Kind: captions
Language: en
I've been an entrepreneur for about 25
years, but the last year as a game
developer has taught me 26 critical
lessons that are going to help you make
2026 the best year of your life. [music]
One, you are programmed just like a
character in a video game. If you want
different outcomes, you got to change
the programming. Your life is controlled
by your values and your beliefs. This is
one of the most important things that
I'm going to discuss today. [music]
Your beliefs and values are the
programming that dictate both what you
look at and what you see. It is shocking
but true that both beliefs and values
are subjective and largely choices.
Physics is real. But beyond that, most
things are just interpretation. Humans
are shockingly bad at identifying what's
real in the world. To give you an idea,
we see 0.0035%
of the electromagnetic spectrum. And
yet, when we look out at the world, we
feel like we're seeing everything there
is to see. There is a dimesized blank
spot in your field of vision right now,
but you don't perceive it at all. Your
brain just fills it in. [music] You can
look up countless examples of the way
that your brain [music] will fall for
optical illusions because it's not
representing reality as it actually
[music] is. It's representing a
heruristic, a rule of thumb, a quick
sketch. You can alter your beliefs
[music] and your values and that will
actually change what you see. Do you see
a challenge or a problem? Do you see an
obstacle that you can't overcome or
something that you can solve? The
difference [music] between those kinds
of things will change the entire quality
of your life. And if for instance you
want [music] to feel differently and
behave differently, all you need to do
is change the things you believe and
[music] value. Now, I'm not saying that
you can detach your beliefs from
physics. But the reality is whether
something is an exciting challenge or an
unoverable problem comes down to your
frame of reference. it isn't objective
truth because if it doesn't violate
[music] the laws of physics, there is a
way around it. Two, remember life
[music] is a player versus player versus
environment game, aka this is PvPVE.
You are up against other players as well
as your own environment. This one always
weirds people out. People do not want
life to be a competition, but the
reality is life is a competition. You
have to contend with not only other
people that are trying to win. You have
to contend with things like your
political environment, [music] the
economy, geopolitics, and in the age of
AI, a whole lot more than that. [music]
Now, it's important to remember that it
is a co-op game, but it's a competition,
and so [music] you want to play to win.
I see people make this mistake all the
time. Part of the frustration right now
is that people want to believe that you
[music] don't really have to compete to
get ahead. That you can have an
incredible life just going along and
cruising. But the reality is that life
[music] does not work like that. You
currently live in a world with finite
resources and no one is willing to work
for free. So at a minimum, everything
costs money. Now maybe one day AI is
going to change all of that, but that
day is not today. For now, life is best
understood as an openw world survival
crafting game. Your job is to first of
all stay alive. [music] Second, you want
to collect resources. Three, you want to
make cool stuff, incredible things. One
of the great joys of life is being able
to build and create. Whether that's a
family, whether that's a business,
[music]
whether that's models, it doesn't
matter. Building cool things is one of
the great joys of life. One of the
biggest pieces of advice that I have for
people is to find a romantic partner.
[music] There's no doubt a lot of the
things that I'm going to talk about
right now make it sound like this is a
solo game, but life played with somebody
that's trying to help you that gives you
an opportunity to help them is going to
make the most out [music] of this game
that we call life three. The universe is
just a set of rules. So take
responsibility for all of your outcomes.
This has been one of the most profound
lessons I've [music] learned by being a
game developer is you realize, whoa,
this is [music] all just a set of rules.
Everything functions on something akin
to physics. [music] And once you
understand what those are, then you can
get better, then you can improve, then
you can anticipate where things are
going to go. The game of life is not
working against you. I promise. I know
that it can feel that way sometimes, but
the reality of how the world works is
that it simply obeys [music]
rules. So, if you master those rules,
you can wildly improve your outcomes.
When you approach life like it's working
against you or like you can't get
better, you end up getting stuck. Life
adheres to what I call the only belief
that matters. The only belief that
matters is [music] that if you put time
and energy into getting better, you will
actually get better. We are a species
that [music] has chosen a strategy of
adaptation. This is why the famous
saying is it's not the strongest of the
species that survive, [music] nor the
most intelligent, but rather the most
adaptive to change. Focus on getting
better. Four, skills have utility. You
want to relentlessly
build out your skill tree in this game
of life. You want to get so good that
you can't be ignored. If you're willing
to grant me that life really is a
competition, then it becomes all about
learning the things that are going to
help you move towards your specific
goals. You want to become very capable
of doing things other people can't do.
