Identity, Simplicity, and Living Aligned

Dr. Benjamin Hardy just released his newest book, The Science of Scaling. Hardy, best known for co-authoring 10x Is Easier Than 2x with Dan Sullivan, has a way of cutting through entrepreneurial noise to get to the marrow: growth begins with identity. In this book, he argues that you don’t scale a business, you scale a person. Your current identity is perfectly calibrated for your current results. If you want new results, you must become your future self.

In the most recent newsletter by James Wedmore, entrepreneur, podcaster, and mentor behind The Digital CEO movement, he shared what he calls his $10K advice that’s worth $1M. After running a mastermind retreat in Sedona, he distilled all the coaching and strategies down to one truth: Simple sells. Less is more. One offer. One system. One path. It sounds almost too basic… until you realize how much energy is bled away by chasing shiny objects and switching contexts.

In his daily journal, Jason Leister, shares

Business is a tool to generate the life you want to live. The constraint you introduce from the beginning is the picture of the life you want.

He rejects the grind culture of 90-hour weeks or “exit bragging rights” and insists on designing business backwards from life—not the other way around.

1. Scale Identity First (Hardy)

Hardy’s book is a wake-up call: to scale, start with who you’re becoming. Filter your decisions through your future self:

• Does this offer match who I’m becoming?
• Does this way of working reflect my future rhythm?
• Is this aligned with my life design or someone else’s blueprint of success?

2. Simplicity Beats Shiny Objects (Wedmore)

Wedmore saw firsthand how entrepreneurs lose momentum by context switching—building half a dozen bridges, finishing none. His advice: choose one, optimize it, refine it, make it better. That’s how you scale with elegance, not exhaustion.

3. Constraint Creates Freedom (Leister)

Leister’s philosophy makes the most sense to me: don’t start with the market, start with your life vision. Constraint is the ultimate filter. It forces clarity and prevents the drift into busyness. Without it, you risk building a business that succeeds on paper but bankrupts your life.

This is where my One Question Strategic Working Session™ comes in. Because Leister’s challenge—“What do you want your life to look like?”—isn’t just philosophical. It’s the pivot point for alignment. My One Question session takes that idea and applies it directly to your business reality. Instead of piling on more strategies, we pause long enough to ask the question that reveals what your business truly needs now—not ten competing things, just the one lever that unlocks momentum.

For some, the answer surfaces a broken process. For others, it’s a role misalignment. Sometimes it’s messaging that doesn’t match the identity of the business you’re becoming. Whatever it is, the clarity is catalytic: you stop chasing shiny objects and start building bridges that actually take you somewhere.

Putting It All Together

Scaling isn’t about doing more. It’s about alignment.

• Identity → becoming the version of yourself capable of leading at 10x (Hardy).
• Simplicity → focusing on one bridge, not five (Wedmore).
• Constraint → reverse-engineering your business from the life you actually want (Leister).
• Clarity → asking The One Question™ that reveals what your business most needs now (Hudson).

These four together create a discipline of alignment. Identity shapes direction. Simplicity keeps you moving. Constraint keeps you honest. And The One Question™ keeps you clear.

Do that, and “10x” stops being a buzzword. It becomes your operating rhythm.

Strategic Reflection Prompt
What bridge am I really building—and is it aligned with the future version of me and the life I want to live?

If you’re done chasing shiny objects and want clarity on the one question that reveals what your business truly needs right now, let’s have a Clarity Conversation™. Sometimes one aligned question saves you years of building half-finished bridges.