In this edition of the Peak Performance Newsletter:

We will be discussing:

• The crucial mistake that I’ve made which has costed me success.

• What is a scarcity mindset?

• Here’s how success actually works.

• Actionable steps to attract success into your life. (Abundance Mindset)

But before we begin,

Table of Contents

• In this edition of the Peak Performance Newsletter …

• The Crucial Mistake that had costed me success.

• What is a Scarcity Mindset?

• Here’s how success actually works.

• Actionable steps to attract success into your life …

• Actionable Steps:

• Author’s Notes:

The Crucial Mistake that had costed me success.

But for you to really resonate with this message better, let me tell you my story on how I started this newsletter. My “rags to riches” story, and how scarcity was the defining factor that costed it all…

(But if you aren’t interested in hearing it, then you can skip to the advice section in the table of contents)

It was September 22, 2024, when I published my first ever post on the Peak Performance Newsletter. It was a welcome post documenting what the newsletter was going to be about and what type of content I was going to write about in this niche.

Remembering back, I was unsure and anxious about the decision to create a newsletter. I was a complete rookie when it came to the newsletter space, so I had no idea what I was doing at all. Back then, I seriously thought that this platform where I’m writing on would be similar to YouTube, where it would already have a built-in algorithm where it would share my content.

Fast forward 5 posts later, I had to learn the hard way on why I was getting zero growth at that time.

Initially, it wasn’t even my idea on creating a newsletter. Sure, I was very tuned in with the self-improvement space since I’ve been on this journey for approx. 3 years now. But I didn’t think that people would really take me seriously if I just wrote about what I’ve learnt about on YouTube, books, or the life experiences that I’ve went through to get to this point right now.

After all, I was clueless on what I was doing. The only reason why I was here in the first place was because I was inspired by my mentor at the time to start producing educational content just like him.

He was running a very successful newsletter at the time, approximating around 3-4k readers.

So, I thought to myself “If he could do it, then couldn’t I do it Aswell?

Sure, at first, I was hesitant about really starting but I was still extremely ambitious, nevertheless. Since before that time was when I had my first failed attempt on producing self-improvement content onto YouTube. I wanted a new form of medium where I could share my thoughts and lessons about self-improvement.

But the one thing that kept me going wasn’t about the subscribers or about the views, but the immense desire to help young men to improve their lives through holistic self-improvement just like myself.

I saw the damage that the modern world has done to young men, the overstimulation of content, no clear guidance or a rite of passage that could lead them down a path of fulfillment and self-actualization.

It was the same dark path that I was on as well, until I came back into my senses and started to embark on this journey of self-development.

And now, I understand that some of my readers aren’t in this target demographic that I’m suggesting. But the advice that you’ll find here will cater to any gender, men and women alike unless it is specifically about a male oriented topic.

Now that I’m saying this, I’ll probably lose some subscribers, but I won’t sugarcoat anything on here.

But still, I feel that it is my moral duty, my purpose to help young men who are going through these hard times and write what I’ve learnt in self-improvement so that they can apply it to improve their own lives.

And that’s what started me off this path that you see now today.

I sucked ass at marketing my newsletter; I sucked at putting myself out there for people to see. At this point in time, I honestly couldn’t wrap my head around why I had so little subscribers, even though I was writing consistently for the past 4 months.

I put in so much effort in those posts, yet it resulted in close to 0 net gains. I thought I was just unlucky, or that I wasn’t using some type of “special” optimization strategy that would have gotten me more readers.

But, no it was just all in my head.

I settled down and started to think of various marketing channels on where I can promote my content for people to see it. And after a while, I proposed the idea to myself that I should create a digital guide and link it as a lead magnet for people to sign up to the newsletter feed.

Which is I assume the majority of you who is reading this right now.

And boy, did it work…

I’ve gotten hundreds of signups that I possibly couldn’t imagine getting, just overnight.

6 months ago, I couldn’t dream of even getting 10 subscribers. But now we’re close to hitting the big 1k pretty soon, which is insane to even think of.

But this post isn’t for me to harp on my successes, but rather my present failures as a self-improvement content creator. Though I am still extremely proud of what I’ve achieved, it wouldn’t be possible without your support since I would have never gotten this far without it.

So, I want to thank you for sticking by thus far and to continue supporting the cause. I had my fair share of ups and downs as a writer, but I’m committed to increase the production quality higher and higher so that we’re able to continue moving forward towards this goal.

But going back to the main subject, what change could have happened that would have caused a sharp downfall in my “success”. What did I do after this period of growth which caused my readership to drop significantly?

It was the shift from using an abundance mindset and then adopting a scarcity mindset to success.

What is a Scarcity Mindset?

A scarcity mindset in short is defined as a way of thinking where you focus intensely on what you lack (What you don’t have). This can revolve around any aspect of life, your finances, your health, your relationships, etc.

But the one aspect that getting to me was the scarcity around getting more subscribers.

After all, I received a huge surplus of new readers coming in after the success that my Mental Health post had on the subreddit.