That's exactly how you outperform them.
So whether that's [music] doing better
at your job, whether that's becoming a
better parent, whether that's growing
your business, [music] it doesn't
matter. You have to be able to
outperform people by being able to do
something [music] that they can't do.
Five, you need very clear goals. If you
don't understand exactly what the win
condition of the game that you're
playing is, [music] you are guaranteed
to lose. The universal win condition of
life is not money. It's [music] not
fame. It's not accolades. The universal
win condition is fulfillment. Now, the
great news is fulfillment has a formula.
Fulfillment is working really hard to
gain a set of skills that allow you to
make progress
towards a noble goal. Now, a noble goal
is something that elevates you and the
group as you pursue it. The human mind
is wired to need to contribute to the
group. And so if you're only doing
things that are selfishly beneficial,
you are going to have a profound sense
of disease. [music]
You need to find something that you can
pursue that you're passionate about that
even if you were losing, you would have
a good time making progress towards it.
[music]
This is a deterministic universe. Your
brain does work in a certain way and you
don't want to fight against that. The
thing to understand about the human mind
is that we are mountain climbers.
[music] We are not designed to sit at
the top of a mountain. That's why you'll
never be able to achieve something
[music] so grand that you feel like
you've crossed the finish line. The
reality is that we are designed to keep
moving, to keep climbing. And [music]
so, you've got to orient your mind
towards making progress
rather than achievement. Now, you're
going to set that goal. It's going to be
very clear. You're going to know what
the achievement looks like, but you're
not going to fool yourself into thinking
that once you get it, you're somehow
going to be satiated or you're going to
feel like you finished. You want to
always have your eye on what's that next
thing? What's that next thing? And to
fall in love with a sense of progress.
If you tie your ego to outcome [music]
or accomplishment, you're going to be
devastated. First of all, you're going
to fail a lot. And second of all, you're
going to be left feeling depressed when
you actually get the thing that you've
always said that you wanted because you
will get there and you will realize that
that hunger for more has not gone away.
So don't trick yourself. [music] Six, if
you don't understand the economy, you're
going to be stuck being an NPC,
a non-player character. I hate [music]
that this one is so true, but the
reality is one of the most important
skills in today's world is to understand
how money works. I never thought I would
be talking about the economy as much as
I do. But this is one of the things that
people really get wrong. The markets are
complex. There's no doubt about that.
But because the government is printing
money, if you don't own assets, you are
going to be in trouble because [music]
inflation is going to erode all of your
purchasing power. And whether you like
it or not, you are going to be competing
in the markets against other people.
Against other people using AI, by the
way, so you've really got to have your
wits about you. You've got to be sharp.
I wish that the government never created
a central bank. I wish that they weren't
[music] printing money, which is just
counterfeiting by another name. But the
reality is they are. And therefore, you
have to understand how it works.
Otherwise, you're going to be working
incredibly hard to earn money and be
stuck where so many people are stuck
right now today, which is [music] they
cannot make ends meet. This we'll return
to the show in a moment. But first, the
average person spends 13 hours a year on
hold. And the average company spends
millions on call centers [music] that
customers still hate. But there is a
much better solution. AI call centers.
Bland builds AI voice agents that handle
your entire call operation. They sound
human. They work 24/7. And they actually
get cheaper as you scale. They're the
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your data never goes to large providers
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everything stays on your servers,
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themselves. Companies cut costs by over
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appointment reminders, follow-ups,
almost any use case you can think of. If
you're a large business, Bland is
[music] offering to build a free custom
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to get a voice agent trained
specifically on your business and your
use case for free. Let's talk about what
happens [music] when life gets busy.
Your schedule fills up. Deadlines pile
on. Meetings run back to back. [music]
And the first thing that falls apart is
taking care of yourself. You skip meals
because there's no time. You grab
whatever is fastest. But running on
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Minimum $75 purchase. [music] All right,
let's get back to the show. This isn't
because you're a bad person. This is
because the way that money works, the
government can actually rob you of your
buying power, even as you're working
your ass off to make [music] more and
more money. You have to understand
inflation. You have to understand asset
ownership. You have to understand how
money [music] flows, how it works.
