Why Trying Harder Isn't The Answer
Watch
Listen
I found a little book in my 1997 journal called You Squared. A fly trying to escape through a glass window. Ten steps away, the door is open.
Good morning. I was in my journal today and I found a list of my top 12 books to document.
This is 1997, remember.
I've told you about some of them. Influence. The E-Myth. The Seven Habits. The One to One Future.
But this one is different. It's a book called You Squared by Price Pritchett.
I'd never heard of him. My friend Joe Stump introduced me to it.
And I've read it probably a hundred times.
This was one of the books that got me thinking bigger. Getting out of the way and letting things happen.
A couple of things stood out.
First, it's small.
I own a company right now called 90 Minute Books. And part of the genesis of it was realizing how impactful a little book can be.
Because I know how impactful this one was for me. You sit down and read the whole thing in one sitting.
And it's one of those books where you don't need to do anything. There's no seven step process.
You read it, you get the insight, and you're changed because of it.
Here's how it opens. He's telling a story.
He's sitting in a quiet room at the Millcroft Inn. A peaceful little place hidden among the pine trees, about an hour out of Toronto.
Funny thing. The Millcroft Inn was fifteen or twenty minutes from where I was living at the time.
It's late July, just past noon, and he's listening to a life or death struggle a few feet away.
There's a small fly burning out the last of its energy trying to fly through the glass of the window pane.
The whining wings tell the whole story. The fly's strategy is try harder.
But it's not working. And the struggle is part of the trap.
It's impossible for the fly to try hard enough to break through the glass. It has staked its life on raw effort and determination.
And this fly is doomed. It will die there on the windowsill.
Across the room, ten steps away, the door is open.
Ten seconds of flying time and this little creature could reach the world it's looking for. With a fraction of the effort it's wasting now.
The breakthrough is right there. It would be so easy.
So why doesn't the fly try something dramatically different?
How did it get so locked in on this one route?
What logic is there in continuing until death with more of the same?
No doubt it makes sense to the fly. And that's the idea that kills it.
Here's the line. Trying harder isn't necessarily the solution to achieving more.
Sometimes it's a big part of the problem.
If you stake your whole hope for a breakthrough on trying harder than ever... you may kill your chances.
Now think about when I first read this.
I'd just lived it.
When I started out as a realtor, I made a hundred cold calls a day. That's manual labor.
And the second you stopped, it stopped working.
Then I got introduced to direct response. To marketing.
And I figured out I could put words on a postcard, on an ad, and have people call me instead of me calling them.
My entire life changed.
And I see it everywhere now. People in real estate, in any business, trying harder and harder at the traditional, manual thing.
When there are quantum leaps sitting right there. Just from a simple shift.
But you have to be open to it. Aware there might be an easier way.
And sometimes that awareness builds its own momentum.
Go find the book. You'd really enjoy it.
And before you try harder today... look for the open door.
Transcript
Auto-generated transcript, provided as supporting material. It may contain errors, and speaker labels are occasionally mis-attributed.
Okay. Good morning. I was looking in my journal today and I found a list of my top 12 books to document. So remember, this is 1997. I've talked about some of the books.
I talked about influence. I talked about the E myth. I talked about the seven habits and the one to one future. But this is a little bit different book. This is a book called U Squared by Price Pritchett.
And I'd never heard of Price Pritchett, but Joe Stump actually introduced me to this, to this book. And a couple of things are important about this book. I've read it probably a hundred times. I mean, this, you know, I got this. This was one of the books that kind of was a catalyst to thinking bigger, to getting out of the way and letting things happen.
It's kind of a high velocity formula for multiplying your personal effectiveness in quantum leaps. Now, a couple of things stood out to me about this book. Like first of all, it's small. And I own a company right now called 90 Minute Books. And one of the genesis thoughts of that led to creating the 90 minute books is realizing how impactful little books can be.
