Hey there!

How are we?

So yesterday I shared a list of my core 6 rules for leveling up and taking full control of your identity...

Starting today...

I'm going to spend sometime fleshing out those rules to give you some context for applying them.

RULE 1: STOP CULTIVATING WEEDS - FOCUS ONLY ON WHAT MOVES YOU CLOSER TO WHAT YOU WANT

Back in Calabar when I was much much younger...

My grandmother made me plant a garden with her.

I hated it.

My job was to make sure weeds didn't grow.

But as far as I was concerned...

Just fertilize the ground and our plants will be just fine.

Well...

I won't bore you with details...

I was so very wrong.

Truth be told..

If what you want is a beautiful garden, you have to rip the weeds out at the root, otherwise as you’re watering your garden you’re also watering the weeds.

It took me a while to accept that as a fact.

Why?

Because ripping out weeds is a lot of work!

Question: What do you know you should do in your life, relationship and work - that you are avoiding simply because you don't want to do the work?

When I first took driving lessons..

I remember a time when I would try to go faster...

I'd press harder on the accelerator...

And forget that I had the hand breaks on

.

A good number of us are approaching our lives and work...exactly that way...

And yet wonder why things aren't working.

Either way...

You are the one big obstacle that you need to get out of your own way.

Over the past few years..

I've developed a knack for attracting high quality people...

The top one per cent in multiple fields...

Wanna know what I've learned?

It's this: You don't attract the top 1% by catering to the 99%.

In other words...

If you want to attract the top 1% in your space, you can't be a mass market brand.

It means being comfortable with and deliberate about the idea that you don't want to serve everybody.

How do you do that?

Well...

First you need to understand something called the Dunning Kruger Effect.

(In my Brand Acceleration Workshop, I talk a lot about Cognitive Bias and how they help attract and keep an audience that happily invests $3000, $5000, $10000 to access your wisdom - if you'd like life time access to the recording hit replay and let me know. It's available for just N25,000)

The Dunning Kruger Effect is a cognitive bias in which people with low ability at a task overestimate their ability...and people with high ability underestimate their ability..

Unusually talented or skilled people aren't aware of how talented they are...

And because of that lack of awareness...

They tend to believe that what the masses are doing might be a better route for them.

The gap between...

What they know intuitively to be true for them...

And...

What they are seeing and hearing from others around them..

Creates uncertainty.

As a result they ask themselves questions like: Is there Something Wrong With Me?

Second...

You need to understand something called Diffusion of Innovation (Feel free to google it)

Simply put...

One of the core ideas of Diffusion of Innovation is that...

Information builds certainty. Innovation builds uncertainty.

If you want to close the gap of uncertainty for unusually talented people...

Validate them with information and the idea that they are not broken, that they are alright and that what they know is actually accurate.

Unfortunately...

The things that give unusually intelligent or talented people the certainty that they need to move forward are the exact same things that create uncertainty amongst the masses.

You can attract high ability people by identifying what the mass market is doing, then identifying WHY high ability people don't feel comfortable or aligned with what the mass market is doing…

And then simply validate, through a series of well placed statements, that they SHOULD feel uncomfortable and misaligned and why.

For instance...

In my market...

Most people are comfortable with an income of $37500 (about N18m) a year.

But the !% that I want to work with are not okay with that...

They want more...not for money sake but so they can make a bigger difference and impact.

Unfortunately they're consistently surrounded by people who make them think $37500 is okay...

I come along and say...

If you're not yet at $150,000 a year...

First you don't have a business...you have a source of income.

Second if you're doing less than $3500 a month...

Globally you're regarded as poor!!!

That messaging repels the 99%...#evillaugh

But it attracts people who are aligned with that messaging...

People who want more for themselves and their family and are not afraid to pay for and do the work needed to create those kinds of results.

And so because of that...

I don't measure my impact based on likes and comments...

More on that some other day....

For now...

Know this...

If you're not willing to repel the 99% then you have no business working with the 1%.

#cuesinceptionmoviesoundtrack

You can use your reaction to this email to self-diagnose and segment yourself.

Are you a citizen of my 1% or a member of the 99%

By the way...

This cuts both ways.

If you want to attract the mass market, every time you speak to the top 1% you are watering the weeds.

If you want to attract the top 1%, every time you put out a message designed for the mass market you’re watering the weeds.

Bottomline...

In life, love and work...

Get clear on what you want.

And them simply focus on doing ONLY those things that that lead you in the direction that you want to go.

Tomorrow I'll share a key idea I keep in mind when I'm selling myself...

If you've ever struggled with selling high ticket...

Tomorrow will completely set you free...

You're going to love it.

Till then...

Get out of your own way.

CTM