TOOL · CHAPTER 13 · THE LADDER

Find your rung.

Yourself, your home, one stranger, your first customers, strangers you'll never meet, other founders, whole systems. Each rung pays more than the one below it.

CHECK EVERY RUNG THAT'S TRUE TODAY

7Whole systemsI work on the rails everyone runs on: rules, payments, credit or access.6Other foundersI help people starting out who have no seat at the table.5Strangers you'll never meetI've worked on a problem that helps people who'll never know my name.4Your first customersSomeone has paid me for solving a problem they had.3One strangerI've solved a problem for someone I didn't know, just because I could see it.2Your homeThe problems I solve pay the people under my roof.1YourselfI say "Good" to my own bad news and handle my own problems as they land.

RUNG SLIPRUNG 0 OF 7

Start at the bottom.

Next rung, Yourself: The first rung is yourself. Every problem you solve builds you.

THE NEXT MOVE

Write down one problem that isn't yours but is sitting within your reach: under your roof, on your team, in your neighborhood. Don't solve it yet. Just name it, and name who it's costing. That's the first move on the next rung.

YOU DON'T SKIP RUNGS. THE MAN WHO CAN'T SAY "GOOD" TO HIS OWN BAD NEWS ISN'T READY FOR THE CONFERENCE ROOM.

THE LEDGER · WEEKLY

Switch one line. Every week.

One rule, one reader slip, one move. Join and get the full Introduction and Chapter 1 free, plus the Day One Map.