1500 days.
That’s how long it roughly took, before I made my first $10,000 month.
Like most beginners, that magical number promises us the location freedom and financial freedom we want.
We don’t care how we make it, we just want it.
But here’s another thing, we also underestimate what it really takes to achieve any sort of success.
- You swear you’ll wake up at 6 AM to hit the gym. You hit snooze.
- You tell yourself you’ll work on your business. You hop on Netflix.
- You promise to start posting content. You scroll instead.
We know what we need to do yet, we don’t stay consistent.
97% of people will continue to stay stuck and never understand this concept of why.
- You know what to do but never do it long enough to see results
- Every failure becomes undeniable proof that you can’t change
- You accept that you’re lazy, inconsistent and maybe even stupid
As a result your self confidence and self belief disappears like the waves washing away the sandcastles of hope you’ve built.
The real reason you struggle with consistency isn’t because you’re confused, undisciplined, or lazy.
It’s because you’re still acting like the old you.
Your current identity doesn’t match your goals.
You can’t force a broke man to act rich or a socially awkward guy to start cold approaching people.
Their actions would never stick.
Until you shift your identity, you’ll continue to get in your own way.
In this letter, I’m going to show you how we’re going to do this so that you can stay on track and build the confidence needed for your personal and professional success.
We’ll cover:
- The 4 psychological triggers of consistency in high performing entrepreneurs. I’ll break it down so you can use them.
- How to start shifting your identity. This’ll show you how to gain your confidence back.
Let’s begin.
My AHA! Moment
When I was 21, my Facebook feed and YouTube homepage was flooded with the digital nomad lifestyle.
- Stock Market Options Trading
- Cryptocurrency Trading
- Dropshipping
- Freelance Copywriting
So many different options with the same promise of freedom.
The difficulty level was always broken down into something that sounded simple and easy.
If you’ve tried making money online before, you understand how consistent you need to be before seeing any results.
I’d start out with an organized plan and daily schedule.
- 6am wakeup and hit the gym
- 7am hit the books and study
- 8am get ready for my 9 to 5.
- 6pm work on the business
- 8pm hit the gym
- 10pm go to bed
I slept in and skipped the gym.
I’d “work” while watching Netflix or Anime on the side.
I’d doom scroll instead of studying.
The actions needed to make $10,000 per month were clear.
But I couldn’t stay consistent.
I was spending my time doing the right actions while suffering from self sabotage and procrastination. I was burnt out trying to be productive but also over indulge in entertainment.
If I could just do the productive stuff and stop f-cking myself over, I’d be successful.
I realized that brute force with willpower is unsustainable without the right factors. You can’t force someone who wants to be comfortable to want to put themselves through rigorous training.
It’ll never last.
The decision to change needs to be conscious and intentional.
After trying for 4 years, I decided to work with a sales mentor where after 3 months, I made my first $10,000 in a month as an operations manager.
It wasn’t motivation, discipline, or education that got me there. It wasn’t even the guidance. Of course these played a role.
But it was only after my transformation that I understood.
I needed to become someone different.
The old me that wanted to watch anime all day, play video games, and hang out with friends after work? The old me that wanted the shortcut to wealth?
He’d never reach his goals.
The new me that was confident, disciplined, skilled and educated? It was impossible for him NOT to reach it.
Disciplined people don’t force themselves to be disciplined, they just are.
The difference between success and failure is who you believe you are.
The same way a Police Officer isn’t armed with the right tools, training and education to stop a fire is the same way a Fire Fighter isn’t armed with the right tools, training and education needed to fight crime.
Both can keep trying to do the other’s role but at the end, it’s unsustainable and ultimately insufficient enough to get the job done.
The missing skills, education, and training is the Identity Gap.
If you try to force your identity to work, you’ll be met with resistance.
This resistance comes in the form of self sabotage.
So how do we work around this?
How do we stay consistent this time?
Let’s go into the 4 psychological triggers present in high performers.
The Identity Installation Process
The First Psychological Trigger: Obsession
Most people see obsession as unhealthy, especially if misdirected.
One of the earliest times, I’ve had a truly unhealthy obsession was during the Covid-19 quarantine.
