Relentless - Summary

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Tim S. Grover is a businessman, motivational speaker, personal trainer, and owner of Attack Athletics. He is world-renowned for his legendary work with elite champions and Hall of Famers, including Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, Dwayne Wade, and hundreds of other professional athletes.

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Table of Contents

Nutshell Summary

Full Summary

Don’t Think

The Relentless 13

When you’re a Cleaner: #1. You keep pushing yourself harder when everyone else has had enough.

#1. You get into the Zone, shut out everything else, and control the uncontrollable.

#1. You know exactly who you are.

#1. You have a dark side that refuses to be taught to be good.

#1. You’re not intimidated by pressure; you thrive on it.

#1. When everyone is hitting the “In Case of Emergency” button, they’re all looking for you.

#1. You don’t compete with anyone; you find your opponent’s weakness and you attack.

#1. You make decisions, not suggestions; you know the answer while everyone else is still asking questions.

#1. You don’t have to love the work, but you’re addicted to the results.

#1. You’d rather be feared than liked.

#1. You trust very few people, and those you trust better never let you down.

#1. You don’t recognize failure; you know there’s more than one way to get what you want.

#1. You don’t celebrate your achievements because you always want more.

Nutshell Summary- To go to the full summary click here.

Relentless is about being unstoppable. That means never being satisfied with what you’ve already achieved and always striving for better. It means giving yourself a new goal to work towards every time you reach a new personal best. This mindset applies to everything in life where you want to achieve immense success. People who become great, and fight until they’re unstoppable are what I call Cleaners. I will share with you the traits of a Cleaner, all of which are equally important.

When you’re a Cleaner, you keep pushing yourself harder when everyone else has had enough. If you want to be better than everyone else, you have to work harder, and more than everyone else. The rule is to get comfortable with being uncomfortable.

To push yourself to be the best, and work harder than everyone else, you need to get into the Zone, shut out everything else, and control the uncontrollable. I define the Zone as a quiet dark place in which you are free from all distraction and emotion and have a pinpoint focus on whatever it is you are working on. What’s important is to understand what puts you in the Zone and then master your ability to get there. This will only be possible if you know yourself very well, another trait of a Cleaner. You need to know exactly who you are and what you’ve got inside of you. Stop thinking, stop waiting, make sure you know what you have to do, and then do it.

Cleaners are highly driven people, and much of their passion comes from a dark place within. It’s a force, a killer instinct, that allows them to leave all limitations behind and just follow actions and results without any fear. This is what allows them to thrive in stressful and tense situations. They know that pressure isn’t a bad thing, it can act as fuel for growth and success.

It is this mindset that makes Cleaners stand out from everyone else, and makes them reliable people so that everyone comes looking for them in emergencies and they always deliver.

Cleaners don’t compete with anyone else, because they never need to. They make sure their skill is up to a level where no one can compete with them anyway. They trust their instinct and make decisions for themselves simply because they could never stand anyone else making those choices for them. They don’t necessarily love being uncomfortable, but they are so addicted to the success and results, that they are willing to go through the sacrifice and the pain. One very important thing they are willing to give up is social validation because they are not doing it for anyone but themselves. They will probably not be liked by other people because of this, but they will be respected.

Cleaners are very picky about the people they put their trust in. They set very high criteria for people who are close to them because part of success is recognizing the people who will help you get better, and not pull you down.

Failure is an alien concept for Cleaners. Failure only occurs when they choose it to. Until then, everything is just a contribution to their success, the process. For them, it’s never over.

When a Cleaner does achieve success, they rarely celebrate it like most people would. This is because there’s always more work to do and more to prove. They have an insatiable need for the results, and they can never have enough.

You can be a Cleaner too, but adopting this mindset and being insatiable for success, despite not loving the process. Be a Cleaner and go get it.

Full Summary

Don’t Think

One night, at 10 PM, a black Suburban pulled up to the gates of Attack Athletics, my training facility in Chicago. Nothing unusual, pro athletes often showed up at odd hours at this place for various reasons. This athlete, however, is in the middle of the NBA playoffs, with less than 72 hours until he has to be back on the court, and no one knows he is here. Not the media, not his family, not his teammates in a hotel 2 thousand miles away. The night before, the whole world watched him limp off the floor in pain. Now everyone wants to know the story. Is he okay? Can he play? “He’s fine,” says the coach who has no idea where his star is tonight.