Otherwise, you're going to get eaten
alive by the bad policy that we have had
for more than 100 years. All of that
[music] forces you to go into asset
ownership in order to escape inflation,
which is why you have to master money.
Learn about how assets work. Learn about
how the system [music] is rigged against
you, but that you can still win. Now, if
you own the right basket of assets,
you'll be able to thrive. If you don't
understand money full stop, you are
going to be on a hamster wheel until you
die. Seven, no one is coming to save
you. There are going to be plenty of
boss fights in this game and you are
going to have to win with your own
skills. One thing you're going to hear
me say over and over is that this is
about skill acquisition. [music]
You want to improve your skills. What's
standing between where you are today and
where you want to go [music] is a set of
skills. As you level those up, you are
going to be able to move farther
forward. The key to leveling up your
skills is to understand exactly how the
game works. It really is rigged against
you. There's no doubt about that. But
once you understand the ways in which it
is rigged against you, you can master
the actual rules of the game. Not the
rules as they should be, but the rules
as they actually are, and you can play
the game to thrive. I find so many
people are so busy trying to get the
whole world to be this moral just place
instead of looking at what are the
changes that they can make in their
actual life, their real skill set right
now today based on how the game actually
is played. Not how they wish it were
played, but the way that it's actually
[music] played and win right now today.
That option is available for all of us.
But you've [music] got to set aside all
of the campaigning to get the world to
change [music] and instead focus on the
thing that you can actually control,
which is changing you. Eight, the meta
is constantly changing. You have to
adapt or you're going to be eaten alive.
You are living through the greatest
period of change since an asteroid
killed the dinosaurs. AI is changing
everything.
But for right now, the key is to master
AI. Don't get stuck in fear about what's
going to happen. Figure out what works
right now, [music] today. You cannot
afford to bury your head and wait until
AI's impact is fully [music] realized.
You've got to be willing to adapt as
rapidly as you can to what's changing in
the meta. There's [music] no sense in
fighting about it. There's no sense in
wishing that the world would stay the
same. There's no sense in being
paralyzed by a fear of change. That is
what the vast majority of the world is
going to do. You cannot allow yourself
to do that. Figure out what is going to
win right now and right [music] now.
That's mastering AI. That is dealing
with the rapid rate of change. That is
getting control of your own emotions so
that you can continue to move forward no
matter how much the world is changing.
The human mind wants to hold on to the
past, but the reality is you can't. We
are always moving forward [music]
now faster than ever. So the people that
are going to win are going to be the
people that stay centered, do not allow
fear to overtake them. And no matter how
crazy things are getting in the world,
they keep marching forward, adapting,
learning new skills, and mastering
whatever works today. Nine, if you want
bigger rewards, you've got to enter
higher difficulty zones. Your abilities
will improve when the challenge is just
outside of your current skill level. It
is a fascinating element of the human
experience that if you want to adapt,
you have to put yourself into a zone
where things are a little too hard.
[music] It's called the optimal zone of
development. You want to get to that
space where it's like, h, it's a weight
that you can't quite lift yet. And you
push yourself and you try and you
struggle and you actually break the
muscle fiber, literal or metaphorically,
so that you can rebuild stronger. But
you have to put yourself in that
position where you're actually breaking
yourself down a little bit so that you
can get stronger. So you want to seek
out a higher level of difficulty. If you
don't seek out that higher level of
difficulty, you never encounter the
thing you can't do. You never give
yourself the impulse [music] to adapt.
Elon Musk has a great quote that I'm
going to paraphrase. You're paid in
direct proportion to the difficulty
level of the problems you solve. So, you
want to seek out the hardest problems.
You [music] want to get to the point
where you're capable of actually solving
those. If you stay in the small pond and
you solve the problems that are easy for
you to solve, you're never going to be
able to make progress. [music] Not in a
world where other people are pushing
themselves. So, you want to figure out
where is that thing [music] that just
exceeds what I can actually reach and
push yourself to grow [music] into that
to become capable of that to face that
failure to be willing to try something
that you can't quite do yet. Step back
and assess why wasn't I able to do that?
