A blog overview of Tim S. Grover’s “Relentless: From Good to Great to Unstoppable”
I’m thinking.
I’m thinking.
I’m thinking.
I’m thinking.
Whoa, stop that.
For real, dude?
Are you really going to THINK about this?
No way. You just spent six hours listening to a book that explained many many reasons not to THINK!
Tim Grover’s number one rule is “Don’t Think”.
This was my inner dialogue as I began writing this blog post. From the beginning, I was terrified to write a blog post. I didn’t think it was possible because I had never done it.
I’ve spent most of my life dedicated to music: learning how to play guitar, understanding music and instrument history, studying music production and audio engineering, learning to navigate music business, understanding the nuance of instrument and audio sales, and managing tours for other artists. This list only scratches the surface. Over the past few years, I have set my focus on writing my own songs. In songwriting, the goal is to write the best line with the least amount of words. This book is incredible, And I’d like to share with you a few points that I took away from it.
From the Get-go this Tim Grover guy introduces us to three types of people: Coolers, Closers, and Cleaners. Respectively, Good, Great, and Unstoppable. Your goal is to become a Cleaner–unstoppable. How you set out to accomplish this goal is entirely up to you! Do you put in the work to achieve your goals? Do you even have goals? Do you just talk about all the things you’re going to do and never do them? Unstoppable Cleaners set and achieve high goals. An Unstoppable Cleaner will out-work, out-train, and out-live everyone around them by putting in the work it takes to achieve their goals. This allows them to outlive people, not necessarily in age, but in life experiences.
After reading about Grover’s concept of a Cleaner, I felt I wanted to be a Cleaner but I had not been living my life as such. Overweight and broke, this book felt like putting on a pair of glasses for the first time. I began to evaluate my choices through a Relentless lens to begin to improve my health.No more mindless snacking. No more binge-watching Netflix all day. No more lazy excuses. This book had sparked a fire in me and I knew what I needed to do.
I don’t have to explain it, I just have to do it.
I won’t have to talk about the results, I will just see them.
I won’t do this for anyone else, I will do it for myself. I owe it to myself to be the best version I can be.
I remember watching Star Wars as a child and Yoda’s famous quote always stood out to me. “Do or do not. There is no try.” Star Wars creator, George Lucas, was someone who constantly pushed the envelope on the creative spectrum, forcing technology to its limit. Though a fictional character, I feel Luke Skywalker mirrors Lucas’ tenacity. He was determined to become a Jedi or be killed by the Darkside in the process. As Grover explains in Relentless, we all have a dark side. My dark side is food. Not anymore. I am setting goals to eat healthier from now on.
No try. No maybes.
The thought hits me like a freight train as I write this. When this was brought up I was shocked and somewhat emotional. I am a mama’s boy who grew up an only child to a single mom. Though we had our extended family around, at the end of the day it was always still just me, my mom, and the bond our deep love for one another formed. Growing up, my mom worked a lot and we didn’t always have a lot of money or time for material possessions or extracurricular activities. When I asked for things, she would always tell me “maybe” and do her best to provide me with the things I wanted. One day, I asked her to take me to a pawn shop to buy a guitar I had seen in the window. I felt upset when she responded “maybe”. I craved a concrete answer, even if the answer was “no”.
As time goes on and my perspective broadens, I realize her “maybe’s“ taught me that it was okay not to set goals. That it was okay to settle for possibly attempting things. That it was okay just to try. Write the song or don’t write the song. Practice or don’t practice. Exercise or don’t exercise. The outcome is controlled by you and only you. Reading this Tim Grover’s book, I am realizing that I still crave a concrete goal. I want to set a goal to practice, to write, to exercise. I want to achieve greatness.
I am extremely grateful I have read Relentless. I believe the universe was designed by an incredible higher power that knows when to put things into your life when you need it most. I feel this book entered my life at the exact right moment to deliver a message I needed to hear. I will exercise and eat healthy to accomplish my goal of losing weight. I can control the outcome by putting in the work. Going forward I have set five goals for myself and I share them with you as a measure of accountability:
1. I will create a nightly routine to bring structure to my life.
2. I will wake up early to exercise in the morning.
3. I will focus on making healthy food choices
4. I will not think or say “maybe”. I will do as Cleaners do, make plans, and execute those plans.
5. I will take extreme ownership of all my faults, pushing my self-awareness to the next level. I will become RELENTLESS.
Wow, would you look at that? When I started writing this blog post, I was scared I would not be able to complete it. I wrote one thousand words. Next time, I’ll write one thousand five hundred!
Peace be with you
-JSW