16 to 20 hours of my day was spent playing PUBG mobile.
I wasn’t getting smarter, being fulfilled, or making more money.
But I was addicted to progress.
- Every kill = dopamine hit
- Every win = proof of improvement
- Every loss = motivation to get better
Every setback from another gamer outcompeting me made me want to continue coming back.
After only a few months, my team and I became a top 0.1% team.
Imagine if I funneled this level of obsession into copywriting. I’d probably be a digital nomad in Bali.
Instead my obsession became identity shifting and this competitive game of entrepreneurship. I could spend hours talking about this with anyone.
What would this near-infinite energy do for you?
And how can you do the same, but for your goals?
Add a sense of competitiveness to your situation.
Gamify Your Growth
We are innately wired to win. We hate losing.
It’s human nature.
For thousands of years, humans have spent their days conquering lands. It’s in our DNA, to win.
We also hate losing because it makes us look incompetent. And humans do more to NOT look bad than to look good.
My first $10,000 didn’t come from just hard work, it came from competition.
My mentor hired a team and we’d battle each other:
- Who can make the most sales?
- Loser needs to set calls for the winner for a month.
This motivated us to show up at our best.
No one wants to be the loser of anything.
So how do we tap into the power of obsession?
- Find a rival. Friend or family member.
- Join a community. Day traders, Athletes, Coaches. There’s a group for everything.
Compete, learn, reflect, reiterate and continuously improve with these people.
If you want to win, make progress as addictive as a game.
The Second Psychological Trigger: Urgency
Urgency is a psychological trigger that many take for granted.
No one takes action until it’s too late.
- You try to fix your diet after the heart attack.
- You start saving money after you’re in debt.
- You take life seriously when you’re forced to.
What’s the point now? It’s already too late.
I often bring up the life or death example below in conversations.
What if you only had 30 days to make $100,000?
The consequence? You and your entire family would die.
In this case, would you rely on motivation?
Would you feel burnt out?
Would you keep doom-scrolling?
Absolutely not. You would do whatever it takes because the alternative is unacceptable.
Many of you don’t give a sh*t about your life, but the lives of your family are different.
You’d protect them.
This is your good friend, Urgency, the excuse killer.
Why You’re Ignoring Reality.
I can tell the gears are turning in your mind now.
But it’s not enough because you’ll go back to your state of comfort.
- Roof over your head
- Stable job
- Little bit of savings.
This comfort is a trap.
You think you have time, until you don’t.
After I knew that I reached my first milestone of making $10,000 per month as an Operations Manager, I had spoken to many other entrepreneurs around my age.
All the beginners always lacked urgency.
Then I bring up this example.
COVID-19 wiped out millions of jobs overnight.
Some people lost everything, others never recovered.
Some of my coworkers were laid off.
Homeless? Jobless? Probably.
I asked myself: What if that was me?
I had a good job. I made $4,000/month. I was 23.
But if I lost my job, I was f*cked.
And the next crisis? No one sees it coming.
It could happen tomorrow.
Do I want to f*ck around and find out?
Absolutely not.
Your Situation Is More Urgent Than You Think
You keep saying:
“I want to make more money.”
“I want to build my dream life.”
“I want to start my business.”
But a want isn’t enough.
If there’s no urgency, you won’t act.
You’ll half-ass it, be inconsistent and stay stuck.
So, I made my situation urgent.
- Who depends on me? (Parents. Sibling.)
- What if I lose everything? (No backup plan.)
- What if success isn’t optional?
You’re in your 20s. You only get older.
You have less energy.
Time is running out.
You can’t take as many risks.
If you keep delaying your dreams, you’ll wake up one day and realize…
You ran out of chances.
The Urgency Challenge: Make It Real
If you want urgency to change your life, do this now:
- Set a deadline. (If you HAD to make $10K in 60 days, how would you do it?)
- Burn your boats. (Make success necessary so quitting isn’t an option.)
- Stop waiting. (Act like your future self today, or stay stuck forever.)
Your situation is already urgent.
You’ve just been ignoring it.
