100 Ways Blueprint
- Mike Hartman
- 9 minutes ago
- 2 min read
Back in 2003, I started writing my first book, 100 Ways to Become Your Personal Best: Blueprint Edition. At the time, I wanted to share everything I had learned from professional hockey, coaching, leadership, business, and personal growth.
In 2012, the book was picked up by a publisher and made available on Amazon.
Like many first-time authors, I believed that the more information I could provide, the more I could help people. Looking back, I’ve learned something different.
Success isn’t about collecting more information.
Over the years, I have worked with athletes, business professionals, leaders, and teams from many different backgrounds. While their goals were different, I noticed a common pattern. The people who achieved the most weren’t trying to master 100 different concepts. They focused on a few important fundamentals and applied them consistently.
One conversation helped bring that lesson into focus.
Don Luce, the NHL scout who drafted me, once asked a simple question:
“Why do you need 100 things? Why not focus on three?”
At the time, I didn’t fully appreciate what he meant. Today, I understand exactly what he was talking about.
If I were writing that book again, I would focus on three things.
Purpose
Every meaningful goal starts with purpose.
What are you trying to accomplish?
Why is it important?
What keeps you moving forward when things get difficult?
Purpose provides direction. Without it, it’s easy to lose focus or become distracted by things that don’t really matter.
Habits
Purpose alone isn’t enough.
The results we achieve are often connected to the habits we practice every day.
Confidence is built through preparation.
Discipline is built through repetition.
Growth is built through consistency.
Small actions, repeated over time, often produce the biggest results.
Accountability
Most people already know what they should be doing.
The challenge is following through.
Whether it’s a coach, mentor, teammate, friend, or trusted colleague, accountability helps keep us focused on the commitments we’ve made to ourselves.
Accountability turns good intentions into action.
Looking back, the real lesson behind 100 Ways to Become Your Personal Best wasn’t about finding more strategies or collecting more ideas.
It was about simplifying the process.
Know your purpose.
Build the right habits.
Stay accountable.
Those three principles have guided me throughout my career in hockey, coaching, business, and life.
They remain the foundation of personal growth and performance today.
That’s the real lesson behind 100 Ways.
That’s the blueprint.
Question: What is one purpose, one habit, and one source of accountability that could help you become your personal best?