But why was the player at my facility that night? The team’s training staff could have handled the usual aches and pains, and let’s be honest, you don’t secretly charter a plane and fly two thousand miles to get iced and taped.

He flew two thousand miles to hear these two words: Don’t think.

Instead of shutting it all out and trusting his instincts and natural ability, the player was thinking. He was listening to all the talk about whether he’ll be ready to go, whether he can play again so soon, and now he’s not even sure himself. The external pressure is getting to him, and I simply tell him: Don’t think. You already know what you need to do, and you know how to do it. What’s stopping you?

To be the absolute best, in any aspect of life, it’s not enough to just get to the top; you need to stay there, and then climb higher because trust me there’s always someone right behind you trying to catch up. Most people are willing to settle for “good enough” but if you want to be unstoppable, those words should mean nothing to you. Being the best means never stopping till you get what you want, and then keep going until you get what’s next, and then going for even more. Relentless. If that describes you, this book is your life story. You’re what I call a “Cleaner,” the most intense and driven competitor imaginable, who refuses limitations and quietly and forcefully does whatever it takes to get what you want. The addiction to success defines your life. If this doesn’t describe you yet, congratulations: you are on a life-changing journey to discover the power you possess.

Believe this: Everything you need to be great is already inside you. What’s stopping you? Most people give up because everyone tells them what they can’t do. So, they sit on the fence, unable to act. But if you don’t make a choice, it will be made for you. It’s time to stop listening to everyone else. Let them judge you by your results and nothing else. Raise your standard of excellence, and commit to going beyond what you already know and think, about what anyone has tried to teach you. That’s how you become unstoppable, by placing no limits on yourself. Being relentless means demanding more of yourself than anyone else could demand of you.

In this book, you’ll hear a lot about champions such as Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant, but know that this isn’t a basketball book. I’m not telling you how to be the next Michael Jordan; no one will ever be. But can you learn from these champions’ work ethic and relentless drive and apply them to your personal goals? Absolutely.

Relentless is about never being satisfied, always driving to be the best, and then getting better. It means creating a new goal every time you reach your personal best. Once you become great, you fight until you’re unstoppable. Relentless is about becoming a Cleaner. I will share with you thirteen traits of a Cleaner. You don’t have to identify with all these things all the time, but all of them define your ability to be relentless.

As you’ll see, each trait is labeled #1, because if you give people a numbered list, they think #1 is the most important, and the rest just follow behind. If it’s a long list, they lost interest after #3 or #4, but on my list, everything is equally important. So, I number everything #1.

The Relentless 13

When you’re a Cleaner: #1. You keep pushing yourself harder when everyone else has had enough.

When training professional athletes, there is a certain mindset I demand for them to compete in this world of intense competition. Most people think that an athlete’s training would be focused on the physical component, training in the gym, and pushing their body to be faster, stronger, and more resilient. And then we get around to paying some attention to mental conditioning. This is completely untrue. The fact is, you can’t train your body, or excel at anything before you train your mind. You can’t commit to excellence until your mind is ready to take you there. Physical dominance can make you great, but it’s mental dominance that ultimately makes you unstoppable. Get your mind strong, so your body can follow. This is where your true work begins: training your mind to understand what you want to achieve and knowing what you’re willing to endure to get it.

When training my athletes, I’m happy to listen to their input and ideas, but once they’re working with me, they have to agree to let me do what I do best. No options. See, that’s the thing, most people have too many options and they rarely choose the tougher one. But cleaners, however, are comfortable being uncomfortable. They push past apathy, laziness, and fear. They do the hardest things first, just to show there’s no task too big. They might not love it, but they’re always thinking about the destination, not the bumpy road that’s taking them there. They do whatever they have to, because their mind knows it’s necessary, and they don’t need to be told twice. While everyone else is slumped over in complete exhaustion, they’ll be willing to do it all again if they have to.

