Limitless

In the movie “Limitless”, Bradley Cooper plays an unmotivated deadbeat writer who becomes a Wall Street superstar…in a matter of days.  His secret?  A daily pill that unlocks the entire capability of his brain.

Within thirty seconds he begins to see new connections and remembers everything he’s ever heard or seen. (My favorite line, “Math actually became useful.”)

His downside?  The pill is killing him.  Not a perfect scenario, but an intriguing idea:  What if you had that power?

Here’s the good news: You are limitless.  The bad news:  A pill won’t do it.

The idea of a quick fix is sexy, but only the compounding consistency of craftsmanship will get you results.  And that will happen over time.

Anders Ericsson’s empirical research in Peak makes it clear:

 What sets experts apart from the rest of us is that their years of practice have changed the neural circuitry… which in turn make possible the incredible memory, pattern recognition, problem solving, and other sorts of advanced abilities.

These world-class capabilities are available to all of us.  We just need to realize the potential we already have.  One day at a time, over time.

Bill Gates makes an interesting observation:

“Most people overestimate what they can do in one year and underestimate what they can do in ten years.”

Don’t short what you can accomplish. You don’t need a pill to be a prodigy, just a commitment to improvement. Craftsmanship can enable you to create a new window of limitless potential.

Open it wide.