From: alexhormozi
This article offers direct advice for individuals focused on increasing wealth and personal growth [00:00:04]. It challenges common misconceptions about daily routines and how success is achieved, emphasizing the importance of direct action and continuous learning and investment over superficial habits.
The Pitfalls of Morning Routine Obsession
A common mistake is the obsession with morning routines, which, ironically, can lead to less financial gain compared to a direct focus on making money [00:00:08]. Often, individuals achieve wealth through hard work and sacrifice, then adopt elaborate routines, forgetting the foundational effort that led to their success [00:00:12]. They may then wrongly attribute their success to these routines rather than to the actual work and dedication [00:00:20].
Case Study: The 3-Hour Morning Routine
One individual described a business coach’s recommended three-hour morning routine, including “grounded walking,” a “gratitude journal,” daily planning, and an “ice plunge” [00:00:31]. This extensive routine left him with little energy for actual work [00:00:48]. The advice given was simple: replace the three-hour morning routine with three hours of work [00:00:50]. A week later, the individual reported a significant improvement in productivity, realizing that working more directly leads to more accomplishments [00:00:56].
The key is to focus on actions that directly contribute to desired outcomes [00:01:04]. Activities are only beneficial if they lead to measurable improvements in output [00:01:10]. The caution is against engaging in activities merely for the sake of doing them, especially if they lack a clear impact on productivity [00:01:19].
True Drivers of Success: Actions, Not Correlations
A common human error in understanding productivity is making mistaken correlations [00:01:25]. For example, assuming someone is rich because they drink Coke (like Warren Buffett) or attributing success to a difficult childhood [00:01:46]. These correlations ignore the vast number of people who share these traits but are not successful, proving that success is tied to action and work, not unrelated circumstances [00:02:05].
The better approach is to examine what successful individuals did during their “grind” phase, on their way up, rather than their current habits at the peak of their success [00:01:39]. Focusing on actions that directly create results is paramount, rather than trying to decipher amorphous intentions or unmeasurable factors [00:02:33].
The Critical Decades: Seasons of Earning vs. Learning
The notion that “30 is the new 20” is seen as an excuse to delay personal growth and accomplishment [00:02:42]. Assuming a long life is arrogant, as life can be unexpectedly short [00:02:55]. Wasting one’s life by delaying growth is strongly discouraged [00:03:13].
It’s crucial to distinguish between “dead-end jobs” and roles that foster personal growth [00:03:20]. Growth is not necessarily tied to pay; one can gain immense value by working for free if it means significant learning and skill development [00:03:28]. The twenties should be a decade of setting oneself up for growth [00:03:33]. Delaying investment in skills and education puts one a decade behind those who start earlier [00:03:52].
Prioritizing Learning Over Earning in Early Career
Optimizing for earning potential in one’s twenties often misses the point [00:07:00]. An example is given of an 18-year-old seeking $100,000 as a video editor based on another offer [00:06:46]. This earning opportunity was compared to an opportunity to join a globally recognized brand and learn significantly more, even if it meant less initial pay [00:07:07]. The short-term earning choice limits long-term growth and potential [00:07:32]. Prioritizing learning in high-leverage environments can lead to much greater success in the long run [00:07:37].
- Learning: Developing skills and gaining experience in high-growth environments [00:07:37].
- Earning: Maximizing immediate income, potentially at the expense of long-term development [00:07:32].
The speaker’s personal experience includes leaving a high-paying consulting job with a clear path to an Ivy League MBA to work for $13 an hour at a gym after graduating Magna Cum Laude [00:08:35]. This decision prioritized learning and foundational skill development over immediate earning.
The True Cost: Ignorance Debt
The most expensive thing one pays for is not knowing what one should know [00:10:19]. This “ignorance debt” accumulates when one fails to invest in gaining valuable information and education [00:10:40]. Successful individuals, like Elon Musk, who have lost fortunes and regained them, retained their education and learnings, allowing them to rebuild [00:09:51].
It’s crucial to actively pay down this ignorance debt by taking action with current knowledge [00:04:26]. The “best time to start” would have been earlier, but the “second best time to start” is now [00:05:03]. Quitting due to past inaction or age is a choice to lose, which serves no one [00:05:07].
If one is not passionate about their current work, the question is why they are not pursuing something else [00:06:00]. This often stems from fear, anxiety, or internalizing false labels [00:06:07]. The solution is to define actionable steps to move closer to desired goals, such as committing to two hours of reading nightly on a specific subject to make an informed decision within 30 days [00:06:23].
