Focus on enduring over the long term, practicing perseverance and resilience, and extending your time horizon rather than seeking quick wins or hacks, as longevity builds true success.
Develop an intrinsic reason or personal drive to accomplish something, as this motivation will push you forward and pull you towards your goals, especially during tough times.
After experiencing failure, consciously choose to let it push you forward rather than hold you back, recognizing that important lessons and insights often come from losses and setbacks.
Understand that true resilience is learned by going through tough times and pushing through challenges, especially when you deeply care about the outcome.
Recognize that everything is earned, not owed, and there is no substitute for putting in the necessary work and preparation to achieve your goals.
When embarking on a new venture, ask yourself ‘what happens if this goes right?’ to ensure you’re prepared to capture the opportunity, rather than solely hedging against downside risk.
Hold a dual belief: be absolutely sure you will accomplish your big goals, even if you don’t yet know the exact ‘how,’ to maintain conviction and drive.
Recognize that physical and mental health are foundational for extending your time horizon and ensuring you and your team can operate at your best for long-term success.
View maintaining your health and nurturing personal relationships as integral parts of your ‘work’ as an entrepreneur, as they directly impact your efficiency and performance.
Create and consistently follow a personal recovery protocol for high-stress business events, treating it like an athlete’s injury recovery to prevent burnout and maintain well-being.
Understand that while you can’t control the ‘first arrow’ of unexpected challenges, you can choose how you react to it, thereby avoiding the ‘second arrow’ of self-inflicted stress or poor coping mechanisms.
Prevent burnout by ensuring your work aligns with your personal mission and fills your ‘cup,’ as working long hours on things you love is energizing, while misaligned work is draining.
Remove ego from decision-making, focusing on doing what is genuinely right and effective for the business rather than what feels expected or impressive.
Shift your focus from short-term growth targets to building a business that can endure for decades, asking what actions will ensure its longevity.
Re-engage with your product, obsess over making it better, prioritize serving your customers, and extend your time horizon, avoiding ego-driven decisions for sustainable business success.
When facing challenges, approach them calmly, trusting in learned lessons and pre-established plans rather than resorting to desperate, last-minute solutions.
When making critical decisions, especially during crises, prioritize the impact on all stakeholders (employees, investors, family) rather than just your personal preferences or competitive instincts.
Let go of the ego-driven belief that your business is solely ‘yours,’ instead fostering a sense of shared ownership among your team and customers, recognizing that you are all building it together.
Consciously choose to use unfortunate situations as a springboard for growth and improvement, rather than allowing them to hold you back.
Avoid the temptation to pursue multiple ‘races’ or opportunities simultaneously, as this dilutes focus, prevents mastery, and can lead to falling behind in your primary endeavor.
Counter-intuitively, to achieve more, focus on doing less by actively subtracting non-essential tasks, projects, or inefficiencies from your operations.
Before expanding into new areas, thoroughly maximize and optimize the opportunities already in front of you, ensuring you’ve fully leveraged your current focus.
When starting your first business, focus on solving a problem you personally experience, as this provides inherent qualification and deep understanding of the need.
As your business grows, learn to detach your personal preferences from product decisions, instead asking if your customer base will like a design or feature, recognizing your market is larger than your individual taste.
Hire people who are better than you in their respective areas, provide guidance and input, but ultimately empower them to create and execute solutions that surpass what you could have done alone.
Before making significant decisions, ask yourself if you would be happy with the outcome in five years, avoiding short-term fixes that create long-term problems.
Before taking a ‘big swing,’ mentally validate your rationale by imagining explaining it to a diverse group of people, ensuring the ‘why’ is rational and makes sense to a majority.
When hiring, especially for key roles, ensure you have a diverse and sufficiently large pool of high-quality candidates to compare and contrast, rather than settling for the first seemingly good option.
Before hiring, critically assess whether the need is for a new person, an improved process, or if the task/function should be eliminated entirely to avoid inefficiency.
Prioritize focusing on the work itself and consistently fulfilling your promise to customers, trusting that positive results will naturally follow.
View goals as a ‘North Star’ to guide your direction and efforts, rather than rigid, arbitrary targets that can lead to misaligned actions.
Recognize that many endeavors have a natural pace, and a lack of patience or attempts to unnaturally speed things up can negatively alter outcomes.
While generally prioritizing the long-term, allow for cautious experimentation with new approaches or ‘hacks,’ understanding that some learning comes from trying things, even if they don’t always work.
Engage in daily self-reflection, asking yourself ‘When did I not say or do what I was really thinking or feeling?’ to identify instances of self-moderation and cultivate greater authenticity.
Overcome the fear of disagreement in relationships, recognizing that authentic communication, even when expressing differing opinions, is a hallmark of strong, genuine connections.
Practice contentment with where you are in your journey, trusting that future opportunities or ’next big ideas’ will emerge naturally when the time is right.
