There comes a point in your career or business where doing more simply stops working.
If you’re a high performer, you know this moment well. You’re capable, disciplined, and proven. You execute, deliver, and get results. Effort has never been the issue for you. But despite working hard, you feel busy, spread thin, and unable to come up for air. And if you’re honest, the way you’re operating doesn’t feel sustainable.
This episode is about why less is actually more at a certain level — and why your next breakthrough will not come from adding more to your plate, optimizing your calendar, or finding a better time management system as we head into 2026.
It will come from choosing your 20%.
Why Doing More Stops Working at a Certain Level
Effort Isn’t the Problem — Focus Is
Most high achievers default to the same response when things feel stuck: push harder. Work longer hours. Optimize more. Add another initiative that feels exciting or opportunistic.
But at a certain level, all that effort becomes noise.
You end up busy across many areas but not potent in any of them. Your work loses depth. Your energy drops. And even the things that once excited you start to feel heavy.
What actually moves the needle at this stage isn’t more effort — it’s quality, focus, and depth.
Why I Chose to Let Go of the “Good” to Go After the Great
Releasing What Was Familiar, Safe, and Profitable
I’m living this lesson in real time.
Over the last several months, I made clear, courageous decisions to let go of multiple areas of my business — not because they were bad, but because they were no longer aligned with where I wanted to go.
I closed my membership.
I reduced online content and email marketing.
I stepped back from digital influencing, retreats, and challenges.
None of these things were failing. Many were profitable. Most felt familiar and safe. And that’s exactly why they were hard to release.
But they weren’t my future.
What I realized is that staying busy in areas I had outgrown was costing me the opportunity to fully commit to what mattered most.
The 20% Shift: Why Less Creates More
Dr. Benjamin Hardy’s Framework Explained
This is where Dr. Benjamin Hardy’s concept of the 20% shift becomes powerful.
The idea is simple but confronting:
- About 20% of what you do creates the majority of your results
- The other 80% keeps you busy but diluted
At higher levels of leadership and performance, success comes from identifying that top 20% — often just one to three priorities — and courageously letting go of the rest.
This isn’t about doing less to rest.
It’s about doing less so you can operate at an exceptional level where it actually counts.
What I Doubled Down On (and What Changed)
Choosing Depth Over Breadth
For me, that 20% is executive coaching — specifically one-on-one coaching with business owners, CEOs, and senior leaders who are successful on paper but stretched thin in real life.
When I removed the noise, something surprising happened:
- I became more present
- I had more energy
- My work improved in quality and impact
- New opportunities began showing up naturally
Not because of hustle — but because of clarity.
When your focus narrows, your signal gets stronger.
Your Unique Ability Is Where 10X Growth Lives
Authority, Energy, and Intrinsic Motivation
Dr. Hardy also talks about unique ability — the area where you are naturally energized, deeply competent, and endlessly motivated to improve.
This is where:
- You want to learn more
- You don’t need external pressure
- You create disproportionate value
Your unique ability might be leadership, strategy, creative vision, coaching, design, or problem-solving. Whatever it is, that’s where your highest contribution — and biggest growth — will come from.
But you cannot develop that ability while spending most of your energy on low-leverage tasks.
Want vs. Need: The Energy Behind Your Decisions
Why Desperation Shrinks Results
One of the most impactful ideas I share in this episode is the difference between operating from want versus need.
When you operate from need:
- You chase incremental growth
- You say yes out of fear
- You cling to opportunities that no longer fit
When you operate from want:
- You have standards
- You can walk away
- You create with intention
Choosing your 20% allows you to move from need-driven decisions to want-driven ones — and that shift alone can transform your results.
Letting Go Is Not Loss — It’s Leverage
Space Is Not Emptiness, It’s Possibility
Letting go of old roles, identities, commitments, or responsibilities is not failure. For high performers, it’s often necessary growth.
That space you create isn’t empty.
It’s possibility.
When you turn off a few burners, you finally have the bandwidth to see what’s next — and to pursue it with clarity and power.
Final Reflection: Choosing Your 20%
If you’re feeling stretched thin, uninspired, or stuck at a plateau, ask yourself:
- What am I holding onto out of habit or fear?
- What have I outgrown?
- What is my highest-leverage contribution?
- What 20% deserves my full focus?
Letting go is a gain.
And choosing your 20% may be the fastest path to your 10X transformation.
Go forth, my friend, into your 20% — and see what becomes possible.
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