What's the one thing that, if you could get rid of it, would catapult you to success in the next 90 days? I asked myself this question yesterday. As usual, I didn't have a good answer. So I made a list of 10 possible answers (actually ended up 11). I personally found some interesting stuff at points 9 and 11: #9. Lack of focus on the things that have made me money, and doing more of that, instead of experimenting with new things all the time #11. Lack of followup with people who have expressed interest in an outcome What's your one thing (or 11), that, if you could get rid of it, would catapult you to success in the next 90 days?

Yesterday I wrote a post about unwritten rules that strengthen groups. That post got... 10 likes and 5 people to comment, in a group of 483 members. Maybe it was a particularly bad or irrelevant post. In any case it seems like a good time to talk about written rules. I recently joined a Facebook group. The group is about the same size as Daily Email House, but it's much more engaged. People are enthusiastically introducing themselves in the group as soon as they join (as did I)... ... spontaneously writing up new posts and starting new discussions all the time... ... commenting on others' posts all the time. How? Simple. The group has written rules stating that you have to introduce yourself when you join, and participate once you're inside, or you will get kicked out. And the moderators follow through on these rules. What do you think about that? Please comment below. Or don't. But I've decided to start doing the same: Periodically and randomly and brutally removing people who don't participate inside Daily Email House. Your choice.

This morning I watched a video about unwritten rules in baseball. (Bear with me if you know nothing about baseball or care nothing for baseball.) I had no idea, but baseball has had, for 100+ years, dozens of unwritten rules about player conduct, for example: - You cannot flip your bat after you hit a home run - You cannot have a beard (all teams, once upon a time, New York Yankees still today) - You cannot score from second base on a single if your team if the game is a blowout and your team is winning Now here's what got me: These unwritten rules are enforced BY THE PLAYERS THEMSELVES ON THE PLAYERS THEMSELVES... often by members of your own team! If you break one of these unwritten rules, odds are great that you will be beaten up, ostracized, or sometimes worse (eg. have a 100mph baseball launched at your face on purpose). Here's what else got me: - If you're a big star and you break a rule in a big moment, exceptions are made - If you're young or inexperienced, then you will be consistently and brutally punished by other players for breaking a rule I remember reading in, I believe, Robert Cialdini's Influence about the importance of hazing rituals to form a sense of in-group identity. That's what this reminds me of. Seemingly arbitrary rules, enforced by group members, as a way of reinforcing the importance of the group and of recommitting their loyalty to that group. Now I've really never belonged to any group, unless that group is the group of outsiders who don't really belong to any groups. But without getting too weird about it... I'm curious: What seemingly arbitrary rules have you experienced or seen in real-life groups you've been a part of? And in online groups you've been a part of?

UPDATE FOLLOWING VITRIOL WEDNESDAY: Thanks to everyone who participated. For 24 hours, we roasted, very mildly, the winner. As promised, the Vitriol Wednesday post and all the comments have been deleted to protect the vitriolic. Frankly, it's not an experiment I plan to repeat... but it was worth doing one time. ***** In another thread about joint group projects, @Robin Timmers suggests: "Let’s all verbally attack the same guru." Let it never be said I don't take member suggestions seriously or that I don't implement them quickly. So at the risk of completely going against the vibe of this community, and of poisoning the well of promising future relationships forever... I designate next Wednesday "Vitriol Wednesday," where we can all pile on and say nasty things about some guru who really rubs us the wrong way. But who is that? Who should we pick? Who do you ☠️LOVE🐀? Cast your vote below, and as always, it will influence reality

My theory why it's easier to make friends when you're young: Because you do exciting stuff together. You play sports together... You go to the beach together or go for a concert together... You sit in class together (not so exciting) and study for the same exams (kind of exciting, if you're a nerd) and hate the same teachers (very exciting). When you grow up, interactions with others become reduced to: Sitting together at the same coffee shop... Talking... Nodding and smiling at each other. It's hard to really form a bond over coffee and some nodding. It takes cooperation, activity, a shared goal with an emotional outcome, even if it's trivial, to bind us to other people. And as for in-life, so for on-line. Which gets me to my question for you... How can we as a group here, inside Daily Email House, do stuff TOGETHER? What would that even look like? Something that isn't just sitting in the same coffee shop (or Skool group)... "talking" (eg. posting or commenting in here)... "nodding and smiling" (liking posts or comments)? Something that involves cooperation, actual activity, a shared goal? I don't know. I hope you have ideas, and that you will share them. I'll consider them all earnestly. And if you've been in this group for any length of time, you know that if you toss up an idea, there's a good chance it will become reality. Thanks in advance.