are sitting at your desk, fixing just touch overtime at the top of each day.
Or you're lying on your couch, clicking through the channels on your remote, or scrolling through your Facebook feed, and at that moment, make the choice to place it down. You go placed on your hiking clothes, you go walk outside your front entrance, and you shut it behind you. You walk to your car, get in, drive to the trailhead. You get out of the car at the trailhead, and you're taking one step, you're taking two steps, three steps. all of these steps that I even have just described may be a tiny little decision that must be made correctly along the way so as to realize the last word outcome.
Now, once I say I would like to hike33 trails within the front country, people believe the choices at the highest of the mountain. That's not what it's about. Because if you do not make the proper decision when you're on the couch, there's no decision that happens at the highest of the mountain. So by the top of the year, I'd hiked all 33 trails within the front country; I did them a few of times each.
I even did a couple of within the backcountry. I lost the 25 pounds, and that I capped the year off by doing the toughest half marathon within the world - the Pier to Peak. In 2009, I got really ambitious, ambitious for a man who still, to the present day, cannot calm down and specialise in anything for quite ten or ten minutes at a time, which was to read 50 books.
I'm getting to attempt to do that in my career. So I did. I began as an exotic derivatives trader for credit Swiss. It then led me to be global head of currency options trading for Bank of America, global head of emerging markets for AIG international.
It helped me deliver top-tier returns as a worldwide macro hedge fund manager for 12 years and to become founder and CIO of two award-winning hedge funds. So it gets to 2001, and I am thinking this whole idea, it worked rather well in class, it has been serving me well as knowledgeable, why aren't I applying this in my personal life, wish to all those big ambitious goals I even have for myself? So at some point, I'm walking to figure, and at the time my commute was a walk from one end of Hyde Park to the opposite, in London.
took me about 45 minutes each way, an hour and a half each day, seven and a half hours every week, 30 hours a month, 360 hours a year, once I was awake, aware, basically dalliance, taking note of music on my iPod. So on my way home from work that day I ended at the shop. I picked up the primary 33 CDs within the Pimsleur German program, ripped them and put them onto my iPod.
But I didn't stop there. Because the reality of the matter is, I'm an undisciplined person. and that I knew that at some point, I'd switch faraway from the language and return to the music. So I removed that temptation by removing all of the music. That left me with only one option: hear the language tapes. So ten months later, I'd listened to all or any 99 CDs within the German program, listened to everyone 3 times each. and that I visited Berlin for a 16-day intensive German course. once I was done, I invited my wife and youngsters to satisfy me. We walked around the city.
I spoke German to the Germans, they spoke German back to me. My kids were amazed. I mean they couldn't close their jaws. But you and that I, we know, there's actually nothing amazing about what I've just done. I made this marginal adjustment to my daily routine. This marginal adjustment to my process. And now I could speak some German. then at that moment, I'm thinking, it isn't alleged to beat his easy for a man like me - an old guy - to find out a replacement easy for. You're alleged to do this when you are a kid. And yet here I had done it.
This marginal adjustment. So what other big ambitious goals I've been holding onto, adjourning until retirement, that I could potentially achieve if I just made a marginal adjustment to my routine? So I started doing a marginal adjustment car racing license. I learned the way to fly a helicopter, did rock-climbing, skydiving. I learned the way to fly planes acrobatically. Well, if you are like me, back in 2007, you would possibly have an equivalent goal I had.
I used to be just moving back from London. I used to be about 25 pounds overweight and out of shape, and that I wanted to rectify that. So I could attend the standard route, you know, I could write a check to a gym I'd never attend. Or I could swear to myself that I will be able to nevermore eat those foods that I really like but do all the damage. and that I knew that going that route rarely leads to the result you desire.
So I made a decision to become a lively participant. I assumed about the habits and passions that I've developed in my life, and that I thought, am I able to make just a marginal adjustment to them in order that they add my favour as against me? then I did. I've got a habit where I have been walking for an hour and a half each day for the last seven years, and I have got this passion for being within the outdoors. then that year, I didn't actually set the new years resolution to lose 25 pounds.
I set a resolution to hike all 33 trails within the front country of Santa Barbara Mountains. And I'd never been on a hike before in my life. But the reality of the matter is, it isn't about the 33 trails. you've got to interrupt this big ambitious goal down into these more manageable decisions - the kinds of selections that require to be made correctly along the way so as to enhance the chances of achieving the sort of outcome you desire. it isn't about even one trail. It's about those tiny little decisions, you know, like once you are sitting at your desk, fixing just touch overtime at the top of each day.
