The Relentless 13: This is How to Be a Cleaner

Not only was Michael Jordan known as arguably the best basketball player of all time, but he was also known as one of the best trash talkers of all time!  While you may think that Jordan talked trash to get in his opponent’s head, that wasn’t the case, according to his longtime trainer Tim Grover who said:

“I always felt Michael’s legendary trash talking wasn’t meant for the other guy; it was another way for him to heighten the pressure he put on himself because once you’ve told others how bad you’re about to f— them up, you’re gonna have to deliver on that promise.” ¹

There is no doubt that Jordan was a “Cleaner” and his trash-talking was one of the relentless 13 things that made him a “Cleaner”. If you are wondering what the hell a “Cleaner” is, we will get to that in a hot minute and speaking of relentless, let’s start there…

By FAR, the best book I have ever read…

…is Grover’s book called Relentless: From Good to Great to Unstoppable. It is one that I have either gifted or recommended to a ton of people and they have all LOVED it. BUT a caveat is that they are also all type-A personalities like me.

Grover a legendary trainer of not only basketball players such as Jordan, Kobe Bryant, and Dwayne Wade, wrote the book not just for athletes but also for people in business and every walk of life who want to be more successful.

In his book, Grover explains the essential traits that are shared by achievers in sports, business, and life in general. I must warn you that it is extremely intense and definitely not for everyone as his advice doesn’t exactly promote a balanced lifestyle.

But then again, those who are ultra-successful are obsessed and sacrifice many of the things that a balanced life provides.

In the book, Grover offers 13 rules for becoming relentless in whatever you are pursuing in life, he calls them the relentless 13.  And we will get to them in a bit, but first, we need to discuss three categories of competitors that Grover discusses: Coolers, Closers, and Cleaners.

Coolers, Closers, and Cleaners: Good, Great and Unstoppable

For his own thinking, Grover devised a three-tiered system that can be applied to any group of individuals: your friends, your family, your co-workers, your team, etc.

As Grover says:

“Everyone has a different definition of personal success: some people allow life’s circumstances to decide what they want and say “good enough” when they get it, and then there are a select few who can’t even define success because they keep raising the bar on what that means. Coolers, Closers, and Cleaners.” ¹

He finds that most people are Coolers, a small percentage are Closers and perhaps there may be a Cleaner in the group. But once you meet the Cleaner you will never forget him/her.

Seeing as how the rest of this post will be focused on the relentless 13, which are the traits of cleaners, we will only discuss coolers and closers here and save cleaners for later.

Grover describes…

… COOLERS as:

“A Cooler is careful; he waits to be told what to do, watches to see what everyone else is doing, and then follows the leader. He’s a mediator, not a decision-maker; he’s not taking sides unless he’s forced to. He can handle a certain amount of pressure when things are going well, but when things get too intense, he kicks the problem over to someone else. He can make a huge play, but he’s not ultimately responsible for the outcome. He’s the setup guy, keeping things cool until the Closer or Cleaner can take over.” ¹

He then describes…

… CLOSERS as:

“A Closer can handle a lot of pressure; he’ll get the job done if you put him in the right situation and tell him exactly what you need him to do. He’ll study all sorts of scenarios so he can anticipate what might happen, but he’s uncomfortable when faced with something unexpected. He seeks attention and credit, and he’s very aware of what everyone else is doing and what others think of him. He loves the rewards and perks associated with his fame and would choose financial security over winning or success.” ¹

The main difference between the three is that the Cleaner never needs a kick in the ass while everyone else does and we will see why that is in the next section regarding the relentless 13, or the 13 traits of a cleaner.

The Relentless 13

Grover explains that every Cleaner he has ever known has some combination of the traits below. Not every Cleaner has every trait all the time, but every Cleaner has experienced at least some of them at some point.

He admits that some may intrigue you and some may repel you, but each of the relentless 13 will contribute to your ability for being relentless. By the way, he labels each #1 as none is more important than another.

In case you are wondering why he calls them “Cleaners”, it’s because rather than blaming others when something goes wrong, they take responsibility, clean up the mess, and move on.

While Grover dedicates a full chapter to each of the relentless 13, I will simply touch on an important idea that I took away from each. And if you want to delve deeper, which I recommend, you can check out the entire book.

The relentless 13, when you’re a cleaner…

(1)  You keep pushing yourself harder when everyone else has had enough.

Grover touches on the exact point we made in a recent post in that to experience success it is critical to be comfortable being uncomfortable. In other words, cleaners do stuff every day they don’t want to do, pushing past apathy, fear, and laziness.

(1)  You get into the Zone, you shut out everything else, and control the uncontrollable.

