What if you pushed yourself beyond your current limits? How can small, consistent actions transform your entire life?
Ed Mylett’s The Power of One More explores how going slightly further in everything you do can lead to extraordinary results. From mindset shifts and goal-setting strategies to relationship building and finding inner peace, Mylett shares practical ways to unlock your full potential.
Continue reading to discover how “one more” step could be the key to achieving the life you’ve always wanted.
Overview of Ed Mylett’s The Power of One More
What if you were just one step away from the life of your dreams? In Ed Mylett’s The Power of One More, he argues that putting a little extra effort into your work, personal goals, or relationships can completely transform your life. Whether it’s doing one more set at the gym, waking up one hour earlier, or connecting with one new person, these small efforts add up over time to create big results. Mylett provides a guide for developing the mindset and habits to consistently go the extra mile and find greater satisfaction and success in all areas of life.
Mylett is an entrepreneur, speaker, and performance coach who has helped athletes, business leaders, politicians, and organizations excel. He also hosts a weekly podcast called The Ed Mylett Show, where he discusses strategies and stories to inspire listeners to reach their full potential in life. In 2022, Success Magazine named him one of the SUCCESS 125 most influential leaders.
In this overview, we’ll break down Mylett’s advice for going the extra mile into five parts:
- In Part 1, we’ll explore how to adopt an extra-mile mindset that empowers you.
- In Part 2, we’ll discuss how to set and achieve inspiring goals.
- In Part 3, we’ll cover ways to master your focus and time to attract opportunities and increase your productivity.
- In Part 4, we’ll discuss ways you can cultivate high-quality relationships and become an empowering leader.
- In Part 5, we’ll look at how to overcome roadblocks to achieving your dreams by finding inner calm and strength through faith.
Part 1: Develop a Mindset for Going the Extra Mile
Mylett writes that going the extra mile, or doing more than what’s expected of you, sets you apart from others and brings you greater success and opportunities. To consistently go the extra mile, you need a mindset that empowers you instead of limits you.
From a young age, you may have developed limiting beliefs about yourself and your abilities from messages you absorbed from family, friends, and society. For instance, if your parents often called you shy, you might struggle to see yourself as a confident leader later in life. Mylett explains that these beliefs shape what you think you can achieve and can hold you back from success. If you believe you can only reach a certain level of success, you’ll subconsciously limit yourself, thinking and acting in ways that keep you at that level.
To break free from these limiting beliefs, Mylett suggests you do four things: Focus on your dreams, attract positive emotions, ask yourself empowering questions, and build self-confidence. Let’s explore each in detail.
Reignite Your Ability to Dream
First, Mylett suggests you overcome your self-imposed limitations by learning to dream big again. He writes that as children, we let our imaginations run wild, believing anything was possible. But as we become adults, we often lose this ability to dream without limits. Instead, we focus more on past experiences—such as disappointments and failures—that discourage rather than empower us. This can prevent us from seeing and seizing opportunities for success.
Mylett writes that to push past the boundaries you’ve subconsciously set for yourself as an adult and dream big again, you must let go of the past. Your mind can only hold a limited number of thoughts at a time, so you must consciously release the ones that tie you to the past. Recognize that your past experiences have shaped who you are. Then, visualize your mind emptying any stale, limiting thoughts to make space for new, empowering ones.
Cultivate Positive Emotions
According to Mylett, another way to improve your mindset is to intentionally cultivate positive emotions instead of negative ones. While it’s normal and healthy to feel both negative and positive emotions, negative emotions, if left unchecked, can become too common in your life. Since negative emotions rarely motivate you to work on your goals or improve your life, they hold you back from going the extra mile. For example, if you constantly feel disappointed in yourself, you might avoid taking risks or trying new things, which might limit your motivation to push yourself further.