The Third Psychological Trigger: Necessity
There’s a difference between urgency and necessity that often get confused.
Urgency has a time limit. Necessity doesn’t.
Most people want success. Few make it necessary.
Think of it this way:
- You don’t try to breathe. You must.
- You don’t hope to drink water. You need to.
- You don’t wish for food. You’ll die without it.
You NEED to make your success the same.
What if making money, getting in shape, and building your dream life wasn’t optional?
Because that’s the difference between those who make it… and those who never do.
Again like with urgency, a want isn’t enough.
Because when something is a “want”:
- You only show up when you feel like it.
- You stop putting effort when it gets hard.
- You give yourself an excuse to fail.
The opposite happens when a want becomes a necessity.
You show up everyday, eliminate all excuses, because failure isn’t an option.
- A broke man NEEDS to find a way to put food on the table for his kids.
- A desperate entrepreneur NEEDS to make a sale when rent is due tomorrow.
- A drowning man NEEDS to fight for air until he survives.
When failure isn’t an option, you act with authority and necessity.
Your actions become different.
But how do we make our wants a necessity in our lives?
Success is Non-Negotiable
My first taste of materialistic success happened when I was 25.
It only took 90 days to reach my first $10,000 month.
I had wanted this for the past 4 years while working a day job.
I ended up quitting my job and went all in doing appointment setting for a Finish Sales Agency where I’d eventually become an Operations Manager there.
Most would say that it’s risky to cut off your sole source of income for something that isn’t proven. But that’s the risk we all take in entrepreneurship.
Success isn’t guaranteed.
But that doesn’t mean we can’t do everything in our power to achieve it.
There’s a few mindset shifts everyone needs to take.
1. Cut Off Your Safety Nets
If you keep giving yourself a way out, you’ll always take it.
- Burn the backup plan.
- Commit like you have no choice.
- Make success your only option.
A way out makes you comfortable.
I don’t feel like doing it today, I’ll do it tomorrow.
After 1 year of tomorrow’s,
Oh it’s fine if it failed, I still have my job backing me.
Go in with the mindset of determination.
You’ve spent so years with the mindset of safety and look where it’s gotten you, stuck.
Where do you think you’ll be 12 months from now with the same mindset and same set of actions?
Nothing changes if nothing changes.
2. Make The Pain of Staying The Same Worse Than The Pain of Change
It’s already super cliche but it’s worth noting.
5 years from today. Same job. Same paycheck. Same struggles.
You scroll past other people who made it, except you.
All because you decided to stay comfortable.
Does that really sit well with you? Because life has a funny way of forcing us to take action when it’s too late.
We get older.
We have less energy.
We have less time.
People depend on us more.
But we can’t take care of them how we wish.
This results in regret.
You feel like less of a man.
I refuse to stay incompetent, useless, undisciplined, and as lazy as the others in their 20s.
I’ve thought about my situation and I’ve understood that the pain of changing absolutely nothing outweighs the pain of trying to reach the life I want.
Think about your situation for a bit, because the price of today’s inaction comes at the cost of your future dreams.
Your decision
You’re reading this and have a decision to make.
You understand you’ve spent years thinking the same way:
- I’m not ready yet
- My plans aren’t perfect
- I’ll do it tomorrow
- No one understands me
You thinking this way, caused you to act in complacency.
And look where it’s gotten you. Stuck.
What’ll it be?
Keep waiting for the right time or make success necessary?
No more backups, no more waiting, no more bullshit excuses.
The Fourth Psychological Trigger: Identity
“You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems” —James Clear, Author of Atomic Habits
100% true only if your emotions, beliefs, and thoughts are nonexistent.
Emotions, beliefs, and thoughts are a part of the most important factor: identity.
- You can have the best gym routine. But if you still see yourself as lazy, you’ll skip workouts.
- Your content creation plan can be perfect. But if you don’t believe you’re a creator, you’ll never post.
- You could have the ultimate sales script. But if you don’t think you can sell, you won’t.
Systems don’t change anyone.
Identity does.
Until you become the kind of person who naturally does those things, you’ll be met with resistance.
This resistance is what makes people quit.
Brute forcing it is unreliable.
