🏡 Don’t Build A House On Atlantic Avenue

Atlantic Avenue is a really stupid place to build a house.

The rent costs $150 each and the rent with 1 house is only $110.

It’s also a really unlikely place for someone to land on the board, so the opportunities to get rent payments is way lower than other properties.

You can still buy the property and sell it to someone else who wants it, but use it as leverage—don’t invest in it.

What does the game Monopoly have to do with living a happy and productive life?

You have a limited amount of time, energy and resources.

It’s up to you to choose the projects and missions you will spend your time on.

You already have a lot of odds against you.

Building anything is hard enough all by itself.

If you’re going to invest in something, it’s important to increase your probability of success.

Monopoly is pretty straightforward and there are a billion statistical analyses and strategies you can dig up online.

Life and work are less straightforward and they’re up to you.

This isn’t about real estate, business, or board games—this is about focusing on the known game-changing factors that actually matter and increasing your chances of success.

Here are some questions you can ask yourself to get started:

What are other people doing in your industry?

What are the characteristics of the successful big league players?

What might you do differently to stand out?

What is it that you do that is scarce and valuable?

What problem are you actually solving?

(Hint: it’s not that a customer has 4 widgets and they need 5, it’s because they’re lonely, hungry, or they have low self esteem. You need to dig deep into the basic mechanisms of behavior!)

2 Minute Action

Write a new email headline and A/B test it with your audience.

Steal someone else’s marketing concept and test the offer with your customers.

Do the math to figure out how many other competitors you have and look realistically at your chances of success. (FYI, If you’re starting a business in any industry, your odds are 1:10 right out of the gate, on average)

[SERIES] 3/7 Unpopular Belief: Steal Other People's Stuff

Yep. Other successful people have developed tricks of the trade, but they've also stolen and borrowed from other successful people.This is Part 3 of the 7 Unpopular Beliefs Series.

Steal Other People's Stuff!

Imitate successful people.

Pick the traits and characteristics you admire and mimic them.Steal their strategies and tactics.Remember that your customer, audience, client, patient, or student will only benefit if YOU succeed!Here's the hardest part about this:

Discover how your opponent is smarter than you.

It's not hard in that it requires searching. It's hard because it requires humility.As Derek Sivers says: "Find wisdom in your opponents!"You already know everything from your side. Understand your opponent's side and you'll have much more context, and possibly tools with which to succeed.

2 Minute Action

Who is someone you admire and can call?Take 2 minutes to ask them about their methods/strategies.There are also a lot of books written by authors who just want to share. You are connected to a huge wealth of human knowledge.If you don't know where to find resources, email me or tweet at me. Tell me what you want to steal and I can help.

Here’s Why You Should Steal

When I first started learning to play guitar, I didn’t have much to create.I started playing the music that I had heard again and again, only to realize what it was that I liked about it.I took pieces, movements, and hand shapes that I liked and rearranged them the way I liked.I took chords, techniques, and styles from the greats.

I stole just about everything I could.

What happened next was unexpected, though; I started to create my own sound.It wasn’t until I’d absorbed all this that I found my creative voice.Interestingly, the same thing happened with my writing, marketing, and the way I manage my projects.

I stole all the good stuff, and now I’ve made it my own.

Now, I’m not saying you should plagiarize or pretend you invented something, that’s weak and immoral.I’m just saying you need to find out what it is that resonates with you and internalize it.

This is a fast way to move toward the person you wish to be.

Techniques, styles, habits—whatever.They’re out there, and they’re yours for the taking.The most important part, though, is what you do with them.

2 Minute Action:

What’s a characteristic or achievement you admire in someone else?What’s a technique, strategy, or behavior someone has done recently that you think is smart?Try it for yourself today. I bet it takes you 2 minutes or less to try it on for size.