How Negativity Can Increase Your Chances of Success

This is the 10th edition of my newsletter! Yay!

It doesn’t seem like much of a milestone, but consistency is key to mastery! You cannot publish 1000 newsletters without sharing 10 (or 2).

Why is consistency important for success? Well, 90% of podcasts quit after only 3 episodes.

Of those left, 90% quit after 20 episodes. To be in the top 1% of podcasts, you need to produce only 21 episodes.

Sounds crazy? Remember, you are not competing with ALL podcasts. You are competing with the ones that don’t quit!

Suddenly, your competition seems much less daunting. But your task - to stay consistent day after day, maybe for YEARS - can be enough to make you question your motivation.

In one of Vassy Valchanova’s articles on managing a side project with full-time work, she made it clear you WILL have to make sacrifices for your work. To put it simply, she wrote: “A side project means you’ll spend some sunny weekends at home in front of your laptop.”

Fortunately, I greatly enjoy creating this newsletter, so I don’t mind the hours I spend on it, but I also know I will have to make sacrifices for it!

I will publish a longer post about the lessons I’ve learned in creating this newsletter on my LinkedIn page soon, so make sure you follow me there!

And stay consistent!

🙅‍♀️ Ditch positive thinking (to increase your chances of success!)

We all believe that positive thinking unlocks our potential and helps us achieve our goals. Superstars from Tim Ferris to Connor McGregor are fans of visualizing your success.

However, research reveals this is only half the battle.

When you engage in positive fantasies, you are actually less likely to achieve your goal. Why?

Our minds can’t tell the difference between fantasy and reality - when we think about success, we get stuck in a false sense of achievement and feel good, without actually doing any work.

The solution? Use a model called Mental Contrasting, which is proven to increase your chances of success by over 60%!

The key is to not only focus on the positive fantasies of achievement, but also on the obstacles and difficulties you will face on your way. Then, you must create strategies to overcome the challenges. This is also explained as the WOOP model:

Read more about the right way to visualize your goals here.

Shelf Shocks

1. Managing Oneself by Peter F. Drucker

We usually think we know what our strengths are, but Peter Drucker, one of the most influential thinkers on management and consulting, claims we are often wrong.

To know yourself better, he suggests using “feedback analysis”: look at your past achievements and see what went well and what didn’t. Then focus on what brought you the most success in the past.

This is only one of the useful ideas you will find in the pages of this classic guide - highly recommended!

2. Unlabel: Selling You Without Selling Out by Marc Ecko

Back in the 90s, Marc Ecko launched his brand with just $5,000 and turned it into a billion-dollar clothing brand with the iconic rhino logo. On the intersection of fashion, hip-hop and business, Marc Ecko is far from the typical uptight entrepreneur - he brings a more youthful perspective on running a business, but also backs it up with a lot of experience.

The story he tells in the book is fresh and enjoyable (especially if you are into urban fashion), and his view on personal branding will be something different from the many other books on the topic.

3. Contagious: How to Build Word of Mouth in the Digital Age by Jonah Berger

Word-of-mouth generates more than two times the sales of paid advertising. Nearly 90% of people show the highest level of trust in a brand when it has been recommended by a friend. It can be up to 30 times more effective than traditional media. So how do we master word-of-mouth to market ourselves and our products?

Jonah Berger claims he can teach us how to bridge the gap between us and virality, instead of blindly taking our chances with evil algorithms. He identifies six principles that determine if a piece of content will go viral - and gives plenty of useful information on how to master them.

Fun Links

1. Lessons from the philosophy of Bruce Lee

Martial Arts + Philosophy + Acting + Writing + Cha Cha Dancing + Directing + Choreography = a world-class martial artist and Hollywood star.

This is the equation of Bruce Lee, who was an absolute master in a few distinct areas. How did he achieve this? By always being led by his own purpose.

Learn more about his approach to life, work, and authenticity in this article.

You've reached the end of my newsletter. Hooray! If you have any comments or would like to share what you enjoyed the most, feel free to get in touch! See you in two weeks!