This Is How To Outwork Everyone Else - Alex Hormozi

Summary

In this engaging discussion, the speaker reflects on the concept of work-life balance, drawing parallels between historical slavery and modern work ethics. They challenge societal expectations and the pursuit of perfection, advocating for finding joy in daily tasks and micro-rewards. The conversation delves into personal motivation, the importance of rapid iteration, and the avoidance of activities that bring punishment rather than reward. The speaker encourages embracing one's interests and optimizing for personal fulfillment, rather than adhering to others' life prescriptions.

Takeaways

• 🕰️ The speaker emphasizes the relentless work ethic of historical slaves to argue that one can work every waking hour if motivated by passion or necessity.
• 🤔 The speaker questions societal expectations and the projection of others' ideas of a 'good life' onto individuals, suggesting that personal fulfillment is more important than societal approval.
• 🧀 The analogy of the rat and the cheese is used to illustrate the pursuit of what one loves doing, suggesting that even without a clear destination, moving away from what one dislikes can lead to finding what one enjoys.
• 🏋️‍♂️ The speaker admits to being averse to punishment and prefers to engage in activities that provide micro-rewards, reflecting a preference for immediate gratification in the tasks they undertake.
• 💡 The speaker discusses the importance of finding what one is passionate about and optimizing for that, rather than conforming to what is expected by others or society.
• 🔍 The speaker suggests that people often seek the 'perfect' answer without having enough experience to make an informed decision, advocating for trying many things to gain perspective.
• 🐭 The concept of using a 'cat' (something one dislikes) as a motivator to move towards the 'cheese' (something one desires) is introduced as a strategy for finding direction in life.
• 🛠️ The speaker shares personal anecdotes about choosing between different business ventures, highlighting the process of elimination based on personal preferences and dislikes.
• 🌐 The speaker reflects on how the absence of certain role models in one's environment can lead to defining one's path by avoiding the negative examples around them.
• 💼 The speaker discusses the impact of inflation on the motivation to invest and the urgency it creates to deploy capital rather than letting it sit idle.
• 🚀 The speaker concludes by encouraging rapid iterations and trying different paths to find what one is passionate about, rather than seeking the perfect choice from the start.

Q & A

What is the speaker's perspective on comparing modern work-life to historical slavery?

The speaker suggests that while slaves worked all hours of the day, the comparison is not about the nature of the work but the capacity to work hard. They imply that if slaves could endure such conditions, so can modern individuals, especially if they find enjoyment in their work.

What does the speaker mean by 'if you have the cat behind you, you can work every hour of the day'?

This metaphor suggests that if one has a strong motivation or a 'cat' pushing them, they can be driven to work tirelessly, just as a mouse would run all day to avoid a cat.

What is the famous quote the speaker refers to about walking and destination?

The quote is 'The person who loves walking walks further than the person who loves the destination.' It implies that the enjoyment of the process can lead to greater achievements than solely focusing on the end goal.

Why does the speaker believe societal expectations about life are irrelevant?

The speaker believes that societal expectations are irrelevant because everyone will die and not matter in the grand scheme of things. They argue that one should focus on what brings them enjoyment and rewards, rather than conforming to others' ideas of a good life.

What does the speaker suggest about finding enjoyment in work to achieve success?

The speaker suggests that finding enjoyment in work, such as operating a business or writing a book, can lead to success because it provides micro-rewards and motivation to continue working hard.

How does the speaker describe their aversion to punishment?

The speaker describes being averse to punishment by stating they avoid activities they dislike. They prefer to engage in activities that provide rewards and enjoyment, which naturally leads them to avoid punishment.

What does the speaker mean by 'being directionally correct rather than absolutely correct'?

The speaker means that it's more important to have a general sense of the right direction to go in than to find the perfect solution. It's about taking action and making progress rather than being paralyzed by the search for perfection.

What is the 'reverse role model' concept mentioned by the speaker?

The 'reverse role model' concept involves identifying people or behaviors one does not want to emulate and actively avoiding those traits or actions. It's a way to define one's path by knowing what one does not want to become.

How does the speaker relate the idea of 'cheese' and 'cat' to finding one's passion?

The speaker uses 'cheese' as a metaphor for the reward or passion one seeks and 'cat' as a metaphor for the motivation or urgency to avoid something undesirable. By moving away from what one dislikes, they suggest one increases the likelihood of finding what they love.

What does the speaker suggest about the role of inflation in motivating business people?

