To Be More Successful, Focus on High Impact Activities

Hi Josh,

I recently bought and read the millionaire in the mirror based on  your previous recommendations.  I have actually read the book twice and am reading it a third time while I try to determine what my long term "heat seeking missile" goal should be. It is a really good book, but like you said it has a somewhat gimmicky title. Moreover the ultra shiny laminated foil cover (meant to imitate a mirror) is also very gimmicky and turned me off the first time I came across the book years ago. 

The author of the book divides a career into 4 phases and provides a set of operational guidelines to achieve what he calls "Outstanding Success" starting from any of those phases. This is great because I think the vast majority of people aren't as blessed with foresight and focus as yourself and have been drifters and searchers throughout their careers. Fortunately I am only in stage 2 of my career so switching gears, according to the book, shouldn't be too difficult compared to those in the later half of their careers.

The books author felt that almost everyone should avoid entrepreneurship because today's corporate life makes it so much easier to become an outstanding success than does going it on your own. He says there are a small number of people who should use entrepreneurship as a path to outstanding success which I guess fall into two categories the first being those that have no choice (ex criminals, unemployable people etc.) and those that could not work for a corporation because it's in their DNA to be entrepreneurs. Josh do you feel the same way about entrepreneurship?

Anyways this article and the book itself are great. I know it is going to take a lot of time and small incremental steps to get where I want but I am excited to start managing my career for outstanding success. 

Thank you for recommending this great book!

Thanks for summarizing the book, Pete! Now I can spend that $10 to pay commissions on my next IRA purchase 😀

I have some beef with it being "easier to become an outstanding success" by climbing the corporate ladder. In my book, the person who endured hardships to claw their way up is much more of an "outstanding success" than someone who took the path of least resistance. Take my parents for example - they grew up in a broken country and never laid eyes on an automobile until they were in their mid-20s. Measured in dollars, they aren't nearly as successful as a U.S. senator whose daddy had monetary and alumnus ties to Ivy Leagues. But in terms of the life lessons they picked up and their ability to endure hardships, I'd consider my parents more of an "outstanding success."

It's a difference in perspective, so take your pick: relative success, measured from person-to-person? Or absolute success, measured in dollar signs and sphere of influence?

Hi Gilvus,
I agree that outstanding success is a relative thing and it sounds like your parents are probably good examples of why immigrants do so well when given the chance in a relatively free country like the U.S.A or my home country Canada. 

However Bedell specifically  defines something called "Outstanding Success" as his version of career success in a fairly objective way. It is basically as follows ( I highly recommend the book for more insights): "Outstanding Earnings or Influence in your field combined with outstanding happiness". He says outstanding earnings would mean being in the top 1% of American earners over your career. You have to work in your zone at things you love, are very very good at and allow you to reach your goal to get there. As Joshua mentioned Bedell recommends doing the bare minimum to prevent "Outstanding Failure" and spending all of the rest of your time working towards outstanding success and nothing else. The book provides all nitty gritty details.

I used to work with sales people ensuring the contracts they signed were legit and made financial sense. At first I wondered why the real producers inevitably had the worst paperwork. At first I figured the longer tenured reps should have better paperwork then the less tenured reps due to experience, but they usually didn't really seem to care about their paperwork at all unless a manager told them to fix it or face major penalties. After awhile it was obvious that they were working on big deals with customers and submitting minimally complete contracts, and paperwork was a way of simply avoiding wipeout. The incremental benefit of submitting really good paperwork paled in comparison to the incremental benefit of prospecting, engaging, presenting and closing deals which lead to making earning big comissions and prizes. The outstanding sales people used their time in the most rational way and left it to me , a non-commissioned glorified clerk with a desk job and a salary tied to a job grade, to manage details that weren't related to achieving "Outstanding Success".

There are two things I don't like about the book besides the cover and title. There is no index and almost no citations. I can get over the index thing by using google books but I do like citations when people talk about statistics , studies etc.

Also, I know its confusing, but my name is Mike not Pete.

Bedell specifically addresses what you argue here, saying that he is using the term "outstanding success" in a very narrow, financial context that has nothing to do with the larger, and equally important, areas of life such as family, overcoming hardship, personal triumph, etc.  He is interested in one thing, and one thing only: How can someone reach the point where their lifetime career earnings exceed $40 million.  He even addresses factors such as personal fulfillment, the mistake high performance people often make of alienating people, and specific, actionable strategies that can be put to work.  

No summary can do the book justice.  It is one of the best written, most focused examples of useful knowledge I've ever encountered.  If I were teaching a college course, it would be one of the required texts.  My own copy is marked up, cross-referenced, and highlighted.  There is nothing I could add to it to make it better.  There is nothing he says in it with which I disagree.  It is that good.

To be blunt: I think anyone who is interested in financial independence who doesn't buy the book is making a very big mistake.  The $10 or $20 you "save" not purchasing the text is a terrible allocation decision, both financially and career management-wise.  Trust me on this.  Buy the book.  Read the book.  Then re-read it.  It can change your life.  That isn't hyperbole.

Point taken. Ordering now. Thanks you and Mike/Pete.

Just curious, Joshua: do you get affiliate $ if I buy used items from Amazon, even if I click the links you provide?

That's a good question.  I tried to log in to check for you but was met with this message.  (See attachment.)  If I remember, I'll try and pull up the report tomorrow when the system is back online.

If memory serves me correctly, I think I do, but it is a fraction of the regular royalty income because used items are so much cheaper on an absolute basis.  I do know there are royalties paid on digital downloads (e.g., someone rents a movie), books, tangible merchandise, etc.  

So I want to say, "yes" but don't quote me on that because I'm not entirely certain.

This comment, right here... This is where my career, my whole life, turned around. I invested the $20. I started reading. I got the part about choosing the people you will get the most done with. I put down the book and thought for a while. And then I had this eureka moment where I realized that I had overlooked someone. So I called an old friend to check in on his latest startup. And within a year I was managing that company for him. Eight months later I bought it from him.

Just bought on the iPad! And congrats to you!

The short answer: I do. 

There are very smart people that, if they had to try and start a business, would lose everything.  Being a 'good operator' as it was called in the old days, is very different than being a good manager or a good investor.  It requires a certain personality and, some studies indicate that there is actually a strong genetic component to families that embrace cultures of entrepreneurship; they have the skill set and emotional fortitude to withstand the vissisitudes endemic to the lifestyle.  That may explain why a lot of the most successful start-ups were immigrants who had nothing to lose.

The average guy, in my opinion, would be happier finding a full time career working for someone else, and then using his time and resources to build cash generating assets on the side.  That way, he is always independent in the sense he could quit without hurting his standard of living one iota, but he still gets the benefits of being part of a larger institution.  

Most people just can't handle the idea of, say, signing over their house and taking on a $5,000 or $20,000 per month payment to try to expand their widget factory or plastics manufacturer during the early years.

So, yes.  I do agree with him.  

I'm glad the book was as useful to you as it was to me.  It's definitely one of my favorites of all time!

This reminds me of a conversation you had with a friend of yours who shall remain nameless.  They argued (I appologize if I get the details wrong, its been a while) that they could not take a better, higher-paying job offer because it would interfere with their charity work.  When you posited the idea that they could make more money with the new job and use that extra money to put together their own charity and do so much more good than they were now, your idea was brushed off with a "There are more things to life than money, Josh."  It made me cringe that this simple concept of making better use of one's time and money was brushed off without even considering it.  Many people have the idea in their head that if they increase their profits from an activity, it can't possibly be good for anyone else, or at least it is immoral to profit from helping others.