The two numbers that predict whether you'll actually hit your goal, with Jia Jiang

Every productivity guru will tell you the same thing: set realistic goals, or you're setting yourself up to fail. Jia Jiang did the opposite. He told the internet he'd sell 10,000 copies of his new book in 100 days, sold about 3,000, and is now going around calling it one of the best things he's ever done. 

He's not being delusional about it either. He'll tell you straight up that part of him wishes he'd hit the number. He just thinks failing loudly beats succeeding quietly, which might explain why only 9% of people who make a New Year's resolution actually stick to it. Most of us are setting goals to feel good for five minutes, not because we've figured out how to actually get there. 

In this episode, I sit down with Jia Jiang, the entrepreneur and speaker behind 100 Days of Rejection, a YouTube experiment that became a TED Talk with more than 10 million views. We talk about his new book, Easy Discipline, and how he turns huge, terrifying goals into something he can actually control day to day. 

If you have ever downgraded a goal so you wouldn't have to feel bad about missing it, Jia is about to make you rethink that entirely. 

Jia and I discuss: 

• Why Jia deliberately sets goals so ambitious he is likely to miss them, and why a public near miss beats a comfortable target 

• The one action goal: how to turn a big, uncontrollable ambition into a daily input you can fully control 

• The inspiration index, the two numbers Jia tracks on every project, and why you need both the outcome and the input 

• The Mover's Manual, and how changing his physical environment lets Jia get three to ten times more done in an afternoon 

• Reverse AI: what happened when Jia started deliberately training himself the way AI models are trained 

• The letter he wrote to Steven Bartlett after being turned down for Diary of a CEO, and why he published it anyway 

Key quotes 

"I'd rather fail my ambition publicly than letting it die inside privately." 

"When you are already rejected, you have nothing to lose. When you have nothing to lose, you have nothing to fear." 

Connect with Jia Jiang on Instagram, X (Twitter), LinkedIn and his website, read his newsletter on Substack, and check out his latest book Easy Discipline. 

If you enjoyed this episode, check out my chat with Google's Executive Productivity Advisor, Laura Mae Martin, on the practical strategies she uses to get more done in less time: https://www.amantha.com/podcasts/ruthless-prioritization-with-googles-executive-productivity-advisor-laura-mae-martin 

My latest book The Energy Game is out now. You can order a copy here: https://amzn.to/48ID29M 

Connect with me on the socials: Linkedin (https://www.linkedin.com/in/amanthaimber) 

Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/amanthai) 

If you are looking for more tips to improve the way you work and live, I write a weekly newsletter where I share practical and simple to apply tips to improve your life. You can sign up for that at https://amantha.substack.com/ 

Visit https://www.amantha.com/podcast for full show notes from all episodes. 

Get in touch at [email protected] 

Credits: 
Host: Amantha Imber 
Sound Engineer: The Podcast Butler 

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