The speaker suggests that inflation acts as a motivating force for business people to invest and deploy capital, as the fear of losing value by keeping money idle can spur action and decision-making.

What advice does the speaker give for someone struggling to find their passion or 'thing'?

The speaker advises to try many things to gain perspective and to decrease the action threshold. They suggest using a 'cat' or motivation to start moving towards something, even if the exact 'cheese' or passion is not yet clear.

Outlines

00:00

🔄 Embracing Work-Life Integration

The speaker discusses the historical prevalence of slavery and how individuals worked tirelessly throughout their lives. They compare this to their own work ethic, suggesting that if historical slaves could work so much, so can they. The speaker emphasizes the importance of finding joy in one's work, using the analogy of a rat that is motivated by the prospect of cheese. They argue that societal expectations and the opinions of others are irrelevant to one's personal fulfillment. The speaker also talks about their personal passion for business and how they enjoy the various aspects of it, from writing to discussing ideas. They mention their aversion to punishment and prefer to focus on activities that bring them micro-rewards. The conversation touches on how individuals can cut through societal expectations and find what they truly want to optimize for in life, suggesting that one should be directionally correct rather than absolutely correct when exploring different paths.

05:02

🧠 Understanding Motivation and Avoiding Procrastination

In this paragraph, the discussion shifts to the psychological aspects of motivation and behavior. The speaker explains that people are wired to seek rewards, which drive their actions. They suggest that understanding past rewards can help identify future behaviors. The concept of a 'reverse role model' is introduced, where individuals use negative examples from their environment to define what they do not want to become. The speaker also addresses the issue of perfectionism and how it can lead to procrastination, framing it as a decision-making fallacy. They advocate for making decisions based on investor frames, where the urgency to act is driven by the understanding that inaction (like not investing) has guaranteed negative consequences, such as the loss of value due to inflation. The conversation concludes with a hypothetical scenario where inflation does not exist, and how it might affect the motivation of business people to invest and grow their capital.

Keywords

💡Slaves

In the context of the video, 'slaves' refers to individuals who were historically forced to work without pay or rights, often for their entire lives. This term is used to draw a comparison to the speaker's own work ethic and to challenge the notion of a 'work-life balance.' The script mentions slaves working all hours they were awake, emphasizing the extreme nature of their labor.

💡Work-life balance

The concept of 'work-life balance' is a central theme in the video, where the speaker questions societal expectations of a balanced life between work and leisure. The speaker argues that the focus should be on finding work that one enjoys, rather than adhering to a prescribed balance, as exemplified by the historical example of slaves and the speaker's own preference for working all day.

💡Optimizing

'Optimizing' in the video refers to the process of making the best or most effective use of a situation or resource. The speaker discusses optimizing for personal enjoyment and rewards in work, suggesting that finding activities that provide micro-rewards can lead to a fulfilling life, rather than seeking external validation or adhering to societal norms.

💡Directional correctness

The term 'directional correctness' is used to describe the approach of moving in the right general direction rather than striving for absolute perfection. The speaker suggests that trying many things and gaining experience is more valuable than waiting for the perfect opportunity, which aligns with the idea of making iterative progress in life and work.

💡Rapid iterations

'Rapid iterations' is a concept the speaker uses to describe their approach to life and business, implying making quick, successive attempts or changes to improve or find the right path. This is contrasted with the paralysis of indecision caused by perfectionism, and it is exemplified by the speaker's own journey in choosing their first business venture.

💡Perfectionism

In the video, 'perfectionism' is portrayed as a barrier to action, often masking itself as a pursuit of quality control. The speaker identifies it as a decision-making fallacy that can lead to inaction and procrastination, suggesting that it's better to make progress through imperfect attempts rather than waiting for the perfect opportunity.

💡Micro-rewards

'Micro-rewards' are small, immediate rewards or satisfactions gained from daily activities. The speaker emphasizes the importance of these rewards in maintaining motivation and enjoyment in one's work, using the example of writing a book and engaging in business discussions as activities that provide such rewards.

💡Inflation

The concept of 'inflation' is mentioned in the context of motivating forces for business people and investors. The speaker suggests that the understanding that money loses value over time due to inflation can drive individuals to take action and invest, rather than letting their capital sit idle.

💡Entrepreneurship

'Entrepreneurship' is discussed in the video as a path chosen by the speaker due to dissatisfaction with their previous job and living situation. It is presented as an avenue for pursuing work that one is passionate about, rather than just a means to an end or a response to societal pressure.

