If you want 2026 to be the best year of your life, listen to this podcast | Ep. 986
In this episode of The Game, Alex Hormozi explores the core principles of achieving success through mindset and focused action. He examines the relationship between embracing challenges and maintaining self-belief, while explaining his perspective on viewing mistakes as stepping stones rather than setbacks in the learning process.
Hormozi shares his approach to achieving results through deliberate practice and extreme dedication, including his experience with long work weeks and strategic sacrifices. He discusses the importance of specialization before diversification, making quick decisions, and treating education as an investment. The episode breaks down specific strategies for maintaining focus and discipline while building toward significant achievements.
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Mindset and Psychology For Achievement and Success
Alex Hormozi shares his insights on developing a success-oriented mindset, emphasizing that achievement comes from embracing challenges and maintaining unwavering self-belief. He suggests viewing mistakes not as failures but as essential steps in the learning process, encouraging people to document their struggles as future testimonies of growth.
Strategies For Focus, Discipline, and Deliberate Practice
According to Hormozi, success requires intense focus on a single goal rather than attempting to excel in multiple areas simultaneously. He advocates for specialization before diversification, comparing success to building a single tall ladder rather than multiple short ones. Hormozi emphasizes making rapid decisions and embracing a "fail fast" mentality over seeking perfection, drawing from his own experience of quickly implementing and discarding ideas based on their effectiveness.
Hard Work, Consistency & Self-Investment in Improvement
Hormozi's approach to success is grounded in extreme dedication and self-improvement. He shares his personal experience of working six-day weeks, twelve hours per day, and making significant sacrifices like missing social events and eliminating distractions to focus on business growth. He views education and skill-building as investments rather than expenses, advocating for high-volume practice to accumulate learning experiences quickly. Hormozi stresses that achieving exceptional results requires embracing monotonous tasks and maintaining unwavering discipline, even when it means forsaking typical leisure activities.
1-Page Summary
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Counterarguments
- Embracing challenges is important, but it's also crucial to recognize when a challenge is not conducive to personal growth or success and to pivot accordingly.
- While documenting mistakes can be helpful, it's also important to balance reflection with forward momentum and not dwell excessively on past errors.
- Focusing on a single goal can be effective, but some individuals or businesses may thrive on a diversified approach that mitigates risk and fosters creativity.
- Specialization can lead to success, but diversification can also create resilience and adaptability in a rapidly changing economy.
- A "fail fast" mentality can be beneficial, but it's also important to thoroughly test and refine ideas to ensure long-term viability and quality.
- Extreme dedication and long work hours can lead to burnout and diminish overall productivity and well-being.
- Sacrificing social events and leisure activities can negatively impact mental health and personal relationships, which are also important for a balanced life.
- While high-volume practice can accelerate learning, it's also important to practice deliberately and with focused attention to ensure effective skill acquisition.
- Embracing monotonous tasks is sometimes necessary, but innovation and efficiency improvements should also be pursued to optimize time and resources.
- Forsaking leisure activities entirely may not be sustainable for everyone, as rest and recreation can enhance productivity and creativity in the long run.
Actionables
- You can track your personal growth by keeping a "challenge journal" where you write down obstacles you've faced each week and how you overcame them, turning setbacks into stories of resilience.
- This practice not only helps you see your progress over time but also reinforces a positive mindset towards challenges. For example, if you're learning to code and you solve a particularly tough bug, document the problem, your thought process, and the solution. Over time, you'll have a record of your evolving problem-solving skills.
- Develop a laser-focused goal by creating a vision board that highlights one primary objective you want to achieve, and place it in a space where you'll see it daily.
- This visual reminder will help keep your attention centered on that goal. If your aim is to run a marathon, your vision board could include a calendar with training milestones, inspirational quotes from athletes, and the specific marathon you're targeting.
- Introduce a "skill hour" into your daily routine where you dedicate 60 minutes to practicing a specific skill related to your main goal, without any distractions.
