Finding Success in an Unsuccessful World

The Question Many Podcasters Ask

When I go on my walks, I like listening to podcasts, mostly related to business and personal development. It’s a nice way for me to get some fresh ideas and inspiration.

Here’s a question podcasters often ask their guests:

“What do you believe about success that most people don’t?”

You’ll get various answers of course.

But here’s my uncensored opinion:

What most people get wrong about success is… pretty much everything!

If you were to ask someone what 10/10 success looks like to them specifically, most people can’t give you an answer. If you can’t define it, by definition achieving success will be impossible.

But secondly:

It’s all about skillsets.

If someone is getting great results in any area, it means that they have the skills to be successful in that area. Since most people aren’t even CLOSE to hitting their goals, it’s safe to assume they lack the know-how to get it done.

In today’s newsletter, I’ll give you the shortcut to succeed where 99% of people fail!

The Starting Point of ALL Success

Success starts before you’ve taken a single step of action.

It’s all about self-awareness.

Before you can start achieving success in your life, you need to define what success actually means to you specifically. My dream lifestyle might be a terrible fit for you. Likewise, I might prefer sleeping under a train over your dream life.

You’ve got to play YOUR game, nobody else’s!

In the exercise below, we’ll dive deeper into figuring this out.

My #1 Rule for Success

What do we commonly call successful people?

We call them the 1%.

This leaves 99% of people. #quickmaths

Here’s where most people fuck up:

In pursuit of their goals, they let themselves be influenced by their uncle, friends, parents, their girlfriend’s dog and literally anyone who is willing to share his or her opinion. They try it out, fail and then wonder where they went wrong….

I’ll tell you where:

Don’t apply the methods of the 99% and expect 1% results!

I’m sure the people you have in your life are wonderful. However, ask yourself the following question: “Has this person achieved my goal (or better) in [insert desired area of life]?”. The answer to this question determines how you should react to their advice.

(If the answer is no, don’t follow it.)

After all, their BEST way of thinking got them the results they have now.

Here’s my #1 rule when it comes to success:

For example:

• Most people will spend most of their money and maybe they’ll save a little bit, if there’s anything left over. Wealthy people prioritize saving and investing.

• Many people will say things like “success doesn’t matter” or “money doesn’t buy happiness”, but will you hear successful people say that? Hell no! They understand that money and success open a lot of doors and enable them.

• The majority of people believe in playing it safe, getting a nice and secure job, then retire old at 65+. Others break the code and earn enough to retire young through business and investing.

• A lot of people only do what is expected, for example by doing the minimum to not get fired at their job. High performers are always looking to learn, improve, get the most out of themselves, and therefore win.

You’ll never win big if you do what everyone else does (unsuccessfully)!

Who’s in Your Network?

Where do you turn to for advice?

Do you have mentors in your life (either in real life or online)?

Do you get together with others that have similar goals?

The people you brainstorm with, do they have the knowledge you need to succeed?

If the answers to the questions above are “No”, then it’s time to start taking networking more seriously. Whether it’s online or offline, start to surround yourself with people that you want to be like.

Look for communities, (online) training or mentoring, clubs, events, etc.

Community is simple, yet most people neglect it.

If I put you on an island where everyone exercises every day, you’re going to get fitter. If I lock you inside boardrooms where smart people discuss business, you’ll get more business savvy. If your network is into self growth, you’ll be discussing ideas rather than useless news and gossip.

I’m sure you’ve heard this quote before:

“You become the average of the 5 people you spend the most amount of time with.”

But are you living accordingly?

Getting Ahead Way Faster

We ALL have blindspots and things we don’t know.

These are gaps in your skill- or mindset. They are the barriers to success, because they prevent you from moving ahead. By definition, blindspots mean that we’re not aware of them. The key of getting ahead faster is to have someone to point these out to you.

That way, you can fix them, and move on.

For this to work, two things should happen:

1. Like a hot-air balloon, you cut loose the weights that keep you tied to the ground, so that you can rise.

2. You expand your network to get around people with a similar vision and the experience to point out these blind spots.

Does this mean you need to cut everyone out of your life that doesn’t help you grow?

Of course not!

However, my suggestion is to limit certain topics of discussion with them.

For example:

My dad is one of those people who has a problem for every solution. I see him regularly, but I flat out refuse to talk about anything career, business or money related. He means well, but his views and fears only demotivate and demoralize me.

I stay away from those topics to guard my mind.

I recommend only discussing important goal-related topics with people who will encourage you and/or can offer guidance to achieve it (a.k.a. are ahead of you).

For the second part, look for these 3 criteria:

1. Has your best interest at heart. (this rules out politics, the news and most people)

2. Knows you (Because you want advice tailored to your situation)

3. Has the knowledge you need (don’t ask marriage advice to your 6-divorce uncle)

If 1 of them is missing, chances are you’re only drifting away from your goal if you take their advice to heart. Nonetheless, ALWAYS think for yourself. Don’t blindly accept any advice even when all 3 factors are there.

Evaluate to make sure it makes sense to you, ask for clarification as needed.

(And yes, that applies to anything I tell you in these newsletters as well)

When you change your network and get the right guidance, you’ll learn way faster than you could alone. You’ll be able to fix mistakes quickly and move on. Your network is the biggest shortcut to achieving success in life…

IF you get around those with the right knowledge and skills!

Overcoming Perfectionism Once and For All!

A second shortcut I like to talk about today is massive amounts of action.

Most people give it the bare minimum and never get anywhere as a result. Instead, you want to double, triple or 10x their output so that you can learn quicker and get ahead.

One of the main problems for this is perfectionism.

Today’s audio lesson covers the mindset to overcome it:

The Mistake That Destroys Your Confidence

Certain habits and behaviors make you instantly look insecure. I know, because I’m pretty sure I’ve been guilty of every single one at some point…

In this new video I talk about one of these.

If you make this one mistake, people will think you’re insecure. But if you fix it, this make people perceive you as confident (even if you don’t feel like it inside)!

Give it a watch now:

What Does Success Mean to You?

The first step in achieving success is figuring out what the fuck that actually means.

What does success mean to YOU specifically?

Let’s do a fun exercise for this:

Imagine that you have a dimensional time machine. This machine will transport you 5 years into the future. But here’s the twist: There is an infinite amount of parallel universes that you can pick from. Each universe is identical, except for future you. In every universe, your future self will have different, habits, skills, mindsets and lifestyles.

You must pick 1 universe and replace your future self in it.

What does the perfect 5-years-from-now future version of you look like?

I know this is a daunting question, so you can split it up:

• What would be your perfect place to live?

• With whom would you be living?

• What’s your social life like?

• What kind of career do you have (if any)?

• What does your financial situation look like?

• What about your health and fitness?

• What does your day-to-day life look like?

Get out a pen and start journalling this out in as much detail as you can.

Once you’ve got your list, you can start the process of reverse engineering. If you want to achieve this outcome, what would you need to learn in between now and then? What habits would you need to build? What bad habits need to be broken?

Try to make a smaller plan.

What would need to happen in the next 12 months to tell you that you’re making progress? What about the next 6 months? 3 months? Next month?

You’ll now have a better overview of what success looks like to you and the beginnings of a plan to get there!

Note:

You don’t need to have the entire 2528-step plan put together. For now, it’s good enough to have a general direction and the first step. Once you take step 1, the second step will become clearer, and the third one after that.