Founder of 1% Better™ | Former accountant, future author | Follow me for the best self-development content on LinkedIn

Former accountant.
Future author.

I share actionable, educational, and entertaining self-development content to help my readers live their best lives.

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Colby Kultgen

I dealt with negative self-talk for years.

And believe me when I say, It's no fun going through life as your own worst enemy.

That's why I love simple reframes like this.

They’re the tiny course corrections that, over months and years, can completely transform the way you speak to yourself.

Source: Coral Santoro on Instagram

The only way to become the kind of person who can do the thing…is to start doing the thing before you feel like that kind of person.

Read that twice.

Most people get this backwards.

They wait until they feel like a "real" writer to publish.
They wait until they feel like a leader to speak up.

But here’s the thing: 
Identity doesn’t come first, action does.

The evidence you're searching for only shows up after you start.

So if you're feeling stuck right now.

Overthinking. 
Overpreparing. 
Overconsuming.

Ask yourself:
1. What would the “qualified” version of me do today?
2. What small move could I make in that direction?

Then do that.

Act like the person you want to become.
Eventually, you won’t be acting anymore.

End-of-year reminder:

You’re allowed to be proud of things that have nothing to do with income or promotions.

The friendships you strengthened.
The habits you kept.
The boundaries you honoured.
The health you protected.
The person you’re becoming.

Success is a much bigger pie than job titles and salaries.

If you grew, healed, learned, showed up for people, or protected your energy this year—that counts.

Celebrate the parts of your life that don’t get LinkedIn announcements.

Image credit: 6secondseq on IG

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a study everyone should know about:

Your brain is lying to you about the past.

Research shows we overestimate how predictable past events were by 30-50% (hindsight bias).

Translation: 
You think you "should have known better" way more often than you actually could have.

When you catch yourself spiraling about a past decision, run it through this filter:

1. Information gap - What did I not know then that I know now?
2. Resource gap - What didn't I have access to? (time, money, support, tools)
3. Awareness gap - What emotional patterns or blind spots hadn't I recognized yet?
4. Growth gap - What skills or wisdom hadn't I developed?

Your brain rewrites history to make past outcomes seem obvious. 

The reality is:
You did the best you could with what you knew. Now you know more. 

That's not failure, that's the whole point.

Remember:

It's better to admit you walked through the wrong door than spend your life in the wrong room.

I see this everywhere. 

The soul-crushing job we keep because it sounds impressive on paper.
The toxic relationship we cling to because leaving feels like giving up.
The outdated belief we defend because we've already invested so much of ourselves into it.

The hard part isn't recognizing this, it’s admitting it.

Because admitting you're in the wrong room means admitting you made a mistake. It means backing out. Confronting the sunk cost. Disappointing people. Starting over.

But here's what nobody tells you: staying costs more.

Every day in the wrong room is a day not spent in the right one.
It's not just wasted time, it's the compounding loss of what could have been.

The opportunities you'll never see. 
The version of yourself you'll never become.

Sometimes the bravest thing you can do in life is simply say: "This isn't right for me anymore.”

And then move on.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again:

Developing a bias for action is one of the most valuable things you can do in life.

This advice isn't anything new, Rumi was preaching the same thing almost 1,000 years ago: "As you start to walk on the way, the way appears."

As far as making this part of your every day working process goes, here are a few ideas:

1. Start every morning with one “move it forward” task. Pick the single smallest action that will advance your most important project, and do it before checking anything reactive.

2. Shrink every task to the next physical step. Not “write the article” but “outline the first three points.” Not “launch the product” but “draft the landing page headline.”

3. End the day by setting tomorrow’s first action. Before you close your laptop, write down the exact task you’ll start with in the morning.

♻️ Repost if this resonates.

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An idea that genuinely changed my life…

The Average Tuesday Rule:

The quality of your ordinary Tuesday is the best measure of your life satisfaction.

Think about it.

We spend 80% of our lives on these “nothing special” days, yet we obsess over optimizing the other 20%—weekends, vacations, milestones.

We tolerate miserable Tuesdays while dreaming about spectacular Saturdays.

But when your average Tuesday is an 8/10, everything changes:
↳ You stop counting down to Friday.
↳ Small moments start mattering more than big events.
↳ You start enjoying the entire ride, not just the peaks.

Most self-improvement advice focuses on reaching the ceiling.

The Average Tuesday Rule flips this approach: focus on raising your floor.

Here’s where to start:

➊ Design your ideal ordinary day:
 From wake-up to bedtime, craft a realistic blueprint for an 8/10 Tuesday.

➋ Take small steps to close the gap: 
- Identify one daily friction point and solve it permanently. 
- Add one small joy to your routine and protect it fiercely.
- Subtract one energy leak that consistently drains you. 

