The Easy Way to Inspire 8,000,000 People

“We tend to overestimate what we can complete in a single day, and underestimate what we can complete over longer periods of time.” – Chris Guillebeau

WTF?! Really, 8 million people? Jacob, what type of drug were you on when you wrote that — and more importantly, where can i get some? Yeah. That’s right. I said it. I was sober. And I’m standing by it.

Frankly put, I’m fuckin’ shocked. So I’m cursing, it’s one of those days. Well what am I so shocked about? Oh stop fronting — you already know. It’s the massive 15,000 pound pink elephant that’s sitting right in the middle of Sensophy’s living room. And you haven’t even said anything about it! How politically correct of you.

Last month I announced that i was looking to inspire 8,000,000 people. Since then, Sensophy had over 6,000 different peeps swing through and kick it with us. This is what blows me away — not three, not even two, but ONE person has said something along the lines of “Jacob, how do you expect to inspire 8 million people?” One freaking person yo!  (Shout out to Tripp from The New Man)

So it’s time we had that talk. The one that your parents warned you about. The one about the birds and the bees and this ridiculously radical claim.

Why Look To Inspire Millions?

What’s the psychological makeup of this madman’s mind?

The type of dude who deliberately sets out to inspire 8 million people. Simply said, this is just one of my goals toward living an extraordinary life. It involves being all I can be.

In the last two years, I’ve obnoxiously allowed myself to set intentions that I had no idea how I’d attain. Kinda like going to a Jets game with good ol’ Gary Vaynerchuck. If you watch the first video of that challenge, I had NO IDEA “HOW” and if I would accomplish it.


I’ve found that the “why” is the most important piece of the puzzle. The “what” and “how” will fit in after the “why” is in place.

Self-Help Saved My Life

About a month ago, I was playing with what my next “unrealistic goal” would be.

How bad ass of this brother. Like tough leather jacket and timbo boots bad ass. I knew it had to be something with a heart and I wanted it to be massive.

Looking back about five years, I remember when I was 21 and first found out that self-help existed. Up until then, I’d been going through peaks and valleys, highs and lows, for most of my life.  I came across some stuff by Brian Tracy that pretty much identified the blueprint toward a certain type of success.

I can distinctly remember being in my bedroom of mom’s house, having an epiphanal moment. It was kinda like I had just been saved. I was so grateful that this dude was sharing steps toward success and, soon after, I found that there was a self-help community of people doing the same. There was something so reassuring about listening to people who already accomplished things I was interested in. I felt like, with their guidance, success was my destiny.

That feeling of inspiration, hope, empowerment, guidance, success… agrhhhh!! It makes me wanna roar — easy tiger. Anyway, as true with a lot of people, I’ve seen some pretty dark places within myself. For a long time I felt like i was trapped, even cursed, and I had this belief that I was gonna be like that forever. I thought it was beyond my control.

The journey that I’ve had in the last five years has led me to know it’s possible to get out of that dark place. Making 8 million dollars would barely scratch the bottom of how rewarding it would be to inspire 8 million people.

“The person who says something is impossible should not interrupt the person who is doing it” – Chinese Proverb

Why 8 Million?

Well, why not?

I was going to settle for a million but it seemed too easy. Haha, no joke. Since I was setting this “unrealistic” intention, why not make it massive? In order to truly embody the philosophy, I’m going all in!! Since there are 8 million people in NYC, I figured that number was a good place to play. They say “go big or go home.” I’m going both.

How Am I Gonna Do It?

Truth be told, I don’t know.

I don’t even know how I would measure the inspiration meter of 8 million people. Surely there has to be some sort of chain effect that just can’t be set into statistics.

I think a decent place to start may be by counting the visitors on Sensophy. Most people who come to the site spend a couple of minutes on it, and if they’re here for a couple of minutes, I’m thinking that they’re at least a little inspired. I mean, as flattering as it may be, I don’t think you’re here just to look at my baby blue eyes. Or are you?

So say we decide that 8,000,000 visitors is the number to hit. I could track those stats using analytical tools on Sensophy. Granted it wouldn’t be 100 percent accurate, but it would be a start. Still, that leaves us puffin’ on that dream pipe. People. 8 million of them. How?

The Penny Principle

Do you know what happens when you take a penny and double its value everyday for a month? This:

• Day 1: $0.01
• Day 2: $0.02
• Day 3: $0.04
• Day 4: $0.08
• Day 5: $0.16
• Day 6: $0.32
• Day 7: $0.64
• Day 8: $1.28
• Day 9: $2.56
• Day 10: $5.12
• Day 11: $10.24
• Day 12: $20.48
• Day 13: $40.96
• Day 14: $81.92
• Day 15: $163.84
• Day 16: $327.68
• Day 17: 655.36
• Day 18: $1,310.72
• Day 19: $2,621.44
• Day 20: $5,242.88
• Day 21: $10,485.76
• Day 22: $20,971.52
• Day 23: $41,943.04
• Day 24: $83,886.08
• Day 25: $167,772.16
• Day 26: $335,544.32
• Day 27: $671,088.64
• Day 28: $1,342,177.28
• Day 29: $2,684,354.56
• Day 30: $5,368,709.12
• Day 31: $10,737,418.24

Reverse Engineering

It’s bugged out to see how these big boy numbers sprouted from consistently nurturing seeds that were so small. Next, I started to play with reverse engineering this concept. Let’s say I wanna inspire 8,000,000 people in the next 5 years. What would happen if we cut that number in 1/2 every 6 months. Here flows:

• 5 years: 8,000,000 people
• 4.5 years: 4,000,000 people
• 4 years: 2,000,000 people
• 3.5 years: 1,000,000 people
• 3 years: 500,000 people
• 2.5 years: 250,000 people
• 2 years: 125,000 people
• 1.5 years: 62,500 people
• 1 year: 31,250 people
• 6 months: 15,625 people

I was stoked to see how this unfolded. It really tickled my tonsils. We just took the “unrealistic” concept of 8,000,000 people and, in a practical manner, broke it down to 15,625 people! I then went to launch Google Analytics to see how many visitors we’ve had in the last 6 months. Low and behold, my brain could barely believe my eyes…

“It is not the decision you make that is most important; it is the degree of commitment with which you make the decision.” – Bo Bartlett

Easy Way: Dedicate Your Life To It!

So maybe it happens in 5 years, but maybe it doesn’t.

Here’s where the real deal spiel comes crashing through this article. Why would I ever think that I couldn’t inspire 8 million people?

If I decide to dedicate my life to doing so – what’s stopping me? I mean, I’m saying, my entire life, my purpose for existing. It could take 20 years to do so, but I know it can be done. So then the next question that comes is… is this something that’s worth dedicating my life to? Well, it just may be.

Now I Ask You…

• What’s one great thing you would dare to dream if you knew you could not fail?
• If you decided to dedicate the rest of your life to doing it, do you think you’d be able to?

Granted you may have a career, financial responsibilities, debts, family obligations, etc, but those things don’t last forever. I’m speaking about your entire existence. Have you found something that excites you so much that you wanna completely dedicate yourself to it? If not, answer the above. If so, what’s stopping you?!

Allow me to direct you toward the “Sensophy slogan”:

The only thing stopping you is your story about why you can’t!!!