The Game with Alex Hormozi - How to Keep Pushing Hard Years Later... | Ep 671

Episode Date: March 27, 2024

“It's amazing what you can do when you have no choice.” Today, Alex (@AlexHormozi) emphasizes the importance of effort and dedication over talent in achieving success, highlighting the role of an identity-driven narrative in maintaining focus on goals. He also discusses managing overwhelm by concentrating on controllable factors and prioritizing actions, attributing motivation to a fear of failure.Welcome to The Game w/Alex Hormozi, hosted by entrepreneur, founder, investor, author, public speaker, and content creator Alex Hormozi. On this podcast you’ll hear how to get more customers, make more profit per customer, how to keep them longer, and the many failures and lessons Alex has learned on his path from $100M to $1B in net worth.Timestamps:(0:42) - Navigating challenges and staying motivated(1:21) - The power of fear and overcoming overwhelm(3:54) - The essence of grit: perseverance over talent(5:41) - Creating your identity through challenges(7:36) - Reflections and insights on entrepreneurial journey(14:56) - The continuous pursuit of growthFollow Alex Hormozi’s Socials:LinkedIn | Instagram | Facebook | YouTube | Twitter | Acquisition(This episode is a re-run. Original airdate was July 19, 2019)

You may see people who you believe are more talented than you, and they might be. If you think about any human, right, and their potential for how much they can achieve with an inordinate amount of effort, right? It is more than what the talented person can achieve with a medium amount of effort. The wealthiest people in the world see business as a game. This podcast, The Game, is my attempt at documenting the lessons I've learned on my way to building acquisition.com into a billion dollar portfolio. My hope is that you use the lessons to grow your business and maybe someday soon, partner with us to get to $100 million and beyond.

I hope you share and enjoy. I had a lot of people reach out, obviously, because of the book stuff that we launched. And I had a few questions that came up kind of repeatedly. And so three questions that came up, these were kind of the themes of them. One was, you know, what keeps you motivated? Why, like, why do you keep pushing if you already have, you know, what you need, you know, from a financial standpoint? The next one is like, as you're, as you're growing the business and everything gets bigger and the world gets louder, how do you keep from being able to. wrong. And then, you know, the fall-up to that was like, how do you stay focused on your goals?

And so I wanted to break down because I think each of those is somewhat different. And I wanted to break down some of the things that, you know, I've gone through or that have evolved in my thinking, I've been approaching those things that have really helped me. And so the first one, what keeps you motivated? I want to keep this really real with you. I'm, I have the picture, the paint that I paint, like the vision of what I, like where we want Jim wants to go, what we want to do in the world. And for those of you who don't know, the very big 10,000 thousand foot view picture of what I'm trying to do and what we're trying to do at gym launch is actually significantly bigger than gyms. And so I got into the fitness business because I,

you know, I fitness changed my life. And so it was honestly, it was the only thing that I really knew how to do. And so that's what I sold because people started paying me for it. So I wasn't like as like this was my grand plan all the time. It was like, well, people are already starting to ask me for advice. And it's getting to the point where people want to, you know, I don't have enough time. Like I need to start charging stuff. Right. But that was like, so I am hash about fitness, but what we're trying to do big picture is as Uber transformed the transportation industry, it wasn't like the amount of education from the government that was like, we need to carpal more. Like people should ride share. You know what I mean?

Like that was going on for years. There were carpal lanes, but people still didn't do anything with it. The moment that transportation changed was the moment that Uber created a marketplace for it. They created an opportunity for people to be able to make an income by moving things and moving people. Once that happened, the transportation industry was transformed because a marketplace was created, right? And so for me, the goal is how can we create an opportunity that's significant enough that someone can make a real income as a low barrier to entry so that people can get coaching and the coaches can make money doing it? And so that's the big, big picture is like, how can I help fitness professionals? How can I help people coach people on weight loss?

Because, I mean, sure, everybody has their dog about nutrition and training, blah, blah, blah. But like, big, big picture, most people know what they actually need to do. They need to stop eating shit and they need to move. Like, most people know that and they just need someone to hold them accountable. And so I'm trying to find a way to get people to create a marketplace such that people can hold people accountable and make an income from it. That is my 10,000 foot vision for what we're trying to do. But from being real, that is not what motivates me day to day because that's really big pie in the sky stuff. but like when you've got legal teams and compliance and HR and you know an ex-employee

saying that you're a racist and you know what I mean like all sorts of shit you know what I mean that like that can happen on like none of those things where you are going on but they have you know what I mean and so like there's there's a million small stressors that can that can come out so how do you how do you how do you wade through the shit right how do you how you push through that and the first thing for me has been I mentioned this in the beginning of the book is like I am more. more motivated by fear and away from pain than I am towards gain. So I personally am more fear and I'm more fear driven than I am game driven.

