Your Success Shouldn't Be Surprising
By: Stuart Knight (Founder and CEO) | November 5, 2026
I read a book a while back called The E-Myth Revisited, which had a few golden nuggets that will forever stick with me. One of them being the line that read, “Your success shouldn’t be surprising”. It hit me over the head, and left me thinking "Damn, I wish I wrote that!". And who knows, you might be wishing the same thing as you read that line just now too? Either way, it’s simple, to the point, and more importantly it’s true.
Now, in the context of this particular book, the author was saying this specifically in reference to entrepreneurism in that if someone who owns a business has strong systems in place, their success shouldn’t be surprising. If they have built a strong system around elements such as marketing, sales, operations, human resources, finance, etc, the success they achieve should almost be predictable. This makes sense, and it’s something I have been thinking about a lot lately as we bring our latest business, The Hypha Standard, to conferences around the world.
However, while thinking about this concept today I realized that it can be applied not just to business, but to everything. If I wanted to lose weight and gain muscle, all that it would require is for me to create systems within different categories of my life and then follow them meticulously. I’d need separate systems for nutrition, cardio, sleep, weight training, etc. and then the discipline to adhere to them. If I could manage that for an extended period of time, it would not be surprising to myself, or anyone around me, that I lost weight and gained muscle.
So, what systems do you have in place for the big categories of your life? Do you want to have a successful marriage? Is there a specific title you're aiming for professionally? Are you trying to attract an intimate partner? Do you want to have more meaningful friendships? Are you hoping to run your first marathon next year? Would you like to see your family dynamics improve? Is there a particular level of education you want to achieve in the near future? Well, whatever you want, you can have it, as long as you have a good system in place to get you there.
For example, let’s take the person who wants to find a life partner. I’ve often been amazed at the number of people I meet who see that as the impossible code to crack, not realizing the right system is the key they’ve been looking for. Beginning with the assumption that the person who is single doesn’t have a personality trait that would scare people off, or unrealistic standards, the right system would make it easy for them to find love. It would simply require that person to sit down, map things out and follow the plan.
For example, they would need to consider which dating sites they want to leverage, the number of online conversations they are willing to commit to each day, the rules that will dictate when they move from texting to talking to live meet ups, what questions they will ask on first dates, what qualifiers a person must meet to garner a second date, etc. From there, they are literally a few keystrokes away on Chat GPT from having a strategy that can be printed and pinned on the wall and then followed.
And if that person sticks to such a dating system that’s been well thought out, it’s just a matter of time until they find love. I’m convinced of it. Conversely, I’m also convinced that if a married couple committed to a system they agreed would lead them to a thriving relationship that their relationship will thrive. Or if a person committed to a system of attracting new friends, that new friends will come into their life. Pick any category and the power of building a system applies. Do you want to learn a new language? Create a system and stick to it and voila, you’ll be speaking French in no time!
We humans love to complicate things, and I am no exception to that rule. Even as someone who understands the impact systems have, I still need to force myself to sit down, write out a list of actionable items and then execute. So don’t beat yourself up if you already know the way systems would influence your life, but just suck a little at implementing them. If that’s the case, consider this your friendly reminder, because you deserve all the success in the world, and none of it should be surprising.
Much Love,
Stuart
PS. The success of an event shouldn't be surprising, and the Hypha Standard is ready to help you create experiences where meaningful human connection is built in, not left to chance.
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