When trying to apply this mindset to your day-to-day life, I know it will be uncomfortable. I’m not telling you to love it. I’m telling you to crave the result so intensely that this discomfort becomes irrelevant.  Control your body, don’t let it control you. Shut out the fear, emotion, and physical stress, and do the thing you dread. Instead of going through the motions and watching the clock until it’s over, invest in what you started, and push yourself again and again beyond where you’ve already been. If you do what you always do, you’re always going to get the same result. It’s only when you do more, that you achieve more.

People often ask me about the secrets and tricks I use to get incredible results from my clients. Sorry if the truth disappoints you: There are no secrets. It’s simple. Ask yourself where you are, and where you want to be. Know what you’re willing to do to get there, make a plan, and act on it. There are no shortcuts. If whatever you’re doing makes you feel “comfort,” you’re doing something wrong. I’m not just talking about athletes here, but anyone who places value on success. Get comfortable being uncomfortable, or find a place to fail.

#1. You get into the Zone, shut out everything else, and control the uncontrollable.

Quiet, dark, alone. Always alone, even in a crowd. Alone in your head, alone with the buzz no one but you can feel. No distraction. The dark side pushing you, burning in you, driving you…do it. Do it.

You’re in the Zone.

You know others around you are emotional, feeling scared or jealous, or excited. But you feel only readiness. No emotion, because in the Zone the only sensation is a quiet, icy, calm anger…never out of control. It’s violence unseen until it hits. That’s the impact of a Cleaner in the Zone. No one can see what’s coming. You don’t care about the drama and the chaos, you’re saving it all for what’s ahead. Because once you step into the Zone, that’s it. You own time.

Anyone who has experienced the awesome power of the Zone will tell you that it’s deeply calm. It’s not relaxing or peaceful, but just intensely focused. Once you’re there, you have no fear, no worry, no emotion. But what takes you to this space where you’re fearless and powerful? How do you find this perfect internal silence that many talk about but can’t put into words?

One thing is for sure: we all have a certain trigger that puts us there. Something that ignites our laser focus. It’s different for everyone, and no one else can tell you how to get there. But I can tell you this much: it comes from the part of you I call your dark side. When you’re finally able to let go of everything and be who you really are. Only then can you control your fear and inhibition. Without this deep instinctive component, it’s like trying to light a lighter with no fuel inside. You’ll get many sparks, but no lasting flame. I want to help you find the fuel to light that fire, but I won’t be the person to press that button, you have got to do that for yourself. As soon as you allow others to push your button, they’ve won. The Zone belongs to you alone, and only you decide how and when the fire gets lit. One way or the other, you need to get it lit.

People have different triggers that get them in the Zone. For some, it’s having their manhood or ability questioned. For others, it’s physical confrontation. The task at hand for you is to figure out what your trigger is. Every time you find yourself in that hyperspace, work out what pushed you there. Once you know what lights you up, you can make sure you stay lit as long as you need to. That is what Cleaners do.

#1. You know exactly who you are.

We’re all born bad. Sorry, if you disagree, but that’s the truth. Born bad, taught to be good. Or if you prefer: Born relentless, taught to relent.

Think about it. We’re born hardwired with the most basic instincts that guarantee our survival. Babies don’t have to think about their needs and analyze how they feel to know what they want. They just know, instinctively. Pure, pre-verbal, innate demands for immediate results. But then, as they grow up, their instincts start telling them to explore the world around them, make noise, taste everything, and make a mess. All of which the grownups interpret as “bad behavior,” so they shut down these actions: Be quiet, sit still, don’t run around, stop crying.

What a waste. All that natural energy, drive, intuition, action…reduced to a time-out in the corner. At some point in their lives, the child will stop doing what came naturally, and start doing what they were told. All their crazy urges, ideas, and desires were stuffed down where no one could see. You have been that child too. But right now, you know that that part of you is still there, the one that refuses to be taught, refuses to behave. That’s the dark side of your instinct. You cannot be great without it.

It’s as simple as this: you need to stop thinking. Ask yourself, are you good at what you do? Maybe even great at it? Can you be the best? If the answer is no, take a moment to change it. Again: Can you be the best? Of course, you can. Then why question your ability to do it? The answer is that at some point, you made this simple reality into something complicated and stopped trusting yourself the way you should.