Leverage: Product & Brand Over Sales & Marketing
Early in his career, the speaker was obsessed with sales and marketing, focusing on “fast money” with quick feedback loops [00:11:20]. This created a false belief about the most effective path to success [00:11:33]. The realization was that an exceptional product or strong brand can generate sales and marketing organically [00:12:01].
The Power of “Too Good to Fail”
The book “100 Million Dollar Offers” was initially an internal document created for personal use [00:12:23]. Upon release, it sold out quickly and continued to sell thousands of copies daily for two years with zero paid marketing, solely through word-of-mouth [00:12:33]. This demonstrated the immense leverage of a “too good to fail” product [00:13:57].
Instead of spending two months building a good product and two years marketing it, the speaker learned to spend two years building a great product that would sell itself for a lifetime [00:14:03]. The difference between “good” and “great” requires significantly more effort – each step closer to perfection (e.g., from 8 to 9, or 9 to 9.5) demands ten times the work [00:14:28]. This level of detail and quality comes from extended, unbroken focus time and repeated exposure to the product from various perspectives [00:14:45].
In today’s commoditized market, being number one yields outsized returns, as social media makes it easier for truly excellent products to go viral [00:15:43].
Cultivating a Strong Brand
A brand is a tool for learning what associations people make with it, both tangible and intangible [00:16:12]. Branding is like curating a garden: everything that isn’t the desired flower is a weed, even if it’s a beautiful flower itself [00:16:54]. This vigilance in defending a “garden of association and reputation” creates immense leverage [00:17:12]. Warren Buffett’s handshake, for example, is more valuable than government contracts due to his reputation and trust [00:17:16].
The speaker’s personal experience showed that when he launched new software, clients sent credit card screenshots without knowing what it was, simply because “Alex made it” [00:17:48]. This demonstrated that while sales and marketing might get the first sale, delivering an exceptional product and reputation secures every subsequent sale [00:18:15].
The core underlying concept is compounding [00:19:08]. Instead of constantly chasing new customers through sales and marketing, focusing on product quality and reputation means existing customers stay and refer new ones, creating a compounding growth vehicle [00:19:12]. This allows for higher prices and operating on one’s own terms [00:19:35]. The success of the speaker’s second book, which sold 250,000 copies in its first month (compared to 2-4,000 for the first book two years prior), illustrates the power of compounding brand and product quality [00:19:54].
Unlocking Potential: Cutting Limiting Beliefs and External Opinions
Identifying Growth-Oriented Relationships
To assess if an environment is conducive to growth, observe friends: those who only talk about the past rather than the future are living in their best years, which are behind them [00:20:19]. For those who desire their best years to be ahead, it’s essential to surround oneself with individuals focused on growth and moving forward [00:20:38].
Disregarding External Opinions
Ignoring other people’s opinions about one’s life is paramount for personal growth [00:21:00]. People often don’t want the “best version” of you; they want the version that best serves them or aligns with their worldview and status [00:21:04]. While family might have more aligned interests than strangers, they are not completely aligned [00:21:24]. The only person with a completely aligned interest is “future you” [00:21:35].
Parents, for example, are often risk-averse for their children, playing “not to lose,” whereas playing “to win” often requires taking different bets [00:22:54]. Learning to disregard external opinions is a difficult but ultimately fruitful endeavor [00:21:40].
The Problem with Labels
“Why” questions are often unhelpful, as intentions are amorphous and cannot be measured [00:22:11]. Focusing on observable actions and results is more productive [00:23:37]. Trying to understand “why” someone did something, or why one has a certain personality trait, is often a waste of time, as any made-up answer can sound plausible [00:24:20].
Labels limit action and create self-perpetuating beliefs [00:26:03]. For instance, believing “I’m bad at math” can prevent someone from trying to improve, even if they are capable [00:25:21]. If the situation demands one to be an “early bird” or “stay up late,” those labels become irrelevant; one simply does what’s needed [00:25:56].
To change behavior, one should change their environment to avoid reinforcement of old labels, especially from those who knew them in the past [00:26:48]. Instead of fixed labels, it’s better to think in terms of ideals and continuously take actions aligned with desired values [00:27:06]. This approach focuses on continuous improvement rather than being confined by binary definitions [00:27:11].