Be honest with yourself. [music] What's
the hole in your game that you need to
improve? What skill do you need to seek
out? And then [music] go and do that.
10. Don't chase side quests that don't
move the main story [music] forward.
Persistence without a strategy is just
grinding. Now, I'm haunted by [music] a
phenomenal quote. You can do anything
you want, but not everything. You've got
a finite amount of time. There are only
so many things you're going to be able
to focus [music] on. And the constraints
that you put on yourself to ensure
maximum momentum, those aren't
limitations. Ultimately, they just focus
you. And given that we all have a
limited amount of time, a limited amount
of energy, the fewer things you try to
do, the better you will be able to do
those things. And when you go into a
competition, you're going to be able to
outperform other people because [music]
you have taken all of your time and
pointed them at a small subset of
things. [music] There's a great quote
from Bruce Lee that I'm going to
paraphrase and he said, "I don't fear
the man who practices 5,000 kicks once.
I fear the man that practices one kick
5,000 [music]
times." That's the situation that you
want to put yourself in. You want to set
a clear goal and then go after it with
singleminded
determination. You want to be obsessed.
You want to eliminate distractions and
you want to outwork everyone else. That
has somehow become one of my more
controversial beliefs, which is wild to
me. The reality is this is a competition
and [music] if you want to win, you've
got to get better than other people. And
what is the fastest way to [music] do
that? to just be mono maniacal on the
thing that you want to accomplish and
then just go after it with everything
you've got to the point where I tell
people you want other people to be
worried about you. You want other people
to be concerned about how hard you work.
It's why make sure you have a clear goal
that you care about so that as you
[music] pursue it, you actually enjoy
your life. Remember the punch line is
fulfillment. 11. When you rest, your
competitors are practicing. And when you
meet, whoever is the most prepared is
going to win. Always be improving. When
you collide with somebody in the
marketplace, applying for a job,
wherever, you are going to lose if
you're underprepared, and you're going
to win if you're more prepared. 12. Your
environment [music] is either a buff or
a debuff. So, choose wisely. You want to
surround yourself with people who are
optimistic and driven, who are
emotionally stable, who want to get
better, who stare nakedly at their
inadequacies and are willing to work
[music] to improve them, who will give
you honest feedback, who can love you
and yet be truthful. When [music] you're
surrounded by a group of hyper ambitious
people that act like that, you are going
to improve. The reality is all of us
will go way out of our way to earn the
respect of the people that we respect
and ultimately that's going to be the
people that we surround ourselves with.
So [music] as they say you are the
average of the five people and ideas
that you spend the most time with. Make
sure that you are surrounding yourself
with people and ideas that are going to
buff you. And by the way, booby trap
your life in a way that makes pursuing
your goals the easiest path. So things
[music] like putting gym clothes next to
your bed, so that's the easiest set of
clothes to put on is the thing that
prompts you to go into the gym. Uh only
have good food in the [music] house if
your diet is bad. Remember that you're
being trained by your algorithms. So
make sure you train your algorithms to
show you useful content. Do not be
blinded by the ways that the world
manipulates you. Take control of that.
Be very intentional about all of the
things that you intake in your world. Do
not let external forces decide for you
what you do. Have that goal. Structure
your life in a way that's always going
to be moving you towards that. That is
how you get the momentum going. That is
how you make the structure of your day,
your life, your calendar, all of it be
something that elevates you rather than
just [music] dissipates your energy into
nothing. 13. Meaning isn't discovered.
It's engineered. You are not going to
turn inward and find a thing that you
were born for. [music] It doesn't work
like that. Meaning and purpose are not
archaeological digs. They are
architectural builds. You get to decide
what your purpose is going to be. It
isn't handed to you by anything [music]
because there's nothing that immediately
feels obvious. Nobody was born to do
something. You turn inward. You see an
area of interest. You decide, I'm going
to go do that thing and then you pursue
it and you get better at it and you move
through the creation of a passion which
is a loop and it starts with area of
interest. You then invest time and
energy into it. If it grows in
fascination and interest, then it's a
candidate for becoming a passion. As you
build your skill set, if as you go
through [music] that process of doing
the boring hard work, you start getting
positive feedback from the world that oh
my gosh, I love this thing that you do.
