Being addicted to information instead of execution means you keep consuming books, podcasts, courses and advice, but you rarely implement any of it, so learning starts to feel like progress when nothing has actually changed. The fix is not more input. It is becoming addicted to execution: decide exactly what you want, act on one thing you already know, and repeat it until it becomes a habit.
In 2015, I sat down with Peter Voogd for the Addicted to Success podcast. His book 6 Months to Six Figures had just come out, and I introduced him the way he was being introduced at the time: someone who had gone from dead broke to six figures in multiple industries, had trained over 4,500 entrepreneurs and had built an $8 million sales organization by the age of 27. I told him I was ready to pick his brain.
A few minutes in, I made a point about the young entrepreneurs in our audience: a lot of young entrepreneurs think just reading the books is what is going to work. It is not. You have to apply it too.
Peter did not soften it. Reading books and absorbing videos and articles is easy, he said, so everyone does it. “People are addicted to information but not implementation,” he told me, “which is why they get stressed out and overwhelmed, when they need to start being addicted to execution.” Then he added that only a small percentage of entrepreneurs ever get there.
The original show notes cover Peter’s six-figure outline. This piece is about the line underneath all of it.
What information addiction actually looks like
Peter was not describing other people. He was describing himself. When he first got into personal development, he told me he bought every course and studied every book on success he could find. The result was not momentum. He got overwhelmed and could not take any action. In his words, he was paralyzed.
Before that, he had tried the opposite mistake. He was working 60 hours a week without the results he wanted, so he did what most of us are taught to do and worked harder. Seventy hours. Then 80. Same results. His conclusion was that the answer was not even working smarter. It was working right.
One person piles up information. Another piles up hours. Both feel busy, and both avoid the harder question: what exactly am I trying to achieve, and what is the next action that moves it?
Peter’s way out was to get clear on the exact goal he wanted to hit in six months, so he knew what to study. He called it mastery versus overload.
| Addicted to information | Addicted to execution |
|---|---|
| Buys the next course before finishing the last one | Picks one lesson and applies it this week |
| Studies everything that sounds useful | Studies what serves a dated six-month goal |
| Keeps goals in their head | Writes goals, reasons and values on one page |
| Waits to feel ready | Decides first and acts because they said they would |
| Spends time with people who talk about it | Spends time with people already getting the result |
| Chases the next hit of inspiration | Turns inspiration into a daily habit |
Execution starts with a definite decision
Peter told me the first thing most people never do is make a real decision. They say they do not want to be broke. They say they want to succeed. But it is not the definite, no matter what, burn the bridges decision.
He made his. He decided he was never going to be broke again, and he put a date in his calendar six months from that day. He said he did not know he was going to make six figures. He just knew that date was real.
From there, the plan was simple enough to actually use:
- Define what matters most to you over the next six months, whether that is freedom, flexibility, income, security, health or adventure.
- Choose your top three goals for the next 90 days.
- Break those into a top three for each month.
- Turn each month into weekly action steps that line up with the 90-day and six-month targets.
- Put your goals, your reasons, your top five and your values on a one-page plan, and look at it every day.
Writing things down is the step I came back to later in our conversation. At the time, I was coaching hundreds of people each month, and most of them had not written anything down. Not the vision, not the goals, not what was painful or pleasurable to them. It is simple, and still only a small percentage do it and then make it happen.
Writing it down is the first act of execution: an idea you consumed becomes a decision you own.
Excuses or income: you cannot keep both
Peter’s answer to the people who do not write it down was blunt. If you do not want it badly enough, then you have to be okay with being broke and eating at Wendy’s. What does not work is saying you want one thing, acting another way, and then being mad that you do not have success.
He described it as a teeter-totter. As your excuses go up, the bank account goes down. You have to choose, he said, because you cannot have both. And most people choose excuses because they feel better and they are easier.
Decide first, then let the feeling catch up
The quieter version of information addiction is waiting to feel like it. Peter put it plainly: most people base things off their feelings. If they do not feel like writing their book, they do not write it. If they do not feel like reaching out to someone, they do not reach out. He called it the feelings train.
Peter backed this up in 2015 with statistics about disengaged workers, graduates in debt and retirement security. I am not repeating those numbers as current facts; they were his figures from that conversation. The teaching does not need them.
His alternative was to flip it around. Make the decision first. Regardless of how you feel, take the action because you said you would. If you do not feel like working out, who cares? You will feel amazing afterwards. Then he gave me this line: behind every feeling is nothing, and behind every principle and value is a promise.
Peter tied this to an identity where whatever you say, your actions follow. If you want a practical system for the hard days, here is how to build discipline when motivation runs out without relying on a good mood.
Your make-it-or-break-it list sets your speed of implementation
Peter’s next point hit closest to home for me. He said to write down who you spend the most time with and how they affect your actions, your thinking and your standards. Then make what he called a make-it-or-break-it list: your top five growth friends, who challenge you and hold you accountable, and your top five maintenance friends, who you have known forever and who mostly let you off the hook.
