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#738 - Alex Hormozi - 21 Brutally Honest Lessons About Life

Modern Wisdom

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  • Control, Standards, and Loneliness
    • World-class goals require high standards, often mistaken for control.
    • Mediocre people rarely support exceptional endeavors, causing loneliness. Transcript: Alex Hormozi I think most people feel really lonely when you want something that doesn’t currently exist. And so some people call that dream. Some people call that goals, whatever it is. You’re trying to pull something from your mind into reality and you want it done a certain way. And if it’s not done that way, it’s not what you imagined. And so people on the outside will throw stones and call you names that they think will change your behavior and get you to stop. And the more I have been the person trying to pull things into reality, the more I’ve tried to weather and build kind of defenses against those things so that when those stones get hurled At you by being called a control freak or by saying you micromanage things or that you have incredibly high standards, the answer is yes, because I want it done right the first time. Because either way, we’re going to, if you have enough will, it’s going to get done the way that I want it to get done regardless. And it’ll be less painful if we just do it right the first time, because we will still have to do it. And you may have to do it three or four more times, but eventually you will just succumb to the fact that we’re going to do it this way. And I think all of the great things that have happened for humanity have been from one man or woman who had an idea and just wouldn’t let people shake it from them. Chris Williamson The standard of right isn’t actually that insane when you think about it. It’s just right. It’s just done without error. And I guess that the margin that some people consider to be right and other people consider to be right just changes. Alex Hormozi I’m trying to think of a really good example for this. But like the level of detail, I mean, it’s the difference between a book that gets 10 or 100 five-star reviews and a book that gets 100,000 five-star reviews. And everyone wants a silver bullet, but most of the things that make great products is 100 golden BBs. And so that’s one of the things we have is there’s no silver bullets, only hundreds of golden BBs. There’s just hundreds of tiny little improvements. It’s like, how can we look at the can? How can we improve the way it ships? What about the weight? What about the color scheme? How does it sit on the shelves? How are people going to look at it in this market versus this market? Or like, how does this name appear on hats and on shirts and on sites? And what’s the RGP, you know, whatever the color scope is here versus there. And it’s just a thousand details that someone who does not care will not put the work to look into because they’re trying to check a box rather than to make something that people will love Or um i heard this from shoot i can’t remember where it was from um but basically that the best art is art where the artist makes it for themselves and where you see commercial work is where A bunch of people are trying to make something for an audience. And so it’s they’re trying to like rinse and recycle stuff that actually solves no one’s problems because no one is actually the audience. Whereas when you make it for yourself, there’s thousands of people just like you who will have the same depth of understanding of it, but it feels selfish in the moment to make something Chris Williamson For yourself. But when you make it for yourself, you actually make it for everyone. But (Time 0:02:18)
  • Focus on the “Sticky” Point
    • Identify the “sticky” point from any content; what resonates most deeply?
    • Focus on that key takeaway and apply it; mere exposure isn’t learning. Transcript: Chris Williamson Know that story, but I thought it was photography. So anyway, but again, I don’t disagree. And it’s finding the thing that is to try and make this tactical. What is the thing that you don’t need to focus on volume today? The goal is not to try and fit 10 podcasts into one set. It’s to make this one as good as possible. But if it’s shorts or reels or tweets or something, it’s lower leverage, it’s lower input. Just get it out there. All right, next one. Here’s how to get older without getting better. Keep relearning the same lesson. If you keep making the same mistake over and over, the mistake isn’t the problem. Alex Hormozi You (Time 0:15:59)
  • Applying One Book Fully
    • Alex Hormozi read many self-help books but saw no life changes.
