That's the sentence that's been bouncing around my head this week.

Most people plateau because they keep doing what worked at level 1 when they're at level 5.

The tactics that got you your first win? They'll cap your second one.

The habits that made you good? They're the same ones keeping you from being great.

I've been thinking about this because I caught myself doing it. Running the same playbook I ran last year, even though the game has completely changed.

Let’s dive in.

Every level requires a different version of you.

When you're starting out, the game is about hustle. Outwork everyone. Say yes to everything. Build momentum.

But that same strategy at the next level? It'll burn you out.

At scale, the game becomes about leverage. Saying no to almost everything. Building systems. Making better bets.

The problem is our brains love what's worked before. We get attached to the strategies that got us wins.

But success at one level creates habits that actively block you at the next.

The only way to keep growing is to actively kill what made you successful before it kills your growth.

Howard Schultz almost destroyed Starbucks by scaling what made them successful.

In the early days, Starbucks was about the coffee experience. Trained baristas, manual espresso machines, the smell of fresh beans. That intimacy made them special.

Then they scaled. Fast.

Schultz kept pushing that same playbook: more stores, same experience. But you can't manufacture intimacy at 10,000 locations.

By 2007, Starbucks was opening a new store every day. And losing its soul just as fast.

Same-store sales dropped. Stock fell 42%. Customers stopped caring.

Schultz had to step back in as CEO and do the hardest thing: stop doing what worked.

He closed 7,100 stores for an afternoon to retrain baristas. He shut down hundreds of underperforming locations. He killed the breakfast sandwiches because they masked the coffee smell.

He rebuilt Starbucks by letting go of the tactics that created it.

Here's what I'm doing, and you should too:

Take 15 minutes and write down the 3-5 tactics you've been using on repeat for the last 6-12 months.

Then ask yourself:

Most of your tactics are dead weight. They're legacy code from an earlier version of you.

Kill them. Replace them with what the next level actually requires.

The game doesn't stay the same. Neither should you.

What got you here won't get you there.

That's not a problem. That's the game.

The people who keep winning? They're not loyal to their tactics.

They're loyal to growth.

So they kill what worked yesterday to make room for what works tomorrow.

Be ruthless with your old playbook. The next level is waiting.