How to Get Ahead of 99% of People (Starting Today)

Summary

The video script challenges the conventional wisdom around achieving extreme success. It argues that while productivity hacks and routines are often touted, true success stems from having a contrarian idea that defies popular beliefs, being correct about that idea, and executing it massively. The narrator shares examples of iconic achievers like Steve Jobs and Warren Buffett, whose success was rooted in their unique perspectives rather than strict routines. However, the script also cautions that extreme success often comes at a price, inviting skepticism, repeated failures, and not necessarily happiness. It encourages viewers to carefully examine their motivations for pursuing extraordinary success.

Takeaways

• 🔑 To be more successful than 99% of people, you need to: 1) Have a contrarian idea, 2) Be correct about that idea, and 3) Execute on it massively.
• 🤯 Productivity hacks, morning routines, and most common success advice don't really matter. The most successful people often don't follow conventional wisdom.
• 💡 The hardest part is being a correct contrarian – having an unpopular idea that turns out to be right, and sticking with it despite criticism.
• 🧠 Most people's contrarian ideas are simply wrong. Being right about a contrarian idea is extremely difficult but crucial for massive success.
• 🔨 Execution is necessary but not sufficient. The contrarian idea itself is more important than execution methods.
• ⚖️ Extreme success often comes at the cost of approval and validation from others, who may dislike or be threatened by contrarians.
• 🔄 To be a correct contrarian, you'll likely have to be an incorrect contrarian many times first and face failures.
• 🙂 Success amplifies who you already are – it won't inherently make you happier if you're an unhappy person.
• ❓ Instead of chasing extreme success, ask yourself why you want it in the first place and set the right definition of success for yourself.
• 🎯 Pursue your contrarian idea because it's so important you can't imagine doing otherwise, not just for money or status.

Q & A

What is the key message of the video?

The main message is that to achieve extreme success, one needs to have a contrarian idea, be correct about it, and execute on it massively. Common productivity hacks and routines are not as important as having a unique, contrarian perspective and being right about it.

Why does the speaker say that execution is overrated?

The speaker argues that execution, while necessary, is not sufficient for achieving extreme success. He believes that the hardest part is being a correct contrarian - having an unpopular but accurate idea, and being willing to stick with it despite criticism.

How does the speaker describe the habits of successful people like Steve Jobs and Warren Buffett?

The speaker points out that successful people like Steve Jobs and Warren Buffett did not necessarily have strict routines or follow common productivity advice. Instead, their success stemmed from correctly identifying contrarian ideas (like the future of personal computers or undervalued companies) that others dismissed.

What are some downsides of extreme success mentioned in the video?

The video mentions that extreme success often leads to disapproval from others, as contrarians are disliked. It also notes that most contrarian ideas fail, so one must endure numerous incorrect contrarian beliefs before finding a correct one. Lastly, it states that success amplifies one's existing personality traits, so it may not lead to happiness if one is already unhappy.

How does the speaker describe his own experience with success?

The speaker shares that his own extreme success resulted from a couple of correct contrarian ideas, such as writing a self-help book that resonated with millennials and men in a different way. He acknowledges that most of his results came from these few key decisions rather than strict routines or habits.

What advice does the speaker give regarding the pursuit of success?

The speaker advises viewers to slow down and carefully consider their reasons for wanting to be extremely successful before pursuing it. He suggests that extreme success should not be the goal in itself, but rather a byproduct of pursuing a contrarian idea that is deeply important to the individual.

How does the speaker challenge common productivity advice?

The speaker challenges the idea that common productivity advice, such as having goals, being disciplined, removing distractions, and following strict routines, is what separates highly successful people from others. He argues that these practices are common and not sufficient for achieving extreme success.

What examples does the speaker provide of unconventional habits of successful people?

The speaker cites examples such as Winston Churchill winning World War II while drinking scotch in a bathtub all day, and Thomas Edison working on cocaine while developing the light bulb. These examples challenge the notion that strict routines and healthy habits are necessary for success.

What is the speaker's perspective on the impact of a few key decisions versus daily habits?

