Steve Lichtman breaks down the "Simplify" part of his RISE framework, arguing that success comes from cutting, not adding. He walks through an 80/20 audit to find which activities generate 80% of your income, then eliminate the rest. He killed a decade-old podcast to focus on what actually mattered.
Today, folks, we're going to talk about simplification, right? And how a lot of times success can be something that's from subtraction, not addition. So look, we treat complexity like it's proof that we're working hard, right? Meanwhile, the people actually printing money have a one page menu. And today we're going to talk about the S part of the rise framework. Simplify the part arise that scares the perfectionist the most. And let me be honest, I absolutely personally fall into this category more times than not. And it's something that I am a, as I call it, a work in prog mess, not progress. Prog mess, sure, you've heard that term before. I'm the one guy that owns the domain progmes.com, though, so what does that tell you? I've got ahead of the game. Look, I call these people like myself tool hoarders. 17 subscriptions, 40 tabs open every day. You're launching a new podcast, a blog, a YouTube, a TikTok, a LinkedIn newsletter. You're doing it all at once. And you wonder why? The revenue man, it's flat and falling. And then you've got the guy who only does one thing right. Maybe it's cold DMs to his exact ideal client and it's clearing six figures, working 20 hours a week. Same effort. Actually, maybe half the effort. Way better results. One of them's a Cheesecake Factory menu, right? And the other one's a steakhouse. Guess who's eating steak every night. So complexity, it's just fear. It's fear wearing a productivity costume. So when we simplify, it's where you finally emit what actually moves the needle and clear yourself out from all the other junk that's not doing it. So let's do right now a subtraction audit. While you're listening, think about this in your head or hit pause. Right? First, list every single thing you're doing to make money this month. So it could be your main business. It could be you're selling merchandise from a show. It could be coaching, group coaching, a community. It could be a million different things. It could be just a straight up accounting business, old school style. It could be a brick and mortar, it could be retail, it could be anything. But list every single thing you're doing to make money this month. Pause it now if you need to, and make that list. Okay, you're back. I mean, you might not have paused, but okay, you're back. Number two, circle. This is Pareto principle. This is if you've ever read any 80, 20 rule. Perry Marshall. You know, there's so many people that talk about Pareto. It's fantastic, you know, mindset, and it's a fantastic framework to go under. So circle the 20% that actually produces 80% of your revenue. Everything else, you need to do one of two things. You need to either delegate it to somebody else to handle for you and to run for you and to operate for you, or you need to delete it out of your process, and you need to do it with a ruthless aggression. And if it hurts, good, it means it mattered more to your ego, but not your bank account. Right? That's one of those things where a lot of people hate that part, where they're like, man, I don't want to remove all this. I'm going to look like I failed if I delete my podcast. You know, I had a podcast about a decade ago that was moderately good at the time. It was moving a needle. And then one day, I just didn't feel it anymore. I was like, you know what? I'm done. I just canned it that day. I deleted it. Never to be seen again, never to be posted about again, never to be talked about again. It was literally me being ruthless because it wasn't getting the goal of what I wanted to do. It was good for what it was, and people were there and people were listening. But I was literally doing it just to service an audience that wasn't even my audience. And it was weird how it pivoted and kind of morphed into something that I never had intended in the first place. So I had to look at the time I was spending on it. I had to look at the money I was spending on it and everything else that was involved. And I said to myself one day, steve, pull it. So I just ripped off that band aid. And look, you got to pick that one thing that does work, and you have to get crazy good at it. Watch everything else get easier. Just get amazing. So if you want to do a podcast, you want to do an audio podcast, I promise you, this is what, episode 13. If we look 50 episodes from now, which will be 50 days from now, this episode will suck in comparison to what I'm going to do in a week, in a month, in a year. Like anything, we get better at our medium, Even the technology. Between the first 10 that I recorded and the next group that I'm recording now, I've changed the way I'm doing my tech. I've changed the way I'm setting up my backend. I'm doing things to be streamlined, to be more efficient. I'm ripping off the band aid every day to make my process better and more simplified. So the riff of the day, complexity is ego wearing a hard hat. So simplify. It's where the money hides. When you simplify things, that's where you're able to find your business. That's where you define your avenue, that lane. And look, when you simplify, it comes back to when people say, do what you love. If you simplify yourself to the point where you're focusing 100% and diving all in and getting that stupid good type of energy into one specific vertical of what you want to do every day, not only are you going to be happier because you're diving deep into what you love, but you're simplifying your entire universe to make your life easier. So, look, if you need permission to go burn the buffet and open that steakhouse, come get it at the community. Come down to unshakeable AF, just go to stevelickman.com and you can find the buttons for everything. And look, I'll personally be there cheering you on while you delete half your to do list. Right? So let's do it. Thank you so much for today's episode. Thank you for being here. Thank you for listening, and we'll see you on the next show.
