The Secret Formula to Success

hey—

Working harder isn’t the thing that closes the gap between where you are now and where you want to be.

Not by itself.

Not even close.

Most people stay stuck not because they don’t care enough.

But because they’re trapped inside patterns, they can’t even see.

And if you can’t see the pattern, you can’t break it. You can’t use it. And you certainly can’t build something better.

Think about it like this:

Imagine you’re trying to bake the perfect chocolate chip cookie, but you have no prior knowledge of what goes into making one.

You keep throwing in ingredients, trying new techniques. Hoping it turns out right.

Sometimes it works. Sometimes it doesn’t. But it always feels random—like success is a lucky accident, not something you control. Because you don’t know the deeper rules yet.

This is where pattern recognition changes everything.

Pattern recognition is the first real superpower.

It’s realizing:

• Brown sugar creates chewiness

• Resting the dough deepens flavor

• Cold butter keeps it thick

And in life, it’s realizing:

• Top businesses follow formulas that drive demand, loyalty, and trust

• Great relationships aren’t luck—they’re the result of consistent connection and action

• Personal growth isn’t magic—it’s the result of stacked, repeatable habits

Pattern recognition isn’t about working harder.

It’s about working smarter, because you finally see the game running underneath everything.

But seeing isn’t enough.

The next step is pattern utilization.

This is when you take everything you’ve learned and start using it elsewhere.

In our baking example, it’s realizing that resting dough doesn’t just make cookies better—it makes bread better too.

In life:

• The discipline you built in the gym can be translated to your finances

• The communication habits that saved your last relationship can strengthen your leadership at work

• The planning system that fixed your mornings could transform your business

Pattern utilization makes you fast. You move smarter because you’re not reinventing everything from scratch anymore.

You just recognize the moves and apply them.

And if you stay with it long enough, you get to pattern creation.

This is where you stop following the old rules. And you start making new ones.

In the kitchen, it’s creating a new flavor of cookie the world’s never seen.

In life, it’s:

• Building businesses that didn’t exist before

• Designing career paths no one thought of

• Leading communities that shift culture itself

With pattern creation, you’re not just playing the game—you’re setting the new standards.

Now to the fun stuff—how do you build this skill in real life?

1) Recognize Patterns

• Pay attention to repetition—good or bad

• Zoom out and look at flows over time, not just single events

• Track cause and effect. What always happens right before success? Right before failure?

2) Utilize Patterns

• Steal from yourself (and others). If something works in one area, try applying it somewhere else

• Solve new problems by leaning on old foundations—no need to reinvent the wheel for every new problem you come across

3) Create New Patterns

• Blend good ideas from different places. Don’t shy away from doing something you’re not sure will work. You’ve got to fail before you learn.

• Make asking “why?” your new favorite hobby. Question every “rule” that feels like it’s there just by tradition

• Experiment small. Refine fast.

You don’t have to hustle harder.

You have to see smarter, move faster, and build better.

See the pattern. Use the pattern. Create the pattern.

And the future you’re chasing will stop feeling so far away.

…

— Johnathan (Founder of Striive)

PS - you’re closer than you think. You just have to start seeing what’s been hiding in plain sight.