Or you're lying on your couch, clicking through the channels on your remote, or scrolling through your Facebook feed, and at that moment, make the choice to place it down. You go placed on your hiking clothes, you go walk outside your front entrance, and you shut it behind you. You walk to your car, get in, drive to the trailhead. You get out of the car at the trailhead, and you're taking one step, you're taking two steps, three steps. all of these steps that I even have just described may be a tiny little decision that must be made correctly along the way so as to realize the last word outcome.
Now, once I say I would like to hike33 trails within the front country, people believe the choices at the highest of the mountain. That's not what it's about. Because if you do not make the proper decision when you're on the couch, there's no decision that happens at the highest of the mountain. So by the top of the year, I'd hiked all 33 trails within the front country; I did them a few of times each.
I even did a couple of within the backcountry. I lost the 25 pounds, and that I capped the year off by doing the toughest half marathon within the world - the Pier to Peak. In 2009, I got really ambitious, ambitious for a man who still, to the present day, cannot calm down and specialise in anything for quite ten or ten minutes at a time, which was to read 50 books.
But again, it isn't about reading 50 books. it isn't even about reading one book. it isn't about reading a chapter, a paragraph, a sentence. It's that decision when you're sitting at your desk at the top of the day, or when you're lying on the couch, or flicking through your Facebook feed, and you set down the phone. you choose up a book and you read one word.
If you read one word, you'll read two words, three words; you'll read a sentence, a paragraph, a page, a chapter, a book; you'll read ten books, 30 books, 50 books. In 2012, I got really ambitious. I set 24 New Year's Day resolutions. 12 of them were what I call giving resolutions, where I did 12 charitable things that did not involve writing a check. But it isn't without its failures. I attempted to donate blood, and that they rejected me because I'd lived within the UK. I attempted to donate my sperm; they rejected me because I used to be too old. I
attempted to donate my hair, and it seems nobody wants grey hair. So, here I used to be trying to try to something to form myself feel good, and it had been having the other effect. So anyway, I've also had these 12 learning resolutions, to find out 12 new skills. And once I was through with unicycling, parkour, slacklining, jumping stilts and drumming, my wife suggested that I learned the way to knit.
And I will be honest, I wasn't all that hooked into knitting. But at some point, I'm sitting under this 40-foot tall eucalyptus that's 2.6 miles up the Coldspring trail in Santa Barbara, and I am thinking, that tree would look really cool if it were covered in yarn. then I went home and Googled this, and it seems it's a thing people do, it's called yarnbombing: you wrap these public structures with yarn.
And, the second annual international yarn bombing day was just 82 days away. So for subsequent 82 days, regardless of where I used to be - if I used to be during a committee meeting, on the floor, in an aeroplane or within the hospital, I used to be knitting.
One stitch at a time. And 82 days later, I had done my first ever yarn bomb. and therefore the response thereto blew me away. So I kept going ... with bigger, more ambitious projects that required more engineering skills. And in 2014, I set the goal to wrap six massive boulders in Los Padres National Forest at the highest of the mountains.
But if I used to be getting to pull this off, I'd need help. So at now, I had a couple of thousand followers on social media as "The Yarnbomber." and that I started getting packages -lots of packages - 388 frames altogether 50 states. within the end, I didn't wrap one massive boulder, I wrapped 18. So I kept going with bigger, more ambitious projects that might require me to figure with new materials, like fibreglass, and wood, and metals, which culminates during a project that's currently at TMC, here in Tucson, where I wrapped the Children's Hospital.
Along the way, I ended knitting. I never really liked it. But ... I prefer crocheting. So, I started making these seven-inch granny squares - because that's standard granny square - and that I thought along the way: why am I stopping at seven inches? I want the large stuff. So, I started making bigger granny squares. So at some point, I click from a business trip, and I have got this really large granny, and that I visited the web site of Guinness. I used to be interested in what is the worlds largest granny square.
And it seems there is no category for it. So I applied, and that they rejected me. So I appealed, and that they rejected me. I appealed again, and that they said fine, if you create it ten meters by ten meters, we'll create a replacement category, and you'll be a Guinness record holder. So, for subsequent two years, seven months, 17 days, one stitch at a time, I finally reached quite half 1,000,000 stitches, incorporated quite 30 miles of yarn, and that I am now the official Guinness record holder for the most important crocheted granny square. Along the way, I've garnered an awful lot of attention for my escapades.
