#032 Why You Shouldn't Listen to Successful People

"Half of what we are going to teach you is wrong, and half of it is right. Our problem is that we don't know which half is which."

Elon Musk. Michael Jordan. Steven Bartlett.

You can learn their success stories with the click of a button.

Every story contains sage advice that worked.

But the part of the story that doesn't get told holds an equally important lesson.

So let's dive in.

I open the book and out falls another piece of folded paper. I smile and open it up. I recognise the 4 headings: health, wealth, family and hobbies. Under each heading is a goal and a date for it to be completed.

I used to feel embarrassed when I found these. Each page was an A4 paper that I had written out in the throws of motivation. The problem was, every time I found one years later hidden away in a book, I had rarely completed many, if any of them.

I was a big Arnie fan back in the day. I was inspired by his work ethic and the trajectory of his life. Arnie was all about goals and visualisation. So I copied him and wrote out my big life goals then sat imagining them come true. Enamoured by the Stoics I also believed in Seneca's quote, "No wind blows in favour of a ship without direction".

Advice from two heavy hitters separated by 2000 years. How could they both be wrong?

The problem was that having a goal wasn't enough. Not for me at least. I'm a creature of habit. I'm happiest when I have a routine. Give me a process that I enjoy and I'll see you at the finish line. It's not a matter of if, but when I will get there.

But I spent years writing out goals and deadlines never to see the finish line. Only in the last few years have I understood that for me, the process is key. The goal is great. It tells you which direction you need to go. But that isn't enough.