💡Reverse role model

The term 'reverse role model' is introduced as a strategy for identifying what one does not want to become, by observing the behaviors and outcomes of others that are undesirable. It is used as a method for defining one's path by avoiding the negative examples set by others, which can help in finding one's true interests and goals.

Highlights

The comparison of the work ethic between historical slaves and modern individuals, suggesting that one can work as hard as they did if they find joy in their work.

The notion that societal expectations often project onto individuals what they believe their life should be like, which is irrelevant to personal fulfillment.

The importance of working on what one loves rather than what others think one should do, using the example of the speaker's passion for business.

The idea that people will talk about work-life balance more if one's life doesn't align with societal norms, such as being single or not working out.

A perspective on life and death that emphasizes the insignificance of others' opinions in the grand scheme of things.

The enjoyment of micro-rewards in daily business operations and the pursuit of activities that provide personal satisfaction.

The concept of being directionally correct rather than absolutely correct when trying new things to gain perspective and make better judgments.

The strategy of reducing action thresholds to try more things, using the metaphor of a cat and cheese to illustrate the pursuit of rewards.

The speaker's personal journey of starting a business by choosing between options that aligned with his interests and abilities.

The realization that entrepreneurship wasn't always cool and how the speaker's dislike for his job and location led to a move to California.

The importance of avoiding activities one hates as a way to identify what one truly enjoys and should pursue.

The concept of the 'reverse role model', using negative examples from one's environment to define what one does not want to become.

The idea that perfectionism can be a form of procrastination, where the pursuit of the perfect choice can lead to inaction.

The use of investor frames to illustrate the concept that not making a decision is a decision in itself, with its own consequences.

A discussion on the role of inflation as a motivating force for business people to invest and not just keep their money in the bank.

The hypothetical scenario of a world without inflation and its potential impact on business behavior and capital deployment.

The conclusion that encourages listeners to seek the full, unedited episode for more insights and to subscribe for further content.

Transcripts

slaves worked all the hours they were

awake for their entire lives

in American history in Egyptian history

in the rest of the world that had slaves

which is most of the world at some given

point

I think like if they can do it so can I

now you're like well did they have a

happy existence well they didn't get to

pick the work they did but it means that

you can work that's if you have the cat

behind you you can work every hour of

the day I'm like well if you get to have

the cheese and you get to eat the cheese

the whole way you're going then I mean

there's the famous quote uh you know the

person who the person who loves walking

walks further than the person who loves

the destination right and so like I

think it's the same thing but

the

everyone so many people want to project

their idea of of what they think your

life should be like onto you

and it's just completely irrelevant it

just doesn't matter like if all I did if

I if I weren't married right because

people were like okay well he is married

and like I am in shape

but I also just like working out but if

I didn't have either of those things and

all I did was work all day more people

would talk about the work-life balance

thing for me than they currently do

and who cares

I just like I just I fundamentally am

like you are gonna die and you're not

gonna matter and I'm gonna die and I'm

not gonna matter so why do I care about

what you're gonna say when you're not

even gonna show up to my funeral who

gives a [ __ ]