The speaker believes that a few truly good, contrarian decisions can have an outsized impact on one's success compared to daily habits and routines. He cites Warren Buffett's statement that most of his success came from about a dozen truly good capital allocation decisions over 58 years.

How does the speaker define what it means to be more successful than 99% of people?

According to the speaker, being more successful than 99% of people means having a contrarian idea, being correct about that idea, and executing on it massively. It involves questioning widely-held assumptions and being willing to adopt unpopular beliefs that turn out to be accurate.

Outlines

00:00

🔑 Challenging Conventional Productivity Advice

The speaker challenges the conventional productivity advice found in many self-help videos, arguing that simply having goals, being disciplined, and removing distractions are not the keys to achieving exceptional success. He asserts that these are common practices that most people already follow, and true success comes from doing what 99% of people are unwilling to do, which is having a contrarian idea, being correct about it, and executing on it massively.

05:02

🌟 The Three Keys to Exceptional Success

The speaker outlines three crucial elements for achieving exceptional success: 1) Having a contrarian idea that goes against the mainstream, 2) Being correct about that contrarian idea, and 3) Executing on that idea massively. He emphasizes that execution, while important, is not the sole determinant of success; it is the ability to identify and act upon correct contrarian ideas that sets apart the most successful individuals, like Steve Jobs and Warren Buffett. He argues that the true challenge lies in questioning widely-held assumptions and adopting unpopular beliefs, rather than following conventional productivity hacks.

10:03

⚠️ The Potential Downsides of Extreme Success

The speaker cautions that extreme success often comes with downsides. Firstly, contrarians are rarely liked or accepted by society, and success can strain existing relationships. Secondly, to be a correct contrarian, one must endure being an incorrect contrarian many times, facing failure and skepticism. Lastly, and most importantly, extreme success does not guarantee happiness; it amplifies one's existing traits and emotions. Therefore, the speaker advises viewers to carefully consider their motivations for seeking extreme success and ensure that they are pursuing it for the right reasons, not just for superficial gains.

Keywords

💡Contrarian

A contrarian is someone who goes against prevailing beliefs or popular opinion. The video emphasizes that having a contrarian idea and being correct about it is crucial for achieving extreme success beyond 99% of people. Examples of contrarians mentioned are Steve Jobs believing in putting computers on every desk before others, and Warren Buffett identifying valuable companies others dismissed.

💡Execution

Execution refers to the act of putting ideas into practice or taking action. The video argues that while execution is necessary, it is not sufficient for extreme success. Successful people like Steve Jobs and Warren Buffett did not achieve greatness solely through execution habits like morning routines or productivity hacks, but by having correct contrarian ideas and executing on them massively.

💡Morning Routine

A morning routine refers to the habits or activities one follows in the morning to start the day productively. The video dismisses the notion that morning routines alone lead to exceptional success, citing examples like the narrator waking up late and successful people like Warren Buffett having unremarkable morning habits.

💡Correct Contrarian

A correct contrarian is someone who not only holds contrarian beliefs that go against popular opinion but is also proven right about those beliefs. The video emphasizes that being a correct contrarian is the most challenging and crucial aspect of achieving extreme success, as most contrarian ideas are simply incorrect.

💡Extreme Success

Extreme success refers to achieving a level of success that surpasses 99% of people. The video explores what it truly takes to achieve this level of success, which is having a contrarian idea, being correct about it, and executing on it massively. It also discusses the potential downsides of extreme success, such as facing societal disapproval and the realization that success alone may not lead to happiness.

💡Validation

Validation refers to seeking approval or acceptance from others. The video suggests that while some people may pursue extreme success to gain validation or approval from society, the reality is that contrarians and extremely successful people often face disapproval or skepticism from others, at least initially.

💡Incorrect Contrarian

An incorrect contrarian is someone who holds beliefs that go against popular opinion but are ultimately proven wrong. The video highlights that most contrarian ideas fall into this category, and being an incorrect contrarian is often a necessary step before becoming a correct contrarian and achieving extreme success.

💡Happiness

Happiness is a state of emotional well-being and contentment. The video emphasizes that extreme success alone does not guarantee happiness, as success tends to amplify one's existing personality traits and emotional state. It suggests that pursuing success should stem from a deeper motivation aligned with one's values, rather than solely for the sake of achieving success.

