Learn from other people`s mistakes. Life is too short to make them all.” – Sam Levenson
Though it`s important that you learn from your own mistakes, it`s brilliant that you learn from those who have already been there and took the rough road to greatness, and those who failed as well.
Life is hard to figure it all on your own, and you need guidance and mentorship along the way, that`s why I compiled this list of advice from some of the brightest and most successful people in the world.
1.Peter Thiel – Ask how can I do it faster
Billionaire investor and co-founder of PayPal believes the best question to ask yourself is how to reach any goal faster —really faster.
Thiel`s way of speeding up his goal-achieving process is to ask himself how can I reach a 10-year goal in only six months. This will compel your mind to find more effective ways to reach your goals.
2.Ben Horowitz & Marc Andreessen – The Torture Test
Ben and Marc are cofounders of Andreessen Horowitz, one of the most powerful Venture Capital firms in Silicon Valley with $4.2 billion in assets.
They have a test called “the Torture Test” they use to validate new ideas. Whenever any of them comes with a new deal, the other will trash the crap out of it. If the idea is still convincing after all that, they would both go behind it.
3.Scott Adams – Goals are for losers
Multimillionaire Scott Adams believes you should focus on systems instead of goals.
In his bestseller, How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big, The creator of the Dilbert comic strip believes you should build your life around routines and good habits and as you do that, goals will come to you.
Adams` philosophy means you shouldn`t focus on losing 20 pounds instead, you a healthy routine you can sustain long enough, and stick to it. Sooner or later you will lose those 20 pounds.
4.Reid Hoffman – Success should be simple
Billionaire investor and co-founder of LinkedIn believes success is much simpler than what people think.
Hoffman`s philosophy is simple: Once you analyze the 20 percent of your activities responsible for 80 percent of the results, ask yourself Which of these highest-value activities is the easiest for me to do? Then do them.
5.Alexis Ohanian – The bar is too low
Reddit`s co-founder believes taking good care of your customers will set you apart.
Ohanian believes the bar is too low for new entrepreneurs because most competing companies no longer care for their customers. According to him, all you need is give lots of damns which not enough people do.
6.Seth Godin – Generate as many bad ideas as possible
Marketing guru and bestselling author, Seth Godin, believes the quality of your greatest ideas is tied to the number of your bad ones.
Those who can`t come up with life-changing ideas are usually the ones who don`t generate enough ideas in the first place. The key then is to generate as many ideas as possible —regardless of the quality— and soon you`ll get a handful of good ideas to boost your business with.
7.Kanye West – Believe in yourself before anyone else does
For me to say I wasn`t a genius, I would just be lying to you and myself.” – Kanye West
When millionaire rapper, songwriter, and entrepreneur was asked why he had a giant poster of himself inside his living room, his answer was this simple line:
“Gotta to cheer for me before anyone else can.
8.Nicholas McCarthy – Think long-term
McCarthy made history when he became the first left-hand-only pianist to graduate from the Royal College of Music in London. He believes big wins on the long-term are much more important than short-term ones.
Instead of using his little, right hand to make a quick buck performing on Britain`s Got Talent, he focused on building a long-lasting career as a left-hand-only pianist which eventually made him famous and gave him the opportunity to play alongside famous bands like Coldplay.
9.Casey Neistat – Use your anger
Neistat`s advice is to channel your anger in a more positive direction. The social-media celebrity and YouTuber became famous when he received a summons for riding his bike outside of the bike lane.
Instead of going to court, Angry Neistat expressed his frustration in a YouTube video that went viral.
10.Chris Sacca – Tonight I`ll be in my bed
Sacca is an entrepreneur and investor in many companies, including Twitter, Kickstarter, Uber, and Instagram.
Whenever things get hard on Sacca, he reminds himself that pain is temporary by repeating “Tonight, I will be in my bed” over and over.
11.Derek Sivers – One goal at a time
American entrepreneur and founder of CD Baby is a big fan of the fable: Buridan’s ass in which a donkey standing between a pile of hay and a pond of water dies out of thirst and hunger after failing to decide with which he should start first.
Sivers believes you have time to reach all your goals, yet you either chase them one at a time or risk failure and spreading too thin.
12.Matt Mullenweg – Rethink personal relationships
Entrepreneur and founder of WordPress believe you must rethink your personal priorities and find time for your loved ones. Life is short and you don`t know how much you`ve used of your time with them.
13.Amelia Boone – The struggle ends when the gratitude begins
Not only she won four world titles, Amelia Boone is considered the Michael Jordan of obstacle course racing (OCR) which is one of the toughest sports on the planet.
In an interview with Tim Ferris, Boone said that gratitude was the key principle behind her magnificent success. In addition to its health benefits, she believes gratitude can unleash your full potential by knowing that you`re someone who attracts good things into their life.
To remind herself to always be grateful, Boone said that she never takes off a custom designed bracelet on which is written a quote that says, The struggle ends when the gratitude begins.”
Originally published at www.stevenaitchison.co.uk