The Permission Slips You’ve Been Waiting For (4 Min Read) | Vol. 174

PSA: Speaking of permission slips… When’s the last time you had two full days to work ON your life and business instead of IN it? Join me at The ONE Thing Summit, November 8 – 9, in Austin, TX. The urgent will still be there on Monday—but you’ll handle it differently. Click here to claim one of the final seats. I’d love to see you there.

October 24, 2025

“You must do the thing you think you cannot do.” ― Eleanor Roosevelt

The Permission Slips You’ve Been Waiting For

This week on the podcast, I explore five permission slips every high achiever needs but rarely grants themselves. If you’re the type who’s always pushing, always grinding, always putting yourself last, at least one of these is for you.

Permission Slip #1: You Can Disappoint Others

When choosing between work, friends, family, and yourself, who loses? For most high achievers, it’s a predictable pattern. First, we cancel on ourselves, then our friends, and eventually even family can take a backseat to “urgent” work obligations.

Remember the airplane oxygen mask rule? You put yours on first. Not because you’re selfish, but because if you pass out, you can’t help anyone. Yet somehow we forget this basic truth when it comes to our daily choices. That book club you keep skipping? The fishing trip you rain-checked? They matter more than you think. Your future self will thank you for disappointing a few people today to avoid disappointing yourself tomorrow.

Permission Slip #2: You Can Be Bad at the 80%

Brandon Turner had to sell his tools. The successful real estate investor realized he was falling into the competence trap—spending half a day fixing a toilet to save $150 when he could be finding deals worth thousands. Just because you can do something doesn’t mean you should.

Your previous 20%—the skills that got you here—might now be your 80%. That journey is uncomfortable. You’re learning new skills while neglecting past priorities. You may look less capable. You may not feel confident. You will make mistakes. Your job is to master the 20% of where you’re going, not to live in the comfort zone of the 80%. 

Permission Slip #3: Protect Your Attention Like Money

You wouldn’t leave $10,000 in cash on a Vegas airport counter. Yet we leave our attention everywhere—scattered across 24-hour news cycles, social media feeds, and other people’s emergencies.

The most successful people protect their attention fiercely. They understand that what we give our attention to expands in our lives. Consider a news diet. The actual facts of any story typically emerge over several days, not in the breathless moments of breaking news. You can be a fully informed citizen reading the news once or twice a week. Your nervous system will thank you. 

Permission Slip #4: You Can Sleep On It

When I asked hundreds of high achievers what they’d do with an extra hour each day, the overwhelming answer was sleep. Not “build my empire” or “crush my goals”—sleep.

The research is clear: sleep is the foundation of health, emotional regulation, memory, and decision-making. It even affects our food cravings. Yet it’s often the first thing we sacrifice. Those “urgent” emails will still be there tomorrow when you’re actually fresh and capable of good decisions.

Permission Slip #5: You Can Believe in Yourself

Here’s the paradox: the most successful people in my coaching groups often struggle most with self-belief. They’re perpetually focused on the gap between where they are and where they want to be, never celebrating how far they’ve come.

Try keeping an evidence journal. Set a daily alarm. When it goes off, spend five minutes writing down your wins for the day. Not just the big ones—include the small victories. You went to the gym when you didn’t feel like it. You had that difficult conversation. You chose salad instead of a burger. This isn’t a brag list.  It’s about building evidence that you’re someone who follows through. Because when you hit that inevitable slump (and you will), you’ll need that evidence to remind you. Struggle is temporary. You’ve overcome tough things before. You will again.

The Bottom Line

These aren’t just nice ideas to consider. They’re essential permissions for anyone trying to do extraordinary things without burning out in the process. You don’t need to try all five at once (this is The ONE Thing philosophy, after all). But pick one. Start there.

Want to dive deeper into these permission slips and hear the stories behind them? Listen to the full podcast episode where I break down each one with real examples from our coaching clients and my own journey.

One question to ponder in your thinking time: Which of these five permissions have you been denying yourself, and what would change if you finally granted it?

Make an Impact!
Jay Papasan
Co-author of The ONE Thing, The Millionaire Real Estate Agent & author of The Rookie Real Estate Agent