That feedback loop of I like it. I'm
more fascinated by it the more time that
I spend on it. And when I start putting
the skill out into the world, I get the
feedback from other people that Yeah,
yeah, yeah. That's amazing. We want more
of that from you. That then inspires you
to work harder, to get better, to be
able to further contribute to the group,
to be able to further make progress
towards your goals. Progress is a
foundational pillar of human happiness.
[music] And so as you do that, then it
becomes a passion. If there's no
feedback from the real world, you are
not going to turn that thing into a
passion. And it certainly isn't [music]
already going to be a passion when you
look inward and try to figure out what
your life's purpose is. You decide. 14.
Ship early and get feedback. I am
constantly letting people play my video
game Project Kaizen, even though it is
still 23 months from being ready for
early access. But I need [music] to get
out of my own assumptions and into the
real world. As Mike Tyson says,
everybody has a plan until you get
punched in the face. You've got to want
to get punched in the face. [music]
You've got to want to figure out what's
working and what's not. 15. All of us
are trapped inside of a frame of
reference. [music]
Your frame of reference is to you what
water is to a fish. You don't even
notice it. You don't realize that it's
[music] there. And you've got to figure
out what's really going on with your
ideas. You want your ideas, your
beliefs, your abilities, and the things
that you're trying to create to
encounter that real world. You want them
to get walloped so that you can figure
out how to dodge that punch, how you can
hit back even harder. And to do that,
you've got to be honest about what's
working and what's not. Please, I beg of
you, don't lie to yourself. This is
where people go cuz they want to feel
good about themselves. You have a thing
called the psychological immune [music]
system. The psychological immune
system's job is to keep you from killing
yourself. So, it's going to lie to you.
It is going to tell you that you're
awesome. The world is against you. Those
other people are stupid. They just don't
understand. And the reality is, you've
got to be hungry for disisconfirming
evidence. You've got to want to know,
wait, why didn't that work? Why are
people rejecting us? Because I own my
outcomes entirely. I am not going to
blame anybody else. Not going to blame
the universe. I'm not going to blame
God. Nothing. I'm going to look at what
I can control, which is me. And I'm
going to be [music] honest that it's not
working as well as I thought it was.
That there are reasons. Remember, you
live in a deterministic [music]
universe. Meaning, this is just a set of
rules. The rules are not different for
different people. They're simply the
rules. [music] And so if you adjust your
approach to adhere to what's going to
work within this system, then you can
get ahead. And if you're not getting
ahead, it is by definition because
you're not doing the right things. So
adjust as needed. 16. Your first 100
attempts are going to be trash. You
still have to do them. Please burn the
following idea into your soul. Failure
is the most informationrich data stream
on planet Earth. You're not going to
improve by thinking about things. You're
going to improve by taking action and
then thinking about why you aren't good
enough yet. Now, don't worry. Even if
you're bad, just focus on learning and
getting better. If you stay in that
loop, constantly trying to figure out,
hey, I did this thing, but it didn't
work as well as I thought it would. What
[music] exactly do I need to alter in
order to get better? That is a
springboard that will send you forward.
17. Success is iteration. done longer
than anyone else could possibly stand.
Here is the good news. Most people quit.
90% [music] of businesses fail to even
make a million dollars. 94% of
businesses fail to make $10 million. It
is because everybody breaks emotionally.
It is so hard to face an unrelenting
parade of failure and recognize that
failure is the most information-rich
data stream on planet Earth that most
people just stop. It's just too hard.
It's [music] too damaging to the self to
have to admit that you're not good
enough yet. That's frame of reference.
That is a frame of reference that tells
you who [music] you are now is what
matters. The thing I want you guys to
embrace is it doesn't matter who you are
today. It matters who you want to become
and the price you're willing to pay to
get [music] there. If you want to become
someone extraordinary and you're willing
to pay the extraordinary price that
that's going to demand, there's
essentially nothing that you can't
accomplish. You just have to keep your
wits about you, stay emotionally
resilient, and keep moving forward. But
if you do that, you're going to be ahead
of 99% of the world. 18. If you don't
measure it, you can't improve it. You've
got to track your progress. Measure your
results. Find more efficient and
effective ways towards your goals. Life
is really about something I call the
physics [music] of progress. You're
going to be wrong a lot. That doesn't
matter. What matters is that you measure
the outcomes that you're getting, accept
responsibility. If they're not the
outcomes that you want, adjust your
approach, and move forward. And
remember, unless your goals violate the
[music] laws of physics, they are
achievable. So, it's just about finding
that right path forward. 19. Ideas don't
make you valuable. Execution does.