Mylett highlights a misconception many people have: that external achievements create more positive emotions. He argues it’s better to identify the emotions you want to feel and cultivate them regardless of whether your external circumstances are good or bad. For example, if you want to feel more joyful, make a daily practice of meditating on simple pleasures and expressing gratitude. Your emotions can either support you or hold you back, so by cultivating positive emotions, you put yourself in a better mental state to go the extra mile and achieve your goals.
Ask Empowering Questions
Mylett contends that in addition to dreaming big and cultivating positive emotions, asking yourself more empowering questions can improve your mindset. The questions you ask yourself shape your perspective, either motivating you or discouraging you. For example, many people ask themselves negative questions that foster fear and doubt—like, “What if I embarrass myself at the presentation tomorrow?”
Mylett recommends replacing these negative questions with ones that push you to think positively and move you toward your desired outcome. Instead of thinking, “What if I embarrass myself?” ask, “What’s one small thing I can do to be better prepared for tomorrow?” These empowering questions can shift your outlook; instead of seeing a challenge as a threat, you may see it as a way to grow and improve.
Raise Your Self-Confidence
Finally, Mylett says that raising your self-confidence can help you go the extra mile. He explains that self-confidence is the trust you have in your abilities, and it allows you to act on the things you want to do. For example, say you want to learn to ride a motorcycle. If you’re confident that you can learn to ride, you’ll take steps toward that goal, but if you lack confidence, you’ll hesitate to sign up for courses.
Mylett says that the opposite of self-confidence is self-sabotage, which can prevent you from going the extra mile and cause you to procrastinate or shrink away from your goals. For example, if you don’t believe in yourself, you might make excuses or talk yourself out of opportunities because you don’t think you can succeed.
To build self-confidence and overcome self-sabotage, Mylett recommends you consistently keep your word to yourself, even with small commitments. Each time you do what you say you’ll do, like sticking to a new habit, you create evidence that you can be relied on. By consistently showing up for yourself, you’ll develop trust that you can go the extra mile in whatever you choose to do.
Part 2: Set and Achieve Extra-Mile Goals
With the right mindset in place, the next step to going the extra mile is to translate your dreams into clear goals and actions. Mylett writes that goals provide the energy and motivation to make dreams a reality.
To turn your dreams into inspiring goals, Mylett recommends you first get into a peak state, which is when your mind and body are working together harmoniously. You can reach this state by getting physically active. Physical activity releases hormones that energize you and boost your creativity, making you feel more motivated to set goals. Once you’re in a peak state, write down everything you want in life without holding yourself back.
Mylett suggests you create a mix of short-term and long-term goals. An example of a short-term goal could be practicing a foreign language 15 minutes each day, while your long-term goal might be to hold simple conversations in that language in half a year. Make sure each goal is specific and has a strong reason behind it. For example, set an exact fitness milestone to reach by a certain date and understand why you want to reach that milestone. Also, experiment with ways to remind yourself of your goals regularly, such as getting an accountability partner, visualizing your goal, or repeating your goals aloud.
Once you’ve set your goals, help yourself go the extra mile to achieve them by raising your standards, establishing supportive habits, and building your tolerance for doing hard things.
Raise Your Standards to Achieve Your Goals
Mylett contends that, to achieve your goals, you must develop high standards. He explains that goals are the outcomes you want, while standards are the levels of performance and behavior you maintain daily to get there. Standards should be clear and actionable. For example, if your goal is to get a promotion at work, your standards might include arriving 30 minutes early, volunteering for extra projects, and improving your skills through additional training. In contrast, a vague standard like “work harder” isn’t an effective stepping stone toward your goal.
Mylett writes that your life also mirrors the standards you accept. If you put up with a draining relationship, an unfulfilling job, or nagging health issues, you’ll keep getting more of the same. Raising your standards for yourself and for the people and situations in your life leads to positive change, even though it may feel tough at first.
