15 Lessons Only Success Can Teach You
Do we learn more from failure or from success? Now that’s a hard question to answer. Failure is a prerequisite for success, so if failure is the best teacher, success is the ultimate goal.
Okay, but what can success teach us anyway? Is it really that important? Well, you've come to the right place, Alexa, because we are about to answer this very question. If you plan to become a high-net-worth individual and secure your path to success, this video is for you. Make sure to watch until the end; massive knowledge bombs are about to be dropped. Here are 15 lessons only success can teach you. Welcome to Alux.
Number one: Success is not random. We'll start the list with this lesson because it's a good setup for the rest. It takes a lot of time for people to realize this, but figuring out what you actually want from life is harder than doing what you think you want. Don’t underestimate how easily people can trick themselves. So here’s a fix: ask yourself these three questions.
Have you figured out already how you want to live your life? What are your long-term and short-term objectives? And how do you plan to achieve them? If you know the answers to these questions, know that you're on the path to success. But if the answer is no, then it's about time you made a change. You can't be successful unless you actually know what you are striving for. If you have no objectives or a clear direction, you are going to be upon other people's plans. When you reach your goals, it's easier to pinpoint exactly what brought you there.
What you'll find is that your success was a result of a series of calculated decisions. Keep this in mind: success is not random. It comes to those who know what they want and are willing to put in the work by acting on their goals or putting systems and structures in place to unfold their best life.
Number two: Success comes from specific knowledge, accountability, and leverage. If you want to be successful, learn these three skills. Let's break them down one by one, starting with specific knowledge. The first rule of thumb here is this: successful people earn with their mind, not with their time. Specific knowledge is a skill that you acquire by pursuing your innate talents, genuine curiosity, and your passion.
You don't learn this by going to college and working boring corporate jobs. We encourage people to seek higher education levels, but think about it like this: is your job or school teaching you how to be irreplaceable? No, you learn the same things as everybody. So according to the law of supply and demand, you are going to earn less. Specific knowledge can't be taught or trained, nor can it be automated or outsourced. It's often technical or creative. Building specific knowledge will feel like play to you, but it will look like work to others.
Next up, accountability is taking risks under your own name. It's owning the upside and the downside of your decisions, a thing that successful people do naturally. Society rewards those accountable with responsibility, equity, and the last skill on this list: leverage. Leverage is basically a force multiplier. Successful people use leverage to their advantage by creating products with no marginal cost of replication that generate value across time and space. Besides this, some other forms of leverage include money or labor.
Don’t underestimate the impact those skills can have on your journey to success, and make sure to research them more in-depth; we merely scratch the surface here.
Number three: Seek wealth, not money or status. Wealth is having assets that earn while you sleep. Money is how we transfer time and wealth. Learning how to build wealth is a skill that everyone can learn. Let’s imagine someone would take all of your resources and you were left on the streets with nothing.
If you understand how money works and already know how to build wealth, you will eventually climb your way up the ladder again, given enough time. Wealth provides you with the freedom to pursue your biggest desires in life. It's a positive sum game because in building wealth, people help each other, and society gains value from their shared efforts. Status, on the other hand, is a zero-sum game for two reasons: one, it's not under your control, and it can be taken away from you at any time; two, in order for one person to climb the social hierarchy, someone else must fall.
Avoid people who play status games at all costs. They will envy you for your success because, in their head, your gain is their loss. Play stupid games, and you are going to win stupid prizes.
Number four: Play the long game. One of the most important lessons success can teach you is this: if you want to achieve greatness, you have to sacrifice short-term gains for the sake of long-term success. Now we know this ain’t easy. Humans are addicted to instant gratification, but do you want to be successful or not? If you are interested in building wealth—because that's how most people measure success—the key is owning equity.
If you don't know what equity is, in simple terms, it's a type of investment that gives you an ownership stake in a property or company. Back to playing the long game: all returns in life, whether in wealth, relationships, or knowledge, come from compound interest, which takes time. Warren Buffett is worth over 100 billion dollars; however, ninety percent of his wealth was built after he turned 65.
If you think long term, you will be less worried about the work you are putting in today and more focused on the reward that awaits you at the finish line. An important tip here: if you want to guarantee that you don't stray from the long-term mindset, work on something that you are passionate about or genuinely enjoy. You’ve got one life; don’t waste your potential.
Number five: Never sleep on a great idea. Stan Lee, the creator of the Marvel comic books, once famously said, “If you have an idea that you genuinely think is good, don’t let some idiot talk you out of it.” If you think you have a great idea that deserves your time and effort, don't seek other people's approval. And most importantly, don’t sleep on it.
If you don’t do it, someone else will. Intentions don’t matter; actions do. The logic is this: it's not just that action is more likely to result in success; it's also that action is more likely to result in successful action. Stop overthinking things, lay out your plan, and every day take the necessary steps towards your dream. Humans like to think they have enough time to accomplish their goals and ambitions; that’s delusion. Successful people take action and get more things done because they simply act.
Oh, and make sure to write down your ideas when they pop into your head. Don’t trust your memory; you might forget about them and end up frustrated.
Number six: Walk your own path. Never copy what other successful people are doing. Instead, study their personalities, what they did right, and apply that depending on your context. Simply get inspired. Walking your own path might feel scary. After all, it’s an untraveled road that leads to the unknown.