Know yourself well. Everything you need is already inside you. Your instincts and reflexes are specifically designed so you can survive and succeed. You don’t have to think about using them, they’re always working.

It’s a tough challenge to stop thinking about what others tell you to think. But when you’re a Cleaner, you know yourself so well that anything else doesn’t matter because no one knows you better anyway. Stop thinking, stop waiting, you already know what to do.

However, instinct is only half the formula. You can’t be a relentless competitor without a trip to the dark side, and that’s where we’re going next.

#1. You have a dark side that refuses to be taught to be good.

Do you know the story of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde? A respected doctor discovers a potion that temporarily turns him into a dark predator, and for a while, he enjoys being free from all fear, morality, and emotion. It’s the same guy and, the same inborn urges, but they can only be unleashed when Jekyll becomes Hyde. That’s what we’re talking about here, your transformation into your alter ego, your dark side, becoming who your instincts drive you to be. Of course, Hyde was a psychopath, and I’m not suggesting you go that far off the rails, but I do want you to climb out of your rut and leave your baggage behind. Transforming to the dark side is the ability to drop all inhibitions and limitations and allow yourself to do what you do, the way you want to do it. No fear, just action and results.

Remember where we started the discussion on instinct? Born bad, taught to be good?

Welcome to your dark side. Deep inside you, there’s an undeniable force that drives your actions, the part of you that refuses to be ordinary, the piece that stays raw and untamed. Not just instinct, but killer instinct. The kind you forcefully keep in the dark instead of trying to channel it. But forcefully suppressing it doesn’t change it. You can’t change it even if you want to, it’s who you are. It’s not good, it’s not bad, it’s just your natural, untamed instinct telling you what it wants and driving you to get it. And before you try to think you don’t have a dark side, let me promise you, everyone does.

Just know, the dark side isn’t about taking stupid risks and getting in trouble. No, that would show weakness. Your self-control is what distinguishes you from everyone else. You can walk away or hold back whenever you choose.

The most important benefit you’re going to get by embracing your dark side is that for the first time, you’ll discover what you’re really made of and truly capable of doing. When the only pressure you feel is whatever you put on yourself, and when you don’t pay any attention to what anyone else wants of you, that is when your ability becomes incomparable with all others.

#1. You’re not intimidated by pressure; you thrive on it.

Most people run from stress. Cleaners run to it. Stress and pressure aren’t necessarily bad. It keeps you sharp, challenges you in ways you never imagined, and forces you to solve issues and manage situations that send weaker people running for cover. You can’t succeed without it. If you don’t manage it well, remember that your competitors are just waiting for you to show weakness. The moment you do, they attack. Exactly what you should do when someone shows weakness.

So to be a Cleaner, you need to make sure that internal pressure is the only one you focus on. External pressure is inevitable, but you need to embrace it, feel it, and defeat it. Run to it, so no one else can throw more at you than you’ve already put on yourself. Most people choose to avoid pressure instead of trying to tackle it, by staying in their comfort zone. But if you’re trying to achieve greatness in any form, you need to be well-prepared to face all sorts of pressure. You can’t be relentless if you can’t take discomfort and you won’t be unstoppable if you only deal with pressure when you have no choice.

Pressure can bust pipes, but it can also make diamonds. If you take the negative view, it will crush you. You’ll get in the “I can’t do this” mindset. But the positive view is that pressure is a challenge that will define you. It will show you how much you’re capable of, and how hard you can go. Everyone will tell you to avoid stress and cut back. I say let it motivate you, and make you work harder. Use it, instead of running from it.

Of course, you need to differentiate between the stress that can bring great results and the stress that you’ve created which will only cause chaos, such as not putting in the work, and blowing off commitments and obligations. That’s the stuff that creates pointless stress. It’s your job to avoid these situations before they turn into meaningless stress for you. But the other kind of stress: working for a tough goal, making a team, winning a championship, that’s the most valuable pressure you’ll face and you’re lucky to be doing so. Not everyone gets the opportunity to be stressed by the potential to achieve exceptional things.

