In late May, our family celebrated my Grandmother's 90th birthday.

Now, just a little background on my grandmother.  She grew up in during the depression and WWII era, helped may grandfather build an impressive restaurant empire, and raised 4 kids while doing it.  

Nowadays, at 90, she golfs and swims almost every day.  She dances just about every type of dance you can think of at events in her community weekly.  And has a pretty impressive social life for a a 90 year old!

As our family sat honoring her and each taking turns speaking about her and the lessons she taught us, one lesson really stood out to me.

We got onto the topic of how she continues to be able to do all that she does on a daily and weekly basis.

She gave a simple sentence for the answer.  She said:

"The more you do...The more you can do."

I immediately chuckled and marveled at the brilliance and power of such a simple thought and philosophy.

But, she's right.  The more you do things in your life, the more of them you can do.  It's not just practice, but conditioning.  And it works for everything - Your mind, your body, your habits, your business, really all areas of life.  The more you do something, the more of it you can do - good and bad.  The more you drink alcohol, the more your body can handle, but that is not necessarily good.  Conversely, the more you exercise, the more in shape you are, and the easier it is to do.

It truly is amazing how much difference a simple way of thinking can make in your life.  But, many times, it is the simplest things in life that make the most difference.

Think about your life and you work, what can you do more that will allow you to be even more successful and get better at the things that matter?  Pick one thing and get going today!

Have you ever heard of the 40% rule?  

The rule was made famous by the Navy SEALS ans states that "When your mind is telling you you're done, you're really only 40 percent done."  When you think you are absolutely exhausted - you still have 40% left.

I have used the rule numerous times throughout my life to push myself when my mind was telling me to stop.  It works.  And when you do use it to bust through a mental limit, you increase your capabilities and the level at which you can perform.

But, over the years, I built upon the rule to make it even more powerful.  I call it the 40 + 1 Rule.

The 40 you get.  It is the knowledge that you always have the 40% reserve, but the "1" is how I supercharge it to push myself even further and harder.

So, what is the "1?"  It is the addition of your deepest, strongest "Why" for why you are doing what you are doing.  You can apply the 40 + 1 Rule to anything.  Life, relationships, fitness, business, whatever.  The key is to understand the fact that you always have 40% and anchor unleashing that 40% to the deepest, strongest "why" for that area of you life.

For example, in training for the Iron Man Triathlon, my deepest, strongest "why" is the show my daughter that you can accomplish great things - things that many would never attempt or say are too hard (or in some cases impossible).  For those of you that don't know what an Iron Man is, it is the ultimate Triathlon where you swim 2.5 miles in open water (Ocean), bike 112 miles, and then run a marathon (26.2 miles) back to back concurrently.  A bonus for this is that I also have an equally strong why to break through my own mental limitations and increase my mental reserve for doing great things.

When you combine the 40% rule and your why, you create a mission for yourself that drives you more than you have ever driven yourself before.  And this leads you to new levels of success, fulfillment, and accomplishment.

Take time to understand the 40% reserve that you and to find your deepest, strongest why(s) for each area of your life.  Then go out and make it happen!

The other day,  I picked a book from my library that I hadn't read in a while and leafed through it.  It was the Checklist Manifesto by Atul Gawande.  I had forgotten how good this book was and how it's practical insight and useful is so powerful.

If you haven't read, you can probably guess what it is about.  It is about the power of using checklists.  Gawande goes through all sort of great examples from how checklists are essential flying planes and managing though crisis to how they have and still continue to revolutionize medicine and other industries.

It is amazing how something as simple a checklist can have such a huge impact.  But, if you think about it, it makes a lot of sense - especially in today's incredible fast paced world.

We forget things.  Or miss them.  It is as simple as that and having a checklist that you can use to make sure you are doing everything you need to do serves as a great tool to succeed.

I have talked about having a daily "To do" list" before and its power to help you become exponentially more productive.  All a "To do" list is, is a checklist.  But moving on from that and thinking bigger, checklists can be used in so many ways to help you as an entrepreneur.  They are starting point to systematizing your business so that it can grow.  If you take the time to document the processes it takes to make your business run, putting them into a checklist format, you can then hand that off to an assistant or employee to follow.  You can do this in all areas of your business and make your business much more scalable.