    • He committed to applying one book fully before starting another, leading to significant change. Transcript: Alex Hormozi When I was getting started in my entrepreneurial journey, and I would say this is like pre, this was when I was a wantrepreneur, right? Like I hadn’t quit my job yet. I started reading all these self-help books. And I remember reading like, it was probably like my 10th book in a row. And I realized that the words in that book contradicted like the second self-help book that I, you know, one was like, it’s all about goals. The other one’s like, it’s all about taking, you know, steps or whatever it was. Right. And I, and I, all of a sudden I was like, you know, my life is the same. I’ve read all these books, but my, I still literally live in the exact same condo in Baltimore doing the same job. Like nothing has changed. And so I just made the commitment that whatever the next book that I was going to read, I would just not read another book until I’d done everything in that book. And that’s when I quit my job and I did a whole bunch of other things. And I’ve actually more or less stuck with that in terms of like, when I read books or even listen to podcasts, I usually do it with an intention to get something out of it. And I usually have notes up. And so that’s, so my intake on information, because I get asked a lot, I’m sure you do, like, I actually don’t read that much. I definitely don’t read non-fiction i read like fantasy red rising baby that’s right um but it’s because usually i get overwhelmed with the amount of things i would have to do and so i’m Like i don’t need more information i’m like i’m like i could read a chapter and be like all right that’s it i like it’ll take me two weeks to do this and so then like the rest of the time is doing Chris Williamson That and so how do you ensure that the things that you’re reading are giving you good advice? Because if you didn’t move on before you took two weeks to go and do the thing, but the thing was dog shit, you’ve spent two weeks going backward. Alex Hormozi So I would probably, I would make the argument that I wouldn’t have gone backwards because I would have gained the experience. And so I would have more context to know what the second thing was going to be. And that’s just kind of like the trial by fire learning through iteration. And I think I tend to do more of that. Chris Williamson Sort of a win or learn philosophy. Alex Hormozi Yeah. And I would say that like there are entrepreneurs who are definitely like super, super duper planners. And there are entrepreneurs who are more like, let’s just move and break shit and we’ll figure it out. I tend to be really this on the micro in terms of like move shit and break, you know, like we’ll figure it out as we go. And I just tend to be a planner only in the big, like very grand, like what do I really want to do in 10 years? But the majority of the time it’s like, let’s see. And we’ll, we’ll, we’ll learn. I’ve learned so much, like so much of the content that I have comes from just fucking up in business. And people were like, this is such original content. I was like, this is just because that’s what my life was. I just like, I made this mistake and it didn’t work. But I said this one thing one time, and then all these people bought and I was like, Ooh, how do I do that again? And so like, it was always through iteration. And I, I’ve read all these books, but there’s just me knowing how, uh, or sorry, knowing that and knowing how, like knowing that maybe this works, maybe. But once you do it, it’s a different type of learning where, at least for me, it’s about been that way. If you could read, you could read a hundred books on sales, but when you take your first cold call, all of that goes out the window because you actually have to, you actually have to sell. (Time 0:19:53)
  • Imitation vs. Innovation
    • Imitators copy the “what,” not the “why,” of creative work.
    • Fear not imitation, but the absence of it, as it signals a lack of innovation. Transcript: Chris Williamson Drinklmnt.com/modernwisdom. This is related to something I wrote last week. Don’t be so worried about people who imitate your work. They only know the what, but not the why. If you stopped being creative, so would they. A photocopier isn’t an artist, even if it can recreate the Mona Lisa. Alex Hormozi I love that. Because the thing is like, you are source in that situation. And so everyone is there for like a subset of you. And they require you to live, you don’t require them. And the equal opposite is, I think we should be more fearful of when everyone stops copying you. Like the day that no one copies you is far, far more frightening than the day everyone’s copying you. Yeah. Chris Williamson Jimmy Carr refers to china as a cover band you know it’s like uh they’re the cover band of the beatles and he says you know they’re good and in many ways they’re able to produce things at More scale and so on and so forth but they’re not driving the innovation forward yeah in that same way yeah the idea of getting upset about people copying is just ridiculous. Alex Hormozi Like, yeah, that’s all I’ve got on that. But you understand why it’s painful, right? Chris Williamson If someone’s gone through, okay, let’s test and test and test and test and test, and then finally find a particular formula that works, and then 10 people downstream get the benefit Of this hard, laborious, effortful, late night grind and iteration and they just got to be like oh that thing yeah i so (Time 0:23:36)
  • Exceptionalism vs. Conformity
    • Being exceptional necessitates being different, leading to internal or external conflict.