I have been featured in Newsweek magazine, Eric news, which is quite the Bible for artists. But what I would like you to understand once you hear these things: I'm still that C- student. I'm still that child who can't calm down or focus for quite five or ten minutes at a time. and that I remain a man who possesses no special gift of talent or skill.
All I do is take really big, ambitious projects that folks seem to marvel at, break them right down to their simplest form then just make marginal improvements along the thanks to improving my odds of achieving them. then the entire reasonI'm giving this talk is I'm hoping to inspire several of you to tug a number of those ambitious dreams that you simply have for yourself off the bookshelf and start pursuing them by making that marginal adjustment to your routine.
Thank you.
If you read one word, you'll read two words, three words; you'll read a sentence, a paragraph, a page, a chapter, a book; you'll read ten books, 30 books, 50 books. In 2012, I got really ambitious. I set 24 New Year's Day resolutions. 12 of them were what I call giving resolutions, where I did 12 charitable things that did not involve writing a check. But it isn't without its failures. I attempted to donate blood, and that they rejected me because I'd lived within the UK. I attempted to donate my sperm; they rejected me because I used to be too old. I
attempted to donate my hair, and it seems nobody wants grey hair. So, here I used to be trying to try to something to form myself feel good, and it had been having the other effect. So anyway, I've also had these 12 learning resolutions, to find out 12 new skills. And once I was through with unicycling, parkour, slacklining, jumping stilts and drumming, my wife suggested that I learned the way to knit.
And I will be honest, I wasn't all that hooked into knitting. But at some point, I'm sitting under this 40-foot tall eucalyptus that's 2.6 miles up the Coldspring trail in Santa Barbara, and I am thinking, that tree would look really cool if it were covered in yarn. then I went home and Googled this, and it seems it's a thing people do, it's called yarnbombing: you wrap these public structures with yarn.
And, the second annual international yarn bombing day was just 82 days away. So for subsequent 82 days, regardless of where I used to be - if I used to be during a committee meeting, on the floor, in an aeroplane or within the hospital, I used to be knitting.
One stitch at a time. And 82 days later, I had done my first ever yarn bomb. and therefore the response thereto blew me away. So I kept going ... with bigger, more ambitious projects that required more engineering skills. And in 2014, I set the goal to wrap six massive boulders in Los Padres National Forest at the highest of the mountains.
But if I used to be getting to pull this off, I'd need help. So at now, I had a couple of thousand followers on social media as "The Yarnbomber." and that I started getting packages -lots of packages - 388 frames altogether 50 states. within the end, I didn't wrap one massive boulder, I wrapped 18. So I kept going with bigger, more ambitious projects that might require me to figure with new materials, like fibreglass, and wood, and metals, which culminates during a project that's currently at TMC, here in Tucson, where I wrapped the Children's Hospital.
Along the way, I ended knitting. I never really liked it. But ... I prefer crocheting. So, I started making these seven-inch granny squares - because that's standard granny square - and that I thought along the way: why am I stopping at seven inches? I want the large stuff. So, I started making bigger granny squares. So at some point, I click from a business trip, and I have got this really large granny, and that I visited the web site of Guinness. I used to be interested in what is the worlds largest granny square.
And it seems there is no category for it. So I applied, and that they rejected me. So I appealed, and that they rejected me. I appealed again, and that they said fine, if you create it ten meters by ten meters, we'll create a replacement category, and you'll be a Guinness record holder. So, for subsequent two years, seven months, 17 days, one stitch at a time, I finally reached quite half 1,000,000 stitches, incorporated quite 30 miles of yarn, and that I am now the official Guinness record holder for the most important crocheted granny square. Along the way, I've garnered an awful lot of attention for my escapades.
I have been featured in Newsweek magazine, Eric news, which is quite the Bible for artists. But what I would like you to understand once you hear these things: I'm still that C- student. I'm still that child who can't calm down or focus for quite five or ten minutes at a time. and that I remain a man who possesses no special gift of talent or skill.
All I do is take really big, ambitious projects that folks seem to marvel at, break them right down to their simplest form then just make marginal improvements along the thanks to improving my odds of achieving them. then the entire reasonI'm giving this talk is I'm hoping to inspire several of you to tug a number of those ambitious dreams that you simply have for yourself off the bookshelf and start pursuing them by making that marginal adjustment to your routine.
Thank you.
