3 things I’ve learned from studying winners.

Over the last three years, I’ve spent thousands of hours interviewing, reading books, listening to podcasts, and paying to learn from people who are much more successful than I am.

This is the goldmine of the most common pieces of advice that I’ve heard over and over again.

I’ll pass along the advice, followed by quotes to support it. Let’s go!

Fear of failure just means you don’t want it bad enough yet.

Probably the most common concern I hear from people about what’s stopping them from building their business is…“What if I fail?”

Do you know what separates “the 1%” from the other 99% of the world?

It’s not a fancy education, natural talent, or having a black book of the right connections—it’s a massive portfolio of failures.

It’s their determination to fail repeatedly and keep going.

Statistically, the most common traits among billionaires are:
✅ A growth mindset—they see failure as feedback, not defeat.
✅ They embrace failure as a necessary part of success.

You don’t need to know what you’re doing before you get started. You just need the grit to stick with it and keep getting back up again.

If you’ve failed, it just means you didn’t get back up.

Ask any extremely successful person how many times they were rejected. They won’t even be able to give you a number.

Take Jamie Kern Lima, for example. She sold IT Cosmetics for $1.2 billion after being rejected for three years straight.

That’s 1,095 days of hearing “no” and still pushing forward.

How many people can take that many hits and keep getting back up?
Just 1%.

• “If things are not failing, you’re not innovating enough.” - Elon Musk

• “Some of the most successful people in the world are the ones who have had the most failures.” - Barack Obama

• “When I was making 200+ calls per day, I never allowed myself to feel rejected. Every ‘no’ was one step closer to a ‘YES’” — Kaleen Cooper

• “The best way to improve is to learn what didn’t work. If you’re failing, you’re making it happen.” - Ben Stewart

Everything you’re worried about might happen, but won’t stop you. Only your mindset can.

Whatever goal you’re chasing, the only way you’ll fail is if you let doubt, fear, and rejection convince you to quit.
When people say “You are your worst enemy,” that’s exactly what they mean.

You are the only real obstacle to your success. If you don’t truly believe you can accomplish something, you won’t.

But the more actions you take, the more results you see, the sooner that belief can come.

As neuroscientist Tara Swart explains:
“Neuroplasticity is the brain’s ability to create new pathways and connections. Studying neuroplasticity has taught us that only by doing things differently, and practicing thinking in new ways, can our underlying thoughts and habits change.”

In other words: confidence comes with action. You gain confidence only by doing the thing, showing your brain that it’s possible.

• “You will fail in your comfort zone. You’ve gotta get comfortable being uncomfortable if you want to be successful.” - Steve Harvey

• “I learned that it pays to hang around with people better than you are because you will float upward a little bit.” - Warren Buffett 

• “People assume that everyone is doing what they want to do, but it’s not true. People don’t commit to their success. If you’re committed, you’ve already beat them.” - James Bonadies

• “The only thing that’s keeping you from getting what you want is the story you keep telling yourself.” - Tony Robbins

If it pays you now but would bore you someday, it’s a distraction. Move on.

Okay, so I actually tweaked the original quote from Naval Ravikant, who said “if it entertains you now.”

I chose to focus on what pays us because that’s where most of us get stuck. The older we get, the harder it becomes to walk away from something that provides financial security. 

But what I’ve learned from studying successful people is this:
pay checks build bank accounts, but passions build empires.

So, do this exercise. Grab a piece of paper and write this down:

“If I could get paid $100,000 per month to do something, what would I do?”

• List as many things as you can think of.

• Pick your top 3

• Now, commit to working on those more often.

For example:
One of my goals this year was to start making money through my writing—not what someone else assigned to me, but in my own voice.

I committed to dedicating more time to this, and in the last two months I’ve earned about $5,000 from it.

Is it $100k? Nope.
But it’s a stepping stone to getting there, and I earned it from being 100% myself.

The best way for me to have an impact on people is to find something I’m passionate about, solve a problem with it, and keep getting better.

It takes a lot longer to build your own dream than it does to take a pay check in two weeks. But you have to ask yourself which one you really want.

• “The first rule of success is to have a vision for where you’ll go. If you don’t, you’ll drift around and not end up anywhere.” - Arnold Schwarzenegger

• “You don’t build a brick wall in a week. You lay one brick, perfectly. You do that every single day—and soon, you have a wall. It’s difficult to take the first step when you look at how big the task is. But to me—it’s always just one brick at a time.” - Will Smith

• “Passion is energy. Feel the power that comes from focusing on what excites you.”- Oprah Winfrey

• “Find a thing that you genuinely enjoy, because getting good at things you genuinely enjoy is extremely beneficial.” - Joe Rogan

Your biggest challenge on this journey will be yourself.

If you can learn to control your thoughts, embrace failure as a stepping stone, and stay fiercely committed to your vision, then it doesn’t matter what struggles will come—you will make it happen.

If you’re committed to
working for yourself
AND progressing in fitness,
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exactly how to actually make that happen.