In order to progress, you must pay attention to the details, the smaller the better. In the Army, the drill sergeants would have us chant in synchronization with our push-ups,“Attention to detail! Motivation is the key!” There is always an overwhelming urge to get to the finish and turn in something that resembles sufficiency. Resist this urge. When you think you have something mastered—a technique, a strength level, a conditioning level, or even a training philosophy—start over and find something you missed. Everything you ever dreamed of doing and being is buried in the minute details you haven’t discovered yet. You must search them out and master them to unlock what would resemble anything close to your potential.

This strategy is required if your goals are too reach ambitious levels of success in what you do. Without it you will wallow in the trenches of mediocrity. You will hit walls and plateaus that will block your dreams.

I was 30 when I started a new sport called CrossFit. I had arrived to the game late, but I had a lifetime of competitive sports to draw on and aid me in this transition. The first obstacle I ran into was the muscle-up. I had never done one and didn’t know how. With only two weeks to learn muscle-ups before the 2012 CrossFit Open, I sought out a coach. He gracefully, and doubtfully, gave me a five-minute crash course. For those of you who have not tried, muscle-ups are difficult. Most people will have to work hard for months before getting one. I was able to do one that day, but it was ugly and inefficient.

This is where we make the fatal mistake. It would have been convenient to check the box, and say, “Okay. Muscle-ups done.” I could have let my ego rationalize I did not need to worry about muscle-ups and switch my focus to other more desirable things. Left to our own devices, we steer towards the training we can tolerate best, ignoring the things that frustrate us. The things that make us feel like losers. This is why I do not like to program for myself. I prefer to have someone help me see and attack my weaknesses. Even though I could do a muscle-up, my technique would not be efficient enough to reach my performance goals in competition.

The important question became what is the best way to improve technique the fastest? Through experience, I knew doing lots of bad muscle-ups was a mediocre strategy, so I did some research. I watched and read all the tutorials I could find. I recorded my technique and compared it to Games athletes. This helped me identify the small details I needed to change for big results.

I ended up shelving muscle-ups for weeks and only practiced the swing. This is important. Think about it. It is fun to finish a muscle-up. Each one gives you a little dopamine spike of accomplishment. I sacrificed immediate gratification which comes from rushing to the finish. Often our inability to progress is the unwillingness to sacrifice something that worked once, but does not serve us any longer. We have to think of the finish we really want, rather than settling for the one we can do now.

This is a very exciting idea. Fixing small details is often boring, because if you stumble across something small you can work on and improve, it may only make you slightly better than you were the moment before. However, these tiny adjustments across time often have unpredictable compounding effects.

 This needs careful consideration to understand how powerful these tiny adjustments become in relation to you winning. On Dec 18^th, 1898 Gaston de Chasseloup-Laubot of Acheres, France set the land speed record at 39.24 mph. For someone to beat this record they need only to go 39.25 mph. And they did. The next record set by Camille Jenatsy a year later was a mere 41.42 mph.  The record has been incrementally raised year after year to the present day 763.035 mph by Andy Green! Sights are currently set on the 1000 mph mark. Incremental improvement across time is the only way, as far as I can tell, to reach your full potential and earn your greatest successes.

The price of ignoring the small details across time is stifling. This error can lead to disasters we cannot repair. On Jan 28^th, 1986 the space shuttle Challenger exploded just 73 seconds after blast off, killing all seven astronauts on board, including school teacher Christa McAuliffe, who had been selected by the “Teacher in Space” program.

There was a launch fever at the time. They were trying to get as many missions going as possible, and get them launched on strict time tables. This mindset of focusing on the finish more than the details during the process led to the disaster. Experts discovered the Challenger was lost due to the cracking of the rubber “O-ring” seal on the shuttles right hand solid rocket booster, allowing gas to leak, damaging the external fuel tank, and causing the ignition. The contractor, Rockwell, advised against the launch until they could find a solution for the O-ring. NASA ignored the advice and did not examine all of the facts (details) and went ahead with the launch as scheduled.

The accident gave the decision-makers a reality check. They grounded the shuttle program for three years. The whole program was recertified and every last technical piece was re-analyzed. In other words, they reversed the order. Master the minute details and then greatness will follow. Take care of the small things, and the big things will take care of themselves.

Vince Lombardi said, “Character is just another word for having a perfectly disciplined and educated will.” Reaching the full potential that resides within the genetic code of a human being has historically been achieved by few. If you want to use this plan to reach your highest dreams, you will need extraordinary discipline to educate and train yourself daily. To build the character piece by piece; that is unbreakable.