Copyrighted Material
SHORTEN THE GAP – Shortcuts to Success and Happiness
Copyright © 2013 by Mark A. Lack All Rights Reserved.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means — electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise — without prior written permission from the publisher, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a review.
For information about this title or to order other books and/or electronic media, contact the publisher:
Mark A. Lack
www.ThePeakPerformanceClub.com
Support@ThePeakPerformanceClub.com
ISBNs:
978-0-615-89482-9 (print)
978-1-4675-9695-4 (eBook)
Printed in the United States of America
Interior design: 1106 Design
Table of Contents
Where Is Your Internal Bar Set?
How to Be Successful at Anything
Patterns of People: How to Control and Interrupt Them
Simple Tricks and Affirmations to Help You Build Confidence
Building Good Habits and Destroying Bad Ones
The Amazing Powers of Compounding
Be Wary of What You Surround Yourself With
Why Drug Abuse Never Results in Happiness or Success
Your Image and How Important It Is
Sales and Its Everyday Application
Superstar Influence Strategies
The Successful Entrepreneur Lifestyle and Mindset
Things to Start Practicing Every Day
What Is Knowledge Without Application?
What Happened to Creative Thinking?
How Important Showing Appreciation Truly Is
Being Happy and Enjoying the Small Things
Saying Yes and Trying More Things
Giving Credit and Sources Cited
Foreword
There’s an old saying that says “Success Leaves Clues” and I’d also like to add that not only does it leave clues; in many cases it leaves a blueprint.
When I was in my early 20’s I had the amazing fortune of meeting a man who set my life on a trajectory that transformed my life from a confused insecure kid who got in trouble with the law, to becoming a fairly confident man who now provides guidance and help to millions of people globally.
I share this with you because as I read this book, I realized that Mark Is one of the rare breed of people, who follows the clues and blueprints for success by learning and applying what was already proven, tested tried and true.
As you read this book and study it, you will find a treasure trove of success clues, strategies and tactics that when applied, will not only shorten your learning curve,
It will guide you to the success you desire and deserve in less time than you could have ever imagined or done on your own.
Imagine if you could have a highly intelligent person travel to all the best seminars in the world, read all the best books, take all the best courses, and then test all the theories and lessons on themselves and then bring you back only what works for you to implement.
Well, that’s what you will find in this book.
Mark has learned and taken the best of the best and used it in his own life to create amazing success and now he shares exactly what you can do to shorten your success curve from decades to months or days.
I met Mark through his father at a live event that I was hired to do a keynote at.
What I immediately noticed was that this young man seemed to have such confidence and certainty in himself, it seemed unusual except, he reminded me of the training I have given my own two boys who at 17 and 18 are displaying the same type of patterns.
This made me realize that developing a success mindset and the confidence and certainty to achieve ones goals and acquiring the belief in oneself, can be taught and cloned.
The book you now hold in your hands or are reading on your technology device has the power to transform your life. Don’t read it. Study it!
It is filled with so many pearls of wisdom, strategies and tactics that when applied, will deliver to you a path to your own success and fortune.
Every human being has the birthright to make with their lives what they desire.
Mark is not only forging the way for himself, he is forging the way for millions who can follow in his footsteps.
— John Assaraf
New York Times Bestselling Author, The Answer and Having It All
Appearances on Larry King Live, CNN, Ellen Degeneres and Anderson Cooper 360°
Featured in the Blockbuster Movie, The Secret
Biography
Imagine yourself looking at four beautiful shiny new 2007 H2 Hummers just waiting for the winner! You’re 17 and playing the sport you love for a chance to win the biggest prize money in the history of your sport. Players have competed nationwide all year for a chance at winning this tournament. The winner’s choice for the first-place prize is either four H2 Hummers or $160,000.
The finals are a best two out of three games. We’ve already lost the first game!
It’s at that moment that your habits either make or break you.
I had been to many finals before and knew how to win. Having already experienced playing under the pressure of winning or losing a tournament, I believed that playing under pressure was to our advantage. My coach would always say that diamonds were made under lots of pressure. I understood the difference between playing to win and playing not to lose. My experience told me that the pressure on both teams was equal now. If we could just focus on the plan for the second game, then all the pressure would switch to the other team in the final game. The secret to winning was in focusing on the game plan and not on the prize money.
I learned that success followed preparation. By focusing only on the things I could control — the game plan and my reactions — the results would inevitably take care of themselves. My team won the second game.
We won the final game. We won the Hummers but chose the money. By the way, the sport we loved to play…was Paintball.
Think chess, strategy, teamwork and paintballs travelling at more than 200 miles per hour at you, and then you get an adrenaline rush.
Only three players in the world will ever know that pressure…and that ecstasy!
Although paintball is not one of the most well-known professional sports, the same lessons can be learned in any professional field. I started in the bottom division and in just four years worked my way to the top. From 2006 to 2009, our divisional team won the Series National Championship three out of four years. Our coach was committed and wouldn’t allow us to move up divisions unless we won the division. We practiced with purpose, learned quickly from our mistakes, and had the expectation of winning every tournament. Of course, we didn’t win every time we played, but we adapted and ultimately won every national Series Championship.
In our 2009 semi-pro year, we won every single national tournament and were undefeated! In our sport, that was a huge accomplishment, considering we were nearly always playing against older and more-experienced teams. As we learned, not all experience is the same! We had built up a winning mentality, we expected nothing less, and we were unstoppable that season.
When I played professionally, I was on the top-ranked pro team in the world, a team called “Dynasty.” This team was the franchise of professional paintball with the best winning record in the sport. When I was on Dynasty, I was the youngest player on the team at age 18, and my team members were around 24–28.
I learned a lot of great life lessons at a young age through my experiences competing in paintball all over the United States and Europe. Now I’m focused on a different chapter of my life: Being the best I can be in business as an entrepreneur, consultant, coach, and author.
Self-improvement is a journey that has no ending and is a lifelong commitment to consistently bettering yourself.
Mark Lack
PS: My Dad said there was no way I was driving a Hummer at age 17…so I had to settle for a check for $40,000.