So like a friend of mine called me up the other day and was like, so it's like he started the conversation by saying like, well, it's clear that money is not the motivator for you anymore. Right? Because like he's like, you're already done. Like you don't need any more money. And it was like since he said it so like point, you like matter of fact that I was like, it took me back for a second.

And I was like, I guess you're kind of right. Like, I don't really. Yeah, I'm not really doing it for the money. But it's really the fear of failure. You know what I mean? The fear of and the thing is, the higher you go, the more you feel,

fear the fall. And so anything like everyone around me is like, I feel like you're more driven now than you were when you started. And in some ways it's true because we're higher up the mountain than the fall would be worse. And so I'm like even more afraid of it. And so we drive harder. And so like what keeps me motivated,

honestly is fear, is fear of losing everything. Now, obviously we've taken, you know, steps to try and not, you know, try and protect ourselves and, you know, put things in places that are, you know, very, you know, protected and all that kind of stuff. But, but still, like, and I, I'm a human being, you know, I have irrational fears. And so one of the things that drives me is that. And I know that when they interviewed, like, gold medalists, invariably, one of the things that they noticed is that the people who won were not motivated by winning. They were motivated

because they hated losing. And so you can be motivated to whatever you want. I can tell you that for me, it probably comes from a place of fear and a little bit of anger. And I'm just being real with you. Like, that's what actually drives me. But I try and point that in a direction that accomplishes something like really beautiful and awesome. But like, that is what drives me on a day to day to keep going. So how do I stop from being overwhelmed, which was the second like kind of theme of questions that I get with all the things that come up? The biggest thing that I do is I think what of these things are under my control and what of these things are not? Right. And so the things that are not under my control, I immediately cut out of my thought processes and thinking, cool, I already,

I already figured those out. They're not on my, like, I can't control those, right? And then of the variables that I can control, okay, which of these is the most important? And then I start action plans. And the thing is, as long as I am in, as long as we have decided what the problems are and we are in process, my anxiety levels go down. The time when my anxiety spikes, I think you guys maybe noticed this like two or three weeks ago, I was really stressed. And it was because we had this bottleneck in the business and it was and I won't get into the details but there was there's a series of processes and people that were that were put together wrong and it was just creating an enormous I'm going to stress for me and I had to wait a certain period of time before I was able to take action on

it and so it was like washing a fireburn and not being able to do anything about it and that is where I get the most anxiety and overwhelming overwhelm from if we are taking steps to correct something I'm usually pretty cool about it once it's like yep I know there's a problem but we are we are fixing it You know what I mean? Like we are, you know, we're four weeks out from it being, you know, resolved, or at least our best bet of resolving it is going through it. So for you, if you feel overwhelmed, a lot of times it's, in my opinion, you have things that are, you've opened loops, you have loops that you haven't completed. And so it's like you have problems, you have fires that are burning, and you don't know how you're going to put them out. And so I think it's like, once you create

the plan and you start walking the plan, then usually my anxiety levels go down. And if you're like, but what about this thing? Can I control it? If you can't control it, then like, don't want to take up your mind space. And that does take discipline. I mean, I'm not saying I'm perfect. I'm just, I think you just,

you gain some experience. You only have so much brain, brain with and it's like, well, I might as well, I might as well put it on stuff I can control. So that's, that's like,

how do you, how do you stop from being overwhelmed? And then the third one, like, how do you stay focused on your goals? I think it actually kind of, that kind of routes back to the first thing that I was saying, which is like,

I really, really, I wish I had something really sexy and like, really, like, I just, I just love everyone and I just want to transform lives and I want everyone to lose weight. Like, I wish that were actually the thing that motivated me. And that is something that I want to accomplish.

And I think that if I were like on a stage receiving an award or something, I would probably say that this is, you know, we're really happy to accomplish this. But I'd probably say something like what I'm saying now, which is it didn't come from up. It hasn't come from a place of serenity. You know what I mean?

It hasn't like a lot of, a lot of the things that have happened have not been like, I just want to save everyone. you know what I mean? Like a lot of it is just really being afraid to fail and being afraid of of what people would say and being afraid of, you know, and I'm working on that. You know what I mean? I'm not like I'm not immune to it. Like I actively realize that that's probably not a good thing. But I'm just being wrong with you. Like it's something that's driven me since day one. Like I, you know, I know there's the entrepreneurial story and some of you may may resonate with

this, but like I was a really good student. Like I worked really hard and I got good great. I mean, I finished college in three years. Like I scored really well on the SATs and G mats and all that stuff. Like I was a good student because I was afraid not to be. Hey, Mosin, nation, quick break just to let you know that we've been starting to post on LinkedIn and want to connect with you. All right, so send me a connection request and note letting me know that you listen to the show and I will accept it. There's anyone you think that we should be connected with, tag them in one of my or layless posts and I will give you all the love in the world. All right. So let's get back to the show. And so I know there's the whole like

