How “Bridging” Took My Entrepreneur Friend From Poor and Shitty to Grrreat and Successful

by MarsDorian

I talked to kick-ass successful entrepreneur lately. This guy is a designer in high demand, and he’s oozing success in a such a bright light I feel the urge to put my shades on.

In fact, I have ALWAYS seen this guy be successful – as if he was BORN like that – coming straight out of his mother’s womb and screaming “let’s rock this world, baby!”

It’s funny that when you see uber-successful people, you think it’s part of their nature and unobtainable for you. Well, we had a tough talk and he shared his story, and I was flabbergasted to say the least.

This guy is one of the most ass-kicking designers I know, and when he shared pictures of his earlier work during the conversation I was THUNDER struck to say the least.

Why ?

Because those designs were the worst and boring I have ever seen.

I simply couldn’t believe it. How can this uber-grrreat designer design shit like that ? I couldn’t even make the connection between this early work and the magic he unleashes now. No way.

He was amused by my bewilderment, cracked a smile and told me how unsuccessful he was in the beginning: He lacked the skills, had no clients and was pretty miserable. But as he was about to drown in the ocean of self-pity, he put himself together and changed his mindset. Over the course of a year, he completely changed the way he treated work and built the legacy I was witnessing now.

This is how he went from shitty to splendid. It’s called “bridging”:

You start out and tell yourself: You are going to do REMARKABLE work. You think you are the GREATEST in whatever you do – this is your ILLUSION. Because in reality, you don’t have the skills (yet) to backup that bold claim. There’s a HUGE gap between your mindset (amazing) and your actual skillset (terrible).

Guess what ? Your brain sees the gap between “How you want to be” aka your illusion and your reality, and it doesn’t like it. Since it’s mission is to solve problems and ACCOMPLISH things, it WANTS TO CLOSE the gap between your current reality and your (delusional) mindset !

So you start “bridging” – eliminating the gap between your actual work and your “illusion”, which results in constantly delivering work, “failing” at it, adjusting, working and delivering again, “failing” and adjusting again, while KEEPING the mindset of doing astonishing work.

Every tiny adjustment you make after each work you shipped brings you closer to your mindset.

After endless trial and error, you reach a level where your great illusion ACTUALLY matches the skills in your reality. That’s the point where people consider you a genius, maverick, epic one-of-a-kind creator.

What you do NOW is to play the game again on the NEXT level:

Become delusional again and create an insane standard that’s WAY beyond your current skillset.

That’s how my designer friend went from poor and crappy to epic and successful. Being remarkable is all about having an insane standard (illusion), and “bridging” the gap through constant trial and error.

Pretty cool, eh ?

Plz share this idea with your friends the people you care about.

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Tagged as: Entrepreneurship, epik mindset, improving

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http://www.poker4value.com Jeffmc

Nice post. The second graphic is just simply kick a$$ and totally made my day.

I have a question. Do you think it is better to have this “illusion” of greatness at the start, so you can start working on that bridge ASAP and become great? Or is it better to “keep it real” and have the perception that you are barely average? Do you think one of these two mindsets will benefit you to become better more quickly then the other?

Jeff

http://www.marsdorian.com/ Mars Dorian

Yes, the sooner you have your illusion of greatness, the faster you will bridge the gap. Don’t wait, and get that word “average” out of your mouth – it’s limiting YOU the minute you mention it !!!

illusion of greatness + massive action = kick-ass results.

Go go go !
http://thevceo.com Ian Borders

Having the ‘illusion’ of greatness from the get-go, I think is key. One of the things it did for me is force me to live up to the expectation I made for myself, which made me focus work harder on becoming good designer, quicker.

http://letgoandflow.com David

Love the concept of bridging and the “gap”. The term the “gap” is actually used in the practice of meditation and it is the desired destination of any meditator. The “gap” is where we get things done and turn desires into reality so I find it really cool that this concept of bridging is so relatable.

http://www.marsdorian.com/ Mars Dorian

Hey David,
cool that this also exists in meditation (sadly I suck at it!).

I luv this principle and I’m going to apply to my main craft as of NOW.

http://www.benblogs.com Ben Chin

I guess if you want others to believe that the work you are doing is awesome and kick ass, you have to believe it yourself first!
http://www.MyBeautifulAdventures.com/ Andi Perullo

Thanks for a dose of inspiration 1st thing this morning!

http://www.marsdorian.com/ Mars Dorian

my pleasure Andi :)

http://www.bbetter.me Phil Echols

Thanks Mars. 2 Words: You Rock. Has anyone ever told you that you look like the guy from the Arby’s commercials that sings “Good Mood Food.” :) Either way… you’re awesome.

http://www.marsdorian.com/ Mars Dorian

Thanx man,
and yeah – I have heard that one before, maybe from you ,)

http://yeastinfectionsinmen.org Aloys

I heard something related from someone before. He said: If you can think of greatness, it means you already have what it takes to attain it. All you need is to take courage and apply yourself to the work that lies ahead of you, ‘cuz it may not be easy.

So true, heh? Most of the time we just sit waiting for our luck to come, but exploring and growing our skills is what lies into our power to do. Chance prefers the one who’s best prepared.

http://www.marsdorian.com/ Mars Dorian

I couldn’t have said it any better Aloys, especially the last line. Once you think about greatness, you have already the seed within you to make it a reality. Now you need laser focus and massive action to turn that into a reality…

http://twitter.com/anthonynlee anthony lee

this is precisely “ready, fire, aim” mentality. this illustrates the point i made (and i really didn’t see it in this simplistic of form) when discussing the truth behind the law of attraction. this is what is going on. you are simply bridging the gap. brilliant.

what i also really like is how you paint a picture of practicality to the otherwise whimsical topic of “mindset”. everyone always says “change your mindset. believe. and you will attract the success to you.” what they don’t tell you is exactly how the crap that is supposed to happen. so, short of believing in magic, often people give up before this “bridging” occurs.

thanks for being a genius.
http://lynnfang.com Lynn Fang

Awesome! Thanks for the inspiration! Love the drawings too. I definitely see myself doing the work fail adjust repeat thing. I think you’re right that the sooner you have your illusion of greatness, the faster you will bridge the gap.
http://www.insearchofmermaids.com Patricia GW

Great way of putting the creative process into perspective.