Success Books Suck

I’ve been a success book junky for decades now. Like you, I read these books in hopes of making myself better.

Not long ago I bought a book that I didn’t initially recognize as part of the genre. Quickly it started quoting studies about 10,000 hours of deliberate practice, and how the author became the top table tennis player in the UK. At that moment, I thought to myself:

I’m never going to be a world-class anything. Why am I reading this book? What I want is a book about how regular people can improve and succeed.

When I couldn’t find a book like that, I decided to write one—to provide accessible, achievable, and practical solutions for non-world-class people like me and 99.9% of you (Roger Federer, Beyonce, and Bill Gates, no need to subscribe).

The book, Outsmart the Learning Curve, won’t be available until the end of 2024, so I decided to share some of the best parts here in newsletter format to get feedback and hopefully build excitement. Perhaps the biggest differentiator of the book is that it’s both for and about “regular” people you are unlikely to recognize. While studying the top .1% may be inspirational, it’s not clear how helpful it is to us regular folk.

I’ll make the case that understanding how ordinary people overcome obstacles is more relevant and instructive to the “rest of us” who might not have been gifted with an amazing starting point, genetically, situationally, or otherwise.

What You Can Expect

A weekly newsletter that includes:

• Fresh self-improvement ideas backed by accessible scientific research.

• Actionable strategies to boost your personal and professional growth.

• Thought-provoking insights that challenge conventional wisdom and inspire positive change

What’s Your Story?

When I started telling people the beats of this book—how I found seven regular people who made dramatic transformations or overcame significant obstacles then looked for threads of wisdom among them—one of the most common questions was, “How did you find these people?” As it turns out most were within two degrees of separation of my own personal network.

Further, when I started telling friends the stories of my subjects' dramatic transformations, it often reminded them of a friend or relative who had some similar amazing story or used one of the many techniques that will be covered here.

The ubiquity of these stories confirmed for me that everyone has a story, is working on one, or could benefit from starting their next one, including you.

You found this newsletter because you see potential in yourself to improve your life or work situation, further your success, or perhaps make a dramatic transformation. Please consider the Comments and Notes sections a place to share your own stories and insights on how ordinary people can accomplish extraordinary things.

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