entrepreneurial ADD and I'm ADD is shit. But like, I think that you can overcome anything if you are just, you know, if you have enough motivation. And I joke with Layla, I was like, I think that like all the great accomplishments in the world are done by people who have a big hole inside of them that they're trying to fill. And I don't, you know, I'm just being real with you. I think that there's there's a lot of truth to that is that there's, there's like deep-seated insecurities and a lot of people who have done a great thing because they're trying to fill a hole. When I was at the gym in the very beginning. I think it was it was top, its top three hardest things I've done was opening the gym. Just like the first nine months was horrible for me. And I kept thinking to myself, and I hope

this is politically correct. But I used to think to myself, like an entire race of people went through slavery for hundreds of years, right? Something that's absolutely horrible and something that like we can barely comprehend, right? And I would think to myself, like, how could they do it? You what I mean? And there's so many people. So it wasn't like there's like, it wasn't like there were people who had really high will and really low will. It's like everyone did it. Right. And so when I see something where like everyone does something, there's other forces at work. And so the way I perceive that is it's amazing what you can do when you have no choice. And so I think in some ways like us as entrepreneurs, or at least for me, like I pretend there is no

door. There is no exit door for us. And that's what keeps us in it is like, I have no choice. Like I have to keep going. And so, like, I don't really entertain the thoughts very much because all the, every single entrepreneur that I look up to and the more I get close with people who are significantly higher up than we are, they tell the same stories. They're like, this sucked. This was really hard. There was two years where I barely slept. You know what I mean? And they're like, and it was just stress. Like it was heavy. I couldn't even breathe. And these are people that I've like totally achieved. massive amounts, hundreds of millions, billions of dollars. And I hear these, and they're normal

people. You know what I mean? They're not different than you and me. And just the way that they tell the story is like, it's literally just perseverance. Like, it's just grit. It's just like, how long can you keep going? And I think that that's like, it's just like how bad do you want something? And that's it. And like when you, when they look at achievement, like, like, that's the single deciding factor. It's not intelligence. It's not like, it's not any of these other things. It's just like how long will you stick with it? And I told you guys that the book, grit that I was reading, effort counts twice in the achievement like category. It's like first you have talent times effort to get a skill. And then it's skill times effort to achieve something.

And so effort counts twice. And so like, I think like potential means shit. Like who cares where your potential is? Like I'm just not living up some potential. No one is. You know what I mean? And a different way of thinking about this. And this is one that's kind of like trippy to to like wrap your head around is that you may see people who you believe are more talented than you and they might be but if you think about any human right and their potential for how much they can achieve with an inordinate amount of effort right it is more than what the talented person can achieve with a medium amount of effort right and so like the thing is like the effort equation i'm moving back is like there's so much there's so much gap between where you are and what potential

is and the and the one thing that drives you it's just so much bigger than people think you know what I mean and the one driver is effort right and so like in some way it's incredibly comforting to me because like a skilled a talented painter somebody who picks up the skill skill quickly still will now outpaint somebody who stays with it for 25 years not even close not even by a mile, right? Because effort still means more than everything, right? And everyone's like, well, I want to try and find something that like your, your talented for.

But the reality is that talent doesn't even really matter because it's longevity. And so it's really about like, I mean, in the beginning, you think like, I want to do something I'm passionate about. But the reality is like, I think passion fades. You know what I mean? Passion is just like the spark to get you going. But after that, it's like, what drives you, what drives you when you're three years in? What drives you when you're five years in?

Like, I mean, for for me, it's just like, it's like an identity thing. It's like, what kind of person am I? Does that make sense? Like, who do I choose to be? What kind of person do I want my kids to think I am when like when shit got hard? Did dad stop? You know what I mean? Did dad blame the market?

Did dad blame X? Did dad blame Y? Like, I think about these stories that I think my kids are going to tell about where what we're doing right now. And I think, what store do I want them to tell? And then more importantly, what story do I want to tell myself every day? And so it's like, I'm almost selling myself on who I am as I'm doing it, if that makes any sense to anyone.

Like, you're like actively creating your identity and the story you're telling while you're walking it. And so it's like you become the hero of your own story, but you're not that hero yet, but you're becoming them as you walk. So anyways, that was just like. I got a bunch of those questions and I hope that's my, that's my best shot at, I mean, maybe I'll have another shot six months from now. That'll be different.

But that's, that's kind of the best shot that I've got for like, what keeps me motivated? Like, how do I stop from being overwhelmed? How do I stay focused on the goals? Like, you just, you just keep going. And it's like, what kind of person you want to be?