The Out of Character Test
When you make the excuse, ask: would the person who already has it say that?
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Time to result
- ~days to results
- Steps
- 5
- Confidence
- 90%
Trucks argues we live in a world with vastly too much information, and people assume success sits behind another skill set, book or course. But there are plenty of people with success information and far fewer with success. The gap collapses into one recurring moment: I've got to get something done, but I don't feel like it — so I say I'm tired, it's been a long day, the kids are up, the dog is sick. His intervention is a single question: the person who already has that goal, would they make this excuse? Because it isn't about what you know, it's about who you are with what you know. Doing something great always feels out of character, since you aren't that great yet — which makes incongruence a positive signal rather than a reason to retreat.
Origin
Trucks first lived it at 14, when he finally got to play football after adoption and discovered he was terrible — good at recess, useless in helmet and shoulder pads. He recognised the impulse to evade, excuse or self-sabotage, and instead spent his whole freshman-to-sophomore off-season doing what a great football player does, getting made fun of lifting weights, running routes and catching. As a coach he now applies the question directly to clients who miss commitments.
Core principles
- 01It doesn't matter what you know — it's who you are with what you know.
- 02Doing something great is by definition out of character, because you aren't great yet.
- 03Feeling incongruent is a positive signal, not a warning.
- 04Most people evade incongruence: they withdraw, make an excuse, or self-sabotage.
- 05The out-of-comfort-zone actions that matter are the ones in the character of the person who has what you want.
How to run it
- 1
Catch the moment
Identify the single recurring moment: you have to get something done and you don't feel like it. Everything hinges here.
Watch out The excuse will feel legitimate. Tired, long day, kids acting up, it was windy — they all sound reasonable in the moment.
- 2
Ask the question
Recall the goal you said you wanted, then ask: the person who has that right now — would they make this excuse?
Pro tip The answer is instant and unarguable, which is why the question works.
- 3
Find the actions in that person's character
List the things that are incredibly out of your comfort zone but squarely in the character of the person who has the life you want. Those, not the comfortable ones, are the work.
Pro tip The person with twenty-thousand-dollar clients is, quite logically, asking people for twenty thousand dollars.
Watch out Making pretty images on Canva and posting videos is easy work that feels like work. It is the evasion.
- 4
Reframe incongruence as progress
Expect to feel out of character. That is the correct sensation of doing something above your current self, not a signal to retreat.
- 5
Add accountability
Have someone else who knows what's going on, so in your weak times they can push you forward.
In the wild
Trucks describes the entrepreneur who needs to grow a business. It's easy to sit at a computer, make pretty images on Canva and post videos nobody sees. It's very hard to get into a conversation and say 'I do this thing, it'll help you, pay me twenty thousand dollars.' So most people evade it, then say they're broke.
→ Trucks' verdict: you're broke because you aren't doing the stuff — the person who has twenty-thousand-dollar clients is asking for twenty thousand dollars. It's logic.
Fourteen-year-old Trucks, freshly adopted and finally allowed to play football, was bad at it. Instead of evading, he spent an entire off-season doing what great football players do — lifting weights and getting made fun of, running routes and getting made fun of, catching footballs and getting made fun of.
→ He got the skill set, but more importantly the internal identification: he became a football player, and eventually reached the NFL.
When a coaching client fails to do what they committed to, Trucks asks why. They offer an excuse. He reminds them of the goal they said they wanted, then asks whether the person who has that right now would make this excuse.
→ The client hits the realisation instantly: it doesn't matter what I know, it's who I am with what I know.
Common mistakes
Chasing more information
Assuming success is behind one more book, course or skill set. There are far more people with success information than people with success.
Doing the work instead of the right work
'I'm doing the stuff, I'm doing the work.' You aren't doing the right stuff — the stuff that's in the character of the person who has what you want.
Reading incongruence as a stop sign
Most people who feel out of character don't stay in that pocket. But out of character is exactly what greatness feels like before you're great.
Is it for you?
Best for
People who are busy and working hard on their goal but not progressing, especially anyone avoiding the ask in sales or business development.
Not ideal for
People without a defined target identity; the test needs a specific 'person who has what you want' to compare against.
From the transcript
“the person who has that right now would they make this excuse it's a very straightforward at that moment should go oh so it doesn't…”
“when you're trying to do something great that's out of character because you aren't that great yet”
“you've got to start looking at what are the things that are incredibly out of my comfort zone that are in the character of the…”
“people assume that success is on the other side of some skill set or some book or some course they think that there a lot…”
From the episode
Anthony Trucks: Transform Your Identity
Anthony Trucks