It echoes the make or break list this site wrote about years ago, but Peter’s version is about execution. People who already have the result move faster because they learn from other people’s mistakes. He called it the speed of implementation: copy genius, get the best information, then test it. “You want experiments, not perfection,” he said.
We had just been talking about Grant Cardone, and Peter repeated something Cardone had told his academy members: if you still have the friends you had in high school, you are not growing. Peter’s emphasis was on what happens next. Around people playing the game at a higher level, it feels like a weight off your shoulders, because they share the vision.
Then he flipped the question on me, and I told him the truth. When I started educating myself, I noticed a massive disconnect in my social groups. My friends started asking, “Why are you sharing quotes?” Who was I to share advice with others? Some people simply could not see the vision. That is when I learned you have to align yourself with people who see the bigger picture too.
I asked Peter what young people should do with a bit of money. If he had $100 at 18, he said, he would spend all of it taking people out to lunch who had the results he wanted. Nothing else. That is execution applied to information: go to the source, then act on what you hear.
What execution looked like in Peter’s own career
Peter’s mentor stories were about doing, not collecting. As he told it, Isaac Tolen taught him to take very few opinions and not to fear people. Another mentor, who Peter said had seven figures at Peter’s age, told him the savings he was proud of at 22 were not much money. Peter said that raised his standards.
He also described a 40 to 45 minute call with Gary Vaynerchuk, who was at an airport. Peter said he was writing everything down and still not fully getting it, and Gary would not get off the phone until he did. Peter took away legacy over currency, reverse engineering from the ideal outcome, and giving before asking. He credited MJ DeMarco’s The Millionaire Fastlane with teaching him to scale rather than trade time for money.
By his 2015 account, his first business was on eBay at 15. He later built a sales team in the Seattle area marketing Cutco and reached a great six-figure income, while working 80 hours a week. So he studied productivity, put systems in place, doubled his results and scaled back to 20 or 25 hours a week. Then he left that income to build his own brand.
His daily version of execution was what he called the prize-fighter routine. After his morning routine, he would work 90 minutes straight with no distractions and no phone on the highest-value activity, then take a 20 to 30 minute break, walk around the block or jump in the pool, and come back for another 90 minutes. One clear block on one important thing beats a day of reading about productivity.
Why inspiration fades and habits stay
Near the end, I admitted my own worry. People love feeling inspired. They soak the content up. I just worry that they do not take the action.
Peter’s answer was that habits trump inspiration. He said that after seminars and podcasts, even after listening to our own conversation, only about 5% actually use what they learned. That was his remark in 2015, not a study I have verified, but anyone who has bought a course and never opened module two knows the feeling. Inspiration feels good in the moment and does not last past the activity producing it. The biggest inspiration of all, he said, is seeing progress and results, and that comes from new habits and execution.
I told him consistency is unsexy. I would say a majority of my success has come from the consistent daily actions I have taken, which is why I told him I did not even ask guests for the secret to success. Peter agreed: people want the little ninja trick, the 4am wake-up and the one program that leaves a million dollars at the front door. The reality is doing the work every day.
The last 30 seconds: decide what matters, then do it
I closed by asking Peter for his last 30-second speech to the world. He said most things you are held up on or stressed out about do not matter. Define what is most important to you, because when it is all said and done, you will not wish you had more transactions. You will wish you had more impact and better relationships. Figure out what you would be fascinated by and engaged with for the next 30 years, find a way to get paid for it, and do it to the best of your ability.
Earlier, he had told listeners to take action right after the interview: write down your goals, your mission and the action steps to get there. So close this tab and do one of them. Information got you here. Execution moves you from here.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does it mean to be addicted to information instead of execution?
It means consuming books, podcasts and courses feels productive, so you keep doing it instead of acting. In my 2015 conversation, Peter Voogd said people get addicted to information but not implementation, and the answer is becoming addicted to execution.
How do you stop consuming information and start executing?
Pick one dated goal and study only what serves it. Peter Voogd set a six-month date, chose top goals for 90 days, broke them into weekly steps and reviewed a one-page plan daily, acting on what he already knew.
What is a make-it-or-break-it list?
Peter Voogd described listing your top five growth friends, who challenge you and hold you accountable, and your top five maintenance friends, who let you off the hook. The list shows who is speeding up or slowing down your implementation.
What is the prize-fighter routine Peter Voogd described?
After his morning routine, Peter said he works 90 minutes straight on his highest-value activity with no phone or distractions. Then he takes a 20 to 30 minute break, such as a walk, and repeats another focused 90-minute block.
Why do habits matter more than inspiration for execution?
Inspiration feels good in the moment but fades once the podcast or seminar ends. Peter Voogd argued that seeing progress is the strongest inspiration, and progress comes from new habits. Consistent daily action outlasts the motivation.