Book the Theater, So You'll Write the Play

How Impacters can use this bold strategy to spur transformational impact.

Recently an Impacters Co-op member shared an excellent Tim Ferriss interview with musician Jon Batiste on “The Quest for Originality and How to Get Unstuck”.

We all learned a transformative strategy for impact-making. 

Ferriss had asked a group of high powered friends what they do “when you're feeling stuck and you want to push yourself in a new direction?”

The most common answer was some version of: 

"Book the theater, so I'll write the play".

Ferriss said this tactic produces “that feeling of getting in over your head, where you commit to something and then you have to figure out what that thing is going to be”.

This is a super hack for stuckness.

A catalyst for mega momentum.

A bold example of “booking the theater” is the story of how Peter Diamandis launched the X Prize, back in 1996.

On a stage under the Gateway Arch in St. Louis, Diamandis stood in front of Buzz Aldrin and twenty other astronauts, plus the grandson of Charles Lindbergh, to make a monumental announcement.

The first team to successfully launch a passenger spacecraft twice within two weeks would win a $10 million X Prize. 

The media ate it up.

Except Diamandis had only booked the theater. He hadn’t secured the $10M prize money yet.

His belief was clear, and his vision was powerful: Revolutionize space travel through private innovation. 

So with as much fanfare as he could generate, he booked the theater, fully expecting the play to be written.

In his book "BOLD: How to go big, create wealth, and impact the world" Diamandis described the strategy of getting all those astronauts on stage as "super-credibility".

This show of solidarity and confidence led to the eventual raising of $10 million from the Ansari family.

This first X Prize competition went on to become the model for future incentive prizes to drive innovation and solve grand challenges across various fields.

Diamandis' story is a testament to the transformative power of confidently sharing your bold vision and belief system, and booking the theater before the play is written.

This success led Diamandis to dedicate his life to a Massive Transformative Purpose (MTP) “to inspire and guide entrepreneurs to create a hopeful, compelling, and abundant future.”

Through his books, companies, venture fund, and Abundance360 mastermind (which I’ve been a member of), Peter has clearly helped to usher in a more abundant world

Peter always advises Impacters to book the theater by publicly sharing your Massive Transformative Purpose (MTP), and your “Moonshot” which goes 10X bigger or better when everyone else is pursuing incremental change.

If you want his help in crafting your MTP, Moonshot, or even in building an Exponential Organization (ExO), then feel free to use this AI which leverages Peter’s frameworks.

If you’re going to book the theater, why not invite people to the best damn play you can imagine?

Behind the Vision are Values & Beliefs

Successfully booking the theater is not only about sharing an important vision.

Behind Dr. Martin Luther King’s “I have a dream” speech, were values and beliefs.

Simon Sinek maintains that stating your strongly held beliefs creates a magnet.

“Stories are attempts to share our values & beliefs, with the hopes of attracting those who believe what we believe.”

“Storytelling is only worthwhile when it says what you stand for."

We all have the natural tendency to connect with people we resonate with.

When people align on beliefs, we are more willing to take risks and collaborate. 

Trust emerges.

Authenticity not only attracts the like-minded, but it also reinforces our bonds.

Sharing our beliefs and values behind the vision is a key practice for Impacters.

After I booked the theater in scheduling my first public webinar to 'Amplify your WHY with custom AI' (replay here), I had to write the play.

I only had the title, I didn’t know what the story was.

So I booked a dry run with a smaller group, which forced me into creative action.

In that process I realized that my message about AI was simply that we all have a moral imperative to use and 💖 AI. 

Which then pulled me into creating a new program that will help people fall in love with AI, and build custom AIs to make them happier, more fulfilled, and more successful.

None of this would have happened if I hadn’t booked the theater. 

See how this works? 

Impacters are Booking the Theater

Hats off to the members of the Impacters Co-op who’ve recently booked the theater:

Anna-Victoria Osborne launched Soul Revolution, a free spiritual community for people to practice realigning with nature and being our most authentic selves.

Jarod Carter’s non-profit NeuronRegen launched the ‘The Neuron Regeneration Podcast,’ to accelerate breakthroughs which reverse any form of damage to neurons.

Kaia Maeve launched the Web Makers Circle, a “done-with-you” program to help change makers build great websites. 

Chris Haase created the Executive Identity Lab, a group coaching experience for leaders ready to amplify their executive brands and accelerate their careers.

Simon Jansen launched The Happy Expats Program, a community for expats in Holland to feel more at home, build meaningful connections, and find support.

Harry Duran provided a free 2025 Podcast Launch Plan Workshop, where he gave people the 4 steps they need to FINALLY launch that podcast.

In all these cases, "booking the theater" inspired a flurry of inspired creativity and aligned action.

And now over to you. How can you book the theater?