The Evidence-Backed Stamina Loop
Use visible proof, persistent reps, and experienced support to outlast slow results.
- Difficulty
- Advanced
- Time to result
- ~months to results
- Steps
- 6
- Confidence
- 90%
Justin Colby's stamina loop begins with proof: identify people already achieving the specific result you want so the goal is visibly possible. Next, learn the vertical and perform the repeatable action available with the resources you have; after losing his home, car, income, and credit, Colby had a phone funded by a friend, coffee, and cold calling. The critical expectation is that recovery will not be quick. His first real-estate deal took nine months, so the mechanism depends on remaining in the game long enough for repeated attempts to work. Coaches, masterminds, and experienced friends strengthen the loop by replacing catastrophic self-talk with perspective and supplying practical tools, resources, and people. The final instruction is to keep focused while adapting and iterating, rather than confusing a slow result with proof that the destination is impossible.
Origin
After the 2008 crash, Justin Colby lost his home to foreclosure, had his car repossessed, and slept on a couch. With no marketing budget, he cold-called six days a week and waited nine months for his first investment deal because he could see other people succeeding in the same model.
Core principles
- 01A visible example proves that the desired result is possible.
- 02Slow results are not evidence that the model is impossible.
- 03Staying in the game matters more than expecting an overnight rebound.
- 04Mentors compress recovery by supplying perspective, tools, and connections.
- 05Adapt and iterate without quitting the larger objective.
How to run it
- 1
Anchor the goal in proof
Find real people producing the result you want. Their existence turns the destination from wishful thinking into an observable possibility.
Pro tip Study people in the same vertical rather than relying on a loosely related success story.
- 2
Learn the vertical
Understand the activity that creates the result and the market conditions around it before assuming your old method will transfer unchanged.
Watch out Colby changed from realtor to investor; staying near the same industry did not mean keeping the same role.
- 3
Use the resource you have
Choose a repeatable action that fits your present constraints and execute it consistently. Colby used cold calls because he had no marketing budget.
Pro tip A basic channel used daily can beat waiting for ideal resources.
- 4
Expect delayed evidence
Commit to enough runway for the method to work instead of demanding an overnight turnaround.
Pro tip Use Colby's nine months to a first deal as a reminder that viable paths can still begin slowly.
Watch out Do not mistake patience for ignoring evidence that the model is invalid.
- 5
Borrow perspective
Use mentors, coaches, masterminds, and experienced peers to challenge distorted worst-case thinking and connect you to useful resources.
- 6
Adapt without abandoning
Keep your head down, stay focused, and iterate the method as you learn while preserving the larger objective.
In the wild
After losing his house and car, Colby decided to become a real-estate investor. He had no income, credit, marketing budget, presence, or name. A friend paid his phone bill, and Colby cold-called six days a week. He saw other people flipping homes, so he treated their results as evidence that the model was attainable and continued for nine months before closing his first deal.
→ The first deal arrived after nine months, beginning what he described as an incredible 20-year span in real estate.
Common mistakes
Expecting the rebound to be quick
Colby stresses that the recovery after 2008 was not quick; demanding immediate results makes people quit before a proven method has time to work.
Treating catastrophic feelings as facts
A setback can feel permanent in the moment even though enough future runway will change how it is understood.
Persisting without adapting
The loop is not blind repetition: Colby explicitly pairs continued focus with adaptation and iteration.
Is it for you?
Best for
Entrepreneurs rebuilding after failure or pursuing a proven opportunity with limited money and a delayed payoff.
Not ideal for
Ideas with no credible evidence of demand or paths where continued losses exceed a safe limit.
From the transcript
“I created it once. I could go create it again. I just needed to learn the vertical I was in, which was fix and flipping.”
“Just keep your head down. Keep focused. Keep going. Adapt. Iterate.”
“Took me nine months to get my very first deal. Nine months. But you know what I didn't do? I didn't quit.”
From the episode
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