    • Choose the discomfort of being exceptional over the conflict of conformity. Transcript: Chris Williamson That if you want to be exceptional, you’re going to be different from everyone else. That’s what makes you exceptional. You can’t fit in and also be exceptional. Both have discomfort. When you fit in, you have internal conflict because you’re not being 100% you. When you’re exceptional, you have external conflict because everyone sees you as different. Pick one. When your friends start to say, you’ve changed, remember, it’s because they don’t know how to say, you’ve grown. Alex Hormozi I (Time 0:28:40)
  • Embrace the Non-Normal
    • Avoid normalcy if you desire exceptional results.
    • Doing what everyone else does guarantees average outcomes; think independently. Transcript: Chris Williamson Brilliant. One of my friends, George Mack, told me this five years ago, I think. I’m astounded by how many people want to be spectacular in life, but also want to be normal. By being normal, you are, by definition, aiming for average. Normal people get normal results. Exceptional people get exceptional results. You literally can’t do what everyone else does and expect to not get what everyone else has got. Alex Hormozi By doing what everyone else does, you guarantee average results. Okay. So this comes down to everything that like business, I mean, obviously I come from the business and investing world. Like if everyone is jumping onto crypto, like by the time you have all the information to make a perfect decision, it’s too late. And by the time you have consensus where everyone’s like, that’s a good investment, it probably isn’t because it’s already been mispriced because it’s already like, it’s already Inflated and it’s above what its intrinsic value is. And so like good investors fundamentally can think for themselves. And it’s such an easy thing to say and such a hard thing to do. And so it’s being able to say, if I shut myself in a room and I had to come up with a value for something and just use my own mind to come up with what I think this is worth, it’s that that answer That you get in a room in isolation with no internet connection, that you believe in that number more than every single other person’s. And most people can’t do that. But like that ability. And then what happens though, is if you really have to believe in that rather than everyone else’s, you double check your fucking math. Because if it is different than everyone else’s, you have the op, like that is what opportunity looks like. It’s called advantage. Right. And it’s like, and you have the potential to make a shitload of money or lose a ton of money because you didn’t check your math. And so the more I’ve been reinforced for thinking independently, and in the beginning it’s on small things. And then you just continue to reinforce that cycle of, huh, I came to this conclusion on my own. It seems different than everyone else’s, but I think, I think my thing makes sense. So I’m going to do that. Chris Williamson How would you advise someone to overcome that regression to the mean, that pull to not make waves, to not be heterodox or non-typical when it comes to their decision making? Because it’s hard. You’re talking about this internal conflict versus external conflict. Alex Hormozi How do you make the internal conflict more important than the external conflict? (Time 0:33:34)
  • 100 Days of Rejection
    • Enduring 100 days of rejection can be transformative.
    • It reveals that rejection rarely leads to the catastrophic outcomes we fear. Transcript: Chris Williamson Did you ever, um, this is quite old now. It’s at least a decade old. I think it’s called 50 days of rejection or a hundred days of rejection. I love it already. So it’s a, series of experiments that you do every day for 100 days. Yeah. There’s a different one each day. And one of them is ask for a free coffee when you go to Starbucks. Oh, I love it. Just say, hey, can I have this for free? Yeah. And it’s, I don’t know whether it escalates over time, but there’s like weird stuff, things that you do to people in public, things that blah, blah, blah. And it’s trying to overcome that. It’s in your throat when you feel that and your cheeks get flush and everything kind of gets hot around here. What if they think yeah what yeah what if they think what yeah so yeah i someone should redo that it’s like a decade old now but someone should redo i think i’m certain it’s called 100 days Of rejection youtube idea that’d be a great youtube idea to do 100 100 days of rejection or whatever it is um all right next one next one i just want to like i promise you if you can actually Alex Hormozi Go through 100 days of rejection, your life will change. Because you will realize that at the end of the 100 days, you’re still alive and nothing changed. But it’s, I’m going to die. Chris Williamson Yeah. (Time 0:41:54)
  • Known vs. Respected
    • There’s a crucial distinction between being known and being respected.
