Writing to Steven Bartlett, and Making Art

Day 16 of 100 Days to 10,000 Copies

Today is day 16 of 100 Days to 10,000 Copies, my project to launch my new book - Easy Discipline (Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Audible).

The Wall

What I Did:

Today I asked my publisher to share this letter to Steven Bartlett, the host of The Diary of a CEO, to be on his podcast.

Dear Steven,

I want to share a moment with you from 2019, when I first discovered your podcast. The interviews were great, but when I went back and listened to your first few episodes, that’s when I became a fan. Your first episode was a monologue that went viral, and your second episode described your euphoric feeling of success.

You then built an empire on top of that moment. But that moment, before the empire, is what I wanted to talk to you about. Because I share that feeling.

I started a YouTube series called 100 Days of Rejection Therapy a decade ago. One video went viral, which not only blew up my channel but built a movement of Rejection Therapy that hundreds of creators have replicated on TikTok and YouTube. I have since given a TED Talk with 11M+ views and written a book that’s sold 160,000+ copies across 15+ languages.

But none of that is the conversation I want to have.

Your audience wants that breakthrough - the moment they feel they’ve found their purpose and calling, the sense that they’re genuinely connected to the universe. But very, very few people get to experience that. Why? Because before the moment of glory was endless, lonely, wandering paths of darkness. Self-doubt and rejection, self-loathing and failure. Most give up before they get to the breakthrough.

My new book - Easy Discipline: An Unconventional Way to Achieve Ambitious Things (Simon & Schuster, 7/14/2026), is a love letter to those people. I want to have a conversation with you on:

• The science behind why discipline feels hard and impossible

• Why the “grind harder” advice is wrong for high-stakes and long-term goals

• What 100 days of public rejection taught me about chasing impossible things

• Why most people quit before the breakthrough, and the one thing that makes them stay

That’s the conversation I want to have with you - the dark middle before the breakthrough.

The listeners would love it.

Jia Jiang

Can I get on Steve Bartlett’s show?

EASY DISCIPLINE PRINCIPLE – Making Art

When most people pitch a product (in my case, my book), they lead with features and benefits. But I lead with story and connection - the reason I’m pitching them in the first place. Yes, I want to be on Steven’s show. Who doesn’t? But I want him to know that me being there isn’t just because his platform is huge and beneficial to me, but because it’s genuinely an opportunity for us to co-create art through a conversation.

Most people see life as a series of goals and transactions. I see it as a continuous journey to create moments, highlights, and art.

In fact, writing, sending, and sharing this letter is rewarding regardless of the outcome. Even if I get rejected by Steven and his producers, my action is a piece of art, at least in my own memory.

When I was a little kid in China, people called me 爱折腾, which roughly translates to “the kid is always cooking up something.” The things I cooked up were always trouble - climbing towers, dancing in the rain, making jokes in class.

As I got older, I found it to be one of my biggest strengths, not because of what I came up with, but because the cooking up itself was fun and artistic. I love being a professional chef, not with food, but with words and actions.

For You

Do you want to pitch something to someone but are afraid to write the letter? Here’s my suggestion: write it in a way that satisfies you, and send it. Don’t worry about the result. The writing and the sending are the goal. The response is just a bonus.

If you want, share with me what you’re cooking up.