What idea will you be kicking yourself about in five years?

Author Michael Crichton was a doctor by training.

But after a professor criticized his prose style, he started writing on the side to help pay tuition for medical school.

And it paid off. Michael became of the world’s most successful screenwriters, film directors and producers. His obituary stated that his fiction explored the moral and political problems posed by modern technology and scientific breakthroughs. In his imaginary worlds, human greed, hubris and the urge to dominate were just as powerful as the most advanced computers.

Quite a legacy, huh?

One of the pieces of advice he famously gave to young writers was this:

Working inspires inspiration. Keep working. If you fail, keep working. But also if you succeed, keep working.

That last part is what interests me. Because while many of us are told not to stop after our first failure, few of us are encouraged not to stop after our first success.

Sure, we might pat ourselves on the back for our nice little victory, but then we move on too quickly and leave a lot of leverage on the table.

It’s not our fault, though. Blame it on our puritanical roots for taking hold and pulling us back to the ground. You can almost hear that angry peacher’s fire and brimstone voice:

Pride goeth before the fall, so don’t get too full of yourself.

Have you ever experienced that type of cultural gravity before? Where the members of your family, congregation or community seemed to want to prevent you from rising according to your own talents?

This is the antithesis to leverage, and it’s both common and tragic. People will work diligently to achieve success once, and then they stop. Gravity drags them back to earth. And as a result, they miss out on a whole world of opportunity.

I’m reminded of a question my mentor used to ask that always made me laugh:

What idea will you be kicking yourself about in five years?

Meaning, if you want leverage, imagine future potential from the onset. Anticipate that everything you create might become part of a series, franchise or larger brand.

Make sure to put your name on everything to maximize distribution opportunities.

Because you never know what will hit. Momentum is perishable, so capitalize on it while you can.

Otherwise you will leave a lot of leverage on the table.

Are you willing to keep working after you succeed?