Please do not worry about people
stealing your ideas. This gets so many
people hung up. But ideas are a dime a
dozen. What matters is [music]
execution. So, when you've got your
idea, you're going to run into something
that I call the chaos machine. The chaos
machine is just life. [music] Everything
is so difficult. The economy is
constantly changing. Look at what AI is
doing to disrupt us. Your competitors
are going to try to out compete you.
You're going to get sick. Someone in
your family is going to get sick.
[music] Life is just hard. If you focus
on becoming the kind of person that can
just keep moving forward, being
resilient, learning from your mistakes,
not giving up, focusing on progress, you
can start generating momentum. You're
just always in a solutionoriented
mindset. You're trying to find ways
around the problem. Over, under, through
it, it doesn't matter. But you never
accept defeat. You just always ask,
"Does this violate the laws of physics?"
Because if [music] it doesn't, there is
a path forward. I just have to find it.
And if you can stay enthusiastic through
that, you're going to win. Church Hill
used [music] to say, "Success is the
ability to go from failure to failure
without a loss of enthusiasm."
Stay focused. Create that momentum. 20.
Learn from the past. Understanding
history is the single best way to
predict the future. History really does
loop. And it [music] loops because we
live in a deterministic rules-based
universe. The human mind might be
complex, but it is knowable. We act in
very similar ways. There's a guy named
Ray Dallio. Ray Dallio created a company
called Bridgewater. [music] Bridgewwater
is the largest hedge fund ever created.
And he said when asked Ray, how were you
able to create this incredibly
successful company? And he said the
answer is I have learned about economic
history. I understand what he calls the
big debt cycle. And he says it's a loop
that just repeats over and over
throughout history. And simply by being
able to identify what countries are at
what stage of the debt cycle, I just go
in and bet that the future is going to
look like the past. [music] And by doing
that, he built this incredible company.
Now, that isn't just true of the
economy. That's true of so many things
in life. History may not exactly repeat,
but it does rhyme. And the reason it
rhymes is because the human mind only
operates in certain ways. We're not
suddenly going to start acting like a
zebra or an amoeba. We are going to act
like people, and people act in knowable
ways. 21. [music]
Skate to where the puck is going to be,
not where it is. Nobody understands
better than I that in the age of AI, it
is very hard to do this because it's
like the puck is teleporting. [music]
It's very hard to understand where it's
going to be. But you really do need to
try to be two or three steps ahead of
everybody else. To do that, [music] you
have to figure out the underlying
mechanics of how things work. Cause and
effect. You want to [music] think about
how one thing naturally leads into
another. Once you understand the cause
and effect of a system, no matter how
complex it is, you can begin to navigate
it, you can begin to create that
momentum because you know if I do this,
[music] I am likely to get this outcome.
But to do that, you really have to get
down to the mechanisms that drive
everything forward. [music] So start
mapping out the most important things in
your life. How do relationships work?
How does your own mind work? What is the
nature of emotions? What triggers your
emotions? How does the economy work?
These are the kinds of things that
[music] are going to have a outsized
impact on your life. And if you fail to
understand those mechanisms [music]
of the human experience, you are forever
going to be lost. Once you understand
things like your mind, follow
predictable [music] patterns, then
you're able to step outside of that
stream and begin altering it from the
[music] outside. Not altering the way
that it works, but altering the way that
you respond to it. altering the control
that it has over your life. [music] So
instead of getting mad and lashing out,
you can get mad, pause, step outside of
that. Ask yourself, what's my goal? What
behavior in this moment would lead me
towards my goal? Instead of just being
swept away by the emotion, which is what
happens to people that don't understand
the human mind? The same kind of thing
applies to the economy. [music] The same
kind of thing is going to apply to your
relationships. Master the underlying
mechanics and life gets a whole lot
easier. 22. You're going to fail a lot.