- Consistent, focused practice will accelerate your learning curve. If you're aiming to become a better public speaker, spend this hour practicing speeches, recording yourself, and analyzing areas for improvement.
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Mindset and Psychology For Achievement and Success
Achievement and success often stem from one's mindset and psychological approach to challenges and goals. Alex Hormozi provides insights on how to craft a psychology of success, underscoring the importance of perseverance, embracing hardships, and cultivating self-belief.
Embrace Growth Pain - It's the Cost of Progress and Essential for Achievement
Hormozi talks about the necessity of embracing mistakes and viewing hardships as opportunities for growth, essential for achievement. He stresses that being new at something means lacking experience, and making mistakes is a natural part of the learning process. Hormozi encourages seeing errors not as failures but as necessary steps towards improvement.
Embrace Hardship and Stress As Normal and Growth Opportunities
"You posting those 20 isn't what you judge yourself on. You should be judging yourself on the difference between your first one and your 20th one," Hormozi advises. He suggests viewing current hardships as the origin story of success, the beginning of one's hero's journey. He recommends documenting life when it's challenging, as hard times are part of the journey that contributes to future confidence and success.
Hormozi points out that difficulties don't last forever. Either one quits or perseveres until it gets easier due to external changes or internal adaptations. He underscores the importance of perseverance, stating, "Pain is the price of progress. The fastest growth periods are often the most miserable." He encourages adopting a mindset that accepts hardship as proof of growth, recognizing that embracing pain and discomfort is normal and essential for progress.
To winners, hardship is their origin story. Hormozi uses photos from his early business struggles as a reminder of what he's been through, documenting life's challenges as meaningful stories of growth and perseverance. He emphasizes that remembering the struggle periods aids one in acknowledging the personal growth that led to who they've become today.
Cultivate Abundance and Commit To Goals
Hormozi shares that it is normal for people pursuing exceptional goals to be viewed as abnormal by others with more mediocre aspirations. He explains that achieving greatness involves actions and choices that deviate from the social norm, often leading to loneliness or misunderstanding.
Adopt a "Winner's Mentality": Focus On Effort, Dismiss Negativity, and Reject Others' Doubts
He advises focusing on effort, dismissing negativity, and rejecting others' doubts. Hormozi uses the analogy of running a marathon to describe success, emphasizing the long and challenging process with an uncertain finish line and the necessity to pace oneself.
Hormozi suggests that everyone loses before they win, referencing "The Matrix" by stating, "everyone falls the first time." He explains that willingness to lo ...
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Mindset and Psychology For Achievement and Success
Additional Materials
Counterarguments
- While perseverance is important, it's also crucial to recognize when a goal is unattainable or not worth the cost, and to pivot or let go when necessary.
- Embracing hardships can be beneficial, but it's also important to maintain a balance to avoid burnout and ensure mental health.
- Mistakes are part of learning, but it's also essential to create environments where mistakes are minimized, especially in high-stakes situations.
- Stress and hardship can be growth opportunities, but chronic stress can have negative health impacts and should be managed appropriately.
- Documenting challenging periods can be helpful, but some individuals may find that it exacerbates their stress or negative feelings.
- The idea that pain is the price of progress can be misleading, as it may not account for the importance of rest, recovery, and self-care.
- The concept of a "winner's mentality" may inadvertently promote toxic positivity or an unhealthy disregard for valid criticism and feedback.
- The notion that everyone falls the first time may not account for the varied experiences of individuals and the complexity of different paths to success.
- The assertion that difficulty is due to poor expectations might oversimplify the many factors that can contribute to a task's complexity ...
Actionables
- You can create a "Growth Diary" where you write down daily challenges and the lessons learned from them. This practice helps you to see progress over time and reinforces the idea that hardships are part of your success story. For example, if you're learning a new language and struggle with speaking, note the specific difficulties and any improvements you notice, no matter how small.
- Start a "Comfort Zone Challenge" where each week, you intentionally engage in an activity that pushes your boundaries. This could be anything from public speaking to trying a new workout. The key is to choose tasks that make you uncomfortable but offer a chance to grow. After each challenge, reflect on what you did, how it felt, and what you learned about your capacity to handle stress and discomfort.