#1. When everyone is hitting the “In Case of Emergency” button, they’re all looking for you.

The ability to adapt to a situation on the fly and make quick judgments and decisions is rare. Most people don’t take the risk of handling a situation like this and instead panic and look for someone who can. They look for a Cleaner.

People are usually able to prepare for one specific scenario, a reality in which everything goes according to plan. But when even one variable goes wrong, they can’t adjust. And in real life, you can be sure something will go out of plan, considering the thousands of variables in play in every single scenario. When you always focus on going “according to plan” you get robotic and lose that innate ability to know what to do when plans suddenly need to change, when you’re confronted by the unexpected. This is what Cleaners do, they can take that same plan, and when something goes off the rails, their instincts immediately take over and they adapt. Don’t need to think about it, don’t need to be told, they just know how to. That’s what makes a dangerous competitor, not one who knows what’s coming, but one who doesn’t have to know to be ready.

It’s not about the myth of “positive thinking” in every situation; it’s about the hard work and preparation that go into knowing everything there is to know, letting go of your fears and insecurities, and trusting your ability to handle any situation.

I’m not saying you shouldn’t think about what you do, I’m saying you should do the thinking and planning in advance, build your reflexes, and trust them. And for that, you have to be willing to fail. If you’re going to trust yourself to act from the gut and adapt as you go, yes there’ll be a lot of failure. But that’s where you’ll get the confidence that will allow you to take risks and not care about what happens next, because you’ll be prepared nevertheless. Your instinct will tell you: “I’m going for this, and if I’m wrong, I’ll make a change and I’ll still be fine.”

#1. You don’t compete with anyone; you find your opponent’s weakness and you attack.

Cleaners don’t compete with anyone because they don’t need to. They elevate their skill to a level where they can make sure no one can compete with them anyway.

A lot of gifted people will lower their skills to close the gap between themselves and those around them, so others can feel more confident, involved, and relatively competitive. This can work well under certain circumstances, but in a competition, you need to make your message clear: “I’m not bringing my game down so you can look better; you bring your game up so you can look better.”

When you are a Cleaner, there’s no such thing as a meaningless game. Doesn’t matter what the importance of that game is, a Cleaner shows up and gives his best performance nevertheless, because he knows that everyone else would slack off and want to stay in their comfort zone, while every single game he plays will give him more insight into improving his performance. Of course, this doesn’t just apply to a sports game, it can be any task or activity that the Cleaner is interested in.

The only time a “cleaner” feels challenged and competitive is when faced with another Cleaner. And believe this, when you get two relentless individuals going against each other, that situation can play out for years. They can still be cool with each other and get along as they don’t let their emotions drive their actions, but the Cleaner inside each of them never forgives and never, ever, forgets the competition. That’s how Cleaners compete. They dish it out, they take it, and they make sure everyone else does too. They’re driven to attack, dominate, and conquer in every way.

#1. You make decisions, not suggestions; you know the answer while everyone else is still asking questions.

Most people don’t want to make decisions. They make suggestions because it’s safer. They wait to see what everyone else thinks, so if they disapprove, they can say “Oh, it was just a suggestion.” They know the right answers, but can’t act on it because if something goes wrong, they’ll have to take responsibility and won’t be able to blame anyone else because it was their decision. This isn’t comfortable, which is why people avoid it. Meanwhile, someone else who is willing to take the risk is going to make a decision and when it works, he’s getting all the credit. If it doesn’t, he just learned a valuable lifelong lesson. Every minute, every hour, every day that you sit around trying to figure out what to do, someone else is already doing it. While you’re trying to choose whether to go left or right, this way or that way, someone else is already there. While you’re paralyzed from overthinking and overanalyzing your next move, someone else went with his gut and beat you to it.

As you’ve already correctly guessed, that’s a Cleaner. A Cleaner makes decisions because there’s no chance in the world, he’s going to let anyone else decide for him. They know that if you don’t make a choice, it will be made for you, which is unacceptable to them, so they trust themselves and decide. In a decision involving multiple stakeholders, he may ask for their opinion and add it to everything else he knows, but he’s not going to do what anyone else tells him; he’s still going to follow his instincts. And once he makes a decision, it’s set in stone; he doesn’t care if people approve of it or not, he’s going to live with it. He’s decided, now he’s going to act.

