How to Try Again - Steve Kamb

Partial Excerpts (antilibrary)

INTRODUCTION: STARTING AT THE END

Most books start at the beginning. We’re going to start at the end.
The morning after you failed.

I’ll start with some uplifting news: You’re in good company. My name is Steve Kamb, and I have failed a lot lately.

In 2023, I signed a contract to write a book about how I’ve helped millions of busy, burned-out people reach their goals while living beautifully unoptimized lives

And then my life didn’t go according to plan. Two weeks after signing this book deal, my dermatologist gave me the lovely news that the itchy patch on my scalp was basal cell carcinoma

And then things really got “fun.”

After a nine-year relationship, I got divorced.

Even better, all of this happened at the same time my company fell apart. Thanks to society-wide changes in how people use search engines, artificial intelligence, and social media, I watched as 75 percent of my company’s website traffic—1.5 million monthly visitors—disappeared over just a few years.

Okay, it sucked. Particularly because things usually just “work out” for me.
I’m lucky as hell.

My solution to every problem has always been “just work harder.” And for almost four decades, that (mostly) worked

And then it all stopped working, all at the same time. These past three years forced me to rethink my life.

it still took me eighteen months to accept that the very skills I taught other people also applied to my situation. True statement: It was in draft number fourteen when I finally found the courage to add my personal failings to this introduction.

I also can’t promise things will get better for either of us!

So, where does that leave us? I know you want things to be better. I do too

You’re probably tired of feeling stuck, and on the verge of giving up

Fortunately, I wrote this book for people like you.

Who This Book Is for and Why I Wrote It

Some people wake up at 4 a.m., run fifteen miles barefoot, meditate in an ice bath

This book is not for those people. This book is for the rest of us.

Burned-out humans who are frustrated that they can’t “get it together.” Busy moms and dads who “should exercise more” or “should eat better” or “should be more productive.”

We also have an unbelievable team of coaches that have helped tens of thousands of people get their first pull-up

And we do so differently from what you might expect. Rather than helping people succeed with more discipline, we help them fail with more compassion

Instead of chasing temporary changes for temporary results, we help our audience make sustainable progress with sustainable results. We help real people navigate real problems better than anybody else in the galaxy. We’ve been doing this at a high level for a long time and we have helped a lot of people succeed after years (or decades) of struggling.

How This Book Will Help You Try Again

No wonder we struggle to follow through on our goals. We need a different approach. One that factors in what life is actually like. One that honors the reality that we’re fallible humans trying to make arbitrary changes, with a brain that hates change, and a world that wants to keep us where we are: perpetually dissatisfied and hungry for the next quick fix.