❸ Keep doing this until your reality matches your ideal.

Because life isn’t made up of mountaintop moments.

It’s made up of average Tuesdays.

How to remember almost everything you learn (science-backed):

how to remember almost everything you learn

I’m 34. 

Here’s what I would tell my 24-year-old self:

I’m 34. Here’s what I would tell my 24-year-old self.

How to do a hard reset on your life before 2026:

How to do a hard reset on your life before 2026

How to unrot your brain (step-by-step)

Reminder:

You don’t have to wait until January 1 to change your life.

Here are 6 questions to close out 2025 strong and hit the ground running in 2026:

6 questions to answer during the last 6 weeks of 2025

30 short habits with a massive return on life:

What would you add to this list?

30 short habits with a massive return on life 

5 non-negotiable daily routines every person should have:

5 non-negotiable daily routines every person should have

A "razor" is a rule of thumb for simplifying complex decisions.

Here are 8 everyone should know:

8 decision-making razors everyone should know

How to get more done in less time (8 daily non-negotiables):

How to get more done in less time 

Well, it's that time of year again.

Before we rush into 2026 with a fresh set of goals and big plans, there's something important we should do first:

Reflect on the 12 months behind us.

Wins, losses, lessons. The stuff most people skip over in their rush to plan what's next.

I originally created this set of 7 questions for myself, but after seeing how impactful they were, I knew I had to share them with you.

2025 Personal Year-In-Review

How to do a digital declutter before 2026:

How to Do a Digital Declutter Before 2026

Jay Yang

Acquisition.com

Social Media Strategist for Alex & Leila Hormozi

Pre-Production Strategist for Alex & Leila Hormozi

The Spark

Writer

I help established entrepreneurs scale their brand and market their products using social media.

Founder

AppSumo

I worked directly with Noah Kagan (Founder & CEO of AppSumo) to strategize, create, and grow his social media brand and email newsletter. Led the social media campaign that helped make Million Dollar Weekend a New York Times bestseller.

Head of Content to Noah Kagan

Z Fellows

Grew the Z Fellows Twitter account from 1,066 to 22,369 followers in 1 year and newsletter from 3,460 to 6,000+ subscribers.

Content Strategist

The Startup Archive

Developed the content creation and distribution system that grew the Startup Archive Instagram account from 0 to 160,000 followers and Twitter account from 0 to 40,000 followers in 9 months.

Perch

Marketing

Good People Digital

Researcher & Copywriter

The Newsletter Nerd

Started and scaled a B2B newsletter media company to exit within 5 months.

beehiiv

Created and launched the beehiiv 101 resource.

Growth Marketer

Hi, I’m Jay Yang.

I believe you don’t need permission to create your own opportunities.

When I was 16, I cold-emailed Tyler Denk, the CEO of beehiiv, with a list of ideas on how I could help. That email turned into an internship where I built beehiiv 101—a course that’s helped hundreds of users unlock the platform’s potential.

At 17, I sent Noah Kagan, founder of AppSumo, a 19-page pitch deck breaking down gaps in his social media and email marketing—and how to fix them. That landed me a role as Head of Content, where I led campaigns (like the one that made Million Dollar Weekend a New York Times bestseller).

These days, I help entrepreneurs scale their brand, grow their audience, and market their products more effectively.

When I’m not working, you’ll find me:

• Playing pickup basketball at the local gym.
• Picking up and putting down heavy things (roughly 10-12 times).
• Hanging with family and friends.

Pretty cool thing to wake up to - got featured in Forbes!

You can just do things 🫡

Alex & Leila Hormozi’s Written Media Strategist | Author of You Can Just Do Things

I turned 20 two weeks ago…
Here’s how I got here:

When I was 15, I googled “how to make money online”.

That led me to start a music promotion YouTube channel where I’d promote underground artists songs to help them get exposure.

I posted every single day for an entire summer… but the channel didn’t go anywhere :(

But it did teach me the power of online content and value creation.

At 16, I realized I needed more guidance on how to run an online business, so I cold-emailed Tyler Denk, the CEO of beehiiv, with a list of ideas on how I could help him.

That email turned into an internship where I built beehiiv 101—a course that’s helped hundreds of users unlock the platform’s potential. 

At 17, I sent Noah Kagan, founder of AppSumo, a 19-page pitch deck breaking down gaps in his social media and email marketing—and how to fix them.

That landed me a role as Head of Content, where I led campaigns (like the one that made Million Dollar Weekend a New York Times bestseller). 

At 18, while in college, I decided to try my hand at the game of business and scaled a ghostwriting and creative agency to six-figures within its first year. 

I learned a ton about offer creation, sales, onboarding, client success, marketing, and operations.

At 19, I dropped out of college to work on Alex & Leila Hormozi’s media team as a written strategist writing tweets, ads, VSLs, YouTube scripts, and emails.