#1. You don’t have to love the work, but you’re addicted to the results.

When working towards a goal, there are two main questions you need to ask yourself. Firstly: What would I have to sacrifice to achieve my goal? What would be the price I pay for this achievement? Then you ask yourself: What am I willing to sacrifice and give up for this goal? If the answers to both these questions don’t match up, you simply don’t want it badly enough.

When Cleaners set goals for themselves, they don’t care about instant gratification. They know that it’s much more rewarding to invest in the long-term payoff. No matter what you do, if you’re in it for the money or attention, and once you get enough of it, you’re not willing to put in the hard work and the commitment, I have to ask you, why?

Look, most people are okay with having enough, I’m no one to judge. They don’t want the discomfort and sacrifice that’s necessary for greatness. I get that, it’s a much easier way to experience life. But usually, these are the same people who look around at others who have more success and say: “Can’t believe how lucky that guy got, I could do that if…” and then a bunch of “luck” nonsense. Wrong. You could do that if you had put in the time and effort. If you had committed to whatever is making it work for him. If you were willing to pay the price he’s paid. He’s not doing anything you can’t do. He just did something you weren’t willing to do yet. You could do the same, and so much more. And you don’t have to do it his way, why should you? But ask yourself why you aren’t doing it your way either.

#1. You’d rather be feared than liked.

A “cleaner” wastes no energy and effort to try and get people to like him. For him, it’s just not important enough; he doesn’t care. But he’ll do everything possible for success, to make sure others fear him.

People fear Cleaners because they are unpredictable. They move silently under the surface so you never know what they’re doing. You can’t see them or hear them. You may not even know who they are. But when they’re ready for you to find out, they’ll come at you like a tsunami without a warning, and you would have no idea what’s hit you until it’s too late to do anything but be swept away.

Cleaners may not be liked by other people, but they sure are respected. They let other people know that they got where they are through their actions, not their words or emotions. They do not need to announce their presence, people will know they are there just by the way they carry themselves, always cool and confident. They’re never the ones telling stories about how great they are; they’re the quiet ones focused solely on the results.

When people start broadcasting what they’re going to do, and how great they’re going to be when they do it, it’s a sure sign that they’re still trying to convince themselves. If you already know, you don’t have to talk about it.

Being feared doesn’t mean being a jerk. I want you to carry yourself so you can be respected, not exposed as an insecure person who puts others down just to make himself feel better. That wouldn’t be a Cleaner, that’s a pretender. He might be able to fool a few people for a little while, but when the results are being tallied, he’ll have nowhere to hide.

#1. You trust very few people, and those you trust better never let you down.

We talked earlier about how a Cleaner uses his instincts to make decisions that other people are too afraid to make. A big part of those decisions is knowing who to trust and who not to trust. No matter who you are, part of success means recognizing the people who can help you get where you want to go, and putting all the best pieces in place. You must surround yourself with people who can operate at your level of demanding excellence. You can’t even be great, forget unstoppable, if you fail at this. And this is probably the hardest thing for a Cleaner to do. This is why you hear people say, “It’s lonely at the top.”

To Cleaners, trusting someone feels similar to giving up control, which is something they have a painfully hard time with. Most Cleaners have a moment in their life when they learn a tough lesson: They can only trust themselves.

But trust doesn’t have to mean giving up control and allowing others to make decisions for you. Cleaners only rely on people they are 100% sure they can rely on. And they achieve this level of confidence by testing people, maybe in fifteen minutes, maybe in fifteen years. They’ll watch how you work, how you carry yourself, what your motives are, and decide if you’re worthy of their trust or not. And few match the criteria set by a “cleaner.”

“The Cleaners” prefer to surround themselves with those who want them to succeed and who understand what it takes to be successful. Who aren’t afraid of telling the truth, even if it’s painful because the Cleaner already has a lot of people telling them how great they are. The important people to them are the ones who can point out their flaws and help them become even better.

#1. You don’t recognize failure; you know there’s more than one way to get what you want.