You can also do this for your life.  You can create checklists for things you need to do throughout the week...or maybe that you keep forgetting to do in your relationship with your significant other.  You can create checklists for getting things done around the house or "house rules" for the kids.

The simple checklist can be such an incredibly powerful tool to help you in all areas of your life.  Pick one area and create a checklist today and watch the magic begin to happen.  And if you get a chance, pick up the Checklist Manifesto and give it a read.  It won't take long, but it sure can make a huge difference in your success!

Think about resilience.  What does it mean to you?  What do you think of when you think of a resilient person? 

Resilience is the ability to bounce back, to overcome adversity, and it's a choice.  You must choose to be resilient in the face of adversity - whatever it may be in your life.  When it comes to a lot of things, it is not easy.  But, then again, most things worth doing aren't easy anyway.

How can you develop your resiliency muscle so you are ready when you run into adversity or big challenges?  

Here are 7 Surprising Traits of Resilient People:

1. They Understand Reality:  In a world where it is some times deemed OK to create an alternate reality and decide that something that is true factually is not, resilient people know the truth and they know that reality always wins.  The embrace it and focus on how they can thrive in the environment they are in.
2. They Work the Problem:  Resilient people work the problem.  They don't fret, they don't sit around an worry.  They don't freak out.  They simply go to work systematically solving the problem taking it one step at a time.
3. They Play the Long Game:  Resilient people know that you win over time.  They know that showing up consistently every day and going after their goals, even if they are not the most talented or have all of the tools they need, will lead them to success.  They play the long game and know they can outlast failure, competition, adversity, etc.
4. They Don't Dwell on the Past:  Resilient people don't dwell on the past because they know there is nothing they  can do to change it.  They can only move forward, learn from the past, and keep striving toward their goals.
5. They Win Incrementally:  Resilient people win incrementally.  They know that it is not usually one major win that makes the difference, but a lot of little wins over time that add up to create a huge advantage.  So, they focus and make sure that they are disciplined winning in all areas of their lives and businesses incrementally.
6. They Ask for Help:  Resilient are not afraid to ask for help.  They know that they do not and cannot know everything or be able to do everything, so they enlist help whenever they need it.  
7. They Keep Perspective:  Resilient people keep a healthy perspective.  They know that things will never go exactly as planned or in the way they like.  Understanding this and knowing that they will just "work the problem(s)" if or when they come up allows to keep going and reach their goals.
   

You can develop these sames traits and make yourself a more resilient person.  Pick one and start working on it this week.  Once you've mastered it, pick another.  Very quickly you will find them start to take hold in your life.

You've probably heard the following phrase:

"Success has many fathers, but failure is an orphan."

When you think about that - isn't it sad?

The fact that so many people's natural tendency is to run from failure and to distance themselves from it is one of the reasons so many people don't reach their true potential.

You hear all the time that you need to embrace failure and that it is a good thing - and that you should learn from it and use it to fuel your success into the future.

Let's get real for a second.  Failure sucks.  It's hard.  It's painful.  It doesn't feel good when you are going through it.  And it especially can take a toll on people emotionally.  It is true that you will learn the most from failure, but that doesn't mean you will automatically turn into a success.

You will have to learn from it and learn well.  But, then you will have to go to work.  Serious work.  You will have push yourself more than before the point of failure.  You have to go at it day in and day out.  You will have to sacrifice.  You will have to overcome your mental limitations and negative self talk.  You will have to separate yourself and not let the failure define you.  And you will have to get smarter, more innovative, and never give in to that which you can control.  Oh yeah, and you have to take responsibility for things as well.

These are the reasons why "failure is an orphan."  Most people are not strong enough or willing to go through everything listed above - or step up and take responsibility.  What they don't realize is that responsibility goes both ways.  You are responsible when you fail, but you are equally responsible when you succeed.  This is why I will take failure every day of the week, because if you have the will, the work ethic, and the humility to learn and innovate, you can rise like a phoenix from the ashes and rise to entirely new heights.  

The lesson?  Failure sucks.  It's worth it to take responsibility, learn, and overcome it.  You'll work you ass off, maybe more than you ever have, in doing so, and you have the opportunity to reach all new levels that you may never even thought were possible.  And I'll take that any day of the week.