Kelford Labs Daily: 10 More Times

By nature, I’m impatient.

Pretty rich coming from the guy that preaches patience, right?

Well, since it’s not my nature, I’ve had to create a number of tools and frameworks to make me act patient even if I feel impatient.

My favorite is called “10 More Times.”

Let’s say I’m playing a particularly difficult video game, just to take things out of the business context for a second. Maybe I’ve encountered a challenging boss fight that can’t be beat on the first attempt.

That’s a recipe for impatience and for giving up. So that’s when I invoke “10 More Times.”

If I feel myself getting annoyed, frustrated, or ready to walk away, I whisper to myself, “ten more times.”

It’s a commitment to make ten more attempts, trying something different each time, noting the changes, and—most importantly—persisting.

What happens, almost every time, is that by my 3rd or 4th attempt I’ve beaten the challenge and gotten what I wanted. It doesn’t take ten attempts, it merely takes the commitment to them.

So let’s apply this to your marketing. Let’s say you’re getting dismal reach and engagement on your social media posts, YouTube videos, or another piece of content.

Maybe you’re frustrated, annoyed, and about ready to give up.

Repeat after me: “10 More Times.”

Commit to trying ten more times, changing something—one thing only—on each attempt. Note what you changed, and what that change did. 

If, after ten more attempts, you’re exactly where you started off, well, you have my permission to throw in the towel.

But what I suspect—let’s face it, what I know—is that before your 10th try you’ll either have cracked it, or realized it wasn’t worth doing in the first place.

But if you don’t commit—if you don’t truly try—you’ll never know if it couldn’t work, only that you didn’t work it.

So don’t give up, at least not yet.

Give it ten more times.

And I think you’ll be surprised at how much you achieve before your 10th attempt.