But here’s the thing: you will not experience success if you don't feel like what you are doing has any meaning. Write your own story, find your principles, conquer the world, and leave something valuable behind. Do this, and you will feel the sweet taste of success and satisfaction.
Number seven: Success is a journey, not a destination. And because we were talking about walking your own path, focus on the process, not the destination. Success might be years or even decades ahead; great things simply take time. Don’t ruin the journey by brushing things and making silly mistakes. You’ll end up frustrated and eventually give up.
The results will come, and they will compound. As we mentioned earlier in the video, success teaches one to become patient and disciplined. It rewards you for your hard work and commitment to an idea.
Number eight: Know your destination. Seneca, one of the most influential Roman stoics, said it better than anyone ever could: “If a man knows not to which port he sails, no wind is favorable.” Similar to the first lesson we shared in the video, knowing your destination is a prerequisite for success.
If you wander aimlessly, you will end up nowhere. Success teaches one to create a set of goals and make progress every day towards achieving them. Once you figure out the destination, make a plan on what you need to do in order to get there. But don’t keep things in your head; grab a piece of paper, write down your plan, and enjoy the ride. The world will reward you with meaning and happiness.
Number nine: Great opportunities come from great networking. Play long-term games with long-term people. If there’s one thing you learn on the road to success, it’s this: if you help enough people get what they want, you will eventually get what you want.
This simple but effective rule for life teaches one the importance of building a network of high-net-worth individuals and the value of meaningful friendships. Successful people surround themselves with other successful people. They are never the smartest person in the room, and they enjoy that because they are always eager to learn new things.
You can accomplish something great on your own, but it’s more fun and satisfying if you build connections along the way and cooperate with others. That’s another form of leverage; use it wisely. Always give back more than you take.
Number ten: Fear is the enemy of success. If there is one emotion that undermines success, it's fear. Lack of courage and confidence makes people live lives of quiet desperation. Here’s the truth: if you try and you fail, at least you won’t live with any regrets.
But if you never act on your dreams because you're afraid of failure, then you will die as an old, bitter person thinking about what could have been. If others can do it, you can too. At the end of the day, it’s just a matter of commitment, determination, and mindset in general.
Number eleven: Failure is the best teacher. To add more to the previous point, another reason why you should not fear acting on your ideas is because failure is the best teacher. Failure is a prerequisite for success, and those who made it know it all too well. People who tell you that they’ve never failed in life and they found the perfect formula are straight-up liars.
Failure forces you to be creative, to improve, and, most importantly, it builds character. Open a new tab on your laptop and look up famous people who failed miserably in life. You’ll see what we’re talking about. Few people had it easy, but there’s a case to be made that a little hardship is healthy for your development as a human being.
So when it happens, embrace failure and use it as fuel to master your craft.
Number twelve: Procrastination is a slow but sure path to misery. We all know at least one person who is smart and has had the potential to win big in life, but they simply lack discipline. Procrastination, or resistance—as Stephen Pressfield calls it in his book "The War of Art"—dies a little bit every time you do something despite not feeling like it.
On the other hand, the more often you procrastinate, the stronger resistance becomes. Success teaches one to literally get [ __ ] done and don’t complain. It's the reward that you can’t get enough of. So if you have a problem with procrastination, consider researching this in-depth. It will never disappear unless you decide to do something about it.
Number thirteen: Speak less, do more. People who don’t talk about the work but do the work are a rare gem, and that’s why success seems to follow them wherever they go. The more you talk about doing something, the higher the chances you are not going to do it in the end.
This can even be explained scientifically; if you get your dopamine hits and excitement before accomplishing your goals, you will lose motivation. So speak less and do more if you want to experience success.
Number fourteen: Hard work equals freedom. Success opens the door to freedom, be it financial or spiritual. But to get there, you need to put in the work. It doesn’t come easy. Just make sure whatever you work hard on provides society with real value; that's an important aspect as well.
Successful people have made the journey, and they understand the importance of working hard and being relentless. If you are young, you have had the energy to do anything you dream of, so use this time to set your life up for success. Waste no more time.
Number fifteen: There are no free lunches. There ain’t no such thing as free lunches in this world. Whatever your goals and aspirations are, one thing is certain: there is a price you must pay for success. This price can take many forms, be it sacrificing your comfort and putting mediocrity behind, or indirect financial investments.
You have to give something up, and that’s okay. What you’ll get in return far outweighs the costs. The only question is: are you willing to make this trade?
And that's all for today, Alux. What is the most important lesson success has taught you? Drop your answer in the comments below; we are curious to know your story. And because you’ve made it this far into the video, here’s a bonus:
Number sixteen: Anything is possible. Each of us has two lives, and the second one begins when we realize we only have one. Success teaches one that anything in life is possible if you put your mind to it. Dream big, work hard, and you will reach your goals. Believe you are not good enough, and your reward will be mediocrity at best.
You can literally do the impossible. We’ve seen plenty of people do this before. Believe this with all your heart, and you will become the best version of yourself. We hope you enjoyed the video. Thank you for watching, and if you found this video valuable, don’t forget to tip us with a like for the YouTube algorithm. See you tomorrow, Alexa.