%% ID: 12980890 Updated: 2022-01-27 %% ![](https://is1-ssl.mzstatic.com/image/thumb/Publication20/v4/87/07/aa/8707aa47-ccb3-e24a-5026-b13c9888d2bf/9781476714219.jpg/1400x2125w.jpg) # About Title: [[Other/Obsidian Starter Vault(Second Brain)/Readwise 1/Books/Relentless]] Author: [[Tim S Grover]] Category: #books Number of Highlights: ==126== Last Highlighted: *2022-01-27* Readwise URL: https://readwise.io/bookreview/12980890 # Highlights guarantee you that everything I know, everything in this book, comes from unlimited access to some of the most excellent and elite performers in the world; I understand how they think, how they learn, how they succeed and fail . . . what drives them to be relentless. ([1](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=null&location=1)) ^274027701 --- It’s not all pretty, but it’s all true. ([2](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=null&location=2)) ^274027769 --- It’s not science. It’s raw animal instinct. ([3](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=null&location=3)) ^274027785 --- This book is about following those instincts, facing the truth, and getting rid of the excuses that stand between you and your goals, no matter how complex and unattainable they may seem, ([4](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=null&location=4)) ^274027807 --- I’m not going to tell you how to change. People don’t change. I want you to trust who you already are, and get to that Zone where you can shut out all the noise, all the negativity and fear and distractions and lies, and achieve whatever you want, in whatever you do. ([5](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=null&location=5)) ^274027812 --- Success is about dealing with reality, facing your demons and addictions, and not putting a smiley face on everything you do. ([6](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=null&location=6)) ^274095368 --- you’ll get no apologies from me if that makes you uncomfortable. ([7](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=null&location=7)) ^274095369 --- Truly relentless people—the Cleaners—are predators, with dark sides that refuse to be taught to be good. ([8](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=null&location=8)) ^274095384 --- you do have a dark side. Use it well and it can be your greatest gift. ([9](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=null&location=9)) ^274095386 --- you can’t worry about whether your actions will upset other people, or what they’ll think of you. ([10](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=null&location=10)) ^274095409 --- We’re taking all the emotion out of this, and doing whatever it takes to get to where you want to be. Selfish? Probably. Egocentric? Definitely ([11](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=null&location=11)) ^274095410 --- your strategy is to make everyone else get on your level; you’re not going down to theirs. ([12](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=null&location=12)) ^274095413 --- You’re not competing with anyone else, ever again. They’re going to have to compete with you. ([13](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=null&location=13)) ^274095416 --- Sometimes you need to step away and get back to that calm, cool place where you’re in total control ([14](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=null&location=14)) ^274095649 --- Where you feel no external pressure, just the internal pressure to prove yourself, over and over, because you want it for yourself, not anyone else. ([15](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=null&location=15)) ^274095741 --- Forget about trying, because if you’re just trying, then losing is still an option. You want to be the best? Then you ignore the pain and the exhaustion and the pressure to please everyone else. ([16](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=null&location=16)) ^274095744 --- you’re calm on the inside because you’re ready, prepared, and the best at what you do. ([17](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=null&location=17)) ^274095753 --- you don’t explain how you did it. They won’t understand, and they don’t have to. Just take a moment alone to recognize what you accomplished, and move on to the next challenge.” ([18](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=null&location=18)) ^274095762 --- Relentless is about achieving the impossible ([19](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=null&location=19)) ^274095806 --- completely instinctive and natural; ([20](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=null&location=20)) ^274095808 --- just knew what to do out there without even thinking about it ([21](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=null&location=21)) ^274095809 --- everything is impossible until someone does it. ([22](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=null&location=22)) ^274095840 --- he also instinctively knew it wasn’t enough to have the greatest basketball skills in the history of the game. If he wanted to be more than a legend, if he was truly going to become an icon, he would also need to take his body to the ultimate level, ([23](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=null&location=23)) ^274095850 --- He listened closely to everything I had to say before he responded. Not possible, he finally said. It’s too good. It just doesn’t sound right. ([24](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=null&location=24)) ^274095891 --- He gave me thirty days. I stayed for fifteen years. ([25](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=null&location=25)) ^274095904 --- We never saw obstacles or problems, we only saw situations in need of solutions. ([26](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=null&location=26)) ^274095915 --- he was the best because he was relentless about winning, relentless in his belief that there’s no such thing as “good enough. ([27](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=null&location=27)) ^274095918 --- Relentless is about never being satisfied, always driving to be the best, and then getting even better. ([28](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=null&location=28)) ^274095934 --- It’s about finding the gear that gets you to the next level . . . even when the next level doesn’t