Jodie Cook

Is this some kind of sick joke?

Here’s what winning the European Bench Press Championships taught me about B2B sales 😜

Sunday morning, Druskininkai, Lithuania. 8am weigh-in.

10am. Bar is loaded. Lifting has started.

But I could hear “no lift” from the stage. Again and again.

The bench pad was firmer than everyone was used to. Refs were quick with the red lights.

Opened with a 145kg bench press. It went up feeling like 500kg. No lift. Overturned by jury: good lift.

10-minute wait

Second lift 150kg. Felt better. Good lift - two white lights to one red.

But replay showed glutes losing contact with bench. 7mm in it. Refs overturned by jury: no lift.

10-minute wait

152.5kg is on the bar and lifting it means gold, for now. Others already failed it.

My turn.

In that moment, I couldn’t get any stronger. No technical cue would make a difference. It’s all about the mental game.

My self-talk is part realness, part inviting the unknown.

I go back to one question:

What do I know for sure?

I’m here to win
This is why I train
I have lifted this many times
My LinkedIn friends are counting on me

Sure Jodie, but that’s the same for everyone. We can’t all win. There’s more to this than logic and reason.

So then I surrender control to… I’m not sure who or what.

I’m not religious. But the place beyond me knows things I don’t.

So I talk to it.

I say I don’t need to know everything for sure. I trust that:

Everything is always working out for me.

What’s meant for me will find me.

This will unfold exactly as it’s meant to.

Then my friends’ words flashed through my mind:

Jupiter just entered Leo.
It’s the year of the fire horse.
The lions gate portal is open.

The power of the universe is within you.

Don’t know what that means. But sounds good. Count me in.

Commentator calls my name. 152.5kg.

I stomp out there on a mission to lift the weight I’d lifted 20+ times in the gym.

Good lift.

All 3 refs agree. 3-person jury can’t overturn.

Now we wait.

Denmark want gold too. Danish athlete now has to lift 155kg.

She stomps out there on a mission.

At the last second of the lift, she misses.

Cook - Great Britain, gold.

Tears. Cheers.

Relief I learned the words to the national anthem.

Excited to tell my LinkedIn friends about this 😆

Then the GB women’s team won gold too.

C’MAAAAANNNNN.

And if you’re still here for the B2B sales lesson, I got you.

And it’s this.

Trying to control everything will send you crazy and make you miserable.

Business and life are 10X more enjoyable and richer in every way when you learn to love the unknown.

Life is a game. Business is a game. Only one way to win:

PLAY

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This CTA was accidental, I swear. But today my new book is out. The Game of Business and How to Play it.

Adapted from the 1925 book, The Game of Life and How to Play it.

https://lnkd.in/e6chhjGR

I don't care if you make typos in your emails or LinkedIn posts.

Just don't make this one:

My name.

As Dale Carnegie said, a person's name is the "sweetest and most important sound in any language." Remembering and using it can create a powerful connection.

But not if you spell it wrong.

That ONE mistake that will cost your reputation (and relationships) more than anything else

When everyone is doing everything faster:

Watching videos on 2x speed
Scrolling LinkedIn only reading hooks
Dictating sentences instead of typing them

(and using AI to make double the content in half the time)

The correct spelling of someone's name is the only thing worth triple checking.

It's the only thing they care about.

Slow down to get it right.

Who's with me?

I will never mark anyone’s LinkedIn post as “AI slop”

Why?

Same reason I’ve left 1,200 5* Google reviews.

I don’t believe in spreading hate on the internet.

I help experts get known for their work. Too many talented people are afraid of posting.

Whack on a potential “seems like AI slop” penalty and watch them share even less.

And the world suffers.
And their magic stays hidden.

LinkedIn, you don’t need the button of hate.

If anything, add a “superlike” option.

Reward people for their creativity with more impressions.

Don’t encourage trolls and internet bullying.

What is going on, friends?

I know AI is writing your content, but PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE add this ONE line to your prompt:

"Do not include any contrast/reframe statements. By this, I mean: 'it's not about X; it's about Y.' Just be direct instead. My audience is not stupid and it makes me sound smarmy. If I find any of those in your writing, I will cut off your head."

Add the line to your custom instructions too.

THANK YOU

Obsessed
Different
Extreme
Intense
Weird

Things you’ll be called if you’re on the right track.

And when you finally stop caring about what everyone else thinks

You are free forever

To find other weirdos like you

(And me. And Chris Do)

OWN IT 💙

90 seconds to think 10X bigger

You won't regret watching this:

Thinking big is a skill.
You can learn it.
You can become it.

Share to help your network think BIG.

This is how I structure my team to run the business while I do ONLY the work I love, while living anywhere in the world (35 cities lived in so far)

I call it my freedom team

Your freedom team needs 3 people.
They don’t all need to be full time.

Everyone's dream life is closer than you think 💙

I watched a Zoom recording where the host forgot to trim the first two minutes.

The two minutes before anyone was let in.

They were:

Complaining. Miserable. Low energy. No interest in the people they were about to coach.

But as soon as they let everyone in, they perked right up

Watching it made me cringe.

Being one person behind closed doors and another in front of an audience will send you insane

The authenticity gap is real

The person you are when nobody is watching is the one your clients meet in the end.

Say the things off camera that you would say on it.

Do the work that you don't have to psych yourself up to do.

Work with people you are happy to see in the waiting room.

There is ONE you.

Be that person everywhere.