what is it that you're taking an

enjoyment from then the one step deeper

than this there is something that you're

optimizing for I love I love the reward

what reward the micro rewards I get

every day like of operating a business

of all things business related yep so I

love writing the book about business I

love talking to my editor about what

we're changing oh that's a really way

better way to say it right or I like

tweeting about the thoughts that we have

I love doing discussions like this

because I talk about my favorite topic

which is business for the most part

um like and I actually am pretty averse

to punishment I've learned that about me

like I do not like it and when I say

punish me in the formal sense like

things you don't like right and so like

I avoid them like to play I don't do

them and so I just do as many of the

things I can that reward me as

frequently as possible but from the

outside to a lot of people that looks

like punishment right

yes interesting how can someone uh cut

through

societal expectations the ways they've

dealt with past trauma expectations from

parents all of the things that aren't

their thing yeah how can somebody

because what you've done again

axiomatically a priori this is the thing

I want to optimize for how do people

find the thing that they want to

optimize for I don't have a thing Alex

that's [ __ ] great for you with your

business it just happens to be something

else that's at the intersection of

making a [ __ ] ton of money yeah how do I

find it I was lucky with that yes that

that just happened to be the

intersection because if I love knitting

and I didn't like business yeah that's a

whole step because like you can turn

knitting into a business but like if I

only like knitting then there's a way to

make a living for that but to to get to

the person who's like uh how do I find

my thing

um

I'm a big fan of being directionally

correct rather than absolutely correct

and so I think what happens is most

people are trying to find the perfect

answer when they have no perspective

from which to make a judgment they're

trying to find the perfect thing to do

and they haven't done anything so how

would you have perspective to make a

judgment

like if you try a lot of things in the

beginning which you have to know what

your inputs outputs are decrease your

action threshold enough with either a

cheese or a cat whatever you need most

people have more cats than they have

cheese in the beginning so use the cat

to start running towards something and

the thing is is the rat it's so simple

it's like there's cheese here but what

you really just need to know is that

there's cheese out there

and there's a cat behind me for sure

and so if I just go anywhere away from

the cat I have a higher likelihood of

getting closer to the cheese not that I

will find it but I will get closer to it

and I think it's and I've lived my life

through a series of Rapid iterations not

trying to pick the right thing because I

just like even when I was starting my

first business I was between frozen

yogurt test prep and a gym those are the

three businesses that I was choosing to

make complete sense yeah right a lot of

things that I like right you know and so

so I'm choosing between those things and

like why were those the things I was

like well I was pretty good at taking

tests in college so I get that I like

frozen yogurt and I mean it sounds

simple but like I was like everybody

likes something right and I actually

didn't know that I was gonna like

business that's the crazy thing because

also hey when you and I were younger

Instagram wasn't there YouTube like none

of this [ __ ] existed and

Entrepreneurship wasn't cool yet and so

I just hated my job a lot and I hated

where I lived a lot and so I was like

well I will just not be here so cat

don't know what city I'm gonna go to but

just not this city I went across the

furthest place from Baltimore which is

California and then I was like okay well

what do I hate doing well let me not do

that which is you know sitting on

meetings all day and doing whatever you

know doing grunt work for [ __ ] that I

felt like was meaningless and instead I

was like I'll do Fitness because I like

Fitness and I was like at the very least

I'll do something I enjoy which I liked

Fitness at the time and if you're like

well I don't like doing anything it's

like well then that's impossible

because

your brain is wired to be rewarded for

things and so you are doing things that

reward you that's why you do them like

everything we do is because we've been

rewarded for doing things like that in

the past and we project the same

activities and we predict that doing

things like we did in the past that

reward us reward us again in the future

that's where our Behavior comes from and

so it's like okay well what is your

rewarded to do in the past

where's the cat go the opposite way yeah

so the the reverse role model is

something similar but you're you're

almost taking this into a lifestyle

perspective so the reverse role model is

if you live in a town or you grow up

somewhere and there's no one around you

like the sort of person that you want to

be like but there are tons of people

like the person you don't want to be

like you can say there's a way marker I

don't want his relationship with

gambling I don't want the way that Hema

handles his finances I don't want the

way that him and his wife communicate

with each other it's like okay there we

go Warren Buffett uh Mungus says uh like

an amazing amount of success has been

achieved by not trying to be smart but

avoiding being stupid uh so there's your

way markers there but what you're saying

is that this is almost like a a

abstracted lifestyle version of this

these are all of the things that I hate

to do what's the opposite of that yeah

and the

uh challenge of I don't know precisely

what the exact thing is therefore I

can't move toward it is one of mine

which is perfectionism is

procrastination masquerading as quality

control I was gonna say it's a it's a

fallacy it's a it's a decision-making

fallacy

it's the same it's this is why investor

frames can be so useful like if you're

looking for the perfect investment you

won't find one there's always downsides

every every investment has risk right

and so using that frame you're like well

there's all these paths which one do I

choose it's like well you have to the

one thing that's guaranteed is if you

keep the money it will go down in value

because it'll inflate right so not

investing is the only way guaranteed to

not get a return on your investment is

that a

the fact that inflation exists do you

think that's a useful motivating force

for business people you know you could

imagine a different form of world

economics where you know like embedded

growth obligations weren't there and

like whatever you know inflation didn't

happen do you think that that sort of

motivates people to actually be like oh

[ __ ] like I need to I need to do

something with this money I can't just

sit sit and leave it in the bank I think

we're motivate investors yes more yeah

yeah but I mean the the business people

would just like probably keep more coins

in there in their vault and just keep

transacting is that Scrooge McDuck yeah

they'd be less likely to they'd be less

likely to deploy Capital faster because

if you feel like there's a cost of

capital that's higher for keeping it

like letting it sit there then you have

a higher urgency to do something with it

if you have less urgency then you only

do it when you know it's gonna crash

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peace

[Music]