Important, Not Important
This is a newsletter for people who Give a Sh!t.
And, I find people who read the Growth Guide do just that!
It’s for people who care about an equitable, healthy world, and are actively looking for ways to improve it — for themselves, and for everybody else.
If this sounds like you, have a read of Important, Not Important.
Success
What is the definition of Success?
Take a minute, and think about it for yourself.
Too many people now tell me success is a dirty word.
It triggers people.
Wait…WTF…
Think about that.
The idea of success triggers people…
It triggers people because of how they’ve been raised, educated and socialized.
That’s not you, though.
When I think of the Growth Guide readers, I think of people who want to be successful. People who want to perform at the highest levels personally, professionally and financially.
The problem is simple.
Success is winning.
In The Common Denominator of Success, Albert E. N. Gray breaks it down like perfectly:
We’ve got to realize right from the start that success is something which is achieved by the minority of people…
That’s the problem.
People who want to be successful, want to be the minority of people.
They want to be better than average.
Are you starting to see where the problem lies?
To be successful, you can’t be average. you can’t do what the average person does.
And your success, anyone’s success, shines a mirror onto the faces of the Average Joe and Jane…
They want their fucking ribbon, but nobody is coming to give it to them…
Let’s talk about how you can be successful
Inversion
In his speech, Albert takes a page out of Charlie Munger’s playbook – he inverts.
If you recall, inversion is the idea of thinking about a problem from the opposite direction.
For example, Albert says:
The common denominator of success – secret of success of every individual who has ever been successful – lies in the fact that he or she formed the habit of doing things that failures don’t like to do.
Think about it.
You may not know what to do to be successful,
But you definitely know some of the things you can do to be unsuccessful:
- Wake up late
- Play video games
- Scroll social media all day
- Stop learning new information
- Refusing to read books or take courses
- Not investing in your self-development or career advancement
Really, you could likely sit here all day and talk about the habits you would expect someone who’s regularly shitting the bed to have – we all can.
To be successful, simply don’t engage in those habits.
Let’s walk through two simple examples – Fitness and Finances.
Fitness
If you want to be unhealthy and overweight, here’s a simple program:
- Eat too much
- Eat all processed foods
- Spend all day on the couch
- Don’t engage in physical activity
- Walk less than 4,000 steps per day
- Drink sugary caffeinated beverages all day
Simple.
It’s easy to do.
It’s simple to be out of shape.
In fact, this is how most people live…
If you want to be in shape, you simply need to reverse the list.
That’s it.
To be successful, you don’t follow the crowd.
You’re going to be seen as someone who’s different.
People are going to call out your behaviour as obsessive.
But, that’s how you become successful, by being obsessed.
Finances
Finances are easy.
If you want to suck at your finances, live like the average person:
- Low paying job
- Don’t invest in growth
- Don’t increase your earnings
- Spend more money than you make
- Spend a lot on the big ticket items: car, house, school
- Continue to spend on your credit cards and personal loans
- Have nothing left over for investments at the end of each month
If you want to be successful financially, don’t do these things.
Instead, focus on the simple playbook:
- Earn more
- Spend less
- Invest in ETFs
It really is that simple.
To stand out from the crowd financially isn’t hard.
If you focus on this simple recipe, you’re going to crush it.
How do you define success?
Why do you think success triggers people?
What are you doing to ensure you’re successful in life?
Drop me a line – I want to hear from you
TGG Podcast
This week on the Growth Guide Podcast, Ana Lorena Fabrega about their book, The Learning Game: Teaching Kids to Think for Themselves, Embrace Challenge, and Love Learning
The Modern Education System is Broken.
But, it doesn’t have to be this way.
In this episode, Ana talks about how the traditional schooling has gone wrong, and proposes actionable strategies to help kids learn. We talk about:
- Recognize and nurture each child’s strengths
- How you are the best teacher for your children
- How being over-protective sets them up for failure
- Use storytelling to capture attention and foster learning