But as I said before, failure is the
most information-rich data stream on
planet Earth. Life is like a rogike. You
want to understand you're going to go
in, you're going to metaphorically die
over and over and over. But by putting
yourself in those [music] difficult
situations, by forcing yourself to go up
against the big boss, by forcing
yourself to approach things that you
know you're not quite ready for, that
odds are you're going to fail at this
thing. That is exactly how you acquire
the things you need to acquire to go
back in and finally beat it. If you live
in that loop of being totally fearless
of failure, being totally unafraid to
[music]
embarrass yourself, then you'll actually
be able to grow and dominate [music] in
whatever it is you're trying to do. But
most people are so afraid of being
embarrassed that they just never try.
They would rather stay outside, not play
to win, let other people embarrass
themselves, but they never get better.
I've always said one of my superpowers
is that I'm not afraid to look stupid.
And the reason I'm not afraid to look
stupid is I know that if I can map cause
and effect that I can do things that
other people aren't going to be able to
do because they don't understand how
things work. They're steering by
emotion. They're steering by intuition.
Those things will lead you astray. Think
from first principles. First principles
thinking is very simple. You're not
reasoning by analogy. You're thinking up
from physics [music] literally. So, how
does the world actually work? How does
the human mind actually work? [music]
And once you have those things, you can
begin to put the pieces together, act in
a way that is optimally efficient
because you're not fighting against your
own nature. You're not fighting against
the nature of the world. You're not
afraid to embarrass yourself. You know,
you just need the information. Once you
have the information, then you can make
decisions [music] that actually yield
the outcomes that you're looking for.
23. Most people want to play on easy
mode, but you're going to put it on
hardcore instead. [music]
I absolutely love the phrase, pray not
for a lighter load, but instead for
stronger shoulders. The great news
[music] is you don't have to pray. You
can just get stronger by taking on
difficult challenges and pushing through
all of that difficulty. And getting
stronger is far more useful [music]
than constantly going to where things
are easiest. So many of us, and I've
been as guilty [music] as anybody else,
but so many of us want to go where
things are easier so we can look cool,
so we can feel strong. But the reality
is all of this is relative. It's how
strong are you compared to other people.
How good are you at the markets compared
to other people? How good are you in
terms of your ability to do a job
compared to the other people competing
for that job? If you want outsized
success in life, you're going to need to
become stronger than the people that
you're going up against. Now, that's
going to be hard and it will require you
to put in the energy and effort to
actually build your muscle
metaphorically or literally,
but it will also be insanely rewarding.
I've said many times, if you want to get
to the mind, go through the body. Go
into the gym. Get stronger. When you
realize, wait a second, I couldn't lift
that weight a month ago, but I can lift
it now. [music] It does something to the
brain. There is a feedback loop that we
are hardwired for that if you get strong
in real life, it will show you mentally
that you can make change. And once you
believe to the core of your existence
that you [music] can get stronger in all
areas of your life, then you'll start
moving in the way that is going to help
you become capable [music] of what other
people aren't, what you weren't capable
of before. It is incredible. Transform
the body, transform the mind, but
ultimately [music] the goal is to get
stronger shoulders. 24. Your habits are
daily updates to your future self. To
paraphrase Aristotle, we are what we
repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is
not an act, but a habit. Be
hypercognizant of the things you
repeatedly do and think. One of the most
critical [music] things that you could
do to improve the quality of your life
would be to create something called a
pattern interrupt. I have not found a
way to stop myself from thinking that
first [music] negative thought, but I
have become absolutely ninja level at
stopping myself from repeating it. A
pattern interrupt is simply something
where you say [music] like, I don't do
that. I don't allow myself to repeat
negative thoughts. You don't need
anything fancier than that. You [music]
just need to religiously deploy that
against your negative thinking. If you
know that certain habits are going to
lead you to your goal, then do those
things and have a rule in your life that
I don't allow myself to have more than
one day go by in a week or a month or
whatever you're willing to tolerate. I
don't allow myself to do that. [music]
So, if you've already taken that day off
for whatever reason, you got sick,
something bad happened, if you have a
bright line in your life that says, "No,
I'm not taking this off again." and you
wake up the next day and you're sick or
whatever, tough break. [music]
You've got a rule in your life. Now, I'm
very careful about what rules I put in
my life, but once I put a rule in my
life, I adhere to it. I'm not 100%. I'm
north of 90%. [music] And that has had a
huge positive impact on my life. It does
mean that you have to be draconian with
yourself. It does mean that you have to
learn to punish [music] and reward
yourself for adhering or failing to
adhere the rules that you have in your
life. You want those lines to be
incredibly bright. So, it is clear. One
of the rules that I live by in my life
is that Monday through Friday, if I'm
awake, I'm either working or working
out. Now, that usually pisses a bunch of
people off. But I've gotten incredible
results in my life by adhering to that,
say 90ish% of the time. There are always
[music] going to be exceptions. Don't
get hung up on that. Just having that
bright line allows me to know
instantaneously [music]
whether I'm doing the thing that I
should be doing or not. Remember, the
rules in my life are about the goals I'm
trying to achieve, and the goals I'm
trying to achieve excite me. So, I'm not
saying Monday through Friday, if I'm
awake, I'm either working out or
punishing myself relentlessly and I hate
my life. I'm saying I've built a life
that I want to adhere to. That's [music]
the goal. What are the things that if
you put rules in your life, they would
allow you to make progress towards
something that you really care about?