Embrace your current ‘superpower’ or area of expertise (e.g., socks) and allow it to be enough, rather than feeling insecure about its perceived scope or utility, until a new, compelling idea naturally emerges.
Consciously take time to celebrate wins and appreciate the journey, rather than constantly rushing to the next goal, to foster greater fulfillment and prevent future regrets.
Actively remind yourself that ’these are the good old days,’ appreciating the present moments and experiences, even amidst challenges, to avoid future regrets of not having fully lived them.
Reflect on the future absence of current responsibilities or moments to appreciate their value in the present, even when they are challenging.
Cultivate a mindset of being ‘pleased but not satisfied,’ allowing yourself to be happy and content with your current achievements while simultaneously striving for more.
Ensure your core motivation remains a deep desire to accomplish something and be authentic, rather than solely financial gain, as this intrinsic drive will sustain you through all phases of growth.
Actively share your learned lessons and experiences with others, especially younger generations or aspiring entrepreneurs, to provide them with a headstart and prepare them for inevitable challenges.
Actively manage your own affairs, such as negotiating contracts and booking logistics, to develop practical business skills like negotiation, networking, and creative problem-solving.
Focus on developing the ability to react effectively when challenges arise, utilizing your network, negotiating skills, and creative thinking to navigate difficult situations.
Strive to be more prepared than competitors by thoroughly studying your environment, replicating upcoming challenges in practice, and positioning yourself strategically to overcome disadvantages.
Ensure you’ve done everything possible to prepare before a critical event, as proper preparation and positioning are crucial for executing under pressure and preventing talent from being overwhelmed.
Avoid seeking hacks or shortcuts; instead, extend your timeline for significant endeavors and commit fully, understanding that true success takes time and sustained effort.
If you find yourself in a ‘dark period’ or identity crisis after a major life change, actively try different paths and explore new goals to find a fulfilling direction.
Reframe new endeavors, like starting a business, as a ‘sport’ or a new competition with a big goal, which can make the pursuit exciting and engaging.
If you find a new passion or direction, immerse yourself in learning everything you can about it, reading books and consuming knowledge to rapidly develop expertise.
Begin by selling your product directly to your immediate network and community, even if it’s in an unconventional way, to gain initial traction and feedback.
When starting a business with a partner, have explicit discussions early on about individual goals, commitment levels, and what each person wants out of the venture, especially if it’s initially ‘for fun.’
If you have high conviction in your venture, be willing to take significant personal financial risk, such as taking out loans, to fund it and demonstrate your commitment.
Always prioritize doing right by those who believe in you, whether they are investors, employees, or family, taking their trust and support incredibly seriously.
Actively cultivate a network of people who share similar goals, encourage each other, and are ‘rowing in the same direction’ to foster mutual growth and support.
As your network expands, be mindful not to compare your progress to others; instead, gather inspiration from their achievements without trying to shorten your own timeline or rush your process.
When receiving advice, especially from smart people, confidently synthesize and filter it, knowing that while their input is valuable, you understand your specific business context best.
Develop the courage to say ’no’ to advice that doesn’t align with your business or context, even when it comes from respected mentors or investors.
Resist the temptation of ‘silver bullets’ and ‘hacks’ that promise quick solutions, as they rarely lead to long-term success and can distract from foundational work.
Conceptualize your brand as having a name, appearance, and essence; understand that while name and appearance can change, the core essence (how you make someone feel) is what truly defines your brand.
During a rebrand or major change, recognize that the majority of future growth comes from new customers who are unaffected by past identities, allowing you to focus forward.
When undergoing significant changes like a rebrand, transparently communicate the process and involve your community (e.g., through a video series) to maintain trust and engagement.
When facing unprecedented business challenges (like a first legal letter), leverage your network for reassurance and guidance, as others have likely experienced similar issues.
Once you’ve navigated challenges, share your lessons and offer reassurance to others facing similar difficulties, becoming a supportive voice in their journey.
Actively position yourself in diverse situations and engage in activities like reading reports, networking, and observing, to ‘harvest’ new ideas and foster engineered serendipity.
Identify your peak performance state (e.g., creativity when not stressed) and structure your work and self-care to maximize time in that state, enabling high-impact contributions.
Evolve your definition of ‘work’ beyond constant, intense effort (‘death grip’), recognizing that for strategic roles, it involves holistic well-being, idea generation, and effective delegation.
Resist the urge to run multiple business ‘races’ at once, as this leads to burnout and prevents giving adequate attention to what truly matters in your core business.
Aim to inspire others to set goals, try their best, and focus on getting to the start line and giving it their all, rather than solely on winning or outcomes.
Avoid making critical hires, especially for senior roles, based on arbitrary growth goals or ego-driven desires to ‘keep the good times rolling’; instead, hire for genuine, well-defined needs.