Professional Documents
Culture Documents
from The Power of One More by Ed Mylett
“You're a lot closer to changing your life than you think. You’re one more meeting, one more relationship,
one more decision, one more action, or one more thought from leading the life you deserve.” – Ed Mylett
Find the strength to take one more swing at a change you’re trying to make by adopting three “one more” ways of thinking:
“One more” degree
Your life is governed by your standards.
Your standards are like a setpoint on an identity thermostat in your mind. Just as the thermostat in your
house maintains a set temperature by turning on the furnace when the temperature drops below the
setpoint, you maintain an identity setpoint by getting your butt in gear when your results dip below your
standards.
If your fitness thermostat is set at 75 degrees, you have low fitness standards and will wait until you are 20 pounds overweight
or get winded while walking up a flight of stairs before you get a gym membership and make your fitness a priority.
If your professional thermostat is set at 100 degrees, you have high professional standards. Therefore, you triple check
important emails before hitting send and read business books to discover new work strategies and get better business results.
Mylett says (paraphrased), “Can you tolerate the business results you're currently getting and the money you currently make? If you can,
that’s what you’re going to continue getting. It's only when you decide that you can no longer tolerate the results you're getting that
you start to change them.”
Raise your identity setpoint one degree each day and no longer tolerate mediocrity in all areas of your life by focusing on what Mylett calls
the “trilogy of identity change:” faith, intention, and association. Renew your faith in your capacity to do great things, repeat an intention
of the great things you want to do, and associate with people who are doing great things each day, and you will increase your identity
thermostat setpoint one more degree.
The more your identity thermostat setpoint increases, the more you will push yourself to live the life you deserve. But if you don’t have the
self‐confidence to support your identity setpoint, you won’t maintain a high identity setpoint. That is why you must commit to doing “one
more” than you promise.
“One more” than you promise
“Self‐confident people share one habit in common, and that is the ability to keep the promises they make
to themselves.” – Ed Mylett
What if you keep your promises to yourself…and do one more?
When you go to the gym, you not only complete the three sets you planned…you do one more
set.
When you sit down to meditate, you not only complete your 20‐minute meditation…you do one more minute.
When it’s time to do your deep work for the day, you not only push your focus for 50 minutes…you push yourself one more time
before quitting.
Doing one more than you promised may not seem like a big deal, but over time it leads to unstoppable self‐confidence because you know
that few other people keep their promises and even fewer do more than they promise.
“One more” day today
Several years ago, Ed Mylett decided that his day would no longer start when he woke and end when he
went to bed. Instead, his “first day” would start at 6 a.m. and end at noon. His “second day” would start at
noon and end at 6 p.m. And his “third day” would start at 6 p.m. and end at midnight. Mylett says, “I'm living
more than 1,000 days in the same timeframe as others who think of themselves as living in a 365‐day year.
Who do you think has the advantage?”
By compressing his day to a six‐hour block, Mylett moved up the finish line and made each day a sprint. He
now lives with a greater sense of urgency and does not have time to procrastinate, because he needs to get done in 6 hours what other
people get done in 18 hours. Not only does he bring more intensity to work, but he also brings more passion to every aspect of his life –
he’s more loving and present with the people in his life and far more focused at the gym.
When you commit to 6‐hour days, you squeeze the air out of the wasted parts of your day and are left with just enough time to do what is
important and live a balanced life. Start seeing the finish line of your day at 12 p.m. and sprint to finish everything you would typically get
done in day before 12 p.m. Then, when you hit the 12 p.m. finish line, push yourself to complete one more days’ worth of activities before
going to sleep. By fitting “one more” day inside each day you will have more opportunity to take “one more” swing at the change you
want to make and get the life you deserve.
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