I have a good friend visiting me now. We met many years ago, in college, at the the “clothing-optional” LSD experiment known as the University of California at Santa Cruz.
A few days ago, my friend and I were discussing how UCSC has gained a lot of status since we graduated. That’s thanks to its location right next to Silicon Valley, and the huge amount of tech money that the school has been getting as a result.
This isn’t the only lucky and appreciating investment I’ve made in education.
Another school I went to has since relocated to a richer city. As a result, my diploma became more prestigious and valuable without me doing anything.
And of course, there’s the Dan Ferrari coaching group I was in a few years ago.
Starting in the summer of 2019, I was in Dan’s coaching group for a little over six months.
At the time, Dan was already a super successful copywriter, with a big string of controls for Agora Financial and for The Motley Fool.
But somehow, Dan’s fame has increased significantly since.
His name has become much more known in industry.
He even appeared as no. 1 in some arbitrary listing of the world’s best active DR copywriters.
And I’ve personally noticed people treat me with growing deference whenever I mention I was in Dan’s coaching group — they assume I must have learned some of Dan’s black magic.
So what explains Dan’s growth in status over the past few years?
Some part of it is just time and compounding — Dan has just stuck around and kept working and getting better. He’s also had new wins in the years since. I also have my own pet theory why Dan’s prestige has risen so high over past few years, but that’s another topic, for another time.
For today, I just want to share something that Dan once wrote in one of his once-every-79-years, Halley’s Comet emails:
“Your abilities as a marketer are only capped by how hungry you are to leave a mark.”
What I take from that is the value of high standards, both for ends and means.
In other words, if you want A-list skills, and maybe even the results that come with those skills, then it’s good to set high standards for what you find acceptable.
Over the past few days, I’ve been telling you about six different characteristics that make for a positive attitude. So far, I’ve covered 3. The fourth I want to tell you about is exactly this, high standards.
People who develop high standards — for example, athletes recovering from injury, refusing to accept anything but complete recovery, where they can compete and win again — are more positive about the journey, and are more likely to reach the destination than those who are willing to settle for 50%, 30%, or 10% of what’s possible.
Perhaps that makes immediate sense to you.
Or perhaps you feel a bit of resistance to this idea. Perhaps, like me, you think there is value in having modest standards, ones you are sure to achieve.
Well, if that’s what you’re thinking, then I can tell you we still have two more characteristics of positive mindset remaining. And both of those will be particularly relevant to you in case the idea of shooting for the moon sounds like you’re setting yourself up for disappointment.
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