    • Don’t compromise your values for algorithmic approval; prioritize authenticity. Transcript: Chris Williamson Long story short, become a club promoter. All right, next one. There’s a big difference between becoming known and becoming respected. Don’t let an algorithm convince you otherwise. Alex Hormozi I mean, I think this is probably super pertinent for people in our position. But I’ll go from the internet perspective and we can circle back to IRL. But I mean, a lot of people will make contents. Obviously, I make stuff for me too. Talk about artists making things for themselves. I make most of my tweets are just notes to self. But if I ever feel like I have to sacrifice who I am or the values that I believe in, in order to like get more views or something like that, I see it happen more times than not because the algorithm And the views and the likes become kind of a proxy for conforming in their own way. Like everyone likes this type of thing, do more of that. And that makes me feel very like dance monkey dance. And I think there’s, there’s few things that kill my soul more than that and so i would rather you know i’d rather the algorithm shut me off tomorrow and i continue to make stuff that i find Interesting that 10 people find interesting that is actually the same stuff as me then just have these viral hits that i feel like i’m ronald mcdonald in um and just feel like i’ve completely Lost my soul and i i do think as side note, that if you do the first one where your intention is to maybe help find the 10 people who are really interested in your thing, you probably will Create more of the viral hits. But when you solve for the other way, I think you accomplish neither. Chris Williamson I have this theory that more creators fall out of favor because they become cringe than because they become irrelevant. (Time 0:44:15)
  • Herastratic Fame
    • Herastraus’s act exemplifies the desire for notoriety, even if negative.
    • Some prioritize being hated over being unknown, seeking infamy over obscurity. Transcript: Chris Williamson Got a really cool idea. Herostratic fame. Many people would rather be hated than unknown. In ancient Greece, Herostratus burned down the temple of Artemis purely so that he would be remembered. Nowadays, we have nuisance influencers who stream themselves committing crimes and harassing people purely for clout. Herostratic fame. Yeah, (Time 0:52:19)
  • Embrace Imbalance
    • Embrace periods of imbalance; focus intensely on high-impact goals.
    • Don’t fear being “unbalanced”; it’s often the key to outsized returns. Transcript: Chris Williamson Was built on the backs of men who smoked cigarettes, drove without seatbelts and had bacon for breakfast. If you miss your biohacking routine this morning, you’re going to be okay. There’s a time for leverage, but there’s also a time for violence, which is just brute force. People get really obsessed with optimal, which is getting the most bang for your buck. But there’s also maximizing, which is just getting the most bucks. You lose more life trying to optimize everything than just living it. The stress of trying to be perfect is killing you more quickly than your imperfections. Hmm. Alex Hormozi I think that’s an ode to being willing to take huge amounts of imperfect action towards one goal, and being willing to sacrifice other things for an extended period of time, despite The fact that other people say they’re making a sacrifice. Like when we enter seasons, I call it the season of no, which is where you have extended duration where I say no to almost everything. And most people say that’s unbalanced. And they hurl that as though it’s a bad thing. They’re like, that’s so unbalanced. You’re like, yes, that’s the point. Because if I had a balanced outcome, then I won’t have the outsized return on this one thing. And so again, like there’s so many of these little insults that people will throw at you, like (Time 1:01:32)
  • Focus on Preferred Problems
    • When making decisions, focus on the problems you’d prefer, not just potential gains.