Because I know how impactful it's been. For me, this is one of those things where you can sit down and read the whole thing in one sitting. But I'll tell you the, I'll give you the, the beginning. Because this is one of those books that it's an insight that changes you when you read it. You don't need to do anything.
There's not a seven step process. It's one of those books where you read it and you get the insight and you're changed because of it. So this was very funny to me because the opening of the book, he's telling a story. So I'm sitting in a quiet room at the Millcroft Inn, a peaceful little place hidden back among the pine trees, about an hour out of Toronto. So the Millcroft Inn was literally about 15 or 20 minutes from where I was living at the time.
It's just past noon, late July, and I'm listening to the desperate sounds of a life or death struggle going on. A few feet away, there's a small fly burning out the last of its short life's energies in a futile attempt to fly through the glass of the window pane. The way. The way the whining wings tell the poignant story of the flies strategy. Try harder.
But it's not working. The frenzied effort offers no hope for survival. Ironically, the struggle is part of the trap. It's impossible for the fly to try hard enough to succeed at breaking through the glass. Nevertheless, this little insect has staked its life on reaching its goal through raw effort and and determination.
This fly is doomed. It will die there on the windowsill across the room, 10 steps away, the door is open. 10 seconds of flying time and this small creature could reach the outside world it seeks. With only a fraction of the effort now being wasted. It could be free of this self imposed trap.
The breakthrough possibility is there. It would be so easy. Why doesn't the fly try another approach, something dramatically different? How did it get so locked in on the idea of this particular route and determined effort offer the most promise for success? What logic is there in continuing until death to seek a breakthrough with more of the same?
No doubt this approach makes sense to the fly. Regrettably, it's an idea that will kill. Trying harder than isn't necessarily the solution to achieving more. It may not offer any real promise for giving what you want, giving you what you want out of life sometimes, in fact, it's a big part of the problem. If you stake your hopes for a breakthrough on trying harder than ever, you may kill your chances for success.
Now, when I was first introduced to this book, this was at a time that I had just kind of experienced that type of thinking. I mentioned that when I started out as a realtor, I was making cold calls, make 100 cold calls a day, which is manual labor. And you had to continue doing it. And as soon as you stopped, it stopped working. And when I through being introduced to the concept of direct response advertising, of marketing, and I figured out that I could put words on a piece of paper, on a postcard, on an ad, and have people call me instead of me having to call people, my entire life changed.
It's like the, you know, so many people, I see it, so many people in real estate and any business just are trying harder and harder to do the traditional or the manual things. And there are quantum leaps available for you just by making a simple shift, but being open to it and being aware of it. And sometimes that awareness that maybe there's an easier way builds its own momentum. So it's nice I reread through the book when I went out and sought it out on my bookshelf to tell you guys about it. But it's been a while since I read it and I think you would really enjoy it.
Probably takes about 40 minutes to read the whole thing, but the book is you squared and the author is Price Pritchett. So stop Trying so hard could be easy. Every idea that I've had, every dollar that I've made over the last 30 years has gone through my brain, through my pen, onto a piece of paper in my journal before it went out into the real world. And if I can turn people onto that activity as a driver for what to do, what to think about, what to ask yourself to draw out, what the next most valuable action is for you and how to find the most profitable things that you can install in your business, I'm all for it. So this Friday at 1pm I'm going to do for the first time a 50 minute profit finder workshop and you're going to join me live on Zoom and we're going to go through a 50 minute exercise.
Bring your pen, bring a notebook or piece of paper and I'm going to guide you through a thinking process and that will help you identify where the lowest hanging fruit is in your business and maybe some fruit that you didn't even know was there. But I'm going to show you where to look for it. So it's free. It's for you. It's Friday at 1pm this Friday, just watch.
Go to. What did we call the website, Josh Minute Profit finder. Just go to 50minuteprofitfinder.com and I'll get you all the details and hopefully you can join us then. Friday 1pM.
Get BreakthroughDNA Free
Discover the 8 Profit Activators that can transform your business. Get the complete framework, free.