Recently, I was looking back over my business career, searching for the key inflection points.
I discovered something quite profound:
Every “big break” I had was the net result of a huge, long process of slow work.
I’ll give examples of these in just a second.
But here’s why this is meaningful for me:
Spending months or years mastering a topic or creating a big piece of work is daunting.
“There must a faster way! How do we growth hack this? What’s the 80/20?”
But if you know that the best things come as a result of months or years of deep work… this gives you the permission you need to spend unreasonable amounts of time on things.
In other words…
But going deep instantly sets you apart from virtually everyone else on the planet, and giving you an unfair advantage that money can’t buy.
You won’t be able to do a cost/benefit analysis.
But, it can set you up for life.
Example #1 - Indulging Passions
In my 20s, I was a jazz musician.
I was supposed to be practising piano for 8 hours a day, like all my friends.
Instead, I learned languages. I couldn’t stop myself — I just loved languages.
On the face of it, it made no sense.
I was sacrificing the music for… a hobby?
After 10 years, I had learned 8 languages.
So, I started a blog about my language learning experience. And that blog turned into a million dollar business.
In retrospect, what a great use of 10 years!
Example #2 - Putting Skills To Work
At 28 years old, I quit music and moved to Japan to teach English.
I was so poor, I couldn't even afford to smell the cherry blossom.
But at least I could focus on mastering my craft.
I did a teaching certificate, a diploma, and eventually spent 2 years doing a master’s degree in applied linguists in my spare time.
The diplomas taught me to teach. The master’s taught me to write.
Later, when looking for ways to grow my new business, I decided to combine my newfound skills and write a book to help people learn languages.
Over an entire summer, I sat at my parents’ kitchen table and wrote the book. I combined my teaching and writing skills to create something that was entirely new in the marketplace.
2 years later, Hachette, the second biggest publishers in the world, bought the rights to the book and expanded the series to 25 languages.
To date, the series has sold over 1.5 million books and you can find them in every half-decent bookstore in the world.
I’d say writing that first book was a summer well-spent.
Example #3 - The 3-Month Lead Magnet
18 months ago, I decided to launch a new business — this very newsletter!
As any good entrepreneur will tell you, the best way to launch a new business is with an MVP.
Right?
Put something out quickly… find product-market fit…
Right?
Probably.
Except… I had a feeling…
And when I get a feeling…
I spent 3 months of my life writing a book-length case study, as a lead magnet for the newsletter.
I put everything else on hold.
It was long, slow work.
Nobody in their right mind would spend so long doing this.
But when I finally launched it, it went viral around creator communities.
As Chenell from Growth in Reverse said:
“This was getting shared everywhere! When I say the Google Doc went viral, I mean it. I was seeing multiple newsletters each week sharing it for months.”
This one big-ass piece of work earned me 1,000s of free leads and launched a business that’s earned me almost $1M in under two years.
Now…
Not only have these enormous projects all had an incredible impact on my life…
They also make me PROUD!
When I think about my life and ask what I’m proud of doing…
These are the things I think about.
I’m sure you have a passion project or two up your sleeve.
A new skill you want to master.
Or something epic you want to do in the world.
It probably doesn’t make any logical sense.
Your mastermind group will call you crazy.
You’ve probably talked yourself out of it more than a few times — nervous about spending so long on one thing, when there are a million other quicker things to try.
But if you try these things…
If you put your heart and soul into it…
I can’t guarantee it’ll work…
But it at least puts you on the playing field for a chance to do something truly remarkable.
Worst case… you do great work and have a blast.
Best case… it changes your life.
Either way, please just take this email as permission to:
Be unreasonable!
Namaste,
Olly
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