Just The Next Step

July 28th, 2026

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Last week I had the wonderful opportunity to speak at Mindvalley University's keynote stage in front of a packed room with Simon Alexander Ong. He asked me to share one lesson with the audience. Out of everything I've learned from changing my career to building a business, moving countries, becoming a parent, I had to really think hard about what is it that helped me throughout all of these life's ups and downs.

I thought about it for a moment. Then I said the thing I keep coming back to, the idea that's been running underneath my life for ten years even before I had words for it.

This started over ten years ago, when I had big dreams and even bigger goals, but most of them felt impossible from where I was standing. But some how I just knew I wanted to try.

Standing there last week, mic in hand, felt like the moment finally caught up with the lesson.

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I always believed in collaboration over competition, and this is why I've been using Kit to grow my audience online.

Just The Next Step

Here's what nobody tells you when you're staring down a goal that feels too big. You are never going to see the whole staircase. You're going to see one step, maybe two if you're lucky, and then pure darkness.

Most people wait for the fog to clear before they move. I understand the instinct. It feels responsible to want the full picture before you commit. But what you'll find is that because you are walking, as you get closer, that's when it reveals the next part of the path.

When I look back at the last ten years, moving to a new country. Reinventing my career more than once. Starting my own business. Speaking on stages I used to only watch from the audience. None of it was visible from where I started. I just kept taking the step that was actually in front of me.

1. The humility it takes to keep going

I've taken plenty of first steps in my life without thinking twice. Some of which worked out, some didn't. I learned that it's easier to say yes, but what took me longer to learn, and what I'm still learning now, is what it actually takes to stay once the newness wears off.

I think this is the part most people skip when they talk about resilience. It isn't usually a dramatic moment where you grit your teeth through a crisis. Most of the time it's smaller than that. It's choosing, on an ordinary Tuesday, to keep going on something that hasn't paid off yet.

2. Passion is loyalty, not intensity

Psychologist Angela Duckworth spent years studying this exact question, why some people stay with something long enough to see it through while others, often with just as much talent, don't. In her book Grit, she defines the trait that separates them as perseverance combined with passion.

Perseverance is what I just described, the resilience to keep working through setbacks instead of quitting the moment it gets hard. Passion, in her definition, isn't about excitement. It's about loyalty. It's staying committed to the same goal, the same dream, the same version of the life you're building, instead of abandoning it the moment something newer and shinier shows up.

That made so much sense for me when I reflected on this. I used to think passion meant feeling excited all the time. But it's actually being disciplined on the days it doesn't feel exciting at all, simply because you still believe it's worth building.

3. Everything you want in life are on the other side of doing hard things

Every genuinely beautiful thing in my life so far, the dream job I landed at Google, the business I created after I left corporate, the personal brand I've built, the stages I spoke on, seeing my daughter grow up, all of these sat on the other side of doing really hard things. That's the paradox of life. You only truly appreciate the reward once you've put in enough effort to make it so much more worthwhile.
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Start a new habit, meditation, exercise, and the same thing happens. It gets worse before it gets better, every single time.

Reflecting on the last 10 years, I realized it was the result of choosing, over and over, not to quit designing my ideal future and learning to choose myself.

So where are your next steps?

Taking the next step without a full plan takes courage. Staying on the staircase once it stops feeling exciting takes grit. Both are required, and neither one works without the other.

Where in your life have you taken the first step but haven't given yourself permission to stay for the hard part? Just hit reply, I read every single one.

To your growth,

Laurie 🙌

​The 6 Key Skills That Make You Irreplaceable​

I get asked a lot in my AI workshops and at speaking events, what are the key skills that you'll need to become irreplaceable in the next 5-10 years.

AI can speed up almost everything except the traits we just talked about, the perseverance to keep going and the judgment to know what's actually worth building. I walk through the six specific skills to supercharge your skills and future as AI changes how we work.

Also you might have noticed that there is now a dedicated channel for my AI educational series, if you are interested in subscribing, you can stay up to date here.

You can watch the full video here.

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