High-performance coach Brendon Burchard left a corporate consulting job in 2006 because he was not finding fulfilment in the outputs that were being rewarded. He chose to quit and set up his career as a writer, speaker and online trainer. He began creating content to inspire and empower others.
Like a lot of people new to the expert industry, I thought I had to figure out the writing industry, the speaking industry, the online training industry. I made the mistake of going to dozens of conferences to try to figure out each of the industries, without realizing that they all were the same career of being a thought leader and had similar outputs that mattered most.
Brendon made some mistakes starting out such as trying to figure out the industry by attending numerous conferences instead of doing the work and creating quality output. The frustration led to an epiphany which to focus on quality output. He realized that if he was going to become a professional speaker, his PQO would be the number of paid speaking gigs at a certain booking fee.
I stopped all wasteful conversations asking people to give me a chance to speak and started building marketing materials and videos like those of other speakers who were getting booked at the levels I wanted to reach.
In his book, High-Performance Habits: How Extraordinary People Become That Way, Brendon writes about the concept of Prolific Quality Output. He observed, “If you want to become extraordinary, you need to figure out the productive outputs that matter in your field or industry.”
Produce more than you consume
Mozart and Beethoven became great not only by their genius but also through their productive output. The same goes for Bob Dylan, Louis Armstrong, the Beatles. In its highest performing years, Apple launched products that were hit after hit. Babe Ruth took more swings than his contemporaries, just as Michael Jordan took a lot more shots and Tom Brady threw a lot more passes. Seth Godin cranks out blogs; Malcolm Gladwell cranks out books and articles; Casey Neistat keeps uploading those YouTube videos; Chanel keeps the fresh designs coming; and Beyoncé keeps dropping great albums.
They produce more high-quality output than their peers over the long term, and that is how they become more effective, better known, more remembered. They aim their attention and consistent efforts toward PQO and minimize any distractions (including opportunities) that would steal them away from their craft.
Real work isn’t replying to everyone’s false emergencies, shuffling papers, deleting junk e-mails, posturing to look good, or attending meetings. Real work is producing quality output that matters.
For Steve Jobs, it was dumping a bunch of products from Apple’s list so he could focus on massively scaling fewer products, which would change the world. For Walt Disney, it was ramping up production of movies. In the modern digital era, some of the greatest success stories are of those who simply enabled others to share more original and prolific content—Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, for example. Wherever PQO is found, it seems that breakthroughs and wealth follow.
Look back to almost any business icon, and you see a turning point in their career and wealth, which came about when they discovered their PQO.
If you’re honest with yourself, you want to create things that matter. You want to know that a good day’s work produces something worthwhile, something that will be part of your important contributions to others and the world, something that shows you care about your craft.
Brendon Burchard
Because of his adherence to always producing prolific quality output, Brendon Burchard is now a 3-time New York Times bestselling author, a globally respected high-performance coach, and one of the world’s most watched, followed, and quoted personal development trainers with over 10 million followers across his brands. O, the Oprah Magazine named him “one of the most influential leaders in personal growth.” Forbes.com named him “the world’s leading high-performance coach.” Larry King called him “the world’s leading life coach.” Success Magazine ranks him in the Top 25 Most Influential success teachers along with Oprah Winfrey, Dr. Phil, Tony Robbins, Tim Ferriss, Arianna Huffington, and Deepak Chopra.
All the best in your quest to get better. Don’t Settle: Live with Passion.
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