My Top 10 Habits To Becoming the #1 PLG Expert

This was initially going to be a short LinkedIn post until I realized I hit the character limit at the 5th habit.

So 2 hrs later, here we are...

A full-blown article on my top 10 habits for becoming the #1 PLG expert.

What I hope you take away from this article is how to master your craft and become world-class at whatever you do.

Let's dig in!

1. Have daily non-negotiable standards.

For every goal in my life, I have daily standards that will make my goals inevitable over a long enough time horizon. For instance, I'm writing another book, so I write at least 60 minutes daily. My standard will make my goal inevitable. It took me way too long to realize this. Most New Year's Resolutions fail because people don't set daily standards to make their goals inevitable. When you reverse-engineer your goals and identify the daily standard, and make it non-negotiable, you'll be surprised how many of your goals you achieve.

2. Prioritize activities that give you energy.

I remember hitting my first $30k month. I was blown away that I could even generate that kind of revenue. Yet, deep down, I wasn't excited about the work I had to do. I had "followed the money" yet took on projects that didn't light me up. I essentially created a bad job for myself. Which is surprisingly easy to do as an entrepreneur. So, the next year, my theme was energy. I documented everything I did in a spreadsheet and labeled it as giving me positive or negative energy. It was my north star and led me to do more things around PLG, which gave me a ton of energy. Now, this habit is on autopilot, and I'm always asking myself if certain activities bring me more or less energy. I kill or delegate the things that drain me and treasure those that light me up. Simple to say, hard to do.

3. Learn first thing in the morning.

You are always the bottleneck in your business. I've spent over $100k on personal development, courses, books, and coaches to help level up. It's not about the money, though - literally, the first thing I do when I wake up is read for 15-30 minutes in an area where I'm trying to acquire a new skill. I have the mindset that I'm just lacking some skills to accomplish any of my big goals.

4. Work ON your business when you start work.

I remember complaining in my first year of business that I didn't ever have time to work on my business. I was too busy doing client work... working on other people's businesses. A mentor told me to dedicate at least the first hour to working on my business so I'll make progress faster. He was right. And the client's work still got done. Now, I spend 80% of my time working on my business and keep increasing this amount over time.

5. Pinpoint your unique ability to master your craft.

Your unique ability is something you are better at than anyone else. For instance, one of my unique abilities is synthesis. To develop the ProductLed System, I had to help 100's of product-led companies before spotting the same patterns and turning them into a repeatable process.

In order to develop my unique ability, I had to:

1) design the business in such a way that I would be able to serve many clients and spot patterns faster

2) delegate all the things I was doing that weren't in my unique ability

3) make the space on my calendar to synthesize these insights into a book.

It's not enough to identify your unique ability. To reach your full potential, you need to design your business and day to give you the time to master your craft.

When you master your craft, you will create something only you can create. What's great about this is that nobody can create something just like it because your unique ability is unique to you.

6. Go all in on one thing.

Amateurs go part-time. Pros go full-time in whatever they do. That's why you will never see an athlete at the top of their game in the NBA or NFL doing what they do part-time. Once you find what you love to do, go all in on it. If you're writing an article on how to build a great strategy, make it the best one that has been written. If you're passionate about pickleball, become the best player in your city. Take your passion and continue to double down on it. You should stay the course if you're getting more energy from it. It's easy to tell if you're not meant to continue mastering something - you'll lose interest, and it will feel like pushing a rock up a hill. When you go all in on one thing you're meant to go all-in on, you will get more passionate about it as time passes, and things will get easier.

7. Plan your day out the day before.

This is such a simple habit, but it has the biggest impact. Before I start every day, I already know my top 3 objectives for the next day. This is powerful because I can mull over how to approach those three objectives overnight in my subconscious, and then when I wake up many times, I'll have better ideas that I didn't have the day prior, making implementing these things easier.

I love planning so much that I even made my own Daily Planner. Yep, I'm a planning nerd!

8. Manage your energy, not your time.

My calendar is colorful.

Meetings are red because, as an introvert, they drain me.

Deep work is blue.

