From: alexhormozi
Success, whether in business or personal growth, is primarily a result of hard work, focused effort, and consistent action, rather than mere intention or theoretical pursuits. Many individuals mistakenly prioritize activities that appear productive but lack direct correlation to measurable outcomes [00:01:04].
Morning Routines vs. Real Work
People who are “obsessed with their morning routines make less money than people obsessed with making money” [00:00:07]. Rich individuals often work and sacrifice first, and only later adopt routines, sometimes forgetting the actual work that led to their wealth [00:00:12]. They may then mistakenly attribute their success to these routines rather than the intense effort they truly put in [00:00:20].
For example, a business coach advised a client to engage in a three-hour morning routine involving grounded walking, gratitude journaling, list-making, and ice plunges [00:00:31]. This extensive routine left the client with little energy for actual work [00:00:47]. The advice given was to “cut the 3-hour morning routine, replace it with 3 hours of work,” which dramatically increased the client’s productivity [00:00:50]. The core concept is simple: “if you work more, more gets done” [00:01:00]. Any activity not directly contributing to desired outcomes is a distraction [00:01:06].
The Misconception of Correlation
Humans often make mistaken correlations between observable traits or habits and success [00:01:25].
- Example: Tallness and Basketball The idea that “tall people play basketball” leading to the mistaken conclusion that “I should play basketball to get tall” is an example of flawed reasoning [00:01:29].
- Example: Warren Buffett and Coke Assuming Warren Buffett is rich because he drinks Coke ignores the fact that countless non-rich people also drink Coke [00:01:46].
- Example: Hard Childhoods Similarly, success is not a result of having a hard childhood, but rather the intense work undertaken. Many individuals with difficult upbringings do not achieve success, demonstrating that the work itself, not the circumstance, is the causal factor [00:02:05].
The better approach is to examine “what someone was doing on their way up in the grind” rather than “what they’re currently doing at the top of the mountain” [00:01:39]. The focus should be on “what actions created a result rather than looking at intention or anything else that’s amorphous that can’t be measured” [00:02:33].
The Cost of Inaction and Ignorance
Delaying growth and learning, especially in formative years, can be detrimental. The idea that “30 isn’t the new 20” is an “excuse to take 10 years longer to accomplish the same thing” [00:02:44]. Life’s uncertainty means that assuming a long life and wasting time is arrogant [00:03:10].
Engaging in “dead-end jobs” that offer no direct correlation to personal growth, regardless of pay, can hinder development [00:03:22]. Spending a decade “not growing and not investing in your skills and your education” puts one significantly behind those who start earlier [00:03:52].
Paying Down Ignorance Debt
One should prioritize “paying down my ignorance debt as fast as seemingly possible” [00:04:26]. This “debt” is constant for everyone. The most expensive thing one ever pays for is “the information that you don’t know but should” [00:10:23]. This missing information can materially change financial, relational, and physical outcomes, making its value “borderline priceless” [00:10:31].
The “cost of success is the years of feeling like an idiot for things that you should have known by now” [00:10:52]. While one cannot go back in time, the best time to start learning and growing is always now [00:05:03]. Choosing to quit because of age or past inaction serves no purpose [00:05:05]. Taking action with current knowledge is the only path forward, as it leads to learning and growth, making the first payment on “ignorance debt” [00:05:43].
Learning vs. Earning in Youth
For young people, optimizing for earning potential over learning in their 20s is a “missing the point” strategy [00:07:00]. Choosing to “earn rather than learn” means “unhooking life and saying I’m no longer going to develop” [00:08:14].
An 18-year-old video editor, for example, prioritized a $100,000/year offer where they would be the only person in the department and not learn, over a lower-paying role on a team with a globally recognized brand where they could gain significantly more skills and become a creative director [00:07:07]. This choice hinders long-term potential. Successful individuals like Elon Musk, who have lost and regained fortunes, retained their education and learnings, which allowed them to rebuild [00:09:51]. This “experience” gained even from failure ensures that “the next bet pays off even bigger” [00:10:12].
Building Passion Through Action
The misconception of “finding your passion” is a language issue; passion is “built or created or learned” [00:09:10]. “If you’re good at something, you’ll like doing it,” and getting good requires “doing things you suck at and doing a lot of it” [00:09:19].
Product and Brand Over Sales and Marketing
For business success, the speaker initially focused obsessively on sales and marketing, believing they provided “fast feedback loops” and were the “right path” [00:11:20]. However, this was like “trying to get faster and faster in The Matrix and not being the one and seeing the code for what it is” [00:11:51].