- Implement a "Failure Resume" where, instead of listing succe ...
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Strategies For Focus, Discipline, and Deliberate Practice
Alex Hormozi's take on achieving success puts a strong emphasis on focused effort, the avoidance of distractions, and the importance of specialization. Hormozi’s approach underscores that the cultivation of mastery in any sphere is less about fleeting passion and balance, and more about disciplined, uncomfortable work, and the wisdom of making rapid decisions.
Relentlessly Focus On one Primary Goal or Skill
Specialize First, Avoid Early Diversification
Hormozi advises focusing on a primary goal or skill for success, emphasizing the importance of saying no to multiple ventures. He shares that trying to build different opportunities like placing rungs on various ladders won't allow you to get over the wall to success. Instead, Hormozi stresses taking those rungs and applying them to a single ladder to climb over this metaphorical wall, insisting that years of practice in one thing lead to exceptional skill.
By committing fully to one field, Hormozi is effective in demonstrating not about how one is passively good at various tasks, but rather, how one relentlessly pursues and refines a singular goal.
Embrace Discomfort, Reject "Balance" or "Passion"
Endure Hard Work For Mastery
Hormozi speaks to the necessity of dedication and hard work, likening it to the dedication of an artist to their craft. Highlighting the importance of enduring hard work for mastery, he shares his journey of making uncomfortable decisions, such as shutting down all but one of his businesses to focus on the most promising one.
This approach also extends to Hormozi’s personal experience. He delves into his early days in sales, detailing how an extensive first-hand experience led to mastery. The idea here is that the process of work itself should be enjoyable and engaged with fully rather than simply being obligatory tasks to complete.
Optimize For Speed Over Perfection
Rapid Decisions and "Fail Fast" Over Overthinking and Delaying. Correct Mistakes Quickly Rather Than Avoid Them
Hormozi brings to light the concept of "fail fast" in strategic decis ...
Here’s what you’ll find in our full summary
Strategies For Focus, Discipline, and Deliberate Practice
Additional Materials
Counterarguments
- Specialization may lead to missed opportunities in a rapidly changing economy where diversification can provide resilience.
- A singular focus on one goal or skill might result in a lack of adaptability and problem-solving skills that come from a broader knowledge base.
- The pursuit of discomfort and rejection of balance could lead to burnout and a lack of well-being, which can be counterproductive in the long term.
- Passion can be a significant motivator for many people, and its absence might lead to a lack of intrinsic motivation and eventual disengagement from work.
- The "fail fast" mentality may not be suitable for all industries or decisions, particularly those with high stakes or where the cost of failure is significant.
- Rapid decision-making can sometimes lead to shortsightedness and a lack of thorough consideration, potentially resulting in poor outcomes.
- Overemphasis on speed over perfection might compromise quality and lead to a culture that tolerates errors too readily.
- The idea that work should always ...
Actionables
- You can refine your focus by setting a 'distraction budget' that limits non-essential activities each day. Allocate a specific amount of time for potential distractions, like social media or television, and once you've used up your budget, commit to returning to your primary goal or skill. For example, if you're learning to code, allow yourself 30 minutes of social media time, then spend uninterrupted hours coding.
- Develop a 'discomfort diary' to track and plan for challenging tasks that push you toward mastery. Write down one task each day that feels uncomfortable but contributes to your main goal, such as public speaking if you're aiming to become a better communicator. Reflect on the experience afterward to reinforce the habit of embracing discomfort as a growth tool.
- Implement a 'rapid decision day' o ...
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Hard Work, Consistency & Self-Investment in Improvement
Alex Hormozi exemplifies the essence of hard work, consistency, and self-investment, highlighting their crucial role in achieving success. His principles and experiences offer a blueprint for those seeking to optimize their journey towards their goals.