Exercise time is yellow.

Breaks are green.

I can tell you if it's a high or low-energy day by glancing at my calendar.

As I master my craft more and put in the right systems to run the business, I will have more free days to create even better work.

It's surprising how simple this calendar coloring habit is yet how powerful it can become in getting you to manage your energy, not your time.

Even just one meeting on a focus day can block your energy for half the day.

Once you learn this, you'll question every meeting more as you should.

9. Exercise every day.

I know what some of you are thinking. What about rest days?

Screw rest days. I believe you need to find what moves you and sweat every day.

That doesn't mean going to the boring gym daily if that's not what lights you up.

Do yoga, swimming, pickleball, or anything that you enjoy.

Working out clears your mind so that you can think clearly.

I exercise daily to build discipline and remind my brain who's in control.

I feel better and am more productive if I work out every day.

If you're sore and need a rest day, just do yoga. :)

With that said, I have a TON of energy and am restless if I don't work out, so this habit might not apply to you, but for me, you bet!

10. Reserve 2-4 hrs of thinking time per week.

It's easy just to be busy. It feels normal for many of us to be running around, multitasking, and doing a million things that when someone asks us how we're doing, we default to say, "I'm feeling busy," like it's a badge of honor.

It's not.

Many people miss out on being intentional with their time because they don't carve out thinking time.

Thinking time is hugely underrated.

It's when you carve out 1-2 hrs of time once or twice a week and ask yourself deep reflective questions like:

1. How can you 10x your business?
2. Who do you want to become in 10 years?
3. What dragged you down this week?

Here's my full list of thinking time questions I've identified over the years. Feel free to duplicate it and start with these and then create your own reflective questions.

The goal is to pick a few key questions that excite you to dig into and run through them, and then see where your brain takes you.

Pro tip: do your thinking time offline for best results. I've been doing this recently, and I get way better insights without distractions.

11. Fill your cup & create space for deep work.

To be the best, you must recharge like the best.

Resting and recharging don't come naturally to me. Heck, I've spent the last 2 hours writing this post on Saturday morning.

But in my defense, writing this gives me a lot of energy as I'm passionate about this topic and excited to share it with you.

Yet, when I look back at when I made massive progress on my goals, I was always full of energy.

For instance, I wrote nearly 80% of my upcoming book in an 8-week period when I explored Australia last summer.

I was having fun and had a maximum of 4 hrs of calls per week, but I made massive progress. It's not a coincidence. When you fill your cup and create the space for deep work, you unlock new productivity levels.

Still not convinced? Read the power of full engagement.

12. Remind yourself of your purpose.

I am going to help millions of entrepreneurs build product-led companies at ProductLed.

I'm going to start with helping B2B SaaS entrepreneurs and then branch out to more businesses that can become product-led.

My purpose lights me up, and what excites me about it is that it's just the beginning.

Having a purpose that excites you will give you the backbone you need when times get tough and things don't seem to work, but you decide to push through instead.

Having a purpose will mean putting in that extra effort because it's not about you - it's about serving other people.

If there's one thing I think that's missing a lot when it comes to creators, it's this. Have a big purpose beyond yourself.

Sure, the solopreneur's dream of working 4 hrs a week and making a killing is fun, but standing for something bigger energizes me.

Why did I write this article?

To serve you.

It's part of my purpose. As cheesy as that all sounds, it's true. :)

One other aspect to consider here is that when you're purpose-driven, you burn a different energy source.

Instead of doing things for achievement or money, you do it because it ties into your mission. This is the difference between burning toxic energy sources like coal vs green solar energy.

One burns much cleaner and longer.

Conclusion

It's more than 10 habits.

It's more than 12 habits.

To master your craft, it takes a lot of trial and error.

I've tried 100's of habits out to see what works for me.

What I hope you do is try these habits out like a hat and wear them for a few weeks or months and see if you get closer to mastering your craft.

If not, don't feel like you need to keep doing them.

Everyone has different habits that work for them.

Find your power combo of habits that helps you unlock your potential.

I'm rooting for you.

Cheers,

-Wes