The Power of Doubling Down
26 Jul 2023 · 10 min
In this episode Brendon Burchard stresses that personal‑development seminars often fail because participants absorb ideas without capturing them. He introduces the concept of "double‑down" – a deliberate, intense, and frequent commitment to the activity that matters most to the individual. Burchard explains that double‑down is not about adding more time but about increasing intensity, commitment, and frequency, likening the early, fuel‑heavy phase of a rocket launch to the need for front‑loading effort when starting a new venture. He urges listeners to identify the specific area in their lives – whether career, health, relationships, or a personal passion – where they can double‑down, write it down, and treat it as a concrete commitment that combats "distraction engineers." He critiques the passive "Netflix learning mode" where ideas are heard but not acted upon, and contrasts it with active learning that involves note‑taking, decision‑making, and execution. Throughout, he references his own experiences (launching podcasts, building mastermind groups, creating the Ultra group) and the expectations he sets for his community: members must double‑down on the goodness they bring to the world. The episode ends with a call to action for listeners to write down their double‑down commitment immediately, positioning it as the catalyst that shifts everything else into ease.
Chapters
The worst thing that people do at personal dilemma seminars, they take it and they don't capture it. I want you to capture it. What do you need to double down on? What's your double down? What is it? What are you going to double down on when you go home? As soon as you do that, something shifts. It's a new commitment. You have to choose to do it because you're fighting. You're fighting the distraction engineers, you're fighting them. So it is your commitment to double down on something that matters. Then everything else proceeds from with such ease. I want to work with you, and we just want to figure out what are we going to double down on. My favorite sayings. If you're in my friendships circle or any of my groups, I will never ask anything of my groups other than whatever you do that is good in the world. I want you to double down on your goodness. Trent knows that, Ed knows that. Jamie said that is the requirement when they join my group. I say, hey, listen, I'm never going to ask you anything for being in my group except whatever you do that is good in the world. I want to know when you join my group, you're going to double down on that. You want to be in my inner circle, you want to be in my life. Whatever you do that's good, double down. I want you to figure out what that is. What is that goodness that I'm putting in the world that's unique to me, that authentic, meaningful art or that authentic, meaningful leadership or business building or. Or. I don't care if it's like, hey, I just need to double down on my revenue building activities. Like, great, double down on those. You just have to identify what in my life is working that matters to me. Double down. Double down doesn't always mean more time. It means intensity, commitment, frequency. Intensity, commitment, frequency. That's what it means. It means now you live and you breathe it and you feel it and you walk with it. It's there with you. It's on your shoulder. It's that committed angel going, hey, let's go. And it's just there. It's just there. It's just part of it. When I decided to step into the world of speaking and coaching, I was like, that's what I am. I'm a life coach. I'm gonna be there, and I'm gonna be one of the best in the world. I'm gonna live it, I'm gonna breathe it, I'm gonna work through it. That's what I'm gonna do. I'M gonna figure that out. And it wasn't a small commitment. It was like, that's. I'm doubling down on that part of my life, even though I was beginning. Because, you know, when you really need to double down on something, when you're beginning, right? It's like, you know, the whole idea of, like, all the fuel to get the rocket up into the air is burned before the stratosphere, right? It's like, it takes so much to lift off something. A lot of more focus and commitment and desire to lift that thing up. Most people are like, oh, once it gets going, then I'll get really. It's like, that's not how it works. You can't lift that rocket. Like, all of the force and fuel is spent before it hits the stratosphere. We don't think that. We think it's still burning the same. Oh, no. That's why you see the rockets or the spaceships, they drop the fuselages, right when they hit the blue, it's like they already. It took that much to lift it off. Double down earlier, Invest earlier, learn earlier. Don't be so casual about it. Like, if you're going to go into pickleball, go into pickleball, right? You're going to go. You're going to go into a sport, Go into sport. You're going to go into entrepreneurs podcast. Go into it. Like, people go, I'm going to start a podcast. Because most of you guys know, almost not all, a huge number of the major podcasters in the world learn how to launch a podcast from me. Because we've launched four of them to the number one spot in every country around the world four different times, right? So really incredible experience. And, like, there's a map, there's a plan for that. And most people, they go, oh, you know what I'll do is I'll put out an episode and see how it goes. You know what? See how it goes is the cage life. See how it Goes is leading with the frame of fear, not