    • Considering downsides minimizes regret; understand the chosen and unchosen path. Transcript: Alex Hormozi Just for now. Yes. We have a frame that we actually use a lot. I always think about these things from a business context, but they end up retroactively applying to life. But when we’re making big strategic decisions, we say like, which problems would we prefer? And so rather than talking about like the gains and what’s the upside, if we have like, you know, let’s say we’re going to make a big investment in software for this company, or we’re going To make a big, you know, huge, a new service line, or we’re going to just decide to develop a physical product, right? I mean, I know you, you’re like, you were literally on the just back half of a big decision like this yourself. It’s like, okay, let’s imagine what the problems are going to be if we, if we decide to do this new service category. Well, some people are going to complain that they’re not getting results from this thing. Uh, we’re going to have a ton of, like, we might have some negative reviews in the short term that we’re going to have to deal with. Like, let’s look at what happens when one of our favorite customers tell us the fuck off. Like, let’s really sit in what each of these problems is. And then when we spell out all of the problems and we don’t even think about the upside and say, which of these problems do we prefer and which are we more equipped to deal with? Sometimes we have really amazing innovation and in my opinion, like really solid decision-making that comes afterwards that minimizes kind of the post-decision regret because We also know what negatives would have come with the path unchosen. Because most, most times like our regrets come from the path unchosen because we imagine it only with the upside. We only think about, I think there’s a book that where a girl lives many different versions of her life. And- Midnight library. Yes. And the thing is, is that there’s these pieces of her life that she imagines are going to be amazing, but then she realizes her best friend’s dead or all of a sudden she’s pregnant. And you’re like, whoa, what happened? And so we don’t take into account on the paths, not taken the things that we would have lost along the way. And so I think really good decision-making and also regret minimization is that when you make the decision, you think about the downsides too, and you remember what those downsides Are. And for me, that has been one of my strongest frames for like, I didn’t decide to do that. We’re all that. Oh yeah. Those were a lot. I’m glad I didn’t, those are problems. I’m very happy. I don’t have to deal with now. Chris Williamson In other (Time 1:07:54)
  • Over-Optimization vs. Action
    • Over-optimization can hinder progress; embrace imperfect action.
    • The stress of perfectionism is more detrimental than imperfection itself. Transcript: Chris Williamson All right. Alex Hormozi So I, I, I’m glad we came back to optimization because, um, there’s obviously on the extreme, there’s, uh, guys like Brian Johnson with blueprint who are trying to like live to 200 or Live forever. Um, and I, I, I respect that. I respect dedication to anything always. Um, and interestingly around, I’ve always been a maximizer. So I’ve actually not really been an optimizer in my life. It’s just like, as soon as I have an input output equation where it’s like N equals X. And it’s like, and if I want 10 X, I do 10 N I’m like, great. Then can we do a thousand N? Like, I just want to do as much of that as a humanly possible. Um, but when we like, I love competitors who like optimizing because I always see it as a weakness because it’s so easy to exploit. It’s like, Oh, you need your eight hours of sleep or you need your morning routine. Or you, if you don’t have your supplements, you’re just totally fucked. Or like, I didn’t have my coffee this morning so i can’t function like i love to compete against people like that because they’re so easy to break it’s fragile yeah and so what happens Is the optimizations become superstition correct and so my my fear around and i and maybe i take a more extreme stance on this but like i’ve always wanted to be able to with an internet Connection and a laptop and a fold-out chair, go make money. And always have that as my North Star, that anything else is extra. And I feel like I lose more quickly when I get into this optimization cycle. Because I remember years ago, I bought one of those rings that tracks your sleep and I kept trying to like set sleep PRs and you can only get so high anyways. And then I started stressing more about not hitting sleep PRs that I was sleeping worse than when I wasn’t tracking it. And so then I was like, well, fuck this thing. And I slept fine the next night. And so, um, obviously microcosm, I’m a big believer in tracking progress in general, but just the idea that we become so overly romantic around these things that sometimes you just Have to break shit. And sometimes you have to be violent. And sometimes when you’re on your journey, you’re not going to sleep much. And you’re going to, you’re going to like, there was a two-year period where I did turnarounds for gyms. I flew around the nation. Every month I would do a new gym. I ate out of gas stations and I ate gas station food and I gained weight during that period of time. And it was for then and not forever. And I’m in shape now. And so whatever, who cares? And so like, I used to tell this when I was selling weight loss to people, I’d say like, who cares if you get in shape for six weeks out of 80 years? And like, right as they’re about to sign up for a membership, I was like, you want to sign, and then this is how I would sell longer memberships, but like, it’s also true. It’s like, you want to sign up for the six weeks, but like, Susan, like who cares if you lose 20 pounds and you’re still overweight six weeks from now, and then you gain it back the next six Weeks and you’re still the exact same weight for the rest of your life. And i just i think the absolute dedication to maximization so that becomes a part of your identity and your character has been one of the outsized returns that i’ve gotten in my life and Just being absolutely willing to start like i’m pretty violent about this but like list all the things that you aren’t willing to give up for the dreams that you have and that is what the Person who will beat you is willing to give up. There’s (Time 1:11:45)
  • The Mortality of Critics
    • Insults only sting if you believe them; remember, your critics are mortal.
