I couldn’t believe my eyes when the notification popped up last night.
Sam Reid eating a waffle with the Jonas Brothers.
I know that doesn’t possibly make any sense… but stick with me.
A couple years back, Sam did a Waffle House challenge on his YouTube channel, and added a ridiculous side quest: eat waffles with the Jonas Brothers. He wasn’t a superfan or anything… He didn’t have any connections in the industry… and his channel wasn’t massive.
It was just a funny bit that supported the plot of a silly video.
He tried DMs. He bought a billboard. He tried talking to more attainable members of their band. He ended up getting within shouting distance as they briskly walked by, but sadly, no waffles.
Two years pass… I had just about forgotten about the whole thing. Then, out of nowhere, a video drops — and there’s Sam clinking a waffle with Nick Jonas.
He didn’t have an “in” and he didn’t have the clout… but what he did have was a goal that was absurdly specific.
We’re headed into that time of the year where we all stare at a blank Google Doc and try to plan the future.
- “I want more clients”
- “I want higher revenue”
- “I want to do better work”
Those are all great, but they’re not all that helpful. In fact, they can be paralyzing.
“More clients” doesn’t tell you what to do when you sit down at your desk on Tuesday morning. Do you run ads? Post on LinkedIn? Go to a networking event? There’s no way to know. So, like every year, those goals collect dust.
But “eat a waffle with the Jonas Brothers”? That narrows the path. It acts like a filter. Now every decision is either moving you toward that waffle or away from it.
So before you sit down to plan 2026, run your ideas through the Waffle Test.
If you can’t visualize the “victory photo” of your goal — like Sam in a stairwell with a popstar — then it’s too vague.
Don’t say “I want to do more strategic work”, say “I want to sell a 20K strategy roadmap to a direct-to-consumer brand”.
One is a nice idea. The other is a directive.