I also self-published my first book You Can Just Do Things, which became an Amazon best-seller.

To be completely honest, those two decisions were the scariest decisions I’ve ever had to make.

…and now I’m 20.

And I’m still just getting started 😈

If I could go back and give my younger self one piece of advice - it would be this:

>> Do more things that would make your 10-year-old self proud. <<

The goal is to look back and be able to say…

“Everything we said we’d do, we did.”

The quickest way to change your life is to put yourself in an environment where you feel out of place and force yourself to level up.

Since joining Acquisition, I've been in rooms with deca-millionaires and centa-millionaires. I've led meetings, worked with vendors, run learning workshops for the team, and pitched ideas to the company's leaders.

In nearly every one of those situations, I felt slightly out of place.

And that was the point.

Mimicry is fundamentally baked into the psychology of every human being.

Rather than trying to fight against it, lean into it, use it, find the best people you know, and spend as much time with them as possible.

Work with the best in the world. Lift with people stronger than you. Run with people faster than you. Hang out with people happier than you.

You become who you surround yourself with.

Reminder to self:
"Never let your quest for more distract you from the beauty of enough."



This Thanksgiving, I keep reminding myself that I'm living the life my younger self once prayed for.

This past year has been absolutely wild...

• My content agency crossed six figures, and then I shut the whole thing down.

• I published my first book (which became an Amazon bestseller), dropped out of college, and moved across the country to join Alex & Leila Hormozi's media team.

• We broke a Guinness World Record and made $106M in 3 days.

• I ran my first marathon. Got featured in Forbes. And built my Instagram to over 250k followers.

When you see it all listed out like that, it looks like everything just clicked into place.

But honestly, there were so many nights where I'd lay awake, staring at the ceiling, wondering if I'd completely blown up my life for nothing.

The weird part is that all these "highlights" probably made up 1% of my actual year. The other 99% felt pretty ordinary, messy and uncertain.

It's only when I look back now that I can see how much actually happened.

And that's what I keep forgetting:
That growth happens in the quiet stretches, not the headlines.

Whenever I catch myself complaining or feeling sorry for myself about some random little thing...

I stop and think about how 15-year-old Jay would absolutely lose his mind if he knew about all the cool stuff we've experienced this year.

I met so many incredible people who became real friends. I learned more than I thought possible. And I'm finally starting to feel proud of who I'm becoming.

While I'm still just scratching the surface of the things I want to do with my life... I'm beyond grateful for everything that's happened thus far.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone.

Here's to many more incredible experiences with incredible people.

- Jay

Ps. YOU CAN JUST DO THINGS (!!)

Happy Thanksgiving!!

You have to proactively shape the life you want, because if you don't, you'll be pulled by the natural entropy of society.

Stop worrying

"Don't be so busy planning the future that you forget to live in the present."

Creators and content teams...
A hill I'm willing to die on:



You're probably not paying enough attention to your written platforms.

And here's why:

It's well known that YouTube and Instagram are incredible platforms for reaching people and driving revenue.

So most content teams believe they should allocate more resources to those platforms.

BUT... there's a caveat.

While that is a directionally correct statement, there is additional nuance that needs to be taken into consideration.

You see, written content isn’t just one of the platforms. It’s the foundation of all the other platforms.

Tweets become:
• YTCP posts
• Threads posts
• LinkedIn posts
• Facebook posts
• Instagram posts
• Scripts for shorts
• Scripts for YT videos

So even though Instagram or YouTube may get more total impressions than X...

A large percentage of those impressions are driven from X content.

So... what’s the conclusion?

Written content shouldn’t be an afterthought.

When the writing works, every downstream channel performs better. When it doesn’t, the entire system underperforms.

This idea might actually change your life:

HOT TAKE:
A leader's job is NOT to tell their team what to do...



A leader's job is to set the standard.
To create guidelines.
To give support.

To make their team look good to everyone else.

If a leader is constantly:
- stepping over their team
- chasing the spotlight
- protecting their ego above the mission

... run the other way.

You won’t grow under someone who needs to be the star.

Leadership Ideas

Your life is what you tolerate.

The habits you keep.
The excuses you make.
The friends you allow in.

If you want to change your life, change your standards.

Stop tolerating mediocrity

Harsh Truth: Everything you want is on the other side of a few hard decisions.

You can just do things

People calling you 'lucky' is one of the ultimate forms of flattery.


It means you have so much momentum, people can't comprehend the amount of volume and work you've done - so they write it off as luck.

Let them call you lucky

Do you want to be right?
Or do you want to win?

taplio

The Battle

Colby Kultgen

Jay Yang

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taplio

The Battle

Colby Kultgen

Jay Yang

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Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Colby Kultgen's LinkedIn Performance

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