How Becoming the Best in the World Is Easier Than You Think

There’s can only be one best in the world, and it had better be you.9

Whether it’s your business, your podcast, your book, or anything else, if you’re not competing to be the single best in the world at what you do, why are you trying?

Check out the full show notes with key takeaways, quotes, in-depth guest info, and more.

Of course, that’s a lot of pressure.

If there can only be one best in the world, to become that singular talent will no-doubt require you to forsake everything else in your life in pursuit of attaining that status, if you can even muster the motivation to start down the road against such odds in the first place.

But maybe Best in the World isn’t an absolute, objective title.

Maybe you can choose to redefine what you want to be best in the world at, and drill down until it becomes not only attainable but inevitable if you choose to focus single-mindedly on the niche you choose to carve out for yourself.

Think about the best swimmer in the world.

Chances are your brain immediately jumped to Michael Phelps, and for good reason. He’s not only the most decorated international swimmer of all time but the most decorated Olympian of any kind.

But if you look at his finishing results, you’ll see that while he was flat out dominant in some categories of races, he failed to medal in some, and didn’t even compete in others.

While Phelps might be the hands-down best in the world at the 200m butterfly, he’s not even in the conversation for the 400m freestyle, in which his best international placement was 18th.

And this is all in the pool. What about open water, endurance swimming?

Depending on your worldview and the boundaries and criteria you use to judge a given pursuit, there are many potential Bests in the World.

This is an exciting proposition.

Instead of competing against everyone else in the world who does the same thing you do, you can choose to narrow your focus on who you serve, and thus thin out your competition.

Narrow your focus far enough and you may find yourself as the only one choosing to compete to be the Best in the World for those people.

Narrow Your Focus
Of course, being the Best in the World at something for which people are unwilling to pay for, or which lacks an audience big enough to support you, Seth Godin’s Minimum Viable Audience, doesn’t do you any good if you’re hoping to support yourself based on your work.

But narrowing down your focus to the point at which you have the ability to conceivably become the Best in the World at a certain pursuit, to a certain group of people is the starting point for creating something worth talking about.

As you drill down you might find a point at which you are already the Best in the World. If this audience meets the Minimum Viable Audience, your job is to double down on them and get the word out that you exist specifically to serve them.

If they don’t meet the Minimum Viable Audience, you’ll need to expand your focus outward, degree by degree until you find an audience that does meet that threshold.

You may no longer be a Best in the World front runner at this point, but if you’re willing to put in the work, you probably can be.

Incumbent Bests in the World in many niches are often generic, mass-market providers only claiming the top spot in that niche because no one has yet come along and spoken to that specific group of people directly and intimately.

This is your opportunity.

Key Takeaways For Becoming The Best In The World

1. By refusing to narrow your focus to a specific niche, you're choosing to compete with everyone. If you're competing with everyone, you can't win.

2. Narrow your focus by using a combination of both demographic and psychographic variables that appeal to you to define your target audience.  

3. If your result is not a minimum viable audience, one that can conceivably support you in your work, start widening your focus to include more people in your target group.

4. Once you have your target group identified, do everything in your power to become the best option available to that group of people. 

5. When you're the best in the world for a specific group of people, you can get them better results, charge more, and support them more holistically than clients and customers who fall outside your target group.

Which group of people are you aiming to be the best in the world for? Leave me a voice message to have your response featured on an upcoming episode.

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