From: alexhormozi
The path to success, particularly for men in their 20s, is heavily reliant on skill acquisition and practical utility. Valued based on your usefulness, young individuals possess abundant energy, which should be traded for experience points to become useful. Entrepreneurship begins with leveraging existing resources, emphasizing resourcefulness over mere resources [00:00:30]. This means using available energy to develop experience and prove one’s capability in a skill [00:01:01].
The Process of Skill Acquisition
Becoming proficient in a skill is an iterative process that involves starting without being good, repeating actions, failing, and making incremental improvements over many repetitions [00:01:08]. This journey requires checking one’s ego and not caring about others’ opinions, as they are unlikely to be relevant in the long term [00:01:34].
Financial Foundations for Skill Investment
For those with less than $100,000 in savings, the recommendation is to prioritize financial defense to accumulate enough capital to take calculated bets [00:02:22]. This includes investing in education, opportunities, inventory, and software [00:02:30]. A substantial financial stockpile allows for patience and long-term strategic thinking, shifting focus from survival mode to thrive mode [00:02:48].
Practical steps for those starting out include:
- Stopping dining out and buying only discount groceries [00:03:44].
- Avoiding new clothes and opting for thrift stores [00:03:46].
- Attending only free social events; friends who do not support your goals are not true allies [00:03:48].
- Utilizing spare time to apply for higher-paying jobs, pick up side hustles, and learn skills that command a higher hourly rate [00:04:26].
- Upon entering a new role or environment, double the input of the hardest worker [00:04:45].
The Role of Mindset in Skill Development
A crucial aspect of skill acquisition is the mindset of being patient with outputs but impatient with inputs [00:05:16]. While outcomes are often delayed and outside of direct control, the actions taken (inputs) are entirely controllable [00:16:21]. When anxiety about results arises, action serves as a coping mechanism: “Action alleviates anxiety” [00:17:36].
Working with the intention to improve, not just for the sake of work, is paramount. This means undertaking repetitions to acquire failures, learning from them, and getting better [00:15:59]. More repetitions in a shorter timeframe lead to faster skill acquisition and a reduced gap between current and ideal self [00:15:43].
Humility and Mentorship
Humbling oneself to learn from those more experienced is an invaluable strategy, especially for younger individuals [00:22:58]. Even if one perceives themselves as smarter, experienced individuals possess knowledge that can save years of mistakes and thousands of dollars [00:29:08]. The willingness to say “I don’t know anything; I’m happy to learn” can unlock free, high-value advice [00:22:58]. This contrasts with an ego that self-exalts, leading to an appearance of insecurity rather than true respect [00:30:40].
Core Principles for Growth
- Providing Value: Fundamentally, making money requires providing value to employers or customers [00:06:11]. This pursuit inherently increases one’s usefulness and develops ancillary, generalizable skills [00:06:24]. For instance, sales skills apply across various life domains, from conversations to negotiations [00:06:33]. Many successful individuals, including millionaires and billionaires, started in high-volume sales environments, emphasizing the importance of extensive conversations and feedback loops in skill development [00:07:14].
- The Feedback Loop: Skill development thrives on volume and feedback loops—the number of repetitions multiplied by the amount of improvement between repetitions [00:07:56]. Critically, this means not just performing an action repeatedly, but actively reviewing performance and identifying areas for improvement [00:08:20]. Learning involves changing behavior under the same conditions based on new insights [00:20:38].
- Self-Investment: The most crucial asset to invest in is oneself, as skills compound over time [00:23:43]. The combination of diverse skills, like sales and finance or coding and marketing, disproportionately amplifies earning potential [00:23:56].
- Discipline and Self-Care: Maintaining physical well-being, particularly through adequate sleep, is a key component of success [00:24:34]. Avoiding self-sabotaging behaviors like excessive drinking, which costs time and affects focus, is also essential [00:27:04]. Getting in shape young, when time costs less than money, builds fundamental discipline [00:26:36].
- Challenging Self-Narratives: Often, perceived “demons” or “self-sabotaging” behaviors are merely a lack of skills or inexperience in behaving ideally under certain conditions [00:54:10]. Instead of attributing issues to mystical forces, frame them as skill deficiencies that can be overcome through consistent effort and learning [00:54:17]. Using a logic-evidence-utility framework can clarify problems by defining them behaviorally, seeking evidence, and assessing their impact on goals [00:59:17].
- The Power of Action: The world rewards action, not desire or effort [01:07:43]. Most necessary actions are already known, and procrastination often masquerades as the need for a “better plan” [01:07:31]. Starting, learning, and having the humility to begin a role not intended as an endgame are vital [01:07:42].
- Persistence: Success in entrepreneurship and life is often a “Last Man Standing” game, not “best man wins” [01:09:37]. The refusal to quit, even when faced with hardship, is a powerful driver [01:08:24]. Hardship should be viewed as an origin story, an opportunity to build resilience and prove capability [01:09:59].
- Choosing Your Circle: Your reference group—the five people you compare yourself to—significantly influences your future [00:32:24]. Goals should be prioritized over relationships that do not support growth [00:32:38]. The journey to exceptionalism is often a lonely one, requiring a willingness to be outside the “ingroup” and embrace solitude as an opportunity for focused work without distraction [00:35:56].
The ability to delay gratification is a meta-skill that overshadows all others [00:45:14]. Those who achieve great things understand that “balance” is a myth during intense periods of growth [00:50:13]. They are imbalanced, hyper-focused on a single objective that ultimately provides leverage over other life aspects [00:50:42]. This intense focus, fueled by a positive feedback loop from early successes, allows individuals to become obsessed with their pursuits [00:53:50].
Ultimately, winning requires three things: the balls to start, the brains to learn, and the heart to never quit [01:10:00]. These qualities are inherent, but must be actively utilized to achieve aspirations [01:10:00].