yet exist. ([29](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=null&location=29)) ^274095936 --- It’s about facing your fears, getting rid of the poisons that guarantee you will fail. ([30](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=null&location=30)) ^274095938 --- when a championship is on the line and you’re a Cleaner, you don’t let others carry the load, and you don’t just hope it all works out. You make every possible move to put yourself where you need to be. ([31](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=null&location=31)) ^276177554 --- . If you think old, you become old ([32](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=null&location=32)) ^276177797 --- away from teammates and media and all the other distractions ([33](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=null&location=33)) ^276178528 --- he had forgotten where he came from, how hard he had worked to be one of the very best. ([34](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=null&location=34)) ^276178750 --- anything that requires a long explanation probably isn’t the truth ([35](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=null&location=35)) ^276178753 --- “In order to have what you really want, you must first be who you really are.” ([36](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=null&location=36)) ^276178756 --- Being relentless means never being satisfied. It means creating new goals every time you reach your personal best. If you’re good, it means you don’t stop until you’re great. If you’re great, it means you fight until you’re unstoppable. It means becoming a Cleaner. ([37](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=null&location=37)) ^276178883 --- Think bigger. There’s a level even higher, completely attainable but so special that most people don’t even dare to dream of it. ([38](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=null&location=38)) ^276178906 --- But it doesn’t make you the best. ([39](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=null&location=39)) ^276179087 --- Greatness makes you a legend; being the best makes you an icon. If you want to be great, deliver the unexpected. If you want to be the best, deliver a miracle. ([40](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=null&location=40)) ^276179323 --- it’s fairly obvious that while they’re all great at what they do, some will always perform on a different leve ([41](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=null&location=41)) ^276326729 --- Michael set the standard for killer instinct and competitive drive ([42](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=null&location=42)) ^276326738 --- Never satisfied, never content, always pushing higher and higher. ([43](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=null&location=43)) ^276326794 --- it’s not about talent or brains or wealth. It’s about the relentless instinctive drive to do whatever it takes—anything—to get to the top of where you want to be, and to stay there ([44](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=null&location=44)) ^276326832 --- Cleaner’s attitude can be summed up in three words: I own this. ([45](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=null&location=45)) ^276326840 --- These are the most driven individuals you’ll ever know, ([46](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=null&location=46)) ^276327187 --- This is my fucking bus and there will be no fucking around on my bus; it will be clean and on time, and anyone who messes with me or my bus will ([47](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=null&location=47)) ^276327335 --- Every accomplishment is just a stepping-stone to the next challenge ([48](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=null&location=48)) ^276327351 --- Why do I call them Cleaners? Because they take responsibility for everything. ([49](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=null&location=49)) ^276327382 --- The Cleaner is never the first person you bring in; he’s the last, when it’s finally obvious that no one else can handle the situation. No conversation, no panic, no discussion. ([50](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=null&location=50)) ^276327444 --- They get what they want, but they pay for it in solitude. Excellence is lonely. They never stop working, physically or mentally ([51](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=null&location=51)) ^276327469 --- Most people are afraid to climb that high, because if they fail, the fall will kill them ([52](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=null&location=52)) ^276548676 --- they’re self-made, and whatever they have, they’ve earned it. ([53](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=null&location=53)) ^276548680 --- He’s addicted to the exquisite rush of success. ([54](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=null&location=54)) ^276548693 --- It’s not that he loves the process, he just loves that end result. ([55](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=null&location=55)) ^276548703 --- The result is all that matters. ([56](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=null&location=56)) ^276548732 --- Cleaners understand they don’t have to love the work to be successful; they just have to be relentless about achieving it, and everything else in between is a diversion and a distraction from the ultimate prize. ([57](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=null&location=57)) ^276548758 --- You don’t have to be relentless about everything, you don’t have to be the best at everything ([58](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=null&location=58)) ^276548946 --- achieving excellence in any one of those areas requires you to say, “I don’t give a damn about anything else.” ([59](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=null&location=59)) ^276548967 --- True Cleaners don’t care about the bling and the showy lifestyle; they look at the bottom line. All that matters is the end result, not the instant gratification along the way. ([60](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=null&location=60)) ^276549017 --- But if you want to be the very best of the best, it’s the details that make the difference. ([61](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=null&location=61)) ^276549088 --- how serious someone is about getting ahead of everyone else. ([62](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=null&location=62)) ^276549089 --- Coolers, Closers, Cleaners. ([63](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=null&location=63)) ^276549196 --- you probably won’t realize it until the first time you see him in action, and then you’ll never forget. ([64](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=null&location=64)) ^276549235 --- He loves the rewards and perks associated with his fame and would choose financial security over winning or success. ([65](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=null&location=65)) ^276713017 --- A Cleaner is rarely understood, and he likes it that way. ([66](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=null&location=66)) ^276713019 --- • Cleaners just trust their gut and shoot; they don’t have to think about it ([67](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=null&location=67)) ^276713182 --- • Cleaners rarely congratulate you for doing your job, they just expect you to do it. ([68](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=null&location=68)) ^276713279 --- • It doesn’t matter what a Cleaner eats, he’ll still be hungry again in an hour. ([69](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=null&location=69)) ^276713282 --- There are circumstances and outcomes, and you can control both if you desire. ([70](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=null&location=70)) ^276713329 --- But on my lists, everything is equally important. ([71](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=null&location=71)) ^276713355 --- if you give people a numbered list, they think #1 is the most important and the rest just follow behind. I ([72](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=null&location=72)) ^276713356 --- You can wander through these chapters in almost any order, and I think you’ll find the last is as important as the first. ([73](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=null&location=73)) ^276713383 --- You get into the Zone, you shut out everything else, and control the uncontrollab ([74](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=null&location=74)) ^276713388 --- You have a dark side that refuses to be taught to be good. ([75](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=null&location=75)) ^276713418 --- You make decisions, not suggestions; you know the answer while everyone else is still asking questions. ([76](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=null&location=76)) ^276713441 --- because the reward is just so fucking good. You do all of this to achieve what few others will ever comprehend or accomplish. ([77](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=null&location=77)) ^276713793 --- I simply ask that you open your mind to the possibility that you can do so much more with what you already have. I ([78](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=null&location=78)) ^276713820 --- #1. WHEN YOU’RE A CLEANER . . . . . . You keep pushing yourself harder when everyone else has had enough. ([79](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=null&location=79)) ^276713835 --- You don’t have to worry about training like a professional athlete—that’s a full-time job, ([80](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=null&location=80)) ^276714148 --- you can take an elite athlete’s mentality and use it to succeed at whatever you do. ([81](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=null&location=81)) ^276714174 --- get your mind strong, so your body can follo ([82](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=null&location=82)) ^277008058 --- Anyone can measure weight, height, physical strength, speed . . . but you can’t measure commitment, persistence, or the instinctive power of the muscle in your chest, your heart. ([83](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=null&location=83)) ^277008081 --- show up, work hard, and listen ([84](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=null&location=84)) ^277008249 --- What we’re going to do together is maybe 20 percent physical, and the rest is mental. ([85](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=null&location=85)) ^277008315 --- ve had plenty of players who aren’t worth $2 million getting paid ten times that because they’re in my program, they stick with it, and that means something to the teams. ([86](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=null&location=86)) ^277008855 --- I see so many trainers who want to be friends with the players, trying to keep them happy for fear they’ll lose a big-name client, going easy when the players say, “Enough.” ([87](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=null&location=87)) ^277369223 --- I’m not giving you options. Nothing for you to think about. ([88](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=null&location=88)) ^277369828 --- Just show up, work hard, and listen. That’s your part of the deal. Do the work. ([89](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=null&location=89)) ^277369920 --- you have to do those things or you can’t improve, you can’t be the best, and you sure as hell can’t call yourself relentless. ([90](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=null&location=90)) ^277370110 --- I’m telling you to crave the result so intensely that the work is irrelevant ([91](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=null&location=91)) ^277370186 --- if you want success of any kind: you have to be comfortable being uncomfortable. ([92](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=null&location=92)) ^277370284 --- Every time you think you can’t, you have to do it anyway. ([93](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=null&location=93)) ^277370287 --- You control your body, it does not control you. You shut out the fear and emotion and physical stress and you do the thing you dread. ([94](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=null&location=94)) ^277370457 --- If you do what you always do, over and over, you’re always going to get the same result. My goal is to make it so challenging in the gym that everything that happens outside the gym seems easy ([95](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=null&location=95)) ^277371839 --- You tell me your limit, and I’ll show you how much more you can do. The question is, what is that limit ([96](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=null&location=96)) ^277543846 --- When Kobe suffered a broken nose and a concussion in the All-Star Game, he was insistent on playing in the Lakers’ next game. Why? He had to know how his body would respond to the trauma, and what he was capable of doing under those circumstances ([97](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=null&location=97)) ^277543856 --- Because if I do, his progress is going to double in half the time ([98](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=null&location=98)) ^277543902 --- I make him do more than he’s ever done and push him harder than he’s ever worked, so he can be stronger and more powerful than he was before ([99](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=null&location=99)) ^277543912 --- I don’t care what an X-ray or MRI says; if he’s not mentally ready, he’s not ready. ([100](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=null&location=100)) ^277543942 --- we’re going to take everything one step at a time ([101](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=null&location=101)) ^277544300 --- There are no secrets. There are no tricks. If anything, it’s the opposite: ([102](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=null&location=102)) ^277544457 --- Ask yourself where you are now, and where you want to be instead ([103](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=null&location=103)) ^277544462 --- Don’t tell me about a workout that’s “easy” and done in the “comfort of your home.” ([104](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=null&location=104)) ^277544503 --- Any workouts involving the words easy and comfort aren’t workouts. They’re insults. You can work out at home, but if whatever you’re doing makes you feel “comfort,” something is very wrong. ([105](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=null&location=105)) ^277544518 --- he’s too fat to have decent sex or do other physical activity, he’s going to drop dead twenty years early, and all his hard work will end up as someone else’s inheritance. How’s that financial success working then? ([106](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=null&location=106)) ^277544562 --- If you can choose between being uncomfortable because you’re overweight and sick, or uncomfortable because you’re sweating at the gym three times a week, why do so many people choose the discomfort that leads to complete physical failure? ([107](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=null&location=107)) ^277544671 --- you have to be willing to do the work. ([108](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=null&location=108)) ^277544717 --- Believe me, if you really want to know what someone is made of, watch them go through sugar detox. ([109](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=null&location=109)) ^277544774 --- You’ll know the program is working when you get a headache right behind one eye and you want to throw up ([110](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=null&location=110)) ^277544782 --- Okay, you’re a fucking liar. You want to screw this up, do it somewhere else. ([111](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=null&location=111)) ^277544870 --- you can’t stay in your comfort zone and expect results. ([112](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=null&location=112)) ^277544894 --- Challenge yourself. Don’t be afraid to be uncomfortable. We can’t help people committed to failure. ([113](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=null&location=113)) ^277544895 --- whether his head is ready to trust his body, or if he’s fearful about his ability to perform ([114](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=null&location=114)) ^277686165 --- I can tell everything about a guy within the first three days of working with him. ([115](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=null&location=115)) ^277686423 --- If he keeps showing up despite the pain and exhaustion, we’re good to go. If he tells me he can’t make it . . . he’s in the wrong place ([116](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=null&location=116)) ^277686462 --- Get comfortable being uncomfortable, or find another place to fail. ([117](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=null&location=117)) ^277686463 --- Later tonight someone—media, colleague, family—will say you’re a jerk, rude and uncommunicative. ([118](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=null&location=118)) ^277686701 --- but you feel only readiness. ([119](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=null&location=119)) ^277686737 --- No emotion, because in the Zone the only sensation is anger, a quiet, icy anger simmering under your skin . . . never rage, never out of control. ([120](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=null&location=120)) ^277686780 --- Everything you feel, all your energy, it’s right under the surface. ([121](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=null&location=121)) ^277686781 --- Leave the drama and chaos to others, that’s not you. You’re saving it all for what’s ahead. ([122](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=null&location=122)) ^277686793 --- But you can find out almost nothing about the intricate function of your brain, and why it allows you to do what you do. ([123](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=null&location=123)) ^277687233 --- Anyone who has experienced the awesome power of the Zone will tell you it’s deeply calm. It’s not relaxing or peaceful—this isn’t yoga—but intensely focused. And once you’re there, you have no fear, no worry, no emotion. ([124](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=null&location=124)) ^277687236 --- we all have a trigger that puts us in the Zone, s ([125](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=null&location=125)) ^277687244 --- when you’re finally able to let go and be who you really are, that’s what puts you in the Zone, and only then can you control your fear and inhibition. ([126](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=null&location=126)) ^277687269