    • Their opinions become irrelevant upon their death; dismiss them now. Transcript: Chris Williamson Only insults that hurt are the ones we believe. Next time someone insults you, remember, they’re going to die. Everyone will forget about them. And if no one will remember them, then you might as well forget about them now. They are irrelevant. Your dream, your actions, your outcomes. Alex Hormozi So (Time 1:20:11)
  • Cancellation and Control
    • You can only be canceled if you stop creating or are deplatformed.
    • Keep creating and controlling your communication channels; don’t be silenced. Transcript: Chris Williamson As shit about the truth. Alex Hormozi One thing that we talked about earlier with canceling, and I have, so relatively contrary views on canceling. Um, I genuinely believe that you cannot be canceled. You only are, you can only be canceled in two ways. You can be canceled. If you choose to stop making content, stop being public or all means and methods and channels of communication that you do not control, remove you from it. So like, for example, uh, there’s Tate, right, right? And he had his, like, he’s not allowed to be on the platforms, but they allow his content to be on the platform. So has he been canceled? No, I would argue not. And there’s still other platforms. And he continues to make content. So you only, so to me, this is actually really a heartwarming security feeling, and I get warm and fuzzies around that.uring thank you um because it means that cancellation is you have To agree to be canceled no matter how bad like if you mess up the platform one yeah apart yeah if they if they if they had ai face recognizing him and have eliminated from the platform he Would be canceled like there’s no method of communication outside of in-person, he would have no leverage. Agreed. But barring that, if you continue to make content, no matter what you did, people will find out about you. More people will know it about you and your message will get disseminated. And whether you choose to like recant something that you did or, you know, like right or wrong, apologize, or do what Dave did and say like, this is complete bollocks, he’s my little UK Term, and just be even louder, you choose to be canceled. And I like that because I like to have as many things under my control as I can. (Time 1:32:48)
  • Push vs. Pivot
    • Quit only when new information disproves your initial assumptions.