At first, I was very content with the progress that I was making. But overtime this constant desire for more subscribers turned into scarcity.

Greed and scarcity are very similar to each other, but not quite because the emotion is derived from different sources.

Greed is built upon the irrational desire for more above necessity.

Scarcity is different because it is built upon the irrational desire for more due to fear that it will run out, the belief that you don’t haven’t enough.

And while I’m not saying that you should 100% content with your life, it’s important consider the negative drawbacks that the scarcity mindset has on your “success”.

Let’s take a look back at my story.

I saw the sharp influx of new subscribers coming in, and for a while I was content with myself. For perhaps, maybe a day or two.

And naturally, the desire for more subscribers started to creep into my subconscious.

Every day, I would make daily posts on r/get disciplined or the r/Habits subreddit looking to get even more subscribers than I already had. My initial thought was “If I could get this much in only one post, then imagine how many more I could get if I just keep posting”.

And so, I did just that. I kept posting and posting, waiting for the lucky opportunity that one of them would blow up.

My entire focus was concentrated towards a single point, marketing, marketing, marketing, that’s all I really did for that certain period of time.

I had built up this success, and I didn’t want to lose it… I’m posting again, and again, and again.

I didn’t want to admit it at the time, but I knew that something was going wrong.

Was it because I wasn’t posting engaging content? Not necessarily.

Oh wait, I know why now! I just have to keep spamming the same post that blew up my newsletter, that’s all!

But wait, what’s going on, why am I suddenly losing subscribers…?

Oh…so I was doing it wrong all this time?

Maybe it’s because of focusing on the essential tasks that got me to this success, I prioritized getting subs due to the fear of losing it…

I chased the subs, I chased the growth, and look what happened…

This was the pivotal turning point that made me rethink my decisions on what I should really prioritize.

I thought to myself “Wait a minute, what was the thing that got me here in the first place?

Was it because of the post that I made which contributed to my growth? Partially but not quite…

I really thought about and introspected on my actions, and I found out…

It was my mindset around “success” that resulted in this sharp increase in growth, not the actions themselves.

Instead of a scarcity mindset, trying to get all of the subscribers like a little gremlin, I had an abundance mindset with my newsletter growth.

In the beginning, regardless on if I had 1 sub, 10 subs, 30 subs, the intent was still the same.

The passion, the fulfillment was in writing emails that people wanted to read, not about the arbitrary number on the screen.

I was abundant in my own growth, because I had the self-serving belief that I already had it.

Instead of focusing on the growth, I focused on purpose, the mission that I was carrying out to help improve the lives of young men.

That purpose alone was deeply fulfilling, so that was all of the satisfaction that I needed from my newsletter.

Not about the growth, not about the subscribers, but about actually making a contribution to the world.

And that was around the time that my newsletter blew up…

Strange, isn’t it? Is it really a coincidence? I think not…

By not chasing the external success, the external validation, I proceeded to get more success as a result.

Sure, there is definitely nuance to this argument. Due to the large percentage of people who signed up, I could have attracted some who were the wrong audience, or it was mainly people who just only wanted the guide, but the idea still stands.

Whenever I chased success and adopted this scarcity mindset towards it, I stopped getting more subscribers and actually lost subscribers from it.

It takes a big hit to my ego to acknowledge that I messed up, but the lesson is that I want you to learn from the mistake that I’ve made so that you can prevent it whenever you are making progress on any kind of venture (fitness, business, relationships, etc.)

But, just for the sake of this post and for you, the reader. Let’s break it down in a more “autist” explanation so that you can apply this mindset for your own self-development journey.

Here’s how success actually works.

I’m going to give you a quick rundown on how you actually track success into your life. And notice throughout the email, I highly emphasize on what “success” means to you. Since success is heavily subjective to the individual.

It’s not necessarily always about money but most for people it is revolved around some sort of growth or progress.

And that what I want to teach you in this section of the post.

Don’t take it the wrong way, I’m not saying that I’m a super “successful” person just because I gained a few subscribers, that’s not what I’m saying at all.

But this is the mindset that I’ve learnt from SUCCESSFUL businessmen/entrepreneurs who have benefited a lot from adopting this mentality. This newsletter isn’t business oriented, but the mindset shifts that I teach inside this newsletter will transfer over well to that aspect.

So, how do you attract success into your life?

Like I mentioned previously in the other section, having an abundance mindset around success is the way to go.

The only time where a scarcity mindset would be beneficial would be revolved around your time. Since your time is the most valuable currency that you’ll ever have. It is finite, meaning that once it’s gone, there is no going back.

But this doesn’t work for the majority of the aspects of your life that you want to improve on. Your (Wealth, health, and relationships). Actually, I’ll take it back and say that your health is a little bit more convoluted, but we’ll discuss that later.

But the two main aspects that heavily rely on the abundance mindset is your wealth and especially, your relationships.

Success in my interpretation of it acts in a very contradictory way, almost as it is based upon reverse psychology.

To attract success, you must put aside your scarcity for it and act like you already have it. Like you are already sufficient in that resource. Once you have that shift in mentality, then success will chase you instead of the other way around.

