From: alexhormozi
The speaker, having achieved a net worth of over $100 million by age 31, shares insights gained from interactions with billionaires, focusing on themes that contribute significantly to success [00:00:00]. A core tenet of this success is the understanding and application of hard work and the necessity of pushing through discomfort and pain.
The Foundation of Success: Skills, Focus, and Extreme Effort
Success is built on foundational choices:
- Rich people buy time [00:15:15].
- Ambitious people buy skills [00:00:18]. Generational wealth is transferred through education and skills, not just assets [00:00:40].
- Lazy people buy distractions [00:00:21]. They avoid confronting their inadequacies, preferring “fluff videos” over reality [00:01:20].
A common misconception is that more income streams lead to wealth; instead, they can merely spread you thin if you’re actively working in each business [00:02:34]. True multiple income streams come from owning assets that generate income, which requires initial time and intense focus [00:03:07].
The Power of Focus
Focus is measured by the number of things one says “no” to [00:03:24]. The most focused individuals say “yes” to only one thing and “no” to everything else [00:03:31].
The “100x Not 2x” Mindset
Successful individuals operate with a “100x not 2x” mentality, meaning they pursue extreme levels of effort rather than incremental gains [00:03:40]. This means making significant “trades” or sacrifices that others might not be willing to make [00:04:20]. For example, a CEO grew a company from 1.2 billion in two years by attending 66 events in one quarter, sacrificing time with family [00:03:51].
“People want your outcome their way. They want to have their cake and eat it too.” [00:04:35] “They are trades, they’re price tags.” [00:04:53]
Embracing the Discomfort of Hard Work
The speaker advocates for intense, sustained periods of work. He suggests the “12x30” challenge: working 12 hours a day for 30 straight days, including weekends [00:05:20]. This experience reveals:
- You are not “made of glass” [00:05:31].
- How much more you can be working [00:05:33].
- How much faster you can achieve goals [00:05:34].
- How much you can improve daily [00:05:40].
- You gain a “gear” for future intense periods [00:05:47].
- Others are working harder and succeeding [00:05:52].
This intense period yields more results in a month than many achieve in a quarter [00:05:57]. The speaker himself has worked 15-16 hour days consistently, sometimes for nine months straight, describing it as a “kind of tired a good night’s sleep couldn’t fix” [00:07:11]. This experience of pushing through extreme fatigue builds “supreme confidence” and a “trade of being relentless” [00:07:57].
Work as Volume Times Leverage
Work is defined as volume times leverage [00:08:42]. Initially, high volume builds skill, which then increases leverage, leading to greater output over time [00:08:50]. An example given is the speaker’s own content creation, where increasing output tenfold also led to improved quality and even greater results [00:09:36].
The “Champion Wall”
The concept of the “champion wall” posits that true work begins when motivation stops [00:20:10]. Most people stop when the excitement fades, but champions push past this point of discomfort [00:20:39].
“I hated every minute of training but I would tell myself suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion.” – Muhammad Ali [00:20:20]
The ability to “whip yourself back in” and continue working when tired or distracted is a muscle that takes practice [00:12:08]. This involves enduring discomfort for extended periods, similar to pushing through cravings during a diet [00:12:35].
The Nature of Pain and Growth
Hardness and stress are inherent parts of life and growth [00:32:29]. Stress from growth is preferable to stress from stagnation or decline [00:32:22]. The speaker argues that the greatest stressor is believing that having problems is a problem [00:32:36].
There are only three outcomes in hard times: quit, it gets easier, or you get harder [00:29:44]. Only quitting leads to losing [00:29:52]. What felt difficult five years ago often seems trivial in retrospect, not because the problems changed, but because you became better [00:30:08].
“Hard is for now, not forever.” [00:29:32]
The “hard times” of today become the “good old days” when viewed in reverse [00:32:00]. Consistent growth is consistently painful, hence “growing pains,” not “growing joys” [00:32:12].
A metaphorical story illustrates this: to become courageous, one needs monsters to conquer; to become patient, one needs to work harder and longer; to become wise, one needs crushing failures [00:33:01]. A good life is not an easy life, but one that shapes you into a good person [00:33:30].
Urgency, Proof, and Education
Act with Urgency
Successful individuals act with urgency, minimizing the gap between thought and action [00:24:00]. A simple hack is to ask: “Can I get this done by the end of today?” instead of “by the end of the week?” [00:25:07]. This increases progress pace by 7x [00:25:15].
Proof Over Promises
Building a strong brand and trust comes from demonstrating what you’ve done (proof), not just what you say you can do (promises) [00:21:03]. Trust is a scarce commodity in a world where anyone can claim anything [00:22:12]. Overnight success is a misconception; it’s the visible output of prolonged, hidden inputs and effort [00:22:58].
“You don’t get rich by flying on private jets, you get rich then you can fly on private jets.” [00:23:53]
The Investment of Education
Education is an investment in oneself, and the cost of not being educated is far greater [00:43:18]. The speaker has spent significant sums to acquire skills and relationships, viewing it as an investment in his own “asset” – himself [00:44:07]. If an education costs 950,000 each year [00:44:48].
Overcoming Obstacles and Mindsets
The “Slower Than You Expect, Faster Than You Can Imagine” Phenomenon
Results in entrepreneurship often happen slower than expected and then faster than imagined [00:42:03]. This requires patience and persistence through periods of minimal or negative returns before a sudden breakthrough [00:41:45].
Mastering Progress
Masters in any field have more ways to win, meaning they can identify and measure smaller progress markers throughout a long project [00:42:23]. Beginners only see the output, becoming discouraged when immediate results aren’t visible [00:42:53]. Increasing expertise involves increasing the number of measurable wins, which makes the work itself reinforcing [00:43:00].
Eliminating “Fairness” as a Distraction
One of the biggest distractions that keeps people poor is the belief that life should be fair [00:52:42]. Eliminating the word “fairness” from one’s vocabulary and focusing solely on what needs to be done removes a significant distraction [00:53:28]. Your starting point is beyond your control, but your rate of progress and improvement is within your control [00:51:50].
Understanding Trade-Offs
Many people desire the benefits of certain traits (e.g., fame, discipline, ambition) but are unwilling to pay the price (e.g., privacy, pleasure, loneliness) [00:54:35]. Success requires recognizing and being willing to make these trades to the necessary extent [00:55:11].
“You can’t wish for strong character and an easy life because the price of each is the other.” [00:57:35]
People often underestimate the required effort, believing their 10/10 effort for a small goal is sufficient for a much larger one [00:55:51]. Outcomes often require meeting all conditions, like opening all valves in a pipeline, meaning effort in one area might not yield results until other necessary conditions are also met [00:56:16].
Setting Your Own Standards
Mediocrity often stems from believing things “should” be easier or that one “deserves” success without the requisite effort [01:03:54]. The highest level of achievement comes from setting one’s own standards higher than anyone else’s, even the market’s [01:00:14]. This means continuous hammering and iterations, long before external approval [01:00:07].
This mindset requires recognizing that achieving excellence in anything takes years of dedicated, hard work and focus, often limiting one to only a few truly exceptional pursuits in a lifetime [01:02:09]. Believing in shortcuts or that minimal effort will yield grand results “chains you to mediocrity” [01:02:43].