From: alexhormozi
Alex Hormozi, founder of acquisitions.com, a portfolio of companies generating hundreds of millions of dollars in aggregate annual revenue, attributes much of his business success to identifying and leveraging unfair advantages [00:00:03]. He shares “brutally honest truths” to help others gain a similar advantage [00:00:00].
Pain as the Price of Progress
Pain is the cost of progress, and the periods of fastest growth are often the most difficult [00:00:18]. Growth inherently involves stretching beyond one’s comfort zone, whether it’s a muscle breaking down to rebuild stronger, a child experiencing growing pains, or a company expanding [00:00:30]. Elite athletes do not become stronger during easy workouts [00:00:49]. To achieve progress, one must accept the accompanying pain; an easy life and progress are conflicting desires [00:00:52].
Happy but Not Satisfied
It’s acceptable to be happy before achieving a goal, but not satisfied [00:01:08]. There’s a crucial distinction between being content with one’s life and work, and being complacent, which leads to inaction [00:01:14]. A Haitian proverb notes, “behind mountains are more mountains,” illustrating that after one peak, more challenges appear ahead [00:01:19].
Hormozi’s personal experience led him to conclude that hard work itself is the goal, with its results being secondary effects [00:01:35]. He found that when he didn’t work, he was bored and depressed, whereas working, despite the stress, offered moments of enjoyment [00:01:53]. This led to a foundational truth for him: since there is misery on both sides (working or not working), it’s better to be productive and useful [00:02:06]. This requires being happy with the process but never satisfied, allowing for continuous value creation [00:02:11].
Hard Conversations Create Opportunities
Everything desired exists on the other side of difficult conversations that have been postponed [00:14:11]. People either grow into their potential or repeatedly live the same six months of their life, with the difference being their willingness and speed in having hard conversations [00:14:17]. Avoiding uncomfortable discussions leads to a harder outcome [00:14:41].
Short-term pain vs. Long-term pain
“Comfort is short gain. Regret is long pain. Fear is short pain. Fulfillment is long gain. You want to trade short pains for long gains, not short gains for long pains.” [00:14:53]
Endure
A key instruction for new business owners is to “learn to endure” [00:15:52]. The quickest way to become the desired person is to be in a situation where there is no alternative but to transform [00:15:56]. Hormozi recounts signing a gym lease with only $5,000 in his bank account, which was the exact rent, demonstrating that necessity is the mother of invention [00:16:04]. Constraints foster the innovation needed to overcome difficulties [00:16:28]. Throughout human history, endurance has been a common response when the only choice is to “die or endure” [00:16:44].
The Hard Way is the Easy Way
The “hard way” is paradoxically the easy way because the “easy way” never leads to success [00:18:35]. People often seek shortcuts, but these rarely lead to the desired destination [00:18:50]. True shortcuts, once discovered, are immediately adopted by everyone, ceasing to be shortcuts and becoming the new norm [00:19:09]. Things most people don’t have lack shortcuts [00:19:30]. Many waste more time searching for a non-existent easy way than it would take to achieve success via the only way – the hard way [00:19:33].
Success typically results from “a hundred small things” that make days, weeks, and months challenging [00:19:44]. The nature of “hard” itself changes, and it’s a limitation in language that we only have one word for it [00:20:13]. Hormozi identifies several “flavors of hard”:
- Sacrifice hard: Giving up enjoyable things [00:20:32].
- Effort hard: Starting to do things one dislikes or is bad at [00:20:37].
- Risk hard: The chance of losing something currently possessed [00:20:41].
- Uncertainty hard: The possibility of all sacrifice being for nothing [00:20:47].
These different types of “hard” appear at various times [00:20:55]. As one conquers one level of difficulty, they are exposed to a new one [00:21:06]. As Paul Graham stated, “If you want to make a million dollars, you have to endure a million dollars worth of pain” [00:21:11]. People who build tremendous wealth often have “massive concentrations of pain” [00:21:19].
Envy vs. Effort
If people channeled the mental effort spent envying others’ achievements into working on their own goals, they would have already achieved them [00:12:18]. Key truths regarding envy and effort include:
- No one is as successful as they appear; one is often better off than imagined [00:12:34].
- Winning comes from growing into one’s own potential, causing competitors to become irrelevant by consequence [00:12:42].
- The greatest threat is not competition, but a mediocre version of oneself that never realizes its potential [00:12:52].
Focusing on the customer is fundamental; those who do so are often copied by competitors because they are doing what genuinely works [00:13:21]. The real threat is not being copied at all because one is doing nothing [00:13:40]. Redirecting the energy spent on comparing oneself to others or tearing them down towards self-improvement is the only beneficial path [00:14:01].
