During the past decade, I have managed over 100 people. Some of them have been my apprentices, some have been my employees, and some have been volunteers who worked with me short-term for 3 to 6 months. This exposure to managing such a large number of people gave me deep insight into how people grow, how they live, and how they fail. I felt obligated to record this message to share what these people failed to do, and why most of them will never make it in life or do something significant.
If you are just graduating from college, a freshman, or just finished high school and don’t know your next steps, this is absolutely the right message for you. We’re going to talk about what to avoid and what you must do in order to be the best in the world.
But before we talk about roadblocks you will encounter in life, I want you to be sure you’ve made the right career choice. Here’s a simple framework to help you assess this:
Draw three circles:
- What are you passionate about?
- What can you be absolutely the best in the world at?
- What drives your economic engine?
Where these three circles intersect—that is what you must do in life. This is your sweet spot. Do something you’re passionate about, something you can be the best at, and something that supports you financially. If one is missing, you will most likely not succeed.
If you’ve found the answer, now you need the steps to move forward—and the awareness of the problems you will face as you pursue success.
Let’s say you’ve just started your dream job, or you’re an entrepreneur. At first, you feel excited and energized. But that energy will fade. Problems will arise. Boredom will creep in. This is the number one problem young people face.
Imagine: you just finished high school and got into Harvard. You’re thrilled. You want to become the best lawyer. But repetitive routines, constant reading, and the long road ahead start draining your energy. Then, you take your phone, scroll Facebook, and one day you check your screen time—20 hours a week. That’s where you start destroying your life.
Understand this: boredom and pressure are part of life. You will not always feel pleasure in what you do. That’s not how the world works. Initially, there is pleasure. Then it fades. You have two choices:
- Succumb to boredom, grab your phone, and waste your time.
- Understand boredom is part of the game, and get to work anyway.
Even when you don’t feel motivated, you must work day by day, week by week, year by year. If you keep doing this for three to four years, you’ll reach a position where you can truly enjoy life.
Train your brain like a muscle. When muscles grow, they hurt. You must get pleasure from the pain. Tell yourself, “This hurts. That means I’m on the right track.”
This is how your brain becomes resilient. This is how you outsmart the competition. Most people are weak. Most people break.
Your second greatest impediment is the misconceptions you bring from your previous life. Let me give you an example:
Imagine a teenager whose parents bought him every iPhone, gave him everything he wanted. He becomes dependent. Then, when he enters real life and people don’t help him like his family did, he breaks. His beliefs are used against him.
Parents, listen: if your kid gets destroyed in life because of your parenting, you are in the wrong. You failed to prepare them.
Throw away your misconceptions. Kill that soft version of yourself. Treat your inner self as your greatest enemy. No gun, no knife, no nuclear weapon can damage you more than an inner self that’s not ready for life.
Imagine climbing a mountain with 20-30 pounds on your neck. You won’t reach the top. That extra weight—your misconceptions, your baggage—must be thrown away.
This also applies to the people around you. If your friends party every night, pull you back, and don’t share your standards, they will destroy you. That’s the hard truth. You must make difficult choices. If you want to win the gold, you must chop away anything that compromises your standards.
Now that you’ve made the decision to go for gold, here’s another trap: chasing money early.
If you’re in your mastery phase, don’t chase money. Chase practical knowledge. Let me tell you a story:
There was a painter offered a lucrative job, but also had the option to study deeper in Italy. He asked an elder for advice. The elder said, “Go to Italy. Don’t take the money. If you take the money, your career is over.” The painter listened. He became one of the best.
You want to work in a challenging environment. Be the least experienced person in the room. That’s how you grow. Once you master that environment, move on.
Practical knowledge is your ultimate commodity. Once you have it, you’re ready to become a master. Think of it as gathering marble stone. Once you have it, you can sculpt something great.
Here’s another important truth: Don’t blindly follow advice. Books and mentors may not know your full context. Always analyze. Always apply wisdom to your specific situation.
Next danger: pride and grandiosity. This will destroy you. If you think you’re the best after a few months, you’re not. It takes 7-10 years to master something. Stay humble.
You must also handle criticism. If you have pride, you won’t accept feedback. And you will fall. Even haters can teach you something. Extract the lesson.
Now, let’s break your journey into three phases:
- Observation
- Practical Mode
- Experimentation
Observation:
You join a new company or industry. Don’t jump into action. First, observe. Like a hunter in the forest, study your surroundings. Learn the social hierarchy. Learn who holds power. Identify the rising stars and the falling stars. Choose your associations wisely.
Practical Mode:
Now go deep. Learn the why behind what you do. Understand not just your role but the roles around you. Be the kind of person who sees the essence. Do the hard tasks. Train your brain. Build your endurance.
Eventually, you’ll experience what I call “accelerated returns.” Your 2-3 hours of work turn into 5-8 hours of highly productive flow. You’re in motion. You gain momentum. You become a high-output machine. Quality trumps quantity. Focused hours matter more than long hours.
Experimentation:
Now that you have mastery, it’s time to innovate. Time to create. Time to build.
If there’s no one else to learn from, start your own business. Launch a scientific project. Write your book. Take the leap. Even if you don’t feel ready, start. You’ll never feel 100% ready.
This is the shortest phase—and the sweetest.
To my children who may one day read this: This is for you. I don’t know if I’ll have time to teach you everything. But here it is. Watch this. Read this. Apply it.
And to the world: even if I help one person with this message, it’s a victory.
Epilogue:
The world has changed in many ways. But the process of mastery has not. It still takes time. The difference today is the massive amount of available information.
Some will drown in it. Others will use it.
Be the one who uses it.
Think of yourself not as an employee, not just as an entrepreneur, but as an architect. You are building something. Something that lasts. Something future generations will point to and say: “My father built that. My mother built that.”
Some people are just weight on this world.
Others make a difference.
Be one who makes a difference.
Build something that lasts.