If you want to succeed – stop trying to do your best.

Beware of bad advice that gets hidden and wrapped around good advice. 

Your mind will embrace both ideas, which contradict each other, and result in not being able to progress. People can’t figure out why they can’t execute their plan, why they lack motivation, and so on.

But the problem isn’t in a lack of will power, the problem is in a lack of consistent belief. 

There’s lots of conflicting advice in personal development, and you have to be diligent to spot where these opposing ideas hide themselves. For example, remember Reid Hoffman (founder of LinkedIn) said that “if you’re not embarrassed by the first version of your product, you waited too long to launch.” We all know perfectionism is highly problematic for people getting started. But yet, look how perfectionism masks itself in a deceiving coat of make up when we hear the advice, “Always do your best!” I believe your best is probably close to perfect, and it also takes an infinite amount of time to achieve. You could always have tried a LITTLE harder, practiced a LITTLE more, and researched just a LITTLE more.

Your “best” is a target that’s the same as chasing a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. I tried chasing that rainbow as a child and realized I had been duped not because there wasn’t likely a pot of gold – I was actually sure the gold was there. What made me know it was BS was because as I moved a foot closer to the rainbow, the rainbow moved a foot away from me as well.

Doing your best is like chasing a rainbow. It’s something gullible kids like me try to do. Even with reading all the motivational books in the world, meditations, visualizations, and confidence in the world will still never let me get to the end of the rainbow.

It’s not “failure” or “giving up” when you don’t get the gold – it’s the realization that some beliefs are garbage. What other beliefs do we have that are quietly conflicting with each other that are keeping us stuck?

So stop doing your best. Find your hidden conflicting beliefs. Start moving forward.