Grover explains cleaners with respect to the Zone as follows:

“But once a cleaner steps into the Zone, he’s detached from everything on the outside. Whatever else is going on—personal, business, anything—it can’t affect him until he’s ready to return. That, by definition, is the Zone. No fear, no intrusion. Total concentration. You’re not thinking, because thinking turns your thoughts on to everything, and the Zone is about the opposite, turning your thoughts off to everything except the task at hand. Thinking takes you away; the Zone keeps you where you need to be.” ¹

(1)  You know exactly who you are.

This one is about instinct and taking action. Cleaners are so ready and so prepared that they take what they have learned, and their thought moves straight to their gut, instinct takes over and they put it into action.

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

Grover believes all cleaners have a dark side somewhere deep within them. He describes it as “Deep inside you, there’s an undeniable force driving your actions, the part of you that refuses to be ordinary, the piece that stays raw and untamed. Not just killer instinct.” ¹

He believes that cleaners embrace their dark side by being able to drop all their inhibitions and allow themselves to do whatever it is they need to do, the way they want to do it – instinctively and without fear.

(1)  You’re not intimidated by pressure, you thrive on it.

He believes being called “clutch” is an insult and that there is no such thing as having a “clutch” gene. The reason being is that being called “clutch” means you only step up at the last minute while being a cleaner means you are always stepping up. You are always keeping the pressure cranked up, but it is internal pressure as a cleaner is always hardest on themselves.

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

Cleaners always know they will be ok no matter what happens they are confident that they can handle anything. If things don’t work out, they recognize what isn’t working and are flexible enough to adjust, adapt and move on.

(1)  You don’t compete with anyone, you find your opponent’s weakness and you attack.

I like how Grover contrasts cleaners with coolers and closers when he says:

“A Cooler wonders what’s going to happen. A Closer watches things happen. A Cleaner makes things happen.” ¹

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

Cleaners make a plan that reflects their goals and interests and then they execute. As he says: “Figure out what you do, then do it. And do it better than anyone else.” ¹

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

Being a cleaner involves a lot of hard work and part of it is understanding what you need to sacrifice to do that work. You need to be able to keep your eye on the mission and control whatever is trying to pull you away from it.  Cleaners are not distracted by instant gratification as they are focused on the long-term payoff.

(1)  You’d rather be feared than liked.

Cleaners are very upfront and straight-shooters and will tell you what they think whether you like it or not. I love how he says: “Fear and respect: let them know you were there by your actions, not your words or emotions. You don’t have to be loud to be the focus of attention.” ¹

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

Cleaners are surrounded by those who want them to be successful and who understand what it takes to be successful. Those who aren’t following their dreams themselves likely won’t support you in your pursuit of yours and they will tell you the same negative stuff they tell themselves.

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

Cleaners are always trying to improve. They don’t believe in failure because they never believe anything is over. If something doesn’t go as planned, they learn from it, change direction and try a different way.

(1)  You don’t celebrate your achievement because you always want more.

A Cleaner believes they have zero limitations and are always demanding more of themselves than anyone else possibly can. This means that they are always thinking of how they can do more and get better. As Grover says: “The drive to close the gap between near-perfect and perfect is the difference between great and unstoppable.” ¹

Speaking of Trash Talking…

…one of Jordan’s opponents learned the hard way that if you are going to talk trash, you had better be able to back it up. Grover tells a great story of a night during the Bulls 72-win season when both the Bulls and Jordan were having off nights and getting killed in Vancouver:

“By the fourth quarter Michael had only 10 points, and the Grizzlies’ Darrick Martin started talking a little trash at him.

You never, ever, challenge Michael Jordan and expect to come out ahead. Michael literally stopped on the court. Looked at the guy. Shook his head and said, “Let a sleeping dog lie.” The dark side said, “Kill this mofo,” and he went into attack mode, straight into the Zone. Result: unstoppable. He went on an unbelievable tear, scoring 19 points in the quarter on the way to a Bulls’ win, and Darrick Martin spent the rest of the game on the bench.” ¹

Let’s End This Blog Post with A Few Questions for Reflection…

…that Grover posits:

“It all comes back to this, no matter what you do in life: Are you willing to make the decision to succeed? Are you going to stand by that decision or quit when it gets hard? Will you choose to keep working when everyone else tells you to quit? Pain comes in all sorts of disguises—physical, mental, emotional. Do you need to be pain-free? Or can you push past it and stand by your commitment and decision to go further? It’s your choice. The outcome is on you.” ¹

Until next time, be relentless and as always…PYMFP!
–Rick

P.S. Wanna know more? Check out the entire book.

Use it Or Lose It – Relentless 13

The relentless 13 are:

(1)  You keep pushing yourself harder when everyone else has had enough.
(1)  You get into the Zone, you 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 achievement because you always want more.

When to Use It

Use the relentless 13 wherever applicable to your life.

What Do You Think?

What do you think of the relentless 13, can you relate to any of the 13 traits of a Cleaner?  Do you know any Cleaners? Please share your thoughts in the comments below!

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References

¹ Relentless: From Good to Great to Unstoppable by Tim S. Grover