The Key to Exponential Self-Growth (One Simple Principle)

A lot of guys get upset, because they aren’t growing fast enough—this was me for quite some time, and to an extent, it still is me.

How do you get health, wealth, and happiness faster? How do you get the body that you want, the girl that you want, and the life that you want, WHEN you want it?

This is a very good question, indeed. It often feels like we’re making progress, but we’re not making progress fast enough. If this is you, I can guarantee that you’re neglecting one simple principle that every man must fully integrate into his life.

When you learn to employ this very simple principle into your life, you will accomplish things far greater than you ever imagined.

Always Be Asking: What’s the ROI?

ROI is a business acronym that stands for “Return on Investment.” In other words, it’s the benefit that you’re getting back from an investment.

When you invest $10,000 in the stock market, if you gain $1,000 back, your ROI is 10%. If you invested $10,000 in the market, and gained a whopping $26,800 in 5 months, your ROI was 268%.

The concept of ROI goes far beyond traditional investments, however. It can be applied to every aspect of your life.

When you’re considering making a purchase, ask yourself: what am I going to get from this purchase? What’s the ROI?

If it’s a designer watch, like a Rolex or a Cartier, the ROI is actually negative. You’re going to be losing not only money in the long run, but you’re also going to hinder your self-growth by developing an ego around your status.

What about if you’re spending time watching TV? What do you think the ROI is here? It’s negative, because there’s a million things that you could do with that time, that would help improve your life.

Every time I do something, I’m always asking: what’s the ROI? Taking a girl out to a coffee date? What’s the ROI? Going on a camping trip with some buddies? What’s the ROI? Eating a kale salad? What’s the ROI?

Negative ROI Activities

The reason why most people aren’t successful, is because they engage in low ROI activities. Rather than doing things that will benefit them in the long run, they indulge in short term pleasure.

Think of the average human being: what hobbies do they typically have? Well, for starters, they probably watch 3 hours of TV every day. Every single fucking day. Imagine if you put that 3 hours into building a business; within a few years, you would be able to quit your day job.

The average person also eats tons of junk food; Twinkies, Doritos, pizza, cake, candy, soda, and so on. What does this do to their mind and body? It destroys their health, makes them fat, and saps their mental energy. It’s literally the worst kind of negative ROI.

The average person engages in negativity. They’re always talking shit about someone else, talking down on the government, gossiping about people behind their back…and what they don’t realize is that they’re only hurting themselves.

By always blaming other people for their problems, they refuse to take responsibility for their own lives; they put the power in someone else’s hands. This is, perhaps, the most insidious and pervasive form of negative ROI.

Always be scanning your life to see if you’re engaging in things that give you negative ROI.

Failure is Sneaky

The reason why most people have so many negative ROI habits, is because the habits don’t shake them out of their own reality.

If you take someone, and slowly lull them into a state of getting worse each year, 99% of them wouldn’t notice. It starts with eating a little bit of junk food every day, which bleeds into mental laziness, which bleeds into physical laziness…

Then, before they know it, their whole life sucks. They’re depressed, they don’t have any friends or hobbies, they’re fat, their health is declining, they have chronic pain, they can’t sleep, and they’re boring beyond belief.

This is why most people are in such a pathetic state; it creeps up on them over years and years of negative ROI habits.

Contrast this with something like heroin: why do so few people do heroin? Because the negative ROI is VERY FAST. Heroin doesn’t slowly make your life shit over decades. It ruins your life in a year or two.

It’s the same with crystal meth and crack cocaine; so few people do these things, because you can easily see how they ruin your life, because it happens so quickly.

TV, junk food, and negative thinking, on the other hand? These take decades to really set in. That’s why so many people succumb to them.

How Positive ROI Will Enhance Your Life

Positive ROI habits, also known as the slight edge, are those little habits and actions that you take that seem insignificant, but over time, they add up to MASSIVE differences.

This is, perhaps, one of the main differences between people who grow EXPONENTIALLY and people who grow slowly. People that grow exponentially don’t just employ one or two positive habits into their lives. They employ all of them.

Successful people almost always have every single one of these habits:

• They read great books for at least an hour a day, to sharpen and strengthen their minds
• They lift weights regularly, because they value their bodies
• They don’t engage in negativity, because they realize that what you think becomes your reality
• They meditate at least 20 minutes a day, to calm their nervous system and enhance their focus
• They invest in the stock market, to make their money work for them
• They keep a budget, and track what they spend to avoid financial deficit
• They keep a planner, so that they can drastically enhance their productivity
• They dress well, because they realize the value of appearance
• They develop their game, either by studying it, or by learning it from others
• They monetize their passions, because they realize that life isn’t worth living without doing this
• They take full accountability for their current situation, because they realize this is the only way to change it
• And more

I could make an entire book filled with habits that successful people employ, but this is a great start.

Now, it’s time to ask yourself: how many of these habits do you employ?

If you aren’t growing as fast as you’d like, I guarantee you it’s because you only have a few of those habits.

“But There’s So Many!”

I know. Believe me, I realize that it can be overwhelming to see that you have so many habits that you need to employ into your life.

