1. The best is the enemy of the good
Being better means being better than others—surpassing them and standing out from them. You can’t do the same as everyone else to become the best. You need your own path.
You can’t be the best at everything: while you’re studying everything, someone else is specializing in just one thing. The best way to become the best is to choose one very narrow specialty and become a world-class pro in it.
If you’ve been training in ballet since the age of five for 8 hours a day, there will always be someone who started at three and trains 10 hours a day. By age fifteen, their experience will exceed yours by 5,000 hours. And there are also prodigies, for each of whose hours you need to train three. Some have the best teachers in the world, while you, for example, are self-taught.
The only way to become the best without having a unique path is to work more than everyone else, be talented, have good teachers, and rich parents. Although, that’s not quite “like everyone else,” is it?
But even the fastest and most hardworking horse in the world won’t outrun a car. You need your own strategy, your own unique plan to become the best without sacrificing everything.
2. Becoming the best is not easy
There will always be someone who started before you. Some have rich parents; some studied at the best university in the world. Some were hired by relatives. No big deal. It happens. This is called “different starting conditions.” But such people are a minority: the world is full of those who have achieved success on their own thanks to unconventional thinking, hard work, and the ability to keep learning new things.
Life is like a card game. Anyone will win if they’re dealt nothing but trumps—but a professional will win regardless of the hand they’re dealt. They minimize the impact of luck with their skill. No one understands this as well as professional athletes. Many of them have only a few years to seize their chance and succeed.
3. There is always someone ready to work more than you
There are many such people. Among them are workaholics, perfectionists, and people simply in love with their work. Yes, many of them sacrifice family and friends and are willing to work 80 hours a week. Work is their life. That path isn’t for us. But they can easily push you to the sidelines of your career. You’re not willing to spend 6 months a year on business trips to get a promotion, but they are.
The average Chinese student works harder than a European one, and an employee in China is ready to do your job for a quarter of your salary. Working a lot is not a path to success, but working little is a path to defeat.
4. Cultural environment
Few places in the world value working a lot and honestly. If in college you study hard, spend your time in the library, and take all your exams yourself, you’re a nerd. But if you “partied all semester but still passed” or otherwise “beat the system,” then you’re a hero. On the road called “work more” there is too much competition (a traffic jam, if you like); this approach no longer works. You need to look for another path.
It’s hard to strive for success when society itself hates the successful and the rich. It hates and envies. Poor people, once they get money, start flaunting their wealth. Truly rich people behave more modestly: Bill Gates can wear a $10 T-shirt, because with it or without it he is Bill Gates.
Meanwhile, it is entrepreneurs who create jobs and move the economy forward. Employees’ wages are the result of businesses competing for the best talent. The more businesses there are in a country, the higher the salaries will be.
You should love your life and your time. Money is just a tool that makes you financially independent. And if you are financially independent, you can do what you want and not do what you don’t want.
Be careful with “sacrifices” when you’re becoming the best. Don’t sacrifice the truly important things: family, friends, health, and work you love. Being financially successful at 50 and having no family, no friends, no health, and hating your work is not success—it’s failure.
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