Did you hear the ancient tale about a group of warriors that were kicked out of the army because they drank water the wrong way?

No, it’s not a joke. The story is told in the 7th chapter of the 7th book of the Bible, and it goes like this:

Thousands of years ago, the people of Israel were being oppressed by an enemy group, the Midianites. So God told this guy called Gideon to fight back.

Gideon rallied his men, but God told him he had too many fighters, so Gideon said:

“Whoever’s afraid can skedaddle!” ← (Obviously, a paraphrase)

22,000 men left, leaving behind just 10,000.

Then God told him:

“Nope, still too many. Here, I’ll do the trimming for you. Tell the guys to go drink some water.” ← (Still paraphrasing)

So Gideon found a pool. There, 300 men knelt on the banks and scooped water up by hand. The rest lay on their faces and “lap[ped] the water with their tongues like a dog” ←(Now that is a direct quote)

Three guesses which group God told Gideon to fight with, and the first two don’t count.

Bigger is NOT Always Better

…If you chose the 9,700 doggie-mimickers, you obviously haven’t been reading your Bible.

Of course, God had Gideon gather his 300 men and face off with the Midianites and their allies, who were “settled in the valley, thick as locusts.”

And of course, Gideon & Co won the battle. (The way they did it is pretty cray-cray, but this story’s getting long and I need to get to the point, so look it up yourself if you’re curious. Hint: Judges 7)

Anywho.

The point is that sometimes, having a small group of fearless, elite warriors is far better than having a bloated army of below-average foot soldiers.

That’s why I recently cut over 500 people from my email list.

These 500+ people were like the 31,700 rejects from Gideon’s army: They were taking up space and not learning from the content I sent them.

That doesn’t help them, me, or my Brilliant Writers, so they had to go.

500 people is a big number for some, and people who have email lists usually like to boast about how many people they have on those lists…but not me.

Not anymore.

When it Comes to People, I Choose QUALITY Over Quantity

I only want true, dedicated, aspiring Brilliant Writers on my list.

Because those who trust me deserve my full attention and energy, and I can’t give that to them as long as I’m dealing with dead weights.

In other words, more is NOT always merrier. And kicking out 500 folks is not enough.

God had Gideon cut down twice. So I’ve decided to follow suit.

The first 500 bumped off the Brilliant Writer list is just Round One. By the time I’m done, I expect to bump off much more than that.

Thus, for Round Two, I launched a Great Weeding Out Process to find out who REALLY wants to be a Brilliant Writer, and who’s only hanging around out of bored curiosity.

Here’s How It Works

I have been emailing the people on my list both an increased quantity AND quality of emails, meaning daily or near-daily stories, gifts, writing lessons, and offers (courses, books, affiliate products/services, etc that you can choose to take advantage of or not, up to you) to help them become stronger writers.

If they already know that they’re not down for that, I invite them to hit the unsubscribe link right away, and save us all a lot of trouble.

(I wanna see how many opportunists I can flush out!)

But for those who choose to stick around, I’ve prepared top-notch writing lessons, exclusive learning opportunities, and stories-never-told-before to reward them for their loyalty.

Is It Time For YOU To Scrub Your Email List?

I confess, it took me some time to see the light. My ego was partly tied up in that constantly uptick-ing subscriber number…

Until I realized that the number means nothing.

It’s not how many people you have on your list that matters, it’s how many of THE RIGHT people that makes a difference.

If you try to keep unsuitable people on your list, they don’t do you any good, and you don’t do them any good, either.

Better to let them go off into the wild yonder and focus on the people who actually WANT to hear from you.

So go ahead and give it a try. Cut out the people on your list who aren’t responding to your messages, and encourage the fence-sitters to either make a decision FOR or AGAINST you.

And once you’ve identified your own Mighty Army of 300, 3000, or whatever number you end up with, you’ll be ready to take over the world!

…or at least, your own corner of the internet 😉