Aspiration Pursuits Newsletter BONUS | Become a Category of One – For Self-Actualization AND High-End Entrepreneurial Success
Welcome to this special BONUS edition of the Aspiration Pursuits newsletter!
In this publication, we’re on a journey together exploring the synergies between Peak Performance (including self-actualization, the neuroscience of flow states, and other insight from Humanistic / Positive Psychology) and Luxury Business Building (so that as a massive-mission-driven entrepreneur, you can live your dream freedom lifestyle with financial abundance and impact).
One of the synergies that fascinates me is the emphasis is on creating and leaning in to your uniqueness.
A simple definition of self-actualization IS the realization of one’s unique potential (recognizing, of course, that self-actualizing is a continuous, lifelong journey). Also, significantly, one of the important success strategies for positioning your brand as prestige / luxury is to eliminate competition through a high-value unique offer. (This is how you’re not just another “commodity” that has to compete on price).
In other words, your goal for success in life AND luxury entrepreneurship is: becoming a category of one.
In the bonus essay that follows, I lay out step-by-step how you can discover, create, and refine your uniqueness so that you can live a more self-actualizing life AND enhance your high-end brand, including all my favorite tools and techniques to help you clarify and articulate your uniqueness. This is the system for becoming a category of one.
Remember: self-actualizing and business building are iterative processes – so even if you’ve tried some of these exercise before, they may be worth revisiting as you continue to change and grow into your future.
Let me know what you think!
Yours in the pursuit of excellence and continuous evolution,
--Joia
PS No Curation Section in this Bonus edition of the newsletter…but be on the lookout for another special Bonus newsletter that will present a plethora of my favorite resources for creating wealth, impact, and freedom. COMING SOON!!
PPS If you’re making travel plans, why don’t you travel by private jet? I’m proud to partner with Villiers Jets, a network of 10K+ private aircraft flying to 40K+ destinations. If time, quality, privacy, and the freedom to travel on your own terms are some of your top values (as they are for me), this service could definitely be worthwhile for you too.
BECOMING A CATEGORY OF ONE
If you want to be among the few who achieve extraordinary success & fulfillment in both life AND business: make yourself into a Category of One.
Creating and living into your unique potential is not only the way to be self-actualizing – it’s also a highly profitable business building strategy leveraged by world-class premium & luxury brands
Here’s the step-by-step strategy:
IDENTIFY YOUR STRENGTHS
Many people approach personal development by trying to fix their weaknesses. While this can be useful once you’ve defined your goals and know which specific weaknesses to work on, a much better foundational strategy is to enhance and leverage your strengths.
Get clarity on what you’re already good at – and then become even better at it. This is a winning strategy that can propel you into the Top 1%.
Gallup CliftonStrengths offers a research-backed hour-long online assessment that’s been refined over decades to help professionals with strengths-based development
Or try the 15-minute VIA Strengths Test available for free.
What is your unique combination of top 5 strengths?
ARTICULATE YOUR CORE VALUES
In addition to knowing what you’re good at, you want crystalline clarity on what matters to you.
My favorite exercise is this one that was adapted from Taproot
I especially like that in the end you end up with a prioritized, actionable list of what to do every day so you know you’re living in accordance with your self-identified Top 5 core values.
What’s your list?
FOCUS ON CURIOSITY – PASSION – PURPOSE
Everyone wants to live a life they can feel passionate about. But “passions” are grand, and it can be difficult to identify a passion you can commit to long-term.
Which is why it’s often much easier to start with curiosities. Curiosity taps into your intrinsic interests and motivations, but at much lower stakes.
Ultimately, you can build from curiosities to passions. Then, you can connect your passions to something larger than yourself and identify a purpose. Ideally, it will be, in the words of Peter Diamandis and Steven Kotler, a “massively transformative purpose.”
Here’s a framework to help you develop from curiosity to passion to purpose.
CHOOSE YOUR TOP SKILLS TO MASTER
At this point, you should have clarity on your strengths, your values, your passions, and a massive problem you want to contribute to solving. But just because you know where you want to focus your attention and efforts, doesn’t mean you (yet) have the knowledge and skills to do it.
Luckily, learning is a lifelong process. What are the top skills you need to master in order to achieve your grand purpose?
The best learners spend time and effort learning about learning (meta learning) so they can streamline the skills-acquisition process.
Here, courtesy of Danny Forest, are 15 principles to help you learn new skills like a pro.
DON’T FORGET IKIGAI
If you truly want to live a life of fulfillment and freedom, it is not enough to focus on your passions, your strengths/skills, and your purpose – additionally, you want a community who will value what you do enough to pay you.
This is the Japanese model of Ikigai which proposes that “your reason for being” lies at the intersection of what you love, what you’re good at, what the world needs, and what you can be paid for.
Don’t forget, wealth is an amplifier that makes it possible for you to invest in the causes you care most about while having the time / financial freedom to show up as your best self.
Make sure your life strategy includes planning to create abundant wealth.
The world’s happiest entrepreneurs build their businesses around their Ikigai – so how can you too?
CONDUCT COMPETITIVE ANALYSIS & BUILD YOUR UNIQUE STACK OF SKILLS
Now you’re ready to examine the market and determine which trends you can capitalize on. Too many entrepreneurs begin here and get lost in “comparison-it is.” They end up creating just another commodity product/service that’s no different from what’s already selling and thus has to compete on price.
You, however, will become a category of one in the market by skill stacking in a unique way.
Essentially, you’re seeking to integrate 3 – 4 valuable skills / areas of expertise in a one-of-a-kind combination. Ideally, all the work you’ve already done to identify your unique strength, values, passion, and purpose should set you up for success as you translate this into new offers to bring to the marketplace.
Seek out the connections and the synergies to create a never-before-seen breakthrough
For example, I’ve combined my expertise as a Peak Performance Coach, Luxury Travel Advisor, and High-Ticket Entrepreneur Strategist to create a variety of offers around elevating your life and brand, achieving freedom in all areas of life, developing your unique potential, continuous growth & expansion, and the relentless pursuit of excellence.
What’s your unique stack? I can’t wait to see how you’ll thrive and flourish in your category of one!