Why?

Because when you put yourself in this scarcity mindset, this vulnerable state, you don’t act very rational. As an attempt to chase success, you will do whatever it means necessary to obtain it. Even if that is to abandon your values and your purpose, it doesn’t matter as long as you become successful.

And how does that turn out?

You make really bad decisions, you don’t think straight, and you end up blowing everything off because you are so needy for it.

Think about any time in your life where you were needy for something, did you get it in the end? Probably not.

And it’s not just about the mindset that costs you success, but the actions that you take because you are scarce in this resource.

Let’s take my story for example.

I was extremely needy about getting subscribers, I kept on posting and posting to these subreddits hoping that I would get more.

Now imagine the actions that I took to get to that. I was promoting constantly again and again, but I prioritized less on the ACTIONS that got me there.

Instead of doing the essential tasks like writing the weekly posts, learning how to get better at writing, and learning educational content on self-improvement, I focused all of my energy into promoting.

And look, I’m not trying to paint promoting as a bad thing to do. But, if that’s all you’re doing, then you’re just spreading yourself too short.

It’s no wonder why I stopped gaining readers.

I acted on scarcity rather than improving the quality of my emails and it costed me success.

So, what’s the big take?

Actionable steps to attract success into your life. (Abundance Mindset)

But before I do give the practical steps that you can take to attract success into your own life, there are some nuances that I want to discuss first.

Like I teased earlier in this post, there are some considerations that i should mention. When it comes to improving your health, not your looks but your general health. I would say that for your general health, a scarcity mindset might prove to be more beneficial.

I mentioned that a scarcity mindset is best utilized whenever you are dealing with a finite resource, with in this case being your body. Whether you like it or not, the body will continue to wear and tear over the years, so it’s better that we treat it as a scarce resource that you should take care of.

But, for improving your looks and building a 10/10 physique, not so much. Seem contradictory, but the more that you obsessed on what you don’t have, the less appreciation you’ll have. It will just be a constant cycle of insecurity and overcompensating, which isn’t a good thing in a long run.

And also, another thing. Sounds kind of obvious but I will be reminiscent if I don’t bring this up. You still have to put in the effort to do the work if you want to see actual results.

Don’t just sit there with the mindset of “Yeah, I have already everything that I wanted” and expect for something to happen. You must put in the hard work to make it come into reality; the mindset is just the shift in mentality that will guide you towards that path.

So, with that out of the way, here are the actionable steps that you can take to better adopt this mentality to attract success. Like how I did in the previous email, I’ll attach a document at the end of this post to the list of steps so that you can remind yourself to take action.

Actionable Steps:

1. Be aware that the scarcity mindset is in full effect.

The scarcity mindset can be manifested unwillingly when you least expect it. Scarcity comes from an irrational fear or sense of urgency. Whenever you catch yourself feeling this emotion, reprogram your mind to think of abundance.

2. Whenever you are in deep work, detach yourself away from all arbitrary goals.

So, in deep work, if you’re exercising, working on your business, studying, etc. Think about the task at hand and the fulfillment that you get from it, not the end result. If you allow your mind to seep thoughts like “Man, I wish I had more muscle, I need more subscribers on my YouTube Channel, etc..” By solely focusing on the results, you tend to work less hard on the essential tasks.

3. Success comes from abundance, command your brain to act as if you already have the success you’ve wanted.

   Through scarcity, comes urgency, through urgency comes irrationality, irrationality breeds insecurity. If you believe that you already have the success, more of it will naturally come to you. The effort comes when you are trying to reprogram your mind to attract success. Focus on the moments where you are the neediest and begin to detach away from it. It is only then where you will begin to think of abundance rather than scarcity.

As promised, here is the PDF file to the list of actionable steps that you can take to adopt this mentality towards success.

Author’s Notes:

So, I hoped you enjoyed this edition of the Peak Performance Newsletter, it took a while, but I managed to get it out there before the weekend started to roll in.

Once again, I appreciate everyone who has signed up so far. Back then I couldn’t even imagine getting these many readers but here we are now. I had some ups and down, but I can confidently say that I am back grinding again.

As you could see, I made some minor adjustments to the layout of the email to make it more interactive and engaging for my readers. I’m pretty satisfied with how this post turned out, since it is probably one of my best written ones in a while.

It can be a tiring task to write these many words every week, but I am extremely fulfilled with what I do, nevertheless.

If I could get at least one person to read my email, start taking action, and improving their lives because of it, then that is all the motivation I need to continue going.

I’ve aligned my entire life to this one singular purpose, to help improve the lives of young men and people around the world through synthesizing what I’ve learned in my own self-improvement journey.

Tired but fulfilled, that is my motto for this week’s email.

If you haven’t already, feel free to subscribe to the Peak Performance newsletter so that you can get in depth content related to self-improvement just like this.

And if you can, share this to someone who could benefit from it Aswell.

I would like to hear what your thoughts about this post in the comments below. Positive or negative, I’ll be glad to hear some feedback on what you think of it.

But until then, peace 😎✌