The punchline of life is not money,
fame, success. It's none of that. It's
fulfillment. So [music] build a life
that you want to adhere to and then put
strict clear lines in your life that
allow you to build the habits that are
going to move you towards that life you
want. 25 practice don't just repeat. So
we become what we repeat. Fair enough.
But the reality is you can blindly
[music] repeat something or you can
intentionally practice and therefore
[music] improve. Make sure that your
practice zeros in on the things that you
need to improve on. Don't just repeat
the things you're already good at, which
is everybody's temptation. You want to
zero in on the things that you're
struggling with. Work [music] on them
intentionally to get better. Practice
can be incredibly boring, but it's how
you actually make progress. 26. 2026
isn't waiting for you to be ready.
But [music] if you're ready to meet the
challenge, this can be the greatest year
of your life. If you need somebody to
believe in you, I believe in you. I
believe in you not because I know you. I
believe in you because like you, I was
at one point stuck. I was depressed. And
the reality is all the things that I've
just gone through with you were all the
things that slowly over time I had to
cobble together to get myself moving in
the right direction so that I could
finally have the kind of success that I
wanted to have in my life. And I didn't
show any early signs of promise. My
mother thought I was going to fail. My
best friend thought I was going to fail.
My now father-in-law definitely thought
I was going to fail. Which is why when I
asked for his blessing to marry his
daughter, he said no. But nonetheless, I
was able to succeed in life. And the
reason I was able to succeed is because
of all the things we've gone through
today. I started cobbling together
things that allowed me to [music] make
progress, to identify what was I
struggling with, to identify what skills
I needed to acquire, and then just
relentlessly [music] focus on acquiring
those skills. Even if I had to look
stupid, it didn't matter. I just wanted
to get better. And by pointing myself at
those things, I was actually able to
acquire skills. I was actually able to
get better. And I know that you guys can
do the same thing. I am a hopelessly
average person by nature. You don't need
to be anything other than average. The
average human is designed to grow and
get better. And I really hope that's
what you invest in in [music] 2026
because I get it. A lot of people are
paralyzed right now. The economy is
terrible for anyone that doesn't own
assets. The job market is softened. AI
is making the future seem intolerably
[music] uncertain. I understand why
people right now are freaking out. I
understand why people want to wait and
see how all of this plays [music] out
before they plan their next move, but
standing still is the only thing that's
guaranteed to be a mistake. [music] So,
if you want to smash 2026, set a clear
goal for the year. Build the necessary
skills to get there by taking on more
and more difficult challenges. Learn
from your mistakes. Focus entirely on
progress [music]
that you're going to measure.
Adjust course as needed. And remember,
sincere pursuit and progress matter.
Actually achieving the goal doesn't.
[music]
Never lose sight of the fact that the
winning condition of life is not money,
fame, or accolades. It's fulfillment. So
get out there, build up the skill tree,
take on the hardest bosses you can find,
and play to win. If you do that, I
[music] know you guys will have an
amazing 2026. If you want to see me
explore ideas like this in real time,
make sure you subscribe [music] and join
me Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 7
a.m. Pacific time when I go live. You
can join in the debate or just chill in
the community. All right, guys. Until
next time, take care. Peace.