Establish Habits That Support Your Goals
In addition to raising your standards, writes Mylett, you should build positive habits that give you the consistency to achieve your goals over time. Your brain naturally creates habits to conserve energy, allowing you to perform routine tasks without much thought. Things like your morning routine, how you commute to work, and what you do to unwind in the evening are largely driven by ingrained habits rather than conscious decisions each time.
Mylett argues that good habits are more effective than bursts of motivation at carrying you through slumps and helping you achieve your goals. This is because when you face challenges and stress, your habits persist even if your motivation wanes. If you’ve developed good habits, like reviewing your to-do list first thing in the morning, they’ll keep you on track. But if you’ve developed bad habits, like procrastinating on your work, they’ll hold you back.
To form a new habit, create a trigger to start your new routine, do the action you want to make into a habit, and then reward yourself to lock in the habit. For example, if you want to start your day by reviewing your to-do list, you could use your morning coffee as your trigger, sit down and review your list as your action, and then treat yourself by listening to a short podcast or reading your favorite blog as your reward.
Build Your Tolerance for Doing Hard Things
Mylett writes that to set and achieve ambitious goals, you must build your tolerance for discomfort. He argues that achieving anything extraordinary requires doing hard things and that few people build an exceptional career, business, or relationship by taking the easy path.
To build your tolerance for hard things, Mylett recommends you start each day by tackling your most challenging tasks first. This approach builds character and discipline and sets you apart from most people who gravitate to easy items on their to-do lists. Completing challenging tasks is more rewarding than completing easy ones because accomplishing these tasks expands your skills and raises your confidence in yourself.
Part 3: Create an Extra-Mile Reality
Mylett writes that, in addition to developing an empowering mindset and setting inspiring goals, you can also consciously shape your reality to support an extra-mile lifestyle. By directing your focus and changing your perception of time, you can attract more opportunities and resources. Let’s explore these two strategies further.
Direct Your Focus
One way to shape your reality is to be more intentional about what you focus on. Mylett writes that you can attract more opportunities and resources by focusing more on your goals every day. He explains that your brain has a network of nerve cells called a reticular activating system (RAS) that acts as a filter for information. It helps you notice things that are important to you and filters out less relevant information. This increased awareness of your priorities can help you take advantage of resources and chances you might have otherwise missed, allowing you to actively shape your reality in line with your goals.
Mylett suggests you harness your RAS by vividly imagining a specific goal and replaying that mental movie until it’s embedded in your subconscious. For instance, if your goal is to be a professional painter, you might picture yourself in a sunlit studio, surrounded by your completed artworks, with galleries calling to book your next show. By replaying this scene in your mind daily, you may suddenly notice art supply sales you previously overlooked, overhear conversations about upcoming gallery openings, and meet other painters.
Leverage Your Time Perception
Mylett writes that you can also change your reality by stretching how you perceive time. While you can’t literally slow time down, you can alter how quickly or slowly time seems to pass and improve how productive you are as a result.
Your perception of time depends on various factors like your age, experiences, and energy levels, but Mylett suggests several ways you can make time feel more abundant.
1. Make a plan. Spend the first 30 minutes of your day assessing your priorities. This helps you focus on doing tasks that matter most for your goals instead of just reacting to whatever comes up during the day.
2. Divide your day into “mini days.” We all have only 24 hours in a day, but by breaking this time into three smaller “days” or timeframes such as noon to 6 p.m., you can essentially squeeze three days’ worth of productivity from 24 hours. These compressed “days” make each minute feel more valuable, which motivates you to accomplish more tasks in less time.
3. Create a sense of urgency. Treat every task as if it’s urgent. Mylett points out that the amount of time you have to complete a task affects how productive you are and how quickly you complete it. If you have a work project due in three months, you’ll likely procrastinate until the deadline looms. To avoid this trap, pretend that the deadline is closer to get more done.
4. Reflect. Track your progress toward your goals weekly, daily, or even hourly. The more often you evaluate how you’re doing, the better you can course-correct and use your time more efficiently.
