Survive the Future of Jobs and 10 Ways How — Introducing the Knowledge Athlete

Soon you’ll get hired for your state of mind instead of your experience.

Information and speed will soon move so quickly, and ideas will need to be applied so quickly, that a persons state of mind is what will become more important than their talent and experience.

If the best physical athletes in the world are the best mental athletes, adaptable and responsive when the moment requires it, shouldn’t the best knowledge workers train to become the best mental athletes — being adaptable and responsive when the moment requires it as well?

Did Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant become the best in the world because of their physical ability or their mental ability?

Did they become the best physical athletes because they applied their talents better than anyone or because they were physically talented?

Do the people at your office have the highest IQ’s? Or are they the ones who are the happiest, healthiest, hungriest and motivated?

In today’s ever increasing competitive market, whether it’s your company competing for market share or you as a person competing for jobs, “people” aren’t the greatest asset, their state of mind is what matters.

Knowledge athletes optimize for state (state of mind) first and here are 10 ways they do it.

1. Knowledge athletes know with the right state of mind, you can learn and achieve absolutely anything you put your mind to.

Access to knowledge and education isn’t a problem anymore. The winners are the ones who consume, absorb and apply the most knowledge in the highest quality state, as fast as possible.

The thing we need to figure out how to to measure is how much someone wants it which results in putting in the work.

Knowledge athletes believe in themselves and have a growth mindset.

2. Knowledge athletes know the right state of mind leads to the right execution

Execution is everything. Nothing else matters. I’ll say it again. Everything is execution. All that matters is what you get done, how well and how fast. Speed is crucial. Every skill today has a vast market of workers ready to work. The winners are fast and tenacious.

• They have systems in place for what they do.
• They use force functions to not tempt themselves.
• They’re “optimized” themselves from every angle for every moment.

3. They treat their performance the same way an elite athlete does

Knowledge athletes are obsessed with every aspect of their performance.

They eat like athletes and sleep like athletes. The days of “what you eat and do on your time isn’t my business” are over if you want to be a winning job applicant or hiring boss. Accept it if you’re an applicant. Ask about it if you’re an interviewer.

Energy and brain power equate to state, and if you’re being judged and paid for your state of mind, that is fair game in my book.

4. Knowledge athletes know it’s not about what you do — but how you do what you do

Every job no matter what is trainable and ultimately becomes a recurring routine. Though it’s hard becoming a rocket scientist, it’s easy being one once there.

You can be a bad rocket scientist, or a good one. The good ones make sure to work in an optimal state and are voracious learners.

That’s what differentiates a good and great rocket scientist.

5. Talent is only as good as much as it’s applied. Application is about how you take action and your state of mind determines that.

I notice this every day. My calls flow better in state. My responses are sharper. It’s always on the line in every moment in business and your personal life.

Think of every moment as if it’s game day and you’ll skyrocket personally and your professional life will become a piece of cake.

This is the new deliberate work required to be the best and win. When your decisions matter, your state matters.

When your sales calls matter, your state matters.

When your accounts matter, your state matters.

This applies to all jobs all the time moving forward.

6. The Misnomer Of “People” or “Talent” Wins

“Bring in the right people and we’ll win.” Bringing in the “right person” may work, but their state of mind determines whether or not the hire ultimately becomes successful over a long period of time.

The most experienced person who isn’t in the right state, won’t create the state of the culture you want at your company, the state you want that brings out greatness in themselves and everyone around them.

This is why so many times “hired guns” don’t work.

Bring in someone who optimizes themselves to live and work in the right state and understands that anyone can rise to the occasion of any job if they’re in the right state.

7. How do you become a knowledge athlete or hire one?

How inquisitive, curious, or thoughtful are you (or they)?

How attuned to your mind and body are you (or they)?

How geeky are you about what food goes into your (or their) bodies?

With today’s knowledge at your fingertips, if someone has no opinion on their diet and physical performance, I’d consider it a huge red flag.

The best knowledge athletes think of themselves as machines they keep tuned up.

8. Though they work relentlessly hard, it’s fun for them. Knowledge athletes achieve goals effortlessly

Most of us strive to get things done out of desire, craving and obsession.

I know I have until just a couple years ago until I realized pride is the only reason we believe we should or want to work hard.

This is a belief handed down ever since the dawn of time and is now programmed into us deeply.

“Cut your teeth”. “Pay your dues.” — we’re conditioned to work hard and win the right to be proud.

Knowledge athletes are content and have high self esteem and can never have their pride affected. They have no pride.

Pride is more powerful than you think and it hurts you.

Legendary MD., PH.d and researcher, Sir David Hawkins says:

“We can all look back at things and that we wanted and that were achieved through ambition, desire, craving, and even obsessive, frenzied wanting. The mind says, “Well, what if I had let go of the desire for those things? If it weren’t for the desire, how would I have gotten them?” The truth is, we could have gotten them anyway, only without anxiety, fear of not getting, without all the energy expenditure, without all the effort, without all the trial and error, and without all the hard work. “Well!” the mind says, “if we got it effortlessly, how about the pride of achievement? Wouldn’t we have to sacrifice that?” Well, yes, we would have to relinquish the vanity of all that sacrifice and hard work that we put into it. We would have to give up the sentimentality about the self-sacrifice and all the pain and suffering we went through to achieve our goals. This is a peculiar perversion in our society, isn’t it? If we suddenly become successful effortlessly, then people are envious. It really annoys them that we didn’t have to go through all kinds of angish, pain, and suffering to get there. Their mind believes that such anguish is the cost that must be paid for success.”

9. Knowledge athletes have the mindset of a winner and subconsciously believe they’re winners and all action is winning action.

Knowledge athletes understand that winning is also a state.

Don’t misunderstand, I’m not saying we’ve all “won” or are deserved of “winning the trophy” no matter what.

What I am saying is “Won” is a state. A state that already feels like a winner and thus wins naturally, that’s able to “get out of one’s own way” — isn’t cluttered and doesn’t resist things as they come.

That’s emotional intelligence.

10. Becoming a knowledge athlete is the secret to winning at your job and life

It’s the mindset of inches that puts you in the state of a winner.

If you want to win and be relentlessly competitive, take every inch.

Becoming a knowledge athlete takes a ton of work and discipline, and you need to grow to love it. Get addicted to it the way you are to anything else and you’ll survive in the future economy of competitive jobs.