    • Persist if assumptions hold; pivot if necessary, but never stop moving. Transcript: Chris Williamson So there’s a handful of questions that I think everyone faces that you never know the right answer to. Alex Hormozi And so it’s like, how much is the right amount to invest versus consume is one of those answers. Like if you invest, if you consume nothing and you invest everything into it tomorrow, you end up with a life where you enjoyed nothing and then you have a big pile of shit. Delayed gratification in the extreme results and no gratification. Right. And so like there, these are, these are rather than either ors, they’re continuums. And so to be managed more than problems to be solved. And so I think just from a decision-making framework, that’s number one. Number two, so with regards to this one, which is do you push or do you pivot, which is how I frame this question, pushing like, do I push through whatever this hardness is, and there’s Like something that’s in sight that I think I can go to, or there are fundamental things that have changed that make my original hypothesis wrong. And so I’m telling the secret right now. But for me, I won’t quit if no new information has come to light. And so if I say, I’m going to do this based on these assumptions, if those assumptions have still held, then it’s a push situation. If there’s new data that’s come to light that changes the nature of why I’m pushing or the outcome for what I’m going to get from pushing or the way that I’m pushing is incorrect, then I Would quote quit. But quitting has a lot of heavy terminology in, you know, I’d say personal motivation, masturbation. Pivots much softer. Right. Because I think that everything is a pivot except for stopping. And so I think even reframing, like language matters a lot and I care a lot about language. And so like nothing is quitting unless you stop. And if you continue to pivot and you continue to push, either of those are activity. And so you will stumble upon something that does work, in which case do more of it. And so that has always been my frame. But it’s I have an initial assumption or series of assumptions for a desired thing. So let’s say I want to, I want to build my social media brand, I say, Okay, I believe that if I make, you know, content about things that no one else can make content about, that is more higher Level business stuff than is out there because most of the YouTubers are YouTubers, not business people, there will be an audience for that. And in the beginning, I will have fewer people who follow it. But if I make really good stuff over time, eventually people will tell people and I will get better at making content and that will grow. So if I’m at year two and, and it’s, and the thing is, is like, do I have leading indicators? And so like, even in business stuff, like we, I don’t need the outcome, but are there leading indicators that are telling me that this, I’m on the right path. And so identifying ahead of time, just like we have problems that we identify, like, okay, if we succeed, like people are gonna recognize you in the street, you’re not gonna be able to Go out as much or like all these are, these are problems I don’t have to deal with. Cool. I’m willing to pay for those. But what are the, what are the things along the way that will tell me that even though I haven’t achieved Mr. Beastdom, that I’m on the right path. And so I think having those little indicators allow you to keep taking steps towards the ultimate thing and continue to push. I mean, I have a different tweet, which is that the world belongs to those who can continue to work without seeing the result of their work, continue to do without seeing the result of Their doing. And it’s really the person who can do that for the longest period of time. And that’s usually because they’re still getting leading indicators. It’s just that it’s amounting to a much bigger mountain. And so like, if you want to do big shit, it takes a way longer period of time because the easy shit, the little hills, everyone conquers really quickly. I’m on time. I say please and thank you. It’s like so fucking what? And so like, if you want to do something that most people can’t do, literally just extend the time horizon on the things that most people can’t weather. Like there’s so much opportunity on the other side of being willing to persist for an extended period of time on the correct path without getting positive reinforcement from your environment. And the longer you can stick with something without that positive feedback loop in terms of the big external thing, the easier the opportunities are because so few people can pursue Them. Chris Williamson In James Clear’s Atomic Habits, I think he interviews maybe the Chinese weightlifting team’s head coach. And he asked, what is the difference between the absolute elite world champions and the ones that simply qualify? And the coach said, the absolute elite are the ones who can continue to come in every single day without getting bored. That was it. And Matt Fraser talks about it as well, where he says that doing an hour and a half of monostructural work on the rower. You’ve got to do zone two. Hey, guess what? You don’t even get the benefit of feeling like you work that hard. You just get to kind of, yeah, whatever, like 24 strokes a minute or something like slow zone two, whatever the thing is. But no one’s fired up for that. He said, people make a mistake in believing that I’m fired up to go and do that session i’m not fired up to go and do that session i just go and do that session we were saying um so there’s a Alex Hormozi Lot of people say like do the work um and in gym launch and it’s continued into our stuff today but do the boring work is what we call it and uh boring is what make you rich boring the boring Activities it’s the it’s the double checking the emails it’s writing the follow-up sequence that you really don’t feel like writing and honestly just getting it done will make you Significantly more money than not getting it done and so it’s like it’s it’s it’s falling with a lead from a month ago and just being like hey by the way are you still interested in that Thing it’s the stuff that you don’t want to do like no one’s like i can’t wait to follow up with these leads that haven’t responded to the last two text messages I sent. But if you respond, if you follow up to everybody, you will make more sales than you don’t. Chris Williamson It’s presuming that it’s an effective strategy because there are ways that you can continue to chug away and do a thing with no positive reinforcement. But hey, guess what? That’s the direction that you’re supposed to be going in and you’re walking over there. Alex Hormozi Yeah. That’s a push and pivot right like if if no one responds then i would say i have zero leading indicators but if you have enough response rates then it then it’s worth the the toil um but i I i so i mean michael phelps talks about this too with uh with swimming like just laps after laps after like he doesn’t even have the variety of like different moves or different like it’s Just laps just sheer volume of work and um i call the rocky cut scene and almost every successful person that i have ever encountered has gone through not a month or a year but many years Of doing work without reward where they have to do things that other people find boring and they have to sacrifice things that everyone finds interesting that most people want to do During that entire season of their life and they basically sacrifice a season of other things that they would prefer to do to do stuff that they would not prefer to do because of the one Thing they want most. And that’s (Time 1:45:25)
  • Creating Passion
    • Passion is created through competence, not found.