Part 4: Build Extra-Mile Relationships
Mylett contends that building strong relationships is essential to success in every area of life. Specifically, he recommends you carefully choose an inner circle of people who inspire and challenge you to be your best and, at the same time, become an empowering leader who brings out the best in others.
Build Your Inner Circle
Mylett advises you to form close relationships with people who make you better. The people around you profoundly shape your life and success. While all your relationships shape you to some degree, your inner circle influences you the most. This group includes your closest connections, like romantic partners, close friends, and mentors.
Mylett suggests you first examine your current inner circle. Ask yourself if the members of your circle have the qualities, achievements, or emotional states that you aspire to have. As you go through life, you may find that some relationships no longer serve you as they once did. It can be difficult, but you must be willing to move these people to your outer circles to make room for new connections that help you reach your potential.
Once you’ve pruned your inner circle, form new relationships with people who inspire and challenge you. Being around diverse perspectives and experiences keeps you from becoming stagnant and helps you to grow personally and professionally. Mylett recommends you look for people who complement your strengths and weaknesses. For example, if you’re a creative type who tends to think in the abstract, you might seek out an analytical thinker as a counterweight.
Be an Empowering Leader
Mylett says that, in addition to finding people who make you better, you should become a leader who helps others achieve more than they could on their own. He writes that, while some people have a natural gift for leadership, anyone can become a great leader with practice.
Mylett discusses several things empowering leaders do.
1. Rally people to an inspiring mission. Empowering leaders create a mission that encompasses the hopes and dreams of those you lead and communicate how being part of this mission will positively transform their lives. To create an inspiring mission, define what you stand for and against. For example, you might start a food bank with a mission to fight against hunger in your community.
2. Reinforce your mission and values. Repeat simple, memorable messages about your values and expectations until they become part of your organization’s culture. This ensures everyone knows their roles clearly and aligns with shared goals. Mylett adds that you must consistently model the mindsets and actions you expect from others. If your conduct doesn’t match the standards you set for your people, they’ll quickly notice the inconsistency and see no reason to meet those standards.
3. Develop your team. Mylett writes that one team player can elevate the whole team’s performance. Proactively create opportunities for team members to step up as leaders, which boosts their confidence, lightens your load, and uplifts the entire team.
4. Show you care. Recognize each person’s unique value and show them how their talents fit into the bigger picture. Tailor your approach to what motivates each person most, whether it’s public recognition or quiet encouragement. When you show you care, you boost people’s confidence and help them contribute their fullest.
5. Provide resources for success. As a leader, it’s your responsibility to equip your people with the resources they need to succeed in the tasks you give them. This should be an ongoing process. Similarly, make sure you have the resources you need to lead effectively.
Part 5: Develop Inner Peace to Support Your Extra-Mile Lifestyle
To sustain an extra-mile life, Mylett writes that you must be able to pursue ambitious goals while maintaining inner peace—staying mentally and emotionally calm, even when facing challenges. You can’t control most of what happens in life, but you can train your mind to handle setbacks and challenges in a positive, rational way.
To find inner peace when facing stress and challenges, Mylett suggests you become more mindful of your thoughts and reactions. Recognize that both good and bad things in life are temporary and that you’re one small part of the vast human experience. This perspective helps you let go of attachments, embrace change, and manage your fears. For example, if you get passed over for a promotion, see it as one step in a long career, not the end.
Find Strength Through Faith and Prayer
Mylett also encourages finding inner peace by connecting to something greater than yourself through faith and prayer. He defines prayer as focusing your thoughts on your deepest hopes.
According to Mylett, your mind is constantly praying in a sense—thinking about your desires for your relationships, career, health, and so on. He suggests channeling this natural tendency more purposefully: Pray intentionally each day and focus on gratitude, instead of just praying when you’re struggling and need divine intervention. This increases your inner peace and ability to go the extra mile. He adds that the more you pray for something, the harder you’ll want to work to achieve it.
