Let me crash the party right out of the gate:
If you’re living your life like everyone else, you’re going to end up like everyone else. And “everyone else” ain’t doing so hot.
They’re stressed about bills, praying their boss doesn’t add another Zoom meeting, and fighting about which streaming service to cancel because Disney+ raised the price again.
Normal is broke, normal is miserable, normal is a hamster wheel dressed up like a Christmas treadmill that they hang clothes on 3 months later.
So, let’s set the record straight:
- Normal inputs = normal outputs.
- Abnormal inputs = jackpot.
That’s the whole equation. And yet, most people cling to “normal” like it’s grandma’s meatloaf recipe. Safe, bland, and guaranteed to clog your arteries.
The Numbers That Slap You Awake
Most people coast through life without ever asking, “What’s the math behind extraordinary?”
Well, allow me to put numbers to your nightmares:
- Roughly 1 in 2,500 Americans will ever break into the top 1% of income earners (about $600k/year).
- 1 in 20,000 will sniff $10M.
- 1 in 60,000+ will cross $50M.
That’s not a career path, that’s a statistical lightning strike.
That’s not “average.” That’s so far out on the bell curve you need a telescope to see it.
Now here’s where Earl Nightingale smacks us upside the head:
“Success is the progressive realization of a worthy ideal.”
Translation?
Success isn’t normal. It’s not “average.” It’s rare, because so few people actually pursue an ideal worth bleeding for.
Most chase comfort. And comfort is where dreams go to get smothered with a pillow.
You want in?
Then congratulations, you’re signing up to be a statistical freak. A beautiful, unrelenting, socially confusing freak, you’re the UFO sighting that’s impossible to ignore.
Be The Costco Freak
Picture your local Costco on a Saturday. Packed parking lot. Shopping carts jammed like traffic on I-95. Free sample vultures circling the pizza bagels.
Now, imagine the entire store, every shopper, every kid sneaking candy bar 12 packs into the cart, every dad calculating how many rolls of toilet paper they can fit in the closet.
That’s about 1,000 people.
Out of those 1,000 Costco warriors, maybe ONE will ever hit millionaire status not counting home equity which goes up and down in cycles. ONE.
The rest?
They’ll leave with $200 worth of bulk cat food and a broken dream.
Want $10M?
Line up 20 Costcos. Wander the aisles for days. Out of all those thousands of carts squeaking by, only ONE person gets to that level.
Want $50M?
I hope you like walking, because you’re circling 60 Costco’s. And only one lonely lunatic pushing a flatbed cart stacked with ambition and protein powder is going to make it.
That’s what it takes. Out-Costco everyone else.
That’s the level of crazy required.
Why Normal People Will Never Understand You
Here’s the catch: the other 999 Costco shoppers?
They’re not going to clap for you. They’re going to think you’re nuts.
- They’ll say, “Why don’t you just relax a little?”
- They’ll say, “You’re obsessed.”
- They’ll say, “Work-life balance, sweetie.”
These are the same people who need three margaritas just to tolerate a Wednesday.
Don’t take advice from them.
Why would you take financial advice from broke people?
And while I’m asking questions: Why is it that the investment guy we give our money to is called a Broker?
Broker?
Heck I can do that by myself.
Why can’t they be called a Richer?
Anyway, back to our story.
Earl Nightingale nailed it again:
“If you want to be successful, watch what the majority of people do in any area… and do the opposite.”
So, when the masses zig, you zag. When the herd hits the sample line for microwaved taquitos, you’re in the back of the store negotiating with the manager to buy the entire freezer.
You’re not supposed to be understood. You’re supposed to be different.
Owning Your Weirdness (The Secret Sauce)
Here’s where most strivers mess it up: they want greatness, but they also want to be liked.
Newsflash: you don’t get both.
Being liked is what keeps you “relatable.” Being great is what makes you untouchable.
