A quick story...

It doesn't take much to separate yourself.

I finished Will Smith's autobiography Will earlier this month. I shared previously how Smith was strategic in becoming a Hollywood star by defining what it would take to be great, but it was one other small choice he made that truly put him into a different sphere.

Legendary actor Arnold Schwarzenegger once gave Smith the advice that being a star in America is good, but to become a blockbuster legend, you had to be a star worldwide. It wasn't until you made big hits overseas that you would transcend to the upper echelon of Hollywood.

Smith began studying how he could do this. He studied the biggest names at the time - Schwarzenegger, Sylvester Stallone, Bruce Willis, Tom Cruise - and what they did.

He found that most actors didn't travel abroad to promote their movies. They don't like press tours and red carpet premieres. They simply want to shoot the movie. Attend the premiere in the United States, and let the global audiences just see the movie.

Smith started to calculate that if a movie in Germany would normally do, say $15 million for a premiere, he could help increase it to a $25-30 million premiere by going to Germany and doing interviews & a premiere event.

The best part?

The increased box office revenue would increase the amount he would take home.

Smith had his gameplan. He'd tour Europe on weekends around filming his final season of the television show The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air to promote his movies worldwide. The whirlwind 48-72 hour trips were exhausting but key requirements to elevating his status in Hollywood.

The move - as we both know - paid off.

By simply being one of the few actors willing to fly to Europe and show up to meet the press and fans, Smith could add $10-25 million to a movie's box office budget AND build his status in audiences' eyes.

There were hundreds of actors who had the same opportunity as Smith but chose not to because they didn't want to show up and do the extra work.

Smith did and his career was rewarded for it. (And as Smith points out, so does Tom Cruise at almost unbelievable rate).

Showing up is one of the best ways to simply separate yourself from average.

Most people choose to not show up:

• They give their best effort at work 1-2 days a week.
• They workout when they feel motivated.
• They skip networking events because they were tired from work.

They fail to choose showing up consistently to opportunities and then wonder why they haven't been as successful as they imagined.

It's our choices that ultimately choose our destination.

I'm cheering for you to show up to this next year!

Taking Action

Where can you show up more consistently?

Is it the gym? Sales calls? Being present with your kids?

What's something I'm doing occasionally that would benefit me to do consistently?

And what's one thing you can do to be more consistent with it?

Most people won't show up when it's inconvenient - so how can you create a competitive advantage by being someone willing to show up then?

Separate yourself by making choices that create a competitive advantage.

“This is what I have learned about self-worth. One of the biggest factors for high self-esteem is following through on your commitments. People who don't follow through on things they say they will don't value their word & people who don't value their word don't value themselves." - Kerwin Rae

Recommended Mindset Snacks

Read: The Practice of Groundedness (Brad Stulberg)

Listen: One Way to Separate Yourself in 2023 (Podcast)