Make it unreasonable to not win

Before launching any new project, whether it's a marketing campaign, product initiative, or personal goal, I ask myself an important question:

What do I need to do to make failure unreasonable?

Failure is the most likely outcome in any ambitious and risky endeavor. This question shifts the focus from chasing success to eliminating the most common paths to failure.

It's about stacking the odds so heavily in your favor that not achieving your goal becomes the unlikely outcome.

I’ve used this throughout my life, implicitly and explicitly, and it has always worked in my favor.

What does unreasonable effort look like?

Most people underestimate the volume it takes to truly be good. It’s the classic “the master has lost more games than the amateur has even played” truism.

Ask yourself:

What does unreasonable effort look like?
How much would someone who’s guaranteed to win work?
How often do I train so that nothing surprises me on game day?

Take our recent in-app onboarding videos at SARAL. It took me four full weeks to make them end-to-end, more time than most companies or founders spend on SaaS onboarding.

But that’s what unreasonable effort looked like. The question I asked was:

What do I need to do to make these so good that people write case studies about our onboarding experience?

Days after launch, we are already getting unsolicited praise from customers. That feels good, that is the outcome of unreasonable effort.

It’s not just about volume

While volume is necessary, junk volume will keep you stuck. You need to iterate smartly, take feedback, and try different things.

For instance, in marketing, instead of launching more campaigns, focus on understanding your target audience deeply and crafting messages that resonate. Quality and relevance often trump quantity.

Unreasonable-ness is also about going above and beyond where most people go in terms of their depth and understanding of a subject.

For instance, I recently had a conversation with our marketing lead about testing a new paid media channel.

The first instinct to “do more” is to either increase the ad budget or launch more ads. But here’s how you can “do more” in other ways:

Interview 5 ideal customers to understand the exact words they use.
Test fundamentally different offers and funnels, not just new copy.
Make customized landing pages for each persona.
Analyze the sales team's feedback on lead quality to refine targeting.
… and so on.

When you want to make it unreasonable to fail, you have to try everything possible to win.

That’s more than just hustle and effort; it's about using creativity and feedback to your advantage.

Final Thoughts: Becoming Undeniable

One of my life’s missions is to live up to the Übermensch ideal, to be a feared opponent in any realm of human endeavor.

I know I can be in the top 0.1% at anything.

I can learn the piano, or become a world-class fighter, or run a marathon in record time, or make a billion dollars… the only choice is where I choose to apply myself.

It all comes down to building the mindset of a champion and choosing to become undeniable.

Next steps for you

Do fewer things, but do them to a degree where it’s unreasonable for you to fail.

Think: “If I repeated this same day for the next 30 days, will I be closer to my goal?”

If the answer is no, you’re not becoming undeniable. You’re living in mediocrity.

Audit Your Current Projects: Identify potential failure points and ask yourself the core question about what makes it unreasonable to fail.
Where are you doing junk volume? If something is not working for a while, take a step back. Assess exactly what you’re doing and try to do it better or differently.
Look at failure as opportunity: If an initiative doesn’t work, that’s feedback for you to improve your approach — not an indication of your worth.

I fundamentally believe that the universe is a very generous entity.

Most people don't justify why they deserve something. If you truly, deeply, sincerely want something to your core and you live it out every single day... the universe will give it to you. I am a living example of this.

Train so hard, work so smart, and focus so deep that average becomes impossible.