Mark Lack - Shorten the Gap: Short Cuts to Success and Happiness

Copyrighted Material

SHORTEN THE GAP Short Cuts to Success and Happiness

By Mark A. Lack

Published by Mark A. Lack at Smashwords

Copyright 2014 Mark A. Lack

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If youre reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

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

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

Foreword

T heres an old saying that says Success Leaves Clues and Id also like to add that not only does it leave clues; in many cases it leaves a blueprint.

When I was in my early 20s 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, thats 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. Dont 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

I magine yourself looking at four beautiful shiny new 2007 H2 Hummers just waiting for the winner! Youre 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 winners choice for the first-place prize is either four H2 Hummers or $160,000.

The finals are a best two out of three games. Weve already lost the first game!

Its 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 playwas 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 pressureand 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 wouldnt 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 didnt 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 2428.

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 Im 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 17so I had to settle for a check for $40,000.