In fact, I would actually argue that it’s impossible for the average person to integrate these habits into his life, because there simply isn’t enough time. This is where a concept known as a “positive self-amplifying feedback loop,” or PSAFL, kicks in.

I’ve touched upon this concept before, but the idea is that self-amplifying feedback loops are why the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. It’s why, over time, both success and failure tend to build upon themselves.

The idea is that when someone has a certain set of habits, they will encourage more of those types of habits. If you have habits like working out and reading, these will give you more energy and make you smarter. This will lead to you being more productive and potentially getting a promotion.

This will lead you to getting more money, which you can spend on better supplements and food, which will in turn make you even more jacked. Do you see the idea? It’s a cycle that repeats itself, making you better and better.

The same can be said about negative habits, however. If you eat junk food and watch TV each day after work, you’ll slowly get fatter and lazier. This will give you poor performance in the workplace, which will prevent you from getting promoted.

This will discourage you, which will make you negative, which will make it even easier to just waste your life away watching TV and eating junk food. Do you see the point? It grows on itself.

An Example to Clarify

Let’s take an example: say that Jon has a job that’s earning him a decent income of $40,000 a year, but he wants more. So he starts always asking “What’s the ROI?” before he buys anything or does anything.

Maybe he starts a powerlifting workout routine, because he realizes that he’s investing a small amount of time for a large amount of benefits (more energy, better health, more sex, etc.). Maybe he starts taking high quality whey protein after each workout to gain muscle faster, too.

This increase in muscle gives him more confidence. Because he’s working out frequently, he also has more energy. He sleeps better, he can think more clearly, and he starts to hold himself accountable for his actions.

Then, this might give him better performance at work, which will get him a promotion. So now, instead of earning $40,000 a year, he’s earning $50,000 a year. Now, he puts some of that extra cash towards investing in the stock market and buying healthier food from his local farmer’s market.

Maybe now he can afford to take the toll road, which saves him half an hour every day—he puts this half hour towards meditating every day, which in turn increases his focus and productivity.

So now, just from starting a good workout routine, he already has a promotion and has more time each day. Let’s continue with the example.

After 4-6 months of doing these things, he’s getting even more benefits. He’s starting to get visibly muscular, he has way more energy, confidence, and focus, and he’s gaining more and more money from investing part of his $10,000 bonus.

Jon wonders what would happen if he started a consulting business. He plays around with the idea for a while, and his newfound confidence pushes him to take action and start it. He doesn’t get much money at first, but soon enough, he’s earning an extra $500 a month.

Jon is smart, so he puts this extra $500 a month into buying books that will teach him to succeed, which in turn makes him even smarter. Soon enough, he asks his boss for less hours, and due to Jon’s stellar performance at work, his boss complies.

Now, Jon has even more time on his hands to put into his business, his mind, and his body. Because Jon keeps following the habits that led him here, he is soon able to quit his job.

Do you see the point? As you start integrating positive habits into your life, you’ll slowly get more resources (time and money), which you can re-invest in yourself.

The Highest Leverage Points

I get that there’s a ton of habits, so it can be difficult to figure out a good starting point. In my opinion, the best place to start is by focusing on your physical body. Think about it: your body is the vehicle that you use to navigate reality. If you have a shitty body, you can’t navigate reality as well.

If, however, you have a healthy, potent body, you’ll navigate reality quite easily. Find a workout routine that suits your needs, and start integrating it into your life. Combine this with spending money on healthy food.

If you have the money, consider spending it on supplements that will quicken your progress. You don’t need supplements, but as I’ve said before, they’re a great way to increase your progress.

Then, once you’ve got this habit down, start reading every night. I don’t care how much, just start. Maybe it’s only 10 minutes at first. That’s fine. Eventually, work your way up to 30 minutes each night—if you have more time, read for an hour.

Combine these two fantastic habits with meditation. Just meditate for 20 minutes a day. “But I don’t have 20 minutes!” Yes you fucking do. Find the time. This is your life that we’re talking about here, and if you don’t take action to improve it, then it won’t improve.

These are the best three habits to employ into your life at first. They’ll put you into a PSAFL.

Maybe you won’t notice it at first, but eventually you’ll start to become more muscular, more confident, more intelligent, and more emotionally stable. This will allow you to excel in other areas of your life.

Maybe you’ll end up learning how to manage your time better, or you’ll become more productive and get your usual tasks done faster. Maybe you’ll find a way to earn more money.

Either way, these are things that you can re-invest into yourself. Re-invest into the other slight edge habits that I mentioned; sooner or later, you’ll be successful.

Conclusion

Success is ultimately a mindset. If you want to be successful, you must learn to set firm boundaries. Don’t let bullshit into your life, and actively seek out positive habits and activities.

You must become a master at managing your own life. You are in control, nobody else is—I don’t care what your childhood was like, or what your current situation is like. Trust me, you can succeed if you put in the effort.

All it takes is a little bit of action in the right direction. Just start with one habit if that’s all you can do. Eventually, it will snowball into other habits, and you’ll start to get a PSAFL working in your favor.

If you guys have any questions, comments, or concerns, let me know down in the comments section. I hope that you choose to improve your life, because if you don’t…then who will?