💡Conventional Wisdom

Conventional wisdom refers to generally accepted beliefs or practices that are considered to be true or effective. The video challenges conventional wisdom surrounding productivity hacks, morning routines, and other widely promoted habits, arguing that they do not necessarily lead to extreme success beyond 99% of people.

💡Motivation

Motivation refers to the driving force or reasons behind one's actions or pursuits. The video suggests that individuals should question their motivation for seeking extreme success beyond 99% of people, as the pursuit itself may not lead to the desired outcome or happiness if the motivation is misaligned with their values or priorities.

Highlights

If you want to get ahead of 99% of people in the world, then you need to be willing to do something that 99% of people are not willing to do.

Goals, discipline, and removing distractions are common advice that won't necessarily make you more successful than 99% of people.

To be more successful than everybody else, you need to do what everybody else does not do.

When it comes to success, productivity hacks and morning routines don't matter as much as having a contrarian idea, being correct about it, and executing on it massively.

Most people don't ever have a contrarian idea in their life, and of those who do, the vast majority of their contrarian ideas are incorrect.

Execution is overrated; finding and being correct about a contrarian idea that can 100X your results is far more important.

The biggest breakthroughs in history were all correct contrarian ideas that initially sounded ridiculous.

Most of the speaker's career success came from two or three correct contrarian ideas at the right time, such as writing a book that went against conventional wisdom.

Warren Buffett claims that in his 58 years of management, most of his capital allocation decisions were just so-so, and their results were the product of about a dozen truly good decisions.

Nobody likes contrarians, and extreme success often strains existing relationships rather than bringing validation and approval.

To be correctly contrarian, you have to be incorrectly contrarian a lot, as most contrarian beliefs are wrong for a good reason.

Extreme success amplifies who you already are and how you already feel, so it won't necessarily make you happier.

Instead of asking how to become more successful than 99% of people, you should ask yourself why you want that level of success in the first place.

Before pursuing extreme success, make sure you're setting the right definition of success for yourself.

Successful people like Steve Jobs, Warren Buffett, and Thomas Edison had unconventional habits and routines that went against common wisdom.

Transcripts

- It's simple.

If you want to get ahead of 99% of people in the world,

then you need to be willing to do something

that 99% of people are not willing to do.

- You are a marvel, my dear.

- Now, I know that sounds obvious,

but there's been a bit of a meme

with a bunch of videos coming out

claiming that they make you more successful

than 99% of people in the world.

And it turns out it's all the same shit you hear

in every other video.

Have goals, be more disciplined, remove distractions.

Something called monk mode.

Are we fucking serious right now, guys?

Goals, guys? Goals?

That's what-

Bill Gates, goals,

that's what got him there, right?

He had some goals?

My mailman has goals.

My housekeeper is disciplined.

- Ah.

- Everybody's trying to remove distractions.

These things are not something that 99% of people don't do.

And monk mode, by the way,

have you looked at the most successful people in the world?

There is nothing resembling monkish behavior among them.

Because let's be real, if an action is common,

i.e., if you can literally get on YouTube

and find hundreds of videos telling you to do it,

then it's not gonna make you more successful

than 99% of people.

By definition,

to be more successful than everybody else,

you need to do what everybody else does not do.

Here's a harsh truth for you.

When it comes to success,

the productivity hacks, the morning routines,

most of this shit doesn't matter.

And to prove my point,

I'm going to share with you some of the basic habits

of some of the world's most successful people

throughout history,

starting obviously, with myself.

See, when I started my business,

every morning I would wake up at about 11:00 AM

and I'd get myself a Red Bull and some Reese's Cups.

And then I would stay in bed

for another two hours sitting on my laptop.

Hmm, tastes like ambition.

I did this for three years,

and I built a six-figure business

in my mid-twenties doing it.

In the first half of this video,

I'm actually gonna break down what makes somebody

more successful than 99% of the people on this planet.

But before you get all excited

and start rubbing your nipples...

No, I'm not gonna do that.

I'm not gonna go there.

The second half of this video is going to explain

to you why you might not actually want to be more successful

than 99% of the people on this planet.

