Success is a trap.
If you’re reading this newsletter, you’ve already become successful. You’re someone who’s building expertise and has the ability to add immense value to colleagues and clients.
But the more you do that, the more people want you. You need to be in this meeting. You need to do that task.
You’re good. You’re fast. And you’re reliable. It’s what makes you successful.
The problem with that is you can’t do what you want to do next. It’s hard to get to the good stuff.
There’s something you’ve been meaning to get to. It’s exciting. It would impact your team and clients. It’s next-level stuff – letting you do more of the work you want to do with the people you want to do it with.
You need to take control.
A few years ago, I was in the same place. I wanted to write a book. I wanted to build a platform to impact more people at no charge, like this email newsletter. I wanted to add people to the team.
It was the fall of 2016, and I had thought about this stuff seriously for a few years. Yet NONE of it was happening. None! Lots of thoughts, no action.
I had just come off a 3x growth year in the business. Success. A trap. I was in demand, yet I wasn’t living the life I wanted.
I had a breakthrough on a flight home from London.
I upped my goal game by setting clearer and bolder intentions. But more importantly, I mapped those goals to simple weekly behaviors, including work and personal, in the same system.
The system worked.
In less than two years, we wrote a killer book proposal, contracted with the best business book agent in the world, wrote and published The Snowball System. Our “big 5” publisher, Hachette, chose it from 1000s to be one of the books they give to all their employees. It has won multiple awards and has helped countless clients.
And in the same two years we built this email training platform you’re reading now. It’s grown and grown, adding more value than we can even calculate because so many people forward it around to others, which we can’t begin to measure.
And those high-leverage moves have driven even more growth, which has let us expand our team from a handful to over 20 people.
It’s a huge change. I love the impact we have. But just as important, I love the freedom I have.
As great as Snowball has been for our business and clients, I want to go bigger. I want to have 10x the impact. And that’s what our next book, Give to Grow, will be able to do. It’ll ship on August 27th and will be up on all bookseller sites in a few weeks. I’m beyond excited! Next-level impact.
Back to you. Your goal shouldn’t be success. You’re already successful.
Your goal should be leverage.
The ability to do the things you want to have the impact you want. To be in control.
It doesn’t matter what leverage you want. Maybe it’s more of a certain type of work, better fitness, or more time with the grandkids. It’s your life. You only get one shot. Live the life you want.
You can do it.
It all starts with having the right system. Documenting what you want, then building the right weekly habits to get it.
I recorded a new pair of YouTube videos on the system that works. Links below.
I had been setting goals before that flight home from London, but I made a step change in how I did it somewhere over the Atlantic. I’ve continued to evolve it each year since.
Check out the two-part YouTube series below. It’s the first time I’ve shared the exact numbers I’ve tracked, including both what I’m disappointed in and what I’m proud of. The lows and the highs.
It’s in seeing that level of transparency that I learn best, so I’m sharing it all with you.
Let’s accomplish anything we want in 2024. And beyond.
It’s our life to live. And we only get one shot. Let’s get it right.