Motivation is fleeting.
Identity is guaranteed.
Why You’re Actually Stuck
Laziness is a symptom of a large problem, not the problem itself.
It’s not why you’re struggling with consistency.
It’s because you’re stuck with an identity that doesn’t serve you and makes success feel impossible.
- A broke man acting rich feels fake.
- A lazy man trying to be disciplined feels forced.
- A social introvert trying to be confident in public won’t stick.
This is also why you relapse back into old habits.
Doom scrolling, binge watching Netflix, and gaming were old habits of mine that I struggled to break. But that’s because I identified as a guy in his 20s that:
- believed he could procrastinate and be successful
- make $10,000 per month working only 3 hours per day
- save his way up to $20,000 in savings, while always spending
With this identity, of course I spent 4 years only to make nothing.
If you could relate to getting zero results, it’s not because you’re incapable. It’s because deep down, your brain rejects the identity change it NEEDS to make.
And until you fix this, you’ll stay stuck forever.
My Experience with Identity Shifts
If you ever met anyone that came out of military boot camp you’d notice a difference in the before and after.
They walk with confidence.
Talk without hesitation.
Act with conviction.
These new recruits didn’t learn discipline, they embodied it.
- 4am wakeup
- Train, Eat Clean, and Execute without hesitation
- Discipline is automatic
Their Identity changed and their actions followed.
But the thing is, you can’t just will your identity to shift.
It comes as a response to a need not a desire.
In my case, I put myself in a position where my environment demanded me to change.
- I quit my job
- I was in another country
- It’s entrepreneurship not a 9 to 5
- I worked 16 to 20 hour days, 6 to 7 days a week
- I ate one healthy meal a day while intermittent fasting
- I had no social media and little contact with friends
I had no choice but to perform.
As a result, I made my first $10,000 month in 90 days.
If I put you in the same position of urgency and need, you’d do whatever it takes to get the job done.
Do it long enough those actions become a part of who you are as a result of habitualization.
How To Make Your Identity Match Your Goals
5 years ago, did you consciously decide to:
- Make just enough to survive?
- Stay stuck in the same place?
- Watch others succeed while you stay behind?
No.
But that’s what happened.
Because you never chose your identity. It was chosen for you.
Your thoughts, beliefs, and habits were programmed into you by:
- Your parents telling you to “play it safe.”
- Your teachers conditioning you to be an employee.
- Society making you think success is for “other people.”
If you don’t actively rewrite your identity, you’ll keep living the same life on repeat.
So the real question is…
Who do you need to become?
- The version of you who is disciplined.
- The version of you who makes money with ease.
- The version of you who attracts success instead of chasing it.
Because until you become that person, nothing changes.
Identify that person.
Put yourself in the situation that demands you to evolve.
Let the power of time help you shift.
This process is called Identity Shifting.
And it’s what I break down in my book, Breaking The Box.
Read it. Change your identity. Rewrite your life.
The Permanent Fix to Inconsistency
I know that you really want that better life.
- More money
- To be healthier
- To find the perfect partner
- To find freedom and purpose
And I know you’ve spent years trying your absolute hardest.
Because I was also stuck for half my 20s.
It’s not that we didn’t know what to do.
We know exactly what must be done, we just can’t stick to it long enough to see the results unfold.
But right now, you have everything you need to make your success inevitable.
- Identify what you want.
- Identify who you need to become.
And make the choice to:
- become obsessed with your goals through gamification and competition.
- see the urgency behind your goals, because you’re running out of time and people depend on you.
- make success a necessity—as crucial as the air you breathe, because the price you pay for your dreams is today’s discomfort.
- step into the version of yourself that takes action flawlessly, every single day.
Or don’t… and a year from now, you’ll still be here.
Watching others succeed while you scroll past their wins, thinking back to this newsletter.
You’ll be wondering why nothing has changed.
But that’s okay because at the end of the day..
We can’t all be successful.
You can keep lying to yourself… or you can step up.
Your call.
- Allan L.
If you want to learn my system on Identity Shifting to intentionally step into the version of you that makes success inevitable, check out Breaking The Box.