The concept of failure for a Cleaner is very different from the general definition. If you don’t succeed at everything you do on your first attempt, does that mean you “failed?” No. “cleaners” know it’s a good thing that you keep coming back and working at it until you succeed. How can all those tries be considered “failures”?

What most people think of as a failure, a “cleaner” sees as an opportunity to manage and control a tough situation, pulling it around to his advantage, doing something everyone else says is impossible. For a Cleaner to achieve something like that, it might take years and all kinds of hard work that no one else will ever see, but eventually the Cleaner is going to own that situation. He has to; it’s the only way he knows. This didn’t work, so let’s do that. If that doesn’t work, I’ll try this next. How many different pathways can I create to avoid running into a ditch? And how many options do I have for getting out if I do run into the ditch?

For Cleaners, failure is what happens when they decide they’ve failed. Until then, everything is just a contribution to their success. They’re simply looking for ways to get to where they want to be. Success and failure are 100% mental constructs. One person’s idea of success might seem like a complete failure to someone else. You must establish your vision of what it means to be unstoppable; don’t try to implement someone else’s standards on yourself. When someone tells you you’ve failed, what they mean is: “If that were me, I would feel like a failure.” Well, that guy isn’t you, and he isn’t a Cleaner, because they don’t recognize failure. You might have come across a setback, but dealing with setbacks is how you achieve success. You learn, and you adapt. Let everyone else talk about how you “failed;” you show up like a professional, remap your course, and get back to work. That’s the progression of good to great to unstoppable. No one starts at unstoppable.

A Cleaner isn’t affected by “failure” because, to him, it’s never over. Something doesn’t go as planned, he instinctively looks for options to make things work a different way. He doesn’t feel embarrassed or ashamed, doesn’t blame someone else, and doesn’t care what anyone else is commenting or thinking. What he’s lost, they never had. It’s never the end, it’s never over.

#1. You don’t celebrate your achievements because you always want more.

When most people achieve something, they’ve been working towards for months or even years, their response is to celebrate. Throw a party, go on a vacation, treat yourself. A Cleaner’s response? Done. Next.

Those are a Cleaner’s favorite words. There’s always more work to do. More to prove. Let everyone else celebrate, you’re still not satisfied. On the rare occasion when you do feel like celebrating, it’s a brief, private moment you don’t share with anyone else because no one could understand what you went through to get to that point. Everything you accomplished, everything you worked for, you didn’t do any of it for the celebration, and you didn’t do it for anyone else. You did it for that exquisite moment, that powerful surge of satisfaction that everyone dreams about but few ever get to experience. Yet the minute you experience it, it’s already fading. And all you can think about is doing whatever it takes to get it back.

A Cleaner knows that there’s always a new challenge ahead, bigger and harder and more grueling than everything he’s just accomplished. For him, it’s always the beginning. The beginning of something even greater.

That’s the relentless pursuit of excellence, always believing in your ability, demanding more of yourself than anyone else could ever ask of you. This drive to close the gap between near-perfect and perfect is the difference between great and unstoppable. You have to crave that drive, embrace it, and never give it up. You don’t have to love it, you just have to be insatiable for the results. Everything you want can be yours. Be a Cleaner and go get it. Be Relentless.

Done.

Next.

Table of Contents

Nutshell Summary

Full Summary

Don’t Think

The Relentless 13

When you’re a Cleaner: #1. You keep pushing yourself harder when everyone else has had enough.

#1. You get into the Zone, shut out everything else, and control the uncontrollable.

#1. You know exactly who you are.

#1. You have a dark side that refuses to be taught to be good.

#1. You’re not intimidated by pressure; you thrive on it.

#1. When everyone is hitting the “In Case of Emergency” button, they’re all looking for you.

#1. You don’t compete with anyone; you find your opponent’s weakness and you attack.

#1. You make decisions, not suggestions; you know the answer while everyone else is still asking questions.

#1. You don’t have to love the work, but you’re addicted to the results.

#1. You’d rather be feared than liked.

#1. You trust very few people, and those you trust better never let you down.

#1. You don’t recognize failure; you know there’s more than one way to get what you want.

#1. You don’t celebrate your achievements because you always want more.