Steal from the 1%.
That is how you beat 99% of people.
I’ll let you in on a dirty little secret: all the top competitors “steal” from each other.
I have them in quotations because there’s an art to it—you aren’t plagiarising, obviously.
The most dangerous person in the room will always look for their biggest threat, and block out everyone else.
Like how a bodyguard scans the crowd for danger.
Or how women tend to notice the attractive girl wearing the same dress.
If you want to exceed the standard, you’ve got to know where the standard is.
Today, I’m going to tell you exactly what I’d do if my account was deleted tomorrow and I had to start producing content from zero followers.
Before we begin:
If you want a clear roadmap, writing system, and personalized guidance to grow and monetize your social media in 4-6 weeks—without the fluff—fill out this quick questionnaire and I’ll get back to you if we’re a fit (50% off for a limited time).
The Imitation Game — Three Phases
The biggest reason 99% of people stay stuck in beginner hell isn’t due to skill.
Sure, that is a factor—but you can only blame a lack of skill for so long.
The number one culprit is ego.
People who think they are too good for the rules, and that somehow, they don’t apply to them.
What happens is they try to do their own thing, get zero results, and then blame every one else for having poor taste.
Think of one of those pretentious art students, or a stuck up food critic.
If you genuinely want to learn, improve, and get results faster than anyone—play The Imitation Game.
This doesn’t just apply to growing an audience on social media, but literally any skill you can think of.
The game has three phases.
Phase One: Imitate
Students defer to their teacher. Employees defer to their employers. Players defer to their coaches. Children defer to their parents.
No matter what industry you’re in, you always defer to a higher authority.
Yes, sometimes you get stuck with less-than-competent mentors.
That is the fault of the authority, not the approach.
The good news for us, is that the internet has opened a buffet for you to hand-pick your own apprenticeships. This means you can model yourself after anyone you can find online.
To put it into perspective, the best creators represent the top 1% in their field.
If you take the top 1% of their posts, you’re looking at a sample of the 1% of the 1%—or one in ten thousand.
This is the biggest shortcut you can possibly take as a beginner.
This phase is all about modelling your content after those you aspire to be like—and can last anywhere between 6-12 months, even more.
By taking this approach, you pump out high quality work at high volume.
You’re learning on the job while fast-tracking your education.
Phase Two: Iterate
Over time, as you absorb the rules of the game and how to play—you’ll naturally come to express your own style. This is when you begin to find your voice as your content takes a shape of its own.
You begin injecting, testing, and experimenting with your own ideas—whilst still abiding to the principles that make the content work.
Kobe Bryant modelled himself after greats like Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson, but eventually adopted his own style by leaning into what made him different (body composition, play style, athleticism, role, etc.).
This phase is all about taking what works, refining those ideas, and expressing them through your personal lens.
Phase Three: Innovate
Eventually, if you stick to the process long enough (I’m talking years), you begin to embody your ideas as an identity—a worldview. People come to know you specifically for those things.
Like how Kobe became known for his Mamba mentality; Dan Koe for his 4 hour work day; or Jordan Peterson for his…lobster.
This phase takes years, perhaps decades to reach, but those who occupy this space all share one thing in common: they went through a long and rigorous apprenticeship.
In summary, the idea is to model yourself after your mentors—those who’ve already failed a million times to make it work; then iterating on those ideas by expressing them through your perspective.
Eventually, those ideas become part of your brand, worldview, and identity.
It’s what people come to know who you are and what you represent.
Getting Started — The First 30 Days Of High Performing Content
Ok so how do we do it?
First, we get off on the right foot through a process I call deep batching.
Batching content is, in my opinion, non-negotiable.
If you’re a shitposter (i.e. you like tweeting on the toilet) that’s fine.
But life doesn’t always let you shit in peace. Things happen.
You need to learn how to batch and batch well.
I’m going to speedrun these steps so this article doesn’t go on for days.
If you want a more comprehensive deep dive, check out The Solo-Creator for the detes.
Here’s what you do:
Step One — Steal From The 1%
You do this by identifying your ‘Best in Class.’
Look for the top competitors in your niche—the ones you like, respect, and want to model your brand after.
I recommend identifying 3-5 mentors so you get a good blend.
This prevents you from over-relying on a single source.
I’m going to use Alex Hormozi for this example because I respect and like his approach on business.
Next, you’re going to swipe their ‘Greatest Hits.’
These are their top performing posts that make you think, “Damn, I wish I wrote that.”
Use free tools like Twemex, X’s advanced search, or manually swipe from their profile.
Swipe anywhere between 50-100 of their Greatest Hits.
To demonstrate, I’ll be using this post as my example (since it resonated with me).
Note: we will not be copying this word-for-word. I strongly discourage this.
Step Two — Extract The Core Idea
Next, I extract the core idea behind why the post performed the way it did. The one-sentence essence.
This is because every post is a kind of signal.
Some stay static, while others spike.
You want to analyze these “spikes” so you a) understand why it works, and b) add your spin to it.
Collect enough of these and you have a gold mine.
To do this, simply ask “why?”
Why is it funny? Why do people relate? Why did they feel compelled to share?
In this example, the post resonated with me because it normalized the pain of entrepreneurship.
Therefore: Core Idea = Normalizing the pain of entrepreneurs.
Do this for all the posts you swiped.
This will give you a very clear picture of the core themes, topics, and talking points that people engage with (especially if they overlap)
Again, this data is invaluable.
Step Three — Reposition The Angle
Once I have my core idea, I then reposition it by plugging it into my collection of High-Performing Templates.
Viral Content = Core Idea + High Performing Template
Of course—you want to adapt it to your style, voice, and perspective.
This is how you turn 1 idea into 100 viral hits by adding to the work.
Never. Outright. Plagiarise. Don’t destroy your reputation.
This step requires a bit of understanding behind persuasive frameworks—which I’ll cover in more detail next week—but for the sake of our example, here’s what it looks like:
This is deep batching in a nutshell and how you blow past 99% of writers simply “winging” it.
Step Four — Steal From Yourself
Over time, if you stay consistent, you’ll eventually create your own library of ‘Greatest Hits.’
This is where you start from the top, but instead of stealing from the 1%, you steal from yourself.
This cycle of finding, extracting, repositioning, and reusing is how you master content creation.
You maintain a balance between experimenting with new ideas while leveraging what’s already worked.
It’s how you evolve.
In summary: If my account disappeared tomorrow, I’d bounce back by “stealing” from the top 1%, extracting the essence of their best work, repositioning those insights in my own voice, and eventually stealing from my own library of proven hits. This is how you evolve.
Thanks for reading.
P.S. I teach methods like this and more in my personalized 1:1s.
If you want a clear roadmap, writing system, and personalized guidance to grow and monetize your social media in 4-6 weeks—without the fluff—fill out this quick questionnaire and I’ll get back to you if we’re a fit (50% off for a limited time).
