Hello everyone. Under The Influence is back on the air for the 2021 season and I have an interesting book to recommend.
It’s written by one of the greatest mixed martial arts fighters of all time – but I don’t want you to pass this by because you are not a fight fan.
As a matter of fact, that is exactly the point.
This book is so insightful, so thoughtful and so rewarding that I would say it’s one of the best books I’ve read this year.
Here’s why.
Georges St. Pierre (GSP) thinks outside the box – or shall I say – outside the octagon. For example, he began studying gymnastics because he considered gymnasts the best athletes in the world. Other UFC fighters scoffed at the thought of it. But GSP understood gymnasts can generate power from the most awkward positions – and in a fight, a competitor will have you tied up in knots – so you need to be able to generate power from strange, uncomfortable positions.
Just the fact he saw that insight makes GSP so interesting.
Apply that kind of thinking to your own life or career. Where can you look for an advantage in an unlikely place?
He also notes that when people make it to the top of their profession, they change their thinking. Instead of pushing for innovation, they seek status quo. They want to preserve their position so they stop evolving. They forget it was innovation that pushed them to the top. As GSP says, they begin to focus on the result of success instead of the process of success. It’s the trap of success.
He encourages you to look at your competitors objectively, that way you can see weaknesses they are trying to conceal. Once you can figure that out, you can begin to move your competition away from their strengths into their weaknesses. Then you begin to win.
GSP once fought a smaller man and kept getting jabbed in the face and GSP couldn’t understand how he was able to do that so consistently. When the bout ended, he shook the other fighter’s hand and suddenly realized why: His opponent had a really long reach. GSP’s mind had processed his height, but not his reach.
The lesson: Look beyond the obvious. Everyone sees the obvious. The really perceptive people see what others don’t. It’s there where all the advantages lay.
Top 3 Reasons To Read This Book:
1. Everything GSP talks about in this book is a lesson you can take with you. Regardless of the profession you are in.
2. GSP believes as the mixed martial arts progress, fighters will get smaller – not bigger. That’s because they will rely less on muscle and more on strategy. Strategy rules.
3. Most of all, this book is nuanced and smart. Think mixed martial artists are brutes? Think again. This book is written by a true thinker. His philosophy: How to win fights by fighting as little as possible. Substitute “fights” for “market share” and you’ve got a prized book to add to your shelf.