Because like most important things in life,

success is not simple.

It's actually pretty fucking complicated.

So let's get into it.

If you actually want to be more successful

than 99% of people, you have to,

one, have a contrarian idea.

Two, be correct about that idea.

And three, execute on it massively.

Let's start with number one.

Most people don't ever have a contrarian idea in their life.

Let's be honest, most people just kind of go with the flow

and agree with whatever their friends

tell 'em is cool that week.

But there is a significant minority

of people in society that will think for themselves

and come up with some contrarian ideas,

or buy into some batshit crazy theories.

Which brings us to number two.

Of all the people that have contrarian ideas,

the vast majority of those contrarian ideas

are not going to be correct.

They're gonna be horribly wrong,

they're gonna be embarrassingly wrong.

This is actually the most difficult part

of achieving insane amounts of success.

You have to disagree with everybody and then be right.

And even if you happen to disagree with everybody

and be right about it, you have to be willing to execute.

You have to put your ass on the line.

Now, when we look at super successful people,

we tend to focus on that last part.

What's his morning routine?

What sort of supplements did she take?

Execution gets discussed most of the time

because it's easy to observe.

It's also easy to replicate.

So while execution is incredibly important,

it is not the thing that determines

the magnitude of a person's success.

Steve Jobs was not Steve Jobs

because he woke up early and ate an ass load of fruit.

Steve Jobs was Steve Jobs because he believed

a full decade before anybody else

that one day a computer would sit on every desk

and be in every office in the entire world.

And he was correct about it.

Warren Buffett every morning

goes to the McDonald's drive-through

and gets the same piece of shit breakfast

that you and I look down on.

How is he not dead yet?

Warren Buffett is Warren Buffett because consistently

he has identified companies that were extremely valuable

that most other people thought sucked.

And then he bought 'em, and then he sat around

eating fucking McDonald's and drinking Coca-Cola.

And waited a few decades, which by the way

is another thing most people are not willing to do,

and now he's the greatest investor of all time.

Execution is overrated.

If I can do one thing that will 100X my results,

then the other 99 things don't really matter.

But people don't like hearing this

because it is unbelievably hard to find

that one thing that is gonna 100X your results.

They almost don't exist anywhere.

So instead, we make videos about, you know,

morning routines, and shit to eat.

As if like eating the same meal that Kobe Bryant ate

before basketball games is gonna make you play basketball

like Kobe Bryant, which by the way,

I actually have what Kobe Bryant ate

before each of his basketball games.

Orange or grape soda, and a pepperoni pizza.

Hmm, big Kobe Bryant fan.

Look, execution is necessary.

It's just not sufficient.

And 99% of the advice that you're gonna get out in the world

is about execution.

The hardest part about achieving extreme success

isn't the work, anyone can put in the work.

It's being a correct contrarian.

It's the willingness to question widely-held assumptions.

It's the ability to look at alternatives

or opportunities that most people can't be bothered with.

It's the ability to adopt unpopular beliefs

and then stick to them when people start making fun of you.

We forget that Steve Jobs had legions of haters

throughout the eighties and nineties.

Hell, he even got kicked out

of his own company for being a fucking psycho.

Seriously, I just wanna like stop this video

and appreciate this pizza.

If you look at the biggest breakthroughs

throughout human history,

they were all correct contrarian ideas.

At one point, every single one of these ideas

sounded ridiculous.

And at every point somebody very, very famous said,

"That's not ridiculous, I think I can do it."

If I'm being honest about my career,

I have worked very hard over the last 15 years.

I've sold millions of books, thousands of courses,

I've toured the world multiple times

speaking in a dozen countries or more.

90% of the results really came down to two,

maybe three correct contrarian ideas I had

at the right time.

The biggest and most obvious of which was writing

"Subtle Art of not Giving a Fuck".

I mean, at the time, the conventional wisdom

was that millennials actually weren't interested

in self-help, that men weren't interested in self-help.

But I had discovered over the course

of multiple years blogging, that this wasn't true.

You just had to communicate

with these new audiences in a different way.

Everything else I've done is either a footnote

or just a continuation of that,

or one or two other correct contrarian decisions I've made

throughout my career.