    • Embrace sucking at something, get good, and then enjoy the resulting passion. Transcript: Alex Hormozi Want to find their passion, but you don’t find it, you create it. Chris Williamson And you create it by getting good at something. And to get good at stuff, you start by doing something you suck at. Then you get good. Then you like it. Then people ask how you found your passion. Answer, by starting when you sucked and not giving up. Alex Hormozi I hate the passion mantra. I really do. I mean, part of it was because I’ll even play it out. So I read all the same self-help books early on when I was in my entrepreneurial days and I was trying to find my passion and I was into fitness. And so I was deciding between fitness, test prep, because I was good at test prep and frozen yogurt, because I like dessert. So I’ve like, these are my three quote passions, which let’s just translate that into things you’re interested in. And so as soon as I started the gym, my passion disappeared. It became work. And I had a different mentor later in my life who said, never create work around your passion because then it’ll become work. And he was a guy who’s a very successful business guy. And I think about that actually more than I’d share because it’s just complete and utter bullshit because it assumes that what you’re going to be doing every day is the thing that you’re Currently really interested, which also doesn’t make you money. And so your behavior has to change. And whenever you’re doing these new things, one, they’ll be new, which means you will suck at them, which means you’ll probably not like them, but it’s also part of it. And so like, I would prefer to take the extreme opposite position of everything will suck. And eventually you will get good at the things that you suck at. And then you’ll enjoy being competent at that thing, which will then probably give you status. And you’ll enjoy the fruits of status more than the pain of doing the thing. And in so doing, create a positive feedback loop that you’ll actually keep sticking with it. And so I’d rather set the expectation that everything is terrible all the time forever. Now let’s see if we can become the person who can still do it anyways, and start that as the baseline rather than trying to assume that I need perfect conditions in order to start. Because I mean, starting is the perfect condition. (Time 2:18:07)
  • Worthiness and Improvement
    • Admit when you’re not worthy of your desires; it’s the first step to improvement.
    • Be a student, not a fraudulent teacher; earn your worthiness. Transcript: Chris Williamson To piss off the positive pollies in the room, but if you haven’t gotten what you want, then you’re not worthy of it, period. And that’s okay. Now you can admit that you suck and improve. Better to know you’re bad for a season than pretend you’re good for a lifetime. You’re not making as much money as you want because you’re not as good as you think you are. You’re not struggling from imposter syndrome. You’re a student and pretending to be a teacher. No students say they feel like frauds for trying to learn. You’re a fraud when you get up to teach the class and you’ve never done it. (Time 2:38:01)
  • Embrace Human Emotions
    • Embrace negative emotions; they are part of the human experience.
    • Don’t seek medication for normal human feelings; accept them. Transcript: Chris Williamson Normal to not know what you’re doing. If you did, it wouldn’t be called growth. High five your fear, uncertainty, and doubt, and carry on. Do you get tired stressed sad hungry frustrated unfocused do you feel misunderstood great you’re human you don’t need medication i (Time 3:02:00)