The realization was that:
- “If you make a product that’s good enough, people will do the marketing and sales for you” [00:12:00].
- “If your brand is strong enough, people will make the association that they want to buy your stuff regardless of how good your copy and your headline and your landing pages and your conversion rate optimization and your media buying are” [00:12:05].
An example is the book “$100 Million Offers,” which was created internally to be exceptional and was released with zero paid marketing [00:12:23]. It sold out in minutes and continued to sell thousands of copies daily for years, purely by “people telling people about the book” [00:12:38]. This demonstrated the immense “leverage” of a truly superior product [00:13:14].
The prior strategy was to “spend 2 months building a good product and spend two years marketing that product” [00:14:03]. The shift in understanding led to spending “two years on a great product and then for the rest of my life not having to spent any dollars or effort on marketing” [00:14:08].
The Power of Compounding
This realization hinges on not understanding compounding early on [00:19:11]. Marketing to get one sale is tiring; marketing to get customers who then become advocates and return customers is how to build a compounding vehicle [00:18:30]. The focus becomes “make the customer the goal” to foster a lasting relationship [00:18:42].
In an “ocean of volume” with commoditized products, there are “outsized returns to being number one” [00:15:42]. Social media amplifies this effect: “if you are truly the best, everyone will know” [00:15:56], leading to overwhelming demand.
Building a Strong Brand
A brand should be seen as a “learning tool” that people associate with specific “tangible and intangible ideas” [00:16:14]. Branding is like “curating a garden where pretty much anything but the flower that you’re trying to grow there is a weed” [00:16:54]. Vigilantly defending this “Garden of Association and reputation gives you so much leverage” [00:17:12].
A strong reputation, built on consistent delivery, fosters immense trust, as seen with Warren Buffett. His handshake means more than government contracts because his “reputation matters more than anything to him” [00:17:16]. This trust translates directly into “leverage for deals” and “leverage for sales” [00:17:38]. When a new product was launched after building a strong brand, customers sent screenshots of their credit cards, ready to buy, simply because “if Alex made it, I’ll buy it” [00:17:50].
Rejecting Limiting Labels and External Opinions
The speaker advocates for focusing on tangible actions and observable facts rather than intentions or self-imposed labels, which can be paralyzing [00:23:11].
The Problem with “Why” Questions and Intentions
“Why” questions are largely unproductive because intentions are unmeasurable and speculative [00:22:11]. Focus should be on “what actions occurred” and their “results” [00:23:35]. Instead of trying to understand an employee’s intention behind a statement, or how it made one feel, it’s more effective to focus on “the facts” [00:23:43]. A useful frame is: “would it be admitted to a court at as evidence?” [00:23:55]. This filters out subjective feelings and focuses on indisputable observations, making life “a lot quieter” [00:24:09].
Breaking Self-Imposed Labels
Many people hold self-limiting beliefs, like “I’m bad at math” or “I’m not organized” [00:25:21]. These labels dictate behavior more than behavior changes the labels [00:25:59]. By consciously deciding not to be “bad at math” and taking action (e.g., not using a calculator, studying harder), one can overcome these perceived limitations [00:25:25]. The speaker actively “breaks the label almost every time” when others try to apply them [00:26:09].
Changing one’s environment can help reinforce new behaviors by removing people who perpetuate old, limiting labels [00:26:48]. Instead of binary labels (e.g., courageous/not courageous), it’s more helpful to think in terms of “ideals” and “taking steps towards those ideals” every day with actions [00:27:05]. This aligns with setting priorities for success and focusing on process over outcomes.
Ignoring External Opinions
Friends who “only talk about your past not your future” are worth “cutting” because they are “living in the past” and their best years are behind them [00:20:21]. For growth-oriented individuals, associating with those who look forward is crucial [00:20:40].
The “best thing that I ever did was not listen to other people’s opinions about my life” [00:21:00]. Others, even parents, want a version of you “who best serves them” or aligns with their worldview and status, not necessarily the best version of you [00:21:04]. While family may have more aligned interests than strangers, only “future you” has completely aligned interests [00:21:35]. Parents often play “not to lose” when it comes to their children, being risk-averse, whereas playing “to win” requires taking different bets [00:23:05].
By disregarding external opinions and focusing solely on actions that lead to desired results, individuals can simplify their lives and achieve significant growth, aligning with focused effort and consistency and consistent behaviors. This perspective also aligns with the role of failure and perseverance as learning experiences from action. Ultimately, true success is a continuous process of learning and taking deliberate, measurable steps towards one’s ideals, emphasizing patience and action.