And I believe this is true

for most people who have achieved extreme success,

whatever field that they're in.

For example, Warren Buffett recently wrote,

"In the 58 years of Berkshire management,

most of my capital allocation decisions

have been no better than so-so.

Our results have been the product

of about a dozen truly good decisions."

That's fucking mind blowing.

This dude has been doing this for 60 years, and he says,

"I made about a dozen good decisions."

As a successful person,

there's a temptation to believe

that you know what you're doing

much more than you actually do.

It's not intuitive that one simple decision

can have such an outsized impact on a person's career.

So you start convincing yourself that,

"Yeah, I do know the secret to getting up early,

and working hard in the gym."

Or, "I do know how to run meetings better

than everybody else," when actually,

you're probably slightly above average.

Because it doesn't matter if you put butter in your coffee,

or if you have a standing desk,

or you use Evernote instead of Google Docs.

It's like moving around the furniture in a house

and claiming it's a better house.

If you don't believe me,

go out and meet a hundred successful entrepreneurs.

I guarantee they are not

in the gym at 4:30 in the morning.

They're not meditating two hours a day,

because the real world is much messier.

It's also a lot more fun.

Winston Churchill basically won World War II

sitting in a bathtub drinking scotch all day.

It's true, go look it up.

Or like Thomas Edison.

He would famously work for multiple days straight,

he would sleep in his lab one hour a night.

You want to know what his secret was?

Cocaine, not shitting you.

That's why we have a light bulb.

Oh.

Oh, yeah.

Speaking of cocaine, let's talk about the downsides

of extreme success, or why you might not actually want

to get ahead of 99% of people.

Now, the first and most obvious reason is,

nobody likes contrarians.

I think a lot of people fantasize about extreme success,

because deep down they believe it's gonna bring them

the validation and approval that they've always craved.

But sadly, it's often the opposite that happens.

I remember when I quit my day job in 2008

to work on my online business full-time,

everybody thought I was fucking nuts.

Like half of my friends in the corporate world

basically stopped hanging out with me.

I'm also pretty sure that a bunch of my family

became convinced that I was like a drug dealer or something.

Wonder where they got that idea?

See, back then, nobody understood

what digital marketing was.

All the people in my life knew is that

I was broke for a long time,

and then one day I showed up with internet money.

I could see why they were skeptical.

You have to understand that when you go

from an incorrect contrarian to a correct contrarian,

it kind of fucks with everybody's heads.

Extreme success is only meaningful

if the thing that you were correctly contrarian about

is also meaningful.

And ironically,

extreme success only improves the relationships

that didn't need to be improved in the first place.

The second reason you might not actually want

to be more successful than 99% of people,

is that to be correctly contrarian,

you have to be incorrectly contrarian a lot.

The truth is that most contrarian beliefs

are contrarian for a very good reason.

Because they're fucking wrong.

People have tried 'em, failed horrendously,

and then spent the rest of their life

wondering what the fuck they were thinking.

If you're young, this is especially hard,

because you're probably not aware

of how many of your contrarian ideas were actually held

by older people at one point,

but they tried them, failed miserably, and then moved on.

Spoiler, it's probably most of them.

And finally,

I guess this is the most important point of this video,

is that extreme success is not gonna make you happy.

In fact, success amplifies who you already are

and how you already feel.

So people who are angry and depressed,

the success makes them angrier and more depressed.

The people who have great relationships,

the success makes the relationships even better.

Ultimately, extreme success should not be the point.

You should be motivated to pursue

your correct contrarian idea

because it's so important you can't imagine doing otherwise.

If you just wanna like get enough money to buy a nice car,

and spray a bottle of champagne on a girl in a bikini,

that could be arranged, I know a guy.

Because that's not 99% successful.

That's like 80% successful.

Maybe instead of asking how to become more successful

than 99% of people, you should be asking yourself,

"Why do I want to become more successful

than 99% of people?"

Because that is the question that is actually

going to yield more useful answers for you.

Before you run off and try to become

some obscenely successful badass,

maybe you should slow down for a minute.

And make sure that you're setting the right definition

of success for yourself in the first place.

That way you'll get a lot further.

(rock music)