Fear vs. Regret & Rejection vs. Regret
The life one lives depends on which fear is greater: the fear of change or the fear of regret [00:06:55]. The more successful version of oneself also experiences fear, but their fear of regret is greater than their fear of rejection [00:07:03]. Hormozi’s own experience of taking six months to quit his consulting job despite wanting to illustrates the struggle with fear [00:07:22]. Overcoming this fear involved:
- Realizing that not taking the leap would lead to lifelong shame and regret [00:07:59].
- Playing out a “Plan B” scenario where complete failure still resulted in valuable experiences and future opportunities, making the amorphous fear concrete and less daunting [00:08:12].
Fear often exists in the vague and dissipates when broken down into specific, manageable steps [00:08:49]. In the developed Western world, significant downside risk is often an illusion, with the main concern being the opinions of others who will say one failed [00:09:00].
Failure is a prerequisite for success [00:24:23]. “Greatness rejects all first-time applicants” [00:24:27]. Just as securing a job requires numerous applications and interviews, business involves many “reachouts” or “sales” [00:24:56]. The ability to handle rejection in one area translates to handling it in another [00:25:27]. The core question is whether one can handle the regret years later for not trying [00:25:33]. Champions, unlike others who are excited by winning, are often relieved because they hate losing more than they love winning, and they expect to win due to their preparation [00:25:51].
Consistency Beats Talent
Consistency often surpasses talent [00:26:07]. One can become competent in almost any skill within 20 hours of focused effort [00:26:17]. However, many people delay putting in these initial hours for years [00:26:19]. Complexity is not what makes things difficult, but rather the need for consistency [00:26:39].
"The world belongs to those who can keep doing without seeing the result of their doing." [00:26:48]
Outworking self-doubt comes through repetition, not just affirmations [00:27:58]. This is known as stimuli habituation, where repeated exposure to uncomfortable situations makes them less intimidating [00:28:07]. The goal of practice is to habituate as quickly as possible, compressing the time it takes to gain many repetitions [00:28:45].
Have No Shame
If one needs to make money, having no shame is crucial [00:29:29]. This means being willing to knock, call, email, text, DM, and ask for what is needed [00:29:34]. Life-changing doors do not open themselves [00:29:36]. Shame can be seen as an illusion, invented to prevent people from taking action [00:29:40].
Trying, especially when one has nothing to lose, offers an asymmetric risk-reward: the worst outcome is a “no” and a learning experience, both of which improve the individual [00:30:08].
Shame vs. Guilt
Guilt occurs when you break your own rules [00:30:29]. Shame occurs when you break other people’s rules [00:30:33].
If the fear of being ashamed is present, one must question whose rules they are following, as successful individuals often disregard conventional rules [00:31:00]. Success clarifies the path, removing the “fog of the unknown” that exists when one is not taking action [00:31:27]. Trying to plan too many steps ahead is fallacious because the game itself, and the player, will change [00:32:24]. The only actionable approach is to take the visible steps one at a time [00:32:34].
It’s critical to identify whose voice or judgment causes fear or hesitation [00:32:47]. Giving another person power over one’s life by letting their potential judgment dictate decisions is a terrible reason not to act [00:33:36]. Most people don’t want others to succeed, and if one does, they will try to justify the success away as not earned [00:34:04]. If one has any inherent advantages, they should use them; attempting to “prove everyone wrong” by wasting an advantage is self-defeating [00:34:47].
Results vs. Excuses
Excuses, even if valid, are still excuses [00:16:54]. As Ila says, “It’s not your fault, but it is still your problem” [00:17:10]. Waiting to live the desired life until death with an excuse is not a fulfilling outcome [00:17:16]. Excuses are fundamentally a “permission slip for mediocrity,” seeking respect without the outcome due to circumstances [00:17:43]. However, the only person who truly believes these excuses is oneself [00:17:57]. While loved ones may offer sympathy, external respect will not be earned, and more importantly, self-respect will be lost from knowing one could have done more [00:18:06]. The mantra, “I will do what is required,” emphasizes that success is not about doing one’s current best, but about doing what is necessary, knowing that one’s “best” can always improve [00:18:23]. This highlights the importance of focusing on the process and fulfilling requirements rather than relying on current perceived limits.
These truths highlight the profound value of hard work and persistence, the critical role of patience and action in achieving success, the necessity of overcoming societal and personal challenges, and the significance of making tradeoffs for growth.