You can’t apologize for being obsessed. You can’t negotiate your standards. You can’t dim your light so Karen from book club doesn’t feel insecure.
You’ve got to own your weirdness, out loud, publicly, without flinching.
Because when you own it, the ridicule turns into respect. And eventually, the same people who whispered about you will whisper to you: “Can you show me how you did it?”
Here’s the deal.
If people nod along and say, “Oh yeah, I totally get what you’re doing,” you’ve already lost. You’re blending back into the herd.
And the herd is broke, anxious, and Googling “cheap wine that doesn’t taste cheap” on Friday nights.
Never ever worry about looking “too different” because Aunt Linda might roll her eyes at Thanksgiving. Guess what?
Aunt Linda is broke, bitter, and has a timeshare she can’t sell.
So, here’s what you do.
Step One: Stack Abnormal Skills
Earl Nightingale Said It Best
Earl once said, “The opposite of courage in our society is not cowardice, it’s conformity.”
Conformity is the disease and normality is the infection.
So, let’s get tactical.
This isn’t just a motivational slap-fest. You want to be abnormal?
You need to stack abnormal skills.
Not one. Not two. Stack them until you’re terrifying.
Here’s your starter pack:
1. Traffic (The Lifeblood)
Most businesses die because they can’t get eyeballs. Traffic is your oxygen.
- Paid ads, organic content, cold outreach, partnerships, you need to learn it all.
- Don’t whine about algorithms. Own them.
- Want to start fast?
I put together a free Traffic Playbook that’ll show you how to get visitors online, on the phone, or in the door this week. [CLICK HERE!]
2. Copywriting (The ATM Machine in Your Fingers)
Traffic without copy is like Costco samples without toothpicks, messy and highly ineffective.
Learn how to write words that sell. It’s not optional. If you can’t sell on paper, you’ll always be chained to manual sales calls.
3. Offers (The Irresistible Bribe)
Weak offers kill strong businesses. Craft packages that are so compelling people feel stupid saying no.
4. Funnels (The Silent Sales Army)
Funnels turn chaos into predictability. Without one, you’re juggling flaming chainsaws while blindfolded. With one, you’re printing money on demand.
5. Email Marketing (The Compound Interest of Attention)
Social media followers are like free samples, here one minute, gone the next. Your email list is the only asset you own. Build it, nurture it, monetize it.
The Painful Truth: Normal Doesn’t Scale
Normal people get normal raises.
Normal people celebrate “cost of living” bumps like they just cured cancer.
Normal people trade five days of misery for two days of escape.
Normal people fight over 3% raises like starving pigeons fighting for bread crumbs.
Normal people post #TGIF memes as if two days of freedom makes up for a lifetime of wasted potential.
If you want more than that, you have to be more than that.
You can’t put in “normal” hours, chase “normal” pleasures, and expect “abnormal” outcomes. That’s not how the math works.
You’re either fighting for normal, or you’re fighting for extraordinary. There’s no in-between.
And extraordinary doesn’t happen by accident. It happens when you stack skills like a mad scientist, own your weirdness, and out-Costco the masses.
Earl Nightingale left us a blueprint: “Success belongs to the ones who refuse conformity.”
Your Job Now
Your job isn’t to please.
Your job isn’t to be relatable.
Your job isn’t to be “balanced” like a yoga teacher with a salt lamp.
Your job is to be the freak, to have the guts to be you, and not give a rip what Aunt Edna vents to her cats alone on a Friday night.
So, let me ask you: are you going to keep playing “normal” with the other 999 shoppers… or are you going to be the one lunatic wheeling out a forklift full of greatness?
If you’re ready to stop apologizing, stop negotiating, and start stacking, then the first domino is traffic. Without traffic, you don’t exist.
So, grab your free Playbook, learn how to get people in the door this week, and start your abnormal journey.
Because the only thing scarier than being misunderstood by 59,999 Costco shoppers… is ending up just like them.