faith. You ever see that Indiana Jones where he gets in the. In the temple and now he's looking down at the big thing, the big drop, and he's sitting there and he's like, he doesn't quite believe in God. He doesn't know. He's like, whoa, okay, okay. He's got to take the step. There's no half in that because there is a. There is a drop. But Fearful People goes, well, I'll see how it goes. I'm going to sit over here and watch how many people walk off there? I guess. I don't know. And they'll sit there and they'll waste away forever, just like the kings who waste away in that same tavern. And Indy's the one who walks out. You have to realize that people wait too long. And you got to double down on something in your life. Some of you, and I don't know your story, so this is not disrespectful. Some of you, it's time to double down on your marriage. Some of you, it's time to double down on getting your health checked, dropping those pounds, getting fitness, getting mobility, eating better. Some of you, it's kind of double down the time that you're spending with your special needs kid. Some of you got to double down on those people at work who you just are so annoyed by. It's hard. It's hard. But who knows exactly what I'm talking about? So could you write down don't let this be theory? The worst thing that people do at personal development seminars is they take it in, they don't capture it. I want you to capture it. What do you need to double down on? What's your double down? What is it? What is that thing for me? Super clear. I told you last night, I'm like, oh, I gotta double down on my unique ability, my teaching, my coaching in the theater in LA with you, with Ultra. I'm gonna double down. It's like, okay, I took away Mastermind, I took away the 50,000 and the $100,000 groups. Got rid of them, had Covid all this stuff. Oh, no, no. But there's something I do unique. Ah, I'm gonna double down on that. I'm gonna start a new program on that. I'm gonna go hard on this thing with its new members. I'm gonna get the energy here into that from the get go. Not random people showing up at the theater, but committed people to action. I'm gonna build an Ultra group. I'm gonna build an altar group. And I got. That's like, I'm double down on this. We're gonna go big. I was like, this is gonna be an amazing commitment on my time and energy and effort for this group because that's. I missed that, right? I missed this. I said, okay, lesson learned. I gotta double down on that versus doubling down on other content plays that would also work well. Other ideas that would also. See, there's so many other ideas that would work well. What's the one that brings you alive? So many other ideas would work well. Which one for you? Which one for you? And you gotta figure that out in every area of your life. Oh, you know what? For me, I realized several years ago, I was like, I don't really like working out with other people. I can't really go to the gym anymore because, hey, man, I listen to your show. Hey, man. And then we talked for the whole time and I didn't lift anything. And I was like, okay, this is no good. So I was like, okay, I gotta double down on that home gym. I gotta go other level to get myself healthy enough to do what I do. I'm like, okay, great. I'm gonna double down in that area. Like, what's the double down for you? You're already doing good there. Maybe there's already success there. Maybe it's the most important thing. I'm trying to give you lots of different access points. I just want you to make sure you capture it. And if you didn't write anything down yet and you're just listening, this is why you struggle in life. You hear an idea, but you don't make a choice behind the idea. There's a choice here. You're going to double down on something. If you did not write anything down right now, you forgot how to learn. They didn't teach you in school. You've been out and successful too long. Too many people let you just sit there passively. And that is a problem in your life, sitting there passively. I call it Netflix learning mode. Netflix learning mode is we've been taught to sit like this and it goes in the mouth and out the ear all day. And then others who learned how to learn, you hear it, you capture it, you make choices, you make decisions. You're drawing, you're figuring things out, you're organizing it all. And now it's getting into. It's getting in here. You see it? It's in here. I want you to give yourself that gift. So if you found yourself not taking a lot of notes here, you forgot how to learn. And I'm saying that with all due respect only because I literally study expertise and competency development and all of that research literature on the development of competency and expertise, like, that's a whole thing. There's like literally handbooks of expertise. Like, to become an expert at something requires a lot of thought, a lot of capture, a lot of decision making. And if anything I've told you before at this event, that mattered to you, doubling down on something at this stage of your life, that's the thing that gets you ultra I know it doesn't sound like a lot, but who hears the power of this? Say I got it. Say, I'm here. Okay, you got to get this. What are you going to double down on when you go home? As soon as you do that, something shifts. It's a new commitment. You have to choose to do it because you're fighting. You're fighting the distraction engineers. You're fighting them. So it is your commitment to double down on something that matters, Then everything else proceeds with such ease.