Commit To a Grueling Schedule and Self-Improvement
Hormozi's unyielding commitment to his work ethic is evident from his personal sacrifices and rigorous routines. He recounts working on everything by himself when starting his business, missing out on his 20s due to business demands, and working in challenging conditions to maintain composure during sales. His narrative includes moving across the country to where he knew no one to focus on improving his business aspects such as selling memberships and marketing. Hormozi's decision to give up watching the Baltimore Ravens, a tie to his home, embodies his drive to eliminate distractions.
He also employed extreme options to ensure his business's success, with no plan B outside driving for Uber or stripping. Hormozi even compares his ability to work hard with historical examples of relentless labor, identifying himself with the capacity to work incessantly under duress.
He introduces the idea of "normalizing a six-day work week, 12 hours per day for men between 16 and 28," encouraging others to find the hardest worker and double their input. Hormozi's own schedule was essential for his development in sales, taking a high volume of consults every day and maintaining high energy and positivity during sales appointments through methods such as bouncing on a trampoline. He reflects on his time owning a gym, working consistently, driven by urgency to fill a gap in knowledge and capabilities. His notions of success are intertwined with the dedication to putting in necessary work, including sacrificing social events and working diligently towards passionate goals, often without taking any time off.
Education & Skill-Building: An Investment, Not an Expense
Hormozi underscores education and skill-building as fundamental investments rather than expenses, an approach rooted in his path of working hard to excel at something, like achieving state records in powerlifting, before teaching others. For Hormozi, using future pain as motivation is critical, living today with future days in mind, and recognizing that personal development necessitates missing out on social activities to pursue one's ambitions.
He suggests that outworking others is key to getting better faster due to the increase in volume and stresses the importance of engaging in high repetitions to accumulate failures from which to learn and improve. Hormozi's inclination to normalize working six days a week and his advice to find the hardest worker and double their input resonate with his belief in the power of hard work. His commitment to a demanding schedule was key to his development, sometimes requiring unconventional methods to sustain high performance and to express the respect that comes from being a man of work.
Prioritize Compounding Your Abilities Over Short-Term Gains.
Hormozi believes that long-term success is achieved through persistence even during failures and difficult times. His dedication is evident in his advice to normaliz ...
Here’s what you’ll find in our full summary
Hard Work, Consistency & Self-Investment in Improvement
Additional Materials
Counterarguments
- The glorification of overworking can lead to burnout and mental health issues, which are counterproductive in the long run.
- Success is not solely the result of hard work; factors such as luck, timing, and external support also play significant roles.
- A balanced life that includes leisure and social activities is important for overall well-being and can enhance productivity and creativity.
- Working excessively long hours is not feasible or healthy for everyone, especially those with family responsibilities or health limitations.
- The idea of doubling someone else's effort may not be sustainable or practical and can lead to diminishing returns.
- Education and skill-building are important, but not all valuable learning comes from formal education or intense self-improvement regimes.
- The narrative may inadvertently perpetuate toxic masculinity by equating manhood with relentless work and sacrifice.
- The emphasis on individual effort may overlook the importance of collaboration, teamwork, and the contributions of others to personal success.
- The approach may not be inclusive of different cultural values and work ethics that also lead to success but do not involve extreme work schedules.
- The focus on personal sacrifice and missing out on life events can undermine the importance of personal relationships and community in one's life.
- Not all industri ...
Actionables
- You can create a "distraction-free" zone in your home to enhance focus and productivity. Choose a space that is solely dedicated to work or skill development, free from TVs, gaming consoles, or other personal distractions. This could be as simple as a corner in a room with a desk that's only used for work-related activities, ensuring that when you're in that space, your mindset shifts to a work-first mentality.
- Develop a personal "skill investment" plan by allocating a specific amount of your monthly budget to learning new skills. This could involve setting aside funds for online courses, books, or attending workshops that are directly related to the skills you want to develop. For example, if you're interested in improving your marketing abilities, you might subscribe to a specialized online course and dedicate a portion of your budget to this each month.
- Implement a "failure journal" where you document daily ...
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