the best advice on the internet

Before I start, I really appreciate the replies I get from you, please feel free to to write back to me with any opinions, views, thoughts, etc.

A few days back, I was having a chat with a friend about Alex Hormozi…both of us watch a lot of his content. 

But one of his posts caught my eye.

The post read as follows:

“For the record, making your bed has nothing to do with making money. You can not make your bed, not meditate, not have a morning routine…and still make money.”

What he said was absolutely true. 

But was it what I needed to hear in this specific period of my life, let alone implement it?

Nope. That was when I started thinking about this a little more deeply. 

It wasn’t about the validity of the statement. It was about whether this was the advice that everyone needed to hear. Probably not.

There are many people for whom making their bed is the best thing they can do in their lives.

For many, meditation is what they need. Maybe their mental health isn’t in the right space. 

The statement assumes that everyone’s top priority is to make more money. Which in my head is an improper assumption.

Now bear in mind Alex has the best business content on the internet. This has less to do with his specific content and more to do with the nature of content itself…

There is an overload of content on the internet. Billions of different ideas, perspectives, thoughts, advice, etc.

Everyone trying to tell you what to do…and when you’re trying to make sense of your life, it’s tempting to take everything that comes from someone as successful as Hormozi and make it your compass.

But not all of it is right for you.

It is vey easy to fall into the trap of thinking that everything that’s being said on the internet, especially from hyper successful people, is the absolute truth.

But you have to remember that at the end of the day, it’s just an opinion. 

There are thousands of differences; differences in situation, culture, context, goals, ambitions, priorities, attitudes, behaviours, thought patterns, etc.

You are a completely different individual. You cannot possibly take blanket advice coming from someone in a completely different context.

This is where self awareness comes in. It’s the cornerstone of proper decision making. I think it’s a little bit of a superpower. The people who are self aware are often the happiest on the planet. 

Because they understand their strengths and limitations. They know what they want. And they know what needs to be done to get there. 

And that's what I want to talk about today.

Because it’s something that can be learnt and developed over time. 

1.  Know what you want

Most people have no idea what they want…

Imagine you’re at a restaurant, and the waiter comes to take your order, and you say to them, “just get whatever you feel is right.” And then you end up not liking what the waiter brings you.

That’s pretty much how a lot of people live their life.

A large majority of people in the world live accidental lives. They aren’t in control. They live in reaction mode. 

Things happen to them and all their time and energy is spent in reacting to them.

If you want to live a quality life, you have to be intentional about what you do.

The only way you can objectively identify what’s right for you and what’s not, is if you can make that decision in the context of a vision. 

Create a vision of what you want your life to look like. Split the vision into two parts. The macro, and the micro.

In the macro, think of what you want 5 to 10 years from now.In the micro, think of what you want to happen in the next 6-12 months

And now use this as a sort of a compass to navigate your life and decisions.

This is how you can live an intentional life. 

If you don’t create a vision and optimise for it, you’ll never be in control.

2. Don’t try to live someone else’s life

“Do what floats your boat”

The fastest way to guarantee unhappiness is to live life in accordance with other people's standards

Don't build a business because everyone says you should build a business.

Don't get an MBA because everyone says you should get an MBA.

Gary Vee often talks about this. He says you'll always be happier making $50,000 living your own dream than making $100,000 living someone else's dream.

That's because money isn't the be all, end all. Money is the societal yardstick of success.

Chasing it will get you status but not happiness.

Most people chase things that give them status because it gives them quick external validation. 

You get to have something everyone wants and values. But what it takes away is all semblance of fulfilment. 

So while it's important to have some sort of plan to have your finances in place, making it the cornerstone of all decisions is often not the wisest thing todo.

I see people make unreasonable financial goals for themselves. Like making $10,000 or making $20,000 a month. 

You should definitely try to aim high but there's a very subtle difference between aiming high and setting unreasonably high expectations just because someone is making 'x' amount.

Have an honest conversation with yourself, about how much you need to make, to live the life that you want to live. 

Live under your means till you reach that point. That’s the first goal. Not a million dollars. 

You can then have subsequent goals. But breaking down that first goal takes a lot of the pressure off of you.

3. Make a plan and stick to it :

Jordan Peterson famously says “make the best plan you can under the circumstances, and the stick to it.”

Some of the biggest successes come from doing the small things right. 

Someone asked Tom Hanks what’s the best piece of advice you’ve received?” And Tom Hanks replied with something a director told him once. 

“Show up on time, remember your lines, and have an idea.” (This was said in an acting context)

But Hanks went on to explain that it stood true for everything in our lives. 

Show up on time is self explanatory.  “Remember your lines” means come in prepared. Have a plan in place. 

And “have an idea” means try to do something uniquely, add something that only you can add. 

It was simple advice.

He went on to tell the interviewer how doing the simplest things right very often creates the biggest successes.

Not to mention, it’s one of the hardest thing to do. 

If you create a proper vision for your future, stay true to yourself, and stick to the plan long enough, it’s very hard for you not to succeed. 

So the next time you see successful people on the internet give advice, take it with a pinch of salt. 

Try to be self aware. Decide how much of it you should keep, how much you should implement, and how much you should let out of the other ear. 

Things that worked for someone else, might not be the best for you.

“The same water that hardens the egg, softens the potato.”

Until next time

- Khyatt