5% More. Alden Michael

of any type of success. If you truly believe in your idea and you have done the legwork to determine that your idea should become a reality, then you must implement your idea. You must take that small step like Lonnie did, which is turning his idea into a reality. I'm not talking about turning dreams into reality; I'm talking about taking a viable idea and turning it into a reality. See, Lonnie's idea actually has utility; there is a need for it. There are other things that try to accomplish the same goal, but he just figured out a better way of doing it. Implementation of your idea is critical for success, and most people don't know how to do it. You will find the answers as you read on, and they are very simple.

      In order to actually get 5 Percent More, you need to take action. We are talking about only 5 percent, and in many circumstances even less than 5 percent. I'm not telling you to radically change your life and your daily habits, because I will show that dramatic changes don't work long term. It just takes 5 Percent More action.

      When people ask me about how to take action, I break it down to two things. Thoughts + Physical Activity = Action. Thoughts are not dreams. What I mean by thoughts is actually seeing yourself making 5 Percent More money or whatever the goal is, and also thinking about how you will do it. In a way, it is three things: seeing it, thinking about it, and doing it. Now, I can't show you exactly how to make money at your particular job or livelihood in this book. But you know what you can do to start taking action in order to accomplish that. So, begin to mentally take action. Then combine that mental action with physical activity.

      Let me give you an example in the area of physical fitness. Let's say you want to want to lose weight, and for simplicity let's say you want to lose 5 percent of your overall body weight. Let's also assume you are a 200-pound man. Let's also assume that you exercise, maybe 30 minutes a day, 3 days a week. All I am advocating for is to add 4.5 minutes more at a 5 Percent More intensity level. But even before that, I need you to think about and visualize what that means. If you are like me and do spinning a few times a week, then go 5 percent harder 5 Percent More of the time.

      Now for all of the physical trainers and fitness buffs out there, my example may not necessarily yield 5 percent reduction in body weight; this is just an example for people to understand what Action really is. But combine the above with a 5 percent reduction in calories, and a 5 percent overall weight loss will certainly happen. Later on, we will discuss 5 percent compounded and how adding or just reducing 5 percent of practically any aspect of your life will yield unimaginable results.

      So if you are dreaming about something, I want you to modify your dreams and turn them into goals – tangible, quantifiable objectives that can be measured. Then take Action. Mentally see yourself achieving your goal; mentally map out or devise a plan to achieve your goal; then take physical action. Where does the 5 percent play a role here? Spend 5 percent of your day working toward your goal. Just 5 Percent More effort and action. Again, just so I'm clear, it's mental and physical action. So the modified formula really looks like this: Seeing your goal + thinking about how to achieve your goal + physical activity = Action.

      To further drive home this point about Action: If you are doing nothing with your life, if you are sitting home watching television waiting for something to happen but realizing you will not achieve anything by continuing this behavior, start by taking 5 percent of your day and work toward a goal. Now, 5 percent of the total day is only 72 minutes, but if you take waking hours it's even less, like 35 to 40 minutes. If your goal is to get off the couch and become a productive citizen, then take action, just a little each day in the beginning, to get to where you want to be. Too many people dive into something 100 percent and lose steam. If your habits have been that of a lazy person on the couch, then radically changing your day is unrealistic and a recipe for failure. Modify or change your actions to something that is going to get you to your goal by allotting just 5 percent of your time to get there.

      Now, this doesn't just apply for those who are downright lazy and doing nothing, it applies to everyone in every scenario or situation imaginable. If you are a busy working mom with three kids and want to further your education, but can never seem to find the time, simply take 5 percent of the time you do have to achieve your goal. The great news is, with the proliferation of online degrees, your travel time is now zero. You can literally take classes in your bed. Many of these online schools are super-flexible, and you take the classes based on your schedule.

      The 5 Percent More philosophy also applies to those who are looking to get to the top of their career path or goal. It may be the vice president of an organization who wants to become the president of his division, a Team Leader who wants to become a manager, or a worker in a factory who wants to be the foreman. Everyone at the top or the pinnacle of success in virtually every industry does more than the rest, and that is what separates society. The people who do just a little bit more, who work just a little bit harder, who spend just a little bit more time, who prepare just a little bit more, achieve greatness. Take it from someone who struggled his whole life to get ahead, from education to business. I realized that in order to get ahead, in order to become the businessperson I am today, I needed to put in just a little bit more effort. Some would argue I put in way more effort than 5 percent. Some would argue I was and am obsessed with being successful in all that I do. They may be right, but it all starts with 5 Percent More action. Then it snowballs to what I call compounded 5 Percent More, so that 5 percent last month becomes 50 percent now.

      As I discussed in the introduction to this book, when I was in a spin class exhausted and wanting to just get off the bike, I realized I could do 5 Percent More, I could push myself 5 percent harder and longer. As I looked around the room, as I said earlier, I saw everyone else could as well. But only a few could do 50 Percent More, and those were the people who had, at some point, started with just 5 Percent More.

      5 Percent More means 5 Percent More effort, 5 Percent More dedication, 5 Percent More commitment and you can change your world beyond what you thought was possible. Come with me on this journey one step at a time, as I share many of the stories and anecdotes from my own life. All I ask is that every step of the way you open your mind 5 Percent More.

      Take Them as Far as They Can See, Then They Will See Further

      I learned that phrase from an unethical, nefarious businessman who is now in jail for his wicked ways. This man achieved what appeared to be supreme success; he had homes all over the world, he drove cars that cost more than most people's homes, he dined at the finest restaurants, wore clothes from the finest designers, and had more money than he knew what to do with. Why would I share this phrase from such an unscrupulous character? Well, the phrase is not evil and neither is its meaning. But it is very powerful when you want to achieve something, whether it is jogging to the next telephone pole or one more lap around the track, or one more sale before the end of the day. Once you get there, just ask for 5 Percent More effort out of yourself. You have already achieved your goal, so you have nothing to lose. You only have things to gain. Now imagine if you did this every day in every aspect of your life. Take yourself as far as you can see, then once you get there take yourself just 5 percent further.

      Why did that unscrupulous businessperson end up in jail and lose everything? He appeared to have given more effort, he appeared to try just a little bit more than others, but what he was really doing was cheating. He was certainly 5 percent better at cheating, which gave him temporary success, but it ultimately led to his demise. You see, he told people that he would take them as far as they could see and they would then see further, but what they eventually did was fall off a cliff after he got all he could out of them.

      If you are 5 percent better at cheating, stealing, or committing fraud, you will eventually end up broke and in jail. You see, 5 Percent More works virtually for everything, including dubious activity, so you must be careful when applying what you have learned so that it is for good and ethical purposes. Fast success never lasts. But if you use 5 Percent More for good ends, it can help you to achieve anything good. It did for me.

      Now, I'm a marketing guy. I sell products on television. Yeah, they are infomercials. It's not the only thing my company does, but it's what we are really good at. Plus, we sell mostly supplements on television, which adds a layer of skepticism. There are companies every year in my industry that get sued or shut down for being 5 percent better at cheating or lying or defrauding the public. Some people will always look down upon what we do as a company.