Contrary to the productivity gurus, you have to…

Newsletter · Jan 25, 2026

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An entrepreneur's recipe for sweet success

2.9min Read

Say yes.

Whether you’ve seen this out there or not, there’s a common message that is going around about how to be successful.

It’s a minimalist perspective which I totally understand. But there’s a time and place for it. It’s not a one size fit all solution.

In fact, until you go through a couple of stages to your journey, you really shouldn’t use this trendy approach.

The idea is that you need to say “no” more times than you say “yes”.

“Eliminate the distractions”, they say

“Tunnel vision on what you’re building”

“Focus on ONE thing.”

Here are some other more notable versions of that:

Warren Buffett: "The difference between successful people and really successful people is that really successful people say no to almost everything."

Steve Jobs: "Focusing is about saying no... Innovation is saying no to 1,000 things."

Tim Ferriss: "What you don't do determines what you can do."

Tony Blair: "The art of leadership is saying no, not saying yes. It is very easy to say yes."

All of which are legit. I can’t deny that.

But also the people saying those things are titans!

Here’s my counter argument**—

They have ALREADY made it
They are the best of the best
They are legends and VERY successful
But they were once just like you and I.

--In the messy middle, in the trenches, building the thing.

During that time, they were in the YES stage of their journey.

See— in the beginning as you’re trying to make a name for yourself, you don’t really have the luxury to say "no" to opportunities that come knocking.

When you say NO, you’re saying no to opportunities that will take you away from the thing that you really need to do.

However, before you’ve established that baseline, before you have any traction, every single opportunity might in fact be the life changing opportunity you’ve been looking for.

Instead of trying to figure out how to say no to different things that come up, try and figure out how to say yes.

If you don’t know how to do it, say yes and figure it out
If you don’t have the time, say yes and stretch yourself
If you haven’t done it before, say yes and acquire the skill through experience.

The more you take on, the more you realize that you’re capable of.

You find your comfort level and then push beyond that.

Feeling uncomfortable is just a sign that your old comfort zone is having a hard time keeping up with you.

I am not perfect at this by any means. I still catch myself panicking when more things are added to my plate.

I already feel like I have a million things going on, but here’s the deal— more times than not, the successes that I’ve had over the last decade have come from me saying yes.

At the VERY least, when you say yes and wholeheartedly get after it, you’ll learn something.

It might not be your “break”, but the experience will lead to the next opportunity and then the next one after that AND THEN maybe the one after that will be your “overnight success”.

Saying yes to one thing isn’t just saying yes to that one thing ONLY. It’s also saying yes to what you can learn, the people you meet and the network you’ll gain**.

If your knee jerk reaction is to say no, you’re bit by bit building up walls around you and limiting your potential.
Save the walls for when you make your millions and want to build that empire even bigger.

Until then— say yes more.

BITES 🍩

Bite 1 — Tony Robbins Gets It

Bite 2 — Mysterypreneur link

Bite 3 — AI Juice 🧃

🍩BITE 1
— Tony Robbins Gets It

“If you develop the absolute sense of certainty that powerful beliefs provide, then you can get yourself to accomplish virtually anything, including those things that other people are certain are impossible.” — Tony Robbins

Said in a different way, if you can see it, feel it, believe it— in your mind’s eye, it can become your reality.

🍩BITE 2
— Mysterypreneur Link

I love a good origin story..

🍩BITE 3
— AI Juice 🧃

If you aren’t playing around with stuff like this, you’re going to be left in the dust

Until next time...

Stay in the fight,

My best tweet this week:

@kevinasrx

Here’s how you gain a following on every single platform in 2026:

If you haven’t read Kevin Kelly’s 1000 true fans essay, you should. It’s a solid read

But since I know you don’t want to read a several thousand word essay, so here’s the TLDR

You don’t need millions of fans,

12:49 AM • Jan 21, 2026 ↗

My favorite tweet this week:

@mhp_guy

A hot take is cold as ice when written with AI.

AI writing is SO OBVIOUS! Can't you tell?? Prediction:

5 years from now there will have been ZERO NYT bestselling books that were written by AI.

AI for research? YES. For top tier writing? We are so, so far away.

https://twitter.com/chrisboettcher9/status/2013623469770973533

Chris Boettcher

@chrisboettcher9

I stopped taking advice from childless people.

Fitness. Productivity. Life advice. All of it.

And here's why:

It's not that they're wrong. It's that they're playing a completely different game.

Taking life advice from someone without kids is like getting marriage tips from a

9:25 PM • Jan 21, 2026 ↗