Below are my personal notes of Relentless: From Good to Great to Unstoppable. These highlights were what I used to write my personal development book, Wiser Next Week, a condensation of many different self improvement books

• You don’t have to love the hard work, you just have to crave the end result
• You can’t keep improving if you fear others will disapprove of what you’re doing
• If you don’t make a choice, the choice will be made for you

• Everything is impossible until someone does it

• Being relentless is never being satisfied, always driving to be the best, then getting even better
• Make every possible move to put you where you need to be
  • Sacrifice to get what you want most
• Making choices based on emotions makes you weak
• Controlled anger in the right hands is a deadly weapon

• Instinct is the opposite of science: research has told you what others have learned, instinct tells you what you have learned
  • Stop thinking, stop waiting. You know what to do

The Dark Side

• You can try to learn ways to suppress your nature, but the real you stays the same. Thats who you are. It’s not bad, its not good, it’s just your natural, untamed instinct telling you what it wants and driving you to get it
• Self control is what distinguishes you from everyone else
• The only time you can be 100% yourself is when your connected to your dark side, it allows you to do what you got to do, so ultimately you can do what you want to do. 
  • The Dark Side shuts down the laws of right and wrong and allows you to discover what your really made of, what you’re capable of doing
  • Being “clutch” is showing up at the last minute, being relentless is about every minute

• Pressure: Its easier to stay in the comfort zone, close to the ground. Minimal expectations, minimal pressure, minimal rewards
  • When you never have to take on anything harder than your daily routine, when you shy away from anything that rocks your sense of safety or control, you’re more likely to fall apart at the first hint of pressure
  • Trust your instinct, not your impulse 
• Own your mistakes. You can’t fix something unless you admit it
  • Admit a mistake to stop the pressure. Now your only objective is to resolve the issue. As long as you continue to deny responsibility, you have the added burden to cover your mistakes and you know the truth will come out anyways
  • Have the confidence to admit your mistakes, and people will respect you for it

• Look at your teammates/employees and see what they can do, not what they can’t 
  • Once you find what each person can do, put him in a position where he can succeed
  • Recognize their talent and put them in a place where they can use it
• Decision making
  • Every minute you sit around figuring out what to do, someone else is already doing it. 
  • Act: your preparation and instincts are your safety net
  • Make a plan that truly reflects your goals and interests and you’ll be more likely to execute
  • It doesn’t take talent to work hard, you just have to want to do it
• Fear:
  • To get into someone’s head, whisper something into someone else’s ear while he is watching. It can be small talk, but it gets into the other person’s head, wondering what was said instead of focusing
• Not Recognizing Failure:
  • When someone else says you’ve failed, what they really mean is is that they would feel like a failure if in your shoes
  • You never know how bad you want it until you get that first bitter taste of not getting it
  • Its not weak to recognize when its time to shift directions, its weak to refuse to consider other options and fail at everything because you couldn’t adapt
  • Do the things that others can’t or won’t do
• The drive to close the gap between near perfect and perfect is the difference between great and unstoppable

• Traits of Relentlessness
  • You keep pushing yourself harder when everyone else has had enough
  • You get into the “Zone” and shut out everything else 
  • You know exactly who you are
  • You have a dark side that refuses to be tamed
  • You’re not intimidated by pressure, you thrive in it
  • People look to you in a crisis
  • You don’t compete, you find your opponents weakness and attack
  • You make decisions not suggestions, you know the answer when everyone else is still asking questions
  • You don’t have to love the work, but you’re addicted to the results
  • You’d rather be feared than liked
  • You trust very few people
  • You don’t recognize failure, you know there’s more than one way to get what you want
  • You don’t celebrate your achievements because you always want more

If these brief notes, peaked your interest in Relentless: From Good to Great to Unstoppable , you can check it out on Amazon here.

And be sure to check out my book, Wiser Next Week.